Nearly 60 years ago, the Japanese director Ozu announced to the world (or presented) the disintegration of the traditional family (three or four generations in the same family) through "Tokyo Story". And through the film "Somewhere", which was released at the end of 2010, I saw the crisis of the small family (is it the turn of "the crisis of the self" next).
Why do humans get married? Why do we have small families? The biological version of the answer may be that in order to reproduce, in order for the offspring to grow healthily, and for the offspring to receive a good education, marriage provides a relatively stable platform for this. From a human personal emotional point of view, marriage can "find a partner for yourself". Aunt Chen Wenqian's version is more realistic. She said that "the purpose of marriage is to find a partner for myself after the age of fifty (sixty?)".
But if the wealth of human beings (especially in economically developed societies) grows day by day, the means of communication and transportation become more and more developed. Can we achieve the above goals without getting married? Reproduction of offspring has always been a problem that can be solved without marriage. Now, by providing a certain amount of alimony and education fees, the problem of healthy life and good education of offspring can also be solved. Looking for a partner? The protagonist of "Somewhere" Johnson is a big star, and there are beautiful women everywhere who are willing to sleep with him if he wants to. So, what is the point of marriage?
What is "home" to Johnson? Is it a hotel where you sleep every day? Or a presidential suite with a private swimming pool for overseas events? I am afraid that in his mind, the concept of "home" is very vague. But he always felt that everything was lacking in life.
Although he has no home, Johnson has family. He has an 11-year-old daughter, but it's unclear how long she's been learning to skate. It can be seen that his daughter is also relatively unfamiliar to him. Judging from the information provided by the movie, he should have given birth to a child and started his own family at a relatively young age. But soon, before the child was sensible, he divorced his wife. For his daughter, he only provided her child support, and there was no parent-child activity and communication. When the child gradually became sensible and could do various exchanges and activities with adults, the ex-wife began to send her daughter to him regularly. The vague concept of parent-child between father and daughter, the lack of mutual understanding, and the fact that the age gap is smaller than the average father and daughter, Johnson is more like a pair of good friends when his daughter is together. Some people may think that this is the democratic atmosphere in the American family, but I don't think it's that simple in this film. Whether it's right or wrong, in short, Johnson and his daughter play video games together and compete with each other; he takes her daughter to practice skating, keeps his eyes on it, applauds and applauds, always reminiscent of the scene when he was watching a pole dancer performance in a hotel before; He took his daughter to a movie event in Italy, and he swam with his daughter in the swimming pool in the hotel. He applauded and scored her daughter performing a water handstand in front of him; at night, he and his daughter slept in the same bed, when both When he was not there, he called to share with his daughter all kinds of ice cream; when her daughter fell asleep, he secretly welcomed her beautiful lover. . . . . . The next morning, he casually had breakfast with his lover and daughter. . . . . . All of this doesn't look like a normal father-daughter relationship. Of course, I am by no means saying that Johnson was in an incestuous relationship with his daughter (certainly not). But whether it is the concept of home or the concept of family (daughter), it has become very peculiar in Johnson. Whether it was his special occupation that caused his special life situation, or the special side of his character that made it difficult for him to have a normal life, is unknown. But what is certain is that the traditional form of a family of three (or more than three) no longer exists in his life. He has a place to live, but no home, he has a family but no family, he has a happy woman with him, but no emotional partner, he seems to have everything, but nothing is his own. Yes, nothing is my own, it's all passing by, the hotel is the passing place, the lover is passing by, the wife is passing by, the daughter is passing by, he is always Somewhere.
Maybe some people think that Johnson is a big star, so it is normal for his life to be abnormal. Maybe someone else thinks what I'm saying about a "little family crisis" is sensational. Great, so let's see what life is like for us ordinary people living in a modern 21st century society. For example, it is an ordinary family of three with one child. Both husband and wife have their own jobs. It is said that they work eight hours a day. Do you feel that the time spent seeing colleagues is longer than seeing family members? Woolen cloth. In addition to civil servants, how can there be a punctual commute to get off work now. If one of the husband and wife travels abroad for a long time on business or abroad, modern communication methods can achieve the effect of hearing people's voices. I feel that the children at home are also missing single parents.
The popularization of the idea of equality between men and women and the increasing development of home appliances have also freed housewives (or women and men) from heavy housework and have time to find their hobbies or friends outside of work and housework. "Marriage does not mean binding each other." As this idea spreads in society, more and more couples "play their own way". If you like to stay at home, then stay at home. I like outdoor activities, so I go to outdoor activities, and I don't have to sing along. You like to go to bookstores, I like to go shopping, then we will split up and make an appointment to meet again. and so on.
In this way, the traditional small family has also begun to change in form. Whether it is good or bad, the change has already happened.
Let's go back to the movies again. The more advanced the technology, the happier the life of human beings? The more advanced the technology, the more convenient the life of human beings, I agree. As for whether it is the happier, not sure. Maybe the opposite is also possible. The popularity of mobile phones and the Internet allows us to be free from the limitation of spatial distance. No matter where the other party is, we can communicate with each other instantly with a phone call or a chat tool. However, our communication objects are not more than in the past, and the language of communication is not richer than in the past, just like the protagonist of the film. Except for some inexplicable harassing messages all day, he has no real friends with him. When calling his ex-wife later, he didn't say anything other than "Can you come over now?" I don't think this can be summed up in the sentence "I have mixed feelings, but I am short of words for a while". The protagonist's means of transportation are also quite developed. He usually drives a Ferrari, and he uses a helicopter to send his daughter to go camping. Of course, when he goes abroad to participate in movie activities, he takes a plane. But his life always feels like there is no purpose, no end, no real place to stay. In short, Johnson can immediately contact his ex-wife, but he cannot communicate with her smoothly. He can use a helicopter to get where he wants to go in an instant, but it is difficult for him to get close to the person he loves.
However, for the convenience brought to us by technology, we can't be cheap and be good. I think we have to find the reason from ourselves. But in any case, the protagonist Johnson eventually ditched modern means of transportation (abandoning his Ferrari), on foot to his happy life.
View more about Somewhere reviews
