Author: Sun Peng, postdoctoral fellow at Shanghai Theater Academy and lecturer at Ludong University
introduction
At the end of February 2019, a coffee brand sold a product called cat's claw cup, which was launched to dominate Weibo, Taobao, and Circle of Friends. Pre-priced 199 cat's claw cups were fried up to 1000+, and many people lined up all night to buy cups. The design of the cat's claw cup is naturally very exquisite, but why does it produce such a big magic and attract many young people? This is probably closely related to the cat-sucking culture that has prevailed in recent years.
The picture shows the cat's claw cup
When it comes to cat sucking culture, Japan is the most representative country. From the cat to hello kitty and Doraemon, the cat element penetrates into all aspects of Japanese society and culture, and is sold worldwide. In addition to pop culture and animation, cats are also important imagery of Japanese movies, carrying functions such as family companionship, spiritual comfort, and ecological bonding. In the past decade, there have been more than 20 films in Japan with cats as the protagonist, such as "Teacher and Stray Cat", "Rental Cat", and "Cat's Backyard Home". Released in the second half of 2018, "The Diary of a Traveling Cat" is a good interpretation of the intimate relationship between people and cats in modern society and the ecological life of the Japanese healing department.
Structurally, "The Diary of a Traveling Cat" is a road movie-style "looking" motif story. The film tells the story of the protagonist Miyawa Goku who embarks on a journey with his pet cat "Little Seven" to find a new home and a new owner for Little Seven.
Poster of The Traveling Cat Diaries
At the first stop, they go to the photo studio of Goku's elementary school friend Kosuke Sawada, reminiscing about the adoption of another cat, Kohachi, as a child. At that time, Xiaoba helped Goku get out of the shadow of his parents' death, and Goku also helped his friend get out of his father's emotional shackles.
The second stop is a guesthouse owned by high school friends Shusuke Sugi and Chikako. Here, Goku emotionally bids farewell to his first love and "family" Xiao hachi, who died in a car accident. Kochichi is also unable to stay because of his disagreement with Shusuke Sugi's dog, Tiger Maru, and continues his journey.
The third stop, Goku and Xiao Qi, finally returned to their families. Little Sister-in-law Fazi decided to adopt Xiao Qi, and accompany her around the final journey of Goku's life. It turns out that this journey is the journey of Miyawaki's life, the journey of purification and farewell of the soul. The terminally ill Enlightenment is unfortunate, but growing up with Xiao Eight and his friends, and at the last moment there is Xiao Qi and Xiao Aunt to send him off, and he is happy again. From beginning to end, he did not have a word of complaint and dissatisfaction, but was full of love for life, family, friends, and cats, and passed away peacefully.
The cat "Little Seven" in the film advocates freedom, arrogance and temperament, while the male protagonist Wu is warm and smiling, kind and courteous, patient and gentle. From the perspective of the relationship between cats and people, Xiao Qiqi is more like his master, and Wu is his servant. Humans have domesticated cats since ancient Egypt, but Abigail Tucker, in Abigail Tucker, in A Brief History of Human Cat Sucking (CITIC Publishing Group, 2018 edition), said that cats are not so much domesticated by humans as cats are themselves, and people are cats' voters and slaves.
Why are the "shovelers" represented by Goku willingly "ruled" by free, independent, arrogant, fat, delicate, and self-serving cats? In fact, the rise of cat sucking culture and the birth of a large number of "cat slaves" are directly related to modern life.
The soft cute image and maverick personality of the cat make modern people very fond of it
First, cats are intimate companions in modern solitary life. Modern life unfolds in the city, and in the eyes of Zimel, Krakauer and others, modern life is fragmented, consumptive, material, and perishable, and modern people are "lacking in common emotions" in the city. Due to the shrinking of the family and the lack of ownership of the individual, they feel lonely, and pet companionship has become a choice to cope with loneliness. The cat is smart, flexible, soft and cute, likes to be petted, and is the companion of modern solitary life. In "Traveling Cat Diary", Miyawa goku's parents died in a car accident when they were in elementary school, there were no siblings, and her aunt often traveled on business, and there was only Little Eight in daily life. After working as an adult, Xiao Qiqi replaced Xiao Eight to accompany Him around and adjust to the loneliness after work.
Secondly, the cat's personality is naturally integrated with modernity. Cats are independent, docile and delicate, clean and tidy, as long as there is food and cat litter (Luo Zhenyu pointed out in his New Year's Eve speech that cat litter was once rated as one of the most important inventions in the world), they can live at home for more than a week, they are more suitable for modern urban life than dogs. Therefore, the cat has become the self-projection of modern people, and the cat's personality is the reflection of the modern person's personality. In "The Traveling Cat Diary", Xiao Qihe and Wu are both family, brothers, friends, and mirror beings. Little Seven is an incarnation, apparition, and continuation of life. Xiao Qi's warmth of Goku, Goku warms his friend Kosuke; the three pets of Kochi, Momo, and Tiger Maru correspond to Goku Miyagaki, Chikako, and Sugi Shusuke, and the relationship between pets is also the relationship between people; finally, Xiao Qi' replacement of Goku returns to his aunt, and the living are also comforted.
Third, cats are an effective way to alleviate the psychological ecological crisis of modern people. While modern life brings convenience to people, the pursuit of anthropocentrism and instrumental rationality has also led to serious psychological imbalances and ecological crises, and people have begun to restrain consumer culture and return to their authentic ecological slow life. On the one hand, cats communicate with nature and are the intermediary between man and animal and nature; on the other hand, lazy, pleasant, leisurely, poetic cats are a silhouette of human beings against fast-paced life. During the journey with Xiaoqi, Goku sees the rape flower field, the rainbow in front of his parents' grave, and the last sea of his life, Chikako and Sugi Shusuke open a homestay in the countryside because of their pets, and Xiaoyi, Kosuke, and Yoshiho are also relieved of their tense work, nervous family, and inner anxiety.
From the perspective of artistic text, "The Diary of a Traveling Cat" is not excellent in story and form, but it is a wonderful journey for us to observe and experience modern life. The adaptation methods of tasting the details of life, respecting the natural environment, and soothing the anxiety of the soul in Japanese cat movies have a good reference significance for modern people to choose ecological life. The relationship between modern humans and independent cats has become the best way to interpret urban life and go to the human center in ecocriticism, which is why there are so many cats in Japanese movies. (Sun Peng)