Unknown places are all abyss. In the process of exploration, the deeper you go, the more the surrounding abyss will influence you, affecting your heart and mind, and the hope of returning is slimmer. Even if you return, your body and mind will mutate, and it will no longer be the original form. This is not only the setting of the abyss in the animation, but also can describe all the knowledge-seeking process. With enlightenment and knowledge, it is impossible for people to return to primitive ignorance.
The entire history of cave exploration presented in the animation can be regarded as a metaphor for the development of knowledge and civilization promoted by countless seekers in the real world.
A character setting like the caver immediately reminds me of the characters of the Age of Enlightenment who tirelessly explored the world and knowledge. Alexander von Humboldt had explored places that almost no Europeans had been to, went deep into the jungle, and studied the characteristics of newly discovered creatures; in order to accurately map the map, he frantically searched for the natural canals before the Orinoco and Amazon rivers, and climbed the then The world's highest peak. In this work, the environment of the abyss is very similar to the real Amazon rainforest and the extremely cold snow-capped mountains, both of which are harsh natural environments. And the spirit of the cavers is the same as Humboldt's. It is an inextinguishable curiosity, an ambition to follow and surpass its predecessors, a blasphemous idea that borders on widening and creating the world. The slogan of the Age of Enlightenment was, let the light dispel the darkness. The cavers are bringing light from the abyss at the cost of their own lives. When in the animation, Li Ke and her friends released a message balloon, expecting it to pass through many obstacles and reach the ground, I was inexplicably moved.
On the other hand, the cruelty in the abyss is not only caused by harsh nature, but is full of doubts and paradoxes. This is vividly reflected in the setting of some abyss relics and creatures, such as praying skeletons, steel cannon beasts that can see through you by predicting the future, imitating the whine of dead humans and attracting other cavemen to throw themselves into the net. , Mimic become the zodiac worm that is loved by human beings but intends to parasitize and even eat away the human body. The evolutionary direction of these creatures seems to suggest how humans once ravaged them. Does this mean that the origin of these creatures and abyss is the cruelty of humans themselves? Is it human beings who caused the cruelty of the abyss? If it is connected to the real world, does this allude to human slaughter of animals and destruction of the natural environment, or even the brutal atrocities of killing other races of humans when they discovered the New World? After all, these are what human beings do in the pursuit of knowledge, progress, and civilization. From this perspective, the abyss that reappears in the world is a mysterious test of nature for human beings. Going deep into the abyss not only means going deep into the unknown darkness, but also going deep into the subtleties of human nature.
According to the current progress of the comics, we can know that the interior of the abyss is divided into several layers, and each layer is also guarded by a special senior caveman "white flute". The cartoon tells us that almost every white flute is someone who has been to the depths of the abyss to be tested, and each of them has changed more or less from the outside to the heart, so it is unlikely that they can be simply called human.
In my opinion, each white flute represents a human quality that has undergone the most extreme test, and they are the few who have persevered. The most impressive of them all is the second white flute, the Dawn Sergeant Bordeaux. I think he represents the intellectual curiosity in human nature. He is a Frankensteinian controversial figure. In order to keep going deeper into Abyss, he did not hesitate to carry out various experiments on his own and others' bodies. He found a large number of children from the slums as a curse of return after observing the depth of the sixth floor. And most of the children became deformed creatures that lost their humanity in the process. From a large number of experiments, he observed a special case, Nanaki, who was sheltered by the love of his companions, not only did not lose his humanity, but instead gained the mysterious power that could see the Abyss force field. So Dawn Qing began to cultivate his own "children", and finally transformed the children, including his daughter Prosuca and Dawn Flower, into his own "ammo pack" to resist the rising curse of Abyss. And the children in the shape of ammunition depots seem to hold a liquid, and when they are used up, they are also exhausted. It seems that those "ammunition" are tears that they contain love but are willing to suffer.
Dawn Qing pursues knowledge and progress. In order to broaden the field of human exploration of the abyss, part of human nature was abandoned to gain more knowledge. The production of knowledge needs to pay a price, and Liming Qing insisted on his thirst for knowledge, so he obtained knowledge and provided valuable information for later generations of cavers. Although his abandonment of humanity made me a human being, I couldn't help feeling fear and disgust, but this character has always implemented his own will and objectively broadened the knowledge of human beings, which is why he became a white flute.
Of course, I'm not saying that Qing Qing's method is reasonable and legal, on the contrary, it poses a great threat to the existence of human beings. People will be reduced to tools and means of progress, and once the value of people as tools is worn out, they can be easily replaced and discarded, just like those walking corpses in the foundation sewers, who are the failed substitutes of Qing Dawn.
When Li Ke and the others descended to the sixth floor of the Deep Realm, they encountered a village of corpses. Here, the value of human beings is so embodied that it seems to be a matter of course. The skeletons (their collective name) look like objects, can be clearly priced, can exchange their bodies for other things in the market, and have currency in circulation. All are increasingly devalued in a constant exchange of value. Each skeleton is nervous that its value will be degraded, and its functionality is the only reason for their continued existence. For example, when the guide Kaga introduced them, the value of a corpse with three holes lies in the ability to pass through three lines. If he loses his final function, he will be plundered by other corpses and eventually perish.
The skeleton village is completely a metaphor for modern capitalist society. Among them, the flow of capital and value, the division of labor and alienation of people are vividly embodied here. The sixth layer of the deep world is also the deepest layer known so far, and it seems to be in line with the latest development of our current civilization.
So I think the whole abyss is a metaphor for the development of human civilization. If people on earth are still in the ignorance of the Middle Ages, then the first step into the abyss is the moment of enlightenment, which includes both the joy and convenience brought by new knowledge, and the danger and temptation brought by the mysterious unknown. . From enlightenment to the age of industrialization, and then to modern capitalist society, instrumental rationality has degraded the value of human beings, becoming a screw in a huge system. Human beings trapped in it are like those skeletons, and they can only rely on them in the system. The division of labor functions to obtain food and clothing.
Adventure has two sides, it may bring good side, it may bring bad side. Nietzsche said:
Und wenn du lange in einen Abgrund blickst, blickt der Abgrund auch in dich hinein.
This sentence is deeply poetic, especially suitable for the theme of adventure and human nature. is for the conclusion.
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