Four years after the release of "The Grand Budapest Hotel", director Wes Anderson, who is popular with literary and artistic youth, brought a new work "Isle of Dogs". This film has long been popular abroad. Not only was it selected as the opening film of the Berlin International Film Festival this year, but also Wes Anderson won the Silver Bear Award for Best Director.
"Canis Island" is the second stop-motion animation film by Wes Anderson. It mainly tells the story of Atari, a young boy who bravely ventures into the "garbage island" to find the guard dog Dian Dian, and forges a deep friendship with the five stray dogs on the island. story. Just watching this plot, do you think this is a fairy tale that "lives up to the crowd" and heals your heart?
However, in the view of the island owner, the film is full of terrifying details. Under the guise of innocence, "Canis Island" is more like a "dark animation" full of metaphors.
Countless horrifying details
In "Isle of Dogs", we can see Wes Anderson's signature symmetrical composition and bright colors. There are also a lot of Japanese elements in the film, such as Ukiyo-e, Taiko, sumo, Noh, hot springs, baseball and ramen, Kurosawa Akira's "Seven Samurai" and Katsushika Hokusai's paintings, etc. Every frame is beautiful. to a computer desktop.
However, in this visual feast, the island owner found that there are a lot of carefully thought out details, telling us that this is definitely not a simple healing fairy tale.
The city of Megasaki, where the story of "Canis Island" takes place, is only one letter apart from Nagasaki, and the city hall where Mayor Kobayashi gave a speech shortly after the movie begins, looks like the Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima.
The Atomic Bomb Dome was originally the Hiroshima Prefecture Industrial Award Office. In August 1945, the United States dropped the first atomic bomb in human history on Hiroshima, which happened to explode over it. Because the storm generated by the atomic bomb almost came from above, although the Atomic Bomb Dome was burnt down, it became the only building at the center of the explosion that did not collapse. Now it has become a war memorial and is part of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. share.
When the plane driven by the little boy Atari crashed on the garbage island, a "mushroom cloud" rose on the ground, also reminiscent of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, named "little boy" (little boy). .
Later, the five dogs Duke, Chief, Boss, Rex, and King that Atari met on the garbage island actually corresponded to the "Chinese Order" issued by Japan in 1884, and the Chinese were divided after that. The five grades of Duke, Hou, Uncle, Child and Male are the main components of the upper class and enjoy high political and economic status. With the help of these five dogs, Atari finally rushed into the parliamentary hall to deliver a reform speech with the help of these five dogs.
In addition, the American students who initiated the revolution corresponded to the internal social reforms made by General MacArthur to Japan after World War II; the laboratory that planned to destroy the dog was mapped to the concentration camps of World War II, etc., all showing Wes Anderson's ambition - more than just depicting a tender heart 's pet story, but compose a Japanese political rhapsody.
Dogs subvert the cat slave regime
In fact, the advancement of the story of "Canis Island" revolves around a political conspiracy. The powers of the pro-cat faction first secretly dropped tens of thousands of disease-causing fleas in the city, creating an unprecedented large-scale canine flu, and then used this as an excuse to expel all dogs, and have developed canine flu-specific serum. of scientists were also secretly killed. In this context, all the dogs in the city have been put on the "garbage island" and left to fend for themselves. The dogs that were originally kept at home have become strays looking for food in the garbage heap. dog.
Before the feature film began, the director's special reminder was already played on the screen - the human characters in the film only speak Japanese, and all the dog barks will be presented in English, without subtitles. Therefore, non-Japanese audiences are more able to take the dog's perspective when watching the movie, and the director's purpose of "using a dog to describe a person" is obvious.
After that, the plot unfolds: Atari, the adopted son of the mayor and a little boy, came to the garbage island to find his own guard dog, Diandian, and met the stray dog Chief. The originally rebellious, fierce and tenacious Chief gradually developed feelings during his relationship with Atari. , and several other dogs to help Atari escape from the garbage island. In the end, the canine flu was cured, the dogs no longer had to be exiled, and the young Atari succeeded Kobayashi as the mayor.
It looks like a happy ending with a big reunion. When I think about it, it makes me shudder: After Atari was elected mayor, he gave dogs a supreme social status. Humans who yell at dogs will be punished for 30 days of community labor. ; He also put his former pet dog, the still alive little bit under house arrest, and erected a statue on it for worship; Chief, who pursued independence, was washed from black and white and became a new generation of guard dogs...
Have things really changed? In fact, nothing has changed except that the authorities have changed from "cat slaves" to "dog slaves". Just like the metaphor in "Animal Farm", the new world has not come, and the Canis Island will not disappear, it will become "Cat Island" and go to the next cycle.
Should love be about control and possession?
Many people may think that although the metaphorical core of the story of "Canis Island" is profound, it is too far from themselves. In fact, if we only regard it as a cute pet story, we can also find another eternal proposition worth reflecting on from it-is our feelings for pets, even friends, relatives, and lovers, love or possession?
Atari, a 12-year-old boy, did not hesitate to hijack a plane to find his guard dog, and came to an island full of garbage, which is hard not to be seen as love. However, when Atari met five stray dogs, he said, "You are all my dogs now." In addition to the companionship of "love", his words more reflected the master-slave relationship.
Unlike cats, dogs, as a branch of the canine family, are equated with "tools". The dog's own living habits are destined to be unable to live alone without humans, which also makes the so-called "love" of those owners create a paradox with the existence of the species "dog".
Many people say that the relationship between Atari and the stray dog Chief is like the domestication of the fox in The Little Prince. But here's what the fox in The Little Prince says: "You're just a little boy to me, like a million other little boys. I don't need you, and you don't need me either. I am just a fox, like a million other foxes. But if you tame me, we will need each other, and to me you will be the only one in the universe; I come to you It's the only one in the world."
But for Atari and Chief, although they need each other, Chief is definitely not the only one for Atari. Just as it is itself a substitute for Dot, although it has dedicated everything to Atari, it has long since lost the freedom and autonomy that were most valued as a stray dog.
Love means giving and the risk of being hurt. Chief dedicates himself to Atari because of love, but its "learning from the past", Diandian, is already telling us that the aspect of being loved should not be possessed, controlled and expected. obey. From this perspective, perhaps the relationship between cats and humans is more equal.
This time, the dog fans won the cat slaves, but what about the next time?
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