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"The Story of Kaguya Princess" is not only the end of Takahata's career, but also a revolution in the animation industry.
In fact, as early as 1959, when the 24-year-old Takahata was just graduating from the French literature major of the University of Tokyo and entered Toei Animation, he was still a student and wrote the story of " Our Kaguya Princess ". But this story, after more than half a century , was not really completed until 2013, when Isao Takahata was 78 years old.
It can be said that this animated film condenses the aesthetic thoughts of Takahata Isao's life and precipitates the beauty of Takahata's life. It took 8 years , and the number of paintings reached an unimaginable 240,000 . It is a masterpiece written by Isao Takahata with his life. It depicts animation and its infinite possibilities.
Throughout Takahata's life, his creative career mainly revolves around three key words: defamiliarization effect, high realism, and challenging innovation . These three keywords are vividly reflected in the work "The Story of Kaguya Princess".
The effect of alienation
Isao Takahata mentioned in the second half of his life that his animation production was influenced by German playwright Bertolt Brecht . .
Verfremdung is a very expressive word in German, which has multiple meanings such as alienation, alienation, alienation, and alienation. Brecht used the word to mean first a method and then the effect of that method. As a method, it mainly has two levels of meaning, that is, the actor presents the character as unfamiliar ; and the audience sees the actor's performance or the person in the play in a distance (alienation) and surprise (unfamiliar) attitude . As an effect, the Brecht School of Drama inherited and innovated the realism traditions of Europe and Germany on the one hand, and borrowed from oriental culture , especially Japanese classical drama and Chinese opera , on the other hand .
From this, it is not difficult to understand why Takahata Isao has a soft spot for this theory - this is an aesthetic resonance derived from the bones and blood of an Oriental. The concept of "defamiliarization effect" was mentioned in Takahata Isao's notes in his 20s. Takahata Xun believes that, on the premise that the audience knows in advance, and the defamiliarization effect is used on the basis of the established communication channel , there will be surprises and new meanings will emerge. ——This aesthetic concept later ran through Takahata Isao's life.
For example, "The Story of Kaguya Princess" is based on Japan's oldest literary work, "The Story of Bamboo Tree". It is a story familiar to every Japanese person, but Takahata Isao chose this story as his own after 14 years of seclusion. The purpose of returning to the creative theme of animation arena is obviously to inject a new vitality into this ancient legend, so that the audience can feel a strange alienation from the familiar protagonist, and thus gain a series of unexpected insights.
In the past, in works such as "Children of the Sun", "Girl in the Alps", "Grave of Fireflies", "My Neighbor Yamada-kun" and other works, Takahata only carried out "defamiliarization" from a certain detail or a certain expression technique However, "The Story of Kaguya Princess" applied this technique to the level of the story theme, which shows how thoroughly he practiced this aesthetic concept.
2. Highly realistic
Isao Takahata has a strong documentary plot, and his encounter with Hayao Miyazaki also stems from the pursuit of realism.
Ghibli once published a book called "Manga Cinema" , which is part of Takahata's creative thought and theoretical basis. Author Imamura Taihei was Japan's first animation critic , and he established the theoretical basis of Japanese animation during World War II. The book was written before the war between Japan and the United States, published in Showa 16, and has been widely read throughout World War II. In 1948, three years after the end of World War II, the book was republished by the True Good Beauty Society.
For those who study the history of Japanese literature, Zhenshan Bisha is an important publishing house that laid the foundation for Japanese postwar literature. Tokuma Kangkuai , the actual operator of Zhenshan Beauty Club, later founded the Tokuma Bookstore , and Ghibli was separated from the Tokuma Bookstore. In other words, the book "Manga Films" is the intersection of Takahata Isao and Tokuma Yasuo, and it is also an important book that attracts Takahata Isao into the animation industry.
Coincidentally, the author of this important book that influenced Takahata Isao's life, the just-mentioned Imamura Taihei , is not only a theoretician of animation, but also a theoretician of the genre of cultural films.
The so-called cultural film refers to the collective name of propaganda films and documentary films in the form of documentaries produced during the war . During World War II, there was a trend of thought in Japan, that is, this form of documentary film and cultural film has a higher artistic level than the film with a story . Takahata Isao was deeply influenced by this trend of thought, and he started his lifelong obsession with "cultural film" (documentary plot), even sticking to it.
In 1974, Isao Takahata formally proposed the concept of " Realism of Life " when he directed "Girl in the Alps ". It is precisely with this animation as an opportunity that Takahata Isao began to try to explore the realistic style of "documentaryization" of animation .
His attention to detail restoration is too light to describe as "paranoia" . There are even some details that the audience won't notice at all, but Takahata is extremely focused and enjoys it.
For example, in "A Fairy Tale of Time", there is a passage where the heroine goes to the countryside to collect safflower. Before the creation, Takahata decided to go to the countryside to collect folklore and investigate the production method of safflower. He came to Yamagata Prefecture, where the story took place, interviewed three farmers, asked a series of questions, and made a video record. At the same time, he ordered his assistants in Tokyo to collect all the books related to safflower. After returning to Tokyo, Isao Takahata studied all these books, made a large notebook, recorded the production process of safflower in detail, and even wrote a research manual called "Safflower is processed in this way". It is said that after reading Takahata Isao's notes, a safflower maker in Yonezawa said, "This is indeed the most correct way to make safflower."
In "The Story of Kaguya Princess", there are also many life scenes that are very delicate, vivid and vivid. For example, Sanuki made the scene of chopping bamboo, cutting bamboo strips, and weaving bamboo baskets, the scene of children touching fish, playing in the water, catching pheasants, and bringing children, and the scene of the Shemaru family cutting wood and hand-carving wooden bowls. The wildness in the village reminds you of Xin Qiji's song "Qing Ping Le Village Residence":
The eaves are low and small, and the stream is green.
Wu Yin is charming in the drunk, who is the old woman with white hair?
The eldest is hoeing Douxidong, and the middle is weaving chicken coops.
I like the rogue child most,
Lying at the head of the stream and peeling off the lotus pod.
Then in the scenes of life in the capital, when Kaguya met Akita of Saibu, Sagami tidied up her clothes, the five princes and ministers entered the palace to meet every move, and when the five princes and ministers begged to see Kaguya, the little maid arranged them one by one. The hem of the clothes, the speeches and behaviors of court ladies, as well as the true reproduction of various aristocratic etiquettes, such as dyed black teeth, walking on knees, and looking at picture scrolls, form a sharp contrast between the prosperity and elegance of the capital and the freshness and tranquility of the countryside.
It is worth noting that Japanese cartoonist Eiji Otsuka repeatedly reiterated in the documentary "Takahata Isao Exhibition - The Legacy of Japanese Animation" that the realism pursued by Takahata Isao is not purely accurate and realistic , but the unique performance of animation and movies. What is a kind of reality that can only be embodied by genre .
Just as the name of this film is called "The Story of Kaguya" instead of "Kuyagi", it is to tell people what it is to "live" , what kind of person the real Kaguya is, and how she lives. in this world. What Takahata Xun wants to describe is not only a legend, but also the real life attitude of a human woman .
Takahata Isao once criticized "Nausicaa" in "Animage" magazine, saying that it can only give 30 points for its quality . Takahata hoped that Nausicaa would " rethink the present from the future ," but the film fails to show that. He thinks the film lacks an insight into a modern critique . It is said that Miyazaki was very angry at the time. However, Otsuka Hidehi also believes that although "Nausicaa" is a great animated film, it is indeed slightly inferior in thought .
As a person who criticized "Nausicaa" for "not facing reality", Isao Takahata gave "30 points of evaluation to Hayao Miyazaki" in the question of "The Story of Kaguya Princess". own answer. (As for the criticism of reality in "The Story of Kaguya Princess", there are already many examples in other film reviews, so I won't repeat them here)
3. Challenge innovation
As an out-and-out artist, Takahata is very disgusted with "picking up people's teeth". His entire creative career has been devoted to "challenge" and "innovation".
When Takahata Isao first entered Toei Animation, he participated in the production of "Anshou and Chef Wangmaru". At that time, the characters drawn by Toei Animation used more side-slope angles. As a newcomer, Takahata Isao boldly proposed that the front-facing scene would contain more emotions .
In "The Story of Kaguya Princess", there are many scenes in which the characters speak to the audience. Although they are not necessarily absolutely frontal, side shots are rarely used. It gives the audience the feeling as if the characters are speaking to themselves, and at the same time conveys the rich and complex moods of the characters.
In this set of scenes showing Kaguya's anger and sadness, Takahata-hoon also adopted a positive storyboard, cutting into her pain from the front , allowing the audience to face Kaguya's blowout emotional outburst, successfully amplifying the tension and The emotional rendering effect creates a sense of oppression on the audience.
This is a brand-new expression method, depicting those distressing scenes and Kaguya's emotional fluctuations from the front with rough and primitive lines, and intuitively expressing Kaguya's uncompromising and uncompromising attitude through independent lines . Painful state of mind . This is the innovation of this film: it brings the animation back to the original point, and there is a feeling of "painting moving", and all kinds of emotions have been turned into paintings .
You know, the mainstream animation industry at that time generally adopted the celluloid production process, that is, the outlines were clear and the colors were distinct . However, "The Story of Kaguya Princess" used sketch-style lines , which were generally considered to be semi -finished products in the industry at the time . But Takahata Isao used just 2 seconds of footage to present a spectacle of video art performance .
This is not the first time that Isao Takahata has used his works to rebel against the mainstream of the industry. When making "Girls of the Alps" in 1974, Isao Takahata ignored the siege of mainstream animations full of fighting and fantasy that flooded the screen , and resolutely adopted the method of " depicting daily life meticulously and earnestly ". A bloody road was slashed in the world. Subsequently, Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki established Studio Ghibli together, where they carried out more innovations and challenges. Ironically, a few years later, the two parted ways due to differences in innovative ideas.
As mentioned above, Takahata was pursuing an ultimate restoration of details , thoroughly and meticulously portraying the picture , and making the background as real as a photo . Although this extreme realism can make the audience intuitively feel the real world, it also faces a serious problem: the characters are in the style of comics, and the background is too real .
Many people will complain after watching "Big Fish and Begonia". The background and characters feel like two independent production teams, and the painting styles are incompatible. The characters in the animation are like embellishments floating on the background, chiseled and rounded, and cannot be coordinated . Takahata was facing a similar problem at the time.
In this regard, the solution he gave was the work "My Neighbor Yamada-kun". In this animation, whether it is the characters or the background, the details are omitted, and the brushstrokes of the hand-painted watercolor style are selected . It was also the exploration of this animation that caused him to break with Hayao Miyazaki, who only wanted to do celluloid animation.
Rather Stick to your guns. So Takahata was banned for 14 years. After 14 years, Isao Takahata returned to Ghibli with the question of " what kind of animation to do ", and used the work of "The Story of Kaguya Princess" as the answer to this question.
The original inspiration for Takahata Isao to use hand-drawn line drawing to make animation was an animated film "The Little Hedgehog in the Fog" directed by Russian animation director Yuri Norriskin in the 1980s . At that time , the painting methods and screen production methods of Russian animation were completely different from those of Japanese animation . This Russian animation gave Takahata a deep shock, giving him a sense of "Oh, animation can still be like this", and also made him realize that the way of painting animation as a form of expression also needs new change .
The writing of "The Story of Kaguya Princess" is very rough and free and easy . The film uses a very emotional (emotional) way to directly convert emotions into lines , ending the long-standing practice of using lines or circles to express funny scenes . This is something Takahata has never tried before . In his long life, this was the first time he tried this method, and after he had given up doing animation and returned to the animation industry after 14 years, he thought, "What should I do?" "I can do it myself. What?" At this moment, Isao Takahata chose such a creative path.
"The Tale of Kaguya Princess" is different from the previous celluloid animations. It did not uniformize the pencil lines of the original painting , but drew it once with pencil, and then made it directly into a film . This may seem easy to say, but at the time it was a "forbidden place" in the animation industry .
Traditional celluloid animation can be created by hundreds of original artists at the same time , which can not only improve efficiency , but also greatly save costs . But it's hard to do it by hand. Because 100 people have 100 people's drawing techniques , and each person's pen strength is also different, it is a very difficult challenge to unify the hand-painted lines of different people. If the lines are unified, the original momentum of the sketch will be lost . What's more, in the past, this hand-painted technique was only used in some animation short films , such as the famous ink animation in our country in the early days. But it would take 8 years and 5 billion to produce a 137-minute long animation with 700 people and material resources .
For example, in the classic scene where Kaguya's anger erupted , the original artist drew a total in just 2 seconds of footage .
In addition, this hand-drawn line also faces another important issue: coloring .
Traditional celluloid animations are closed lines, which can be filled with color directly on the computer with PS . However, the hand-drawn lines in "The Story of Kaguya Princess" are all interrupted , and the range of color filling cannot be limited . In addition, it is necessary to deal with patterns that are not easy to fill, such as patterns and patterns of clothing , and the difficulty of the work is astounding.
To this end, Kazuo Oga, the art designer who created classic Ghibli works such as "My Neighbor Totoro" and "Princess Mononoke", made special reference to the painting "Snow in the Deep Forest" by the modern Japanese painter Kawai Yudo , who is very fond of depicting nature . Draw inspiration and create various classic scenes in "The Story of Kaguya Princess".
Another major artistic feature of "The Story of Kaguya Princess" is that it abandons the constraints of the real scene, and the background is good at leaving blank . Even the sky is treated as blank , so that the blue sky basically does not appear. But the blank is not to say that the more the better, but to leave some room for imagination. Although it is not a detailed description, it can be thought-provoking . to a new way of portraying the "real".
To this end, Takahata Xun even refused to use advertising paint , for fear of making the original lush vegetation blunt and gorgeous, losing the original meaning, and falling into another "this is the truth" trap.
Although the previous creative technique of depicting the world like a photo has been abandoned, the rough brushwork can create a sense of distance in the audience , thus triggering emotional resonance. The light color effect also more uniquely shows the realism under the oriental mood . - These are beyond the reach of celluloid animation.
4. Draw inspiration from traditional aesthetics
Takahata Isao has always regarded animation as the visualization of ideas, and expressed his thoughts in the form of animation . When talking about Takahata's works, it is inevitable to talk about the source of his ideas.
Although Zen Buddhism originated in China, it had a profound influence on Japanese culture and art. Suzuki Dazhuo said that Zen emphasizes the spirit over the form . Just like the freehand brushwork of Chinese traditional painting , it is based on dry brush and dry brush. The lines are rough and unrestrained, the outline is bold, the points are vague , and the spiritual core is emphasized .
Mu Xi, a painter of the Southern Song Dynasty who had a deep influence on Japanese Zen painting and was known as "the great benefactor of Japanese painting" , was very good at splashing ink and freehand brushwork. The ancient Japanese book "Matsuzhai Ume Pu" commented that his paintings "are all made up of essays and ink, with simple meanings and no need for decoration ." Traditional painting styles have the same origin in different ways.
Not only that, the spiritual core contained in "The Story of Kaguya Princess" is also quite Zen. Those natural wild interests like "one flower, one world, one leaf and one bodhi", such as frogs catching spiders, kingfishers fishing, cats fluttering butterflies, and Kaguya's loneliness running wildly under the moonlight, all profoundly reflect that the Orientals are not driven by From the outside but from the inside to grasp the unique nature of life . It is Zen Buddhism that excavated this nature.
And Takahata Isao's refusal to follow the trend of the times, regardless of the cost of innovation, also originated from Japan's Zen-like "wabi" (wabi) culture. In his book "Zen and Japanese Culture", Suzuki Dazhuo pointed out that the essence of the so-called "Wabi" means that it does not depend on worldly things-wealth, power, and fame, and inwardly feels something that transcends the times and social status. The existence of things of the highest value. Isn't this the true portrayal of Takahata Isao's creative career!
Another source of inspiration for Kaguya Monogatari is the traditional Japanese picture scroll . The picture scroll is actually very close to Noh and Ningyo Joruri, and it is an art that precedes the stage . There are many depiction techniques born under the influence of the dramatic form of the stage in the picture scrolls. To this end, Takahata Isao once held an exhibition called " Escroll Objects - The Origin of Animation" and wrote the book "Animation in the 12th Century" . In this book, he analyzed in detail the representative work of the 12th century Japanese picture scroll "The Origin of Mount Shingui" . He believes that the performance methods and animation films have certain similarities.
Many people think that the Japanese animation and manga industry will be so developed because the picture scroll itself has the nature of film and animation . Takahata Isao, on the other hand, practised using film theory to explain picture scrolls . For example, use the montage theory proposed by Eisenstein and Pudovkin, etc. - this very classical film theory, and also the basis for the above-mentioned storyboard composition of cultural films - to analyze the picture scroll .
Otsuka Hidehi believes that Takahata Isao may refer to the book "The Composition of Picture Scrolls" . This is a book released during World War II that uses film theory to analyze Japanese picture scrolls. But this book is only at the stage of thought experiment , and Takahata Isao put it into practice , and in the development of this theory, "The Story of Kaguya Princess" was achieved.
Japan's post-war comics advocate "movie-like techniques", and the interpretation of picture scrolls with film theory and the conversion of picture scrolls into a grid of comics are actually the same idea. In order to further develop this idea of Takahata Isao, scholars such as Otsuka Hideki are conducting research on the subject of converting Japanese picture scrolls into comic storyboards by means of cinematic techniques . The transformation of picture scrolls into manga form through cinematic editing instead clearly highlights the dramatic form that exists in picture scrolls - which has inspired Japanese traditional culture researchers. In this sense, the works displayed by Isao Takahata are of great significance to the study of Japanese culture .
The painting guide published in the Edo period - "Skip painting style" by Shogata Keizai has only reached the level of sketching style. Takahata has achieved this level in " My Neighbor Yamada-kun" . But from this step to the creation of "The Story of Kaguya Princess", Takahata Xun still experienced a long struggle, so long that " it may take death to complete that work ".
Interestingly, tracing back to the source, one of the earliest theorists who used the idea of movies to explain picture scrolls during the war was Taihe Imamura mentioned above . It can be said that in the aesthetic precipitation of Isao Takahata's life, the starting point of his technique is the existence of Taihe Imamura, and the creation practice is accompanied by Hayao Miyazaki .
On the other hand, the film era in China today can be said to be the era of the end of the law in Chinese animation . The Shanghai Art Film Studio , once regarded as an idol by Hayao Miyazaki, has long since stepped down from the altar. A number of beautiful animated films full of the essence of traditional Chinese art, such as "Nine Colored Deer", "Nezha in the Sea", "Havoc in the Heavenly Palace", and "Tianshu Qi Tan" , have long been dusted and gradually forgotten in the dust of history. . Nowadays, only in Japanese animations like "The Story of Kaguya Princess" can you get a glimpse of the style of domestic animations in those days, just like recalling the ancient legacy of Luoyang, the eastern capital in Kyoto, Japan - this is inevitable.
References in this article
1. Documentary " Takahata Isao Exhibition - The Legacy of Japanese Animation "
2. Documentary " Animation Subversive Challenge to the Giant of Beauty - Isao Takahata "
3. "Zen and Japanese Culture", by Suzuki Taizhuo
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