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摘 要

《少年派的奇幻漂流》是李安导演的经典作品，自上映后就获得了人们广泛的关注，而且它也是世界上第一部引用3D技术制作的电影。由此，李安被评为奥斯卡最佳导演。此影片讲述的是少年派一家遭遇海难，只其一人生还，与一只孟加拉虎在救生艇上漂流整整227天，并同老虎产生了一种特殊而又复杂的关系，经历重重困难终获重生。这部影片主要通过隐喻的手法突出人性在极端环境下所展现的灵魂深处的丑恶一面。

近年来，对人性探讨的话题屡屡出现，这篇文章正是对人性的积极思考：有些人在生死关头也如老虎一样，失去了人性，丧失了道德。这人性中有挣扎，有矛盾，有怀疑，但也只有超越和战胜心中猛虎，才能获得启迪和救赎。第二，人只有学会和兽性同处，拉锯，平衡与之微妙的关系，才能度过难关。最后，人们必须要坚信黑暗的人性会像老虎一样隐藏于森林之中，而真正现于人前的仍是光明。克服自己心中的猛虎，才会让人们相信世界仍然是美好的。

关键词：《少年派的奇幻漂流》；人性；救赎

1. Introduction

1.1 Research background

The Life of Pi, A 3D film, based on a novel of the same name published by Jan Martel in 2001, was directed by Ang Lee. Not only did the novel won Manbuk Prize, but it was also on the New York Times bestseller list for over a year. Because of Ang Lee’s liking to making films with strong emotions, the investors decided to make the film by him. In the book, Lee not only tells a story to the writer; Ang Lee also tells a story to the audience. In 2013, the film won four awards, including best director and best visual effects, at the 85th Academy Awards.

With bright and gentle tone, soft mysterious music, simple and clear story, the hidden philosophy in the film guide the audience to dig the story behind the meaning. At the end of the film, another version of the shipwreck comes slowly to the prime of the year. The second story about animals may be a fairy tale while it stands for the truth that the Pi can’t face the dark side of human nature, and the journey to the sea is as light as an untouchable dream. Ang Lee and his production team made a big difference between the warm tone and the dark humanity of the film. Since the film was on and became one of the most popular films, it has aroused widespread concern people from all over the world. Life of Pi not only brought the visual appreciation, but also showed the viewers the interpretation of human nature which instinctly makes people have profound understanding of religion and faith.

1.2 Need of the study

Today’s society is full of laissez-faire, hedonism, utilitarianism, individualism,etc. In this environment, the study on humanity is necessary. Enlightenment philosophers also have different views on human nature. For example, rationalism holds that human natural lust is a kind of low-level thing, it is the common thing between human beings and animals, and human rationality is superior. In addition, individuals are

more cruel than animals from time to time. However, people Still can reflect on themselves in order to make themselves believe that the world is still beautiful and an individual is still good. people need to know that rationality and faith is opposite. The former means that individuals believe science and always face up to the reality although the reality brings pain and evil; the latter means that people are inclined to think they can accept baptism and the evil can be eliminated. From the study on humanity in this film, It can be seen clearly that the human nature and make the better choice to confront the evil and trouble. To remember that the choice is up to you, whether you believe that the world is still beautiful or not when an individual see dark side.

1.3. Literature review

Life of Pi has aroused great concern since it was on. Some people do research from the perspective of human nature. Zhou Hui Ling (2009) makes an analysis in the repression and release of Human Nature in the spiritual axis of Ang Lee’s films. He thinks that everyone has his own goodness and evil, while which one of the two outweighs the other should be determined by himself. people can find a truth from the film that a person is inclined to change self thoughts, relying on changes of environment. Lai Xin Fang (2013) researches the decline and redemption of human nature in Life of Pi. She compares different views of human nature paying attention to the negative aspect which explains that people can be cruel if their survival is threatened. Although some can be cruel, people need to believe in this word that everyone is good in the end if he wants to be such a person. Li Ming Tao (2013) says life is a wonder of faith in Analysis on Life of Pi. He thinks individuals are able to have wonderful life if they can take advantage of their faith.

1. The Essence of Human Nature

2.1 The narrow side of humanity

In a narrow sense, humanity refers to the essential attribute of mankind’s psychology, which is universal for people. In addition, the part of the attribute decides the nature of human beings according to the story. Pi is very realistic and selfish through killing other individuals for survival. However, Pi still believes that human beings are very good and the world is beautiful in spite of harm to others happening.

So people like Pi who are optimistic believe that human beings are given abstract thinking and rational decision-making ability that is different from other animals. Whether it is for ourselves or for people, our original intentions are good, and human nature is good. More than two thousand years ago, the Greek philosopher Plato believed that compared with other animals, the greatest advantage of human beings was the ability to reason. On the contrary, pessimism believes that men and women are born to be flawed, contradictory, and even evil. The Old Testament speaks of the evil causes of Adam and Eve, as well as those who are created in the image of God. They kill, rob, destroy, and betray. As Pi does, faced with life and death, the first desire for people is to live although some people are to be sacrificed.

Various grand theories of psychology are trying to explain what human nature is. Freud thinks that human nature is sex and attack. Adler believes that human nature is the pursuit of excellence, and Skinner uses simple learning mechanisms to explain human behavior. Evolutionary psychology believes that human nature is the product of evolution first, and all human psychology and behavior are first to adapt. In the second story, Pi became cruel like a beast through eating other individuals. However, after this, Pi hid his cruel aspect from others and believed the first fancy story in order to escape the ruthless reality. So the tiger was like Pi’s bad aspect, returning to the forest, going out people’ sight. From here, it can be seen that the humanity is complicated and contradictory.

2.1.1 Human’s essential psychological attribute

Ang Lee once said: "Everyone has a tiger in their hearts." The same words are spoken for each movie, not that Ang Lee is lazy, but "humanity." And precisely, after having watching the Life of Pi , some individuals felt the same. The first thing that emerged in people’s mind was the understanding of human nature and the understanding of faith in the film. This is why some people discussed the human nature.

Ang Lee chose the the first story, not because it was less cruel than the latter one, but because it showed the redemption of humanity in sinking. It makes people understand: "The nobleness of human nature is that in addition to survival, you will look up at the stars and measure your own measures on another scale"^[6]. Is humanity good or evil? It is obviously not a simple answer to this question. It is because of complicated personality that it is impossible to draw such a simple conclusion.

As is known to all, human beings possess congenital psychological attributes which make human different from animals. So what is the essential differences between human and animals? First of all, human beings have two consciousness, objective objects and the consciousness of self. Mankind not only can distinguish self from the natural world, but one also makes human beings as the principal part stand opposite to the objective world. It was such a thought that makes people think that individuals can take advantage of nature through working and the base of relying on the nature. Secondly, human consciousness is mainly characterized by reflecting objective things in the form of abstract concepts. Animals reflect the objective objects in the form of concrete perception, sensibility and instinct. For example, Individuals sometimes describe things which has been processed through the brain. Third, human consciousness is inseparable from language which is a tool to express thoughts, feelings and information, while the form of emotion reflection of animals does not need language.

Therefore, people can distinguish human from animals through the essential differences. In addition, from our psychology and behavior, individuals may see themselves humanity.

2.1.2 Acquired psychological attributes

Everything is changing and proceeding, so are the psychological attributes. besides congenital psychological attributes, human beings have developed their acquired psychological attributes through learning and reflection. Taking an example, a person used to be selfish and only wanted to get good from others, but with the time passing by, he lost many friends. From the thing, he may learn to be kind to others and

always help other individuals in order to get their liking and forgiveness. Such a thing is just acquired psychological attributes. In the film, Ang Lee chose the first story which showed people the faith that people are inclined to believe in bright side instead of evil side.

2.2 Humanity in a generalized sense

In a broad sense, it refers to the general psychological attributes of human beings, including those shared by humans and other animals. Both the essential psychological attributes of human beings and the attributes shared by human beings and animals are common psychological attributes shared by human beings. Therefore, such attributes cannot be acquired by human beings. They can only be human nature and belong to unconditional reflection. As Pi and some people did in the film, they liked to hurt beasts and sacrificed other individuals for themselves life.

People often say that human beings are superior to animals in “language” and “thought”. Except for the above special differences in psychology, human beings and animals are similar. First, human beings and animals all possess sense of belonging and affection. Take a pet dog and his master as an example, with the time of their stay long, they have deeper affection and view each other as family. Then, whether animals or human beings, they have competition. In the ending of film, Pi became attached to the tiger with long time stay. There was a strong dependency between both of Pi and tiger, but they also struggled with each other. Therefore, it can be seen that humanity is complicated.

3. Metaphor Method

3.1 The expression of metaphor--preview

Film is an art, and this art is a "meaningful form". This means that movies are a way of expression. This kind of "form", of course, must have corresponding "means" containing among them. Certainly only meaningful "form" can be recorded as the real art. In addition, only more comprehensive and more perfect containing means success. In the form of art, there is no doubt that fine art and that all of all should be implemented by means of metaphor. Art, especially the art of storytelling, has a different approach to infinity than reason. At the same time, it allows a person to use images and metaphors to peer into the unknown that terrify one but constantly fascinate one. In this way, storytelling provides some solace for all of humanity, filling a spiritual need that reason does not provide. However, the storytelling is not enough because they are still longing for continuing to march on the way to the unknown even if people live in a rational world-- it shows that human heart longs to unknown, subject to the unknown, and hope for himself as a carrier to carry far beyond our own abilities.

Humankind uses metaphor to pass through the time and space tunnel, to witness the development of human thinking. Gradually, mankind has created a splendid civilization since nature and itself developed. The inheritance of civilization, in the beginning of human beings, has become an inevitable demand. Every technological advance, from the transmission of symbols to the transmission of characters to the transmission of electronics, is to meet the desire of human beings to inherit civilization. Nowadays, all the achievements of human civilization can be preserved and spread by means of film and television. Metaphor, an ancient and young phenomenon, can also play its own greater role with the help of image: metaphor and its metaphorical content can be spread with the help of image, put on the wings of an electron, fly far and wide, and be recognized, understood, accepted and recreated by most people. In short, in the long history, in the time of flying, metaphor, which has strong vitality of human speech, thinking, cognitive means, has been looking for opportunities to fly; Film and television, a powerful mass media, has also been looking for ways to make themselves more magical and rich in connotation. In a word, metaphor needs film and television.

3.2 Metaphor of the Pi

The beginning of the film introduced the origin of Pi’s name and Pi has the indissoluble bond with pool. An uncle told dad that Pi’s name should be related with the pool if Pi’s father wanted his own children to have a pure soul. Later father named him "Piscine", but his classmates pilloried it. Because of this, Pi was sure that there was a need to make name a meaningful thing. He interpreted his name as a endless loop not irrational "Pi", which is also a metaphor for the fate of Pi in the later development of the story: a meaningful symbol. It was this pool-collecting uncle who taught him how to swim that helped Pi survive the shipwreck.

In an interview, Ang Lee, the director of Life of Pi, first talked about his conception and preparation for the film. "As is well known in mathematics," he said, "the constant Pi -- the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter -- is an irrational number that never repeats itself or ends”.^[9] In Life of Pi by Yann Martel, the author likens the product of a number of products to the mysterious, absurd nature of life.

Reason is like a huge zoo, and the higher animals including humankind create an invisible "cage" - the social environment, religious beliefs, family, work, and people choose to live in it, consciously use of limited scope to prevent self contact with the unknown. The unknown represents something new, frightening and seductive.

Pi and the tiger are essentially the same person. The tiger is the carrier of Pi. The name Pi is inherently uncertain, while the tiger's name, Richard parker, comes from a misunderstanding. When the Pi stole holy water, the priest said, "You must be thirsty." This "thirsty" can be interpreted in two ways. The first is thirst, and the second is the symbol of the tiger, which implies that the Pi and the tiger are one. The story between Pi and the tiger in the film can be interpreted from two aspects. First, the harmonious coexistence between Pi and the tiger is completely caused by his father's suppression of his behavior toward the tiger when he was young. When Pi tried to feed the tiger at a young age, he was severely criticized by his father. This was also to tell Pi to learn to suppress his desire. So Pi's vision of harmony with the tiger also stems from the unfulfilled desires of childhood. The second is the transformation between human beings nature and animals nature. The struggle is the struggle between the human nature and the animal nature, and the harmonious coexistence with the tiger is a unity between the two. Director Ang Lee externalized the human nature and the animal nature into people who come from different schools, showing us the essential difference between the human nature and the animal nature.

3.3 Other people's metaphors

3.3.1 Metaphor of mother image

The scene in which the mother comforts the baby chimp in the cabin is similar to the scene in which Pi's mother comforts the baby chimp on the deck. When Pi asks where the mother chimp's son is after the storm, the sad expression on the mother chimp's face indicates that the mother chimp exists as a mother image. The fact that the mother orangutan was mauled to death by slapping the hyena perfectly matches Pi's second story, in which the mother is killed by the cook, and confirms the metaphor of the orangutan image. The cruelest part of the film is that Pi ate his mother. Although this is a fact that Pi has always avoided, it is not hard to see the truth of this event from many details.

First of all, in the second story, the cook uses the meat of his hands to fish and eat the sailor, but the cook does not eat the mother after killing her, which is obviously not consistent with the style of the cook. Secondly, in the first story there is no corresponding plot about the death of the mother. In the first story, the meerkat living in the desert and grassland appeared on the island, which shows the absurdity of the first story. Finally, when the investigator said that the banana would not float on the water, Pi did not modify this detail in the second story, which also indicated that the second story was fictional. In both stories, Pi talked about banana. Mother orangutan called “banana” and worried about the little one as Pi’s mother did to him, Clusters of bananas look like lotus flowers so it can be seen that the banana symbolizes the lotus flower. As people all know, Buddha came in the lotus flower.

3.3.2 Metaphor of "God"

In the movie, Pi has spent too much in looking for divinity around him since he was a child. While he believes in many religions, he is always looking for something more meaningful in his life. He believed that religion could give him purpose and revelation. When the dark sky in the book opened his mouth, the whole universe in god's mouth appeared to him as if it were real. In his eyes, every time he was in trouble, he got help from the great power. From the movie, we can see that the possibility of the metaphor of "fish" and "cannibal island" is Vishnu: floating in hopeless sea.

In the stream, for the first time a blue fish saves the life of the tribe, for in the myth Vishnu was incarnated as a fish to save manu; then in the lustrous waters of the night a humpback whale in green light rises from the depths of the sea in a perfect arc that upsets the pi's food and water and bears out Vishnu's famous words: "I am time, the destroyer of all things."^[4] Vishnu symbolizes the passage of time and the tempering of the will of the faction while adrift at sea. Then Vishnu also becomes the man-eating island of the party and saves the life of the party for the second time. In the mind of the party, god watches him all the time, brings him to the island when he is in despair, and warns him with a tooth to go on when he is lost on the island. The whole island looks like the shape of a human body in the sea at night depicted in the film, which is consistent with the Indian legend that Vishnu sleeps in the coiled bed of the serpent ananta and floats in the cosmic sea. Here "island" is a kind of concrete symbol, whose meaning comes from the interweaving of what it refers to and what it can refer to, and is taken as the function of expressing obscure meaning.

3.4 The meaning of using metaphor

Metaphor is more flexible and vivid than simile. More than two thousand years ago, Aristotle elaborated on it in his book rhetoric. His definition of metaphor was that metaphor is formed by giving words belonging to something else to another thing, either from "genus" to "species", or from "species" to "genus", or from "species" to "species", or by analogy. Later, film has been full of art since it introduced metaphor, a literary rhetorical device, and many elements used in the film have been derived from it. Mitri says that when we see the bouquets on the screen, we think of the real one that exists in reality. This object is invested in my consciousness as the inner truth, as the thing which excludes all intentionality. In life of Pi, Ang Lee walked freely in the east and the west. He presented the story of the east with the western narration, and uses a lot of metaphors to enrich the connotation of the film.

Image is both a metaphorical world and a metaphor for the world. For nearly 2,000 years, metaphor has been a mere figure of speech. Later, In the 1930s, Richard, the founder of the British new criticism school, broke through this limitation and believed that metaphor was not only a linguistic phenomenon, but also a way of human thinking. American linguists Leif and Johnson wrote that metaphor is full of our daily life and literature. As was shown in our language, our thinking and behavior did. In a word, metaphor and metaphorical thinking are the foundation of human life. Not only do poetry possess these characteristics, but the characteristics of language also include metaphor and metaphorical thinking. That embodies the essential characteristics of human beings, In addition to the creation process of the symbolization of the world by human beings.

4. The Truth of the Two Stories

4.1 The reality of the first story

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