Les dragons orientaux au cinéma

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Transcript

00:00In the West, dragons are characterized as winged reptiles.

00:03They come closest to the representation we can have of them today.

00:06Among the Greeks, they are seen as guardians of treasures.

00:09Among the Bretons, they sense the representation of the invader,

00:12particularly because of the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings who used them as emblems during their conquest.

00:16And among Christians, they are quite simply perceived as the incarnation of the devil himself.

00:20In short, as you will have understood, in the West, the dragon is not very popular.

00:24Often synonymous with war, greed, barbarity, or even Satanism.

00:29That is why, both here in Europe and among our American friends,

00:32Dragons in movies are very often perceived either as a threat or as pets.

00:37Because it is well known that man has always wanted to control what is uncontrollable.

00:41It's a kind of fantasy.

00:42What if dragons, those fearless and merciless creatures, could obey us?

00:46But further east, in Asia, the dragon is not perceived as a threat at all, quite the opposite.

00:51The oriental dragon is physically different from the one that lingers in our subconscious.

00:55Longer, thinner, wingless

00:57In Asia, he is seen as a guardian of the sky and the sea.

01:00Like a force of nature.

01:01Dangerous if pushed to the limit, but harmless if left in peace.

01:05In China, it is often associated with the emperor, and therefore with power.

01:08In Korea, ancient texts sometimes mention sentient dragons,

01:11capable of speech and understanding complex emotions,

01:14such as devotion, kindness, and gratitude.

01:17And in other countries, such as Japan or Vietnam, the same is true.

01:20Monuments and temples are built in honor of these aquatic deities.

01:24And yet, Asian cinema, particularly Japanese cinema,

01:27has tended to emphasize the legend of Yamata Nooroshi dating from the 13th century.

01:32An eight-headed dragon which, unlike other representations of Chinese or Japanese dragons,

01:36portrayed as good, is portrayed as bad and dangerous.

01:39This deity would notably inspire Ghidorah, the three-headed monster,

01:43Godzilla's legendary rival, who can be seen in several films of the franchise,

01:46until the most recent one in 2019.

01:48Yamata Nooroshi would also inspire The Little Prince and The Eight-Headed Dragon.

01:53A Japanese animated film released in 1963,

01:56and which will feature the classic trapdoor from Disney films of that era.

01:58where the prince kills the dragon to save the princess.

02:01Only Miyazaki's films will pay homage to these divine beasts.

02:04First, the son, with his tales of land and sea,

02:06but above all the father, the legend.

02:08Hayao Miyazaki with one of his masterpieces, The Journey of Shiro.

02:12Subtitling by Radio-Canada