[Spoilers involved]
The short film of "The Incredibles 2", the English name is "Bao", and the Chinese name chooses to translate the pun of "Bao" together, called "Bao Bao". "Bao" refers to steamed buns. This is a story that Chinese people will not be unfamiliar with. It is said that the director is a Chinese Canadian; but whose baby is "Baby"? A baby is a mother's baby. It can be said that this is a story with a Chinese brand, revolving around the mother's feelings, and it may be regarded as a mother's dream.
1 mother and son
The story begins with a Chinese couple eating steamed buns at the table at home. The man took a few bites of the buns and went out with his bag as if he were going to work. This meal might look like breakfast. The last bun on the dinner table suddenly came to life and turned into a baby bun, which aroused the love of women. Why is there such a plot as the buns come alive? Steamed buns are made by people, maybe it is just like the child was born to the mother, and the mother decides to raise the bun baby.
The beginning of the story seems to be cute, the mother feeds the baby, bathes the baby, and takes care of the baby's safety. But as the baby grows, and even begins to rebel against the mother's care, another key plot about the setting of "buns" is revealed, and it may seem a little scary at first glance.
2 The structure of motherhood
Steamed buns are introduced to us as food, but we may still be shocked when a mother eats a baby bun in one bite. She even ate her son as a bun! Why did such a horrific scene happen?
[How should one view the extreme duality of motherhood? ] Kawai Hayao wrote in "The Psychology of Fairy Tales", "Fundamentally speaking, motherhood has the duality of nurturing death and life, both the positive force of nurturing life and the negative force of devouring all life and causing its death. Human mothers also have this tendency in the spiritual depths. ]
[The positive power of motherhood can be easily felt, but the negative power is that it has a strong support for the child, thus hindering the child's independence, and finally approaching the child to the abyss of spiritual death. The same function of both can be described as its "inclusiveness", which is manifested in both life-related issues and death-related issues. ]
In Bao, it can be said that we see exactly this duality of motherhood. On the one hand, the mother gave birth to her son and raised her son day after day, year after year; on the other hand, in the second half of the story, the mother showed her terrifying side, facing the The son who was about to leave home, she devoured him in one bite in a hurry.
3 A mother's dream
We don't even need to apply any theory to interpret dreams in the face of this mother's dream. The climax of this dream is so shocking that we may feel it directly, and may be deeply touched.
The cute son gradually grew up and was no longer cute. He made friends on his own, became rebellious, and now even has a white girlfriend from a foreign race; after the couple returned lovingly to meet their parents, they picked up their luggage and left. The son is about to leave the house, the son is about to be taken away by another woman, and it seems that the son will never stay with his mother like a baby again. The mother couldn't accept it, she blocked the door and resolutely prevented her son from leaving; and when her son insisted on leaving, the mother in the dream showed her devouring side when facing the child - she grabbed the bun, really devoured his son.
The mother soon regretted it, she regretted it almost immediately, and her devotion brought the death of her son directly in the dream. When she realized this, she froze for a moment, then began to cry in loneliness, crying incessantly. This dream ended, and she woke up from the dream with this unquenchable cry.
4 After waking up
Turns out my son came home. He has an animated and exaggerated bun face. The bun son in the dream is obviously the incarnation of the real son, and the mother has not yet recovered from the emotions in the dream. Although the son returned home, he came back with his girlfriend. The cute Baozi baby did not come back, he has grown up with his own lover, he has decided not to be the son who is controlled by his mother and cannot go, just like the Baozi baby in his dream who insisted on moving out with his girlfriend.
The plot after waking up seems far less dramatic than the dream; even the son returned to see his father and mother, and the snacks brought back by the son were just childhood memories. But this reality is very similar to the dream: If the mother still insists on stopping the son, what will be the consequences? In the mother's dream, this question has been answered.
5 The exit of the dream
At the end of the story, we returned to the dining table at home, where the old couple and the young couple sat at the table. Faced with the repetition of the same life scene, has the mother changed? It seems that she no longer insists on separating the young couple, but gets along harmoniously and wraps up buns together. Daughter-in-law's steamed buns are surprisingly well wrapped; the mother's natural comments on it may mean that she has begun to accept that the son will have his own relationship and his own life.
She didn't face her son devourously any more, and let the dream come true. This little story ends, and the dream has fulfilled its mission. Therefore, I guess, this dream is gone, and there is no need to repeat it in this mother's dreamland.
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