There has always been an opinion that people should be good at making up for their own shortcomings. Mr. Zeng Can said, I examine myself three times a day. In this age of Carnegie fashion, everyone is busy improving their character weaknesses. But I'm going to seriously question this idea now. One of the points I'm making here, introspection is pointless. Weaknesses don't matter. No weakness is fatal and does not prevent a person from doing something because of it. The question is whether you can find your own unique and proven way of doing things.
For example, Hong Qigong is inferior to Huang Yaoshi in Qimen Five Elements, acupoint-pointing techniques, and many other tricks. So, should Hong Qigong think about how to make up for his weaknesses every day? He didn't do that. If Hong Qigong worked hard to catch up with Huang Yaoshi in acupoint-pointing, and learned Bagua array in order to catch up with Huang Yaoshi in Qimen Five Elements, then he would probably become a mediocre in the end. What Hong Qigong did was to beat his Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms every day. In this way, he could become a generation of masters.
Since the talent material varies from person to person, and each person has different characteristics, it also determines that each person has his own strengths and weaknesses. So instead of studying to make up for shortcomings, it is better to study how to maximize your own characteristics. Guo Jing, for example, can't be said to be not stupid, but can't he learn advanced martial arts if his qualifications are not good? If Guo Jing can learn to use his stupidity to the extreme, he will no longer be stupid. People will praise him for returning to the basics, and for being ingenious. Knowing how to develop strengths and avoid weaknesses is the most important thing. Since you are stupid, you don't need to practice the change of moves. As long as you practice a limited number of practical kung fu, your level will naturally change with each passing day. Weakness is called weakness only when Taoism is not deep, and when it reaches the state of perfection, weakness is no longer a weakness, it is called style.
Therefore, success or failure, is not whether there are weaknesses, but whether there are styles.
Back to the issue of lust.
After watching Lust, Caution, my initial feeling was that this is a traitor movie. There is such a scene, in the truck, a schoolgirl shouted to the soldiers heading for the front line, "Hey, I'll marry you when I come back from the victory!" Of course a female student would not marry a soldier, which meant that, of course, the anti-Japanese war would not be won. So when I saw this, I suddenly realized, oh, this is a traitor movie.
In the film Lust and Caution, there is a sharp contrast between the childishness of the students and the ageing of the traitors. The female student lost her head when she saw that the traitor treated her well, and was so moved that she forgot all the righteousness of the family and the country. But the traitor's mind is always clear, but as long as it is necessary, he can sign the death penalty without hesitation. The director is undoubtedly trying to tell us that idealism like a young student can't do anything, and if you want to succeed, you must learn to be like a spy and do whatever it takes to achieve your goals.
On the other hand, in addition to the ruthless means of the traitor, the director also showed us the inner feelings of the traitor. Wang Jiazhi sang "The End of the World Singer" to the traitor. When they sang "Home Mountain, Look North, Tears Were Down", the traitor was so excited that he could hardly hold the wine glass. So, what the director actually wants to tell us is that the traitors are actually patriotic, just to save the country. It is not enough to be as idealistic as a student, and we must take the means of saving the country through a curve.
This is my first understanding after reading Lust, Caution. But now I have some new ideas. My opinion is that these anti-Japanese students are too stupid. The point here is not to say that they are stupid, but to say that they do not understand how to exploit their strengths and circumvent weaknesses. There are countless ways to save the country, but they prefer to engage in spy activities that they are not good at. There are countless ways to assassinate, you can plant a bomb, you can buy the dead, you can buy someone to poison, but they tend to sneak into other people's homes. As students with no social experience, they are not well-trained, but they want to pretend to be businessmen and sneak into the traitor's house. Just imagine, since it can achieve the top spot of the spy chief, it is all people who have read countless people. Can you see through the tricks of these students? Strange to see through. Chen Chong asked the little fat man what business Mr. Mai was doing. Mr. Mai was sweating nervously and said, export trade. Pause for a moment and imports do it too. Let me ask, even Mrs. Yi can't be deceived, so do you want to deceive the spy? The leader, Kuang Yumin, followed behind Chen Chong, and it was immediately seen that he was a student. With one's own shortcomings, attacking the enemy's strong points, how can we not fail?
As for their highest goal, in the final analysis, it is to assassinate a traitor. Killing a person, "Is it so difficult?" It's not a character with three heads and six arms. It's unbelievable that it took so much trouble. Judging from the final outcome, repeatedly, not only did not kill the traitor, but instead took six lives. Simply incompetent ridiculous. Even if there are bodyguards, at least getting close to the traitor is not difficult at all. As long as you sacrifice one life, you can kill the traitor and save five lives. The students simply did not dare to make such a decision due to their own cowardice. It is precisely because of their cowardice and their ignorance of making the best of their strengths and circumventing their weaknesses that even with all the costs, it still became a tragedy in the end.
I found that among Chinese intellectuals, there is also a kind of thinking similar to these students in Lust and Caution. That is, it is always desirable to choose the path that seems to be the easiest. However, the end result will prove that it is actually the most unworkable way. Chinese intellectuals always hope to climb up through the officialdom, work hard to reach the pinnacle of power, and then use the power in their hands to realize their ideals. It seems that this is the easiest route, but the problem is that many intellectuals have not fully mastered the skills of playing power, and when they encounter a master like Mr. Yi, they often fail like students in Lust, Caution. Almost everyone thinks that if you want to have a career, you must first participate in the imperial examinations, then climb up step by step, and finally have the opportunity, so these scholars also follow the old way, without their own style. If you don't know how to avoid weaknesses, you will naturally fail.
Throughout history, we can see that some people are scheming, and some people are more scheming. The former is more common in people with low educational level, such as the Empress Dowager Cixi, who can survive several court turmoil without falling, but when it comes to the strategy of governing the country, she can't come up with anything. The latter is more common in intellectuals who have read books, such as Jiang Taigong, such as Zhuge Liang. Their strengths lie in their great talents. If they are involved in conspiracy, scholars may not be the opponents of the Empress Dowager Cixi, but scholars do not have to resort to conspiracy to realize their ideals. For example, Wang Anshi is not in a hurry to climb up. In terms of conspiracy and intrigue, Wang Anshi is likely to be inferior to those in power in the court. So he can feel at ease doing practical things in the local area, and he can also get the opportunity to reform the law. Since you are a scholar, you should win by talent, not by intrigue.
The forms of political struggle were originally varied. There is military politics, and there is electoral voting politics. It would be interesting to watch some videos from the previous revolutionary era. For example, Mao Zedong's speech was to be read according to the manuscript, and the Hunan dialect was almost incomprehensible. Then, if it is in the form of democratic elections, he will definitely have no chance of becoming a leader. But the problem is that Mao Zedong has no need to learn Mandarin to practice unscripted speeches, he can do it in his own way. Mao Zedong's success is not the success of others. Mao Zedong's success is the success of Mao Zedong's style.
Seeing the history of the Ming and Qing Dynasties these days has filled my heart with dark emotions. It is believed that the world is so dark that no one with ideals can survive, and those who can survive basically have no ideals. But I feel today that the failed intellectuals failed not because they were too kind and ignorant of politics, but because they were cowardly and lacking style like students in Lust, Caution.
Actually, I just wanted to talk about movies. Well, all of the above is just nonsense.
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