Warm reminder: This article contains spoilers!

Five years ago, the student short film "Dream of Graduation" by the School of Visual Arts and Design of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts attracted countless fans on Bilibili. This summer, the animated film "Falling into the Mortal World" based on this short film finally met with the audience, completing the five-year promise. It not only brought the story of the descendants of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl to the big screen, but also brought the traditional Chinese astronomical cultural elements to the big screen for the first time.

"Falling into the Mortal Realm" "Starry Array" version of the release poster

In June this year, the production company released the "Starry Night" version of the release poster for "Falling into the Mortal World". In the poster, the son of Cowherd and Weaver Girl, Jinfeng, and the daughter, Yulu (Xiaofan), echo each other from afar. Jinfeng has a golden bracelet and Yulu dances with talismans. The poster shows the setting of the sky connecting the sky and the earth in the film, with the twenty-eight constellations arrayed in it. Niu Jinniu, one of the twenty-eight constellations, is between the brother and sister.

Planet Crisis

The Twenty-Eight Mansions is a term in traditional Chinese astronomy, referring to the twenty-eight constellations near the ecliptic and the celestial equator on the celestial sphere. The first complete and unified calendar in Chinese history, the Taichu Calendar, confirmed the specific names of the "Twenty-Eight Mansions" for the first time. Each mansion is related to an animal. The well-known ancient mythological novels such as "Journey to the West" and "Investiture of the Gods" all have the Twenty-Eight Mansions. The female earth bat that appeared in the first battle of "Falling into the Mortal World", the winged fire snake that was captured in the end, and the ox-golden bull that has been accompanying the two siblings are all among the Twenty-Eight Mansions. In this way, it is natural for the story of this drama to start with "the stars reappear in the world, and it is bound to cause trouble again."

The other characters are also related to traditional Chinese culture. Ziwei Xingjun is the symbol of the emperor in the world, Ziwei Emperor. The number one villain in this film, Lingbi Xingjun, is the elegant name for thunder and lightning in ancient my country, "Lingbi". Therefore, Lingbi's unique skill is thunder punishment, and his weapon is thunder whip (another elegant name for thunder and lightning).

Lingbi Star Lord

The reason why the film sets Niu and Jinniu as the partners of the two brothers and sisters is closely related to the composition of this constellation. The brightest stars of Niu and Jinniu are the three stars of Hegu (representing the Cowherd and his two children) and the Weaver Girl. In the traditional myth of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, the Weaver Girl is the granddaughter of the Emperor of Heaven, and the Weaver Girl is also called the Grandson of Heaven.

The Ox Constellation as depicted on the Dunhuang star map

The names of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl were first created in the movie. They come from the famous line in the poem "Magpie Bridge Fairy·Filling Clouds Playing Cleverly" in the preface to the Qixi Festival: "When the golden wind and jade dew meet, it is better than countless human beings." The Song Dynasty poet Qin Guan used the myth of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl to eulogize the sincere and faithful love. The talisman of the jade dew, which can be transformed into a fire magpie by casting a spell, is also related to the legend of the magpie bridge. The playwright used the golden wind and jade dew, which undoubtedly put the love and family affection in traditional culture at the top of the movie. The name "Xiaofan" used by the jade dew in the human world refers to the title of the play "Falling into the Mortal World". The personalities of the two siblings are complementary. The brother is resolute and taciturn, while the sister is lively and smart.

The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl Family

"Falling into the Mortal Realm" makes full use of modern elements to attract many young audiences. The seven ancient towns where the human story takes place are undoubtedly based on the mountain city of Chongqing. The plot of the protagonist eating hot pot, drinking milk tea, and visiting the night market is full of the flavor of fireworks in the human world, "coming down to the earth because of love, breaking into the fireworks world". The movie also combines modernity and tradition. The function of the ladder connecting the human world and the heaven is similar to Doraemon's Anywhere Door, but it is painted with the pattern of the six stars of the Southern Dipper. The Southern Dipper is the main life, and this is a door of life, which is also mentioned by the protagonist in the movie.

Seven Ancient Towns

Ladder

Jealousy is an important element that drives the plot. Simu is jealous of Jinfeng and sabotages the protagonist's mission. Lingbi is jealous of the gods who are worshipped by humans and wants to cut off the connection between the human world and the heaven, and even destroy the two worlds. The setting that the more worship you receive from humans, the higher your status is also derived from "The Investiture of the Gods". The gods who were deified in the Investiture of the Gods, no matter how hard they work, can hardly make any progress in their cultivation. If you want to improve your cultivation, the only way is to accept the worship of humans and accept people's offerings.

The plot is similar to "Jiang Ziya" and "New God List: Yang Jian", in that the protagonist accepts a mission from heaven, cleans up the villains, and finally learns the truth. However, the setting of this film did not fall into the clichés of "Jiang Ziya" and "New God List: Yang Jian" in recent years, which subvert traditions and completely set the heavenly forces as villains. Heaven is the same as the human world, with good people and bad people, which is in line with normal logic and social phenomena. All the gods will save the heavens, and Si Mu will in turn save the mortals. After all, who can be ruthless in the face of disasters? This is also in line with the logic that the gods accept incense from the human world and must eliminate disasters and solve problems for mortals.

Brother and sister discover the truth

The main plot of the story is the struggle for control of the twenty-eight mansions. The golden thread that the Weaver Girl left to her son and the golden shuttle that she left to her daughter played a decisive role in the end. The brother and sister embroidered the four images by weaving the golden thread and the twenty-eight mansions. This setting is also related to traditional astronomy. After the twenty-eight mansions were established, every seven mansions were divided into four groups, becoming the four images. Each image corresponds to a mythical beast, namely the Azure Dragon in the East, the Vermillion Bird in the South, the White Tiger in the West, and the Black Tortoise in the North. In ancient my country, the four beasts were often used in military formations on the battlefield and were the protective gods during wars.

Four Elephants

There are few scenes of the Weaver Girl in the film, but her love has influenced the growth of Jinfeng and Yulu. Their firm decision in the face of life and death moved us. The Weaver Girl's love is also love for the whole heaven and all mankind. She takes care of the sky and controls the power of the twenty-eight constellations. In order to protect the world and her family, she is willing to sacrifice herself, which has influenced her children and moved the audience.

The climax of the story is when the ending song of the same name, "Falling into the Mortal World", is played. The song brings the audience to a climax, and everyone can't hold back their tears. At this time, the last scene of the movie shows the twenty-eight constellations surrounding the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. This is a two-way rush of traditional astronomical culture and the family affection of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. This is an animated film that far exceeds expectations.

"Falling into the Mortal World" ending song singer poster