One about patriarchy
1.1 Therese
's first scene depicting Therese's life is that Therese, Richard, Phil, and Danny are watching a movie screening, and her boyfriend Richard moves. Therese chats with Danny, obviously reluctant, but no fierce resistance. The next scene is in the pub, Phil fixes the camera and returns it to Therese, Therese is excited, Richard complains that Therese is happier with the broken camera than going to Europe. Therese and her boyfriend Richard have no more content and in-depth exchanges other than getting married and going to Europe. When buying a gift for Carol, Therese wanted to talk about plans for a photography job, and Richard just wanted to go to Europe, which finally annoyed Therese. Richard asked Therese why she didn't want to marry him, and Therese asked you, too, that you've loved others, what's the difference between me and them, just haven't had sex yet? Richard couldn't answer, just said I love you and I proposed to you. At the end of the film, at Phil's party, Richard dances with another girl in his arms, who rests her head on his arm affectionately and obediently. Richard saw Therese, either ashamed or angry, and turned away.
She has no friends of the same sex in the film. Danny, who had a good chat, was taken to Times, only to be kissed, and she was invited and enthusiastic not as a kind to communicate, but as an object of sexual desire.
At the department store, Therese was out of tune with her colleagues and work environment, where she was mechanically supported. At the end of the film, he was introduced to Times because "they always lacked a clerk", and he was not in a job that could give full play to his strengths, originality, and importance, nor did he complete the counterattack in the original book. In that scene, the camera cuts to the film and the photo first, an old man is seriously examining it, and several men circulate it. According to the logic of the current film industry, especially the American film, we are full of thinking that Therese has been recognized, and it will be like a wave soon. praise. However, when the camera is zoomed out, the discussion of the film is all about men. Several shots are switched. The shirt, straps, vest, and black-rimmed glasses are all male appearance and clothing characteristics. The camera is zoomed out to see clearly, Therese is standing aside With a shorthand book in hand, there is no right to express, let alone be accepted and recognized. She is also an outsider. But then, a colleague sent Carol's letter, which corresponded well with the scene of answering Carol's phone call in the department store. The atmosphere was completely different. She also had her own desk and coat rack, instead of the department store's mailbox-sized storage. locker.
1.2 Carol
Carol appears to be the stronger and more mature side, but is also within its own limits. Apart from the unfavorable situation of divorce and custody battle, the clearest revelation came from Abby. When Harge came to the door and said that Carol was not at home and not with me, it must be with you, Abby immediately replied: "You really mean the point. , you spent ten years turning her into this, her life is only your family, your friends, and your career!"
At the dance in the early part of the film, Harge uses Carol's relationship with Abby as a stain to force her to go, She is always the prettiest in the crowd when she dances. Carol said tell your mother that. Carol doesn't need this kind of flattery and doesn't accept this kind of identity. However, in her life, Harge's mother and father, her brother-in-law and sister-in-law (or sister-in-law and her husband), the housekeeper Florence's vigilant and dissatisfied eyes have been following her, as if blaming her, why can't she be a good wife , good mother.
1.3 Summary
What Therese and Carol encounter are two of the most common "objectifications" of women. For young and beautiful women, men chase after them as sex objects, thinking that all they want and need is marriage, and they do not pay attention to their work and interests. For older women in marriage, they are required to be good wives and mothers, attached and only belong to the family, and use beauty to decorate the success of their husbands.
Such "reification" exists in everyone's life. Under the patriarchal framework, female stars on TV are shaking their chests and hips, and husbands want their wives to focus on family, sacrifice career motives and time for the family, have children, and honor the elderly and undertake housework; there are also non-patriarchal frameworks. For example, the wife's requirements for her husband are family background and earning more money than others. The boss hopes that the employees are working machines, and the parents want their children to enter the system, get married, and have children early.
2. About breaking free, or the character of the protagonist (Therese)
The 1950s as the background of the film, on the eve of the liberation of culture, race, sex, and women in the 1960s, were conservative and repressed. Many of the concepts that we are accustomed to at present were taboos at that time. Deviant. But this is a story that is quite common now, and its brilliance also comes from the characteristics of the two protagonists in that time and space background and the difficulty of a happy ending.
It's too late to watch the movie, but I've read too many movie reviews, plus the differences in the setting, image, and temperament of the two, Therese loves reading books, taking pictures, and playing the piano, so Wen Qing's little white rabbit's impression is preconceived. So when it was the first time for lunch, Therese and Carol asked for the same food, and they also smoked, but they were not used to it. Every time they took a sip, they frowned, thinking that the imbalance and tragic ending of eating raw oysters in Adele would appear again. The foreshadowing, but Therese dealt with it one by one. Carol spoke highly of her and invited her to be a guest at her home.
This is amazing for Therese's character. In fact, it will not surprise us that fierce generals have killed countless enemies, wise men debated Confucianism, beautiful women won the title on the runway, and Junjie embraced beautiful women, because this is familiarity, this is professional, this is our own field, in In this field, people clearly know how to move freely. The world is clearly not Therese's, when she's dealing with her boyfriend's work friend's supervisor, the landlady, sighing deeply at the letterbox-sized locker as she gets off work, and she doesn't know the location of the restaurant to borrow a pen and paper from the glaring supervisor. But Therese is barefoot, but she is also fearless, and has always taken the initiative to do more for the other party: after preparing tea at Carol's house, after the argument, she offered to take a taxi and buy cigarettes for Carol; when Carol was accused, she comforted her and asked What can she do to fight back, she agreed to travel together without hesitation; during the trip, she took ice for Carol in the cold night; when she saw the pistol, she asked if Carol was afraid, if you were afraid, you could tell me, I could help you, and then take the initiative to live in a room with Carol After Carol clashed with the spy, Therese said to the spy, How could you, took and disposed of the pistol; Richard said Carol would be bored with you in two months, and you would come back and beg me, Therese did not Unmoved.
I don't know such a woman, and I don't think a man can do it in a disadvantaged position. Ordinary people are afraid, shy, cramped, and worry about gains and losses because of their shabby, humble, and childish nature.
There are too many imprints on us, wrapping and shaping us like this skin. Most of the time we use it to gain a foothold and a sense of security. Correspondingly, there are times when it feels like a tight hoop that cannot be broken free. It is difficult for us to abandon our own identity settings, transcend our own limitations, and give without considering a retreat. Even, I know that many weak people, or people who have no self-awareness, no belief and strength to support themselves, are cruel - blaming others for their own failures, when they do not feel their own strength, or when faced with unfavorable situations, Often aggressively use hurting each other or others around them to gain a sense of presence and importance.
As mentioned earlier, very different from the original, Therese did not counterattack in the movie. Neither she nor Carol could embrace each other proudly because they were accepted into the patriarchal system, or because they gained the power to ignore patriarchy. This is a very meaningful adaptation. In the face of a male-dominated world, more women are not among the top politicians, the Forbes wealth list, and the CEO. They compete with each other in these signs of male success, and even defeating men by violence is victory. Breaking through this dualistic framework of power is fundamental liberation - gaining inner integrity and independence, being brave and self-respecting, and dissolving the constraints imposed by social culture, including women, homosexuals, ethnic minorities, people at the bottom, and backward countries or regions.
In the film, Therese's growth is more internal. It is because of the realization of the true heart of the self, the experience of similar exchanges and deep emotions, and the dazzling beauty that blooms through the dark night and winter with her own strength. I want to be, like Therese, able to give full, pure, reckless love, to others, to myself, and to life, rather than the love of middle-class period love, petty intellectuals, self-pity, old age.
The meaning of the three salts was
originally called The Price of Salt, so what does salt mean? Director Todd Haynes specializes in semiotics, and his understanding of salt can be seen in the film.
3.1 Crystallization—> Purity and sublimation
Although it can get along well with others, it is a crystal with a unique luster when it is precipitated. The camera keeps zooming in on the actors' faces, limited to Therese, Carol, and Abby, as if to contemplate the glow.
Therese is very popular, but she is lonely and not close to people, until Carol appears, and her special brilliance blooms little by little; Carol used to have only her daughter and Abby in her life. After a difficult decision, she gave up her daughter and chose honesty Face yourself, love and work independently; Abby is always compassionate and helpful. The three never bowed to men, coercion, or predicament.
This design is really ideal. But I think this is indeed the strength and beauty that countless women have shown. Maybe they are scattered in the main narrative, maybe they are too subtle to be reflected in the film. However, showing the almost impossible flawless radiance in the oppressive era can also show that love is not a burp after a full meal, or a prince who has the whole world, but sacrifice, pain, and perseverance; the most beautiful Feelings are often sublimated in the most trivial, despicable, and unbearable situations. If you don’t realize this, it is very superficial to only pursue a bright life. Going further, it also shows that you can persevere no matter what the situation is, so no matter how hard you are. Unfavorable situation can not give up on oneself, always have hope, self-esteem and self-sufficiency, this in itself is beauty.
3.2 Salt Pillar—> Sodom—> Homosexual Sin—> Attitude toward Homosexuality—> Women’s Independent Choice (Carol)
Salt is a condiment, and it can be considered to be a minority that is borrowed as a spice. In addition, salt is also a symbol of homosexuality, such as the novel "The Book of Salt" about famous lesbian couples Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas. This allegory comes from the story of Sodom and the Pillar of Salt in the Bible. Lot, the nephew of the prophet Abraham, lived in Sodom in Canaan
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Sodom and Gomorrah were two cities indulging in masculinity and fornication. God was determined to destroy these two cities and sent an angel to rescue Lot's family. When the people of Sodom saw the two angels coming to Lot's house, they demanded that Lot hand over the two angels at their mercy. Lot offered to hand over his two virgin daughters to them, in order to save his guests from humiliation, but they were not interested. Just as everyone was about to embrace him, the angel immediately pulled Lot into the house and made them unable to enter the house. The word sodomy in English is exactly Sodomy (Oscar Wilde's crime).
The angel told Lot's family to leave and ordered them not to look back, and then destroyed Sodom with brimstone and fire from the sky. Lot's wife, who was fleeing, couldn't help but look back and turned into a pillar of salt.
So works with salt, a pillar of salt, or Lot's wife, all explore the feeling of Sodom (or the sin of homosexuality), curious? fear? Or nostalgia? For example, this poem by Wislawa Szymborska:
========"Lot's Wife"========
They say I looked back because of curiosity. But I didn't just look back out of curiosity. I looked back because I couldn't drop that silver bowl. It was because I was a little upset when I tightened the shoelaces. It was because I didn't want to keep my eyes on the straight neck of my husband Lot. It was the sudden belief that he wouldn't even slow down once I died. It's the siren that chases us, soft but not changing. Suddenly, there was peace, and hopefully God had changed his mind. Our two daughters have yet to climb over the top of the mountain. I feel my heart is getting old. Indifferent to the world. Our exile is in vain. I am tired. I looked back and put the bag on the ground. I looked back because I was afraid that I could barely move my feet. On the road ahead, serpents, spiders, voles, and vultures that have just been flying have appeared. Now there is no distinction between good and evil, just living creatures crawling and leaping in panic.
I look back because of loneliness. Because of the shame of sneaking away. It's because I want to shout loudly and return home. Or just a gust of wind blowing my hair off my shirt. I feel like they have seen them all on the walls of Sodom. And burst out laughing again and again. I look back out of anger and want to see their huge ruins. I'm looking back for all the reasons I've mentioned. When I look back, I can't help myself. Only the rocks rumbled and rolled under my feet. Suddenly a chasm cut my path. A hamster jumped out with two front paws clawing at the edge of the gap. Just then we looked back at each other. no no. I continued to run, and I crept up until night fell from the sky, with burning gravel and numb birds. I was spinning in the same place over and over again because I couldn't breathe. If anyone saw me, they would have thought I was dancing. My eyes will still open, it's not impossible, I think I will, and I turn my face to my old city.
=========End of quote Symboschka==========
The poem gives the nameless and aphasia women of legends the feeling, expression, and assertion that women are not a side note in a larger narrative of success-failure, justice-evil.
When I was a child, I treated the people in the story, whether it was Lot's wife or Orpheus, as real, and it was especially difficult to accept this ending, and I felt sorry for them. As a Chinese, especially a Chinese woman, I have long been taught to be accustomed to forbearance, so I only feel regret: success is just around the corner, and forbearance will pass. When I grow up, I realize that these tragedies are just symbols, and that great success and failure are just expressions; It is what you really want, the true self, and in perseverance, only life is wasted.
Lot's wife, unnamed, stands tall as a footnote to a tragedy, a lesson the world should learn. However, her existence shows that human beings are not just desperate creatures, and it is impossible to throw everything away, just as a wife and mother in the family, just to survive.
The same is true for the protagonist in the movie, the difference is that she has a name, her name is Carol, which also means a hymn.
Carol saw Therese in the taxi to the negotiation meeting, followed, turned, and looked back until she couldn't see her. In the next shot, Carol turns his back to the camera for two seconds in the elevator, and turns around abruptly when the elevator opens. These two shots reinforce the meaning of the pillar of salt.
Carol often wears a yellow coat, the color of the stone pillars by the Dead Sea. And when she makes important decisions of her own will, she always wears a gray suit, even for the first lunch, when she knows it's not appropriate to wear it to the next dance, and it will make Harge's mother unhappy. Gray is often used by modern professional women. The color you wear is the color of salt.
So far, the film rewrites the meaning of the salt pillar with the image of Carol, representing nostalgia and women's independent choice.
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