Author: Chuanjiang Rat
Author Blog: http://chuanjiangrat.tianya.cn
English name: Eight Below (2006)
Another translation: Minus Octave/Antarctic Story/8 sled dogs
Director: (USA) Frank Marshall
Many people raised objections to the Chinese translation of Eight Below. Indeed, we can exclude the factors of commercial operation first. The translation of this incorrect title just reflects people's despicable and solemn mentality and contempt for all creatures. The sloppy translation of the name made several escaped expedition members the protagonist of the film. There is no doubt that what moved us in the film is not the promise of Jerry and others but the cuteness of the dogs. In fact, in addition to being moved by the film, there should be a deep reflection on shameful anthropocentrism.
In addition to the monkeys and orangutans related to human ancestors that we recognize the evolution of the theory of evolution, dogs seem to have always been regarded as the closest animals to us, and we also classify animals as the most advanced species in the three or sixty-nine classes, especially the loyalty of dogs. It is often called and advocated by our era of lack of integrity. However, in our Chinese dictionary, any vocabulary associated with "dog" cannot be used casually on others. Such as shit, dog day, dog bastard, dog leg, son of a bitch, dog head sergeant, dog daring, dog bullying, dog can’t change shit, dog jumps over the wall, fly camp doggo, dog skin plaster, dog’s mouth can’t vomit ivory, etc., It's all swearing and detrimental. Even if we just finished watching "Eight Below", although you hate the "people" around you, you still can't stand yourself and "dogs".
1. Man has no responsibility for the dog's life?
There is a key plot in the film. When Jerry visited Mindo, the owner of the 8 sled dogs, Mindo asked him if you came to apologize to me? This is not something to apologize. Then he told him a story: his father was knocked out by a grizzly bear in the forest. When he woke up, he found that two dogs had given their lives to save him, and the other dogs were gone; his father was gone. After recovering, he insisted on looking for his dog.
Mindo: Do you know why I want to tell you this story?
Jerry: Because I can't find my dog.
Mindo: This is not a story about a dog, but a story about my father, honoring the dog for everything he has done. More importantly, this is something that will finally calm your heart.
Jerry is the only person in the film who insists on trying to rescue the sled dogs. When his efforts cannot be realized, he always falls into deep self-blame and guilt. But this kind of inner unrest is not entirely due to the concern for the dog's dishonesty and the dog's life. In his opinion, it seems that apologizing to the dog's owner can alleviate his sense of guilt. It's like our car ran over a dog and no one would mourn the dog's death. Just add a polite "sorry" to the dog's owner to be at ease.
Jerry has a special relationship with the dogs, so he is always concerned about the safety of the dog's life. He knew that he and Dr. Davis wouldn't be able to come back alive if it weren't for the 8 sled dogs. On the way to Melbourne Hill to search for Martian meteorites, when a blizzard came, when Dr. Davis fell into avalanche cracks and ice caves, it was completely dependent on the efforts of the dogs to escape safely. However, when they evacuated the inspection station, they ruthlessly left the dogs in the ice and snow, accepting the threats of hunger and cold. After retreating to the base, when everyone else was fortunate to escape the blizzard, only Jerry remembered his promise to the dogs and the danger of buckling the dogs’ necks before leaving. However, no one would agree to his request because no one would agree. Willing to risk their lives to rescue a few sled dogs.
When Jerry asked the commander-in-chief of the base to rescue the dogs, he said that there were still team members who had not evacuated from the inspection station. The commander-in-chief said that I asked all the team members to evacuate? Jerry said that it was 8 sled dogs, and the commander-in-chief categorically refused his request. At that time, only Jerry regarded the dogs as members of the National Science Foundation and their former members of life and death. In the eyes of others, what do dogs count? Even people can't be saved at this time! And in order to avoid the snowstorm, the base cancelled all the activities of the Antarctic expedition within six months, that is, abandoning plans and efforts to rescue the dogs.
Poor Jerry is too weak. He returned to the United States, hoping to rescue the dogs through various channels, but they all hit a wall. The United States is bigger. General Marshall can decide to save Private Ryan at all costs and return him to his mother, but there is no organizational force. Pay a little price for the lives of 8 dogs and take a little risk. Let the dogs struggle on the line of life and death, and expect people to fulfill their promises in desperation.
Who will bear the responsibility for the dogs' lives? There is no law, no morality, only the conscience of the people they rescued. As Jerry’s teammate Katie said: (Unable to pick up the dogs as promised) is not her responsibility, not anyone’s responsibility. Because almost everyone is greedy and fearful of death and ungrateful. The dogs rescued Dr. Davis from the death line. At the Mars Meteorite Exhibition, he thanked his wife and son, the school’s science foundation, and the members of the Antarctic Science Research Station, but he forgot to risk it. Life-threatening dogs who gave him a second life! When Jerry went to ask for his help, he didn't give advice to Jerry, but said to Jerry: You have to find a way to forget all this. Jerry asked him: Can you do it? He was speechless. In his view, scientific achievements are obviously more important than the lives of dogs. Later, when he almost forgot about his "life-saving dog", it was his young son's drawings and comments of 8 dogs that stimulated his conscience and soul, and he realized that he was fully capable of returning to Antarctica to rescue the dogs. .
2. "Dog Day" is more affectionate than "Ren Day"!
Humans always seek help from dogs at critical moments of life and death, but they also ruthlessly abandon dogs at critical moments of life and death. Compared with the ruthless and unrighteous people, the spirit of friendship and mutual help presented by the 8 sled dogs in desperate situations is so shocking, they make humans appear so wretched, cowardly, selfish and unfeeling.
In my opinion, the few shots of their lives in Antarctica are all "ideological and moral education readers" that we humans should learn:
1. When the strong wind blows away the flag of the inspection station, the dogs began to break free from their collars one by one. Only the old Jack did not break free. The dogs ran away. Maya walked up and bit the old Jack’s neck, trying to help him break his collar, but this sled dog who had worked for humans for ten years was unwilling. , Maya had to lick the old Jack's forehead lightly. The old Jack was motionless, looking into the distance, quietly waiting for the coming of death. In my opinion, old Jack’s choice to wait for death is not ignorant loyalty (which would deny the loyalty of other dogs), but the weather-tested old Jack has long seen through people’s merciless and vain promises. He is old and accepting. After the injury, even if you break free, it is difficult to get through this level.
2. Dewey unfortunately fell down the edge of the mountain while chasing the colorful scenes of the polar regions. The dogs rushed down to look at him under the leadership of Maya. When they found him seriously injured, they all cuddled beside him and slept at the foot of the mountain for a night. After waking up, the dogs found that Dewey was dead and it was dangerous to stay at the foot of the mountain, so Maya led them away. At this time, Truman, Dewey's twin brother, licked his brother's face with his tongue, and pawed the snow next to his brother with his feet, with a violent cry in his mouth. He hoped to wake up his dead brother. When everyone left, the mature "deputy squad leader" Max ran up and leaned his head tightly on Dewey's head, using his body to melt the snow on his body, and at the same time calling the dead compatriot's The name, the expression is extremely sad.
3. Max was eating a big dead whale, but was scared away by the huge seal. When he was in shock, the dogs came. Dead whales are their guarantee for survival. Max quietly walked around, grabbed a piece of whale meat and ran away, luring the seal to chase him. He escaped to a halt, and looked back to see that his friends were eating whale meat with relish, and his eyes were full of happiness. Suddenly, the seal turned around and rushed out of the ice cave and bit Maya’s leg. Max rushed to the Shanghai Leopard’s neck and bit it. Other dogs also rushed to attack the seal, forcing the seal to release Maya and flee in a hurry. . In the face of danger, the dogs' bravery and unity made people cry.
4. Max and the other four dogs each came back with a bird in his mouth. He gently placed the bird next to the injured Maya, took two steps back, sat aside, and waited for Maya to eat. But Maya picked up the bird, limped and put it back to Max, then backed down and continued to lie down. The dogs put the birds in their mouths in front of Max and let the new leader distribute them. Max quickly picked up the bird, put it back to Maya, and asked the other dogs to grab the birds and eat them. . Seeing that Maya still refused to eat, he slowly crawled forward and put his mouth close to Maya's. The two living beings breathed together, letting them survive in the end. Poor Maya may feel that she is dying. She can no longer find food. She prefers to starve herself instead of dragging down other partners, and Max’s suffering when her partner is in trouble is equally amiable and respectable ( The second-in-command in each of our units should learn from Max!).
5. People return to the inspection station, ready to take the dogs away from this sad place. When the other dogs rushed into the car, Max didn't get in the car. As he ran back, he barked at Jerry-he asked the owner to take the surviving Maya. Maya lay quietly in the snow, already dying. The leader who was bravely pulling on the sled with vigour has almost been forgotten by people. Perhaps in the depths of her heart, she has begun to despair of mankind. She is not because of her master. Arrived with the slightest excitement and attention, just lying sullenly. Jerry touched Maya lightly, and said to Maya with tears and shame: Maya, you are good, sorry girl. At this time Maya slowly raised her head and accepted the host's apology and call.
Too many touching shots make me excited and ashamed. I am moved by the courage and mutual help of the dogs, and ashamed of the ruthlessness of mankind. At the same time, it reminds me of the movie Lord of the Flies (1990) directed by Harry Hook, in which a group of baby soldiers are exiled on an isolated island, fighting each other brutally and bloodily in order to survive. And in "Eight Below", we don’t see any conflicts and fights between dogs because they fight for food. Therefore, what reason do we have to use words like "dog biting dog" when fighting each other (don’t insult dogs anymore) Up!) What about it? Do we still believe that "human day" is more emotional than "dog day"?
Moved and ashamed, let us once again remember the names of the heroes of this movie:
Old Jack, Maya, Max, Dewey, Truman, Shorty, Shadow, Buck.
3. The film author's brilliant pen-a slap
in the face of anthropocentrism. In the eyes of most audiences, Jerry is the most affirmed person. He (and his friends Katie, Cooper, and Dr. Davis later discovered by his conscience) and others are ruthless In contrast, driven by their conscience, they know to take responsibility for the dog’s life and do their best to act. In fact, in my opinion, everyone in the film is cowardly and ruthless in front of the dogs. In the first part, I analyzed Jerry's attempt to get rid of the uneasy psychology. Here, I want to point out that the film author’s brilliant pen in the film lies in the end. Jerrys were very excited when they saw the surviving dogs, because the survival of the dogs cleared them of condemnation and guilt. But when Jerry was counting the names of the dogs, he was completely unaware of the absence of the two dogs-Maya and Dewey, Maya was once the leader of the dogs, and Dewey was Truman's twin brother (the special identities of the two dogs are the ingenious setting of the director)- —What reason do Dr. Jerry and Davis have for forgetting? The two dogs used to share tribulations with them! Even if Jerry finally found Maya under Max's guidance, he did not remember that Dewey ever existed. Bring back Maya Wanglumen, Tao is sentimental but still ruthless.
This wonderful pen really demonstrates the wisdom of the film authors-in an era when the earth's ecology is drastically bad and the conflict between humans and other creatures is intensifying, we should reflect on anthropocentrism and the ethical logic of human beings as the sole purpose.
Dr. Wang Xiaohua from Shenzhen University pointed out in the article "Constructing a Great Ethics Beyond Anthropocentrism" that ethics has two fundamental transitions: the first is "from the fear of gods to the fear of mankind", and the second is "from the fear of mankind". To fear everything". In fact, the second turning point is entirely in the theories of Albert Schweitzer and others. There is still a long way to go from practice, and even going back and forth gradually. The French thinker Schweitzer said in his book "Awe of Life": ethics is related to man’s behavior towards all lives within his scope; only when man thinks that all life, including human life and all biological life, is sacred He is ethical at the time of the year; only when he experiences the ethics of infinite responsibility for all life can he have an ideological basis. Few people realize the theoretical value and practical significance of these warnings.
We almost never reflect on the ethical logic of human beings that ignore life outside of human beings. Entering modern society, when Nietzsche and others declared that "God is dead", humanitarian ethics replaced the ethics of Shintoism (in fact, there is one more God, and human beings will not fear the lives of other creatures, but the creation of God. The destruction of life is somewhat convergent), man has become the master of the universe, and of course he has become the “scale of all things”. People are confident that “nothing is higher than human existence, and nothing is more dignified than human existence.” (Ephesus Lom's "For One's Own Man") Man is an end, and all other things are the means to achieve this end. Humans enjoy the resources of all things unscrupulously, and the meaning of all things is completely measured by whether they are useful to human beings. As a result, human beings transform everything into destruction. As a result, a series of real and potential disasters such as environmental pollution, species extinction, ozone layer disappearance, greenhouse effect, and nuclear war threats follow one after another.
The poor animals bear the brunt. Not many people really regard animals as human friends. The lives of animals are as light as grass, and people have the right to live and kill animals. When humans use animals to serve themselves, why do they care that their lives are as precious as ours?
The famous French scholar Levi-Bryu vividly recounted the atonement after the hunting of animals in certain primitive tribes in the book "Primitive Mind"—the gratitude ceremony: "When placing a wild animal, let its feet face the east; There are several bowls of tesvino and various other foods in front of them. Everyone walks up to the deer one by one and strokes it with his hands, from the nose to the tail, and thanks it for letting himself be killed.'Rest in peace, brother?' (If If it’s a female, it’s called the eldest sister.) The wizard can give a long speech to the dead beast... "You brought us feathers, and we are deeply grateful to you." Compared with other creatures, humans have no privileges; killing other animals is a last resort; this kind of living does not represent the strength of human beings. People must express gratitude and atonement to those creatures who have dedicated their lives to humans. . Compared with primitive people, do we modern people have the face to say that we are more civilized and more humane?
Later, when people have mastered supernatural powers relative to other animals, whether it is to fear gods, gods, or later gods (including gods of various religions), people are all about other creatures and inanimate creatures. Condescendingly, people's sense of superiority in front of all things is increasing day by day. People deny animal consciousness, emotion, language, and even easily deny the life of all things. It is not the protection and perfection of other lives, but the endless violence and plunder.
One of my teachers proudly said that only he realized another meaning of stealing the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden: God said to Adam and Eve that you cannot eat the fruit of the tree, or you will die. The fundamental reason for men and women to feel fear is that they realize that humans must die, which is the consciousness of human beings beyond other creatures. I don't think we can be so arbitrary. We are not other animals. How can we easily deny their emotions? How can we know that they don't realize that the dog is about to die or the cow is about to die? I have seen the tears and sorrow of a cow before it was slaughtered.
The six months of hard survival of the eight dogs in the Antarctic greatly satirizes us humans-in the harsh environment, humans need them to survive, and they can also survive without human assistance.
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