01. Disney's new work with a split reputation between China and foreign countries
On January 7, 2022, Disney's new animation "Full House" was released in China, and now 10 days have passed, but I have hardly seen it on any social network, and even the relevant film and animation media seem to be too lazy to write about it.
This "dead silence" comes from the collapse of the film's reputation, the current Douban is only 6.5, and the film review area is full of ridicule and ridicule at a glance, and even regards it as one of Disney's worst animations.
Another is the dismal box office, only more than 3 million on the first day of release, and now the total accumulation is barely breaking 40 million. Don't think about what is broken into 100 million, and no one can know whether the publicity cost in China can be recovered.
However, unlike the bad reviews in China, in the list of Golden Globe Awards announced not long ago, "Full House" actually won the best animated feature film award.
And we all know that the Golden Globe Awards have always been the "Oscar weather vane", which also represents that in the 94th Oscars in the near future, this new Disney work has a high probability of being able to go down to the next city and become the "best animation" of this year, right?
So does "Full House of Magic" suck or not? And if it really sucks, why did the Golden Globes get paid for it?
We all know that the West has the so-called "political correctness" tendency, and domestic netizens often take "as long as the protagonist is set as a black + woman + deeply discriminated" will definitely be able to get the Oscar to satirize, then this new work can really win the championship for this reason?
In fact, "Full House of Magic" is really a lot of black people, including the heroine Mirabe is also the iconic design of black people with dark skin + curled hair, and the heroine has indeed been discriminated against in the play...
But even so, the inherent quality of "Full House" really matches the Golden Globe Award.
This is far more than just the high-quality graphics that Disney has always had.
This is even more reflected in the plot that is now being sprayed out in China.
Although in the eyes of many fans, such as the two highest praises on Douban, respectively, accused the plot of being superficial, hasty turning points (dancing and singing to fool the past, turning around and whitewashing the characters), and the core of the plot There is feudal discrimination against women (pushing all disasters to Grandma's desire to control) and so on.
But when I watched Full House in its entirety, I found that these criticisms were meaningless, and their value may only be to make you lose touch with this annual animation.
02. What exactly is the material for "Full House of Magic"?
The story takes place in an alternate world, the heroine's grandmother originally had a happy and happy life, and also gave birth to several small babies with her husband, but was forced to flee the village because of the invasion of robbers.
Passing through a forest where a small river passes, the husband turns back to fight the robbers in order to protect the villagers, and the grieving grandmother also harvests a magic candle by accident, and with its help, an isolated manor suddenly appears and soon resumes prosperity.
Subsequently, each generation of the hostess's family can obtain different magical talents, some can heal the wounded through food, some can predict the future, some can release beautiful roses at will, some have infinite strength, and some will summon thunderclouds when they are in a bad mood...
In short, the new village has continued happiness from generation to generation under the auspices of this "magic family", and they have always enjoyed the admiring eyes of the villagers.
But things began to become different in the generation of the heroine, and with the adventure of the heroine, the contradictions and conflicts of the plot became more and more grand, which is also the most admirable place of the work.
Originally told about the "Troubles of growing up a magical aristocratic girl".
If you were born into a magical family, and the family has gained the most fanatical worship and dependence through magic, then you can also share this glory, and from the moment you come into this world, you are already a human being.
Of course, behind this glory there are also expectations of you, and if you are actually a Muggle who can't do any magic at this moment, the family mark will not only not become your blessing, but even pull you into the depths of the mire.
This is the life of the heroine Mirabe, after a short and happy childhood, she was actually found to be just a Muggle, and in the next ten years of life, she has been avoiding talking about her own ability, and has always envied her sisters and brothers with various abilities, and has also been looking for opportunities to prove her value.
Mirabe is optimistic and positive, but the chain of contempt in the village has been quietly formed, whether the villagers or family members think that Mirabe is incompetent, and often feel that her help is just adding to the chaos.
Living in this environment, Mirabe is naturally inferior and anxious, she is just like Boji in "Ranking of Kings", the more positive and smiling in the eyes of outsiders, the more it reflects the sadness of the heart, and she should also choke and cry when there is no one.
This is the beginning of "Full House of Magic", focusing on the portrayal of Mirabe's sad undertone, or to lay a suspense for fans: how will the protagonist achieve self-worth?
As we all know, the primary obligation of film and television works is to interpret the producer's observation and understanding of the world, and with different views, they will also arrange for the protagonist to go a different path. For example, the king's bloody manga usually makes the protagonist counterattack and become the strongest magic messenger, while the slightly connotative work will allow the protagonist to tap the value of mediocrity to convey the truth that ordinary people can also live a happy life.
Obviously, Disney has connotations, "Full House" also chose the back path, and Mirabe also relied on "insight and empathy for others" at the end of the play to become a confident and happy Muggle.
But Disney doesn't stop there, and Mirabe's inspirational resume is just one of the highlights, or a small branch under a grand theme, and another branch equivalent to it is: The Contradiction between the Self-Pursuit of the Descendants of the Magical Nobility and the Family Honor.
Mirabe is not the only one who is unhappy, but also her peers and sisters who are also in a state of anxiety because of magic and family.
Since gaining strength, Louisa and Isabella's lives have ceased to belong to them.
The former has become a tool for the villagers to call for by infinite strength, and she needs to clean up the mess every day when she is busy with the infrastructure construction of the village, the construction of the villagers' houses, and even the loss of livestock.
The latter, on the other hand, has maintained a delicate image since obtaining the flower magic, and has also been given high hopes of marrying an aristocratic prince and strengthening the development of the countryside.
Therefore, for more than a decade, she has been living under the "hypocrisy" and has not been released from her true disposition, and the request for marriage has also stifled the love of Doris, who has the ability to go downwind (she has always had a crush on the prince).
The resumes of these three people undoubtedly explain the contradiction between personal pursuits and high family expectations.
Although the producers did not let them resist but suffered in silence, whenever they saw that they had to live as tools, and when the heroine gave them understanding and care, Louisa and Isabella were momentarily emotionally deficient--- the originally strong former exposed his fear in front of the heroine, while the dignified and cold latter immersed himself in the play of the "bad woman".
I believe that seeing this, no one should be unable to understand their inner depression and pain, and with this burden, they should not regard their "whitewashing" as a perfunctory turn, after all, this is also the foreshadowing for more than ten years.
Of course, when it comes to the most humiliating and burdensome role, it must belong to the grandmother of the head of the family, and what happened to her is such a story: "The Twisted Pursuit of the Magical Nobles".
The suffering of the descendants is indeed caused by the grandmother, if it were not for the grandmother's concept indoctrination and high hopes for magic, the sisters would not have given up their pursuit for the sake of the family, and the heroine would not have lived in inferiority.
But Grandma was not at all uncomfortable, she had experienced the horror of the disaster, and she had also felt the ultimate happiness brought by magic, and under the impact of such a contrast, she had always been uneasy, and the fear that the happy life would suddenly dissipate.
So she had a magical desire for magic, and as long as future generations could pass on magic, she could have a little more comfort, even if some spells had no practical effect at all.
For example, the tailwind ears, can understand the language of animals, summon thunderclouds when angry, change into the appearance of others, etc., their existence can not directly bring too many uses to the countryside. But even so, in Grandma's mind, these sisters are more noble than the heroine.
In addition to the pathological pursuit of magic, Grandma also regards the dependence of the villagers as a comfort, even if the dependence has gone to a sick state, as mentioned above, it is obvious that it is simply to drive livestock and move miscellaneous things, they still pretend to be the heroine's family, which can be described as laziness and shamelessness to the extreme, but in Grandma's view, these are necessary factors to dispel fear.
This is naturally a disease, but when everyone thinks it is reasonable, it becomes an unbreakable social norm, and even if there are people who are uncomfortable, they will endure and compromise, and put the problem on themselves.
Seeing this, I have listed the profound problems reflected in "Full House of Magic" one by one: How to solve the recognition sought by the Muggle heroine? How do the sisters' self-pursuits come true? How can Grandma's fears and distorted social norms be broken?
Each of their proposals and solutions can lead to a masterpiece, but this new work shows us all of them, and answers all the questions with the same crisis: the collapse of magic.
The timeline of "Full House of Magic" is set on the eve of the collapse of magic, and it is the arrival of this crisis that has relieved the already terminally ill rural society of its burden and allowed everyone to re-examine their own values and concepts of magic.
For example, after the arrival of the crisis, the heroine temporarily unloaded her inferiority and plunged into the adventure, and found the ability to be proud of empathy;
The sisters, who were once bound by magical responsibilities, are able to face their true selves because of fear and the comfort of the heroine in exploring the crisis;
As for the high-ranking grandmother, in the past, no one dared to question her ideas, but the arrival of the crisis made the heroine angrily rebuke her face, coupled with the lack of strength in the face of the collapse of magic, the grandmother also began to think about the past gains and losses, and the epiphany of her own distortion--- she forgot that the original intention of magic should be to protect the clan, not to rely on addiction as it is now.
A magical collapse that should have been a disaster has become the salvation of all people, and it has successfully completely shattered the pathological social norms.
In my opinion, if you can read grandma's burden over the past few decades and feel the impact of the magic collapse, you should be able to understand why she grew up in an instant.
This is not so much hasty and perfunctory as honesty and sharpness, and when things have gone to the point where they cannot be turned back, what is the need to "cling to the old days"? Can't this be regarded as Disney's positive energy transmission?
03. Finally
As a family fun, Disney did not add any darkness and blood X, but it also proved that they have the ability to wrap deep truths into a warm daily plot.
In my opinion, that's the allure of Disney, and it's why Full House won the Golden Globes.
So, if you really miss this annual animation because of the low score of Douban and the dismal box office.
That must be the biggest loss since the beginning of 2022.