As an animated film, the pre-official announcement of "Isle of Dogs" is relatively strong. In the name of Wes Anderson, the focus of propaganda has been on seeing the world from the perspective of dogs. But if you know Wes Anderson beforehand, you will know that the ambition of "Isle of Dogs" is by no means something that can be wrapped up in the warm topic of "people should love dogs". Wes Anderson does borrow the dog's vision to describe a very absurd world for us. Today, we will interpret this animation from the visual perspective of the dog protagonist leader.
Before the other family pets were exiled to the garbage island, the chief was a stray dog. He is very good at fighting, knows how to circle his own territory on the garbage island, and plunder food from other dogs. Before meeting the male protagonist Attari, his dog did not have any good memories. He has been caught by the dog team more than once, and was once adopted as a domestic favorite. But the wandering days made him accustomed to freedom, and the wandering life made him very wary of human beings. He didn't understand human overtures, so one morning he bit the little master of the house. Instead of waiting for punishment or forgiveness, the chief chose to flee and become a mighty stray dog again.
For him, the initial shift in the wandering days may have been a group of domestic dogs on the garbage island. On the other side of the garbage island, the terrifying dog plague makes pet dogs enemies of humans, and the mayor of Kobayashi, the initiator, has issued a pet dog expulsion order. Most of the people sided with Mayor Kobayashi and sent their pets to the garbage island without mercy. Mayor Kobayashi, as an example, even sent his adopted son Atari's guard dog dot to the past. The garbage island was suddenly "lively", and these exiled dogs ate garbage for a living. None of them were spared the terrible dog plague. Because of this, perhaps the leader who was a lone ranger before had four pet dog companions. They are monarchs, bosses, kings and dukes. They often acted together against other dogs that came to fight for territory and food.
But pet dogs are different from stray dogs, and monarchs have all enjoyed a good life of being loved. Even if the poor dog is abandoned by the owner, he cannot give up his fantasies and centers on the owner. Such nostalgia once made the chief feel sick. At this time, the chiefs felt that the monarchs were spineless nests. However, it was precisely because of knowing the monarchs that the fate between the chief and Atari was achieved. When Attari drove a plane to garbage island in search of dots and was injured in a crash. As the monarchs of the former pet dogs, they naturally chose to rescue this poor human child. For adult dogs, small children are obviously a vulnerable group in need of help. The dogs' hearts are pure, and they don't care that this child also belongs to the human being who drove them away. This kind of good old and good idea is the most precious thing for dogs, but it is also the most easily used by people.
Back to the subject, when the monarchs rescued Atari, the chief was still very wary of the human child. He tried to put on his own attitude, as if he didn't care about himself, but in fact he was always watching from the sidelines. He obviously couldn't understand why the monarchs were so intimate with this child. In the past dog life of the chief, I think he must have been hurt by someone, and of course he has hurt people. Therefore, the dog class represented by the leader at the beginning is on the opposite side of the human class represented by Atari. More particularly, the chief represents the will to yearn for freedom and not to be conquered. Attari represents the possibility of reconciliation between humans and dogs. The leader, who was reluctant to help Atari in the early stages, was apparently subtly excluded from the circle by his dog group. But, don't forget, dogs also have social attributes, and from the bottom of their hearts, they still expect to be accepted.
So, with the observation of Atari, and the search for dots this main line developed. The screenwriter gave the chief and Atari a lot of conditions and space to be alone. When the chief joined the search for the dot brigade, I believe he just wanted to complete the task and get attari, the prisoner's child, to get out of the garbage island. In this way, his life will return to peace. But getting along means getting to know each other, and Atari's dedication to dots can obviously make the leader quietly change his mind about him. When the mind is relaxed, there is a possibility of communication, and it is at this stage that we know the past of the leader mentioned in the opening paragraph. At this point, the chief was at least less repulsive to Atari.
And when the story develops to the point where the monarchs are unexpectedly left behind, leaving Attari and the chief to move on, the audience almost understands that it is only a matter of time before the chief is conquered by Attari. When I saw Atari ask the chief to pick up something, I was still thinking about how this kid stinks, how could such an arrogant dog as the chief pick it up. But the plot immediately snapped me in the face, and the leader went to pick it up. However, at this time, the chief would also tell Atari that he did not pick it up because of Atari's orders, but that he was willing to help him pick it up. In fact, if you have a heart, it is not difficult to find that in the process of attali and the leader's favorability, the leader has been warning that he will bite. But even so, the chief didn't really hurt Atari, plus the "brainwashing" around him. As an adult dog, the chief probably felt that he should be more mature. Don't worry about a small child, don't dogs like children the most?
When the chief completely let down his guard, Atari knew better how to whitewash the chief with goodwill, and by the way, he also gave the leader half of the small biscuits to be brought. The story progresses to this point, and the leader is really attacked. The rear guard Atari found The Point, found that the Point was his brother who was born in the same child, and took over the development of the Point as the Atari Guard Dog, of course, to the point that I just want to mention.
We started by saying that Isle of Dogs is ambitious. After actually watching the entire animation, it's easy to go to the different social classes of dogs and humans in the animation. And the social class represented by the chief is actually the most lamentable. They seem to be debauched and have indomitable souls in pursuit of freedom. In fact, it is just that it has suffered so much that it will be bought off in an instant by too cheap kindness. The chiefs at first thought that the monarchs were disgusting because they felt that the monarchs were on their knees licking and abandoning their masters. But when I was later subjugated by Atari, I saw clearly that the chieftain longed for only that attention and love, after all, who doesn't want to be spoiled? Who wants to sleep in the open for the sake of an empty and proud soul?
Imagine if it was the monarch or other pet dog who was whitewashed by Atari to feed the biscuits, they would probably only express gratitude and miss their days with their owners even more. But for the chief, this is the memory of a dog's life that is precious enough to change his life. When Attari put on a military song declaring that the chief and the monarch were his own dogs, the chief who shook his head and left, said that he could not be conquered by tough means. After changing the warm route, it was really effective for the leader who ate soft and did not eat hard. How much sincerity and how much promise there is in this sugar-coated cannonball is unknown to us. Just want to sigh, must be a spiritually rich person, the barren spirit is too easy to be bribed by cheap kindness, and even blindly pay for it.
Of course, in terms of the results of the work, the leader who became a guard dog is considered to have reached the peak of the dog's life, but I don't know if he will miss the indomitable freedom-advocating self in the longer future. It feels like the truth that has lived for more than twenty years is epitomized in these dogs.
Text: Frost Day @ Io Anime