"The Undoing" is a very interesting and watchable American drama: as a film and television drama adapted from a novel, it uses a series of visual language to give the audience various psychological hints (echoing the title of its psychological terminology) and Let the audience pick up the clues and connect their own logic to play a reasoning game in their own minds. In my understanding, the Chinese translation of the play is simply the opposite of undoing: it should not be "do nothing," but on the contrary, people often have to do great psychological and emotional labor for violence and injury that occurs. , To suppress emotional fluctuations and repair the trauma of the soul, called undoing, to eliminate. Judith Butler cited the psychological pain caused by the 9/11 incident to Americans in the interpretation of her book " Undoing Gender " on gender theory , she wrote
Mourning, fear, anxiety, anger. In the United States after September 11, 2001, we were surrounded by violence: we committed violence, suffered the pain of violence, and feared violence in life, and planned more violence. Violence must be the worst representation of order. It is the most terrifying form of human fragility displayed in front of others, causing us to lose control, relying entirely on the will of others, and making life vulnerable to the will of others. Under certain social and political conditions, this vulnerability will be severely exacerbated. Although the mainstream approach in the United States is to strengthen sovereignty and security to reduce this vulnerability, or to isolate it from danger, this approach can also achieve another goal and ideal. The fact that our lives depend on others may be the basis for our resort to non-military political solutions. We cannot arbitrarily eliminate this fact, but must take it seriously and even persevere, especially when we begin to consider the relationship between personal vulnerability and political choices.
Here I will not talk about the body and politics that Butler focused on. Although I will talk about it at the end, I want to use this passage as an introduction, starting from the two paintings that appear in the play, and talk about the intergenerational (family) in the play. The implication and interpretation of violence and capital (state) violence.
From the Shining to Domestic Violence
I first watched this show because of the subtle analysis of the oil paintings that appeared in the show by My Neighbors . The one that caught my attention most was the Goya in The Frick Collection and the Turner I will mention next.
As Youlin mentioned, painting is a subtle metaphor, which accurately captures the moment the action/murder happened. The hammer in the painting can be seen as an obvious hint of a murder weapon; the color of the lava is like the red of blood. But for me who had watched the fifth episode at that time, it didn’t matter who the murderer was. I thought more about the three men in the painting/film (it’s easy to see them from their appearance and posture). It is three generations: the fat baby on the far left, the old man with gray hair in the middle, and the strong adult man with his back facing us). The metaphorical violence of collusion is patriarchal, male, and white violence. The victim in the film is definitely not just the murdered Elena; there is also Grace (she has always lived in the shadows and lies of the men around her: living in an expensive apartment given by her father, being cheated by her husband, and the son helping her father clean up and hide the murder weapon. ); It was Miguel who witnessed the murder scene (Jonathan gave him a second life as a doctor; also made him a witness to the murder and ruined his life), and also applied to the loss of Herny and that as the spiritual father Baby; Fernando who was taken away but unable to fight back, did not show up, Grace's mother who kept being cheated, and even Jonathan's mother mentioned that Jonathan was a psychopath might suggest that he murdered his sister?
This kind of family and ethnic violence reminded me of another famous novel adaptation of the movie "The Shining ". British writer Mark Fisher once wrote a very interesting review . In the article he explores the history of patriarchy and violence. Jack and Jonathan in the shining have so many similarities: they both lost their jobs, became crazy, and even murdered them with an axe. In the movie, the black police officer is the first victim of this "white male burden" evolution of violence.
When talking about racial violence, the second painting I want to talk about is Turner's one. It reminds me of the Turner retrospective recently done by the Tate Gallery in the United Kingdom . The introduction of the exhibition said:
Starting in the 1790s, when Turner first observed the influence of modern life, the exhibition will follow his fascination with the influence of industrialization. It will show how the painter participated in the major political issues of the time: the anti-slavery movement and the production of paintings expressing the horrors of the Napoleonic Wars.
The racial problem of the primitive accumulation of capitalism should be seen most in Turner's paintings, such as "Slave Ship" in 1940. Franklin stared at Turner’s paintings for a long time: First of all, an old New York capitalist saw this industrial revolution oil painting in the private gallery of another big capitalist. It was very symbolic; even more ironically, the lawyer who helped him was a Negro. The primitive accumulation of capitalism was based on the enslavement and oppression of blacks, and the person who happened to help them create smoke was also a black woman. She tried to help the white family get away with murder. In the film, another person of color, Fernando, was slandered by this capital-manipulated legal process to such an extent that she collapsed several times.
The interesting thing is that I saw discussions such as " New York is so beautiful " in the series discussion area . I will not comment on this. If you have actually entered a New York subway station, you will not have similar feelings. Obviously, the perspective shown in the play is the heroine's New York, which also reminds me of Nicole Kidman's " Cry Cry ". The suspense of the whole movie is based on the audience's perspective of the heroine. It also reminds me of the " Broad Eyes Ring ", in which there are many juicy gossips between Tom and Nicole both in and out of the play. And in my memory, Hugh Grant is not the first time he has appeared in such a charming scumbag with a series of lies, such as the " BJ Singles Diary " series. The supporting role Elena’s casting is also very good. The original author once said that Elena is a haunting character. Her body is as beautiful as the muse in the oil painting. Her body is indeed unforgettable. It reminds me of the equally beautiful Laura Palmer in " Shuangfeng Town ". .
In fact, the most dreadful details of the play are Herny's adoration of his father (he has a picture of his father on the bedside, which most people don't do), and he does not avoid it, and has been unable to help but watch the murder of his father. The news reports even helped his father hide the weapon and promised his father’s last meeting. The end of the play disappointed me a little bit, and it didn't appear too obvious, just as timid as Grace. But based on Grace's evasive attitude toward the cruel truth of the family, the next psychopath in their family has been born.
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