Fantastic Daddy Fox is an animated film based on Roald Dahl's classic fairy tale. The film is directed by director Wes Anderson, with the voices of George Clooney, Meryl Streep and others. The film tells the story of how Father Fox and three bad farmers fought their wits to find something delicious to feed their family. The film was released in the United States on November 13, 2009.
Many people say that this movie is about the endless animal nature: when you have a family, you have to bear the corresponding social and family responsibilities, but you still yearn for the ideal of freedom and self-worth in your heart. Some people say that they have seen the inferiority of the middle class through movies: no matter how much you envy the rawness of the lone wolf, it will only be temporary. The fox will eventually return to the existing family and cannot abandon the comfort of lying in the palm of his hand. It has also been suggested that in the battle between animals and humans, there is a shadow of anti-human and anti-society.
In the original, however, none of these themes seem to be found. Roald Dahl's Story, written in 1970, is a short children's novel of less than 5,000 words. The overall trend of the story is basically the same as that of the movie, but it is the branches that spread along the main body of the story that lay the foundation for Wes Anderson's ambition and layout not only to dedicate the movie to children, but finally to bloom with colorful flowers. .
Let's take a closer look at the main branches of these offbeat approaches:
1. Residential address
In the original book, the fox family lived in the hole under the big tree, but in the movie, the foxes moved from the fox hole to the pleasant living room in the big tree. The same geographical location ensures that the follow-up story can unfold in the original direction, but at the same time expands the content, and the grass and gray snakes deepen the motives of the fox. The reason Daddy Fox wanted to move in the first place was because he seemed so poor living in a hole. It wasn't until I saw the three farm estates opposite the big tree for sale that I hinted at another reason for the move: a desire for adventure and a natural calling.
2. Family members
In the movie, the family members changed from the original fox couple, 4 fox children to fox couple, 1 fox son Ash, cousin Christopherson and tree house manager Possum. Such a setting change is worth thinking about. If the main people (animals) in the movie can best show certain character traits, or advance the plot or deepen the content of the story, then turn the 4 fox children into 3 different identities but are closely related to the fox family It is obviously easier to pull apart the differences between people (animals) in a short time and be remembered by the audience.
The fox son aspires to be an athlete but lacks the ability. On the contrary, the fox cousin is excellent in diving, baseball, yoga, and pickup. As soon as he arrived at the fox's house, he won the recognition of the people around him. In this way, the contrast between the two juniors is stark. Whether they conflict or cooperate in the future, they will arouse new expectations. [On second thought, what if the "two little ones" were both set as fox sons?
First of all, from the same family, with conflicting personalities and different hobbies, this also requires an explanation from the source;
Second, the contrast is not so focused. If the younger brother already knew that the older brother was very good when diving, would he still jump proudly; if the slugger was in sports, the coach already knew that the older brother was better, would he still give his younger brother a chance?
In addition, the fox son will have a subsequent growth process - from suppressing his natural anger and only spitting, to being inspired by his cousin to develop athletic talents. If this change is promoted by the fox brother who has lived with him for a long time, it may make People have certain doubts about credibility: why didn't they learn from my brother earlier? 】
As for the possum, as the follower of the fox father, it runs through the whole "middle-aged adventure plan" of the fox father. It's laughable, loyal, constantly asking Daddy Fox about his fears of wolves, just like Wes Anderson's other films like The Little Boys in "Youth" (1998), the doorman in "The Grand Budapest Hotel" (2014), it is endowed with a strong Wechsler film atmosphere.
3. Source of life
Unlike the fox family in the book, who has been out hunting for a living, the fox father in the movie became a columnist because of family responsibilities. The other animals also have humanized occupations, such as lawyers, cooks, accountants, etc. They hide their primitive instincts and join the middle class of modern society.
From the perspective of plot advancement alone, the presence or absence of career settings will not affect dad fox stealing chickens, animals digging holes and saving cousins, so this paragraph should belong to the scope of theme deepening. The fox father has the conditions to choose a better living environment (although it is a loan), which shows that the fox family should not be troubled by the problem of food and clothing. But even so, Father Fox still has to implement his middle-aged plan, which obviously has a deeper motive behind it - the nature that has been repeatedly mentioned before. In addition, the passionate words (illustration) that the father fox said when he mobilized collective power to save his cousin fox, which encouraged animals to release their natural talents, also echoed the theme.
4. Family conflict
There is no mention of family conflict in the original book, and the conflict in the fox family in the movie can be divided into three groups: 1. Fox's father and mother; 2. Fox's father and son; 3. Fox's son and cousin.
1 Fox mother is more tangible. She hoped that the fox father could do a formal job peacefully and take on family responsibilities. In her eyes, superior material conditions are not the most important thing. Whether she lives in a cave or a tree house, she can keep her home in good order. Daddy Fox, on the other hand, is more romantic and ambitious. On the one hand, he wanted to create better living conditions for his family, but on the other hand, he couldn't hold back his desire for freedom. (illustration)
2 The fox son hopes to become an excellent athlete like his father, but in addition to the coat color, he is inferior to the fox father who keeps the school slugging record in terms of stature and athletic ability. His ability was not recognized by those around him, including his father, which made him angry and unwilling to admit defeat. As a father, the fox father also seems too practical and impatient in his son's education.
3 Although the cousin is a relative of the mother fox, he is tall and slender, and his athletic ability is very similar to the father fox. He can enter the water with the same graceful posture as a professional diver; he understands the rules of the thump stick game that he has never touched before, and hits the ideal score; he even escapes and digs holes faster than other animals. How could such a popular cousin not arouse the jealousy of adolescent children?
5. The struggle process
The movie expands the battle process between the animals and the three farmers: after the farmer digs a hole with a shovel - rents an excavator to dig a hole - dispatches all the staff to guard the hole, the "two little animals" are added to search for their father's tail. Cousin is arrested - Farmer pours soda into the hole - Father fox is determined to sacrifice - The rat sends the farmer's duel letter - All animals work together to save his cousin - Encountered by a lone wolf on the way back - Trapped underground and found the supermarket entrance and other main plots. These supplementary plots strengthen the IQ of the opponent and distribute the positive and negative forces to a relatively balanced position, which naturally increases the intensity of the story and deepens the suspense of the ending.
6. Rat Identity
Brother Mouse has transformed from a parasite living in an apple soda factory to a cider factory security employed by a farmer. The mouse in this movie inherits the image setting of the arrogant and detached from the animal team in the original book, and has appeared twice. The first time is similar to the book, the fox father is stealing wine and it is a chance encounter; the second time belongs to the original movie. The mouse was entrusted by the boss to send a duel letter to the animals, and at the same time, unfortunately, he was killed by an electric shock in the competition with the father fox. The main role of this scene is indeed to inform the animals to have the final duel and bring the story to a climax. In addition, the two things that the mouse said before he died, in the way of outlining the details, enriched the image of the mouse himself: he told his cousin where he was trapped; dialogue. (picture)
7. The appearance of the wolf
This is not in the book: a pure black lone wolf stands on all fours like a rock on the hillside, behind him is a silent iceberg of white snow, and under the mountain his eyes can see, the father fox also stops the car to meet him affectionately. see. He first tried to communicate with the black wolf in English and Latin, but it did not respond. Then the father fox raised an arm and gestured to it with a fist, and then there was a scene that gave people goosebumps: the black wolf also raised a front foot, clenched a fist, and swung it powerfully into the sky. Instead of hurting them, it glanced back at them again, and finally plunged headlong into the depths of the forest.
The soundtrack here is divine. The father fox announced to the possum and the audience that what he fears is not the wolf itself, but the boundless primitive vitality and freedom behind the wolf; it is fear as well as temptation and yearning. But he already has a wife, children and family.
8. The finale
The ending of the original book ended when Father Fox led the animals to steal food from the three farmers' houses, and the farmers stayed where they were, waiting for the fox to show up; in the movie, through the expansion of the struggle process, the final ending fell on Relocating underground and finding new food, they were fortunate to dig a passage to the supermarket, and the mother fox was pregnant with her second baby.
Through the comparison between the original story and the plot of the movie, we can see the shift of the theme, the change of the definition of "great" - from adapting to survival and turning danger into danger to yearning for freedom and nostalgic nature. The father fox is still very capable, but from "stealing a few chickens for a child who is about to starve to death" to "as a fox, if he doesn't have a chicken in his mouth, how can he be happy". Standing on the commanding heights of morality, it is easy to doubt the correctness of stealing chickens; in particular, Wes Anderson also tore off the protective bag packed with the original story, and shockingly pointed to the original appearance of things for everyone to see.
All boundaries are blurred. There is no way you can judge a fox for biting your chicken, just as no animals in nature pay for their food, and we humans have taken over large tracts of our homeland without paying our original owners.
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