This is a somewhat "off-the-beaten-track" film by Pixar standards.
But without hindering the excellence of Pixar itself, many other settings are also very interesting.
The whole story is about "obsession and letting go", "meaning and nothingness", "practice and theory", and finally even touches on the "eternal infinity" and "life itself is life" of Tuotuo and Nietzsche.
This may be Pixar's softening of the age group of its own works, or it may be a big hug to all those on the road.
Pixar's Touch of Gods and Buddhas
Joe has been obsessed with the concert he has not completed, and he will do everything to return to the world. On his way back, many settings are very interesting, involving shaman, soul, meditation and some mystic concepts, such as If a living person wants to communicate with the soul, he must enter a zone, which is a state of meditation, a state of separation of spirit and flesh, and those who experience "flow" in the human world will also briefly enter this realm of ecstasy, but no one Leading, they can only be confined to that zone and cannot talk to other souls. Here, Pixar not only affirms the existence of "another world", but even depicts the junction of "another world" and "this world" - Zone, which is even similar to some ancient Chinese classics , culturally without much reproductive isolation, it even works wonders here.
And if those who are alive do not "correctly" understand the "meaning" of "meaning" and live like a walking dead, then their souls will fall into nothingness and loss, unable to see where they are, and unable to find what they really want What they do - the migrant workers have a lot of love.
The administrators of "Another World", Jerry and Terry, are like God's assistants, responsible for leading everyone to "infinity and beyond", but another interesting setting has appeared. Those who are "unfinished" cannot give up and Those who give up, or those who are not ready to start their next journey, cannot get the earth pass through that door. Before infinity, you can't forget your past, you don't have the strength to open up your way, your soul stays in a transfer station where you can't be reborn, and you are reprimanded by great philosophers and great men from all walks of life - how many people will go when they can't find meaning Looking for biographies or ideas of great people in books or movies to talk about yourself? Pixar left this setting and seemed to smile slightly.
However, the 22nd was unsuccessful.
And that's where Pixar's story starts to be awesome (but not so awesome).
Joe and No. 22 are each other's images, and they are each other's earth pass, which makes a "Shawshank Redemption" story.
Joe and 22 are completely different people. Joe has experienced being alive, but because he is obsessed with that concert, he has forgotten life itself. In his memory, the scenes of eating, living and sleeping alone, and being reprimanded by his mother are all dark Yes, this is a person who did not "die" completely by obsession. I believe that he also fell into the zone many times and turned into a black monster - like when he was teaching students - but he didn't realize it That's it.
22? I'm curious about who 22 really is. If 22 is just a soul that has never been born, then Pixar can only be said to be at a disadvantage. If 22 is a soul that has been born, then the whole story is incomplete.
From the whole story, 22 should have never been born on earth, as a primordial ancient soul (judging by his number) he just listened to the lectures of those great men from earth over and over and tasted nothing food, bored at the transit station that was set to search for spark.
Looking at a lot of things that can be done on earth, 22 must be full of a contemporary Internet buzzword -
That's it?
The assistants who set up the transfer station must have never imagined that some people will question the value of living itself, some people will question whether every bite of pizza is delicious, some people will question whether the things on earth are suitable for me and whether they can make me happy-after all Most souls just take "the earth will make me happy" for granted, or soon find their spark in the transit station, led by other great men, cooking, music, mechanics , but no one, like 22, remains questioning the meaning of everything, questioning being alive itself.
Because he has no "real feeling".
It's a bit like the "can't feel your own existence" that is always mentioned in psychology, which makes many people have a "distance" from their own limbs and souls - I seem to be unable to perceive myself, and everything has no sense of reality.
Because I haven't experienced a real warm hug, I haven't tasted a slice of freshly baked bread, I haven't had a live conversation with others, I haven't been listened to (in the barbershop) seriously, I haven't talked openly about my ideals with my mother, I have never experienced the "real feeling" of the wind blowing on my face and the leaves falling on my palms.
If all experience comes from the empty knowledge and narration of great men, then there is no point in telling a dull story, and a life rooted in it is not worth living. This is where the motif of "practice and theory" is embedded.
Pixar talks about a very bold concept here - "the real life itself is the most worth living".
And the real life, is the ones that Joe has lost -- the chance to talk to his mother (apparently he's good at avoiding serious conversations), the chance to enjoy food alone, the chance to talk to his best barber friend about himself. These are placed after the music by him, after the meaning.
He is the one whose mind has been unknowingly bewitched by "meaning".
He is the opposite of the one who lost all the sparks of 22, and the two together are yin and yang of each other. One of them is pursuing the ultimate meaning, and the other has just realized that the ultimate existence itself is the best spark.
At this point in the story, the audience should have guessed what will happen next - obsession itself does not bring people a sense of accomplishment, Joe touched the motif of "meaning and nothingness" after a perfect solo. .
Is the moment when the goal is achieved is eternity? Is it perfect?
Not quite.
There is a detail in "Langya Bang" that I have always liked. In the finale, Lin Chen asked Mei Changsu, "Is it impossible to hold on without a goal?" The heart is set, and it is a foregone conclusion in the end. This is just a goal that has long been known to be accomplished.
In fact, Joe has always lacked the consciousness of Mei Changsu. He has always regarded that concert as his "unfinished", and gave too much meaning and weight to that moment, so that the concert was completed, which was not commensurate with it." Meaning" is like the top of Mount Tai, but the moment it is completed, it feels light and light.
It's like a bullet that has been accumulated for a long time, but the boss only uses one.
That's right, the boss only uses one bullet. You feel that the boss needs too many bullets, and you imagine defeating the boss as the meaning of your life, so there is a gap.
Just like Joe, he didn't realize that every time he practiced the piano, every time he explained the zone to the students, every time he completed the night solo, every time the piano sounded, he was already "walking towards that goal". One step", it's already a boss fight.
As for the last concert, it is just the last period of the grand masterpiece. Without it, it is only grammatically incomplete, and the semantic aftertaste is long, and it does not damage the masterpiece itself.
He has never been able to understand that, in fact, he has been on the road of "meaning" early in the morning, but he must be attached to the concert that "can't let go".
This is the motif of "attachment and letting go".
And in the dead of night, when he recalled the conversation between himself and 22, and remembered the "those are just old living, just ordinary life" that he denied, only then did he realize what the spark of 22 was - not a grand wish, not a specific of things like music or cooking, but simply to experience life itself.
So in the end he went to pass the earth pass to 22, and he was freed from obsession - I don't need it anymore.
So far, the three motifs are completed.
Some people may accuse Pixar of being cruel - Joe got what he wanted, fulfilled his obsession, won in life, how can he convince others to love life itself?
But there are also barbers and his mother, who is a tailor. The barber's obsession is to be a veterinarian. He eventually became a barber. He didn't continue his obsession, and his life was just as happy; his mother wanted a stable job. My son, but in the end I wasn't happy to go to my son's concert.
Pixar is not cruel, it is just unwilling to tell the audience bluntly: meaning itself is nothingness, something that can be changed, and all meanings that are artificially sacred actually have room for manoeuvre.
Just like Willy Wonka's obsession with chocolate, he finally let go of his obsession with chocolate, believing that "candy itself has no meaning and doesn't need meaning".
Meaning itself is the biggest shackle that human beings put on themselves.
It is also time to let the obsession fly for a while.
So why is the Pixar movie "unfinished"?
The reason is that it does not further explain and dig deep into the identity of 22.
If 22 is just a man on paper, just a person who lacks real life experience, then it is very simple, take it to experience the world, and always find what you like, and the basic human desires are satisfied. For 99% of people, Everyone thinks that "there is at least some worth of living".
But if 22 is a soul who has been through the vicissitudes of life and is unwilling to die, he has seen through all the tricks, understood the truth behind every transaction and every meaning in the world, and experienced the beauty and emptiness of the details. After death, how should Joe persuade him?
The story is a coincidence here. It only discusses what the solution is to "forget the beauty of life itself", but does not discuss what to do with "I have experienced the beauty of life itself, affirmed the beauty of life itself, but I still don't want to continue such a life". .
This is the specialty of Nietzsche's eternal return.
(btw, Nietzsche and Tuo Tuo were not allowed to come out in the story hahahaha, maybe the producers also realized that if they were allowed to come out, the whole story would have a twist, there is no way to say it so roundly, so only Jung was arranged Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha)
Eternal reincarnation is a very important part of Nietzsche's thought, which is simply translated as "understanding life itself, experiencing life itself, and when asked a thousand times whether to repeat every step of this life journey, a thousand times The answer is - yes".
This is the greatest courage and respect for life.
Apparently, Pixar didn't get to the core of a higher level, and didn't let 22 embrace the frustration and suffering of the details of life (like Nana Ming said - convenience store sold out and more hair on the pillow , this is the frustration of adults), instead of letting No. 22 deal with the countless trivialities that are not controllable and slowly wear down will, but just give everyone a dose of chicken soup - go live, life itself is the best.
From a certain point of view, this is a higher requirement for the audience from the positive "Gospels", because there is another possibility that Pixar is hiding the premise of "life itself is the best" here - that is I already understand how bad life itself is, and I have dealt with countless frustrating little things, but in the end I still love life, and I still shout yes when asked "Do you want to start over?"
But this is really the standard of saints. Nietzsche and Tuo Tuo themselves can only achieve laughter and arrogance through inverse training. If people can smile and follow the advice of "loving the world" after experiencing all the hardships, Pixar may really be there. Here lies a great deal of patience and expectation.
Therefore, this film may be a hug for everyone, or it may be a little easter egg that hides a logic chain after the hug, hoping that the audience will "break the void of meaning, jump out of the framework of experience and preaching, and let go After the persistent hope", I can "inattentively" glimpse the "essence of life" of "eternal reincarnation".
It is gentle, but also cruel expectation.
——Little Easter Egg: The moss in "IT Madman" is matched with a Jerry!
In addition, the story of the big fish and the small fish and the sea, I read it in a picture book that a psychologist gave to his daughter. The whole film is like a reunion of old friends(=´∀｀)people(´∀｀=)
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