Although Mistress America is 3 years earlier than Lady Bird in the release time , it is not difficult for those who have watched these two films to find that the two are in the same line. Lady Bird ended with Christine leaving her hometown to go to college in New York. Mistress America took over the ending, starting with the alien girl Tracy becoming a freshman at a university in New York.
So, Miss Bird, who is far from home and living independently in a big city, has realized her literary dream and has led a wonderful life in fashion magazines or literary novels?
Mistress America has a very exciting title, which uses a montage to show the embarrassment of Tracy in her new life. Aggressive roommates, new classmates who have forgotten their names, eagerly wanted to go to the welcome party social but were ridiculed. Academic progress is not smooth. The hard-working homework only got mediocre grades, so there is less and less motivation to study. After studying my favorite literature major, the courses are all boring, and I have to endure self-righteous speeches from ignorant classmates. There is no sense of existence, no sense of accomplishment, college life is like a noisy party, and Tracy feels alienated even though he is in it.
The turning point started with Tracy's rumored romance. She and her male classmates who were also "returned" by the literary club read each other's novels and exchanged opinions. This ambiguity, which is almost a soul mate, lit up Tracy's bleak college life. She has become enthusiastic and active, and has never been so engaged and enjoying her time on campus. It's a pity that the good times didn't last long. The male classmate empathized and fell in love again. Her life and mental state fell to the bottom again.
From the first part of the film, it is not difficult to find that the first big difficulty Tracy faced after going to university was how to establish his new life in a new city, in other words, learn to be independent. "Independence" does not only refer to "self-care" . It is as simple as learning to wash clothes and change bed covers, but refers to the ability to live alone, including whether to establish new relationships and establish new emotions in a new environment. The support system, whether it can find its own spiritual support, and whether it can create meaning for one's own life. The film has repeatedly hinted that Tracy is a well-protected child by the family, and that her emotionally discordant parents struggled to divorce her until she was an adult, and she couldn't distinguish the types of pasta in the supermarket. And New York is like a vast ocean. Tracy is struggling in the water. If she learns to swim, she can explore the beauty of it; if she can't learn to swim, she will be overwhelmed by loneliness and loneliness.
So Tracy started the third "New York New Life Project" —getting to know Brook, who is about to become her "step-sister" . Brook (played by Greta Gerwig)'s father is about to marry Tracy's mother. She is nearly 30 years old and enjoys a prosperous life in New York. Her appearance is quite symbolic: from the bright red staircase on the TKTS ticket booth in the center of Times Square, she wears a white coat and black trousers, with delicate makeup on her face, shouting warmly and affectionately. With Tracy: "Welcome to the star-lit Broadway!" With a confident look, open arms, and heroic pace, she seemed to have contracted the entire Times Square, opening the door as a hostess. (She does live in Times Square, a very ostentatious address.) As a big sister, she brought her inexperienced little sister Tracy through a typical New York art night: watching a live house, going to a bar, and a party until midnight. Later, Tracy described Brook like this:
"Being with her is like being in New York City. She makes you want to find your life, not escape."
In Brook, Tracy has found the passion for life. She likes to stay with Brook, and she likes to know New York through her eyes. Brook's lively and dramatic life stimulated Tracy's creation. She memorized Brook's golden sentences and used them in the novel to write vivid characters that she had never seen before. She enjoys the inspiration that is gushing out, and takes the initiative to get involved in Brook's life, encouraging the latter to go in the direction of off-line step by step. Brook dreams of opening a unique restaurant in New York, where every customer can feel the warmth of home. When she was about to open, she encountered the withdrawal of her current boyfriend's capital. Under the instigation of Tracy, she decided to travel a long distance to Connecticut and asked her ex-boyfriend who had not been contacted for many years to ask for money. Tracy calculated that this farce would be an excellent creative material.
After encountering the rejection of the manuscript by the literary agency, Tracy had doubts about his creative ability. Brook's appearance stimulated her desire to write, and once regained her confidence, she mistakenly thought she was a creative person. But in fact, Brook is truly creative. She has used her dreams, energy, and ambition to weave her crazy and charming New Yorker life. She is not attached to anyone, ignores the eyes of others, is assertive, creative, unwilling to admit defeat, nor afraid of failure, full of curiosity and adventurous spirit. She finds the motivation for life and goes all out for it. She is a true romantic, independent and wonderful. Her enthusiasm for life was misused by Tracy as writing material, cynicism and sarcasm. But this kind of enthusiasm is the energy that supports Tracy to live vigorously in his hometown. Tracy felt that Brook didn't realize that his doomed temperament was pitiful, and Brook ironed that Tracy needed to rely on others to live a life that was even more pitiful.
Throughout Tracy's three attempts at the "New York New Life Project", she has clearly put the meaning of life on others in the last two times. When there is love to talk about, life is full of fun; when there are new friends to play with, life is full of vitality. When she got her wish to join the school's most famous literary club, she was still unhappy. She went to ask a psychic, and the other party told her that you need to find your inner home-inward, not outward, to find the enthusiasm and energy of life. So for the first time, she did the only creative and vital thing in this period of time-to quit the old literature club, which had a big reputation but leftward ideas, and founded her own new literature club. She is no longer entangled in gregariousness, nor does she rely on others, she decides to influence others with her own power. She went from asking for to giving.
At the end of the movie, she reconciled with Brook and learned to appreciate the most fascinating part of Brook, not the seemingly slapstick life, but the courage to never be defeated by life and the enthusiasm and belief that will never be extinguished. Others are matches, and she is a campfire. Romantics burn themselves to become spiritual idols of others.
May Tracy, may we, be able to harvest, be able to give; be self-reliant, self-sufficient, and finally free.
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