A thread running through the film - Kovsky alludes to Barbara's happy time with her mother, while the little girl uses it as her weapon against giants. There are two scenes in this film, one is the evaluation of Barbara in the eyes of others, and the other is the world that Barbara sees in her heart.
In the eyes of others, Barbara is very withdrawn and weird, and she does not behave and dress like a normal girl should have. But fortunately, Barbara met Sophia who was enthusiastic and caring about her psychology teacher. Sophia didn't stay away from Barbara because of her weird behavior and hurt her, but stayed by her side as a true friend. The psychological teacher plays a role that touches her soul. After many trials, she has made it clear that Barbara's crux is her mother. Barbara's mother finally appears at the end of the credits and is dying. That's when the whole film's intentions finally became clear.
Barbara had a wonderful childhood, but unfortunately, her mother was seriously ill. This sudden blow plunges Barbara into a world made up by herself. In this world, there are all kinds of giants. Whenever these giants appear, disaster strikes. This made Barbara believe that her mother was seriously ill because of the appearance of these giants, so she gave herself a sacred mission - to kill these evil giants.
Since then, her life is no longer a girl who simply pursues happiness. She voluntarily took up this extremely heavy mission, for the sake of the people around her (I think it was because of her love for her mother), even if the whole world did not understand her, she would protect everything in her own way. But a contradiction is that she no longer dares to approach her dying mother. This can show that all of her fictions are escaping the fact that her mother is about to die. The bravery she shows is not real bravery. She hopes to control everything that is out of control through her own efforts, but this is unrealistic and is an excuse for Barbara to escape all this.
At the end of the credits, after she kills the Titan, what Titan says is a turning point in Barbara's perception. From birth to death, people will pursue happiness, this is our mission. But in the process of pursuit, there will be many unforeseen pains, and only by choosing to truly face these can we have the right to pursue happiness.
Following the logic of the film, I believe that without the words of the Titans, even if Barbara defeated the Titans, she would have imagined more giants and would never face her own knot. In the end, she chose to step into the forbidden place sealed by her own soul and hugged her mother on the hospital bed. After sending her mother's last journey calmly, she is no longer pretending to be a brave girl, but understands that true bravery is to accept all this and embrace the next happy moment.
The film spends a lot of time paving the way for Barbara's willful behavior, but it took Titan less than a minute to make the little girl change her ingrained attitude with just a few words.
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