"Alive" is a work by contemporary writer Yu Hua, and there is a sentence in the book that reads: "To live is nothing, to live for the sake of living itself." As the book says, the purpose of living is not complicated, and the vitality we strive for is to work hard to live. Living is the most primitive instinct, and with the opportunity to live, we can fight for a better life.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > masterpiece in science fiction films</h1>
Director Jack Arnold, known as the 'Neorealist among Sci-Fi Film Directors', always sees his understanding of how cinema is different in the films he directs. He used to use a simple storyline and post-production film special effects to present a different visual feast to the audience.
Directed by Jack Arnold, the film "Incredible Shrinker" was released on February 22, 1957, and the film cleverly combined the film's special effects with the storyline, expressing the true meaning of the director through a simple story. The style of this film is strange, the film's shooting method is more novel, and the public evaluation of it is very high, which can be called the master work of science fiction movies.
Promotional poster for Incredible Shrinker
This "Incredible Shrinking Man" is said to be a movie, but rather a philosophical story, and the film tells:
Protagonist Scott Carey Carey) and his wife are playing at sea, the yacht flows down the water into a fog, the wife because of entering the cabin to take things to avoid being shrouded in fog, and Kerry, who did not have time to hide in the cabin, is in the fog with the yacht through. When the yacht drifted out of the fog zone, Carey found himself with a layer of golden powder on his body, and when he returned home, his body began to grow smaller day by day.
The storyline of this film is interesting and sci-fi, and as the true moral of the protagonist Carey's smaller story gradually surfaces, this masterpiece is full of philosophical telling of the meaning of life. And this philosophy is like what Yu Hua wrote in his book "Alive": "To live is to do nothing, but to live for the sake of living itself."
Yu Hua "Alive"
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the movie "Incredible Shrinking Man" embodies its true meaning five times: the meaning of life is to live</h1>
Earlier reading Yu Hua's "Alive" failed to grasp the meaning of what he said, and as he grew up and matured, he truly realized that the meaning of life was really as he said in his book, in which he wrote:
"In fact, there is no happiness or unhappiness in life, life is just living, living quietly, with a hint of loneliness."
Indeed, life is qualified to distinguish between happiness and unhappiness because of being alive, and living has become the truest purpose of life, which is also expressed in the movie "Incredible Shrinking Man". Director Jack Arnold portrayed the role of Scott Carey, who never gave up his quest to survive after suffering the misfortune of becoming smaller.
Stills from Incredible Shrinker
In the film, there are five plot descriptions that show his desire to survive:
Escape the capture of pet cats
Because of his smaller body, Kerry was put into a special mini house by his wife, and when his wife went out on this day, Kerry ushered in the first life-threatening presence - the family's pet cat. After some effort, Carey finally escaped the pet cat's capture, but unfortunately, he fell into the basement during the dodge.
Although this escape operation is very thrilling, fortunately, Kerry finally escaped the clutches of the pet cat, in fact, this pet cat is like the violent and terrorist incidents in our living environment, which is always endangering our lives.
Outsmart bread
Falling into the basement was the most headache for Kerry, when he was so young that it was difficult for people to detect his presence, and his wife couldn't find him when he looked around. He could never return to the small house on the ground, how to survive became his own problem, and the problem in front of him was food.
In the film, the resourceful Carey struggles to get a piece of bread from under the eyes of a large spider to fill his hunger through wisdom and action. I think that the director's expression of a piece of bread here actually represents one thing, that is, the material needs that we must have in order to survive in real life.
Avoid the water cover
Heaven seems to have "special care" for Kerry, and he made a bed in the basement to rest, and unfortunate things happened again. The water heater at home leaked, and the basement instantly became a vast ocean, and Kerry did everything in his power to finally avoid being drowned by the water.
Natural disasters are crises that are difficult for us to predict, and life is given a mission at the moment of advent, that is, to fight against nature and survive from the cracks. The flood that Carey encountered was a natural disaster, and what the film wants to tell us is that natural disasters are not terrible, and what is really terrible is our courage to give up the struggle.
Fight the spiders
The ill-fated Carey once again succeeded in winning the chance to survive, and then he began to rebel against fate.
The big spider in the basement was the biggest threat to his survival, so he had to take up the weapon of struggle to challenge the big spider, fortunately, Kerry successfully destroyed it, and there was no longer any creature in the basement that endangered his life.
For Carey, the Spider is an evil force that oppresses and threatens his life. For us, this mottled society is also full of evil forces and negative forces, and when it presses against us, we must also take up the courage to fight boldly, rather than blindly retreating.
Escape from the basement
As the days went by, Carey's body grew smaller and smaller, until one day he finally shrank to the point where he could drill through the barbed wire hole in the basement. Carey was able to leave the basement and go outside looking for a chance to survive.
Perhaps, Kerry will one day shrink to disappear completely, but he has never given up the desire for survival, escaping from the basement is not the beginning or the end for him, the end of this story is only the result of his struggle in the face of the injustice of fate.
Director Jack Arnold pours too much desire for survival into this film, which is similar to the book "Alive" by the modern writer Mr. Yu Hua, who presents their views on survival to others in their own way. The existence of life is a gift from Heaven, and for every life, nothing is more real and more authentic than "living".
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > a tribute to life: from "Incredible Shrinker," see director Jack Arnold's homage to life</h1>
Jack Arnold can be said to be a unique director, from his way of expressing the content of the film, and through the way of the film to pin personal thoughts, behind his grotesque, in fact, there are many trance-like truths hidden, if the audience does not have to bother to taste his films, it is difficult to find the true meaning in his films.
The reason why "Incredible Shrinking Man" is called the masterpiece of the science fiction film genre is that I think it is in the process of interpreting the storyline, perfectly showing the director Jack Arnold's respect for life to the audience.
There is a saying: "It is better to die than to live", and the words of this sentence are permeated with a low voice of desire for survival, but people who really understand this sentence can find the meaning of life in it.
The fate of the protagonist of the movie, Carey, may eventually end his life journey early because of the magical fog and become a part of the air. Director Jack Arnold successfully shows his respect for life through Carey's act of rebelling against fate. For Carey, the purpose of fighting everything is to survive, and that's what Jack Arnold is telling people.
Like Kerry's encounter, life in the process of thirst for survival can not avoid natural disasters and man-made disasters, and what we have to do is not to stand still, but to take up the courage to fight the disaster alive.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > written at the end</h1>
"Incredible Shrinking Man" is a science fiction movie, but also a wonderful philosophical film. Yu Hua wrote in the book "Alive": "In the beginning we came to this world because we had to come; in the end we will leave this world because we had to leave."
As Yu Hua wrote, the end of life is like a necessary ending, and life is a journey that does not set a beginning and an end, and what we have to do is to try to live and let this journey go farther and farther.