If a "thumb villain" only 10 centimeters tall suddenly appears in front of you, will you feel very novel?
If the little human race and human beings live together in this world, will the end be a harmonious and beautiful coexistence, or a bullying of the weak?
Miyazaki's film Arieti the Little Man Who Borrowed Something tells the story of a small human race and a human being. In an old house on the outskirts, Arietti, a 14-year-old teenage girl, lives with her parents under the floor of a human home, "borrowing" human things little by little, such as soap, cookies, sugar cubes, paper towels and other necessities. One day, the old house welcomed a new guest, Xiaoxiang, a 12-year-old human teenager. He suffered from a heart attack, and before the operation, his parents took him to his aunt's villa in the country to recuperate. Xiao Xiang accidentally met the villain Arieti, with curiosity and kindness, two boys and girls of different races, and began a wonderful journey.
· An encounter brought about by a sugar cube
Arietti and Xiaoxiang's encounter stemmed from a sugar cube. The first time Arieti and her father went to a human home to "borrow" something, they were accidentally bumped into by Xiaoxiang, and they were frightened to drop a piece of sugar cube they had "borrowed". The next day, Arietti found the sugar cube in the yard, along with XiaoXiang's note: Something you forgot.
When Arietti's parents knew about it, her father told her solemnly that she should never, absolutely not take this sugar cube from the alms.
When I watched the movies as a child, I didn't quite understand why Arietti's father was so adamant about rejecting this rare sugar cube, after all, survival was too difficult for the little people. Crossing the sewers and climbing up the cupboards is a long journey and a mountain crossing for them. So why not the hard-won sugar cube?
Later, I realized that the "sugar cube" symbolized not only the necessities of life, but also the dignity of the little human race.
· Behind the sugar cube is a symbol of independent survival
Many friends who have watched the film have questioned: "This is borrowing something, it is clearly 'stealing'!" "Admittedly, I thought the same thing at the beginning. But after revisiting the movie countless times, I have a new understanding - for the little people, there is an essential difference between "borrowing" and "stealing".
Although the little people rely on "borrowing" things to survive, they are never greedy, taking only a cookie and a paper towel at a time, and never taking more. And their "borrowing" is only to maintain the most basic survival, but there is nothing wrong with it.
There must be many humans like Xiao Xiang who are willing to help the little human race, but the little human race is not willing to accept it. Arietti's father is firmly opposed to accepting sugar cubes from Xiaoxiang's handouts, perhaps because if he accepts the help of humans for a long time and enjoys the days of "clothes to reach out and food to open his mouth", then the little human race will lose the ability to live independently, forever become a "pet" kept by humans, and even end up dying.
This point, the kind Xiaoxiang did not understand. Xiao Xiang's aunt once said that her mother and grandmother had seen the little people, so they carefully designed a doll house suitable for the life of the little people, hoping to give them when the little people appeared. But after that, the little terrans never appeared.
As a gesture of goodwill, Xiaoxiang found Arietti's home, demolished a wall without permission, and gave them the kitchen in the doll's house, scaring Arietti's mother almost fainted, and her father quickly made the decision to move. When Arietti found Xiaoxiang to say goodbye, they had a fierce quarrel, Xiaoxiang said: "The beautiful race cannot adapt to the change of environmental light and become extinct, although cruel, but your fate will also be like this." "
Xiaoxiang is undoubtedly kind, and the appearance of Arietti arouses Xiaoxiang's "desire to protect" beautiful things, so when Arietti's mother is caught by the hateful nanny, she will drag the sick body to help Arietti without hesitation. But in Xiao Xiang's kindness, unconsciously revealing the supremacy of human beings, does the beautiful race have to rely on human help and protection to survive?
The little terrans don't think so. Arietti said: "We are trying very hard to live, we are desperately trying to survive, but you just don't know, we will not be so easy to become extinct." "In any case, we must strive to survive, so even if it is dangerous, we must move to a new place, which is the creed of the survival of the little people - through their own efforts to "borrow" things and seek a self-reliant life, rather than sitting back and enjoying it. No one can give you permanent protection, and the future must be in your own hands, so that you will not be passive to the point of having no right to speak. No matter how weak a person is, he must be independent!
· Man and Nature: Reverence, respect and love
When the film was originally titled "Little Arieti", producer Toshio Suzuki pointed out that the title lacked the concept of "borrowing something", and screenwriter Hayao Miyazaki changed the title to "Arieti the Little Man Who Borrowed Things".
The little human race is a family that "borrows things", but who is not a family that lives in the natural world and seeks survival in "borrowing things"? Especially human beings, food, clothing, shelter and transportation are taken from nature, but we are accustomed to it, and we regard ourselves as the masters of all things in the world. As a result, mining, hunting, and logging abounded. When the desire for profit blinds people's eyes, we go beyond "borrowing" and greedily ask nature for everything. For the sake of mineral profiteering, human beings destroy mountains and rivers; in order to produce more food, human beings abandon forests; in order to reduce costs, human beings pollute rivers; for the sake of appetite, human beings exterminate other species... Eventually, humanity also received natural revenge – dust storms, mudslides, the greenhouse effect, sea level rise... To oppose nature is to kill oneself!
The reason why the film emphasizes the concept of "borrowing things" so much may also be to warn people - "borrowing things" must be careful to abide by the rules and not be greedy. Otherwise, the balance of coexistence is broken, and humanity will face the same threat of extinction as the little human race.
Nature actually belongs to the whole world, and there is no difference between humans who live in nature and small people who borrow things. There may be an insurmountable gap between people and species, but as long as there is reverence, respect and love, all living beings can coexist beautifully and write a romantic chapter that will be passed down to the world forever.
Author: Xi He, the main business of the language teacher, the side of the attack of the Internet celebrity, only willing to write for the text, the words into the heart.