"How to Train Your Dragon" is a relatively popular Hollywood cartoon recently. It has achieved good box-office results not only in North America but also in China. Unlike ordinary blockbuster cartoons, the film has a surprisingly good reputation both at home and abroad. Good, and word of mouth drives the box office, forming a virtuous circle, and domestic theaters have already planned to extend the film's schedule. The film incorporates popular elements such as comedy, growth inspiration, adventure, etc. The style is fresh and cheerful, and at the same time there is no lack of useful thinking. It is suitable for the whole family to watch together. It is really the best choice for home travel and leisure pickup.
A typical DreamWorks-style "anti-hero" story
DreamWorks is the only production company in Hollywood that can compete with Disney's animation empire. Although it has no advantage in the many contests with Pixar in recent years, DreamWorks is characterized by a new approach, although it is not seen. He has to be able to overwhelm the west wind, but also through his unique style, he can mutually benefit and complement his competitors and be in an invincible position.
DreamWorks' signature animation Shrek series has already come out to the fourth, although it has become the last resort, but after all, it was once brilliant, and the limelight is no two. Shrek's brand-new fairy tale style that subverts the traditional hero image has led a wave of "anti-heroes" on the screen, creating a new era of "anti-heroes" on the screen.
The so-called "anti-hero" refers to a concept opposite to "hero". This type of role, the author "falsifies" traditional values through the change of the fate of such characters, symbolizing individualism. The publicity of ideas, the decline of the traditional moral value system, and people's doubts about ideals and beliefs. (Quoted from Baidu Encyclopedia)
The reason why "Shrek" has achieved unprecedented success is precisely because it has created Shrek, an anti-hero image that subverts the traditional, romantic fairy tales of princes and princesses. Over the years, people don't want to disgust themselves again and again. The timely appearance of "Shrek" subverts traditional aesthetic values. This green-skinned monster is dirty and ugly, and has a questionable IQ. He is withdrawn, unpopular, and has no lofty aspirations and noble origins. Between yin and yang, the mission of rescuing the princess fell on his head, but even so, if it wasn't for his own good, this timid fat man wouldn't take such a big risk for a princess who can't be beaten .
The story of another popular movie "Kung Fu Panda" by DreamWorks is also a model. It also creates a hero full of flaws and a fairy tale that is not romantic but closer to real life. These cartoons of DreamWorks are welcomed by the most general audience, because he makes many people see their own shadow in the film, although each of us is so ordinary, even useless, but still can be warm and touching through the film. Power, bring a bowl of chicken soup to our ordinary hearts, and encourage us little people to realize our dreams big and small.
The protagonist of "How to Train Your Dragon" also inherits the anti-hero tradition of DreamWorks, and Hiccup Tongshoe is such a vegetable. Among the warriors of Vikings, he is a timid, weak, and unable to support Adou. Vikings advocate strength and take pride in killing more enemies (dragons). Hiccup's shoes seemed out of place, and he was the object of ridicule and despise since he was a child. But he actually has his own advantages. He is very smart, kind, full of humor, and he has a different thinking than ordinary people. In the end, he used his kindness to win the trust of the enemy and the transformation of the ideological concept of the same kind. Different from the previous way of thinking to achieve a new victory.
However, for the previous DreamWorks works, the protagonist and the story did not rebel to a great extent. The story of the victory of a small character like the hero has increasingly become the mainstream model of contemporary literary and artistic works. However, it is also appropriate to repeat itself, including the mainstream values conveyed by the film, which all show that the film is quite satisfactory in terms of artistic techniques and ideological connotations.
The story of the communication theme in the poster
is like this. The island where the Vikings live is often attacked by evil dragons. They have also been enemies with dragons for generations, and becoming master dragon slayers has become the value pursuit of the entire ethnic group. He has become a freak with no power, but he is disabled and strong, he has the same world and the same dream, and he also regards killing the enemy on the battlefield as his lifelong ambition.
Hiccup's thinking seems to be different from others from the beginning, because he is limited by his own conditions, he cannot become a brave warrior, but he can use his brain, emancipate his mind, and use the characteristics of Hiccup's shoes according to his own specific situation. The theory of how to train a dragon finally achieves the goal of saving the country through a curve. Facts have proved that whether it is a hard bridge, a hard horse or an opportunistic approach, the ability to train a dragon is a warrior.
But when he stepped on dog shit and shot down a dragon, Hiccup's shoes were overflowing with sympathy and couldn't bear to kill him. So the kind screenwriter made the kind-hearted Hiccup Boys' shoes win the trust of the other party, the Vikings and the dragon became friends, and the film began to fall into the ideal of world harmony from here. Because Hiccup's shoes are familiar with the living habits of dragons, taming dragons has become an easy task. He performed well in the training camp for young people, and he almost defeated the enemy inside and out.
The success of Hiccup's shoes also confirms an eternal rule of human conduct for thousands of years - know yourself and the enemy, and win every battle. Since he has taken on the task of understanding the enemy in depth, under the leadership of Toothless Children's Shoes, he went deep into Longtan and found that the Dragon Race is actually a very pitiful ethnic group. They have a terrible tyrant, and all the farts will be oppressed by him. Under the leadership of Hiccup Boys, the Dragons and Vikings united to defeat the tyrant, the Dragons were freed, and the Vikings and the Dragons were able to share peace ever since.
There are several posters for the film, but the most important and deeply rooted one is undoubtedly the one in which Hiccup reaches out and strokes the toothless shoes. This scene in the poster seems to be the scene when Hiccup and Toothless have just started to touch each other. We see the two little guys taking the step of tentative steps with difficulty and caution when facing the image of the enemy in the mouth of their parents. At that moment, I seemed to see Nixon set foot on the land of new China for the first time, Arafat and Clinton embraced cordially, Reagan and Gorbachev broke the ice, Kim Dae-jung and Kim Jong-il had a great talk... In a word, He is not alone.
At this point, the theme of the film couldn't be clearer. What the poster showed us was one of the biggest themes of the film, which is communication and reconciliation. Through this poster, the film expresses the need to communicate and understand each other, eliminate prejudice, and live in peace between people, nations, nations, and nations. This poster can be said to be the condensation of the theme of the film.
The theme of Hollywood's main theme film
actually has a strong ideological color. Through such a relaxed, humorous and warm story, the film conveys the mainstream values of American society and is also part of the so-called universal values.
It is still easy to see that the story told in the film has obvious metaphors. The United States, which enjoys a democratic system, has enjoyed the full benefits of liberal democracy for centuries, but they have been at war with countries whose ideology is against them for the past century, from the former Soviet Union, Castro's Cuba, To later Vietnam, North Korea, then to the Taliban's Afghanistan and Saddam's Iraq... The common characteristics of these countries are reflected in the film. They are unknown and terrible to the United States, and the explanation given in the film is also consistent with the film. The general understanding of these countries and peoples in American society is that their people are actually very lovely and kind. They have no malice towards us, but they have a huge demon-like leader who ruled them bloodily.
This devil is their totalitarian rule. They adopt the means of totalitarian rule for the people inside, and his people can only be enslaved and squeezed, and they contribute their labor income to this blood-sucking ruling class. Under such a system, the internal society Contradictions abound, and their people tend to be extreme and unfriendly.
Therefore, the male protagonist of the film took the steps to communicate with rationality and sincerity, but he really wants to use peaceful diplomacy to change the values and social systems of these nations with different histories and national conditions. It is not as simple as in the film. At most, it satisfies the good wishes of most people who yearn for peace, reconciliation and dialogue.
Such a mainstream Hollywood film that conforms to universal values can be called Hollywood's main theme film. Why can Hollywood's main theme film be so popular, good-looking and fun, and can convey positive values? We used to often I think it's because Hollywood's film industry is relatively developed, with sufficient technical advantages, and the films produced have visual impact. In fact, of course, this is not the main reason. These films convey the true feelings that most people can resonate with and the general public. Values that can be deeply recognized, so we can get the recognition of most people, and the reason why our main theme film is not good, no need to explain.
Hollywood distanced from official thinking
In fact, Hollywood’s main theme films are endless. Most of Hollywood’s films convey a relatively mainstream value, which is recognized by the vast majority of Americans and even people all over the world. Values such as humanitarianism are recognized by people in most parts of the world. We often criticize American cultural hegemony. In fact, I don’t think so-called cultural aggression exists. It is everyone’s freedom to agree with any values. If everyone believes in these values, it means that they have universal application to human society, so these Values have strong vitality; on the contrary, it is very difficult to force people to believe and believe in a set of ideas that are not in line with people's interests. He needs to constantly emphasize and repeat them with highly provocative cultural products. Even so, the effect It's also not satisfactory, which is why some countries' main theme films are not well-made as I just said.
Even if Hollywood conveys the mainstream values of American society, it is not the same voice. Generally speaking, these voices tend to maintain a certain distance between official policies and ideas. For example, Hollywood movies often become a policy against the US government and convey people's livelihood. a way of public opinion. Such films are not uncommon, and the same is true for this film. It supports the need for mutual trust and communication between people and between races, and opposes war and conflict. Although the real world is often not a fairy tale, the situation of international politics is not like the one in the film. So simple and beautiful, but this is a way for a work of art to fulfill its social function. The author uses what he thinks is the right way to tell the US government that no matter how unreasonable those rogue countries are, their people are innocent, and war is always is not advisable.
The same is true for the two films that competed fiercely at the Oscars at the beginning of this year. "Avatar" is a metaphor for some countries' governments to enforce their own values by means of war, and destroy the ecological balance and plunder resources, while "The Hurt Locker" reflects the The devastation of the war in Iraq and the damage to the hearts of ordinary American soldiers. Between the two, although the former is superior in terms of visual effects, the values it conveys are relatively simple, superficial and extreme. It almost completely negates the modern civilization of mankind, blindly advocating a beautiful and harmonious primitive society, and lacks sufficient The depth of speculation, relatively speaking, "The Hurt Locker" is obviously more socially valuable for the subtle depiction of human nature in the state of war. Therefore, the more than 3,000 Oscar judges who represent the mainstream values of society can generally recognize those films that keep a certain distance from the official consciousness, but do not go too far. Because this can not only show the responsibility of social criticism of works of art, but also not fall into empty talk.
View more about How to Train Your Dragon reviews
