Wherever I go I see shades of gray, especially when I surf (the internet that is). Behind every smiling face lies a spirit, broken and forlorn.
I came across a video which is featured on YouTube the other day entitled Sintel. It says there "must watch - in HD", so I did, for 2 reasons: 1.) I really enjoy watching HD videos and 2.) It's an animation created using a Free and Open Source Software. Before I even finished watching the animation - due to a technical problem, namely the HTML5 player beta - I've already shared it on Facebook. What? You didn't manage to catch it because it was posted too early in the morning (2:41am)? Ok, here you go then. Sintel in HD (1080p)
If anyone happens to read this post, there will be spoilers in the following part so you might want to watch the video before reading further. For those who think that it's a waste of time, well, it's not like I can't make you watch it can I? LOL Amoto queramus seria ludo. I ended up liking the video and even added it to my favourites. The last part is especially depressing, given the fact that most people - including myself - is looking forward to catch a happy ending. But as the way life is, it doesn't always have one. This is one of the reasons why I find this animation to be interesting - aside from the fact that it has both girls and dragons - it's not a typical fairy tale where the prince meets the princess and against all odds they lived happily ever after. Instead, it reflects the reality in which real people like us live in.
Some people find it confusing that Sintel grew old all of a sudden but not me. You see Sintel has always been alone, and she probably went through a lot of hardship to survive without anybody's help. Now one day she found this injured little dragon which is supposedly a vicious creature. Unlikely as it seems, they both spend a lot of time together and eventually became very close friends (not lovers I guess =D). As easy was it for the dragon to be found, so easy was it too for Scales (it even has a name!) to be taken away.
(At this point I thought that Scales must have been devoured whole by the big dragon and Sintel is so mad she's going to find that big guy and get rid of it for good. I was, however, wrong. T_T) So anyway, Sintel did embark on a very long journey indeed to save Scales from the claws of that evil-looking dragon. (I can't judge a dragon by its looks can I?) She literally fought her way to finally reach the snowy mountain where the dragon made its lair but is unbeknownst to Sintel. There she fainted after defeating a random guy who wields the dragon blade and came out of nowhere (which I suspect to be the Guardian after looking at the credits). She woke up in the old man's tent. (He is the Shaman and lives in a tent, I guess.) She thought that she had failed but the old man told her that she's closer than she knows. After walking pass a huge tree (looks like the Tree of Life), she has finally reached the dragon's lair.
She scouted the area and found what looked to her like Scales. So she called out Scales' name but the little dragon's response was not as she had expected. It got scared and that in turn alerted the big guy. A battle ensues and apparently Sintel is no match for a full-grown dragon. She was knocked down but the dragon hesitates and took her scent. Sintel was shocked at the sight of the dragon when she became conscious again and delivered fatal blows to the big guy who doesn't even try to evade the attacks. She regains her composure after the big guy had fallen. It is only then that she recognized the scar on its wing which undoubtedly belongs to none other than... Scales. From the blood oozing out of Scales Sintel saw her own reflection and she began to age rapidly until she became an old lady. As Scales gave out one last breath, the lair begins to crumble. So the cave collapsed and Sintel lamented herself. But the little "Scales" survived and followed Sintel as she walks away. No explanation or whatsoever on what happened thereafter though, and the credits started to roll with a beautiful yet sad song.
Now I know this whole explanation part is very long-winded but I've already wrote it. You don't expect me to take it out do you? (Because I won't, even if you want me to.)
Have you ever heard of a saying that goes: “少年不知愁滋味，为赋新词强说愁？” (Of course I know it's Chinese, I typed it, remember?) Well, if you haven't, you haven't. What is the definition of hardship or sorrow? It's agreeable if I say that it depends on the context, no? 30 years ago our parents struggled to earn a living not only for themselves but for their whole family, which probably has a larger number in terms of its members. You can't afford to worry too much about things like entertainment, sometimes even education or love if you have not enough to eat. Today, I see a lot of people facing all sorts troubles too. Some of them are still regarding finance but let's just say that things have got way better since the day of our parents. So? There are just too many to list out but there's one that I am quite interested in, one which me myself encountered when I was a teenager - love/relationship.
No, I'm not kidding you. Maybe it's not a big problem to some compared to global warming or economic downturn but it can be equally serious if you know what I mean. People do all sort of things for and because of love. If one can promise to hand the moon over to his/her lover, destroying the world wouldn't be too much of a problem now would it? (In the name of love!) And as far as I'm concerned, everybody needs love and thus this problem applies to every single one of us. Massive, right? (I mean the scale.)
I once had a blog dedicated to this matter, it tortured me for years because I am unable to let it go. Now maybe, just maybe, we are just like Sintel in the story. We could be surrounded by people from all around the world and feel lonely at the same time. Ironic eh? That is why we need Scales, just like Bella needed Edward and Jacob. (That's a little bit too greedy don't you think? If you are a girl, I don't think that you would think so. But hey, I would't complain too if I'm Jasper and it just so happens that both Alice and Bella digs me. XD) Yes we do need each other, because the puzzle is not complete until we've found that one last piece. Then one day we met Scales (think of it as a person in this context) who is also hurting and we became good friends. The fact that we are lonely and that Scales is wounded render us vulnerable. And although we are supposedly not meant for each other because the formula is just not right (Dragon + Human = ?!), we can care no more than for each other. (How sweet.) As they say, when you've reached the peak it's time for you to go down. We got separated from Scales, sometimes because of the other dragon (like in the animation), sometimes for other reasons. The point is, the relationship is broken.
But many a times we won't give up so easily, especially if we liked Scales a lot. (Such a cute little dragon. <3) So we go on a journey to get Scales back regardless of the risk that we have to take. This is where collateral damage comes in. We hurt the people who are around us to get to Scales, even the Guardian whose job I think is to protect the dragon and human from each other (so they won't end up killing each other). No, we didn't just hurt the Guardian, we've actually put him to sleep. (R.I.P. my friend.) Does it even make any sense what I'm talking about? Use some imagination please. There will be people who will come up to us and give all kinds of advice. In this case, they are trying to say that we and Scales are not meant for each other. Perhaps they might be wrong but you'll never know because 旁观者清嘛。The people around us see things objectively and sometimes they've got a point in what they say. But then again, we don't care.
The Shaman is a mysterious old man (like Santa). Just when we are about to give up he tells us that we fail to see because IT's closer than we know. He even handed the dragon blade to us. What have we failed to see? What does IT mean? Could it be literal as in we have failed to see that we are close to being together again with Scales and IT refers to the dragon's lair? Or could it be figurative as in we have failed to see the damage that we have already done to others as well as to ourselves and actually what we are looking for is around us all the time e.g., our family, friends etc. Anyway, he gave us the dragon blade because we have free will. The way we interpret the advice given to us leads us to choices. We can either go get Scales or back down. If we choose the latter, Dragon Blade would be a token of the memory we had with Scales but should we choose to go on, the blade would then serve its purpose as a weapon to get the job done.
Who would give up after sacrificing so much? I'll get Scales back even if I have to give up my own life. So the adventure continues. We've found "Scales", but the big guy is there too. We don't want a confrontation so we'll just call out to "Scales" lightly. Oops... Looks like "Scales" is afraid of us and ran away. This pisses the big guy off and a fight broke out. We were knocked down but when big guy hesitates we finished it off. It is when we see the blood that we realize it's too late, we've done something stupid and there's no turning back now, no Ctrl + Z (Undo), this big guy has a scar on his wing and it is Scales. It hasn't crossed our mind that as time passes, things change. We still miss old Scales so badly that we fail to see past the illusions that we ourselves have created (we thought that "little Scales" = the Scales we know). The truth is, we and Scales are different persons now (we are old while Scales has grown a lot). When we tried to get old Scales back, we end up hurting each other. It is only when things are at its worst that we realize we have no intention to hurt anybody and that things are not the same way as they used to be. The world crumbles and we have to get out so we don't get buried. But what's the difference? Our heart died the moment Scales died in our hands.
Sometimes, you have got to let bygones be bygones. But although we are aware of that, it is sometimes hard to do so. Who knows? Maybe things might turn out differently if we persisted. Maybe there's an alternate ending. Nothing is impossible right? At the end of the day, we just hope that we could find the right one for us, even if it means lying to ourselves, and we will not stop, until there's nowhere else to go. What will happen to the little dragon at the end? I don't know. Maybe it's a chance, a chance for Sintel to start all over again with someone new. It's never too late you know?
**All copyright of this short film/animation belongs to Blender Foundation. This article is the author's personal opinion. No copyright infringement is intended.**
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