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This article aims to interpret the ethnic minority culture embodied in the anime film "Tibetan Mastiff Dorji", adapted from Yang Zhijun's best-selling novel "Tibetan Mastiff". The article first defines and divides the ethnic minority culture. Secondly, according to the division of material culture and spiritual culture, the article interprets the material culture such as Tibetan costume art and Tibetan food art reflected in the film and the spiritual culture such as Tibetan religious beliefs.
1. Introduction to the film
The movie "Tibetan Mastiff Dorji" is adapted from the novel "Tibetan Mastiff" published by writer Yang Zhijun in 2005. The film mainly tells the story of Tian Jin, a young boy of mixed Chinese and Tibetan descent, who came from the city to Tibet to join his father, who was a barefoot doctor, after his mother died, and adopted a Tibetan mastiff - Dorjee locally. After that, there were many livestock attacks on the grassland, and when everyone turned their suspicious eyes to Dorji, Dorjee and his master Tian Jin sneaked deep into the mountains to find and eliminate the real murderer, Rakshasa. And Dorjee also died at the most critical moment to protect the life of his master.
Like "Wolf Totem", the original film "Tibetan Mastiff" also reflects the local ethnic minority customs by describing animal stories. The film producer hereby invites well-known Japanese anime filmmakers Masayuki Kojima, Naoto Inoue, Masao Maruyama, etc. as the director, screenwriter and producer of the film; And hired the well-known Tibetan female singer Alan Dawadolma to perform the theme song of the film "The Call". As one of the few animation films with ethnic minority themes in China, the film has won attention from all parties as soon as it was released, and was shortlisted for the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in France, known as the "Animation Cannes", and became the main film at the opening ceremony of the 2011 China-Japan Film Week.
2. Definition and categories of national culture
National culture is a culture with its own national characteristics created and developed by various ethnic groups in the course of their historical development. Including material culture and spiritual culture. Food, clothing, housing, and production tools belong to the content of material culture; Language, writing, literature, science, art, philosophy, religion, customs, festivals and traditions belong to the content of spiritual culture. National culture reflects the level of historical development of the nation, and is also the cultural foundation on which the survival and development of the nation depends.
Third, the national cultural interpretation of the movie "Tibetan Mastiff Dorji"
As an animation film that reflects the theme of ethnic minorities in Tibet and depicts the life of the people in Tibetan areas, the main creators of the film "Dorji the Tibetan Mastiff" use and integrate a large number of elements of Tibetan ethnic minorities in the creation of the film, trying to highlight the exotic characteristics of the film and spread and publicize excellent national culture and characteristic elements. In the following, this article will interpret the unique and excellent Tibetan ethnic culture used and reflected in the film.
(1) Material culture
Material culture refers to the material products created by human beings, including the tools of production and the objects of labor, as well as the technology that creates material products. Material culture derives from technology and is directly related to the way socio-economic activities are organized. Specifically, it includes food, clothing, construction, transportation, etc.
1. The embodiment of Tibetan costume art in film
In the movie "Dorji the Tibetan Mastiff", the main creators of the film fully inherited and developed the unique costume art of the people in Tibetan areas in the design of the character image. For example, the design of male figures such as Tian Jin, Tian Jin's father Ragba, and Tian Jin's close friend Nopp is mainly dressed in Tibetan robes, inner placket, waist belt, and pedal boots. The Tibetan robe he wears is a typical daily clothing of the Tibetan people, with the characteristics of large fat, long sleeves, wide waist, and right placket, and is a kind of straight clothing that does not need to be tailored. Usually Tibetan robes of Tibetans in rural areas are made of xen, that is, Tibetan wool; In the pastoral area where Tian Jin's family lives, Tibetan robes are mostly made of fur and leather. Tibetan men usually wear Tibetan robes and belts, and the upper body can be puffed out into large bags, containing dry food and other daily necessities. Tibetans usually choose to wear Tibetan robes with one sleeve and wear it with two sleeves or sleeves tied to the waist depending on the changing climate. At night when the temperature drops sharply, Tibetan robes can also be wrapped in quilts. Tibetans in pastoral areas generally wear long boots, mostly cowhide, and the production process is relatively simple, and the Tibetan language calls it "chulang".
The image design of Medoram and Grandma Amara, the female assistants of Tian Jin's father, Ragba, highlight the decorative characteristics of the clothing of the Tibetan people, especially women in Tibetan areas. For example, the main creator designed a lot of small braids for Medoram to wear on the back, and according to the decoration habits of young women in Tibetan areas, he designed yellow decorative "bazhu" on his head. For Grandma Amala, she designed to decorate her hair with silver coins. Significantly different from the male character design, the main creators designed many colorful accessories for the female characters in the film - such as the bright red red coral necklace worn by Medoram and the large amber necklace worn by Grandma Amarla.
2. The embodiment of Tibetan food culture in the movie
In order to highlight the national characteristics of the film and promote the unique food culture of Tibetan areas, the movie "Tibetan Mastiff Dorji" also specially arranged a scene in which Tian Jinchu went to the grassland to learn about the production process of butter tea from Medoram's sister. The main creators of the film took butter tea, an indispensable and well-known national cultural symbol of the Tibetan people's daily life, as the starting point, and introduced the food culture of Tibet to the audience in a comprehensive and penetrating way.
First of all, the film reflects the food culture of the Tibetan people to the audience through scenes from the daily life of Tian Jin and his father. Due to the average sea wave of more than 4,000 meters on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the harsh climatic conditions, the staple food of local residents is mostly barley, a crop in alpine areas made after grinding into noodles. Since Tian Jin's family lives in a pastoral area, the staple food they eat also includes beef and mutton, which is reflected in the daily meal that Tian Jin eats with his father. The unique food culture of Tibet has given birth to its unique tea culture.
Due to climatic conditions, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau lacks vegetables and fruits. People in Tibetan areas have developed the habit of eating tea in order to supplement vitamins and other nutrients and digest and eat high-calorie meat. As an important member of the ancient tea horse road, the history of tea drinking by the people in Tibetan areas can be traced back to the Han and Tang Dynasties. The butter tea, which is often eaten every day, is made of the upper layer of ghee pounded with mutton fat and tea brick tea leaves. The Tibetan people have formed their own unique tea culture in tea drinking, that is, "respect, ease, peace, quietness, and yi, that is, offering tea with courtesy, is for respect; Unruly with tea, it is for Yi; Tea is used to concoct food, for and; Drinking tea to calm the heart is for tranquility; Tea is entertaining, for Yi. ”
(2) Spiritual culture
Spiritual culture is a kind of ideology unique to human beings produced by human beings in the production of material cultural foundation, and it is a collection of various ideological forms of human beings. It is a conceptual form, juxtaposed with economy and politics, and is related to the ideological theory, moral customs, literature and art, education and other spiritual aspects of human social life.
The embodiment of Tibetan religious beliefs in the film, the scene depicted in the movie "Tibetan Mastiff Dorji" - the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, on the one hand, because of its colorful lakes and mountains, galloping rivers and streams, snowy snowy plateaus, vast and boundless grassland forests, and on the other hand, because it is located in the cold plateau all year round, the air is relatively thin, the vegetation is relatively scarce, and the living conditions are relatively difficult, etc., which has created the unique religious belief of the local people - pantheism. That is, the ubiquitous religious activities in life and the widespread worship of mountains, lakes, wind, snow, hail, and animals that are closely related to the living environment.
Bon is the oldest religion in Tibet and is widely respected and admired by the people in Tibetan areas. The exact year of production is unknown. Bon doctrine advocates polytheistic worship, that is, there are gods of wind, thunder, hail, etc. in the sky; On the ground, there are mountain gods, water gods, house gods, etc. Spring plowing should invite the god of the valley, autumn harvest should thank the god of the land, and so on. Specific to the movie, for example, the name of the Tibetan mastiff Dorjee Yongzhi means the Great Protector of Mount Kailash Dade Shengle Vajra. Located in the Ali region of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and at the head of the nine sacred mountains in Tibet, Kailash is translated into Tibetan as sacred snow mountain, which is considered to be the birthplace of the founder of Bon and the paradise lost of many Bon gods, and is worshipped not only by Tibetan Bon believers, but even by many believers in Nepal and India by turning mountains and kowtowing.
The pastoral people who adopted the Tibetan mastiff Dorji in the movie gave it this name, which fully reflects the people's awe and admiration for the sacred mountain, and the importance and respect for animals. Other elements of the film that embody the teachings of Bon in Tibet include the skull of a long-horned cow hanging in Tian Jin's home, reflecting the animal worship of yaks by the Tibetan people. Legend has it that the three founding leaders of Tibetan tribes were born from eggs rolled out between a pair of yak horns exposed to the sun for three years.
In addition to the indigenous teachings, the more important teachings in Tibet are Tibetan Buddhism. Buddhism originated in India, and one spread south to Thailand, Laos and other places, and flourished; One group went north to the Central Plains of China, gradually forming Han Buddhism; The other branch moved westward into the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and became Tibetan Buddhism. According to legend, Tibetan Buddhism was introduced to Tibet by the Indian master Padmasambhava, in order to break the resistance, Tibetan Buddhism widely absorbed the Bon gods as its Buddhist protectors, between the relatively backward knowledge level of local farmers and herdsmen, Padmasambhava simplified the complex Buddhist classics into "Om Mani Mi Mi Yin", which is convenient for believers to believe and offer. In the movie, Grandma Amara often recited and engraved the six-character mantra; In addition, prayer wheels and colorful prayer flags are often engraved in movies with six-character mantras.
This article aims to interpret the ethnic minority culture of the anime film "Tibetan Mastiff Dorji". First, this paper defines and divides minority cultures. Secondly, according to the classification of material culture and spiritual culture in national culture, this paper analyzes the embodiment of specific elements contained in these two cultures in the film. Specifically, the article first analyzes the performance of Tibetan costume culture in the film, that is, Tibetan robes and boots designed for male characters; Accessories such as hair braiding and babeads designed for female characters.
Secondly, the article explores the embodiment of Tibetan food culture in the film, for example, the lunch life scene of the male protagonist's family reflects the diet structure and food culture of Tibetan people based on barley, beef and mutton, etc., while the butter tea used for hospitality reflects the long-standing tea culture of Tibetan people. Finally, the article expounds on the expression and communication of Tibetan religious culture in the film, in which the names given by Tibetan herders for their Tibetan mastiffs and the long-horned ox heads used to decorate their homes reflect the Bon beliefs of local residents who worship natural elements such as mountains, rivers, lakes, and animals. The six-character mantra reflected in the daily religious activities reflected in the film reflects the integration of Tibetan Buddhism and local local religions.