The image analysis class organized by the language school showed that Japanese, English, and Italian alternated throughout the whole process. The subtitles were all wrong, but they basically had no effect on the understanding of the film.
The story takes place in a small town in Indiana, the United States. Four young people who graduated from high school enjoy the summer leisurely. Swimming, cycling, driving, and eating pizza on the side of the road are all their daily routines. They wanted to continue to be masons like their parents, but the quarry was poorly managed. They also lost their goals and wandered around all day long. Sometimes they would drive past the university. They look down on the elder brothers in the university, and the college students look down on them. Even if there was an opportunity to work, they all chose to give up after trying it. The protagonist, Dave, loves bicycles and yearns for the Italian cycling team. He plays Italian songs at home and learns Italian by himself. This may also have something to do with the American social environment at the time. In the 1960s and 1970s, Italian westerns swept the United States, and it was normal for young people to be affected by it. Just like the influence of Korean idol industry and Japanese animation on China today.
And such Dave met a female student Catherine at the university one day. He lied that he was an Italian student to strike up a conversation, and Catherine seemed to be interested in his Italian background. Since then, Dave has followed the Italian opera to pursue girls. With this as the fuse, the contradiction between the quartet of masons and the group of college students has intensified, and he even fought in the school's bowling alley. It can be seen that even though the US economy entered a period of "stagflation" in the late 1970s, there were even bowling alleys on college campuses, and the main lives of students were fun, love, and sports, and they were very relaxed. However, because the family of the four masons is relatively low-level, they are not appreciated, their social status is not high, and the quality of life is different. The gap between the rich and the poor is quite obvious.
Regarding the growth trajectory of the characters, two things are more critical. One is that Mike, the leader of the stonemason quartet, completely lost in the quarry swimming competition. He changed from being unconvinced to admitting failure. At this time, the protagonist Dave was addicted to love. There is no fighting spirit. The other is that Dave participated in a bicycle race. The admired Italian team stumbled and fell on his back. In addition to his body and soul, he was injured. This incident caused Dave to change. He re-examined his previous self. After talking with his father, the transformation is completed. After the transformation, Dave also drove three friends in the final game, and finally won smoothly.
Whether it is a father who is cold outside or a gentle mother, the setting of a tall, short, sturdy and thin group of four may be a monotonous and typical character setting today. Of course, the advantage of doing this is to make it easier for everyone to substitute. After all, everyone can always find the shadow of the characters in their lives in these typical roles.
In the second half of the movie, Dave’s father’s persuasion to his son showed a very typical American theme, that is, through struggle and hard work to achieve self-worth affirmation and class promotion. This may make people feel a little bit today. Simple and straightforward, but in the United States, where the economy was stagnant at the time, what it needed was to constantly surpass itself and bid farewell to the power of yesterday. Sports and youth movies are the best carriers for this theme. Just like Rocky and other movies of the same period, they are also successful in struggle and experience, but in the end they all have a famous film history. In that era, these were the best themes of movies.
But in fact, what the American Dream promotes and hopes is still tempting enough to this day. I will still be full of enthusiasm for the simplest struggle and tears for the simplest feelings.
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