The first part talks about the theme of the film related to "understanding"; on this basis, the second part discusses the ethical value of the 120-frame technology; the third part analyzes the classic "modern" Ang Lee films "Hero" image: that is, how a teenager, without resorting to abstract ideas and religion, relies on his own exploration to approach what Lynn calls "the greater existence" step by step.
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have seen the 60-frame and 120-frame versions , the latter's viewing experience, in short, is close to the dizziness of the characters in the play. On the big screen, Lynn is in pain from beginning to end, and the occasional smile that squeezes out makes you feel enormously oppressed. And his comrades in arms were excited when they came, but when they returned, they were silent and close to collapse.
To understand this pain is almost a task that only literature can accomplish. I say "almost" because Ang Lee thinks movies can too.
The arena and battlefield, from the sound to the picture, shocked people's senses in an extremely exciting way. When most of the audience was excited for the event, the director let the audience and these soldiers temporarily suffer from some kind of post-war stress syndrome. sign. Those dazzling performances can no longer mobilize people's excitement, you will feel dazzling, feel restless, and even feel sick. The audience did not pay the bill because they felt that the "viewing experience" should be comfortable. It should be warm indoor air, 3D eye paper as a gift, soft and hard seat backs, and a dream that temporarily "leaves" reality.
But is it possible that this could be the case? The moment you take off your glasses, you suddenly feel closer than ever to the characters in the play. It's not even a mental "comprehension", it's a state: you're slumped in your seat, feeling exhausted, like a soldier in a Humvee at the end of the movie, eyes closed; Like the strange woman who was with me, the lights came on and wept.
1.
I believe that directors like Ang Lee did not embrace Cameron's ambition to shoot "Avatar" in 3D when exploring the 120-frame technology. Its ethical significance is twofold:
first, the central question of film art: what is truth? What is a dream? As a "Dream Factory", what exactly does the movie show?
Related to "truth" is: in this age of exploding experience, how do we understand others?
The second problem seems to be the story shown in the movie: the soldiers of class B toured the country for 2 weeks, receiving praise and thanks from everyone, but in the end they found that no one really understood them, they had nothing but each other. This game is also their journey of disillusionment.
At first, soldiers expected their experiences to be filmed and their choices to be given meaning by others. In the luxury car space at the beginning of the film, this atmosphere surrounded by public passion is very clear. But gradually, people became uneasy and disappointed, until the price given by investors fell below expectations.
The investor said to Lynn: Your story no longer belongs to you. it's all about ideas. All of us are class B.
The easy-going male protagonist explodes in this scene: it's not all about the story, it's our life, our experience, and you're trying to turn it into something else.
You know, the praise and glory received by the military is largely due to the public relations of the game. And the investor's "love" for Lynn and his comrades is actually just what he calls "ideas". At a time when anti-war sentiment was rampant, the conservative Republican firmly believed in a certain American national narrative that the war was a contest between "good" and "evil" and the responsibility of the "City of God". He is devout, so there will be a moving moment at the press conference: he expects the deeds of Class B to awaken the national sentiments of the people.
But the reality is that almost no one agrees with that sense of war among the investing population. The narrative of fighting for justice was satirized by my sister at the dinner table at Lynn's house. However, because of family affection, my sister is worried about the absurd situation that Lynn may be in; but to strangers, the hero is meaningless after the show ends, and only becomes a "obstructor" (obstructing the next show) , and who can be bullied (conflicts with staff).
So how to explain the "popular" love for "heroes"? It seems that people are curious about them for all sorts of reasons: an oil tycoon talking about his shale gas exploration, an audience boy joking about gay rumors in the trenches, a football player yearning for some kind of violent thrill, a singer imagining" sodiers"-style abstinence sexy. During the halftime show, their meaning was clear: a dreamy longing for the excitement beyond everyday life.
It’s no accident that the story’s theme is war and rugby. In modern society, sports and war are the only legitimate acts of violence. Repressed desires and libidos are vented in this form, and rugby’s violent physical conflict Undoubtedly the most representative. And the conversation between the rugby player and the male protagonist also fully reflects this desire: when they talk about various machine guns, their eyes are almost the same as bloodthirsty animals.
The football game as the background of the film has always been the most concerned thing for people other than "heroes". If you pay a little attention, you will find that people often turn their heads to watch the game after a compliment. The capitalist is annoyed by losing the ball before talking about the movie, and the hero's girlfriend, who sees him in the midfield, is also in a hurry to catch the second half of the performance. . The most obvious is the audience who ridiculed "gay": "Long live America, come on Dallas!" Anyone can hear the irony in this line.
This superficial "understanding" is completely shattered when film investment is a foregone conclusion. No one was willing to bid—except this investor. During the negotiation process, the only person who seemed to really "like" them was no longer a sentimental party, but a naked capitalist: "Two months, in Hollywood, is equivalent to two years in the past." Squad leader Even want to be emotional: "You said you like us..." However, in a pure buyer's market situation, prices can of course be "ruthlessly" squeezed.
The "heart-to-heart" love was also dissolved in the end. Lynn described the relationship with the cheerleader as "it's connected". The interesting contrast is that at the beginning of the film, the comrades also used this phrase to express their feelings with the stripper, which was laughed at by the teammates. At the moment of farewell, the two embraced and kissed. Lynn said to his girlfriend very emotionally: I almost ran away because of you, but her reply was very surprised: You are a hero who has been awarded honors! The male protagonist had to quickly change his mind and say: I was joking. The look in Lynn's eyes during these dozens of seconds was heartbreaking when he watched it for the second time. The illusion of a romantic relationship is that the object of love is not a real man, but a man who is a national hero, love precisely because of not understanding.
The opposite of love is the relationship between comrades-in-arms. Before the squad leader Mushroom went to disaster, he patted every teammate on the shoulder, looked into their eyes, called their names, and said seriously "I love you". The meaning of love here is actually very simple, that is, "I am with you, we live and die together". It was this kind of love that made Lynn see the mushroom in danger and rushed out recklessly; it was also this kind of love that made Lynn finally say to her sister: Leaving my teammates makes me feel bad. He ended up staying.
This feeling is in stark contrast to the hypocritical feeling in a "free" society, where everyone gets along in harmony, but when it comes to interests, they don't care about the lives of others, and there is even a lack of basic respect. This chasm of "understanding" or "sympathy" is reminiscent of the situation described by Camus in "The Plague": when there is a plague in a small town, unless the compatriots outside the city see with their own eyes how the corpses are piled up into mountains, otherwise It's that they can't really be sympathetic. Like an investor who owns real estate, sports teams, and movies, it's impossible to understand the cafeteria waiter, his family situation, so he can't understand Lynn's saying, "This is not a story, it's our life." .
2.
As a film director, Ang Lee, including the 120-frame technology he used, reminds me of the ethical significance of this "seeing with my own eyes". If the others we face are getting bigger and bigger, but it is impossible to truly participate in their lives, how can we truly understand them? Is it possible to live together without understanding? What other ways are there to promote understanding beyond shared experience and witnessing?
In fact, film is one possible form. The so-called 120 frames is a technology that pursues a high degree of reality. In a form close to a documentary, it shows the cinema audience what the soldiers suffered on the battlefield, trying to let people experience it. A premise here is that Ang Lee believes that such a personal experience is the foundation of understanding.
This also means that for Ang Lee, film is not an artist's self-immersion. In the opening scene of the 120-frame version, he appeared on screen. Just like the legend, his eyes are "wet", looking at the audience sincerely, even a bit like a shy child: I hope you will like it, I hope it will bring you a little different feeling.
Regarding "not the same", all I can imagine is such an example. The rugby player excitedly asked Lynn: "What does a .50 machine gun look like on someone?" Lynn replied, "Pink blood mist." According to classic screenwriting theory, this gun is indeed in the second half of the film. The segment rang. However, the feeling of trembling brought about by that scene, I think it cannot be described in any words.
Perhaps this does not mean that Ang Lee's attempt is a complete success, but its ethical significance cannot be ignored, as the producer in the film said: "Although we don't understand, this country needs to understand." What we lack today, It is the imagination that comes from reality.
3. Another main line in the film "Being a Modern Hero
" is Lynn's personal growth history. Does Lynn want to return to the battlefield? This is the suspense that drives the plot.
Like "Lust and Caution" or "Youth School", what Ang Lee wants to explore is how a young man, without resorting to abstract ideas and religions, uses his own explorations to approach step by step what Lynn calls "the more massive". exist". In this sense, after deconstructing the grand narrative of the hero, the movie is again depicting an ordinary "modern hero" for us.
The reason why we say "deconstruction" is because Wang Jiazhi, Pi and Lynn are all faced with a situation that seems very absurd and meaningless. Indeed, nothing seems more absurd than the Iraq war: young people are sent to war for the oil of politicians. Young people spend their youth there, but they don't have time to enjoy the "normal" adult ceremony.
Lynn was also unable to adjust to military life at first. When his old monitor "Mushroom" told him about the causal cycle of Indian philosophy and that people should face their own destiny calmly, Lynn actually didn't believe it: "There is no god Vishnu in Texas."
After returning to the "normal" society, just like his comrades cheering for $100,000, the hot-blooded teenager Lynn also fell in love with a different cheerleader. She winked and said a few emotional words, and he fell into the trap, feeling that he couldn't lose her. At that moment, Lynn almost ran away, he was far away from his skin-to-skin blind date, and from the worldly happiness that his sister expected, Only one step away.
However, Lynn had a headache at the beginning, and at the same time his comrades gradually realized their true situation. They slowly discovered that the real world seemed no different from absurd wars. This show and war were extremely similar:
they were both dominated by unknown forces, with an abstract goal, and all you could do was wait for the next order. , and no one can foresee what will happen in the next moment. But in many ways, the stage is not even as good as the battlefield: on the battlefield you at least know that you will face life and death, rather than knowing nothing; on the battlefield you can at least resist, not endure; most importantly, on the battlefield you Will be killed, but not ignored. Once the show is over, anyone can come and drive you away. So Lynn said, "The jihadists have more respect for us than they do!"
The lack of respect, understanding, and love is the key. From this point, we can try to understand Lynn's final choice.
The squad leader said to the hesitant Lynn: "We are in a quagmire, and all we have is each other." This quagmire is a ridiculous battlefield, but also Lynn's destiny. But it's not a fatalistic desolation, because if you look back at Lynn's life, you'll find that every major decision he made was made out of love, even knowing the dangers that came with it.
The love for his sister made him be sent to the battlefield; the love for mushrooms made him almost die; the love for his comrades-in-arms, the love for himself, made him give up a safe world.
When he first met cheerleader, Lynn recounted his religious experience: "The moment the mushroom died, he felt that something penetrated him, and he realized the vast existence that transcended life and death."
The fate of a human being is pitiful and ridiculous. Yes, because there are so many forces out of your control, every choice you make has incalculable consequences; but, as Producer said to Lynn: "Do what you think is right, and ignore the rest." So , In this absurd situation, Lynn used every major choice he made to make fate something acceptable, warm and meaningful.
Therefore, the meaning of "born to be a soldier" does not mean "tame, obedient, and don't think much", but means that this person can create meaning for himself through autonomous decisions. Once there is no fear of death, he is the most suitable person for the battlefield. Just like the squad leader's evaluation: Lynn can act calmly no matter what the situation.
At the end of the film, Mushroom repeats what he once taught Lynn: The shot that will kill you has been fired. At that moment, Lynn was already on his way back. Going back meant not fearing death; it also meant that his comrades stood by his side, watched him, and said "I love you" to him.
Regardless, it was an incomprehensible decision. Lynn's sister even felt that this was just a "vanity" of young people. And the scene that touched me the most in the film was when Lynn said to her, "I really hope there is a way to make you proud of me."
After watching the film twice, I slowly seemed to understand this sentence.
The sister who was disfigured in the car accident and Lynn who "broke the law" for her sister are no longer a "normal" person. When Lynn was a virgin because she joined the military, her sister joked, "Would they like to experience a girl with a scar?" In a sense, my sister understood the absurdity of the world earlier and more thoroughly than Lynn. : "How can there be any fairness?" It was precisely because of this that she felt that her brother was in a dangerous situation, and all she could do was let him quickly enter the "normal" track, fall in love with girls, have sex, get married, Have children and live a happy life. And the younger brother's choice is Nothing is better than something.
I think countless young people in the world want to say this to their relatives, just like Li An wanted to say this to his father: "I really hope there is a way to make you proud of me."
Fortunately , , my sister hugged Lynn and said I understand.
2016.11.28
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