Film review - The Lion King

Many, many years ago, when I was in middle class kindergarten, my mother bought me a VCD of The Lion King. As I recall, it was the first Disney animation I ever saw, and the one I watch most often. I remember the two VCDS that I broke by force.

The plot, the music, and even every line of dialogue (in Cantonese at the time) were imprinted on my mind. It wasn't until I was in college that I came across a reissued DVD of The Lion King and bought it home to watch. At the beginning of the first sound of music sounded, tears in my eyes.

When I grew up and watched The Lion King again, I cried through it. Since then, every time I look at it again, I will be very emotional. Not just because of my childhood feelings, but because I finally understood the story.

Research on human memory has found that whether or not a memory actually works depends on how it's typed. The record of my brain, "the lion king is a baby's brain, no matter how much its mechanical memory ability is strong, it records, cannot be used for me as an adult brain, because it at that time, the understanding of information ability is limited, unless the mechanical memory once again from the outside stimuli, stimulate the adult brain to edit them.

Watching "The Lion King" for the first time as an adult, I was struck by the sudden realization, nearly two decades later, that these deep and beautiful childhood memories contained such a heavy message.

Take the most direct example, the lyrics of the opening song:

"Look close and far, still can't see clearly; The more you think, the more you can't understand; Consciously go to the highest level, but encounter more frustration, the original world, hiding the rules of life every day, never slightly crooked; Turn and turn, despair and life, laughter and crying, all in my arms; The seasons change forever, and gradually God knows, the Lord of life: the spinning world."

I remember every syllable of a Cantonese lyric, but I never remember its true meaning because I didn't know it when I memorized it. Grow up to hear this song again, childhood colorful filter suddenly broken a ground, born and people can not escape the joys and sorrows in union, so emerge in the past that very gentle to their own, innocent world. In the memory of what he did not know when the relief, but also feel now finally know everything heavy.

In the past, I only thought Mufasa was very handsome, but now I saw the solemn and solemn way he died to save his son. I used to think Timon and Pumbaa were funny, but now I see their sadness as outcasts, and their free and easy way of turning their backs on the world. Simba saw his father's reflection in the water and heard his father's voice in the changing wind and cloud. When I was young, I was only puzzled. Now I know that these metaphors come from the seasonal change on the African grassland and the inheritance and cycle of life in the story.

A child's eyes see only colorful beauty, and as an adult, the reappearance of an animated film has added so much to my childhood memories about life itself that it's inspiring, but it's also a profound, belated Epiphany. This feeling is similar to the joy of watching BingBong in the hero's mind decide to sacrifice himself to save the hero in the story of Inside Out.

The sad resonance comes from a sacrifice everyone must make in order to grow up. You can't fight that loss any more than you can fight time itself. Watching The Lion King again is like suddenly realizing BingBong that I have never seen before. How much I appreciate its sacrifice, how much I miss its existence.

Of course, The Lion King is a high quality cartoon. It's not just mindless kid-coddling. It's rich enough to stand the test of time: it can wrap a Hamlet-like tragedy in a beautiful, delicious sugar coating and feed me a brain, waiting for 20 years to reveal the original form, and it will hit me hard in the back of my mind.

In fact, similar feelings appeared in the Prince of Egypt and Tarzan when I was an adult. After learning about the history of the oppression of slaves and the power of faith, watch The Prince of Egypt. After learning about racial discrimination, the barriers between different cultures, and the common emotions of human beings, especially maternal love, watching "Tarzan" has evolved from "beautiful" to "touching". The music, and the lyrics in the music, it was like, "This is what these movies are about. This is what I didn't know. As in The Prince of Egypt, the Hebrew mother of Moses sings:

"My son, I have nothing I can give, but this chance that you may live. I pray we'll meet again... Do you know somewhere he can be free? River, deliver question there..."

These two lyrics show how desperate a mother is and how painful her tears are -- things that a child who doesn't even recognize ABC's can't possibly understand. But the song was beautiful, and I remembered the melody and the syllables. When I grow up, I will listen to my childhood filter and my understanding of 20 years later.

Come to think of it, children are both innocent, and cruel existence, because of ignorance, so innocent; Also because of innocence, so ruthless. When I was in junior high school, I read Kahlil Gibran's On Sorrow and Joy, which has always impressed me deeply. One of them says:

"The deeper the sadness is in your heart, the more joy you can accommodate

.

Sorrow and joy are one."

It's a laid back. Childhood sadness is very shallow, so happiness is also shallow, like a colorful glass kaleidoscope, just good. Later, learn to feel the sadness of the deeper, can feel the happiness of the deeper. He who has not shed tears for his loss cannot appreciate the beauty of his possession. Do not understand for love pain, do not know love is long.

Time robs people of their innocence in order to leave a hole in their hearts to truly carry the world, just as the opening song of the Lion King says: "Despair and vitality, laughter and crying, all in my arms. The seasons change forever, and gradually God knows, the Lord of life: the spinning world."