Why do people fear death? Shelley Kagan, professor of philosophy at Yale University, explained in the public class "Death": because people are afraid of uncertain things that have bad consequences. The seemingly warm "Golden Pond" describes this state.
There is a detail at the beginning of the film: At dusk, the Normans returned to the Golden Pond, Ethel was busy cleaning up inside and outside the house, Norman took off his hat, touched the familiar window lattice, dialed the phone and the operator was amused-he had to declare They are back. Suddenly, on a newspaper next to a fishing rod, a photo stung him. It was Professor Norman who was interviewed in his middle age. At that time, he had thick hair and full of energy. Norman looked at him and looked up again. Looking in the mirror, Norman, who is about to be born in his 80s, now has sparse and gray hair and spots on his face. Norman put on his hat silently.
Let us imagine how the Normans lived before they came to the Golden Pond: After years of retirement, the fast-paced urban life that was familiar to them before, became unwell and even a little irritable in Professor Norman's place. Although Westerners don't ask their children and grandchildren to go around their knees, it is true that they are depressed and lonely. The wife Ethel, who represents the director's perspective, coaxed Norman like a kid, obviously not a day or two.
Solitude in the old age has been the theme of many documentaries in recent years. There is a German documentary called "Golden Autumn, Race Against Time", which tells the twilight days of a group of elderly people. They practiced high jump at the age of 82, played shot put at the age of 85, and worked as a female discus thrower at the age of 94. Everyone’s life is like rushing to a game. The competition made people burst into tears. Another German documentary, "The Song of Life", tells about a group of 70-80-year-olds in a nursing home in Cologne, Germany. Under the guidance of a composer, they rehearsed a highly creative combination of vocals, instrumental music and performance. musical. All the uncompetitive ideals when they were young, the wounds left by war, the loneliness of their loved ones, and the music gave them the clearest light with the power of compassion. The director led more audiences to face it: even the most ordinary retired elderly, There is also extraordinary musical creativity.
And a documentary called "Love Never Ends", about a beautiful small town in Romania, with a group of cheerful and open old people. The director interviews the beautiful memories of sex in their lives. The old people talk about it, and there is no evasiveness— —Simple farm work, brilliant sunshine, pastoral and dance music, in life, I don't know what aging is.
University professor Norman, more like the Spanish writer Edwin Houneshi who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease in the documentary "Separate Prosperity", even if he could not remember the words a minute ago, he still stubbornly teased everyone. Perceptual people are used to beautifying their memories, chewing constantly, resisting loneliness, but all this is falling in front of the sharp poet.
The song "Go Home and See" probably covers the basic content and demands of the life of the elderly in China. How stubborn we are to think that our parents need someone to accompany us, even only in this way can we count as filial piety. Of course, the concept of the Orientals is also gradually changing. In Japan, there is a particularly long-lived national drama "Cold and Warm in the World". It uses a lot of space to describe after retirement, in the Japanese society where the elderly are not obliged to bring their grandchildren and almost reached a consensus. How to live life is interesting.
How to face old age? We have become accustomed to treating the elderly as a vulnerable group, and loving them means protecting them and accompanying them. In this sense, "Golden Pond" is a film about communication. Communication is an effective exchange of emotions and opinions on the basis of respect-whether I agree with you or not, I love you, but I will not blindly identify with you just because I love you.
Ethel asked Norman to repair the door, pick strawberries, let him listen to the loons in the forest, set a boat to take him to the town to buy things, arrange for him to do what he could, and let him socialize with old friends. Regarding the romance of the elderly, this movie gives the best interpretation: a large part of romance comes from memory. In the days that you have walked together, all the details you were excited about will meet again after many years. This understanding and understanding , Like a grip of two hearts, surpassing any sparkle of hormonal encounters.
The arrival of daughter Chelsea, prospective son-in-law, and prospective grandson Billy brought decades of separation and grievances between father and daughter, breaking the excitement of the elderly at first coming to their old home, and Norman was also forced to accept that more people were aging towards him. The scrutiny. For a long time, there have been audiences who think that the contradiction between father and daughter is slightly abrupt in the whole plot, but Billy and Norman coexist quickly and harmoniously, which may give us more guesses: because there is a sister on it, before Chelsea arrives, No. Man hopes to get a boy, so he can teach the boy more skills and do more adventures with him. He later put Chelsea's strict requirements beyond ordinary girls, probably because of this.
Therefore, the most romantic scene in the whole film is on the blue-blue lake. Norman and Billy are fishing while Ethel is reading while wearing a parasol. This is the perfect family happiness in Norman's heart. At that moment, he The sensitive heart becomes extra gentle and soft.
Ethel interprets the textbook version of the old companion in a nearly motherly way, including allowing Norman to take Billy to the reef to fish for the salmon named Walter. With such adventurous behavior, Ethel just stays alone. With your eyes closed, how would you choose between the safety of your lover and your wish? How do you love? What's more, his wife is 80 years old?
So Kagan would ask students: Is death really a bad thing? Assuming that the quality of life is a relatively constant number, at a certain point in the second half of life, the quality is likely to drop below zero-people suffer because of poor quality of life. The utopian "Golden Pond" is appealing in the most romantic way: "For love, let us live with quality".
Of course, this is difficult.
As Kagan said, most people don't believe that they will die. "Death and life are day and night", Zhuangzi's theory of circulation is certainly transcendent, but who makes people have flesh? After the father-daughter knot was untied, Professor Norman, who was able to sail and fish, had a heart attack after moving a box. One day, we have to face the fact that the body will eventually stop working, either at this moment or at the next moment.
The scene of Norman falling to the ground and stroking his heart is also the most philosophical moment in "Golden Pond". Death is a random game of God throwing dice, and we can't take any precautions.
When you first learned the fact that people are going to die, do you especially want to scream? Even after that, every time I think about it, I want to scream every time? In Tolstoy's novella "The Death of Ivan Ilyich", Ilyich was injured. His injuries went from bad to worse and eventually died. When he discovered that he was mortal, Ilyich was shocked and his illness worsened. At a certain level, Ilyich began to scream and continued to scream until he died. Most people, like Ilyich, know that they are going to die, but most of the time they are unwilling to believe this fact, until he really gets sick and faces death, shock and accident completely overwhelm him. Kagan said: "This is really confusing, how can a person believe and not believe that he is mortal at the same time?"
Of course, you can have children and let your life continue on them. Eastern thinking, As long as there is no end, it means that life is not over. If you have no children, please believe in the theory of indestructibility of matter. Think about your body after death is still a bunch of molecules and atoms, which are always circulated and reused in the universe.
Most people are happy to accept sample incentives. Henry Fonda and Catherine Hepburn, the actors of the Normans in the movie, were already late when they were filmed. It is said that Henry Fonda was seriously ill at the time and took a pacemaker to complete the film, and finally became superb. His acting skills and deep affection for the art of film made him ascended to the throne of the Oscar winners as he wished.
In the film, the brown hat worn by Henry Fonda was given to him by Catherine Hepburn on the first day of filming. In order to express his gratitude, Fonda personally painted a watercolor of the three hats he wore in the film. Give back to Hepburn. During the filming process, Henry Fonda even created 200 lithographs of oil paintings, which were given to the staff involved in the film, and each person's name was signed as a tribute. A few months later, Henry Fonda went to heaven.
Catherine Hepburn, just like Ithel in the movie, simple and contradictory, sun-like cheerful, always high forehead, with various driving skills, love to fly a plane when she was young, and still riding a skateboard in her 50s or 60s. The vitality that Yu ordinary people can't envy when playing Shenlong's tail is obviously too much for her to have too much energy to use.
Catherine has won four Oscar statuettes in her life, but she accepts the awards based on her mood. Spencer Qusay, her lover who had been with her for half his life, because Catholics could not divorce, Catherine lived with him for more than 30 years without counting until he died in her arms. With Catherine's philanthropic, selfless and maverick pride, marriage is inverted, and perhaps it is another kind of purity that ordinary actors cannot reach.
After Qu Sai died, Catherine lived a lonely life. Until "Golden Pond", I saw her soaring, with compassion and tolerance in her smile. Time has given her peace, but her style of behavior has not changed the slightest. In the cool evening breeze, Ethel stood on the lawn looking at the relieved Professor Norman, with a knowing smile at the corner of his mouth, that belonged to Catherine’s tolerance, confidence, and grace. Every time he raised his head, he stood up Somewhere high.
"We live together, but we will all die alone." No one can grow old and die instead of another. Fighting against death and loneliness are both in vain. The only thing we can do is to live more quality-calm and shiny like a golden pond.
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