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The assassination of Kennedy was a historical event, so what happened to the assassination of Nixon? In fact, the three words "Nixon" are just a gimmick in the movie "Assassination of Nixon" and have nothing to do with politics. The name Nixon can be replaced.
As a political event, Kennedy is irreplaceable. And Nixon's gimmick is to express the contrast and foreshadowing of those little people.
In "Assassination of Nixon," people can't find something familiar. That's because they focused on the action of "Assassination" to find some similarity, but the results are not the same. The two incidents only contain two possibilities, one is the success of the assassination and the other is the failure of the assassination. And it was this failure that brought out the familiar part-the death of the salesman.
The same and different
This familiarity comes from Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman", which premiered in 1949 and was adapted into a movie of the same name in 1966. Through the failure of two generations, the story denies the myth that everyone can succeed.
It is also about the death of a salesman. The character Samuel Baker in this film has been integrated into the new American social life, mainly combined with Nixon’s policies and the American social environment he brought, so as to reflect Baker is out of place in it.
Miller’s salesman Willie, after seeing his dilemma, wanted to trust his next generation, and this generation still repeats his failures, so he chose to crash and die. He felt that this would not hurt him. other people.
But Baker in "Assassination of Nixon" chose not easy and simple death: hijacking the plane and crashing into the White House. He wanted to achieve great "success" at the last minute.
Although it is a different story, "Assassination of Nixon" still inherited the theme of "the loser has no right to live" in Miller's story. The complete failure left people like Baker with no better choice.
The Baker in the film was desperate and began to gradually split into desperate and desperate avengers.
From the subject of the assassination of big figures, it is also reminiscent of the movie "Taxi Driver" by Martin Sicoses. Of course, the most obvious difference is the result. Travis played by De Niro not only succeeded in the assassination, but also gave him a heroic taste.
But Baker's assassination wounded the innocent and was not sympathetic. So Baker’s tragedy is that he, who should have been sympathized by people, has not received sympathy from anyone because of the last resort of violence.
"It's all for money"
People's downfall is often related to money. In real life, money generally refers to income. Baker is such a low-paid salesman. He always appears clumsy in front of this job.
While he wanted to satisfy his boss, he still had the panic of knowing the lowest price on his face. This is typical, with a little humble and a little kind person.
Two scenes of Baker's promotion are shown in the film:
For the first time , shortly after the beginning of the film, it was the first time to show the state of Baker as a salesman. He always tries his best to sell the product, and in the face of high prices, customers naturally hope to be able to offer discounts. When Baker was about to lose a customer, the boss came forward and tried to keep the customer. In front of the boss, Baker was not a qualified salesman;
For the second time , a customer who bought a table did not want to hear Baker's comments on the product, but only wanted to know the best price. In desperation, Baker offered the best price. The boss reappeared and accused Baker of offering too low a price. But when the table was sold, the boss smiled and held Baker's hand. It turned out that the accusation just now was a test and made Baker a false alarm.
But every day's work will not always go so smoothly, Baker once fell into the reality of no performance. In order to get rid of this mediocre life, he thought of being his own boss and controlling his own business, but he still didn't have the courage to push away his current job. One of the most important reasons is that the loan has to wait eight to ten weeks before it can be implemented. It is impossible for him to resign without any news, which may bring complete unemployment. He knew the price in his heart. In addition to working hard, all he has to face is a long wait.
The nervousness in selling products has become desperate because of inner anxiety, no more principles, and less reservedness in the past. When the person handling the loan said to him: "Patience is a virtue," Baker would tell himself in his heart that patience cannot be a meal.
"It's all for money." When Baker yelled at Nixon on the TV, he was not far from an adventurous life. Baker, who resigned to the boss, seemed right and confident, but the boss’s answer was still indifferent and hurt: Give you ten minutes to clean up your table.
The dilemma of not earning money, or the pressure of money, is gradually amplified until life falls into a trough, even broken and desperate, Baker gradually became a representative of this kind of people, and even eventually became a victim.
"You can't use your rights to support your family"
It is reasonable for a man who cannot make money to be abandoned by his wife and family. Baker's life was so broken.
In addition to financial deficiencies, Baker’s family is also crippled. Another real state in his life is loneliness. Work will also lack motivation and warmth.
Baker always wanted to recall his wife Mary's feelings towards him, but Mary showed indifference and boredom. What made Baker quite shocked was that Mary took the child and was drove home by another man, and that man was no stranger to him.
The despair in front of emotions is like the hopelessness when he waits for a loan. When he is tortured to the end, he must show the anger he deserves. For example, he will not hesitate to pour wine on the face of the man who is indecent to Mary. .
In the film, what happens in parallel with Baker's merchandise promotion is that he keeps going to Mary's house or working bar, constantly trying to re-enter her life, but just like the situation in the workplace, he has tried and failed repeatedly.
Although he will pass the meager salary to Mary, this way of expression will not make any changes to his wife, and eventually their relationship will break down.
In addition to love, there is friendship. The friend who often appears in the film is a black Bonnie who repairs cars. If Baker wants to develop his own tire business, he can't do without Bonnie's support, which is also the only support. And this friend is the key person who compares Baker's various flaws.
Bonnie is very realistic and works hard. For him, making money is the last word. Baker once said to Bonnie: "A man shouldn't give up his rights for his job." Bonnie's response hit Baker's wound: "Can you use your rights to raise your children?" Baker was speechless.
Power appears weak in the face of money. He would hug Bonnie's child tightly with a sad expression on his face. He will never forget that when he asked Bonnie’s son what would happen to him if his father left him, the child said that there would never be such a possibility.
Everything was painful enough, bad enough, but many things happened to this poor salesman again and again. Baker, who did not wait for the loan, was waiting for the divorce agreement.
This is nothing. Baker, who was anxious about not waiting for the loan, harmed his brother's interests by illegal means. After a series of attacks, Baker ushered in the opposition of his brothers. People in society have lost their due chains and various interpersonal relationships. Baker is not only abandoned by the family, but gradually abandoned by the society, becoming a complete lonely family.
"You are the bad guy"
Nixon’s speeches on TV appear repeatedly in the film, as if they were encouraging the people, as if they were doing self-promotion, and of course there was self-defense.
In the beginning, Baker lived under the encouragement of Nixon's words, such as "You have motivation inside to succeed." Words like this have always influenced Baker's thinking. As Baker's state went from bad to worse, Nixon's shots in the film became more and more. In addition to yelling at Nixon on the TV, Baker would curse at Nixon on the TV when he returned home: "You are the bad guy."
What made Baker change his attitude towards Nixon? Life gives the best answer. In his eyes, Nixon has always been a character in the image, and he cannot solve his own dilemma. He can't feel the existence of Nixon, or he can't find the meaning of Nixon's existence.
When life began to change dramatically, Baker felt a sudden realization. He finally knew the reason for his failure and found the target of revenge until the final action. In life, Nixon's appearance on television is also a repeated reminder to Baker, allowing Nixon's image to penetrate into his mind, and at a certain time, he searched for a close connection with Nixon.
This is not the hysteria of a desperate person. For Baker, he felt that everything he had had a direct relationship with Nixon, and it was Nixon's policies that had ruined his life.
In a conversation with his brother crying, he said that Nixon had a tendency to racial discrimination, which prevented him from obtaining loans because his partner was black. From this point of view, Baker still somewhat preserved justice and some unconscious resistance.
Baker once encouraged his black collaborators to use zebras as a metaphor for their union. He believed that some people should have dual identities like zebras. Baker already believes that this society and the entire system are cancerous.
Regardless of whether there is sufficient reason to hate Nixon, he is ready to resist, and he believes that someone must resist this unfair system. In any case, Baker's "resistance" is actually a path to self-destruction.
"Nixon is a great salesman"
Interestingly, it was his boss who first let Baker know Nixon. The boss believed that Nixon was able to win the position of president because Nixon himself was a great salesman and he successfully sold himself to the American people . The boss’s metaphor is subtle and ironic. He said that Nixon was “great” because he promised to end the Vietnam War, but it didn’t come true. As a “salesman”, it can be said that he did not deliver the goods. Although deception is involved here, it is very successful for salesmen.
When it comes to success, Baker’s boss recommended Carnegie’s books, including audio recordings and other success-related books. Baker was eager to succeed, so he looked for the secret of success in it. And his miserable life let him know that books are not a panacea.
The story of this film took place in 1974, which was the most politically sensitive year. Nixon resigned on August 8 of this year because of the famous "Watergate Incident."
Nixon, who repeatedly defended himself on TV, gradually aroused people's suspicion and made people like Baker a huge hatred. Here is a very interesting comparison.
According to Baker’s boss, Nixon, as a "salesman," finally chose to resign, and was the first president in American history to resign. Like Baker, Nixon chose to resign when he could not continue.
There are many people who choose not to return, but Baker’s path is to hijack the plane and crash the plane into the White House, so that history will remember his existence. It can be said that this is a path for the mentally ill. From a scientific point of view, everyone is somewhat insane, but to a different degree.
From Baker's point of view, whether an outbreak of neurosis depends on how much despair he has experienced. After all, Baker is a salesman, not a killer. He took up a gun for the first time and still didn't dare to kill. He tried to kill his boss, but he didn't have the guts. So the first life he shot and killed was his own dog.
Sean Penn’s performance at the airport is the highlight of the film. He put Samuel Baker in a state of mental stress, or in other words, under a morbid state, with extremely vivid, creative expressions and physical movements, adding to the film. few. He saw the police and blocked his sight with a newspaper. Obviously, he had regarded himself as a criminal.
Accompanied by piano background music, Baker looked at everything around him dazedly, then raised his head, facing the ceiling, and closed his eyes tightly.
Next, he broke into the plane that was about to take off like a madman, and began to fall into the most stressful state of his life, and it was the last time he was nervous. Baker, in a trance, killed one of the pilots. While persecuting the kidnapped, he was shot dead on the spot by the police outside the cabin. After struggling for a while, Baker committed suicide.
Neither Bonnie nor Mary responded to the Baker incident during the TV broadcast. Baker has always been insignificant in their hearts. At the last moments of his life, Baker sold himself to the entire confused world forever. Therefore, at the last moment of his life, he is still an out-and-out salesman.
This article was originally published in the August 2007 issue of "Watching Movies | Midnight Show" (total 343 issues), revised on July 29, 2015, and fine-tuned on April 25, 2020.
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