"Will children understand that these witches and their bizarre hands are just artistic processing? Physical differences will make children feel terrified." Paralympic athlete Amy Mullen expressed her doubts about the movie "The Witch" on her social platform. The official blog of the Olympic Games then forwarded it.
The recently released "The Witch" in North America has been controversial. In this film, the witches are all unusually "cult": bald heads covered with abscesses, large torn mouths, and strangely shaped hands and feet... For the outside world Warners quickly apologized and said that these designs were artistic exaggerations based on the original works.
Some netizens even recalled the mistaken killing of "witches" in the Middle Ages, thinking that the film was eating "human blood steamed buns". The development of film art to this day requires not only imagination, but also space for activities. If we all traced back to the source in this way, painting the ground as a prison, the film could not be shot at all. I prefer to say that "The Witch" is like an exquisite Halloween candy, wrapped in a sweet core under a spooky outer package.
The story told in "The Witch" is simple and simple: a little boy who was turned into a mouse joins hands with his grandmother and his companions to fight wits and courage to defeat the evil witch and save the world. Although the story is simple, the rhythm of the whole film is tight and exciting. From the boy losing his parents to the fight against the witch, the whole process is completed in one go.
A little dissatisfied with the "big kids" is that the way it fights and defeats witches is too simple and slightly "playful", but this film is still a children's film after all, and children are most likely to accept this Simple but full of novelty settings.
From the perspective of horror elements, although the film is not a big production, it is full of sincerity in setting and details. It exaggerates the concept of virtuality through super-sensory performance, and constantly stimulates the audience's nerves. On a night of thunderstorms, the grandmother described the characteristics of a witch to the male protagonist: bald head, big nose, and split mouth.
At this time, the rain marks on the window slowly condensed into a big nose, and the lightning outside the window looked like a big cracked mouth. This symbolic expression not only renders the strange atmosphere, but also intuitively reflects the fear that the male protagonist heard at the time.
There are many similar expressions in the film, which is also where it is controversial as a children's film. Is it appropriate for children to watch stubborn, grinning, grotesque witches in a movie theater?
The answer is unknown, but in a sense, it is suitable for all ages. The whole movie not only has a terrifying image of a witch, but also a heart-warming family, a cute image of a child who turns into a mouse and is naive. The children saw the story of the Wisdom Witches, the adults satisfied their curiosity and saw the bald witches gather.
Peeling off the packaging of the horror elements questioned by the outside world, the core of "The Witch" is realistic and warm. It's not just a story about a child saving the world, it's a story about "inclusive love". At the end of the film, contrary to the normal state of happy children's films, the children did not change back to human beings, and everything became real and had the meaning of "dark fairy tale".
The little boy who turned into a mouse caused exclamations when his parents appeared, which was in stark contrast to the way the male protagonist got along with his grandmother. The grandmother said that through the beard and hair of the grandson, he could still see his shining Eyes, he is still a little boy, and grandma loves him undiminished.
This may be the theme of the whole film to children, "No matter what you become, what you are. Love is inclusive, and those who love you will always love you." People with prejudice against people with disabilities have not yet grasped this point. This film is just conveying love and hope, allowing children to feel the power of kindness and hope.
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