论文总字数：28914字

摘 要

《疯狂原始人》中瓜哥与伊普是一对典型的父女，父亲疼爱关心自己的女儿，但是父亲严肃、刻板与专治的性格让女儿渐渐地由顺从到反抗与叛逆，开始试图追寻自我。由于其背后父爱主义与个人主义观念的不同，该观念指导下的言语行为冲突不断发生并日益激烈。一方面伊普试图打破常规，遵循本性去探索生活；另一方面瓜哥千方百计的寻找新的穴居地点，继续安全的、已经习惯的穴居生活。父女之间的矛盾冲突愈来愈多，旅途中各种抵制与抗争一直持续着。然鲁斯一家欢喜收尾，最后和谐幸福地生活在新的坏境中。

本文深入剖析了电影中不同家庭观背后的冲突与矛盾，并探寻这些冲突消融的原因与过程，旨在帮助人们幸福和谐地生活。

关键词:《疯狂原始人》；父爱主义；个人主义；家庭观；冲突与消融

Contents

1. Introduction １

2. Literature Review ２

3. Grug’s Affections and Character from Paternalism ３

3.1 Paternalism in the Family Values ３

3.2 Grug’s Character and Affections in The Croods ３

4. Eep’s Affections and Character from Individualism ５

4.1 Individualism in the Family Values ５

4.2 Eep’s Affections and Character ５

5. Conflicts between Grug and Eep ６

5.1 Conflicts on the Affections and Thoughts ６

5.2 Conflicts Alleviation ８

6.Conclusion ９

Works Cited １１

2. Introduction

Family conflicts are easily to be seen in daily life. There are amounts of reasons. For example, people hold different attitudes towards the old, the family responsibilities, the family structures and the different family roles in daily life (Zhang Xuanting, 2011: 40). Besides, the gaps between parents and children, the quarrels among the children, and the differences in individual life styles also lead to the conflicts. Those all have great influence on family life and family members. To some extent, those may result in quarrels, complaints or even the cold war between family members. Those will also endanger the healthy growing of the children, the trust in each other and affections among them. However, it is a challenge for the family, a special test to challenge their affections, abilities and wisdom in life. Once the conflicts and misunderstandings are conquered and solved, families would be much closer and life would be more harmonious.

Paternalism exists throughout the history, and a father is always in charge of the family. A father is powerful in making decisions and managing the affairs. However, the father’s love is expressed in a rigid, implicit and harsh way. With thoughts liberation, the idea that people are born with equality is well recognized. The special power of paternalism is facing with disorganizing. The father has to adapt to the new society and environment. During the period, the new image of father is formed as the experiences and the main society change (Su Haixia, 2011:21). Meanwhile, the individualism is derived from the reasonable principle of Puritanism. With the development of American independence, westward movement, and transcendentalist thoughts, individualism gradually develops fully and turns into the cultural spirit of a nation.

In the Croods, as Eep has innate individual awareness, she is eager to do what she likes, to follow what she truly wants. Those obviously go against the cave rules and cave living style. And she insists on following the sun and riding the sun to tomorrow. As a result, the cave living style and rules are broken by Eep’s curious behavior.

This paper aims at analyzing the affections and conflicts of Grug and Eep in The Croods, from the perspective of family values, especially from the perspective of paternalism and individualism. Firstly, there is a simple analysis of the affections and conflicts between Grug and Eep. Secondly, Grug and Eep are briefly introduced from the aspect of different family values. Thirdly, the reasons for how the conflicts alleviated are found. From this paper, we will know that the different values and living standard can make great influence on daily life. The findings of those causes would give us a warning in future life and help to solve the similar problems as a reference.

1. Literature Review

The family values are various from each other due to many reasons. Some scholars have made studies on it. Li Yuyan finds that among the family members, the different religious beliefs, personal habits, and individual values will lead to different values; for different families, the difference in social status, social cultural and its environment will also have effect on the formation of family values (Li Yuyan amp; Li Jing, 2007:175). What’s more, Shen Cuiting thinks that the different core values contribute a lot to the different values. In China, “harmony” is the core advocation, and the members are required to cover their genuine feelings and behave in a gentle and elegant way whenever it happens and whatever happens. However, the Americans have belief in freedom and equality. They are encouraged to be individual and independent (Shen Cuiting, 2010: 39). StephanB. Poulter, in his book The Father Factor: How Your Father’s Legacy Impacts Your Carrer, expressed his idea that father always has great influence on children’s growing. Father plays an important role in the formation of child’s personality and character, and will affect one’s physical and mental healthy development. It even has far-reaching influence in children’s future behavior and career choosing (Poulter, 2005: 3).

Individualism is derived from French thoughts in the 19th century. Originally, it refers to selfishness and dangerous activities. Degler finds that it is the process of its Americanization that enriched its connotation. The individualism has experienced four main stages. As the saying goes “if the Americans is the rate, the Puritanism were a major source of individualism” (Degler, 1984:17). And in the 19^th 40s, Emerson, the representative of the transcendentalism, first refined the individualism into the national cultural spirit (Qian Mansu, 1996:208). From then on, individualism becomes one of American spirits. The special status of it was just as Green said, “when I say love the United States, it means I love its liberal democracy” (Green, 1983:277). Through the Revolution, the liberalism spirits was comprehensively spread. During the western sports, people develop the character of independence, equality and freedom. Thoreau spares no efforts in questing for the personal spiritual world, to find out the inner world’s liberation and live in simple way, instead of rounded by the luxurious material world, beautiful clothes, tasty wine and delicious food (Throeau, 1997: 85).

In this paper, I was trying to analyze the causes and solutions of the family conflicts from the different family values especially from the aspect of paternalism and individualism.

3. Grug’s Affections and Character from Paternalism

3.1 Paternalism in the Family Values

Paternalism is the behavior by a person, organization or state, which limits some person or group’s liberty or autonomy for their own benefits. Paternalism can also imply that the behavior is against the will of a person, or also that the behavior expresses an attitude of superiority. The word “paternalism” is from the Latin, “pater” for father, though paternalism should be distinguished from patriarchy. Paternalism can be divided into two terms, soft and hard paternalism. The soft paternalism happens when a person’s choice and action can not sufficiently reflect one’s genuine ideas or motivation, he or she has not explicitly understand of the situation before the action. However, the hard paternalism takes place when someone wants to interfere in a person’s sufficient decision. Though the decision is carefully thought over, it is declined by someone with good intention (baike. so. com).

Family value is the individual point of family firms, individual belief and attitude towards living style. It has effect on the decisions of daily family affairs. Therefore, the relationship between families, together with the relationships of couples, parent-child, kinship or the attitudes towards his marriage and family affairs belongs to the family values.

As the changing of society and development of technology, the status and functions of the family have changed. And to adapt to the situation, the family structure has to be changed; the relationship between gender gap and responsibility is changing; the living condition is improving. That is to say, the father is on longer so powerful in life, and the liberality and freedom belong to everyone in the family (Shen Cuiting, 2010: 40).

3.2 Grug’s Character and Affections in The Croods

Grug regards himself the leader of the family. From the aspect of paternalism, he takes the charge of the Croods, and he is responsible for the Croods. He needs to protect and guide the Croods successfully survive through the harsh. And his orders should be followed.

Grug is a typical father conservative in thoughts and behavior, who intends to protect the Croods family. Actually, from his cognition, world outside the cave is full of danger; any new things are dangerous, too. All the dangerous things will lead to death, as he tells the children at the end of each story, “He is dead.” For caveman, this is actually a great significant experience and lessons, because the neighbors around all died for ignoring the danger from time to time. So the rules are really very necessary. The conservative Grug insists on following the original rules of the world. And he believes it would help them to survive through this tough primitive world.

He is very bossy, even a little unreasonable. He is arbitrary and set limited rules for the family, especially by the way of telling the stories, which were all ended with red hands -----“he finally dead”. In this way, he tricks the children to stay away from the danger, all the “new things” and “curiosity”. When meeting Guy, who brought too many new things to their life, and seemed more leadership for the Croods. Grug hates and even envies Guy’s talent and good ideas. He tries to destroy the good things of Eep and Guy, by torturing Guy. He puts Guy in a trick and regards him as their private matter. At the moment, Grug is thinking of destroying all these and taking charge of the family again.

Grug is responsible for the Croods, and is tolerant to the families. In order to protect the family to survive through the tough environment, he organizes the family hunting .Every time, he takes charge of the guarding and he is the last one to leave. When in danger, he throws the family upon the back of animal one by one; while eating, the children and women come first, himself the last. He pays more attention to the education of children, telling the death ending stories, encouraging Thunk coming on patiently, leaving hugs to the families, backs to the dangerous. He throws the Croods over the cliff for the hope, himself alone for “The End”. After several days’ journey, the Croods arrive in the target place. The moment when danger is coming, Grug is excited to find a cave in front of them. And he naturally urges the Croods to get into the cave quickly. However, the other Croods do not think so. The cave is no longer safe to them. Though the families want to change their leader and lose hopes in him. Grug still insists on his responsibilities. He said that “It’s my job to worrying. It’s my job to follow the rules.” “It’s my job to keep you safe. I’m still in charge we are not splitting up.”

Grug is a capable and creative person. When living in caves, only the Croods live through the harsh environment. Grug fights against the beast with the strong strength; and in order to save the Croods his spine is ready to protect the Croods. He has acquired all the rules and can flexibly use them. Moreover, he can adapt all his experience into funny stories, which is charming and colorful for the Croods. Environment changes and rules are out of work. As the leader of the family, he is cautious and worried about the new environment. Grug becomes uneasy, and still says that “Don’t be afraid”, intending to encourage and comfort the Croods. Grug is gradually aware of the sense of the changing. Then he spares no efforts to find his own ideas, he invents rug and hug, which rhyme with his name Grug. He also invented ride, snapshot, shield, mobile home, and liftrator. The last time, when hearing the conch searching for help, his biggest potential was inspired. Grug creates a “Noah’s ark”’, which saves the creatures including tigers and other animals.

4. Eep’s Affections and Character from Individualism

4.1 Individualism in the Family Values

In 19th century, individualism in French is considered as personal selfish, which is often confused with self-interest, but in fact individualism and egoism is not the same. As time goes, the meaning of it is enriched and becomes more briefly. It is defined into two meanings in Longman dictionary. The first is the belief that the rights and freedom of individual people are the most important rights in a society; and the second refers to the behavior or attitude of someone who does things in their own way without being influenced by other people (Longman, 2004).

As a member has the individual awareness, he would struggle to seek for his voice in the family, and act in his way to showing his independence and freedom. Actions would be taken to rebel against the authority in the family and break through the principles which limit his freedom (www. baike.so.com). He recognizes that equality belongs to everyone, and he should be responsible to his behavior.

4.2 Eep’s Affections and Character

In order to seek for her dreaming life, with the sense of individualism, She always expresses her hates of cave life. She does what she likes, and attempts the new and curious things which are forbidden by the rules. She always rebels Grug’s orders and sticks to her way.

Eep is likely to rebel the rules that she does not like, for example, to stay in the cave from day to day, night to night; anything new is bad; curiosity is dangerous. In response, Eep is fond of enjoying the sunshine and intends to follow the sun to tomorrow. To enjoy the sun, Eep would rush out the cave immediately without safe signal. She would climb the dangerous mountains as long as she likes. The fire in night can draw her out of the cave. What’s more, she enjoys the feelings of advertising, and she is always curious about the new things.

Eep is a thoughtful girl. When she is free, she is always confused by the questions of “What’s the point of all of us? Why are we here? What are we doing this for?” She can not agree with Grug’s living style. She thinks the life there is not meaningful; it is just keeping alive not living. There she wants to be different and to find out a different way of life. She does not think the rules are so necessary, and she prefers to act in her way. She is confused but she insists on the idea of living in a new way.

The moment she knows Guy, a nomadic boy, who is totally different from the Croods. He tells her strange things, the special light of fire, the sound maker conch. During the journey, Guy teaches the Croods that shoes are needed in walking; people all have a brain which can help to bright into ideas; the monkey can be easy conquered by a banana rather than violence; Stilts can simplify the tough simply; swimming is so new and interesting a thing, rain is so fancy, so is the invention of umbrella. Everything there is new for the Croods, and she do find out her ideal life, which is fitful for her and it is very colorful and interesting. Then she decides to go with Guy, and regards him as the powerful leader. There she wants to be free and independent enough to choose her way of life.

5. Conflicts between Grug and Eep

5.1 Conflicts on the Affections and Thoughts

The different attitudes towards the family life contribute most to the conflicts. Grug, from the perspective of paternalism, wants to lead the Croods in his wise way. He asks the Croods to follow his orders and obey the rules he told to them. Those rules should be kept in mind, and the family should work in team, not separated. He thought that anything new is danger and no curiosity is safe for them. He is proud of his wise way in keeping the Croods live through the tough primitive society. However his daughter Eep is full of curiosity and she wants to be individual, to act in her way and pursuit of the sun. Those different values cause lots of conflicts on the living style, the view to Guy, and the mistaken of each other.

They have conflicts on the way of cave life. Grug is in charge of the family; he tells the important rules, eg. we spend most days in the cave, day after day, night after night; anything new is bad, anything curiosity is bad, going out night is bad, basically, anything fun is bad. In fact, it is the strong father Grug and these rules that make them still alive. And their ever neighbors have been dead for various reasons like this or that. As the only survive in the harsh and hostile world, Grug really has his heart set on a cave. Therefore, he express the thoughts to the family, he tells one story a night, which is the combination of these rules with the daily behaviors and expression. And the Croods were joined in him and believe that anything new and curiosity is dangerous. However, his daughter, Eep, does not agree with them. Firstly, Eep hates the cave lives, especially for the days’ darkness in it .She likes the sunshine, and enjoys the feeling of warm and bright. Secondly, she doesn’t think that anything is dangerous, for she is capable to deal with and judge in some situations. And not all the new is awesome. When the conch is destroyed by the families, she is really very sad and disappointed. She is bored with the pointless days, and she is trying to find something important, different or just for fun. The last but not least, she has her own thoughts and her individual ideas should be respected. The daily story is such an old trope, where all are ended with dead due to the new or curiosity, which is not interesting for her. There, she can choose not to listen, so is the hunting position. It should be arranged for the ability instead of the flipping, and she can not be grounded by Grug’s own decisions.

Guy is also the center argument where the conflicts lie in. Guy is very worried of Eep’s missing in the cave during the night. However, it turns that she goes out by herself and she is very proud of her adventure with something new, a boy Guy, and a beautiful gift, conch. Eep’s deep impression of Guy annoys Grug, so the dangerous thing she brought back is immediately broken down. Grug’s first sight of Guy is that he is too intimate with her Eep. The Croods come together to him, and Guy is shocked by these cavies and is determined to kill them. Eep is very surprised at his timely coming and his heroic behaviors in succeed saved them. She is glad to see him again and prefer to stay with him and she tried her best to make him stay behind. However, Grug is not so cheerful to keep him aside, but for his special ability to make fires, which they thought is to be the baby sun. As a result，Guy is stocked into a log lifted by Grug. During the journey in the forest, smart Guy makes himself out of the log and helps a lot in facing of the new, strange difficulties. On the one hand, Eep is increasingly falling in love with Guy and has more belief in him and worships him. On the other hand, Grug shows great envy and dislike on Guy. Guy and Eep turned out to be lovers, while Grug is doing his best to interrupt them. He looks down upon the brain and ideas, and view the point that “The caveman do not nee brain. The ideas are for the weakness.” However, he is broken down by the bananas, the stilts, and the simply leaves in the forest. Guy, with his brain, finds out the shortcut to cover the forest, the river, instead of climbing up and down, twists and turns on along the earth’s surfaces. Finally, Guy earns the whole family’s support and is suggested to taken over the charge of the Croods from Grug.

The affections conflict exists between Grug and Eep. As a father, there is no doubt that Grug loves Eep, and he pays more attention to her than any other children in the family. He protects and teaches her with the rules. And he keeps her away from the danger and curiosity, in order to be safe. He is afraid that his Eep would be going with Guy. On the other hand, Eep does love her father. After the breakfast hunting, she worries Grug’s hunger, for he has not eating for a week. At the same time, she always thinks a lot adout the future. If possible, she prefers to pursuit the dreaming life instead of living such a cave life. She has been trying to find and do something meaningful in her life, and she is eager to have a change of the life. The mistakes and differences are gradually increasing. However Grug does not communicate with Eep directly and briefly.

5.2 Conflicts Alleviation

The conflicts mainly lie in the means of living style, the old rules, the different thoughts towards each other and Guy. With the change of the environment and the view over the world, Guy no longer wants to hide in the cave any more, and he specks highly of Guy’s idea. At last he himself is one of the modern men who make big idea. Eep is always busy with pursuing dreams and complaining about her boring life. She even forgets the families, her love to them. The last moment, she remembers it and cherishes it more.

As the adventure goes on, Grug experiences enough. All those do let him recognize that everything old is clasping, “no more dark, no more hiding, no more cave.” The Croods have to change to adapt to the environment. Besides the new and curious things are not really so dangerous. What the Croods need to do is not to keep away from the outside world, but to actively come to study it and work out it with their own brain and ideas. The more they experienced, the easier the world is for them to live in, and a better life they can have.

In fact, when Grug is infuriated by Eep’s announcement that they would all go with Guy and followed Guy, Grug loses his temper, and both of them fall into the oil tar, where is doomed to be dead. There the moment Grug knows Guy better, which reminds him of his daughter, who is following after the light. Guy tells him that “she likes you. She loves you but always forget to tell you just as you forget to tell her” Then he encourages Guy, “We want one of your idea. Come on, you can do it.” That is the moment Grug accepts Guy as a family member. And one of the big conflicts between Grug and Eep is solved.

When a sudden earthquake stops them in the front of the sun, they suffered a lot from the great disappointment. Ugga is shocked by the great scene, and insists that they should go back into the caves. “The Croods should hold the hand and stay together.” Every one wants to go back, while Grug says that “It’s time to follow the point of all. I can’t change. I don’t have ideas. I have my strength and right now that’s all you need.” He thinks that “It’s a chance.” In fact, it means that Grug himself will be left alone. It is the moment when Eep clearly finds out that she far more loves her father than she thought. She does not really hate her father. And the dream is not so worthy if she has to lose her father, Grug. All the conflicts make no means in the front of separating of the family. The worries and love can eliminate everything unhappy. And it is inconceivable for the families to live without Grug. He is in charge of the family, the supporter of the family and the great father.

6. Conclusion

From the paper, we can know that the main conflicts between the father and daughter are caused by the different attitudes towards the living style, their different characters and their views to Guy. As the different family values result in more and more conflicts, they both forget their love to each other, and just get busy with their own affairs. The moment they face the biggest disaster they do realize that the family members all together is the most important thing for them. It seems that the love is suddenly remembered, and they must have forgotten it somewhere before. The conflicts go away at the same time.

There are many reasons for those conflicts. And they each are too stubborn to change themselves. Grug follows his rules strictly and insists that it is necessary to live through the world and is good for the Croods. He is too rigid and seldom expresses his feelings. Eep is thoughtful and wants to be individual. She hates the rules, and gradually she just wants to rebel his father and ignore the hard work of his parents.

From the paper, we can learn that the conflicts should be paid more attention to when they occur, and we also need to learn how to solve the conflicts immediately. Besides, equal communication is necessary; it can help eliminate the prejudice and misunderstanding. And people should express their love to the families and friends genuinely and frequently to ensure that they know your affections.

The most important thing is to remember that values are various from each other. And they each are reasonable in their own way. And people are free to behave in their own. With the development of the history, we each should go after the trend. The parents should learn to be modern parents, new parents of the new times. A parent needs to support the family, respect the children, talk with the children regularly, develop their individual character, and teach them how to survive in the society. At the same time, the children, who are always more individual or even a little selfish in daily life, need to think more of the others when they determine to do something.

剩余内容已隐藏，请支付后下载全文，论文总字数：28914字