Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, many people know this name probably because of the classic children's book "Little Beanie by the Window". Since its publication in 1981, the book has been translated into more than 30 languages, with a cumulative global circulation of more than 20 million copies, and has been a bestseller for more than 40 years. All the royalties received were used by Ms. Tetsuko to set up the "Doudou Foundation" to fund education schools for deaf and mute children.
Since being named Asia's first Goodwill Ambassador by UNICEF in 1984, Tetsuko Kuroyanagi has traveled to 29 countries to comfort children suffering from war, disasters and poverty, and has dedicated almost her life to children's education.
Recently, the Japanese film of the same name adapted from this book was launched, and it received extremely high reviews, with a Douban score of 8.5, which was called "the best Japanese animation of the year" by many netizens.
Looking at this film in the context of the current world situation, we will find it sincere and valuable, and at the same time remind us once again of the importance of anti-war and children's education.
01
Xiao Doudou, a real "problem child": during class, she will open and put down the desk board over and over again, deliberately making a loud noise; When street performers appear outside the window, she will shout out to them to perform even when they are in class.
In the eyes of all the teachers, Xiaodoudou is the black sheep. The result is naturally conceivable, after being repeatedly asked to be a parent, she was persuaded to quit by the school.
Xiao Doudou's mother was worried, but she did not convey her anxiety to her children, but quickly found a new school for her - Ba Xueyuan.
From the first time I saw this school, Xiao Doudou was attracted by its difference:
The gate is two naturally growing wooden piers;
Purple flowers hung from the eaves of the auditorium;
Classrooms are converted from used trams;
The most interesting is the principal Kobayashi Sosaku. When he saw Xiao Doudou, he asked his parents to leave first and talk to Xiao Doudou alone, to be exact, to listen to Xiao Doudou.
Xiao Doudou gave full play to his chatterbox physique and completely let himself go: what did we come by car, what is the name of my dog, and my skirt is made by my mother......
During the conversation, he saw a swallow flying outside, and immediately ran to the window to greet the little swallow.
Unlike ordinary adults, the principal didn't interrupt Xiao Doudou once during the nearly four hours she continued to output, but just listened quietly with a smile on his face, and it wasn't until Xiao Doudou finished speaking that he asked, "Do you have anything to ask me?" ”
Hearing this question, Xiao Doudou's voice suddenly weakened and said, "My name is obviously Xiao Doudou, why does everyone call me a strange child?" ”
Hearing this, the principal was stunned for a moment, then hugged Xiao Doudou, and then told her: You are a good child, and from today on, you will be a student of this school.
At the moment when he heard the question, the principal must have been keenly aware of the purity, beauty and talent of this "weird child", and he was also heartbroken for a child who was misunderstood because of his uniqueness. He used his words and deeds to tell Xiao Doudou that she was not weird, but just different. In this way,Xiao Doudou officially became a student of Ba School Park.。
At first glance, Ba Xueyuan is also a "strange" school. Here, there is no timetable in the classroom, and children can decide what they want to do in each lesson, whether it is math problems or being in a daze.
Every child is growing up in their own form, they can fully develop their interests and strengths, and books are no longer the only answer. Here, Xiaodoudou is no longer a "black sheep", and has even become "normal" under the backdrop of his classmates.
02
In Ba Xueyuan, knowledge is flexible, and the world is beautiful and equal. The principal and teachers respect every student, the children respect each other, nature and knowledge go hand in hand, and even a walk can be a lesson.
At lunchtime, the principal would ask if the lunch contained both the "taste of the mountains" and the "taste of the sea", which meant that the meal should include food made from things from the land and food made from things from the sea. In the middle of a meal, the children learn about nature and reverence for food.
At one point, the school was asking for a new "classroom" – a recently retired tram. In order to find out how the tram arrived at the school, the children stayed overnight in the school with the consent of their teachers and parents, waiting for the tram to arrive in the early morning.
The principal will also set up a sports program for children with dwarfism so that they can give full play to their strengths, and other children will also realize the importance of "seeing people without colored glasses" through play and practice.
Xiao Doudou quickly adapted to the life of Ba Xueyuan, and also made a good friend: Taiming, who suffers from polio.
At first, she was just curious about why someone's body would be different from everyone's. After realizing that it is an incurable disease, she will take Taemin with her to overcome psychological obstacles, go climbing trees, and go swimming.
There is a very touching scene in the movie: when Taemin comes home from climbing a tree, his mother puts his clothes in the washing machine and says that the clothes are dirty, and Taemin happily apologizes to his mother. It seems to be an ordinary mother-son dialogue, but it contains the strongest emotions.
Taemin's clothes were always clean and tidy because he never went out to hang out with his classmates and always made excuses that he wanted to read more books. In fact, only he and his mother knew that when he came home, the cleaner his clothes were, the more sad his mother became. It was only after the appearance of Little Doudou that he finally regained his liveliness as a child.
A large part of the beauty of Xiaodoudou comes from the education of his mother and the principal.
Mother will encourage Xiao Doudou to dream every boundless, even if she jumps around in the mud puddle and gets her clothes dirty, her mother will only tell her to pay attention to safety.
Once, when Doudou's wallet fell into the toilet, she used a shovel to turn over the pit to try to retrieve it, only to make a mess of the floor. When the principal saw it, he just said calmly: remember to clean it up when you finish it.
Adults who are generous enough can raise such a beautiful child as Little Doudou.
03
It's hard to imagine that this childlike and healing children's story was born in a not-so-rosy reality.
Doudou, also known as Tetsuko Kuroyanagi's childhood, was shrouded in the haze of World War II, which is also particularly shown in the anime.
When Xiao Doudou was studying at the original school, she was confined to the classroom, learning to draw the sun and cherry blossoms, and receiving a militaristic education, but no one cared about the beauty of the sun and cherry blossoms in reality.
Doudou was born in a privileged family environment, his father was a violinist in a famous orchestra, and his mother was a beautiful and elegant housewife. After the war, my father even thought about whether to play military songs in exchange for food in the midst of the embarrassing material conditions, and my mother was stopped by soldiers on the street because she was dressed gorgeously, saying that she could not dress up in extraordinary times.
The most regrettable thing is that eight years after the establishment of the school, Ba School Park was also destroyed in the war. The utopia of childhood quietly disappeared in this way.
But Ba Xueyuan has influenced so many people, such as Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, who has devoted her life to children's education when she grows up.
The director of this film, Shinnosuke Yatsuki (masterpiece "Doraemon" series), saw the news of the outbreak of the war in Syria and was saddened by the damage caused by the war to children, and visited Tetsuko Kuroyanagi many times, which finally moved her.
For a long time, Tetsuko Kuroyanagi was reluctant to adapt the book into a movie, because it would cause readers to lose their imagination of the original novel. Perhaps still harboring the hope that the world would be better, this time, she agreed to the adaptation.
The movie version of "Little Beanie by the Window" maintains great respect for the original book, restores the plot and rhyme of the original book to the greatest extent, and the rhythm is bright.
The film also adds a very distinctive animation design, such as using different painting styles to express different situations and emotions.
Sometimes he uses stick figures-like lines to depict the dreamy imagination and joy of childhood;
Sometimes he uses heavy pen and ink to depict the child's inner anxiety and worry.
But the film isn't flawless. On the one hand, the image design of Xiao Doudou is slightly weird, Xiao Doudou in the book is lively and cute, with the innocence and naughtiness of a child, but the character in the animation is like a doll, which is easy to make the audience feel uncomfortable.
On the other hand, as one of the initiators of World War II, Japan was not innocent. Maybe for Xiao Doudou, she can't eat toffee, her mother can't wear beautiful clothes, and her father thinks about playing military songs because of embarrassment is a painful childhood, but for Chinese children in that era, they don't even have the opportunity to have their own childhood.
Education should be pure, and art should be anti-war, but being anti-war is not the same as not reflecting. The film's content related to World War II is so frivolous, and to some extent, it is also a kind of arrogance and cruelty.
Pillow clouds
Editor-in-charge: Chai Yingrui