Movie Class for a Lifetime Companion ---- Where Dreams Begin

Author: Mu Huaili (Compiler)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-11-01
Features: Here are some pure, imaginative, and poetic films, a stage where ordinary eyes cannot perceive the fables between heaven and earth. Those beautiful and heavy stories are as pure as crisp lullabies piercing golden light, yet they hide a sense of awe-inspiring vicissitudes. Perhaps, it is these films that turn our world-perceiving eyes into the clearness of a child's. These are the films I will always keep in my personal favorites. When one day I also start to mingle with others, full of vitality, I will know that something called youth will never return, but these films might be the only proof of a real life I once had. Some say cartoons are for children, but in fact, cartoons influence far more than just kids. In the hearts of adults, animated characters remain unforgettable memories. Because everyone has their own childhood. "Hope cartoons can also be as diverse as films" is the pursuit and dream of Disney, DreamWorks, and Spielberg. No contemporary person can say they have not been influenced by Hollywood cartoon characters. The beautiful and clever Mickey Mouse; the noisy, clumsy, self-assured, and perpetually unlucky Donald Duck; the Snoopy who refuses to admit he is a dog; and Bugs Bunny, always holding a carrot in his mouth. These characters always occupy an important corner of our memories. "Snow White," "The Lion King," "Toy Story," "Mulan," "A Bug's Life," "Finding Nemo," "Chicken Run," "Shrek," and "Stuart Little" – these familiar names interpret life, the future, happiness, and our fantasy world in various ways. We admire the imagination of animation, and thus, our childhood world has a second world as beautiful as a dream. Our hearts are equipped with wings of fantasy. Perhaps we can hardly understand: Do people shape cartoons, or do cartoons shape people? Truly, if there were no cartoons, how would people be? This was the editor's thought at the beginning of planning this book. Therefore, more than half of the 50 films selected in this book are cartoons – those films that have accompanied us from the very beginning of our dreams. When we exchange the innocence of childhood for the weariness of adulthood, looking back, we find they have become something like fables. All the beauty and tenderness remain, but they are now accompanied by a deeper depth and weight. Hans Christian Andersen was right when he said: "Fairy tales are for all people from 9 to 90 years old, and so are cartoons." The book also includes a selection of live-action films, which share a feature with cartoons: warmth and beauty, just like the warm embrace of afternoon sunlight. The difference between this book and other film books lies here: it allows you to read with a smile, reminiscing wistfully or silently examining yourself – the childhood self or the aging self in the gray, bustling world. The two selves are very different, yet the same is that we still hold countless dreams. Perhaps, film is just a form. Through this form, we can always have dreams of flying, freedom, innocence, and life. Although the background of these dreams is not optimistic and even somewhat despairing, the combination of pessimism and dreams creates a more moving force. And this is also the charm of film. Such films are all in our book, interpreted to you in fresh and flowing words. A film diary exchanges our lingering memories of cinema and the hidden thoughts buried in time. The beauty of watching films lies precisely in this.