Text / Wu Yu
"Cicadas on the Eighth Day" is an affectionate tear-jerking book created by Japanese writer Mitsuyo Kakuda that combines crime, suspense and realism. The book was later adapted into a film, released in 2011, and won the Best Picture Award at the 36th Hokichi Film Awards.
Adapted from a book, the film has the same story line and different presentations, but there is no doubt that both have achieved extreme success.
"The Cicada of the Eighth Day" is about the tragedy of two generations caused by an unrequited love. The story is divided into two lines, the first of which tells the story of a third party, After Hiroko conceives her lover's child, she is persuaded to beat it up, which eventually leads to lifelong infertility. By chance, she abducts the daughter born to her lover's wife and begins a series of stories.
The second line tells the story of the abducted child Huili Cai's experiences after she grew up, and her experience highly coincided with her own experience of "adopting mother". Although Huili Cai ostensibly hates this person, he fatalistically embarks on the road of reminiscing about the past and analyzing his heart.
It is worth mentioning that the title of the work is set as the cicada of the eighth day, which seems to have nothing to do with the story, but it vaguely reveals the fate of people through the life of the cicada. The cicada has been in the soil for seven years, and can only live for seven days after breaking out of the soil, but if one of them lives to the eighth day, does he feel loneliness and sadness, or happiness and joy?
This article takes the movie "Cicada on the Eighth Day" as an example, starting from the creative method, theme presentation and detailed portrayal, and interprets the profound connotation hidden behind the affection of this story.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > creative method: dual narrative line, interspersed with reality and memory to narrate, presenting the inner monologue of the characters</h1>
In the original book of "The Cicada of the Eighth Day", the visual narrative of the third party, Hirako, and her daughter Huilicai, who was abducted by her, each accounted for half, and in the movie, it was changed to the real life of Huilicai when she grew up and her memories of her childhood.
Life and memory itself are one, and the film drives two lines through a person, not only presenting us with the heart of Huilicai, but also seeing the psychology of the woman named Xihezi from her memory. What is even more ingenious is that these two narrative lines are interspersed under the director's deliberate arrangement, and finally return to one. So how do these two lines present the character's inner heart? In my opinion, it is mainly achieved through the following two points.
(1) Huili cuisine: Self-selection after adulthood implies her inner monologue
If you look at it from the perspective of Huili Cuisine, although she followed her mother around when she was a child, she had a mother who loved her very much, and the two eventually settled on a small island and lived a happy life. But in the end, she is broken by the people who claim to have rescued her, allowing her to return to a strange home and live with two strange biological parents.
Such a complicated state may be a surprise for the biological parents, but it may be an ordeal for the child who only has the "false mother" of Xi Hezi in his heart.
Therefore, Huilicai's relationship with her biological parents does not have the pleasure of reuniting for a long time, and these psychological states are quietly revealed through the many choices of Huilicai after adulthood.
For example, when Huili cai went to college, she moved out on her own, choosing to work to support herself during the holidays without her parents' money; for example, she had a crush on Kishida, who had taken her to play and cared about her husband, and eventually became pregnant with his child; for example, Chikusa, who wanted to interview her, began to confide in her after several meetings. All of this shows her loneliness at home, and her desire for love and friendship.
But at the same time, she is also a very stubborn person, after the unexpected pregnancy, in order not to become an "empty shell", she did not graduate from college, she chose to cut off Kishida, who had no intention of being responsible, and decided to give birth to a child in her womb.
All of the above practices, the director is using another language to open the heart of the girl for the audience, the audience is like the writer, slowly into her heart, while opening those dusty memories.
(2) Xihezi: The appearance of the little girl in her memory, showing the most real woman's heart
Why use the vision of a little girl's memories to describe the controversial character of Heiko? The reason is probably that children's eyes are the clearest, and the world in their eyes is the simplest, without any additional factors.
Therefore, in the memory of the little girl, it is the truest side of Xihezi.
Through the memories of Huili Cai's childhood, we see a most traditional mother, cutting off her long hair for her daughter, traveling all over the world, working hard, and wanting to give her the best things in the world.
But we also saw her fear, the fear of losing her daughter, which led her to run away like a frightened bird, and whenever there was any wind and grass, she pulled her daughter away. Love and fear filled Heiko's heart, and in this painful escape, she still did not regret it, and was grateful for being able to raise such a daughter.
I think that this special pair of mother-daughter psychological responsibilities can never be cleared in three words, so these two interspersed lines, like this complex relationship and thoughts, are entangled, looking clear and distinct, but in fact, they are inseparable. This may be the most essential inner world of the characters.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > theme presented: through the portrayal of the Japanese woman's yang-facing yin side into the bone into the marrow, the maternal brilliance under the contradiction is revealed</h1>
Japanese literature sometimes likes to place human nature in the position of a moral dilemma, and this film is no exception. The protagonist's identity is awkward, and her behavior is even more contrary to common sense, but her love for the captive daughter is beyond the boundaries of love.
After watching this movie, many people will fall into a temporary contradiction, this character named Xi Hezi, should he hate or sympathize? In fact, the more contradictory the position, the more people can see the most authentic things. It's a film's technique of conveying a theme that makes people love and hate it, and they can't stop it.
(1) Toward the yin side: the "evil" carried out by a woman
The protagonist of the film, Xi Hezi, is a very unfortunate woman, but in the eyes of normal people, she is also a very hateful woman.
First, she became the lover of a married woman, then became pregnant with a child, and after beating the child under the persuasion of the other party, she unfortunately found that she would never be able to have children again.
Secondly, In the midst of pain, Heiko wants to see the child born to her lover's wife, but she indulges in the baby's smiling face and eventually directly abducts someone else's child.
All kinds of behavior, both in thought and behavior, are a crime. But in fact, the director wants to analyze the character's heart through this negative side.
In my opinion, the reason for Xihezi's crime is not revenge, but almost innate motherhood. Just after beating the child, she learned that she could no longer get pregnant, and was ridiculed as an "empty shell", and her inner despair can be imagined. But when she saw the baby, her innocent smile and clear eyes melted her, and for this reason, her nature made her make such a choice, to take her and raise her as her own child.
(2) Sunny side, unrelated maternal love
Xihezi is not related to the captive child by blood, but we see maternal love that transcends blood relations.
There is a very shocking scene in the film, when Xiwazi just took the child away, the child cried incessantly, she coaxed left and right but to no avail, in despair, Xihezi unveiled her blouse and wanted to breastfeed the child herself. But she forgot that she was a woman known as the "empty shell" and had no milk, but this scene let us see the maternal love in the depths of Xihezi's heart.
There is also the scene where Hirako is separated from her daughter, who is four years old when she calls "Kaoru", and Ishiwako prepares to flee with her daughter, but before getting on the boat, she encounters the police who have come to her. When Heiko was taken away by the police, he only shouted with tears in his heart: "This child has not eaten dinner yet!" Until the last moment, her heart was still on her daughter.
Crimes eventually need to be punished, but before that, the image of a humble and persistent mother is revealed in front of the audience.
I think what "The Cicada of the Eighth Day" shows is the precious maternal spirit, and what he wants to express is precisely that no matter what identity this person is, what she has done, she is entitled to the glory of motherhood.
"This child doesn't belong to me, I don't have any blood relations, but I can give her everything I can give." This may be a mother's inner monologue.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > detailed portrayal: the "cicada meaning" implied in the cicadas on the eighth day, dilemmas and rebirth</h1>
Cicadas are in the soil for seven years, but after breaking out of the soil, they can only live for seven days. But if a cicada is different from other partners and survives alone, is it happy or sad for it?
Although the life of cicadas is short, it has a certain similarity with the fate of people. The main line of the film is clearly the accident caused by a third party stealing the baby, but the name is the eighth day cicada. I think that the cicadas on this eighth day represent both a dilemma and a new life. The film starts with details everywhere, showing this dilemma and the meaning of new life.
(1) The plight of cicadas and the plight of people
There are two scenes in the movie that mention cicadas, and the first time, Huili Cai said a sentence: "If all the cicadas die after 7 days, it will not feel lonely, because everyone is the same, but if one survives to the eighth day, the friends are dead, leaving only themselves, which is more tragic." This feeling of loneliness and helplessness is the plight of cicadas.
Compared with people, this difficulty is particularly obvious, for example, in a scene in the film that only has a dozen seconds, the wife of Xihezi's lover, with a big belly, comes to Xihezi, forces Xihezi to touch her belly, and says to Xihezi: "You killed your own child with your own hands, you are an empty shell, this is retribution!" ”
The child who is beaten up by Xiwako is the cicada who lives to the seventh day, and she herself is the cicada on the eighth day. At that time, she was only lonely and helpless, did not know where to vent, did not know how to spend the time to come, dilemma, could not find meaning. This dilemma is actually the most difficult part of life.
So I think it's really appropriate to connect cicadas to people. When the experience of the cicada is given a thought, the "cicada meaning" is self-evident.
(2) The rebirth of cicadas on the eighth day
When Heiko, the "empty shell" woman, has her daughter Huilicai, her world begins to be completely different, and in the many details of her relationship with her daughter, she takes care of the real world of many people.
For example, Xiao Huilicai will tell her mother that she will marry her mother in the future, so that her mother is not a single mother; for example, Xihezi always says to Xiao Huilicai that with her mother, she is not afraid to go anywhere, and these many details of getting along make people perceive the change in the mood of the character of Xihezi.
After experiencing the pain, this "eighth-day cicada" is beginning to quietly metamorphose and eventually gain a new life.
As Chikusa says when cicadas are mentioned for the second time in the film, "I thought that cicadas that lived to the eighth day were more pitiful than cicadas that died on the seventh day, but I may be wrong." The cicadas on the eighth day can see things that other cicadas can't see, maybe they are very beautiful things. ”
Therefore, the cicada on the eighth day may encounter a lonely dilemma, but when it tries its best to break through the predicament, it will also see a different scenery. Heiko is such a cicada, she is tenacious, extremely persevering, and finally lived fully on the eighth day.
And her daughter, after many years, following her steps, gradually understood the joy of being a mother, wanted to see what she had seen, what she had not seen, and wanted to let her children feel the most beautiful things in the world. The life of a child means a new life, but it is not a new birth of life, but a new life of Xihezi and Huili.
I think this film presents the extremes of the yin and yang sides, showing the ultimate theme of motherhood. But deeper, it describes the selfless maternal love displayed by a woman who is not qualified to be a mother.
When separated from blood relations, is a woman still eligible to be a mother? This movie gives us the best answer. True maternal love is not related to blood relations, but only depends on whether there is a great motherhood in the woman's heart. But what we have to admit is that maternal love is a woman's praise, and sometimes a sad song.