In "The Garden of Words", director Xin Haicheng uses the mechanism of dreams to make the pure love between teachers and students germinate, and the love grows rapidly in the metaphor of "madness". A life-or-death decision", what to do? It is an inquiry to the society, and it is also an inquiry to you and me. As director De Xin Haicheng gave his own thinking in the film: Please move forward bravely for love.
The meaning of dreams
In the film, Xiaoxiong had a dream in the pavilion: on his mother's birthday, his father gave his mother a pair of purple high-heeled shoes. As a child, Xiaoxiong was deeply attracted by exquisite shoes, and quietly planted the ideal of "being a shoemaker" in his heart. The dream, though short, plays an important role throughout the film. Xin Haicheng explained the reason why Xiaoxiong was obsessed with shoemaking by "dream", and at the same time, Xiaoxiong's love for Yukino was also "beginning" in the dream .
Takao is eager to meet Yukino, and every time they meet, Takao will always be attracted by Yukino's shoes. "Xueye" and "Xueye's shoes" became a bright light in Takao's monotonous life; in a dream, Takao was attracted by his mother's purple high heels, and high heels became an unforgettable memory in Takao's mind. Austrian psychologist Freud said in "The Interpretation of Dreams" that the source of dreams is "those experiences during the day, from which memory shifts its focus to some seemingly irrelevant memories", the film In Takao's life, "Yue Ye's shoes" have been transformed into "Purple High Heels" through the transformation of the dream mechanism, and at the same time, "Yue Ye" has also been transformed into "Mother" through the transformation of dreams .
In the film, Xiaoxiong's mother does not do housework, is self-willed, and loves to drink. Just as Xiaoxiong's brother said, her mother is incompetent. However, maternal love is necessary for every child to grow up, and in Xiaoxiong's world, "incompetent mother" means Xiaoxiong can't get enough love from his mother, which eventually leads to "lack of love". This lack of experience is a kind of gap that "the sun illuminates my loneliness even more desolately". On the one hand, it stimulates Xiaoxiong's shoemaking talent, and on the other hand, it also prompts Xiaoxiong to search harder in life. The sustenance of love: Drawing shoes for mother and making shoes has become the most ideal way of emotional sustenance. Freud believed that, as they age, boys entering puberty transform their childhood attachment to their mothers into love for elders outside the home. These people may be friends of their parents (as in the movie "The Graduate") or their own teachers (as in the movie "The Classroom"). In the film "The Garden of Words", Yukino appeared when 15-year-old Xiaoxiong regarded shoemaking as the only way to sustenance his emotions. In this gentle, beautiful, mature woman who appreciates Takao's "shoemaking" in a company (unintentional) way, Takao's emotions are released, and with Yukino, Takao experiences precious happiness. With the transformation of the dream mechanism, Yukino has become the "mother" in Xiaoxiong's dream, and the entire dream has completed the transformation of all important memories during the day.
The dream state has been transformed, and it has also helped the dreamer to realize the inner wish. As Freud said: the essence of the dream "is a (repressed) wish (modified) fulfillment". In the dream, the deep meaning of the process of "Xiaoxiong's father sending shoes to mother" is precisely the dream to help Xiaoxiong complete the sublime wish of "giving shoes to Yukino". The dream shows Takao's emotional changes to Yukino, and it also hints at the end of the film "Takao gives shoes to Yukino".
The cryptic narrative
"The Garden of Words" is a story about a shoemaker (Tao Xiong) pursuing his dream, and "shoes" naturally become the core of the narrative. In the film, Takao makes shoes, Dad delivers shoes, Yukino loves shoes, and Takao delivers shoes. "Shoes" become the bearing point of all emotions in the film. "Shoes" represent Xiaoxiong's ideals: Xiaoxiong is persistent, diligent and serious in making shoes; "shoes" represent Yukino's courage to overcome difficulties. With the help of the shoemaker, Yukino recovered. The taste and the courage to take a step in pursuit of happiness. However, in addition to this, the "shoes" in the film are more about the narrative of "sex".
In Xiaoxiong's dream, his father gave his mother a pair of purple high-heeled shoes. The description of this dream is not so much the protagonist’s memory of childhood, but rather the desire of 15-year-old Takao for Yukino (the mother in the dream): shoes, hollow in the shape of a boat, appearing in the dream represent female genitalia ( Freud). Of course, this kind of desire is not filthy and dirty, but the ignorance of love and sex at the beginning of the relationship, which should be understood and respected. In addition to the "shoes" in Xiaoxiong's dream, the shoes are also depicted in detail many times in the film. Xueye is a woman who loves shoes. Every time she goes out, she wears a pair of exquisite shoes of different styles and colors. Under the sun, Xueye's shoes are bright and charming, and the shoes and feet are integrated into one.
The "foot" in the film, a vivid symbol, has the meaning of "sex". The satisfaction it gives comes from the dynamic, which includes not only the rhythm of walking, but also the provocation of feet to shoes in leisure. This rhythmic, stressful process is reminiscent of the basic dynamics of sexual intercourse. In the film, the overwhelmed shoes stop quietly on Xueye's feet, walk rhythmically, or are randomly provoked by the toes. The textual meaning behind all these pictures is exactly the director's crazy metaphors and conjectures about the "sex" of the hero and heroine.
If in the film, director Xin Haicheng completed the emotional "accumulation" of the two people through the multi-angle depiction of feet and shoes , then, at the end of the film, Yukino ran out of the house barefoot and hugged Xiaoxiong on tiptoe The painful scene is very good Completed the "release" of the emotions of the two and the film's emotions : Yukino bravely took a step to pursue happiness, put aside the worldly troubles, and hugged Xiaoxiong tightly...
High-quality and exquisite pictures are Xin Haicheng's signature craftsmanship, and this time in "The Garden of Words", the excavation and reconstruction of the images of feet and shoes behind the exquisite pictures enrich the simple story and render the monotonous narrative. In the color of art.
3. The Humanistic Care of "Teacher-Student Love"
Teachers, elders who preach, teach, and solve puzzles, are different from students. This is the fundamental reason why "teacher-student love" under traditional ethics is not accepted by people. However, the setting and hopeful ending of the story in the film "The Garden of Words" is the director Shinkai Makoto's own thinking and understanding of "teacher-student love", which is not a description of life and ethics. Follow the rules, but a humanistic concern for "teacher-student love" that is different from traditional ethics and moral criticism.
In Xiaoxiong's dream, Yukino completed the "replacement" with Xiaoxiong's mother. In the dream, Xiaoxiong's mother was the mirror image of Yuuye, helping Xiaoxiong to complete the emotional transfer. In the film, although Xiaoxiong's mother did not appear directly, the only two appearances were in Xiaoxiong's dream and Xiaoxiong's brother's memory, but Xin Haicheng explained her characteristics carefully and carefully through the mouths of others: love to drink. , loves shoes, is not good at housework, is in love with a man 12 years younger than him. The setting of this character feature coincides with the characteristics of Yukino: because of life and work, Yukino relies on beer to anesthetize herself to relieve stress; she likes shoes, and when she is bored, she uses her feet to play with shoes, and every time she plays They will all wear a different pair of shoes; in the film, Yukino and Takao like each other, and Yukino is 27 years old and Takao is 15 years old, and the difference between the two is exactly 12 years old.
In real life, Xiaoxiong's mother is also the mirror image and microcosm of the heroine Yukino. Xiaoxiong found the feeling of a mother in Yukino, an irresistible kindness. In the film, Xiaoxiong's brother explained that later his mother moved out of the house to live with her boyfriend. The director's setting for this plot is unique: Takao's mother is the mirror image of Yukino, and the "successful departure" of Takao's mother and her 12-year-old boyfriend becomes a hint of the relationship between Yukino and Takao: the two will definitely be together.
In front of the ethics of teachers and students, Xiaoxiong also hesitated: should he express himself bravely, or leave silently? Should we listen to our innermost thoughts, or should we go with the flow of ethics and morality? In the face of Xiaoxiong's confession, Yukino was a little caught off guard, but under the constraints of the "teacher" social status, he could not accept this heavy love in the end: "It's not Miss Yukino, you should call me, teacher." But Makoto Shinkai's two people finally put aside their mundane ethics and embraced tightly in the rain. Although Yukino went to teach in a new city at the end of the film, and Takao's life returned to its former calm and monotony, Takao and Yukino still kept in touch and lived a hopeful life powered by each other.
In life, it is regrettable and heart-wrenching that the sincere emotions under the constraints of the cold traditional ethical hierarchy cannot get "good fruits". The fresh "greenness" is the human concern of "a red apricot comes out of the wall", and it is a touch of red in the cold winter of the twelfth lunar month. Although a little unreal, it is precious and full of hope: whether Miss Yukino or Teacher Yukino, please take a brave step for love!
"Vaguely thundering, cloudy sky, but hoping for the wind and rain to keep you here. Vague thundering, cloudy sky, even if there is no rain, I will stay here."
references
1. Freud. The Analysis of Dreams [M]. Beijing: International Culture Publishing Company, 1996
2. Ai Li Shi. Sexual Psychology [M]. Beijing: Life·Reading·Xinzhi Sanlian Publishing House, 1987
3. Qiu Hongzhong. Sexual Psychology [M]. Guangzhou: Jinan University Press, 2008
4. Nie Xinru. Introduction to Animation [M]. Shanghai: Fudan University Press, 2009
5. Yuan Tianqing. Research on Xin Haicheng and his animation works [D]. Shanghai: East China Normal University, 2011
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