When clothes are no longer just clothes, but symbols that symbolize status and status, and become objects that satisfy vanity and superiority, it means that people are thoroughly fused with this era of constant labeling and constant symbolization. Together. In this capital era of labor alienation, work is not only to support the family, it also plays a role in dividing people into different ranks. The so-called chicken soup slogan that everyone is equal is so rampant that there is no distinction between high and low jobs. It is precisely because the three-six-nine class is the normal state of society and the consensus of mankind.
In the film, the male protagonist, as the gatekeeper of a high-end hotel, has a clean and orthodox uniform that not only shows his work, but also symbolizes his identity and social status. Although in the eyes of ordinary passers-by, he is nothing more than a gatekeeper, but in his living environment and in the community at the bottom of the society where he lives, his work and uniform are enough to win him admiration and respect. Murnau likes to use a large number of moving lenses, which are rare in silent films. Compared with fixed lenses, moving lenses can better mobilize the emotions of the audience. The lens follows the movement of the character and the movement of the gaze. The ability to create more suspense and the function of supplementing the plot is fully demonstrated in the passage where the male protagonist sneaks into the hotel to steal the uniform late at night. When the male protagonist stole the uniform and left quietly, the camera moved to the front desk of the hotel in the direction of the male protagonist’s line of sight. The security guards and the receptionist were asleep one by one. This set of moving cameras created suspense at the same time. Explained the plot. Due to his old age, the male protagonist who was demoted to be a toilet cleaner still wore a stolen uniform and came out from home proudly, enjoying the respect of everyone. Then he secretly took off his uniform and stored it at the train station in a place where there was no one, and finally went to work in a hotel toilet in embarrassment. The vanity that people depend on for survival and the social symbols behind work and work affect and permeate people’s spirit in this paragraph. Undoubtedly revealed. Finally, after he was discovered the truth, he still wore his uniform and went home quietly. He looked like he was sloppy in the exam when he was a child, and he didn't dare to go home after the parent meeting... Being caught by one's own successor. But he did not report the report. Everyone came from the bottom of the society. This is also an important factor in understanding each other. So the gatekeeper just comforted him, calmed him, and let him know that it was nothing. This passage of returning uniforms reminds me of the plot in "Four Hundred Strikes" where Antoine returned the typewriter and was caught, but Munau was a softer one. At the end of the film, the male protagonist becomes a rich man and entertains the successor gatekeeper who once caught himself secretly returning his uniform in the hotel. Such an ending is obviously Mornau spreading goodwill, just as Mornau asked the couple to greet the sunrise in a kiss at the end in "Sunrise".
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