The composition of almost all movie stories depends on the structure (frame) or narrative form (Form) of the story. The combination of structure and content forms a complete narrative system, forming a smooth narrative logic. Take "The Wizard of Oz·1939" as an example. The main structure of the story is that Dorothy dreamed that she was swept to Oz by a whirlwind, and met many friends on the way home. After solving some difficulties and successfully returning to my home in Kansas, I found myself just having a dream. That is, the story is a standard ABA (Kansas-Oz-Kansas) structure, in which the change of color (black-and-white-color-black-and-white) also expresses this structure-black-and-white (Kansas) and color (Oz), The specific content of the story is filled in this big frame to shape a complete story. Moreover, the ABA structure of "The Wizard of Oz" also constitutes the first meaning of the story in "The Art of Motion Picture"[1]:
Referential meaning: In the era of economic panic, a hurricane will bring a girl From the farm house in Kansas, she blows to a mysterious place called Oz; after a series of adventures, she finally returns home. (P73)
This requires the audience to understand the time of the story, the background of American society at that time (the era of the Great Economic Panic), and the geography of the United States (Kansas). If we do not understand the background of these times, we may miss the deeper meaning of movies (but watching foreign movies and reading foreign literature is a process of misreading, which may also be one of the pleasures of reading). The background of the time in this movie is to tell us that Dorothy lives in a bad environment in a bad time (Kansas has a Midwestern United States climate and often has hurricanes). Dorothy, who didn't like it so much, began to look forward to a "above the rainbow" "a place without any trouble".
So Dorothy escaped from this desolate environment in a dream, and after arriving in the country of Oz, where the grass was long and flying, she began a journey to find her home. She gradually realized the beauty of home, and finally came to the conclusion that "there is no place like home." In conclusion, this also constitutes the second meaning of the film:
Explicit meaning: A girl dreams of being able to leave home and away from her troubles; it is not until she has experienced something and learned the experience that she understands what the home has for her. significance. (P73)
Since the adventure in "The Wizard of Oz" is a dream of Dorothy, let’s use some principles from Freud’s "Analysis of Dreams"—people, things, and things seen in life are the material and source of dreams. It can explain the specific content of many movies. In fact, the aforementioned Dorothy expecting to leave home to a place where there is no worries is a kind of psychological suggestion that to arrive in Oz in the dream is the fulfillment of Dorothy's wish.
In film language, the recurring elements are called "motifs". Specifically, "any meaningful and recurring elements in movies can be called motifs." A discussion that is not new in the film reviews of this movie is that the scarecrows, tin men, lions and wizards that Dorothy encountered in Oz are actually modifications of the characters in her life.
The prototype of the three partners
Because the characters appearing in the dream are related to reality, there are multiple motifs overlaid in the movie. Dorothy’s friends: Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion lack the brain, heart and courage respectively, which has been hinted in the appearance of the opening characters of the movie. The above three people played at the same time. Through their dialogue, we can know some of their weaknesses in character.
Of course, the repetition of the motif in the movie is not just a simple repetition of a certain element-that will undoubtedly cause the audience to tire, but the same element appears in different ways. The transformation of the three partners in reality from humans into characters in the fairy tale world is one example, but the film does not clearly show this process of change. Therefore, to connect reality with fairy tales requires constant hints in the language of the film and careful observation of the audience. . Among the character changes, the only thing that clearly shows the process of change is the process in which Miss Gulch (Miss Gulch) transforms into The Wicked Witch of the West in the Kingdom of Oz.
The motif changes in various forms, not only in the image, but also in the position and way of appearance. For example, in real life, Zake explained to everyone that his timid scene and the scene where the lion of Oz said he had no courage showed the effect of mirror symmetry.
In accordance with the conventions of drama films (conflict and conflict resolution) and the principle of fulfilling the wishes in dreams, the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion finally received diplomas, heart-shaped pocket watches and medals to prove their growth. At the same time, Dorothy was also because of Understand the preciousness of home and gain the ability to go home. The theme of "growth" constitutes the third meaning of the film;
Implicit meaning: an adolescent girl who will soon face the adult world, dreams of returning to the simple world of childhood, but in the end, she finally accepts The test of becoming an adult. (P74)
In addition, just like the inner meaning mentioned at the beginning of the article that requires knowledge of American history and geography to understand, the fourth layer of meaning of the film requires a certain understanding of American intellectual history. The fourth level of meaning is the deepest and also the most general meaning. I think this is also the meaning of the title that made the film one of the classics in the history of film:
Symbolic meaning (Symptomatic meaning): in a money In a society that measures the value of human nature, homes and relatives may be the last refuge of human value. In times of economic panic, such as in the United States in the 1930s, this belief prevailed.
To sum up, in the movie "The Wizard of Oz", through the repetition of the motif in the ABA-style narrative frame, it attracts the audience's attention and at the same time achieves the deepening of the film theme. As for which level we have read, it depends on our knowledge and focus. The repetition of the motif can also be a "guessing" (or "find the difference") game.
Of course, this kind of foreshadowing narrative of "A gun appears in the first act, and the gunfire will be heard in the third act" is a very classic movie language, but we don't expect this in all movies. For example, in Wong Kar-wai's movie, the seemingly important characters appearing in a certain scene may not appear at all in the following article. This is a question of movie style (another question), we will talk about it later.
[1] David Bordwell ([America] David Bordwell), Christine Thompson. "Film Art" · Form and Style (Illustration Revised 8th Edition) Translated by Zeng Weizhen. "Film Academy" Editorial Board. Beijing United Publishing Company. 2016.
This article was originally published in Xu Qi and my public account:
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