Huixinshe Ma Bingjie
Elfrid Jellinek is an unusual woman, a prominent Austrian left-wing and feminist writer whose work has been controversial and criticized both by conservatives for her keenness to expose the morbid distortions of human nature , and caused fierce controversy within feminism. Active in literature, politics and social movements, Jelinek is as distinctive as her work.
Elfrid Jelinek
"Piano Teacher" is Jelinek's autobiographical work. In 2001, on the basis of fully respecting the original work of the novel, Michael Haneke put it on the screen in the form of images, truly showing us how women are in The cruel situation of the patriarchal society, both novels and movies are well-deserved masterpieces.
Michael Haneke "Piano Teacher" movie poster
01
Mother's oppression of Erica
The heroine Erica in the film is the incarnation of Jelinek. The mother in the film cultivated Erica as a musical genius since she was a child. Erica spends all her time playing the piano. Her mother handles everything except piano playing. Erica, who is nearly 40 years old, sleeps with her mother. A bed, the clothes you wear every day, and the time to go home must be controlled by the mother. Mother erected heavy fences around Erica, men and friends were not allowed to enter this territory, and Erica was never allowed to deal with the outside world that had nothing to do with playing music.
Erica and her mother fight over buying new clothes
Beauvoir once stated that for the mother, the child is both the other and a second self. A mother can enjoy the absolute superior pleasure that a man enjoys in the presence of a woman for her daughter. Erica's mother is a typical example of the masochistic mother described by Beauvoir in "The Second Sex". She is a victim of the patriarchal society. She can't get rid of the situation of the object herself, so she wants to pull her daughter into it. In the abyss of sex, let the daughter suffer with her. The old mother will have jealousy and hatred for the young daughter, because compared with her own miserable fate, the daughter is likely to go out and have fun with her lover, so she wants to lock her at home, monitor her, and not. She was allowed to interact with men, she was not allowed to dress up, mock and humiliate her, the mother wanted to spill all the grievances of life on her daughter.
As a child under the strict discipline of a mother, "sex" is of course a restricted area. Erica, whose sexual organs are mature, is never allowed to make a boyfriend. In the novel, the mother does not allow her daughter to masturbate. Erica's body is hidden and neglected, and she has never touched her own body. Freud believed that libido can be sublimated to the impulse of artistic creation. Because Erica's libido has been suppressed for a long time, it cannot be converted into the driving force for artistic creation. reasons for greater achievement.
But the more the body is suppressed, the more intense and distorted the curiosity and desire for the flesh will be. Erica would surreptitiously watch adult porn shows, she would look at the girls' bodies like a man, but she never touched, only watched. She imagines her own body by watching other people's bodies, and she'll run to the parking lot to peek and listen to the movements and sounds of Nohe's men and women having sex. "She can only watch. She is her own taboo, without the touch of her hands." (Elfrid Jelinek, "The Piano Teacher") Erica carries the blade with which she often cuts her private parts , which not only satisfied her masochistic impulse but also obtained sexual pleasure.
The video shows Erika visiting a porn shop
The novel also describes that Erica lived in the country with her mother and grandmother as a child. Cousin came to the country to play in the summer, he was free to joke with the girls, run in the fields and swim in the lake, while Erica was confined to the upstairs room and played the piano. Erica's behavior is restrained everywhere, but Erica has been very subjective since she was a child. She often plays the wrong notes on purpose, and deliberately makes the music louder to harass the surrounding neighbors, so as to express her silent resistance. Her mother didn't allow her to wear beautiful clothes, and always warned her that she was not beautiful. When Erica saw her little friend wearing new beautiful clothes, she would steal her friend's clothes and cut it with scissors. An immoral "desire of destruction" to express his resistance.
02
Intense music competition system oppresses Erica
The video shows a scene of a music exam. A girl burst into tears after closing the door, and students swarmed the door waiting for the results. These reflect the fierce competition in Vienna as a musical capital.
The female student Anna is the epitome of Erica's youth. Anna's mother has high hopes for Anna just like Erica's mother. Anna is always timid and bows her head. She practiced the piano for at least 8 hours a day, and performed in chamber concerts. The rehearsal scene was so tense that people were so nervous that they didn't dare to perform on stage, which reflected the morbid distortion caused by the fierce competition system to people.
Schoolgirl Ana and Ana's mother
Erica was born in a country and her family was poor. From the beginning of the film, her mother accused Erica of spending money on a discounted dress. It can be seen that Erica was finally able to become a professor at the Vienna Academy of Music, which shows how harsh she has endured. competitive pressure. Playing the piano has exhausted all Erica's energy, her life has nothing but playing the piano, and now her music performance career will not improve, she will always be a professional music teacher.
At the beginning of the film, three piano performances show Erica's work status. Few of the students Erica brings are really interested in music, and most of them reluctantly learn this skill at the request of their parents. With the talent of the piano, few students can truly penetrate the spiritual world of Beethoven and Bach. Erica leaned against the window, looked out of the window hopelessly, listening to the students playing Bach that she would never understand; during the interval between private lessons, Erica ate a sandwich wrapping her stomach, and then started the next class, every day. It goes on and on again and again. There is no joy and passion in Erica's life, it is full of boredom and death, her body exudes a musty smell, and she can only wait quietly for the death of life. Erica's life was a victim of a fiercely competitive system.
But even though she was oppressed by her mother's high-pressure control and the fierce competition system of the male-dominated society, Erica still withstood all kinds of pressures and became a woman with a strong subjectivity. Erica can support herself and her mother in Vienna with her strong professional ability, without relying on any man, and without the help of relatives and friends. She always walks with her head held high, her eyes firm, and she never minds the opinions and evaluations of others.
It can also be seen from Erica's teaching that Erica has a very deep understanding of the spirit behind classical music. For example, when she directed Anna to play Schubert's "Winter Journey" suite, the music sang: "So what? They used to have a good time" Erica said: "It is the stubbornness of the complacent bourgeoisie..." Ha In the soundtrack of the film, Necker selected the 17th "Village" and the 20th "Vector" of Schubert's "Winter Journey" suite to express Erica's spiritual world.
Erica is completely different from the common female objects in the patriarchal society. She has a strong subjectivity, and the problem she faces is "sexual subjectivity". In a patriarchal society, women are placed in the situation of objects. Even if they have the desire of the subject, they are often treated as sexual objects during sexual intercourse, and their bodies are eroticized and eroticized. Erica's desire to establish "sexual subjectivity" is particularly evident in her quartet of sex games with Walter. Haneke vividly shows us "what is sex politics" through these four sex games.
Walter, a 20-year-old male college student with blond hair and blue eyes, a wealthy family and a musical talent, began to pursue Erica feverishly after hearing Erica play the piano at a chamber concert. Walter is a successful male subject in the patriarchal society. He loves the works of American writer Norman Mailer, and the male protagonist in Mailer's novels is precisely the extreme representative of maintaining the sexual hierarchy and male privilege. While Walter did admire Erica's musical talent, his love for Erica was primarily frivolous and sensual. He wanted to seize the time to enjoy the pleasures of the flesh while Erica's charm was still alive, and then quickly turn to other young and beautiful girls when Erica was in his hands. Walter also believes that Erica has only a spiritual life and has not enjoyed the happiness of the world. He will help Erica to recover the lost time, and he will bring Erica to the world to enjoy. "We want to recover the time that has passed... We are all flesh and blood..." Erica has always longed for a man to enter his heart. Walter's tall and handsome appearance and good musical talent made Erica also deeply fall in love with the male student in front of her.
In the book "Sexual Politics", Kate Militt pointed out that in a patriarchal society, men play a dominant role in social life, and women play a submissive role. This is also reflected in sexual behavior. Men are the aggressors in sexual behavior, and women are submissive to serve men. Sexual intercourse postures often show the subject and object roles of both genders in sexual behavior. The active/passive roles of both genders in sexual behavior are a more hidden power mechanism used by male-dominated societies to regulate women. The radical thing about Erica is that she doesn't want to be treated as a sexual object, she wants to gain equality with men in sexuality, and she wants to gain sexual subjectivity in sexual intercourse. I will show the four "sex games" between Erica and Walter in four scenes.
03
Erica and Walter's Four Sex Game
(1) Toilet
① Seeing that the prey is about to arrive, Walter can't wait to kiss and stroke Erica
② Erica uncharacteristically stopped Walter and took out Walter's penis to help him masturbate.
[When I first saw this episode, I was very confused, I thought Erica was sick. Because what we usually see in movies are men touching women's breasts and men squeezing women with their genitals. In fact, Erica's behavior is precisely to play an aggressive role in sex that was originally reserved for men]
③ Walter couldn't hold back his sexual urge, and wanted to press Erica under him and ejaculate inside Erica
④ Erica pushed him away and said, "If you don't stop, I'll leave." Walter obeyed the order, and Erica continued to help Walter masturbate. Erica still has the upper hand in sex.
⑤ When Erica helped Walter to climax, Erica suddenly stopped and told Walter: "Now I don't want to touch it...I will write down my desires and what you should do." When Rika said "I don't want to touch it (penis) now" and gave orders to men, it was quite shocking. In the past, such behaviors were imposed on women by men.
⑥ Walter's response to this was: "Your behavior is morbid... You should know what to do and what not to do when dealing with men." Here, the essence of patriarchal sociality is expressed through Walter's words. Obedience and service to men.
⑦ Erica warned Walter: "If you don't obey, I won't see you again." Driven by strong lust, Walter obeyed Erica's order. In a vindictive way, Erica opens the toilet door, and Walter stands straight at the toilet door with his bare penis. The novel describes that the toilet door is facing the corridor, and someone may break in at any time. Erica told Walter in a victorious gesture: "Now you can put it away. You will receive my orders by letter."
In the toilet scene, Erica (the woman) successfully plays the role of the active agent in sex by giving orders to the man.
(2) Erica's house
From this scene, you can see that Erica's dress has changed. Erica began to wear warm-toned clothes, with curly hair scattered, a red hat on her head, and her face carefully decorated with cosmetics. In this scene, Erica expresses her strong masochistic desire to Walter through a letter. Erica wants to try a sadomasochistic sex with Walter. Her letter reads as follows:
"If I beg, please tie it tighter, at least two or three more holes in the belt, the tighter the better."
"Then use the old stockings I prepared and stuff it into my mouth so that I can't speak."
"Next please cover my eyes, sit on top of me, punch me in the stomach, make me stick out my tongue and lick your ass"
"If I resist your orders, hit me"
"Ask me why I didn't ask my mother for help, why I didn't resist, it made me feel completely helpless"
Sadomasochism is a sexual activity that associates sexual pleasure with pain, that is, sexual activity that obtains sexual pleasure through pain. The pain here includes both physical pain (suffering from whipping, etc.) and mental pain (humiliation, torture, etc.). Erica is the masochistic side of sadomasochism, and this letter conveys the core characteristics of sadomasochism: 1. Consensual. If Erica wants to enter into a sadomasochistic relationship with Walter, she must first seek Walter's consent. The modern form of sadomasochism is a consensual act of both parties, once one person is not consensual, the nature of the relationship changes and it will be the relationship between the abuser and the victim. 2. Both parties agree on role-playing, plot scenes, and activities before sexual activity.
How to explain Erica's masochistic tendencies? I try to interpret it in several ways. Li Yinhe wrote in "Sadomania Subculture": "One element of a mutually consensual sadomasochistic relationship is the relationship of dominance and subordination in the power structure." (1) Among Erika's masochistic tendencies, not only are there opposite The longing for pain, and the longing for being dominated and subservient. Erica (a woman) does not have any power over the world. In the family, she is under the high pressure of her mother. In society, she is subject to male authority. The only thing she can control is her own body. To use the only power, and to vent through self-abuse, to resist the oppression of the patriarchal society.
Generally speaking, in a patriarchal society, men are treated as subjects, and men use their penis to contact their sexual partners. He himself plays an aggressive role in sexual intercourse, and women's bodies are prey to him. During sexual intercourse, men always did not lose his initiative. In a patriarchal society, because women are regarded as objects, she is the prey of men in sexual intercourse, which makes her play a passive role in sex. Sadomasochism/masochism in a sadomasochistic relationship is an extreme manifestation of the traditional gender model, where the man is the abuser and the woman is the masochist. Since sadomasochism is a voluntary agreement between the two parties, sadomasochism itself has a performance nature, and there is still a dialectics in sadomasochism. Although Te is an abuser, he becomes a slave in a sexual relationship because he has to obey Erica's orders. Erica's subjectivity is very strong, she is unwilling to be treated as prey (pure meat) in sexual behavior, and establishes sexual subjectivity through passiveness in masochistic transgender relationship as initiative. "Accept his abuse, and finally overcome his own sense of powerlessness by voluntarily abusing himself." (2) Through sadomasochism, Erica's ultimate desire is to build a mutual mastery with Walter in sex. object relationship.
In addition, as Li Yinhe said in the book, sadomasochism is also a desire for interpersonal relationships and a way to avoid loneliness. If a person is hurting and suffering, then she will not feel alone, because the abuser is absolutely there for the abused. It is also a manifestation of Erica's strong love for Walter.
In this letter written by Erica, there is another interesting point. Erica wrote in the letter: "Please tie my hands and feet behind my back and lock me in the room next to my mother, she is close but not accessible." I think this The details can be understood in this way. By showing her tortured and humiliated condition, Erica implies that her mother has been oppressed by her mother for many years. Her mother's oppression is no different from being beaten and kicked by Walter. , The oppressed one, the mother is also the oppressor to her.
However, Walter had difficulty understanding Erica's masochistic tendencies and refused to cooperate with Erica's request. He felt that Erica was a patient and pushed the door to leave Erica's house. "You're sick, and now you're turning my stomach." Walter's response attributed the "sadomania" to sexual perversion. In fact, Foucault explained that sadomasochism is not a kind of sexual inversion, sadomasochism is only related to pleasure, and sadomasochists just choose sadomasochism as a way of happiness, not born with this desire.
Erica cries on her mother at night, she loves Walter very much, but Walter refuses to try sadomasochism and rejects her.
(3) Ice rink lounge
Erica couldn't hold back her turbulent emotions. The next day, she went to the ice hockey rink to find Walter and asked for peace. Erica lay on the ground in a submissive posture, and Walter pressed her on top of her. In this sexual encounter, Walter took the upper hand, Erica was pressed down by Walter, and Walter shoved his penis into Erica's mouth. Erica couldn't help but vomit, Walter said, and no one had ever vomited. Walter is actually saying that a man's phallus symbolizes power, glory, and that no woman can shame the phallus. Erica's vomiting behavior reflects Erica's very strong subjectivity, and she simply can't stand a passive position in sex.
(4) Erica's house
That night, Walter went to Erica's house and raped Erica. When Walter punches and kicks Erica, he is the real abuser in the sexual act, sexually assaulting Erica, which is no longer SM behavior. Walter pressed Erica under his body and kept kissing Erica. Erica did not respond, lying on the ground like a corpse, expressing her resistance. Even during this violent act, Erica never gave in physically to anyone.
Before leaving, Walter told Erica: "I hope you don't publicize this, I'm thinking of you. You can't insult a man like this, absolutely not. You know love is no big deal."
This passage is very interesting. It expresses three meanings in just one line: First, "I hope you don't publicize this matter, I'm thinking of you." This refers to the humiliation of sluts, which is very common in the patriarchal society. , If women report rape, public opinion will only condemn women for not protecting themselves or even deliberately seduce men. What's more, in the teacher-student relationship between Erica and Walter, once Erica said she was raped by a male student, the public opinion will only be more unfavorable to Erica; and the influence of public opinion on men is very bad. It's easy, after a while, people will forget about the romantic history of men, but public opinion will mark a woman's body for life.
The second is, "You can't insult men like this, absolutely not." This points out the rules of a patriarchal society. Men play a dominant role in sex, and women are subordinates. If women want to subvert this sexual politics, they will inevitably suffer Patriarchal society punishes more severely.
The third is, "You know love is no big deal", which echoes what Erica once told Walter "actually the basis of love is ridiculous." The same sentence, spoken by a different person, has a very different meaning. When Erica told Walter that "the basis of love is actually ridiculous," it also meant that love was nothing but a physical relationship, but Erica, as a woman, had not undergone what Lacan called secondary alienation, and it was difficult to achieve "sex separation." ", Erica said verbally that it was nothing more than a physical relationship, but she deeply loved Walter in her heart. However, when Walter said, "You know that love is no big deal", love is nothing but sensuality; men can truly achieve sexual separation due to what Lacan calls secondary alienation; even if Walter and Erica have a physical relationship , he can also really do not love Erica.
Through Erica and Walter's four sex games, the film shows the hidden power relationship in sexual behavior, and exposes the real situation of power inequality between men and women in a male-dominated society. At the end of the film, Erica was hurt a lot and went to Walter with a dagger, only to find that Walter seemed relaxed and happy as if nothing had happened. Erica picked up the knife and stabbed herself, pushed open the door and walked out of the music hall. Many people ask, why did Erica stab herself with a knife? As I explained earlier, in a male-dominated society, a woman does not have any power. If she wants to fight against this society alone, she will only be attacked more ruthlessly by the male-dominated society. No, she can only use the only power she has by hurting her body to resist the oppression of her by the patriarchal society. But as stubborn as Erica, even if she stabbed herself with a knife, she would never yield to patriarchy.
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