Text: Seapark
In 1989, "Driving for Miss Daisy" starring Morgan Freeman reached the Oscars as a dark horse, and finally won four awards including best picture and best actress. Liman did not win the prize. Thirty years later, "Green Book" directed by Peter Farrelly is a black and white reversed "Drive for Miss Daisy", and it won the Golden Globes as a dark horse, defeating the thunderous. "Vice President" won the best film in the comedy music category, which surprised many predictions. The black actor Mahsala Ali won the Best Supporting Actor Award for his role as the actor, which can be regarded as a correction to the neglect of Freeman. The film also won the Best Picture Award in the just-concluded important wind direction American Producers Association Awards. In the unclear 2019 Oscars competition, "Green Book" has undoubtedly occupied the number one runway for the best film, and the chances of winning have greatly increased.
"Green Book" is another film that explores American racial issues after "Black Party" last year. It is also adapted from a real story. It was more than ten years earlier than the latter, and it was set in the 1960s when racial issues were more serious. The black piano musician Dr. Don Shirley planned an American tour in the 1960s, and the main audience was the wealthy white people in the South. He hired Tony Villeroga, a white Italian descendant who lives in New York, as his driver, and hopes that Tony, who is sleek, can protect himself on the road. Tony was originally a racist, but during the journey he was gradually infected by the personality of the doctor, leaving behind his own prejudices. Through Tony, the doctor learned about the lives of ordinary people at the bottom and the culture of working-class blacks, and began to face and accept his black identity more and more...
The title "Green Book" comes from a real book in the 1930s and 1960s-"The Negro Motorist Green Book" (The Negro Motorist Green Book). A booklet of travel guides provided by the black middle class, written by Victor Hugo Green. It introduces in detail the hotels, restaurants and bars that blacks are allowed to visit in major cities along American highways to help them avoid unnecessary troubles. At that time, the United States implemented Jim Crow laws, which believed that although whites and blacks were "equal", they needed to live in isolation. But it is this kind of isolation that makes it difficult for blacks to travel. Often the worst cars or seats are reserved for blacks on public transportation, and many restaurants and hotels do not welcome black guests. It is precisely because of this that more and more economically powerful blacks are choosing to travel by car, just like Dr. Don Shirley in the film. And this "Green Book" is also a reference reading given to the driver Tony by his record company. A booklet symbolizing the absurdity and inequality of a special age.
This book also represents the main contradiction encountered during this trip. Although these black people have cars that symbolize social status, they still have to face discrimination and various unfair treatments against them by the public. The story starts from New York, where the problem of racial discrimination is not so serious, and goes all the way south, experiencing the hardest-hit areas of racial discrimination that have existed since the Civil War, and slowly experiencing all the injustices that have occurred on this land. In the beginning, Tang was still respected and could even stay in a hotel with Tony. On the surface, people are polite to him, praising him as an artist and a national treasure, but in their hearts they still don't think he is an equal person. As the journey went further and further south, he began to endure all kinds of more obvious injustices. In a standard southern plantation villa, although he was treated preferentially on the surface, he could not use the toilet in the manor, only the very simple black toilet outside the manor. This became the beginning of its unfair treatment. Under the influence of Tony, he also changed from a simple struggle at the beginning to a firm determination to fight for equal rights. When he was unable to cope, Tony became the regulator of Don Shelly and this hostile world, coming forward again and again to save him from danger. Seeing this, many viewers may think that this is another drama about white people saving black people. But in fact, Farrelly's ambition does not stop there.
The director of the film, Peter Farrelly, has been co-directing with his younger brother Bobby Farrelly, who is two years younger, and is called the Farrelly brothers. The previous directorial masterpieces of the two brothers were "Dumb and Agua" and "I'm Mad for Mary". This is the first time Peter has left his brother to direct a feature film independently. This is why Mahshara Ali called Peter "a newcomer with 25 years of filming experience." As we all know, the Farrelly brothers are the representatives of Hollywood piss comedy. The most well-known scene in the previous movie may be to put semen on Cameron Diaz's hair and pretend to be hairspray. After flying solo, Peter changed his previous style and reached the pinnacle of his career as a director with meticulously crafted stories and serious social propositions. He is not just telling a "cute" story, but trying to put pressure on the two characters through the special environment of the 1960s. In this way, he succeeded in shaping the role of being in two worlds, but in the end perfectly complementing each other.
Tony, played by Vigo Mortensen, and Don, played by Mahshara Ali, are two completely misplaced characters. In fact, compared to traditional black-and-white movies such as "Twelve Years as a Slave", "The White House Butler" and "Driving for Miss Daisy", white people always occupy a high position, relying on class differences to save black people. This film is just the opposite.
Tony is at the bottom of the society and lives exactly the same life as other blacks at the bottom. He listens to black pop music, loves fried chicken, and loves family more than anything else. Although he does not have black ancestry, his hard-to-pronounce Italian name also made him feel a little bit of the discriminatory treatment known as "mixed blacks." Mortensen gained 50 pounds (approximately 22 kilograms) to play this role, and had many dinners with the real Veroga family to learn their speech and behavior. As a pure American actor, he showed a full Italian taste.
Tang was in the tall pavilion above the Carnegie Hall, sitting on his throne. He is educated in Europe, has a style of classical aristocratic artists, has no knowledge of his black compatriots, and is engaged in the profession of entertaining the white rich. But the estrangement from his family makes him very lonely, and he can only be accompanied by a glass of wine every night. It is just like the description of Huaqiao as a banana man with yellow skin and white heart in "Golden Romance". Tang in this film is an "Oreo" with black skin and white heart. But this also made him unrecognized on both sides of black and white. Several scenes in the film implied that black compatriots also did not accept him. For example, Tang was discriminated against by the blacks in the hotel because of his exquisite clothes. .
Malcolm X once said that there are two kinds of blacks in the world, one is domestic blacks, who like to refer to the white owner and himself as "us", and that everything is for the sake of whites. The other is the field black man, who knows his position and wants to resist and fight for his power. Tang may be a domestic black man, but he also aspires to be a field black man. He knows that he is a black man, but in his heart, he has tried to enter the white class, but failed again and again, and he was finally lost. As his line in the film "If I am neither black enough nor white enough, tell me, Tony, what am I"?
Because of the dislocation of their identities, they can guide each other to a world they don't understand. Tang taught Tony the upper-class etiquette and helped him write to his wife, letting him understand that blacks and whites are not that different. Save him from the black and white view of the past. Tony taught Tang how to live and resist with vulgar and simple philosophy. Even his happy Italian family also gave Tang love. It was the black music that Tony played for Tang, and the KFC fried chicken he invited him to help Tang answer the question of "what am I?" He can be a noble artist at the same time, or an ordinary person. In the end, Tang confirmed his black identity with a classical and then jazz performance in a tavern. From beginning to end, the relationship between the two was equal and mutual salvation. As a black equal rights film directed by white people, such treatment is actually rare.
At the same time, we must also pay attention to the differences between film and reality. The real Don Shirley is a real wise man. He knows where he is. He often collaborates with other black musicians and jazz singers, rather than the weird person who does not eat fireworks as described in the movie. In reality, Tony did drive for Tang briefly, but his more widely known identity is actually an actor. After Tony left his life as a driver and bodyguard, he ventured into Hollywood, relying on his standard Italian appearance to get a lot of opportunities to play gang members. His most famous roles include Carmine Lupertazzi in "The Sopranos" and "The Faithful" Philly Lucky in the movie and Frankie The Wop in The Good Guy. It is Tony's Hollywood experience that allows the story of "Green Book" to be adapted into a movie. He once dictated this story to his son Nick Villeorga, which became the most important blueprint for filming. As the most important of the three screenwriters in the film, Nick is responsible for conveying all the historical facts he has heard. The other two screenwriters are Farrelly and Brian Hayes Curry, both white. So in such a mainstream black film, the black perspective is actually absent. This also explains why the film does not actually have a real black character at the bottom, even if it appears, it is only a "object" viewed from a distance.
After the film was released, it also experienced a lot of turmoil. Don Shelly’s family accused Farrelly’s film of a far cry from the real Tang, and the real Tony was just a hired driver, not Tang’s life mentor or life mentor. friend. Farrelly also said in a subsequent statement that he mistakenly believed that "Tang does not have too many surviving relatives", so he gave up consulting their opinions. But Farrelly did not go through investigation, only listened to the narration of the white descendant Nick Villeorga, and started shooting rashly. He didn't even want to learn about Don Shelley's side of the story. What kind of arrogance is this? As Tony said in a line, "This world is very complicated", but Farrelly thinks too simple, just let a character fit his plot needs, the real world is actually not in his consideration.
In fact, thinking about it, it’s unreasonable for a low-level white man to teach black musicians what black music is. But the dramatic conflicts brought about by such contrasts are so effective in movies. "Green Book" tells a warm and equal rights story, with a more enjoyable master and servant story than "Rome", and a more popular inspirational plot than "Black Party". Even if it is not true enough, it can earn laughter. And tears are enough. At least, there are some emotions in common. When you see Tang, a domestic black man and several field blacks working in the fields, looking at each other with curiosity and incomprehension, do you also doubt our own position in this world?
Originally contained in iris
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