In the Western world, the power of belief has accompanied people through thousands of springs and autumns. Today, the weight of religion in the humanistic society of the West is still very important. Unlike China, in the West, if you do not have any beliefs, you will become a very small minority in society. The common concept is that if you are born as a human being without the support of your beliefs, you will have nothing to do with an empty shell that lacks a true soul. Second.
For modern society, just as the meaning of religion has transcended the concept of God’s creation of human beings, the meaning of Christmas is not only limited to the narrow meaning of the birthday of Christ Jesus, but has evolved into a reference to faith. Generations are the embodiment of the belief that people have lived under the gospel of God from generation to generation. Christmas is as important to the West as the Spring Festival is to China. It is the most important festival of the year, and there is no "one". People express the greatest goodwill they can achieve on this day. Reunion, for adults, this is a very meaningful day, and for children, it must be the happiest day almost as much as a birthday, just because you can receive your most desired gift on this day.
Year after year, adults tell their children that just after the bells on Christmas Eve, Santa will set off from the far North Pole with reindeer, go door-to-door from the chimney into the house, and put the children's Christmas gifts in and hang them. In socks on the fireplace. The children also believe this beautiful childhood lie year after year, but as the years get older, the innocence of innocence is slowly wiped out by the real world, and replaced by more rational thinking and more mature minds, in fact, To be realistic, this is the helplessness of being deprived of all childhood fantasies by life.
The protagonist of this film is such a boy who stands at the intersection of childishness and growth. For the past so many years of anticipation of Christmas, he gradually feels that the beautiful fantasy of childhood seems to be just a good lie of adults, Christmas and any ordinary Days are the same, no Santa Claus and no miracles happen. But on Christmas this year, he was bewildered and was pulled back into that beautiful lie by a strange "dream". On the snowy night of Christmas Eve, a rumbled train stopped in front of my house between half-dreams and half-awakes. According to the conductor, this is a "polar express" that will carry children from all over the world to the North Pole tonight. Go meet Santa. In fact, this train is not its own simple wheels and carriages, but more of a belief in Christmas, and the little protagonist who thinks he has grown up has long been suspicious of Christmas legends, so how can he believe in the world There is such a column of polar express. When the train conductor invited him to get on the train, the little boy did not accept it, but took a few steps back subconsciously. At this time, he was still swaying between reality and fantasy. And as expected by the audience, after a moment of thinking, the boy finally decided to take a step of faith and board the train, but I am afraid that even he himself is not sure whether he really believes in all this.
The fantasy experience on the road is a very interesting cutscene in the film, which is impressive. What I have to mention here is a seemingly unimportant character who actually runs through the journey—the tramp on the roof. His existence has always been an incomprehensible mystery for the little boy and the audience outside the screen. It is also because of him that the little boy was able to survive a series of crises. It is also because of him that the Polar Express can safely reach its goal. North Pole. Some people think that he is a kind ghost living on the train, but from my understanding, this is God appearing around people in an unexpected way, protecting this train full of pure character. And these "chosen" children.
When he finally reached the North Pole, and the elves and Santa Claus really stood in front of his eyes, the little boy was still full of doubts about what he saw. He wanted to wake up once on the train, so why not now. At this time, including when the little boy returns home at the end, the film's description of the bell can be said to be the finishing touch of the whole film, projecting all the lost faith in innocence and Christmas spirit into a simple bell through sound . As for the "first Christmas gift given this year", the little boy chose far more than just a bell. The meaning of the bell has become extremely heavy at this time. It represents a person's memory of childhood innocence, and Yearning for all the good things in the world.
Seeing this, the meaning of this film is more than just a Christmas movie to convey the spirit of today's Christmas. "Christmas" has been sublimated into a general concept at this time. It is people's nostalgia for the long-lost childhood innocence, a tribute to those beautiful lies in life, and a call to the pure and ice-like soul of the past. Even the little boy is no longer limited to the character itself. Attentive audiences will find that the name of the little protagonist is never mentioned in the whole film. After all, the name can only be limited to one person, but without a name, it can represent the world every kid like him.
When the little boy finally ended his trip to the North Pole, the train returned to the door, and the conductor said to him when he got off the train: "Actually, it doesn't matter where this train goes, what matters is whether you are willing to board this train." After watching this film, it is not difficult for us to understand the deep meaning of this sentence. It does not matter whether the beautiful things in those wishes exist or not. What matters is whether you believe in their existence. In the same way, we don't have to worry about whether what the little boy has just experienced is a dream, it has become irrelevant, the important thing is that he has recalled his dying innocence, why should we continue to hold reality The mentality of all this is true or not.
Finally, add some tidbits outside the plot. This film is a film produced by pure computer animation. At that time, it pioneered the use of the most advanced "real-life facial expression capture technology" to realize the lifelike facial expressions of the characters in the film, which greatly enhanced the visual effect of the film. ahead of almost all similar films of its time. In addition, the extremely delicate and realistic pictures and details of the film are perfect even from today's perspective. It is hard to imagine that this is an animated film from 15 years ago.
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