Daniel said in a defensive line in the film: "My novel does not say who is evil, who is to be condemned, I just write them out." In the same way, I won't write anything about this post-view." Exposing the ugliness of human nature" evaluation. Just because I feel the director and screenwriter’s intentions, I have the urge to write something, hoping that the audience will not treat it as an ordinary movie, and it has missed a lot of meaning.
1. Inferiority complex
At the beginning of the film, Daniel was at the backstage of the Nobel Award. He was sitting alone, and a beautiful award-presenting lady stood beside him. She would keep the trophy for Daniel. On the other side stood a stout staff member, always paying attention to the instructions in the headset. The two of them knew before the whole world that the Nobel Prize winner was sitting next to them, but they looked reckless and just thought about their duties. Daniel clasped his hands tightly, his body shrank, and his feet kept shaking. His heart was tense. This kind of anxiety is in stark contrast to his rebellious speech after he came to power. He did not wear a tuxedo when he came to the stage, did not salute the king and queen, his speech was full of irony and non-cutting of the Nobel Prize, but all of this was in his plan-after his speech, the audience was both surprised and surprised. Embarrassed, there was no applause, but he calmly walked to the center of the stage, faced the audience, and stopped. He was expecting applause. After a few seconds, people slowly gave warm applause. Why did he do this? If you don't cut, why should you applaud? I think it's like "Exaggeration is just because I'm afraid" in the lyrics of Eason Chan. He knew in his heart that he was an ordinary "citizen" from the Argentine countryside, and everyone present was more prominent than him. This made him uneasy, so he wanted to use another unique way to cover up his inferiority complex and appear Be different-and this is precisely the most obvious manifestation of low self-esteem.
The film is followed by a long list of invitations for Daniel to help the idea, there are awards presentations from various Royal Colleges of Letters, and interviews with famous TV stations such as BBC. He rebuffed all of these in one fell swoop, so effortlessly, with a smile on his face from time to time—not so much disgust, but secret joy. But he still has some interest in some lecture invitations. Mencius once said: "People are troublesome, so you can be a teacher." Teaching is not so much to satisfy the students' curiosity, but to satisfy the teacher's sense of superiority brought about by the asymmetry of knowledge. For the accomplished Daniel, sharing his knowledge and ideas is his unique means of changing reality and expressing himself, so that he later eagerly wanted to return to his hometown and be different.
Therefore, when he received the invitation letter from Shanas from his hometown, he resolutely decided to cancel all the trips and go back to his hometown alone. Obviously, he was full of expectations and excited about this decision. If identity brings him a sense of inferiority, then the only place that does not make him feel inferior is his hometown. Since he left his hometown until he reached the pinnacle of the Nobel Prize, the people in his hometown have still stayed in place. The relationship between the Nobel Prize and Shanas is like the relationship between a lady and a tramp. It can be said that at the moment he decided to return home in fine clothes, he had already preset certain plots in his mind, and there must be no lack of young women's admiration. So later, when a young and sexy girl rushed into his room, he said: "I want to warn you that my age can be your father", and calmly closed the door with his hands.
For Daniel, the Nobel Prize is a battle, and returning home is time for dessert. Everyone understands this idea, so Daniel insists on not letting outsiders know about his return to his hometown.
2. The reality of
returning to the hometown in splendor is beautiful as an imagination, too beautiful, and the reality must be disappointing when it is so beautiful. Because this world is not only yours, but also mine, or his. No one wants to say to themselves: "My mission of survival is to play a supporting role for the vanity of another person (unless it is good for myself)". If a person is forced to become such a supporting role in reality, he will definitely resist, even if he does not show it, such as the residents of Shanas.
Daniel came to his hometown, and was greeted by a small broken car and an unreliable driver. The film began to slowly foreshadow the people in his hometown who actually didn't take Daniel seriously, but didn't show it. From the car broke down and no one came to look for it, waiting outside the mayor's office, to the placement of advertisements during interviews... In fact, people in hometown didn't really neglect Daniel, they were just doing what they usually do. What the director really portrays is the inner contrast of Daniel. He is very sensitive to these, but he still maintains a noble attitude-Daniel is so knowledgeable and thoughtful, how can he not tolerate a group of hillbillies?
On the night the car had a flat tire, Daniel told the driver a story. This story alludes to his next destiny. The story tells that a pair of twins, in order to distinguish each other, one has a beard and the other does not keep it. Those with beards became poor, and those without beards became rich. They have always loved the same woman. This woman married a rich man and often had a luxurious black car parked in front of their house. The poor couldn't stand it, they killed the rich, shaved their beard, pretended to be rich, and went back to live with that woman. Daniel said: "Because this woman could not recognize it, she might have recognized but she didn't dare to do anything. She lived with him for a few months. Then one day, a black car came and a person came down and mistakenly regarded the man as a man. He killed the rich man who owed them money with a'touch'."
There are several clues in this story. The first is "beard". Note that Daniel also wears a beard throughout the film, until the end of the press conference, he shaved off his beard and put on a pair of flamboyant white-framed eyes. The poor with beards imagine that the rich live a good life. This "imagination" exists in the minds of the poor. This is like the benefits that Daniel's imagined homecoming, the Nobel Prize and Shanath's collision brought him. But this imagination and the real world are two worlds of different dimensions, which cannot be merged lightly. If a person wants to do something in the real world, he must obey the laws and contingency of the real world. If you shave off your beard, you have entered the real world. It turned out that the black car came to collect debts, and the poor were eventually killed. This is reality. Daniel finally became a writer in reality, rather than a wanderer with the dream of returning home. This is also the reality-the reality that has to be accepted.
The second clue is "murder". This clue is very similar to the plot in which Daniel was shot at the end. Please note that the woman in Daniel's story "may recognize but dare not do anything." We imagine that if she recognizes that she is not her husband (this kind of opportunity should be great), but dare not expose it, then she can at least do nothing, she can not remind her fake husband-in the black car People are not here to give money, but to murder him-so that she can be free. At the end of the film, Daniel's old friend Ailian came to remind Daniel to leave Shanas, and the car broke down. Elaine asked Daniel to wait a while, and she went back and drove the truck to take him away. However, Ailian never came back. What was waiting was Ailian's husband who was going to murder him. Ailian's husband said: "Aileen says hello to you." It is conceivable that Ailian has made some efforts, but She may also have reservations. Her marriage is not beautiful. The appearance of Daniel makes it worse. Who can guarantee that Elaine will not let Daniel and her husband disappear at the same time-doing nothing may achieve this goal (Daniel Will leave, her husband will be punished by law), after all, Ailian has worked hard, no one will blame her, and there is no need to blame herself, just like the woman in the story-this is reality.
The world of ideas is always so inevitable and beautiful, and reality is a completely different world-the real world is like a pile of plasticine, everyone wants to use it to shape their own, pay attention to their own, the world of ideas. Daniel later realized this, of course, and he found that people did not praise him for his talents and achievements. On the contrary, people are taking advantage of him. Some people borrow money from him to buy a wheelchair. Some people insist on inviting him to eat. Some people want him to be a judge... Even the young woman who slept with him is not a real fan of Daniel—the book is her. Mom (that is, Ellen) bought it. She has a boyfriend who is not worthy of appreciation. She seduce Daniel only to leave Shanath—all this is not destroying the image of this woman in Daniel’s heart, but Destroy Daniel's self-esteem. The most unbearable thing for a successful inferiority person is damage to self-esteem-no matter how indirect it is. It is not so much that Daniel was sleeping with beautiful women in the beginning, it is better to say that he was sleeping with self-esteem. Now that his self-esteem is damaged, he must drive the beautiful women away.
Daniel is very eager to make this experience of his return home into the beauty in his mind. So he refuses to take a car, he likes to walk on the road, maybe because he can see Shanas from the top down, or the Shanas people can see him from the bottom up. He doesn't even mind standing in the upper reaches of the fire truck. Although he doesn't like this form, he still enjoys it.
3.
The actual experience of art ups and downs does not make an artist. The artist must be able to jump out of his own experience, ignore his own emotions at the time, ignore the good and evil of others, and re-examine his own experience with a god-like compassionate eye, so that he can turn into a work of art. So there are many families that have fallen in Chinese history, but Cao Xueqin is the only one who wrote "A Dream of Red Mansions". There is an unknown man in the film. Because the character representing his father appeared in Daniel's novel, he thought it was a kind of homage to his father, so he invited Daniel to his house for dinner. When Daniel refused, he said: "The characters I wrote are fictitious. Although they are based on your father, they have nothing to do with your father. I don't know you, and have nothing to do with you." Obviously, he has novels about himself. The separation from reality is very clear, but ironically, he does not see the separation between reality and the "fantasy novel" in his mind. The director reminded Daniel more than once in the film that ignoring reality will not work. Every time Daniel meets his old friend Ailian, the car always breaks down, which seems to be a hint. In addition, Daniel tried to chat with Ai Lin’s husband like a friend at Ai Lin’s house about the experience of a young girl taking the initiative to send it to the door (there is no lack of showing off). The result was not finished yet, and found that this young girl was Ai Lin’s. My daughter, so she had to close her mouth in time, which is also a hint (How could Ailian's husband really consider him to be a good friend?). In the car, Daniel still kissed Ellen, who was already married-he tried to get in touch with his old friend and Shanath in the way he expected.
On the other hand, Daniel is accustomed to Western ideas and advanced artistic concepts. When judging painting competitions, he firmly defended his ideas and did not hesitate to conflict with others. When the Minister of Culture suggested that the identity of a certain contestant was the daughter of an accountant, and a certain work depicts the Pope, so it should be shortlisted, Daniel firmly denied it. Daniel even thinks that one of the paintings should be hung in the middle of the gallery for appreciation, so that people can see the billboard on the back of the painting. This is a complete work of art. He knew that no one in Shanath could fully understand his ideas, but he still insisted. This is like trying to convince a group of color-blind worlds that there are colors—think about it, do colors really exist? But Daniel must do this, because this reflects his difference and his existence. This is his way of trying to change reality, and he feels that he is already at the forefront of the times, and the changes he wants to make are in line with the trend. -Color blindness will eventually discover that color exists.
Using one's own ideas to interpret or even change the objective world is a very dangerous move. This can be seen from the fact that many philosophers and artists eventually committed suicide or suffered from mental illness. This kind of action will only succeed when the conditions are very mature and the price is high. From the abolition of black slaves, the French Revolution, and women’s voting rights... these natural ideas are so difficult to realize. Daniel tried to get the closed and ignorant Shanas people to treat him in the way he expected, which was as difficult as the aforementioned historical events. When the residents wanted him to donate a wheelchair, Daniel said a wonderful theory. He said that he didn't want to be the savior. If he sponsored one person, what about other people in need? What's interesting is that sometimes what a person says he doesn't want to do is often considered repeatedly in his heart. Isn't his return like a savior? People paraded him on fire trucks, made statues for him, presented him with awards, and invited him to give lectures everywhere... He enjoyed it, but he also thought that he could not be a financial savior because Shanath was very poor and he did not. Or don’t want to pay that much money. So he was plausible when he said this theory, but in the end he called his assistant and asked her to contact the person seeking sponsorship-the temptation to be a savior is hard to resist. He failed to jump out of reality, and he is still working hard to realize his "fantasy novel".
Four, true
At the closing press conference, Daniel commented on the meaning of "true". Does "reality" really matter? Daniel is an excellent writer, this is true. The villagers felt that he was a cross-street rat that everyone should fight. This is also true. The film has been based on Daniel's point of view from the beginning, and when he was finally driven out, the shot was shot from the scope of Elaine’s husband’s shotgun. It was the first time for the audience to see Daniel from Elaine’s point of view. This hateful guy left us because he thought we were behind. He didn’t go to those Royal Liberal Arts colleges after he achieved success. Instead, he came back to make us look ugly. He tried to hook up with my wife, made my daughter voluntarily dedicate her life, and be friends with me. I can't kill him, and I have to act like admiring him... Even ordinary viewers can't swallow this breath. In the end, with a "bang", the demented prospective son-in-law shot Daniel. He must have been instigated or instigated by others. Ai Lian's husband was surprised by this, so he must not have been instigating him. Whether it was Ai Lian or Ai Lian's daughter is left for the audience to wonder.
Was Daniel beaten to death? The film did not explain clearly. It seemed that he was killed at the time, but then he appeared in a new appearance at the press conference, so he should have not died. In fact, this is not important anymore. Daniel finally jumped out of this real experience, turning this experience into a novel from the eyes of an artist, just like Cao Xueqin. Pinned to his chest is a wild flower picked from his parents' cemetery. This wild flower represents death. The Daniel who tried to challenge reality is dead-he is now a novelist. He looked at the camera sophisticatedly and opened a false smile-if Cao Xueqin could live to the popular modern times and continue to write, he would smile at the camera if he was uneven, how could he be a treasure for a lifetime.
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