Find the true self

Alan 2022-01-18 08:02:05

In the first feminist video interpretation class, the teacher warned many girls on the stage: "If you are yearning for romantic love, then please don't take my class, because I will inevitably destroy your fantasy. "Midnight Gatekeeper" undoubtedly belongs to this kind of "destructive" film. It looks at the nature of a woman and her true desires in her heart, leaving you with no way to hide.
The film's heroine Lucia debuted. She walked into the hotel in a noble long dress holding her husband's hand, and her expression was smooth and cold. This is a lady who obviously belongs to the upper class. But when she looked up and saw the male protagonist Max dressed as a waiter in the hall, this mask was quickly shattered, and the hidden undercurrents buried deep in her heart were turbulent again, and her original peaceful life ended.
It turns out that the night manager Max in the hotel turned out to be a Nazi officer during World War II, and she was the Jewish girl he had spoiled as "my little girl" at that time. This love was incomprehensible at first. Max used his position to track her skinny carcass with a camera, and used a gun to force her to run away in the bathroom. He severely tied her to the bedpost to torture her, but the next day he kissed the marks with a sacred expression; he gently put on her a pink dress, and the next second he pressed her head to force her to act Oral sex by yourself. Max used his dark hands to unearth Luzia's inner desire to be abused, and irrigated it with tenderness, finally allowing this sadomasochistic flower to bloom in the gloomy concentration camp.
What impressed me the most was the show where Lucia danced: the handsome Max, along with other officers, watched with a sense of accomplishment at her topless under his training, singing in a low, hoarse voice while dancing. The enchanting dance finally gave her a gift with a joyful expression-the head of the jailer who often bullied her. This inspiration comes from the story of Salome in the Bible-a story that symbolizes salvation and eros. Max told Lucia in this way: My salvation for you is not only to let you survive in the concentration camp, but also to dig out your true desires in your heart and let you see who you really are.
But how many women can really dare to face this true self. The teacher in class concluded that this film sharply showed a secret world in a woman's heart that is almost inaccessible by male thinking, but this world is beyond the reach of men, and even women themselves hate it to stay away. This kind of "sexual freedom" is not accepted and recognized by the patriarchal society, and does not belong to the ideology of the mainstream society, but Lucia in the film still loves bravely and desperately. She would rather be locked in a house and live a dark day. In life, I don’t want to wear a false mask and live an empty and loving life of the upper class.
Most women can't do Lucia's recklessness. So in this patriarchal society, they accept the fate of being objectified and divided, indulging the growth of the objectified self, and ignoring the cry of the true self. But what is even more frightening is that this kind of compulsive division of women is silently endured even by the female ego, and even taken for granted.
From this perspective, the theme of the movie is not just sadomasochism, but a journey of women bravely searching for their sexual self. In the eyes of everyone, Lucia's escape from normal life is precisely where she belongs to her correct self. Perhaps on the surface, she is still in a tortured and inferior position, but she has found the initiative for herself. In the bathroom scene in the film, she smashed the bottle and covered it with glass slag. Max pushed the door and stepped on it. She finally won the right to abuse, and then she touched Max's injured. He stepped on his foot severely, and the two looked at each other, and then smiled relievedly. This scene seems horrible and absurd, but it represents that the two have finally obtained the substantial development of the relationship through mutual abuse. Lucia is no longer a simple abuser, she can also resist and even change her identity.
Some people may say that in this film, Lucia's resistance is only a sexual self imposed by society, she just gains sexual subjectivity. It is compliant with the position of absence, silence, and marginalization that society has placed. From this perspective, the feminist revolutionary significance of the film is not strong. But I think that the liberation of sex is really crucial for women. The secondary status of women is the result of natural selection from the beginning. The physical difference between men and women determines the secondary status of women. In terms of sex, we are always accustomed to women being passively conquered objects, so the initiative is handed over. Only by first awakening sexually and physically can the social status of women as a whole be changed.
Find your true self and don't get lost in the original rules imposed by society. Only in this way is the real way of salvation.

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Extended Reading

The Night Porter quotes

  • Countess Stein: I want to help you. What can I do?

    Max: Send me a box of chocolates.

  • Max: My little girl - you, you remember my little girl, don't you? My little girl is waiting for me. Bye.