Summer eyes friends’ account
Both those who are and those who are not have loved me and saved me
Today went to see the theater version of “summer eyes Friends Account”, more than I imagined a lot of unexpected surprises.
I was actually always a missed student in the field of Japanese anime and never caught up. When I was in junior high, the concepts of cute, dirty, tabby, and funky were just starting to pop, and there were a lot of people around me who were talking enthusiastically about net-king, Naruto, and Death Note; When I was in high school, such as “Summer friends Account”, “the Court of Words and leaves” these plays have been quietly spread around me, and I because of the time and again missed the popularity, had to feel comfortable to understand.
When I began to know the works of Sinai Makoto and Kong Min from the animated films “Your Name” and “Millennium Actress”, it was already after I graduated from university, and those who watch anime friends, have already passed the N1 exam, can watch the raw meat drama without subtitles. But I am very glad to meet the theatrical version of “Summer Eyes Friends Account” this spring, although ten years late, but fortunately did not miss.
I want to start with several key words to explain my understanding of this animated film: name, metaphor, memory.
First say the name.
In fact, I initially thought that “Summer Friends Account” is about a group of high school students’ campus friendship story, after watching the movie found that the setting is much broader and more wonderful than I imagined. The “Friend Book” is actually a “list of conquered monsters”, which contains the names of monsters defeated by a human named Xia Mu Lingui. After these monsters lost to summer Mu Lingui, they will write down their names to her, said they succumb to her.
In this movie, “name” is very important. It is directly related to identity and power relations. Xia Mu Lingui has their names, but also has the power to drive them; And when Xia Mulling has died, her grandson to take over the “friend account”, he needs to lift the seal of monsters, return them to freedom, and this ceremony, is to return their names to them.
“Name” is often associated with “identity”, but also means the emotional connection between people. When a person has no name in an organization, only a code name, such as in prison, in a killer organization, as a slave, he is no longer an individual with his own unique temperament, he is a faceless “being”, nameless, identity-less, and ready to be replaced.
When a farmer was carefully raising poultry, he was asked why he did not give these birds names. The farmer said that these birds would be killed for food in the future. If he gave a name, he would have feelings, and it would be difficult to start.
For other human beings, demons are just monsters, big monsters with blurred faces. But in the “friend account”, they have names, they and Xia mu remember each other, and their existence is linked to each other.
And then metaphor
In this movie, people and demons coexist in the world, but only a very small number of human beings can see or even tame demons, while most other people do not see demons, but also know their existence, and know that there is another vast, unknowable world beyond their visible and perceptible world.
But even so, for those who can’t see monsters, people who can see them and talk to them are still freaks. Especially when they are talking to the bogeyman, other people can only see them talking to themselves. This setup is like a clever metaphor.
I remember someone once commented on Van Gogh’s paintings, saying that people tend to think that Van Gogh’s paintings are full of imagination, but it is quite possible that for Van Gogh, he painted the world as he saw it. Nowadays, many people like to quote Lu Sun’s saying that “human beings’ sorrows and joys are not connected”. In fact, people see the world and experience life in completely different eyes. And “Xiamen Friends Account” makes this difference concrete.
There’s a very poetic scene in the movie. The hero Xia Mu GUI HI is a human who can see the monster, he has a classmate named Knot city, clearly cannot see the monster but pretend to see it (probably really hope that they can see). Together they went deeper into the woods, where they had been told they had the most magnificent waterfalls and the most frightening monsters. When they reach their destination, they see two worlds that are diametrically opposed.
The castle saw nothing but a bare wall of stone; when he tried to touch the drops of water, the legendary monster appeared and told him that you must not touch the water in these rivers. Every drop of water here is a symbol of a person’s destiny. Human destiny is very fragile; the slightest touch can completely change its course, so you must be more careful.
Characters like Netsuke are like a projection of the creator himself. I have watched a British film called Miss Potter, which tells the story of Miss Potter, the creator of Peter Rabbit. For others, the small animals she draws are virtual images, but for her, they are talking, moving, real and tangible friends who bring her company.
For many creators, they see a completely different world from others. When they are immersed in their own world, others will think it is just a virtual comfort, not the real world, but for them, this is the reality they feel, and they also have real feelings with the characters in this world.
Finally, memory
The film most moved me, is the director and scriptwriter for the “memory” of the writing. In the movie, there is a very melancholy monster that carries a severe divine punishment. He can easily walk into other people’s lives and connect with others, but as soon as he leaves, all traces of his existence will disappear and his memory will be erased. As long as he leaves your life, it will be as if he never came from the future, and you will not remember any news of him at all.
The demon remover who did not know the truth thought that he was a very sinister monster, because he kept passing by and stealing other people’s lives and memories. But in fact, the most painful thing was the monster himself. He remembered everyone, but everyone did not remember him, and he remembered all those happy and sad memories, while the memories of others did not have his shadow. He had been in it, he had shared it, and he had no name in any memory of anyone, a true ghost. It’s so sad.
While watching it, I remembered a sentence, I don’t remember where I read it, maybe from the movie Coco, which said that everyone dies twice, the first time is when the body dies, and the second time is when everyone no longer remembers him or her.
Coco is also a movie about the importance of being remembered over being. The movie is about the annual Day of the Dead in Mexico, on this day, the Yin and Yang can be communicated, the dead people can return to their old home, to visit the relatives still alive, the only condition is that his home must have at least one photo of him, which means that he is still remembered by his family, the dead can have a home.
If there is not a single photo of a dead person left in the world, it means that no one is thinking of him, thinking of him, or hanging on him anymore. Then he really goes to dust and can never come back to this world.
In the movie “Xia Mu Friends Account”, Xia Mu Lingui, a human monster who fights invincible monsters all over the world, once said, I don’t want to be remembered, I would rather just as if I didn’t exist. In fact, she was remembered by monsters, by the girls who looked up to her as children, by her own grandchildren.
As long as you are remembered, cared for and loved, you are not living alone. Those I love love me, whether in or out, have saved me, will always bring me comfort.
