One day in 1876, an American young man named Watson rushed out of the house excitedly, shouting all the way, I heard Mr. Bell's voice, I heard Mr. Bell's voice La. It turned out that Mr. Bell was regarded as the inventor of the telephone until 2002, and what he said on the telephone became a famous saying in history: Watson, come here, I want you. The reason why we say that was before 2002 is because the US Congress issued a resolution on June 15, 2002, confirming that an Italian named Antonio Meucci was the real inventor of the telephone. The resolution also tells a tragic story. It turned out that although Mr. Muzzi was due to his invention research, unfortunately, he had a wife who was paralyzed in bed. However, perhaps it was this misfortune that made his invention, a belated admission of course. While he was researching electroshock therapy, he discovered that copper wires could transmit sound, and he was excited by the discovery, so he could figure out a way to get in touch between his wife's room and his lab. He finally succeeded, and in 1860 he publicly demonstrated his talking communicator. Maybe fate is really unfair to him. A shipwreck severely burned him, and he can no longer continue his experiments, let alone pay the permanent patent registration fee of 250 US dollars. So, two years later, Bell registered successfully. Mu Qi angrily litigated, but unfortunately "the time is not for me". Two years later, the down-and-out Mr. Mu Qi returned to the west, and Bell became the patent owner of course. Kind-hearted people naturally want to sigh, why is the way of heaven so favored and unjust.
However, the story doesn't end there. Bell and Muzzi had worked together in the same laboratory. According to the speculation of relevant US departments, in addition to the crime of fraud, Bell is also suspected of "plagiarism". However, the fun doesn't stop there. When the resolution was promulgated, the Italian-Americans were naturally happy, but the Canadians were not happy (Bell is not a Canadian, but a Scottish immigrant, the reason is really inexplicable), the Canadian government accused the US Congress of arbitrarily tampering with political purposes History (History is really like what Napoleon said, just a little girl who lets everyone dress up? As for the so-called political purpose of the Canadians, it is unknown), so they also issued a tit-for-tat on June 21. It was resolved, to reiterate, that Bell was the inventor of the telephone. Does the Canadian government want to uphold justice and justice for Mr. Bell?
What the truth is, I don't know, and I can't find it. However, this dubious history of the invention of the telephone gave me a lot of inspiration and inspiration. I suddenly discovered that the great Polish director Kislowski used a film to reveal the meaning of the telephone and the nature of the law. The movie is "Red". This article will mainly discuss the former, as for the nature of the law, I will analyze it in another article.
"Red" is the final volume of Kislovsky's famous trilogy "Red", "White" and "Blue", and it is also his swan song. Most of the understandings of this trilogy correspond to the theme of "freedom, equality, and fraternity", and "Red" embodies "fraternity". However, it should be pointed out that we cannot simply understand these two words in their literal meaning. In fact, Kislowski's thinking about it is much deeper. On the surface, the heroine Valentina should be a character who fully embodies "fraternity", but Kislowski said: "Valentina is willing to think for others, but she always thinks about others with her own point of view." But it's not her fault! Kislowski went on to explain: "She can only do this, just as you and I can't see things from a different point of view." And the tougher question is: "Even when we're giving ourselves, isn't it just because we want a reputation? That question we'll never get an answer to." So, from this point of view, Kislovsky is probably deeply skeptical about the possibility of fraternity in the depths of human nature, so he said, "In fact, what Red is really talking about is that people sometimes Could it be the wrong era?" This is a later story, and it is not listed here, because the starting point of writing this text after reading it several times with my students is not fraternity, but the phone calls that appear many times in the film.
Kislovsky clarifies the theme of "Red" and its relationship with the history of the invention of the telephone: "Red symbolizes memory, symbolizes the need for someone". The film begins with a surreal shot of phone calls. In a corner of a dark room, by the window, there is a one-step telephone, a man's hand picks up the phone and starts dialing, the signal sounds, the camera quickly cuts to the telephone line, starting from the room, countless colors The colorful telephone lines moved quickly, and at the same time, there were noisy calls in various languages, followed by the submarine cable whizzing through a piece of water, and finally reached the other end, the light and shadow blurred, the bell rang, and the red signal light flashed. , screaming, and after a few seconds, the heroine Van Lentina rushed out of the kitchen and picked up the phone, her mood was joyful from her expression, because she was far away in Poland on the other end of the phone. boyfriend. At this moment, it can be described by a once widely popular American song: Just called to say I love you, the Chinese translation of the song is even more appropriate: Tell Your Heart on the Phone. The song sings: There is no summer heat, no July coolness, no rich moon hanging in the August night sky, no autumn breeze, no winter leaves, and no birds returning from the south..., I Just want to say "I love you" to you. The deep affection has moved many couples who are separated from each other. So, we met, and Van Lentina said into the microphone, I miss you so much, I can't be lonely at night without you, I can only hold your jacket and fall asleep. Perhaps, we should really praise this "red" thread that connects the end of the world love, because through the phone, Van Lentina expressed her love in time, and her boyfriend in a foreign country also learned this on the phone, Even if it's just a communication between different parts of the world and only voice, it is a communication of love after all.
The phone makes the couples feel the relationship between the horizon and the close proximity when they exchange songs. Endless lovesickness and boundless loneliness are agonizingly waiting for the call of the telephone ring. When the ringtone rings, it is the moment when the floodgates to talk are wide open. Therefore, lovesickness is passed over by this thin copper wire, and it is time to talk and talk. Listening is carried out alternately. The pain of lovesickness seems to flow into the heart of the other party through the microphone and eardrum. In an instant, the pain seems to have been diluted, resolved, or at least greatly relieved. However, Bell called Watson's "I want you" because of the distance so that Watson can appear in front of him in a short period of time, the advancement of technology and the flow of the population, and even various reasons of modern life, lovers have to Because of different reasons, they are separated by thousands of miles, even across oceans, and no matter how strong their needs are, they cannot be satisfied in a short period of time. There are also situations where the phone is not answered from time to time, so there are complaints, doubts, speculations, and then there may be silent embarrassment, or malicious words, and of course there are surprises. But we're not talking about a phone-forged marriage. Instead, we're going to find out what happened to it. So, when Valentina's boyfriend asked her why she didn't answer the phone in time, we all knew that, Valentina had his jacket to hold, but he had nothing, and his "want" couldn't be fulfilled , he didn't know what she was doing at all, why she didn't pick up the phone when the phone rang, he had reason to be dissatisfied, complain, doubt, guess. So, when Valentina answered the phone late because the keyhole was stuffed with chewing gum, he couldn't help but get even more dissatisfied, because he didn't know what happened to her, and he didn't know that her anxiety was no less than that However, his dissatisfaction was clear to us from the tone of the interrogation, how could she not feel at all.
Kislowski isn't trying to borrow a movie to celebrate the phone, the happiness it brings to us. In "Red", I even felt that he was actually reviewing the scourge of telephone calls. The heroine's last phone call with her boyfriend she's never met is an unhappy one, and the story the old judge overhears from the phone is another thread in the film.
The old judge is naturally an important character in "Red", and it is also the most complicated character. In fact, his image at the beginning is almost obnoxious and rascal, but slowly we understand him. He has been brooding because the woman he loved deeply was robbed of love by others. However, by chance, in his career as a judge, he finally got to avenge the revenge that he had been holding in his heart for many years. The man never imagined that the house he built collapsed and caused unnecessary casualties. Had to accept the trial of the law, and the judge was his rival in love many years ago. The judge convicted him according to the law. According to our common sense or common sense, he should be happy to have fulfilled his long-cherished wish, however, no, he has since retired and returned home. Perhaps it was this case, which had nothing to do with favoritism, that made him understand the essence of the law-the so-called "right and wrong are just a matter of thought", or maybe he was tired of this court, which had no way of knowing the truth at all. Perhaps he felt overwhelmed by the contradiction between the abstract legal provisions and the personal temperament in the judgment, as well as the specificity of each case? Unemployed at home, he enjoys wiretapping his neighbors' phones, where he discovers truths that cannot be discerned in court. But it is precisely this means of obtaining the truth that is illegal, which is what Van Lentina said: "Everyone has the right to privacy." He violated their rights. But what an embarrassing truth hides behind this high-sounding word! The husband married his wife with a new love of the same sex. When the wife was busy with housework and filled the house with a warm family life scene, he talked to his "lover" on the phone about the pain of parting and Acacia, and they were young. My daughter was eavesdropping! When Fan Lentina saw this scene, she must have been overwhelmed who was going to expose it, and she even stumbled when she walked out the door. Why doesn't she tell the truth? The old judge asked her: Is it because of the kind lady and lovely daughter, or because of guilt and fear of causing harm? I can choose to listen or not to listen, you can choose to speak or not to speak, but sooner or later the truth will be revealed, and then a happy family will cease to exist, which is miserable. What can we do for them? At this moment, Fanrentina looked in pain. The kind-hearted Valentina on the phone didn't know how to deal with it, just like when her younger brother learned that he was not born by his father, they had no choice but to flee.
The old judge chose to escape, chose to leave the court where the judgment must be made, and indulged in the eavesdropping that could find out, but he was still desperate, because even if he knew the truth, he could not do anything, as a means to obtain the truth— - Stealing is also a helpless fact in the truth. In fact, it is also aimed at the modern communication tool of the telephone. Ordinary telephone calls are only connected to the speaker and the recipient, and the content of the call cannot be heard by a third party. You know it, you know it, I know it.” And just under this sacred right of privacy that should be protected, and in the phone calls that can only be understood by wiretapping, a bunch of evil flowers are naturally born.
This is just one of the stories of the old judge bugging the phone. The second story is the love affair of the young judge in the film. We learned from the phone that the woman was two years older than the man, and the man was deeply worried about the future of the two, even though they were having sex in bed. In Valentina, it's a romantic love story, they love each other, but in the old judge, they call it "unfriendly." So, during the trial of the old judge's wiretapping case, the woman met another man and started a new romantic story. The phone calls she made were never answered, and the unwilling man risked climbing on her windowsill. So I saw the scene of a woman with another man between her legs. The man who lost his soul could only use alcohol to drown his sorrows, let the gloom of cigarettes shroud him, and even abandon his dog on the road that women must pass, telling the woman that he was on the way. suffered a heavy blow. In fact, this man is fragile, and neither the phone nor the dog can help him.
The old judge told Van Lentina that the third story was not good enough. The old mother longed for her daughter to visit her. The daughter might be too busy, or there might be other reasons. In short, she couldn't come, at least not often, so the mother could only lie that she had a heart attack, and said that she had a heart attack in the refrigerator. There is nothing left, however, the daughter no longer believes in her and no longer comes to see her. What she needs is not a purchase, but a daughter, which is the first sentence Bell said on the phone: I want you! But her needs were not answered, and even deception could not be achieved.
What is it that leads to such a horrible story? There is no longer trust between couples. When one party goes out of sight, the sense of security also disappears. Husbands and wives can turn their backs on each other. It seems that the whole family is a happy family, but they are blatantly in such a space filled with happiness. Chen Cang Feidu; even the most intimate flesh and blood in the world, the mother and daughter, lost trust. The telephone, a tool that once brought us infinite convenience and even consolation, now seems to be the only modern means of surreptitious and treachery. When the telephone had just entered the average middle-class family, Benjamin once said: "The telephone has become a consolation in the loneliness of the younger generation, it brings the last ray of hope to the pessimistic and world-weary, and the abandoned share it with bed". And we see no hope in Kislowski's film, where the "outcast" can only stare hopelessly at the cold, lifeless telephone, waiting anxiously, eagerly, waiting The bell, which had been so pleasant to the ear, rang again, but there would be no more bells, or no more eager, hungry and excited listeners.
When Fanrentina heard these stories in pain, half helpless, half forced, and even a little tempted, she said with a sad expression: No, you are wrong, you are all wrong. Human nature is good. None of this is true, it's just that they sometimes feel powerless. In fact, she was under the control of a sense of powerlessness when she said this.
The argument that human nature is inherently good and powerless is, of course, directed by Kislowski. "Powerlessness" is a complex state. Speaking of his "Never Ending," he said: "I have a not-so-popular notion that humans are inherently good. People are born to want to be good. The question is: If humans are inherently good, where does evil come from? Come on? I don't have a very logical and reasonable answer. My theory is: Generally speaking, evil breeds because people always find themselves incapable of doing good at some stage. Evil is caused by Frustration. Whether people change consciously or unconsciously, it is impossible to draw conclusions about why people are incapable of doing good, because there are so many reasons, hundreds of different reasons!” Light and darkness have countless connotations in the metaphor of human beings' wise expression, good and evil being one of them. And the great Augustine saw the relationship between good and evil in the relationship between light and darkness: "Darkness has no cause of its own, but the absence of the action of light, and the gray tone is the result of diminished action. Like darkness, evil has no One's own existence, but the lack of existence, the lack of light, the lack of goodness." In fact, that is what Kant called "the fragility of the human heart, or the fragility of human nature." Kislowski may not have read Augustine's Confessions and Kant's writings, but he sees it with his deep understanding of life and human nature, and his kindness.
However, Kislowski was also a pessimist. He believed that "hell is paved with good intentions". The complexity of "powerlessness" is that it presupposes a premise: human nature is inherently good, that is, people are originally powerful, but how does this power disappear, and why is it lost? Does the inability to do good result in the birth of evil? And what are the "hundreds of different reasons"? The Book of Genesis clearly states: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was void and formless, and the face of the abyss was dark; the Spirit of God moved on the waters. God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light. God saw the light. It is good to separate the light and the dark." So, does Augustine's metaphor confirm this, or does it just contradict it?
In fact, all this is impossible to answer, Kislowski just raised the question again in the form of a movie. Questions without answers are not worthless, their value lies in making people face reality and point directly to their heart and nature. Moreover, the way Kislovsky poses questions is also a very important aspect. He is not a philosopher, he is just a thinker and artist with a keen, unique and profound understanding of modern life. He only starts from life, From concreteness, but ultimately to the soul and heart. According to my understanding, in "Red", he used the telephone to ask questions and develop his narrative.
However, it would be completely wrong to say that Kislovsky ignored the many conveniences brought to us by the telephone, a modern communication tool, and only blindly reviewed and criticized. The personal weather desk that the old judge listened to is a testament to the fact that he could know the weather conditions across Europe without leaving his home. The services offered by the telephone are simply too numerous to list, including even sexual gratification (pornography). Kislowski even showed the mystique and function of punishing evil and promoting good through a small comic interlude.
If we regard the telephone as one of modern technologies, then the meaning of "Red" can be extended to the consideration of the meaning of modern technology, and its theme is naturally dominated by criticism. The telephone brings us convenience, comfort, and even love and happiness, but it can also be a curse, an effective means and tool of renunciation for all its privacy, and thus at odds with the right to privacy conferred by the law; and Because of its irreproducible characteristics, it cannot provide the necessary evidence for human beings to overcome insurmountable forgetting, and provide an introduction for memory and nostalgia. Perhaps because of the latter, Kislowski says he always opts for the age-old way of writing letters rather than phone calls when he's about to talk to his daughter about something urgent. However, we cannot fail to see the fact that, in Benjamin's day (Berlin at the end of the nineteenth century), "telephones of that period were hung repressed and repulsive in hidden corners deep in the aisles, with dirty clothes on one side. A suitcase with a gas meter on one side." Now, telephones have already entered the house, becoming an indispensable tool in home life and work, and their status is very prominent. They are no longer suppressed voices, nor are they confined to "hidden corners", but loud ringing. Noise, almost every room has its figure, usually placed in the most conspicuous and most comfortable place. A change in position is actually a change in status.
In philosophical terms, the critique of modern technology and its depth is perhaps no greater than Heidegger's. But here, Alan Bloom's sentence about the magnifying glass and the microscope may be more appropriate: "Maybe we can know the subtle things through it, but we may also lose the ability to grasp the whole because of this." In "Red", Kislowski told us that the phone did not make "fraternity" come true, that Valentina broke up with her boyfriend, and her love with the old judge had a lot to do with the phone, But this is actually impossible, but the end of the film gives us a somewhat unclear answer: Valentina finally helps the hunched old lady who appeared in many of Kislowski's films. A bottle is stuffed into the trash can, the love may not necessarily have to resort to any modern tools, the key is actually only the heart.
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