Originally published in the personal public account: a mountain monster (or search: herringcat)
1/15/2019 updated
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Update 5/9:
Much of the information in this article comes from the Internet. I have no obligation to translate. My obligation is to state my views. Therefore, there are many parts of English in this article. If you cannot read English or are not used to reading English, please do not continue reading and just turn it off. Don't tell me after reading it, why don't you write Chinese.
If you have read the "Green Book", then you must be impressed by Donald Shirley's various small requirements. Including he has extremely high requirements on how to choose Tony Lip's name-voice intonation, short and easy to remember (intonation, reflection, and your choice of words.).
(Tony’s real name is Frank Vallelonga, Vallelonga is his birthplace, later known as Tony Lip, Tony took his middle name, and Lip because he liked to talk since he was a child)
In fact, when you watch his various interviews, you will find that Mr. Shirley is far more serious than the character of the movie . He is very cautious in using words and is really cute. His self-control is very strong, he advocates rules and discipline, and has his own rules for all kinds of things. If you don't like it, you don't like it, and if you don't like it, you don't like it. It can be described as the due diligence standard in accounting auditing. (I actually remember that I was an Accounting student lol
Moreover, his requirements for words are really extremely strict. In his interviews, he can often find his aversion to adjectives that are misplaced on himself:
-About Trio
He played with bassist Ken Fricker and cellist Juri Taht for 26 years. They are always called " Trio " in the movie , and there is even a line that emphasizes Trio.
But in 1982, Shirley, who was interviewed by The New York Times, emphasized, "The three of us are not Trio." "Basically," Shirley said, "I compose for the bassist in the cello group and the cellist in the viola group. Mine is. The composition covers tenor, alto and soprano and is a complete range. So we really are not a trio. That’s why I can’t stand the word Trio. We are not a trio. The three of us are trying to become one."
-About Jazz
In the end of the film, Shirley and Tony gave up playing in a high-end restaurant on Christmas Eve. Instead, they went to a black club and collaborated with the guys in the store for a song (Jazz), truly accepting their black identity. This is the highlight moment of the movie.
However, in an interview between Shirley and Noal Cohen in 1998, he tried to distinguish himself from Jazz-" I don't know anything about Jazz ." He even said " I hate the word jazz ".
Shirley explains it this way- " First, because the whole damn country uses it as a noun . It is not a noun. This is an adjective ("I hate the word jazz, number one because the whole damn country uses it as a noun . It's not a noun. It's an adjective. "Hahahahahaha too vividly forgive me for laughing for 3 seconds"
"It is a mistake to label a certain kind of music inappropriately and then make people believe it." Shirley played in residence at the Night Club in Basin Street, New York in the 1950s (many jazz legends who later became known as New Orleans) The characters have all been here during the same period, some of them are Shirley's friends), and have some rights in the Tartan Club (where he introduced the first piano listening room in New York). Since then, he has been branded as a Jazz musician.
In the last performance of the movie, there is a detail before Shirley plays the piano- he put down the glass of whiskey on the side of the piano. This is his respect for his identity. He once said: "Jazz musicians are also degrading themselves. Piano players smoke while playing, they will put a glass of whiskey on the piano, if they do not get the same respect as Arthur Rubinstein (Polish-American classical pianist) He lost his temper. But Arthur Rubinstein would never do it while playing. (This interview was included in the line where Tony and Shirley talked about music for the first time)
"From this incident, you can see this social system and the reason why the whole society is determined to make me jazz. If he knows how to play jazz, you will think that there is a chance to be called a jazz pianist. The second reason is that I am called a jazz pianist. I am a jazz because I am black. As a result, everything I have been training to this day has been frustrated by this stupid racism."
(And as a result, everything I trained for all my life until today has been thwarted because of this stupid racism.)
-About Don Shirley
Shirley designed the cover of his first album. On the cover, the gilded words read Tonal Expressions "Donald Shirley", but for some reason the record company (maybe "to save printing money"), on the cover of the album's back The design signature only wrote "Don Shirley". Then, the second album came out—and then, all the other twenty albums after that only appeared "Don Shirley".
"And I hate it, I hate it today."
And I hated it and I hate it today.
Yeah, and he might have hated the name after he died.
Because his Wiki entry name is still "Don Shirley", and the New York Times added in an obituary written for him in 2013: "It was Archie Bleyer, the founder of Cadence Records, who insisted that people call Shirley "Don". this informality title has been lingering in his entire career, boring to remind him that he can not be the kind of concert performer had always wanted to be in. "
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Based on True Story?
Emmmm...
Shirley in the movie has been trying to reconcile his two identities-a musician (Musician) and a black entertainer (Entertainer) who plays for white people.
He was invited to study music under Mittolovski at the Leningrad Conservatory of Music in St. Petersburg, Russia . He was 9 years old that year. In 1945, at the age of 17, he graduated from Russia with a doctorate and returned to the United States. " I didn't know when I was a black." This was the first time he felt the difference in his skin color and was forced to accept that he was a "Black" people.
Because of racial discrimination, Shirley has been upholding the spirit and consciousness of Musician, and then entertainer's work. Living under the rules, even if it is unreasonable, he still uses strong self-control to protest in a reasonable way, hoping to change people's views on racial discrimination. After he went to prison, he asked to call a lawyer. After being asked to get off the car and verbally insulted by the police, he remained calm, and still calmly abide by this stupid rule even after the organizer refused to use the non-colored bathroom.
Although often misunderstood, he has always been very clear about his position:'' I am not an entertainer. But I'm running the risk of being considered an entertainer by going into a nightclub because that's what they have in there. I don't want anybody to know me well enough to slap me on the back and say'Hey, baby.' The black experience through music, with a sense of dignity, that's all I have ever tried to do. (as black, there Feel the music with dignity, this is what I have been working hard to do.)''
Throughout his life, he has corrected the labels that the outside world has put on him because of various prejudices.
When watching Shirley’s interviews and interviews, I always have the image of Mahershala Ali in my mind. His tone of voice, white shirt and black suit, will always look like fancy and elegant, frowning at everything that I don’t like. Relentless accusations. His performance is outstanding. Shirley in the movie, while getting along with Tony , accepts understanding, and gradually finds the overlap of his identity, including embracing family and friends.
There was a conversation in the car. Tony asked Shirley's family. Mahershala Ali in the movie said that I had a marriage and Gene is a good girl. But I cannot be both a pianist and a husband.
But in Let It Shine (documentary material that DS has not yet interviewed), you will find that his line is in context. The full answer is "I got divorced not it had nothing to do with love, had nothing do with us. It had to do with the fact that here I had an opportunity to have a career; and God knows since it is something I' d always want it trained for it all my life ; and this was just not the time to play macho you know. I didn't have the Constitution to do a husband act as well as a concert pianist, because I was dead set on being what I had been trained on my life to be .
His self-demand is too clear, and he knows the weight of his family (Although Shirley is suspected of being gay, he never came out during his lifetime). Before hiring Tony, he had some concerns about Tony being married, having children and a family background. As for the family, Shirley's understanding is that as a father and husband, he needs to be given enough company and support. However, he has performed outside for at least 19 weeks a year. .
The film emphasizes his lack of understanding of the concept of race for no reason, (probably because he grew up in Russia)-he can sit in a car and let the white driver work for him, while outside the car window is hard work under the scorching sun Southern blacks. He didn't know black pop music, despised Jazz, and didn't play with black brothers. In this way, enough drama tension of the characters is created, and enough pavement for the last highlight moment-finding oneself.
But, but, but.
The image of Shirley in those yellowed interviews makes people feel more clear-he has no doubt or vagueness about his identity, he knows who he is, what he wants to do, and why he does it.
Since its release at the film festival (November last year), the crew of "Green Book" has been involved in various controversies-Viggo, who plays Tony Lip, was accused of using "N-word" in answering reporters' questions at the film festival; Shirley’s family stood up for the boycott movie, saying that the crew was based entirely on the script based on the story told by Tony Lip as an employee to his son, and did not respect the position of Shirley’s family at all. True; just recently, the screenwriter was asked to apologize publicly for his anti-Muslim remarks...
Among the awards declared in the "Green Book",
The actor is Viggo, the actor of Tony Lip,
The supporting actor is Mahershala Ali, the actor of Donald Shirley.
This movie originally started from a white person's point of view.
As a story, "Green Book" is very good.
Those omitted,
Make the story "Sweet and short."
Just like the name made by Donald Shirley in the movie.
It has the happy ending after tolerance that everyone hopes to see.
but,
Maybe the reality is
As at the end of the "Black Party", which is also more controversial and based on racial issues,
The 3K torch is still burning somewhere...
The road to equal rights,
It's still very long.
View more about Green Book reviews
