Now that the matter has come to an end, it is better to enjoy the status quo! - "Surviving Family"
Have you ever thought about a global blackout, where all the electrical equipment is unusable and lasts for two years? The background of the movie "Survival Family" is a disaster caused by a power outage.
"Survival Family" tells the story of the Suzuki family of four in Tokyo, who ride their bicycles to take refuge in their father-in-law's house in Kagoshima under the disaster of a sudden power outage.
Yaguchi is one of Japan's most famous independent directors today, and Survivor Family continues the director's comedic style, so although it is set against the backdrop of disaster, it is different from ordinary disaster films and is full of the warmth of Japanese family movies.
The theme of the film is "Escape", and the Suzuki family, who lack mutual communication and survival skills, experience the ordeal of natural disasters and the conflict of family relations on the way to escape. Therefore, this is not a simple disaster escape, in this journey of escape, the contradictions of the family are gradually broken, the family relationship is gradually reconciled, and each family member has grown up under the influence of each other, awakening the warmth and beauty that a family should have at the beginning. The director also brought us endless reflections on the real society through the experience of this family along the way.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >01 is the way to escape, the way to break family conflicts and rebuild family trust</h1>
The Suzuki family's escape from "Survival Family" begins in Tokyo and ends in Kagoshima. The family's accumulated conflicts in Tokyo gradually erupted on the road, each journey heralded a twist and a change, and eventually the relationship between the two generations was reconciled as they reached the end, and each completed their self-redemption.
1. [Tokyo] Accumulation of contradictions: Typical Japanese family conflicts accumulate before departure
At the beginning of the film, it shows the contradictions of a typical Japanese family: the father Suzuki has been busy with work and never asks about housework and children; the mother Mitsue is busy with housework, but is often disliked by the family; the son Kenji Suzuki is taciturn and likes to eat takeout, and when he comes home, he returns to his room to indulge in computers and mobile phones; his daughter Suzuki Yui likes to dress up and indulge in shopping websites and online chats.
Freud said, "A place where there is no response is a hopeless situation." "If a family does not communicate and respond to each other, then the underlying contradictions will break out sooner or later."
In this way, this family, which usually has little communication and no common topic, has to go on the road with contradictions under a sudden disaster.
2. [Tokyo-Osaka] Contradictions intensify: Conflicts erupt in despair and expose contradictions to the sun
The family's escape route can be described as "people on the road": following the instructions of the father, riding from home to the airport, and finding that the airport is closed; and then listening to the father riding to Osaka, all the way through heavy rain, water and food, and flat tires, to Osaka, but found that it is not a safe area with electricity as expected, so the hidden contradictions in the heart completely broke out.
In the streets of Osaka, the family threw off their bicycles and engaged in a thorough showdown, the daughter duties the father blindly commanded and shirked responsibility; the son duties The father did not look like a father, all day long he knew bragging, nothing; the mother ran and shouted "He is this person, are you the first day to know?" Your dad is such a person. ”
A family that lacks a backbone, after despair, realizes the real problem - the long-term lack of communication, the family's trust is completely disintegrated, and the complaints buried deep in the heart are finally exposed to the sun.
Psychologist Jung once proposed a term called "shadow", pointing out that the psychology that cannot be presented in the sun will eventually hide in the shadow, but it will not disappear, but will appear in destructive ways that we cannot control.
Fortunately, the Suzuki family finally presented their long-standing contradictions in the sun, and after opening their hearts and complaining to each other about their bitterness, the transformation also ushered in.
3. [Osaka-Okayama] Contradictions Are Broken: Re-understanding the Importance of Family in Overcoming Difficulties in Groups
After the conflict intensified, Suzuki quietly ushered in a change: on the road from Osaka to Okayama, the family accidentally caught a pig, so they had the privilege of meeting Mr. Tanaka, an empty nester in the countryside.
Originally facing a family that was scared to death by a bug, they began to catch pigs, kill pigs, marinate pork, chop firewood and make fires, and with concerted efforts, they felt the happiness of unity in exchange for food and warm quilts, and each other also quietly grew up in the work of hugging.
What happiness? A neat family is happiness. Mr. Tanaka, an empty nest old man, recalls his son who is far away in the United States, reminding the Suzuki family of his father-in-law who is far away in Kagoshima, and even though Mr. Tanaka repeatedly retains him, the Suzuki family gives up a worry-free life at Mr. Tanaka's house and resolutely decides to continue their trip to Kagoshima.
4. [Okayama - Kagoshima] Reach a settlement: From loss to recovery, family relations reach a reconciliation
Another turning point in the film brings a complete change to the family: after the family leaves Okayama, they encounter a river that is not on the map, the father drowns and dies while helping the family cross the river, leaving only the "relic" wig, and the family is in despair of losing relatives.
In desperation, they boarded the steam train, their mother Mitsuhye saw Suzuki waving a cigarette holder on the train for help, the family was reunited on the train, and after being smoked into black charcoal by the train, they laughed at each other, and the husband and wife told their brothers and sisters the story of their youth that had never been mentioned, and they completely opened their hearts to each other and reached a reconciliation.
Finally arriving in Kagoshima and taking root for two years, it is even more so that the whole family can truly appreciate the true meaning of family in peace - a family is neat and tidy to be happy, and plain is true.
So far, from Tokyo to Kagoshima, the 108-day escape road, the family has experienced storms and ran out of food, worked together to catch pigs and cross the river, family members from the original indifference to re-acquaintance with each other, tolerance and understanding of each other, re-established family trust, each person experienced a unique growth.
The famous psychology master Salvador Minuqing said, "An ideal family is actually a family with the ability to repair." There is no family that is free of conflict and without problems. As long as the family has the ability to repair conflicts and solve problems, it is a good enough family. ”
This escape path is the suzuki family's way into each other's hearts, but also a way to regain the trust and repair of love between the family members in the tribulations, and the gap between the two generations is also washed away with the river.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >02 is the road to escape, but also the road to self-redemption and self-reconciliation of family members</h1>
Karen. In her book Our Inner Conflict, Honey says, "It's not just young children who are malleable, as long as we live, all of us have the ability to change ourselves, even fundamentally." ”
On the way from Tokyo to Kagoshima, in addition to breaking the contradictions between each other, each individual in the family has achieved self-redemption and self-reconciliation, and in the 108-day escape journey, everyone has completed a unique transformation.
1. The growth of the father
At the beginning of the film, suzuki's good face and machismo are shown to us: at home, they don't care about the child, only care about the wig; on the way to escape, his wife wants to buy water, Suzuki stops it, but the more expensive it goes; when he encounters a family with high survival skills in the wild, he tears off the canned cat package he eats for face, and rides all the way to the front to shake off the high-end family...
Suzuki's change stemmed from a quarrel in Osaka, and he realized his mistake so much that he knelt down in front of the aquarium and begged for food for the family; when he encountered a river that was not on the map, he took the initiative to make a raft to help the family cross the river. From being outside the family to taking the initiative to take on the role of his son's "father should be like", Suzuki completed the change under the influence of the family.
Finally, when his wife picked up the wig and gave it to Suzuki on the train, Suzuki smiled and threw the wig out of the car window, completely reconciled with himself, let go of the self he had once been, and was reborn.
2. The growth of the mother
Her full-time wife, Mitsue, is busy with housework, but she doesn't kill the fish her father sent from Kagoshima, and is often disliked by the whole family. But along the way, the wisdom of the housewife is constantly displayed: buying water from 2500 yen a bottle to 600; exchanging the wine in the bag for a bag of rice and a bicycle... Along the way, Guanghui constantly uses her own way of survival to find a sense of existence.
Hikari goes from not being able to kill fish, to killing pigs at Tanaka's house to make bacon, to finally being able to cook when she returns to Tokyo; from the beginning of the film, the whole family doesn't like to eat the dishes she made, to the end of the film, the whole family picks up Mitsue's bento and goes out... In this escape journey, Hikari also achieved self-growth, overcoming what she feared in her heart and realizing her self-worth.
3. The growth of sons and daughters
From his taciturn at the beginning, to his witty search for maps and the discovery of battery water replenishment liquids that he could drink along the way, kenji has constantly demonstrated his role in the family; from relying on computers and mobile phones, to losing his mobile phone after a rainstorm and repairing tires with a mobile phone cover; from never communicating with his family to taking the role of his father after drowning to holding his mother's hand to support the family forward...
Kenji's growth is gradual, he gradually learned to give up the unimportant things, learned to take responsibility.
Daughter Yui went from complaining about the fish and vegetables sent by her grandfather from Kagoshima to crying and crying when she ate meat at Mr. Tanaka's house in Okayama; from complaining only to taking the initiative to help her father build a raft when she encountered the river; from being reluctant to return to Kagoshima to learning to weave in Kagoshima; from liking to dress up to finally wearing coarse cloth and linen clothes...
In the midst of the ordeal along the way, Yui realized the preciousness of food and the difficulty of a happy life, and harvested a unique growth.
Dr. Chen Haixian, a doctor of psychology, pointed out in "Self-Development Psychology" that no one is a completely independent individual, and people in relationships always appear together, define each other, and achieve each other.
The family's escape journey, in each other's achievements, completed the individual growth and redemption. And the family role played by each individual is like a piece of the puzzle, and finally under the shape of each other, the big puzzle of "home" is completed.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >03 is a road of escape, but also a way to reflect on the exposure of Japan's unrelated society and the interpersonal relationship under the electric civilization</h1>
Director Yaguchi Shijing, who is deeply influenced by Yasujiro Ozu, in addition to the ubiquitous delicate sense of life and unique comedy style, there are countless philosophical reflections left for the audience. In addition to showing the growth and redemption of a family and its members through a family's escape journey, "Surviving Family" also makes us have a lot of practical thinking about Japanese society and even the entire human society.
1. Reflect on the way a typical Asian family gets along
The family members of the movie, like the composition of a typical Asian family, are the parents like the Suzuki couple, a patron who has no sense of existence, does not communicate with each other, and has nothing in common with the children? Are children addicted to mobile phones and the Internet like suzuki siblings, never communicating with their parents?
Director Yaguchi Shijing wants to let us reflect on what is the core of family together through this road of escape? A family faces the hardships and hardships of life together, understands and tolerates each other, and achieves each other in companionship, which is what a family should look like
2. Reflect on the current situation of empty nesters and untouched society
Through the movie, Yaguchi Shijing shows us the reality of Japan's unpopular society: on the night of the power outage, the old man in the Tokyo residence sits alone on the stairs with a lamp, and a few days later, the Suzuki couple finds that the teacher has died in the house; Mr. Tanaka, an empty nest old man encountered in the village of Okayama, is alone and misses his son's family in the United States... In this society where family relations and neighborhood relations are gradually alienating, countless people are forced to die alone.
Modern civilization and the migration of families for various reasons make blood relations extremely fragile. And Yaguchi Shijing also expressed his appeal to the unrelated society through the Suzuki family: the family returned to their hometown in Kagoshima through all kinds of hardships and hardships to accompany the elderly through difficult times.
In the current society where relatives and friends are gradually estranged, let "no chance" become "there is a reason", maybe as long as you change a little, care for each other more, "add trouble" to each other, let go of all kinds of excuses, and find more relationships that should be close!
3. Reflect on the thin relationship between people under the electric civilization
In the movie, on the first night of the power outage, the family eats a candlelit dinner, goes to the window to see the city without light pollution, looks up at the starlight and the Milky Way, and GuangHui can't help but sigh "It's good to be like this occasionally." Think about it, how long have we not left our phones and sat down with our families like this to chat, eat, and watch the stars?
Gao Xiaosong mentioned in "Strange Story": "Mobile phone does not leave the hand" is a kind of "pathology". Under the electric civilization, our interpersonal relationships have become more and more inclined to "netizens" and "likes", and the relationship between people has become weak and indifferent.
Electrical civilization sustains our lives and traps us in our own little planet. Don't wait until the mobile phone is out of power, only to think of having a good meal with your family, while enjoying the convenience of modern technology, it does not prevent you from temporarily returning to the "primitive society" and devoting yourself to in-depth communication with relatives and friends.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > concluding remarks</h1>
Although "Generative Family" is a disaster film setting with a relatively large brain hole, in my opinion, it is a very classic Japanese family road movie, and what the family experiences on the way to escape is exactly the experience that most of our Asian families lack: spread out the contradictions with each other, face the conflict head-on, and then find a way to solve it together, and finally harvest happiness and warmth.
There is no happiness in a person's life than the happiness of the family. I hope that each of our families can harvest warmth and love.