The name of the film is "Velvet Goldmine", which is a song of the same name by David Bowie, the representative of Glitter Rock, a smash hit in the 70s. You can see the difference between the two from here. Relationship, Brian Slade is actually an allusion of David Bowie.
What is gorgeous rock? Gender-ambiguous dress, gorgeous dramatic typhoon and decadent and lazy music style are all elements of gorgeous rock and roll, just as Brian Slade said when he asked reporters why he put on makeup in the film: “Because rock is a Prostitutes, you have to apply grease and powder to perform on stage, music is a mask, and I am wearing a feather dress."
At the beginning of the film, Oscar Wilde, the birth of the aestheticist who is artistic for the sake of art. In Dublin in 1854, a flying saucer flew across the sky, and then Wilde appeared at their door, with a very eye-catching emerald pinned to him.
The appearance of the flying saucer is very meaningful. Does it imply the illusion of the film, the illusion of the theme, or its extraordinary life? I think there are both. This is not a realistic film. Even Jia Zhangke's "The Good Man in Three Gorges" has surreal symbols of flying saucers and buildings flying into the sky. I think flying saucers are more of a symbol. Mean it.
In addition, the emerald on him is an important prop that runs through the entire film, and it plays a role in connecting the various characters in the film. Emerald was born with Wilde. Here, its meaning is not just an ordinary gemstone. The signified is expanded. It represents a kind of thought, Wilde's thought. Originally, for the whole film, Wilde seems too far away, and has nothing to do with the theme, but through the inheritance of this emerald, or the inheritance of ideas, we can see the deep-rooted aestheticism in gorgeous rock. Affection. It can be said that Wilde, a gay and aesthetic artist, has a great influence on the formation of this musical style a hundred years later.
This stone was accidentally picked up by a child 100 years later. With blood on his lips, he showed a weird smile at his a little coquettish in the mirror. He is Jack Fairy. For this character, I feel that it is the most illusory in the film, even a bit symbolic, just like his name. Fairy originally meant a fairy. The director seemed to have given him this name intentionally. Every time he appeared, he was beautified like an elf. His appearance was even more coquettish than the protagonist Brian. He had a great deal of Brian. He is the initiator of this trend, and the final end is also announced by him. He has been mythological.
The whole story about Brian Slade is pieced together from many fragmented memories. The cause is that a newspaper reporter was ordered to investigate the causes and consequences of a murder that was directed and acted by Brian ten years ago, so he went to interview several Several people related to it. Through their respective fragmentary statements, Brian's entire life was pieced together. Of course, there are also some memories of the reporter himself, because he was also a fan of Brian back then, and he was intoxicated by this extravagant and decadent style. Even when Brian was interviewed on TV and said those shocking remarks, he went crazy. Pointed at the TV and screamed "It's me! It's me!". At that time, the young man developed an extreme sense of identity with Brian. The 1970s was an angry age. Young people opposed and subverted tradition. Accompanied by the trend of sexual liberation, punk rock, gorgeous rock and other styles came into being. They frantically pursue these or angry, gorgeous, or decadent, in short, a style that runs counter to tradition, and journalists are among them. Ten years later, he no longer had the passion of the past, but this interview allowed him to pick up the memory that seemed to him like a dream. The visual style of the film is also very illusory, as if we followed the reporter and had a dream, a dream about the crazy history of the 70s.
The person who had the greatest influence on Brian was Curt Wild, a rock singer from the United States. When he first debuted, Brian in a skirt performed hard on stage, but he was boosed by the audience. After being incomprehensible, Brian was very upset. And at this time, Curt appeared, just like the "Wild" in his name, he exuded a wild aura from all over his body, exposed in public, and faced the audience's boos in return with a crazier provocation. This kind of wildness and madness is what Brian lacks most. Out of an instinct to pursue the lack, Brian is deeply fascinated by Curt. So after he became famous, when asked about the person he most wanted to meet in the United States, he said Curt Wild without hesitation. This is something later.
His fame is inseparable from meeting the agent. Under its packaging, Brian quickly became popular and became synonymous with fashion. His style, lifestyle, and his bisexual tendencies have all become popular among young people. "Gay" is no longer despised and even become a symbol of fashion. Young reporters were naturally addicted to it at the time.
Among them, I have to mention Jack Fairy. Before Brian became famous, before the press conference, there was a paragraph of Jack Fairy performing in a bar. It can be said that it was Jack Fairy that had a huge influence on his style and made Brian firm in his determination to take this coquettish route. Jack is the ancestor of gorgeous rock and roll. He inherited the emerald. In this segment, Brian took the emerald away by kissing Jack. This scene is very sacred. So far, this spirit has truly been inherited by Brian, through the hands of Jack.
The real culmination of Brian's career was when he went to New York. After meeting Curt, he was already in full swing, but Curt was still hovering at the bottom. He is still obsessed with Curt's wildness as before, and Curt seems to have a fascination with his coquettish style. In fact, Curt was found to have homosexuality as early as 13 years old and was sent to receive electric shock treatment by his mother. As a result, he became crazy when he heard the electric guitar, which created his wild style on stage; For Brian, the shadow of his childhood has had a profound impact on his current character. Two people who had been missing in childhood will naturally have a strong sense of identity. They are attracted to each other.
Brian took Curt to London. That period was the brightest and happiest golden age in their lives, and their feelings grew deeper and deeper, and the distance between Brian and his wife was getting farther and farther. At the same time, gorgeous rock has reached its peak. Brian even threatened to "we want to change the whole world. We will be the masters of the future." He felt unprecedented happiness and satisfaction, and everyone around him was immersed in it. In this perverted state, extravagance and licentiousness.
But the good times didn't last long, Curt's irritability caused a rift between the two of them, and it grew bigger and bigger. Although the two completely different extreme personalities can complement each other, there is still no way to dissolve their completely contradictory nature. Finally, after a quarrel, Curt left him, and Brian ushered in the most depressing period of his life. He fell into a complete trough, his life was completely ruined, and finally, he faced his wife’s departure. Go, he showed a perverted smile.
In spite of his depression and depression, he still has to attend various commercial performances. As this style becomes more and more mainstream, the previous reform goals disappeared. Brian fell into despair and completely lost himself. Finally, in a grand performance, he directed and acted a shooting incident, and since then disappeared, an era is over.
Ten years have passed.
Through various investigations, the reporter was finally surprised to find that today's pop idol, Tommy Stone, turned out to be Brian. But now, he has long lost the spirit of trying to change the whole world, and has become a secular label. He has just finished the president's publicity performance.
After a Tommy concert, the reporter came to the bar, but unexpectedly saw Curt who was still depressed. It turned out that he already knew Tommy's identity. The two looked at Tommy's poster on the wall, and couldn't help feeling sad about the frenzied years. Curt smiled bitterly and said, "We said we wanted to change the world, and we only changed ourselves in the end."
At this time, we saw the emerald again, and Curt told the truth. It turned out that it was when the two were still together. Brian gave him the gem. This gifting scene has been dealt with by myth once again, which is a kind of spiritual handover. It symbolizes that Brian has thrown away this spirit, this attitude, maybe Brian had long expected that he could not stick to it, so he handed this mission to Curt.
Curt did not flow into the world. He was depressed. In the end, he threw the gem in the wine glass and gave it to the reporter. The era that belonged to it was over. What else was needed?
At the end of the film, at Jack Fairy’s concert, a big flag was lowered, and it said "Death of Glitter" (death of gorgeous rock). It was most appropriate for him to declare the end of gorgeous rock. In it, but outside, just like a god.
In his beautiful singing, we once again saw Brian's face, the screen turned black, and an era of gorgeous, extravagant, and decadent was over. All we can do is to cherish the memory of endless sadness.
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