Before watching "What kind of life do you want to live", you need to know a few historical common senses that are not cold:
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor took place on December 7, 1941
The United States declared war on Japan on December 8, 1941
The Nationalist Government declared war on Japan on December 9, 1941
The Battle of Saipan ended in July 1944
From this, it can be seen that the time of Mu Zhenren's mother death at the beginning of the story of "What kind of life do you want to live" is 1943, and the time when Mu Zhenren enters the mysterious tower is 1944.
Understanding the time background of this story is a prerequisite for understanding "What kind of life do you want to live".
"What kind of life do you want to live" can be roughly divided into two parts: the real world and the other world, the dividing point is the mysterious tower, the outside of the tower is the real world, and the inside of the tower is the other world.
1. The real world
Saipan
Mu Zhenren's father is the owner of an aircraft parts manufacturer, and the film shows workers carrying the cabin cover of a fighter jet, corresponding to Miyazaki's father.
When my father first moved to the town, he read in the newspaper about Japan's defeat in the Battle of Saipan, and he was angry and joked that the defeat would lead to an increase in orders for his factories.
Historically, on the same day that the Battle of Saipan began, U.S. bombers took off from Chengdu to bomb Japan, kicking off the prelude to large-scale strategic bombing.
After the Battle of Saipan, the U.S. military's strategic bombing of Japan became easier and more frequent, which is probably why the film focuses on the Battle of Saipan.
There is a shortage of supplies
There were many elderly servants in the family, and they were very rare for the canned food, milk powder, especially cigarettes brought by the father of the Mujin, and several elderly people even complained to each other because of the competition for cigarettes, which reflected the lack of materials in Japan at that time.
Due to the defeat in the war, Japan on the one hand supplied most of the supplies to the army, on the other hand, due to the blockade and it was difficult to transport supplies back from the occupied areas, which led to a very tight supply of materials for ordinary civilians.
Meiji Restoration
After the disappearance of Mu Zhen and Xia Zi, a servant told Mu Zhen's father about the origin of the mysterious tower, which had fallen from the sky during the Restoration period.
This era of the Restoration is Japan's famous Meiji Restoration, which was a major change in Japan from a feudal society to a capitalist society, and it was also the beginning of the Japanese militarist forces manipulating the fate of the country.
2. Another world
Black stone
According to the plot of "What kind of life do you want to live", the foundation of the mysterious tower is a black stone. It was a rock flying from the sky.
Here we can understand the Black Stone as the "Black Ship Incident" in Japanese history, when the United States opened the door of Japan with gunboats in 1853 and forced Japan to sign an unequal treaty.
Although Japan was the victim of the Black Ship Incident, the U.S. invasion also set off the prelude to Japan's reforms, prompting Japan to embark on the Meiji Restoration, and then embark on the road of expansion, and militarism gradually became stronger.
Mysterious Tower
The mysterious tower began to appear after the Meiji Restoration, but in 1944, the tower collapsed because no one wanted to inherit the other world in the mysterious tower, and because the parrot king used a knife to break the blocks that could stabilize the other world.
From the timeline of the existence of the mysterious tower, we can infer that the mysterious tower represents Japan from the Meiji Restoration to World War II, during which the whole of Japan was bound by militarism, and it was not until after the defeat in World War II that Japan was freed from militaristic control.
Uncle
Uncle discovered the powerful power of the black stone, and used the black stone to build a different world, and he also wanted Huomei, Natsuko or Muzhen, who had his own bloodline, to inherit the rule of this other world, but if it didn't work, let the children born to Natsuko do the same.
There can be two kinds of representatives, the representative in the narrow sense is the emperor of Japan, all the emperors of Japan from the beginning of the Meiji Restoration to the period of World War II, and the representative in the broad sense is the ruling class dominated by the Japanese imperial family, whether it is the emperor or the nobility, they all emphasize blood.
鹦鹉大王
In another world, my uncle is the supreme ruler, and below him there is a group of parrots with knives, and the parrot king is not only the leader of all parrots, he can also negotiate with his uncle face-to-face.
The costume of this parrot king has some Prussian elements, so the parrot king also has two representative meanings, and the narrow representative is the Japanese military department, who actually kidnapped Japan in the historical stage from the Meiji Restoration to World War II.
In a broad sense, the fascist forces included Japan, Germany, and Italy during World War II.
parrot
Parrots in another world are very scary, they not only have sharp knives, but they also want to eat people all the time, and the actions of these parrots are organized and look a lot like an army.
When the other world collapsed, all the parrots escaped, and they immediately turned into cute birds, and they no longer posed any threat to the shepherds.
The parrot represents the Japanese army, these Japanese soldiers are a group of killing tools in the other world, and when the other world collapses, they are just ordinary people.
鹈鹕
The pelicans in the other world are locked up there, they can't eat fish, and in order to survive, they can only eat those cute wah-la-wah, and wow-wow-wah is a life born in the future.
These pelicans represent Japanese civilians who are coerced by militarism, just like the servants in the real world who fall into madness when they see cans and cigarettes, and they can only be coerced by militarism to constantly destroy the next generation and future of Japan.
Wow, wow, wow
Wow la wah is cute, the future of another world and the future of the real world, and they represent the next generation of Japan.
Black people
Obviously, those black people in the other world represent the souls of those who died in Japan's wars.
Himi
Huomei is the appearance of Mu Zhen's mother in the other world (she has been in the other world for a year), she expels the pelicans that eat wa-la-wah in the other world, and also stops the man-eating parrots, protecting Mu Zhenren and Natsuko.
Therefore, Huo Mei represents the people who constantly fought against the evil forces during the militaristic period, and they were willing to sacrifice themselves in order to save the people.
Masato Maki
Last question, who does the shepherd represent?
Makijin represents not only Miyazaki, but also the Japanese audience who watched the film, and the talking heron represents Miyazaki's friend and the audience's docent.
To sum up, the core of the story of "What kind of life do you want to live" is simply that Miyazaki and his friends took the Japanese audience to review the history of Japan's militarism, and then told the Japanese audience, which direction do you want to go in the future?
Support your uncle's evil other world or fight in the evil other world like Huo Mei, or live in a beautiful world like Natsuko.