Cold Wonderland and the End of the World —— Appreciation of Hulu Brothers —— Preservation of Ma Boyong's Fine Prose

To borrow a word from Mr. Murakami, I just want to dedicate it to the lost heroes and the lost history. Cold fairyland, the end of the world, these two pairs of phrases exude subtle emotions, which have a wonderful resonance with the world of Hulu brothers. I don't think there is any other more suitable description that can accurately describe the true meaning of this animation.

Behind the seemingly simple and naive story, the Hulu brothers actually metaphor a story about faith, a story about redemption and a story about sacrifice. Compared with a sharp blade, it is more like a bard's slender finger. It only needs to pluck a few strings unexpectedly, and then it touches the deepest part of human mind, which always makes us wake up suddenly at night and then burst into tears.

First, at the beginning, the prophet old man and pangolin

Everything started with the "first shock", and with this as the origin, the whole world began to change dramatically.

The location of the "first impact" was Hulu Mountain. As a witness, the old man saw Hulu Mountain split in two, a huge demon fog soared, flowers and trees were ravaged wherever scorpion and snake spirits went, deer and birds were frozen, and the peaceful and peaceful world was no longer beautiful.

The cause of this catastrophe was that pangolins mistakenly dug through Hulu Mountain, which suppressed monsters. As a result, in an instant, the evil forces broke free and began to wreak havoc in all directions. This seems to be a repeat of the story of Eden. It is recorded in the Bible that Adam and Eve, the ancestors of mankind, violated God's laws, could not restrain their curiosity and stole the fruits of wisdom, so they were driven out of the Garden of Eden by angry God. It is also here that pangolin broke the seal of God, and the evil forces released destroyed the original perfect world. Two similar stories show the same moral: the evil caused by human greed finally made them lose heaven.

At the same time of this catastrophe, the old man, as a witness, was introduced into the ruins of Hulu Mountain by the light, and with the help of the green grass in his hand, he obtained seven seeds that could "destroy the demon". Cao Xian is green, the color of peace and tranquility. When the whole outside world is infected by the devil's black wind, it is self-evident that only this green Cao Xian still retains the memory of the old world, which is the key to saving the world. When Pandora closed the box, "pain" and "disease" had already flown to the world, and only "hope" remained at the bottom of the box. When the demon was raging, the fairy grass with gourd seeds floated leisurely to the old man's hand. The old man himself has changed from a "witness" to a "guide" to train "qualified" Hulu brothers.

In this way, while the old world collapsed, the seeds of the new world quietly began to grow and sprout. Different from the traditional plot structure, the old man's experience of getting gourd seeds is a bright line, while the cause and process of the Cataclysm retreat behind the scenes and become a dark line. In contrast, the creator really made such an arrangement with good intentions. While describing the disaster full of pessimism, he is also trying to show the audience a glimmer of hope. Hope exists before destruction, not the other way around. This is the information conveyed by the creator through the setting of this bright and dark line. This can not help but remind people of the tree in the sky in City of the Sky, which also represents the green leaves of nature, the source of harmony in this world and the place of "eyes".

If the pangolin escaped from the goblin represents the "original sin" of mankind, then the old man who got the gourd seed means the "redemption" of God; The mountain god said, "Old man, as long as those seven seeds can grow smoothly, then the goblins can be wiped out, and everything depends on you." He clearly stated the responsibility of the old man: he was not a hero to save the world, but a guide, a prophet, and a Christ who gave his life to save the world. Because of this, the death of pangolin and the old man is the inevitable product of symbolizing sin and redemption in an environment where the whole world is on the verge of collapse. It can be said that when they plant gourd seeds in the soil, they are doomed to bear the cross of fate, the responsibility of the prophet … and pain.

Thus, at a seemingly simple beginning, the tone of the whole world and everyone's fate were predicted by metaphors hidden in the details. In the fifth sentence, pangolin was killed by scorpion essence to cover the old man and Erwa; His death is the reflection and end of the "first shock": when he released the Cataclysm, he was doomed to pay the corresponding price. The pursuit of a higher level and the pursuit of human strength are interpreted here in an ironic way. However, the disaster did not stop. Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit by mistake, and since then everyone has been born with original sin. The original sin was committed by one person, but it was borne by the whole world; Pangolin's death completed its own redemption, but it could not save others. In this sense, his death is somewhat sad and helpless: human beings can release disasters, but can they recycle them? "

Pangolin is dead. It is the elderly who really have to face this problem. His answer is "gourd seed". In fact, personally speaking, the old man is more like John the Baptist. Wearing camel hair and a belt around his waist, he kept shouting loudly in the wilderness: the gourd is near. The Hulu brothers came into this world, and he baptized these "Hulu Christs". In the first and fourth sentences, the old man clearly appeared to water the gourd vine. Pangolin once said, "Only by watering more can the gourd grow faster." I think that's all the old people are given. In the last sentence, the gourd brothers were trapped in the furnace. When they were about to die, the "guide" took out the rosette with a smile, released the ultimate strength of the gourd brothers, and then calmly died under the scorpion's fine knife. With his own sacrifice, he reborn the savior and then restored harmony to the world. This is the perfect complement for human beings.

In reality, what is the answer?

Second, the dance between shadows-snake essence and scorpion essence

The world outlook of Hulu Brothers is quite closed and simple, and the chaos of the real world is simplified and condensed into several characters with distinctive symbolic characteristics, which is more allegorical. Pangolin symbolizes human weakness, greed and introspection; Old people mean sacrifice and hope; The seven gourd brothers are the concrete embodiment of various human spirits and feelings; On the contrary, the liberation of snake essence and scorpion essence means the rise of another spirit.

This is a dark force, but it is different from evil in the traditional sense. In the past, evil was pure and full of desire for destruction. In contrast, the snake spirit and scorpion spirit act more rationally, more like a realistic dark political organization, with a complex and precise base structure and a hierarchical management system with clear responsibilities (in every word, the monster cave displays a large number of weapons, while the bat spirit, spider spirit, centipede spirit and toad spirit perform their respective duties impressively).

No matter in the east or the west, snakes have always been regarded as cunning creatures, and the meaning it represents is often "evil wisdom"; Scorpions are usually regarded as a symbol of malicious power. The creator chose to personify these two creatures, which undoubtedly implies that this will be a dark side full of wisdom and strength, symbolizing the rational and dark side of human beings.

The wisdom of the snake spirit is terrible. She has extreme rationality and lofty aspirations. When these two qualities are combined, the devil is born. This is a typical Machiavelli believer, whether she is her own or her enemy, she just regards it as a chess piece on the chessboard. In the struggle with the Hulu brothers, she always has the upper hand, and she can always understand the personality weakness of the Hulu brothers and use it for the first time. Every time I see her fighting with Huluwa, it's like watching the intelligent battle with strategy instead of martial arts in jojo Adventures or Hunter. When necessary, she can also use political skills to attack the enemy. One minute, she was angry, and in a flash, she could become smiling. There are both the art of crying and the art of bleeding in this world. Snake essence belongs to the latter artist. Not only the eldest baby, the second baby and the third baby were completely defeated in the battle, but also the fourth baby and the fifth baby who failed in the banquet diplomacy, and even the seven babies who once defected were not spared. Until the last words, the gourd brothers representing the just side were all overwhelmed by this woman. She became a gray nightmare in the eyes of the Hulu brothers, so the otaku called the snake essence the female version of Mr. Burstein. (Because this role setting is so excellent, in the sequel "Gourd King Kong", the creators introduced an almost identical beautiful snake. )

Even the husband scorpion essence is one of the used pieces. From the animation, we can see that almost every command and decision comes from the mouth of the snake essence. Scorpion essence, as the "king", has only executive power but no decision-making power, and its position is obviously overhead. This shrewd woman, the interest is always supreme, because of her precise calculation, profound insight and terrible execution, she has become the most dangerous demon. Constantly calculating, constantly betraying and constantly using, this is her gray trajectory.

When scorpion essence addresses his wife, it represents the female self; Jiwa called her * * *, and she represented the maternal self; But when she took out her wish and crushed the enemy in front of her, she pretended to be a strategist. Women and motherhood are only part of the strategy. This relentless obsession made a strong man, and she died because of it.

Scorpion essence, on the other hand, is a thick-skinned person with a neutral temperament and no scruples. She used to cry because Siva drank all his wine. However, under all kinds of rude movements, there is a deep love for snake essence. This feeling is so strong that he is even willing to give up everything else for it. The snake spirit promoted his position, but never saw him angry. Because he loves her, bold and beautiful, he will tolerate everything she has and be willing to give everything he has. Careful observation can be noticed that whenever the snake essence appears, there is always a scorpion essence behind it, which lasts until the last two people die.

Third, the apostle-the statue of the seven brothers of Hulu

The gourd brothers are the real saviors. According to the information in the first episode of Hulu Brothers, Hulu seed is a treasure given by God to restrain the power of fairies, and Hulu Brothers are the apostles of God. They are born as a gift from God, but like the heroes of ancient Greece, they have the characteristics of being half man and half god, and their bodies are filled with bronze-like dignified texture. The seven-color gourd represents seven emotions of human beings, and these seven emotions are the hope and cornerstone of the world, so in essence, this is the self-rescue and completion of human beings.

The first color of the apostle is red. This is the color of enthusiasm, full of idealism.

Dawa is such a person, simple, cheerful, passionate and willing to make sacrifices for his ideal career. When "the first goblin attacked the gourd vine" (the first sentence) happened, he was the first to stand up and resolutely challenge the goblin's lair. His strength is as great and fearless as his spirit. In him, we can see robespierre, Lenin and Che? The shadow of idealists such as Guevara.

However, passion also means going forward, often regardless of the consequences, just like the chariot in the tarot card, excessive recklessness leads to extinction. In three words, Dawa just fell into a quagmire because of rushing forward, and idealism fell miserably in reality. The subtitle of the third sentence is

Chariots just pointed out the double-edged sword characteristics of "passion"

The second color of the apostle is orange. This is a gentle and inclusive color, and it is the ultimate concern from humanism.

Among the seven gourd dolls, Erwa's characterization is the most successful. His auditory and visual abilities make him a kind and gentle person, deeply moved by the surrounding things and nature, like a perceptual artist. With a few words of his appearance, we can even feel the comfort and kindness brought by Erwa.

However, gentleness also means weakness, and tolerance also means credulity. The snake inspiration realized Erwa's weakness, lured her into a dazzling maze of dreams, symbolizing that the maze of lies and deception hurt kindness and tolerance, and Erwa was finally destroyed to her eyes and hearing. However, this does not deny the meaning of tolerance. In the next sentence, Erwa was rescued by the old man and pangolin, and pangolin died as a result, completing her journey of atonement. Erwa, on the other hand, was cured by dew collected by birds, just like the scene where the Dutch mother group saved Nausicaa's life in Valley of the Wind, and kindness and tolerance were rebuilt in such care.

Erwa was hurt by the evil of human nature and saved by the goodness of human nature. Isn't this the trajectory of tolerance in the world?

The third color of the apostle is yellow. This is a strong and tenacious color, representing endeavor and courage.

In addition to the final battle, the most wonderful thing is the battle between Sanwa and the goblin. The invulnerable Sanwa was defeated by the army. As soon as she appeared, she saved the lives of the old man and Erwa, then defeated the scorpion essence, captured the demon cave, and had a good time, which reminded people of the indomitable Liang Dynasty star Chen Qingzhi and European General Barton.

There was once a fable in Laozi that the teeth were gone, but the tongue was still there, in order to illustrate the truth that "softness is better than rigidity". Because Sanwa was too strong to bend and stretch, she became a falling "tooth" and fell into the bondage of soft sword, a snake spirit. She finally failed, just in response to the sentence in the Book of Changes: "Kang Long has regrets." This can also be seen as "but he died before he could conquer. Who makes heroes cry often?"

The fourth color of the apostle is green. This is the color of peace and sympathy, and it is a cry from the heart.

Water is peaceful, restrained and defensive; Siva is the most compassionate of the seven gourd dolls. From the beginning to the end of his appearance, he never hurt anyone, including the devil. For him, spraying water is to save lives, not to hurt people. Although Shiva has never said anything, his actions have always followed this principle, silently playing an auxiliary role in saving the world, just like a quiet cloud. "Let's go and save people." This is his only impressive line, but it reflects his whole outlook on life.

So, in the eighth sentence, under his leadership, the Hulu brothers shook hands with the goblins for the first time and attended the banquet arranged by the goblins, hoping to eliminate the war through negotiations.

Being able to resolve disputes without bloodshed is Siva's greatest dream.

People with such thoughts have always been tragic characters. Siva finally fell into the endless wine bowl and fell under the conspiracy of the people he saved. The peace talks were originally just a scam. It is more appropriate to say that he loves peace but has to fight endlessly with the enemies of fate, but he is always injured when he doesn't want to hurt others. This is not so much a tragedy of his personality as a tragedy of the times.

The fifth color of the apostle is cyan. This is the color of anger and resentment.

When the flame reaches a certain extremely high temperature, it will turn blue. Five baby spray is the flame, spray is his anger, compared with his twin brother four baby, it is two extremes. Wuwa always maintains a critical attitude towards things around her and is never afraid to express her dissatisfaction directly. In his mind, there are obvious differences between good and bad, good and evil in the world. Once the direction is established, we must devote ourselves wholeheartedly and tolerate no impurities and countercurrent. In the seventh sentence, he said to Shiva, "If I knew it was a monster, I shouldn't have saved them", but Shiva kept silent about it. The dialogue between the two brothers embodies two completely different values.

At the demon's hongmen banquet, Zhiyang's five children drank Zhiyan's ice wine, so he finally went to extremes and degenerated.

The color of the sixth apostle is blue. This is a cheerful and lively color, optimistic and progressive, marching towards the kingdom of freedom.

If you want to choose the most popular gourd doll, it must be Liuwa. He is invisible, free wind, unrestrained. Vulgar moral barriers, whether monsters or gourd dolls, have nothing to do with him. He likes doing what he likes, coming and leaving spontaneously. In the tenth sentence, Liuwa made a scene in the monster cave, giving full play to his unique aesthetics. Neither the treasure nor the monster's venom can bind this unrestrained young man.

At that time, Ling Huchong learned the unique nine swords in Shikoku Cliff, which was invincible in the world. The reason is that there is no way to crack swordsmanship. The same is true of Liu Wa, who has no trace of action and can't start; So even if he is as cunning as a snake essence, there is nothing he can do. Compared with other gourd dolls with dignified face and mission above all else, the battle of Liuwa is more like a game. He flies among the enemy like a naive child, and we keep hearing his hearty laughter. For him, "mission" is just a by-product of "interest".

This free and unrestrained will makes Liuwa the only gourd doll that has never been defeated.

The seventh color is purple. This is the color of gloomy thinking, and it is the closest color to black among the seven colors.

Ziva's defection is a turning point in the whole animation. When he came out of the gourd and shouted "Mom and Dad" to the snake essence and scorpion essence, everyone was amazed. The excellent situation created by the six dolls running around before collapsed, and the whole contrast between good and evil turned sharply, and the action of "purifying the world" of Huluwa suddenly fell to the bottom.

Ziva is a special existence. His ability is better than the other six gourd dolls, but he appears as the youngest brother. This fact has become a lingering shadow in his heart; The ability to "completely rely on Hulubao" also made him indescribable hostility to his brothers. This gourd is the last and most powerful force, but it can't resist the spiritual pollution of snake essence. As a result, the dark side hidden in his heart expanded rapidly under the erosion of mental pollution. On the surface, the monster's venom played a role, but from another perspective, Qiwa is also secretly longing for such an ending. Purple is the dark color.

I think, therefore, I am. Among the seven people, Qiwa is the closest to the philosopher's temperament, but because of this, I think too much, which not only fails to remove the psychological shadow, but also makes me fall into a more confused situation. It's hard to say which is more important in Qiwa's mind: mission, brother and strength. This hesitation and contradiction eventually grew into evil consequences under the pollution of snake essence; In the tenth sentence, Liuwa and Qiwa were caught by the demon, and Liuwa broke free without hesitation. However, Qiwa can't jump out of the net like Liuwa and walk away smartly. After all, the psychological shackles he put on himself are too heavy.

Mental pollution, this is the key step of Qiwa's rebellion. It is worth pondering that this technique is done by snake essence. In the Bible, it is an ancient snake that lures mankind to fall. Snake essence also said: "Human beings are actually fragile creatures". There is light and shadow in people's hearts. The shadow is getting bigger and bigger, which means falling to the dark side of the heart. Temptation and betrayal can be said to be the eternal theme of mankind. The desire for survival eventually led to extinction, but the existence of seeking identity was betrayed. Qiwa's experience is actually a reflection of the contradictory emotional paradox in the film.

Fourth, termination and rebirth

The final decisive battle is between the gourd doll and the goblin. By this time, the seven gourd brothers had United as one, and finished with satisfaction. The old man also finished the work of redemption and guidance, and died with pity. In the face of the evolved gourd king kong, all the snake essence wisdom is useless. Finally, evil was suppressed and a new world was born.

The seven brothers of Hulu represent the seven emotions of human beings. A single emotion does not constitute a complete personality. Only by putting these together can it be complete. Indulge your emotions in a certain way, and you will completely lose your sense of balance. The failure of every gourd doll is actually due to. Enthusiastic big baby is defeated by passion, gentle second baby is defeated by tenderness, and thinking too much is the long figure of seven babies walking opposite. This is like seven short fables, reflecting the extreme human emotions blindly nourishing paranoia in modern society and letting evil negative emotions devour their personality defects.

D.A. Lance once said: "Imperfect personality often leads to paranoia beyond common sense, which is an inevitable psychological tragedy." However, will mankind never be able to correct this defect? The creators gave their own answers to this question. Before the decisive battle, Huluwa was trapped in the blast furnace, and the old man presented the throne of Lotus Platform, so that the seven people were finally reborn and evolved into the final apostle form, guiding the world back to the right path. Martyr and redemption, savior and sacrifice, all the foreshadowing and clues meet and merge here. Finally, the seven-color peaks of the giant gourd in the clouds symbolize the spiritual mileage of mankind on the road to harmony.

The title of "Seven Sons with One Heart" undoubtedly represents the combination of hearts and the completion of hearts.

Attachment: caption of Hulu Brothers

The first word is kamikaze adventure.

Subtitle: "Paradise Lost"

Title: Paradise Lost Milton, an English poet, described Satan's rebellion against God with the biblical story of human ancestors losing paradise as the theme. Here is a metaphor for the "first shock" of the whole human being losing the peaceful world and the rebirth of the devil at the beginning of this speech.

The second word, seven-color gourd

Subtitle: Seven-member Alliance

Solution: Seven-person alliance, "Seven" refers to the newly grown seven-color gourd, and "Alliance" refers to the event that the seven-color gourd jointly defeated the devil. The deeper meaning is that alliance can also be interpreted as "unity", which lays the groundwork for the ending of the last words.

The third sentence strayed into the mire.

Subtitle: Chariot

Solution: Chariot, the seventh card in Tarot, indicates great power, but it also means rash advance and even extinction. And this is Dawa's dilemma in this speech.

The fourth word: Dream Cave in Wonderland

Subtitle: Epitaph with magnitude 2.

Explanation: The whole sentence means: "Nobleness is the epitaph of noble people." Kitajima's answer evaluated Erwa's credulity and being framed by the devil from the moral level, and people who believe in morality are tired of it.

The fifth word: the road leads to life.

Subtitle: Death

Solution: Death, there is a scene of pangolin dying in this sentence.

The sixth sentence is reinforced with iron bones

Subtitle: Achilles heel

Solution: Achilles heel. Achilles was an ancient Greek hero. When I was a teenager, I was invulnerable because I was soaked in the water of Styx. His only weakness was his heel, and he was killed in the battle of Troy. In this speech, Sanwa was equally invulnerable, but in the end she failed, because she could not be both rigid and flexible and was captured. This allusion implies Sanwa's weakness.

The seventh word: fire and water.

Subtitle: Dilemma

Solution: In this dilemma, Siwa and Wuwa inadvertently saved the goblin family, and the subtitles expressed their complex psychological state.

The eighth sentence is full of ice.

Subtitle: Drink! Drink it! Drink it!

Solution: drink! Drink it! Drink it! Four children and five children were drunk by goblins in this speech, and as a result, both of them were imprisoned. This title comes from the novel Dance by Japanese writer Haruki Murakami! Dance! Dance! >, indicating people's mental state under extreme confusion.

The ninth word: picking lotus in the valley

Subtitle: A Lutus in a ravine.

Solution: Subtitle is a literal translation of the main title.

The tenth sentence catches the wind and shadows

Subtitle: Catch me if you can.

Solution: literally translated as "if you can catch me", in this story, Liuwa completely played with the whole group of goblins with stealth stunts, and the goblins were completely helpless. Subtitles come from DreamWorks' 2003 film of the same name.

The eleventh sentence is wonderful.

Subtitle: "Decorative scepter, listen to my wishes."

Solution: "All the best, as I wish, come out quickly." This is the spell that Liuwa said when she saved other gourd dolls after she got the secret treasure. This spell was overheard by Erwa. This sentence also reflects the complex mood that Hulu brothers have to turn to enemy props.

The twelfth sentence is possessed by the devil

Subtitle: The Rebel and His Parents

Solution: The rebel and his parents. This sentence made Qiwa suffer from the mental pollution of black fog, which made him completely go to the opposite side, calling snake essence and scorpion essence "mom and dad".

The thirteenth sentence, the last sentence, seven children are interrelated

Subtitle: Seven-member Alliance Ⅱ Ⅱ

Solution: The second part of the "Seven-member Alliance". This echoes the subtitle of the second sentence, and also implies the unity of the seven people, which makes their personality complete and reveals the significance of the last battle.