Introduction to Sociology-Comment on "Open Eyes"
Translator: opipa
Published: 2010-03-18
© 2000 Authorized by the University of California, reprinted from " film Quarterly, "Vol. 53, No. 3, University of California Press
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What do you think ...... ...... ...... we should not discuss how much lower? "
- William Bill Harvard
reviews The world's dissatisfaction with "Broad Eyes Ring" is almost unanimous, and the reason is always the same: not sexy. Chinese commentators behaved like a group of middle school students who had touched into a movie theater and peeked for three hours, feeling lewd, depressed, and deceived. They say that Kubrick's tradition is separated from today's tired senses. The movie’s sexual concepts and taboos are directly transferred from Arthur Schinitzler’s fin-de-siecle Vienna-jealousy on dreams and illusions: visiting prostitutes guiltily, cautiously Speaking of HIV test results, one can't help but recall the talk about syphilis, which looks weird and naive from the obscene 1999 viewpoint. This is the last time Stanney Kubrick has blatantly ignored the production of the film, and it is another time. Throughout his life, the critics saw that it was not what they intended.
Nicole Kidman now generally blames this collective boycott of the film on the propaganda war that he miscalculated for personal gain. But what is hesitant is why Kubrick's old viewers would be gullible and gullible, and have expectations like "Entertainment Weekly"'s eye-popping prediction as "the sexiest film in history". And his most pornographic description of the film is the bomber refueling section in "Doctor Strange Love" and the space shuttle docking section in "2001: A Space Odyssey". In this film, he used the first act of the opening scene to mock any coy and obscene tactics. Without delay, Nicole Kidman's back was exposed to the camera, and the dress was shaken off and kicked aside, before cutting back to the shady, in fact, standing naked towards us, like a peeping Xiu's sliding door was closed. (You almost hear the director saying in a Bronx accent: You come to see the nude of a first-rate movie star? Then you are right, okay, the performance is over. Isn't it serious now?) The title is more like a mockery, we are true What we see is not what we get when we concentrate and frown. Therefore, "Broad Eyes Caution" does not discuss sex.
The really erotic passages of the film are a lingering depiction of the shameless and naked wealth of Manhattan during the millennium and its sordid depiction of the human soul. Myopic domestic critics only saw sex and the superficial psychological portrayal of the core couples—the Harvard couple—and ignored every other element in the film: the enviable and noble costumes, the reflection of Europa and other imperial periods at the end of the century. The Christmas scene arrangement, even the money spent by Harvard doctors on a single night, reveals that the elites ignore the world around them, which implies that Kubrick is not a sex worker. For those who have their eyes open, there are indeed a lot of bloody shots in the film.
There is a scene in the Introducing Sociology film. When Bill uses his cell phone to call his wife in the prostitute's apartment, a textbook "Introduction to Sociology" appears in the foreground. The title of the book is almost displayed in subtitles, which is exactly the way "Peace IS OUR PROFESSION" (PEACE IS OUR PROFESSION) shrouded the battlefield of Popeson Air Force Base in "Doctor Strange Love". It says that prostitution is a basic and defined transaction in our society. At the same time, it is warned that the key to understanding the film lies in its social interpretation, not the psychological interpretation that most commentators insist on.
Michiko Kakutani said in the New York Times that Kubrick "never had too much trouble with the psychology of the characters, and even more so with the relationship between men and women," and in fact "has a lifetime of neglecting (or avoiding) people. Inner life, their respective dreams and sorrows". [1] Because it is difficult to think of other themes, she, like many commentators before her, regards Kubrick as purely technical. First of all, she was wrong. Kubrick examines his character's heart through images rather than dialogue; as he reveals, "people talking about their own scenes are often extremely boring." [2] (It can be argued that the vast majority of this film took place in Bill Harvard’s brain) Secondly and more centrally, she didn’t play the ball at all: Kubrick’s films have never considered the individual alone. (In "2001", it is not involved); but it is always about human beings, civilization and history. "The Shining" is by no means just a family, but, as Bill Blakemore said in his article, "the human family", it is about the massacre of American Indians, and it is the time and time of Western civilization. Revealed murderousness. [3]
Critics complained that the Harvard couple was insignificant, lacking depth and rigid. This kind of reaction is reminiscent of the critics’ confusion that the humanity of computers in "2001" exceeds that of astronauts, and can only be counted as a human error (only four years after the extraordinary interpretation of "Dr. Strange Love"). The Harvard couple may seem naive, like the asylum Victorians in Galsworthy's Forsyte Saga (Galsworthy's Forsyte Saga). But expecting the role to be more complicated or self-knowledge is to no avail. To understand the films of the deepest and most painstaking producers, we should assume that the characterization of the characters in the film is subtle-that is, their shallowness and self-denial is the point. Consider Bill in the back seat of the taxi, his face, his mask of sullen gloom when he imagines the black and white scenes of Alice's infidelity over and over again like a masochistic. (Those who are suspicious of the lack of depth and expressiveness of the role rather than the actor should really check out Tom Cruise in Magnolia.) Or consider Alice’s snicker in her sleep, blatantly Enjoying the pleasure of betraying and humiliating her husband, but only wiping tears after waking up and saying that she had a "terrible dream". Her self-inhibition is perfect and so fast. (Also in "The Shining" Jack Torres wakes up and shouts "the worst nightmare I have ever had," about cutting his own family, about twelve hours before the hands.) The Harvard couple with extreme design Perhaps the inner part of it has long told us that we should go to every corner to understand its true intentions.
One thing that can be cut into is their cost, their apartment, not themselves. Most of the scenes, even on the streets of New York, have their roots in the selection and construction of the location and scenes, just like the Overlook Hotel at the core of "The Shining". The precision of the details of the picture is indispensable to "Broad Eyes Ring", which is comparable to the role of choosing gorgeous famous faces on the cover of the magazine on the aisle of the checkout counter to deliberately create the image of an attractive upper-class couple. (It’s no different from his handsome and calm face Ryan O’Neill as Redmond Barry, who clung to the dignitaries in the 18th century.) Even if the street scene (being always intolerant) , The unique New York press denounced it as "not true") and also expressionist, such as newspaper headlines (LUCKY TO BE ALIVE) and neon signs (EROS) are all foreshadowing, for Annotate the storyline. In Kubrick's work, nothing is accidental. Stephen Hunt of the Washington Post estimated that the Harvard apartment was "at least seven million worth", but it was merely a mockery of Kubrick's apparent disconnect from contemporary American reality. [4] Such well-designed luxury apartments and mansions are deliberately eye-catching. Ku and his collaborator, Frederic Raphael (Frederic Raphael), discussed how much New York doctors like Bill earn each year. [5] Harvard’s level of life can’t help but make people wonder, how did the money come from: from sporadic private appointment services, or from shady channels, as Siegler took care of Mandy during a party? He stands by for those who don’t have to wait for the emergency or die in the hospital, like Victor Sigler. Ziegler), from the name of the winner in this world. Bill uncomfortably tried to use "cozy" to compliment the prostitute Domino's apartment (and the prostitute used the classic joke "The servant is not on duty today" to ask for forgiveness for the leftovers and the mess, only to attract others. To feel embarrassed about the class gap between the two), but Bill’s own apartment is cramped and messy compared to Victor’s. Siegler’s mansion is a nostalgia for Overlook Hotel, with a spacious billiard room, huge stairs, gilded mirrors, and a bedroom-sized bathroom. Even Siegler's place is much inferior to the magnificent Moorish palace in Somerton where extravagant carnivals are held. (According to Schnitzler’s novella, it is “a solemn and imperial single-story country manor”. [6]) To a certain extent, no commenter sees that the director’s deliberate deliberations can be forgiven; we have already I am used to ignoring the gorgeous rich scenes in most movies and TV series. It's like black audiences ignoring every white person on the screen for decades. But make no mistake: this is not a movie about the "personal dreams and frustrations" that Victor condescends to call "ordinary people", it's about the rich and rich, like the nobles in "Barry Linden" Lord Wendover in Barry Lyndon, Mr. Ullman who is called "the best part" in "The Shining". And the film shows the emptiness of these people, their ethical codes, and the use of their ancillary property without thinking about the lower classes of society, and the ultimate focus on ethical violations such as infidelity, rather than crimes such as murder. This is like the movie's audience is more concerned with what is considered to be the core sex, rather than killing. Ullman). And the film shows the emptiness of these people, their ethical codes, and the use of their ancillary property without thinking about the lower classes of society, and the ultimate focus on ethical violations such as infidelity, rather than crimes such as murder. This is like the movie's audience is more concerned with what is considered to be the core sex, rather than killing. Ullman). And the film shows the emptiness of these people, their ethical codes, and the use of their ancillary property without thinking about the lower classes of society, and the ultimate focus on ethical violations such as infidelity, rather than crimes such as murder. This is like the movie's audience is more concerned with what is considered to be the core sex, rather than killing.
There is no reason to assume that we would like Bill and Alice (the truth is, once Kubrick told Michael Herr to make a movie about the doctor because "everyone hates the doctor."[ 7]) They are not like typical Hollywood negative characters, literally blacked out or speak foreign accents. The Harvard couple is what we understand, uncritically speaking, they are "good people", that is, a charming and well-educated couple who collect art and listen to Shostakovich. But the evil of the elite is often more important than any deliberate brutality-deliberate ignorance, passivity, faintness. Kubrick also emphasized that culture has nothing to do with the kindness of the erudite character or the city. What is more inked in the film is the display of the court's grace. The framed paintings on the walls of Harvard's house (made by Christiane), almost all depict flowers and food, and explicitly point out that the artistic function of their residence is only decoration (décor-art). Most of them are probably the collections of Alice's prematurely closed gallery, where reselling paintings is like any other commodity. (Helena, their daughter, helped her mother pack a stack of Van Gogh’s paintings. He is an artist’s idol. He died anonymously, but his copies were printed on calendars, ties, and marks by savvy museum businessmen. Make millions of quick money on the cup.) The Harvard couple are not the only art lovers in the film. Bill’s patient Lou Nathanson has expensive crafts (objets d'art) in his apartment. Its bedroom is like the entrance hall of a Harvard apartment, the wallpaper is the iris of Empire France (fluers-de-lis); Victor Siegler’s collection is quite famous, the ancient porcelain displayed in the glass showcase, the sculpture of Cupid with its wings spread out, The sculptures of Greek beauties in the stairwell, and the bronze gallery upstairs considered to be the Renaissance; the tapestries hanging in the Somerton Manor, the majestic patriarch's oil paintings, the decoration styles also range from the Middle Ages to the Moors, from Venice to Louis XIV . And the abandoned house of the famous playwright and pedophile Claire Querdi in "Lolita", these people's houses are elegantly packed with treasures plundered from all over the world.
The elegant and antique appointments in the film, the waltz ball, the lineup is all European style (Sandor Szavost, models Gaia Gayle and Nuala Nuala, the Nathanson family, Mirich of the dress shop, The lobby of the Sonata Café, maitre d'hotel), all of this makes Manhattan in the millennium and Vienna at the end of the century no different, just another kind of corrupt and decadent noble civilization on the edge of the abyss. The Champagne atmosphere of the Victor Gala combines the 1990s and the 1990s into one, and the Gala at the Overlook Hotel also blends the 70s and 1920s into one. But the comparison is not only to illustrate the European capitalists in the golden age, but to rebuild the continuation of the United States to the previous imperial period through thorough combing. Sandor Savoster, Alice's prospective juggler, asked her if she had read Ovid's "The Art of Love", which was a curiously suggestive quote. "The Art of Love" is a sarcastic guide to adult etiquette, written for the elite of Rome under Augustus, introducing things like bribing servants, giving gifts, and avoiding gold nuggets. (Savost drinking with Alice's glass is from this manual.) And Ovid's exile away from the Imperial Capital is more connected with the fact that the United States is overseas in Hungary. Sa’s superb skills on the Venetian waltz and the invitation to show Alice Sigler’s sculpture collection are examples of higher art funded by the royal family, Latin poetry in Rome, ballroom dancing in the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, and renaissance styles. Art, together made into the shining, artistically framed body of today's New York.
While Alice was dealing with Saworth's diligent temptation, her husband was called to a less glamorous tryst scene: where Kubrick showed us what was in the body: naked exploitation and death. Behind the scene of the Siegler party, in the bathroom upstairs, Bill Harvard saw Jack Torres in room 237 of the Overlook Hotel, and the scene where Joker, the soldier, in the end of "Full Metal Shell" Encountered: female body. There was a dull dance music downstairs. The call-girl Mandy spread out her limbs lazily, completely naked, in a trance caused by a hallucinogen, and Victor put on his pants hastily, this time he had just been overdosed by the drug. Interrupted. (Exactly?) After Bill awakened Mandy, Victor also shut up his mouth specifically to cover up his recent scandal between the two of them. ——Our contemporary American artist in exile, Kubrick, interprets it in his own more sour "The Art of Love". With every detail and every allusion, he exposed it: the noble culture of the royal family is behind the extraction of power: the profound Savost quotations, waltz, Renaissance sculptures, and many lines and props are all used to lure another one. The man's wife, while Victor lay naked facing him, convulsing Mandy upset, with a nude painting in the background. When asked about Alex's love for Beethoven (Ludwig Van) in "A Clockwork Orange", Kubrick replied: "I think this means that culture fails to reflect any spiritual purification failure. Many The high-ranking Nazi officials were educated and had people from the city, but these did not save them, or did much benefit to anyone." [8] This point is repeated in the old trick in "Open Eyes". The secret word of the carnival is The name of an opera by Beethoven (Fidelio).
In addition to the artwork that embellishes the background, there are also Christmas decorations all over the film. It is not accidental that the story happened during Christmas. It is not in Schnitzler's book, and the script is still fully followed in other special circumstances (in fact, it happened before the end of the carnival). [9] Stanley Kubrick seemed to take Yuletide's spiritual essence seriously in his last film. Almost any interior decoration (except Satan Revel) has a fancy Christmas tree. Almost every scene is filled with dreamlike, dim soft light from the decorative lights and metal foil. At the beginning of the film, Harvard's daughter Helena wants to stay up late to watch the TV show "The Nutcracker". The ending film unfolds in the toy section of an obviously high-end supermarket, and the husband and wife take Helena to buy Christmas. Although "Open Eyes" was released in the summer, it was a 1999 Christmas movie.
can-canning Christs is a series of allusions alluding to the sinking-salvation mythology shared by Judeo-Christianity throughout the film: Alice’s allegorical dream, “naked”, “horrible”, and “shame”, and “in Have sex in a pleasant garden, while the Harvard Eden-style apartment is full of indoor plants and many garden oil paintings; the two swingers at the Siegler party, together, bend like poisonous snakes, and have tight-fitting evening dresses. It's almost a layer of molting; a picture of an apple cut into a vagina on the wall of a prostitute's kitchen; and the self-sacrifice "redemption" ceremony of the carnival. All this seems very unexpected. The symbolism of the old era comes entirely from a well-known atheist director, and all his film plots take place in the contemporary atheistic world. (The most classic Christlike picture in Kubrick’s previous movies is the can-caning Christ group image of the opera troupe (chorus line) cast by Lia Lex Tao in "A Clockwork Orange", as well as fantasy The Hollywood epic daydream of the centurion flogging Christ (Him). In this film, it is clear that Christianity is another less effective version of the cruel Skinnerian Ludovico therapy. Appeared.) However, the quotation from the holy scriptures only serves to show that the ethics of Christ went bankrupt at the end of the second millennium AD, showing how to be completely assimilated and fallen into commerce. Siegler said in the final confrontation with Bill, "The whole interpretation of the self-sacrifice of'please take me' has nothing to do with her true death." It's not! Her death was related to the secrecy and power of the heresy worship at the core of the wealth. In other words, it was just a transaction.
In the film, it is very close to the real 1999. The observance of religion on Christmas Day is less than the carnival of annual consumerism, the psychedelic frenzy of the retail year. The "Merry Christmas" banner is next to the shop signs, and it says "No Checks" and "Thank you for your patronage." The row of Christmas cards in Bill’s office is not a Christmas message: "Pay at the time of treatment, unless another arrangement has been negotiated in advance." This juxtaposition weakens the meaning of the holiday and shows the true nature of the season, the bottom line. The warmth and kindness of the masked mask. Even Mirich, the owner of the rainbow dress shop dressed as a miser, sent holiday greetings to the two men, and they have reached an "other arrangement" for their daughter's play and enjoyment. The whole film is deliberately overflowing the essence of this season. The music "I want a boy at Christmas" played in Gillespie Diner's restaurant (Gillespie Diner, next to Sonata Cafe) more explicitly equates Christmas with wicked desires. "The Nutcracker" is a story about a little girl's toy becoming a dashing prince and coming to reality. This is what the Harvard daughter wants to see if she wants to stay up all night. The "Christmas shopping" that took Helena is to let her run around to pick her exclusive items. The Harvards themselves (as most critics say) did not value the mise-en-scène, wealth, artwork, and ubiquitous glitz of their surroundings. It's that they are fascinated by their lust and envy. Kubrick repeatedly used images to link characters and scenes, and recorded them with his undesirable, stable and ubiquitous camera. At Sigler’s ball, the burst of light on the wall echoed the lace edge of Alice’s evening dress, and it also mirrored the blue radial ribbon on the Savoster’s lapel. Bill's reach seemed to be haunted by blue and golden colors, as well as the color of the wallpaper on the exterior of his apartment. When Domino appeared on stage, she wore a black and white striped fur coat. This pattern appeared repeatedly on the zebra-patterned stool next to the closet, and the furry tiger toy on her bed. They are like decorations and artworks for people to buy.
Alice's blatant resentment towards her husband only broke out in her dreams and after taking drugs, because she subconsciously realized that she was just a foster mistress. We know that Bill is the patron and her gallery is bankrupt. She told Saworth that she was looking for a job, but we didn't see her looking for it. More often, we saw her being looked for. Alice’s role as a voyeuristic object was defined in the beginning of the scene and the first line: "Do I look good?" (Of course, the result made her very worried, and her husband said she didn’t even look at it. The hair is perfect, and then ask for the name of the nanny, which she just said once 20 seconds ago.) Everyone she met in the first fifteen minutes praised her for her beautiful makeup. Bill obligedly told her that she was always beautiful, and the babysitter was surprised, "You are amazing, Mrs. Harvard", and was later flattered by beauty admirers Sigler and Savost. Sigler said that she was "absolutely amazing. I didn't say that to all women." "Oh, it is," in order to belittle his wife-it was a very cold joke until we found out that Sigler was confused. Who are "all women".
Make-up is Alice’s job, the former beauty queen, the call girl Mandy, and the prostitute Domino. In the montage of daily life at a Harvard family, her husband examines the patient in the clinic, and we only see Alice just dressing up: combing her daughter’s hair, putting on her breasts, and applying deodorant in front of the bathroom mirror. This is the way for senior prostitutes (or actresses) to maintain their health during the day, just to maintain their beautiful appearance. She is more closely related to the mirror than any other character. She takes a look at the mirror before leaving to the party, and examines herself when she decides to take medicine before the medicine cabinet mirror. Her husband’s affection with her is her look in the mirror (the poster). At first she was absent-minded, and later awakened and intoxicated, but in the end the scene looked elusive, distracted and unnatural a few seconds before the screen faded out. It’s her now. When self-awareness is clearest, the moment when you see your own essence clearly.
The essence of Alice is unmistakably revealed: being a wife is a prostitute. A series of comparisons between her and the prostitute Mandy reveal her identity: tall, red-haired, consuming narcotics, and both appear in the bathroom. Mandy was toyed with by a group of men last night, which again coincided with Alice's dream. Alice also has a relationship with Domino: the purple of her sheets and Domino's dress, and their attractive vanity mirror (standard configuration for people who live on their faces). Mandy has a connection with Domino, just like an unrealistic connection, the equivalent consonants in their names, as well as Domino's roommate Sally (their names are adapted from the same syllable). When Domino disappeared, it was replaced by Shanli the next day. In the logic of dreams, one person can be transformed into another without any change. In a sense, there is only a woman in the film. Commentator Lee Siegel sees every prostitute Bill sees as a different incarnation of his wife, the woman he has been looking for. [10] But when we read another interpretation, what they have in common makes everything clearer (even if not so romantic): it implies that Alice is just another high-level prostitute. At the end of the curtain in the toy store, she was surrounded by all kinds of plush tiger toys, think about the one on the domino bed. (Kubrick also used tiger and leopard prints in "Lolita" as the secret door to illustrate Charlotte Haze's predatory sexuality.) Even in this last scene, when she conveyed that When the moral consciousness of the film's surface layer, Alice was visually framed as a prostitute.
She also taught her daughter Helena (in the name of the most beautiful woman in history) to make it a high-end product like her. In the cuts of their daily lives, Helena is next to her mother in almost every shot, holding a comb when putting on a ponytail, brushing her teeth in front of the mirror, and learning to dress herself. I thought that when the two were playing word games, Helena was learning how to count that one boy had more money than the other. Read the story aloud before going to bed, while carrying the lines on his back, "...when I get into the bed". In this film, the phrase "getting into the bed" is by no means naive. Her mother followed her to read silently and trained her. In Bill's office, there is a picture of Helena in a purple dress, which looks like the woman her father wears for sex.
Bill Harvard, like his wife, was limited by the first line when he appeared: "Dear, have you seen my wallet?" She is the property, and he is the buyer. (His wife and Domino’s name for him "Bill" is a pun, and Jack D. Ripper (note: professional murderer), the soldier Joker (Joker, note) : A joke) The same thing.) He showed his credentials, and he shot fifty and one hundred tickets, with the purpose of attracting, bribing or deterring taxi drivers, shop assistants, receptionists, and prostitutes, all the members of the vast and obedient service industry, the great wealth of the United States The disparity is based on this. Including (unfinished) prostitutes, dress rentals, various bribes, and taxi money, his unconventional night out cost more than seven hundred dollars a night, and he was not bothered by this expense. He asked Domino "How much should I talk about?", insisting on paying for Domino's unfulfilled services, bargaining with the taxi driver, and Milic, all the talks about money appeared so frequently, procrastinated, and so prominent. All are contained in the real benefits. These did not appear in the novel. If he is not an obvious consumer, Bill is nothing in the show; he once tore a hundred dollars in half with a giggle.
Bill's night out is an exploration of sex, and more importantly, an exploration of invisible wealth and power. The subtext of Bill's first sexual pursuit was money; at Siegler's party, two coquettish models dragged him away from his wife, and asked him to follow them to "the end of the rainbow" like a riddle. When called to leave, he still said, "Listen to the next decomposition?" After leaving, the two models showed obscure and premeditated expressions. This indicates that Bill finally came to the rainbow dress rental shop. We have no way of knowing what the model means, but we all know what the rainbow is.
The colorful arc tour did take Bill to the holy place of the golden soup, Somerton, the center of extreme luxury, the place where the mysterious carnival was held. This part of the scene was singled out and teased by the critics, which is extremely frustrating. After listening to the singing of Blueballs, David Denby called it "the most imaginative carnival in the history of film" [11] Kakutani Michiko said "more absurdity than provocation, more peeping Kinky rather than terrible."[12] Stephen Hunter asked even more, "Where is there such a carnival? The Catholic Church?"[13] Once again they misunderstood Kubrick’s artistic intentions, which obviously did not involve the senses. (Not sensual). The seductive golden-masked doorman that Bill greeted as he walked through the magnificent foyer told us that this was about to enter the kingdom of myths and nightmares. This set of shots is the clearest condemnation of (Alice's) allegorical dreamscape: the corruption of the elite, the exploitative nature, the depravity, or in short, evil. The deliberate satanic baptism of fornication, the high priest in scarlet robes makes a requiem mass, buzzing, like an inverted version of the Latin sacrificial ceremony. What we have seen is a ceremony where invisible faces and replaceable female bodies are distributed and raped, and the characters under the black cloak are alternated in turn. The film is also in the ritual mass rape and the sacrifice of women. Culminated in the sacrificial murder (sacrificial murder).
The ghost style here looks back at another large private party in the film, Siegler's. With graceful decoration, elegant and dull dialogue, the camera is suspended from a position overlooking the dreamland. In the ballroom, a group of naked men and women wearing masks danced with "Strangers in the Night." Not only Siegler’s party, but also Overlooking the Hotel, where ghosts are also wearing dresses and dancing in pairs. (Remember the surreal zoom shots that flashed in The Shining? The man in the animalistic evening dress was sucking upstairs the penis of the tuxedo millionaire Horace Derwent.) Two Occasions, evening parties and carnivals are decisively connected by the interior of the rainbow dress shop. From the front desk to Somerton, we see a row of styling, waterfall-style string lights behind the models in dresses and the Siegler wall. The lights glowing white are consistent.
The visual scene of the Korova Milk Bar in A Clockwork Orange carnival brought out the metaphor of sexual objectification. The masks of the prostitutes made them nameless and identical. Their carcasses are exceptionally perfect, lustrous, and neat as fashion molds. Under the gloomy incandescent spotlight, they are photographed by Kubrickian detachment, which depicts any real pornography in some form. dilute. The ritual kiss was weird and cold, and the pale lips carved out of the mask touched the other one. The sex scene is composed of mechanical intercourse and static surrounding audiences. Covering the mask, the male attendant in the tuxedo crawls to make a bed for the peaceful couple. This human furniture is also the same as the table at the Korova Milk Bar in A Clockwork Orange. Someone may tremble and suddenly remember that Saworth, who speaks Lugosian-toned, casually asks Alice to have sex surrounded by sculptures upstairs.
The mask of the cubicism reveler (Venetian, also an allusion to another business empire) has the same symbolic intent: to transform the wearer into an inanimate object. They obviously do not show that some critics say "ecstatic self-annihilation" (ecstatic self-annihilation), they are as scary as hell. The sickle-shaped beak, the cubist face split in half, the distorted grimace and the evil smile, the freezing howl, the painted tears, the staring eyes in the dark. These people did not lose themselves due to indulging in eroticism, but lost their id like the recruit egg in "Full Metal Shell", and their name and hair disappeared together. Bill's "trial" is completely still, a group of close-ups of the silent staring mask are images of empty-eyed dehumanization. It is worth noting that when Siegler first saw Bill walk into the auditorium, even though both sides were separated by masks, he nodded to Bill like an old acquaintance. Here, the guests of the Siegler party really took off their masks.
Masks and human molds are recurring themes in Kubrick's works: think about the fight with human mold limbs in "Killer's Kiss", Croix's anthropomorphic furniture, "Clockwork" The grotesque masks in Orange and The Killing. In "Open Eyes", the mask not only appears at the party, but is distributed throughout the film as a sign of death. A stone greek mask on the side of Lou Nathanson's bed to watch the night. The African mask overlooked in Domino's bedroom, the HIV-positive prostitute Bill encountered, is like a masked bystander who silently witnesses the process of making love. And "domino" itself is a kind of mask.
The mask is also a metaphor for women as clothes. The human body molds in the rainbow shop are displayed around Bill and Milich. "Really, huh?" Miliqi said, and immediately caught his daughter ganging up with two men wearing wigs and black powder foundation. Milic’s daughter, her face is extremely glamorous and wicked, in a sense as weird and lifeless as the Grady twins in "The Shining": her skin is smooth and fair, like a mannequin inside, and her pink lipstick With crystal eyes, it's just a doll. In a combined scene shot, when Bill was still in a dress, Miliqi's daughter stood on the right of Miliqi, and a pair of human molds under the falling light of the waterfall, the woman stood on the left. Miliqi said, "If the Harvard doctor has other needs," he hugged his daughter behind the counter. "Any demand...sometimes it doesn't need to be a dress." This line is just to emphasize his daughter and other legal goods in the store. Visual equivalence. Mandy appeared in the film three times, and they all wore masks: in Siegler’s bedroom, her eyes were the black holes on her face; she did wear a mask at the carnival; on the longboard of the morgue, her His face was loose and pale, and his eyes were wide open, but he was lifeless.
Although Bill did not directly kill or have sex with anyone, his exploitation was implicated in the deaths of all the women he encountered. (The slogan of the Sonata Cafe reads "Customers are always wrong.") He did not transmit HIV to Domino, but she served people like him. On the eve of Miliqi, he denounced the man who had been with his girl, "Can you two stop! Didn't you see me doing business?" At the same time, he apologized to Harvard. On the paper. (After all, Bill is not paying for a dress, but a journey of exploration that he can provide.) Furthermore, is Mandy sentenced to death by some groups for evil rituals, or is there any difference between gang rape and drug overdose and death? Considering Kubrick’s habit of literally black humor (think "Gentlemen, you can’t fight here, this is the war room!" or "I said, I won’t hurt you, I just want to make Damn your head"). When Siegler explained that Mandy was not a murder, "she is already mentally insufficient," the contradiction should be obvious.
Bill learned that Mandy had died of drug overdose in the café. There were classical portraits of women hanging on the walls and Mozart's Requiem. This arrangement and soundtrack solidify this moment into eternity. Kubrick's last three films constitute a trilogy of hatred of the female in our culture. In "The Shining", Jack Torres despises his wife and children and tries to murder. (We also heard that a "woman who went camping with her husband is missing" is being reported on TV news.) In "Full Metal Shell", institutionalized misogyny (institutionalized misogyny) in naval special forces is common. And the women's shots are rarely deliberate (we only saw two prostitutes and one female sniper), so their appearance is unforgettable. The climax of the film is the execution of the fifteen-year-old girl. The Requiem of the Sonata Cafe (Annotation: the author may have a typo, the cafe here is not a Sonata Cafe) is not only played for Mandy, but for all the nameless, can sacrifice, and was played by the Harvard of the whole era. Class men play with and abandoned women.
Because of his financial display and professional status, Bill Harvard is in the service class after all. Think about how he was called at the Siegler party, and treat his friend, a pianist, Nick with the same polite but perfunctory attitude. Bill is just a helper for the servants, the doctor at the party, called to fix (if possible) or cover up (if necessary) the ugliness of personnel, just like Mandy's. When he went to the apartment of his patient Lou Nathanson, he was first received by his servant Rosa (Rosa). She was wearing a white-collar and black dress. In the perfectly symmetrical entrance hall, everything was paired, including the doctor and Maid, they are equal here. When Bill wanted to sneak into the carnival to find out, he was exposed by the class sign. He came by taxi instead of a limousine, and there was a dress shop rental note in his pocket. His true identity in Somerton was an outsider and an intruder. This was written on the paper when he went to another person’s site the next day. He disdainfully used a simple printed note to be stuffed by the silent servant from the fence of the front door. Come to his hand to send him. (This is not the first time Bill has appeared in front of a fence. He had to bribe Milich to enter the iron fence gate.) When Siegler finally told him to regret, he secretly laughed at Bill's rejection of a box of 25-year-old Scotch whisky (Bill The wine sipped in a shallow glass) is not just a piece of luxury for him, but Bill’s hypocritical integrity is meaningless, and he has long been bought. Bill can buy, bribe or order people whose social status is lower than him. For example, he can have Alice, but he has long been Siegler's.
Although Siegler has a plausible explanation of what happened. Including Harvard’s annoyance, Nick Nightingale’s beating, Mandy’s death, we have no way of knowing whether he was telling the truth or lying to cover up the murder. The play also meticulously did not give any qualitative evidence that can make us feel at ease. But Siegler did have the privilege of knowing the suspicious details of the case: "The door was plugged in from the inside, and the police station was satisfied, and that's it! (At the same time, he gave it a contemptuous'poof!' )" At the same time, he also claimed to be believed that he took off his coat, expressing sincerity: "I must be absolutely honest with you," "Bill, don't play", and finally "well, Bill, let us... stop talking nonsense," Okay?". Please pay attention to his wording: "Suppose I want to tell you...". He didn't want to be "candid", he was giving Bill a step down, a plausible, face-saving explanation of the death of a woman to ease his sudden violent guilt. (This is also one of the few buying experiences that makes Bill the most uncomfortable. The hand resting on his chin slowly slides to his feet, trying to agree with Sigler's incredible accidental explanation for letting him swallow.) Sigler Although Le begged to "not play the game", the whole conversation was a game. The gentleman faced the struggle and escape of life and death. The participants were just two opponents uneasily surrounded by the pool table.
Bill broke the casserole-style quest and finally made Siegler impatient, so he resorted to intimidation and threats. He reminded them that their identities were master and servant, and he roared, "You have exceeded your duty on this day." As for the revellers in Somerton, he said, "Who do you think they are? They are not ordinary people. If I tell them their names, I won't tell you, but if I do, you will sleep. It’s not easy to feel.” In other words, they are “all the best people”, all kinds of men with supreme wealth and power who can buy and sell as ordinary people like Bill and Nick, or commit adultery and murder Mandy and Domino’s. woman. "You will not sleep well" is also a potential warning, and this is not Sigler's last warning. His last piece of advice, "Life goes on, it will always be like this...until it doesn't go on, but you know, don't you, Bill?". At the same time, he gave a seemingly instructive, but uncomfortable, shoulder rubbing action like a proprietary item, which seemed to be a guarantee, but it was actually a threat. (At this moment, the camera suddenly cuts to an unfriendly warning: the mask placed on Bill's pillow.) Bill's expression now appears in the foreground, and it is tight at this moment. The depressed and intertwined emotions are difficult to interpret, but one thing is very clear. Yes, the fear of his life, he seemed to cry suddenly, or laugh hysterically. When Victor patted him on the shoulder, he condescendingly made him wince. In the end, he could only accept Victor's comfort. It's not that there is no evidence to confirm, it's because there is a decent interface that will no longer be pursued, and you can stay away from danger. He finally found that he was tradeable just like a prostitute and a pianist.
But the question remains: Did Mandy die from a drug overdose, or was he murdered? Is Bill’s jewel-inlaid mask on the pillow the accusation from Alice, or the third and final warning given by Siegler’s friends. Remember the death threat of the horse head on the bed in "The Godfather"? Each of these key questions was carefully considered by Kubrick without leaving an answer. Most commentators didn’t even think that these were problems. Instead, they applied their own explanations to the storyline, saying that Sigler’s explanation was redundant. Mandy’s death was what he said was accidental death, and Alice was responsible for it. The mask is there. (These hypothetical storylines do not even have Siegler or conflict with any member of the mysterious class, and they are clearly masks put on by the protagonist’s wife.) But Kubrick did his best to preserve the ambiguity. Under their glare, they ask us, like Bill, to consciously decide what we should believe. Bill's reaction when he saw the mask lying on the pillow could be interpreted as shame and relief from revealing his secrets, or a red flag that he realized that his wife and children could be murdered in his sleep. When Alice was awakened by Bill's sobbing, her expression did not show her shock at seeing the mask, or she knew it earlier. The camera cuts to the next morning, her eyes are red and swollen with tears in her eyes. We don't know why she is crying, because her husband is almost unfaithful to her, or because his adventure threatens the safety of the family. Their final dialogue was vague and metaphorical. ("What should we do?" "Perhaps we should be grateful,") This can easily be linked to Mandy's murder and the threat to their family's safety, just like shutting him up. If we believe in the former, the Harvard family is only reaching a settlement between the dream and the attempted infidelity; they are agreeing to cover up a murder case as an accomplice in the murder case.
This is the real test of the film, the test thrown to us, just like the empty balloon frame on the ambiguous cartoon shown to Alex at the end of "A Clockwork Orange" to test whether his treatment has failed. His explanation of the image as lewd and violent has been determined to be invalid. But what about us? The open-ended description forces us to ask ourselves what we really saw; Is "Open Eyes" a movie about marriage, sex, jealousy, or is it about money, prostitutes, and murder? Before you make a decision, consider this: Which Kubrick movie has no one killed in the plot?
The film ended in an optimistic but discordant manner. The Harvard couple took their daughter Helena to Christmas shopping. They only responded politely to her wishes, and were distracted by their children. Most commentators said that they still care about psychology and sex, and discard the sociological implications on the screen. However, in so many Kubrick films, the dialogue is misleading, and the real story is conveyed through visual means. When poor Helena happily shuttled back and forth between the toys (she was already a greedy little consumer), every item in her picture was related to the woman who was exploited and abandoned by the men of her father's class. Her Christmas shopping list is a blue stroller (we saw a blue stroller outside the Domino’s apartment twice), an oversized teddy bear (a row of plush tigers are separated by a row of plush tigers, and there is also a blue stroller on the Domino’s bed) ), there is also a Barbie doll in a translucent angel costume (well, Mirich’s daughter), so much like Helena's dress when she first appeared on the stage! She is already a toy, a well-dressed, small and lovely ornament. Another toy, dazzlingly placed under a circle of lights, is called Magic Circle; this name also refers to the circle of prostitutes who are baptized at the carnival. The bright red box is like the one when kneeling down to the bishop. The red carpet, and the felt that Bill made a deal in front of the pool table. The minor plots of Miric and his daughter were also responded to here. In another trading scene, the Harvard couple had unconsciously brought their little angels to the business world to engage in prostitution.
Alice: You know, there is a very important thing that we must do as soon as possible.
Bill: What is it?
Alice: Go to bed.
When "Open Eyes" ended, the final deal between Bill and Alice hinted at all the dark adventures they confessed ("No matter the real or dream"), and all the murders they were complicit, resulting in just another sexual anomaly. The show, or the flirting at the dance party, ignited the lingering after they got home. Their elusive conversations about "waking up" still kept their eyes closed. Reaching a reconciliation, they intend to forget all these unpleasantness in the narcotic joy of orgasm. (You can try to open your eyes during orgasm.) Or, in the end, the film is after all about sex addiction, which treats sex as a distraction from the reality of ugly wealth and power. Perhaps consumers have never been wrong. Of course, a subtle psychological interpretation that has been tried is still possible. But only focusing on the inner activities of the Harvard family that have not been examined is deliberately ignoring the profound visual filmic world created by Stanley Kubrick's lifelong theory. He finally wanted to show us the film of this era, and he thinks his best work is to convey the capital world of the global American empire at the end of the American century. It is the privileged use of a wealth power group over other people. They are treated the same as commodities, using glossy photos and glossy surfaces to cover up the facts of their crimes, eventually pushing their children into a life of prostitution and slavery. The ending that feels good about the future, with Kubrick’s last word in the film (or all) implying that Harvard’s daughters are just like they just compliant, waiting to be fucked.
Acknowledgements: More than 700 hours of conversation with Rob Content gave me invaluable help in my argument. Bart Taylor of Giotto Perspectives pointed me to the Christlike picture of the film. I would also like to thank the guitarist of The Sores, singer Boyd White, and the editor of The Film Quarterly, Ann Martin, for the keenness of their editors. Thank you University of California Press for allowing me to reprint this article.
About the author: Tim Kreider is a cartoon artist. The works are on the website http://www.thepaincomics.com , as well as the Baltimore City newspaper.
Note:
[1] Kakutani, Michiko. "A Connoisseur of Cool Tries to Raise the Temperature." The New York Times, 18 July 1999. p. 22.
[2] Ciment, Michel. "Second Interview" in Kubrick. Translated from the French by Gilbert Adair. New York: Holt, Reinhart, and Winston, 1980, p. 171.
[3] Blakemore, Bill. "The Family of Man." San Francisco Chronicle Syndicate, 29 July 1987.
[4] Hunter, Stephen. "The Lust Picture Show: Stanley Kubrick Stumbled with his Eyes Wide Shut." The Washington Post, 16 July 1999, p. C5.
[5] Raphael, Frederic. Eyes Wide Shut: A Memoir of Stanley Kubrick.
[6] Schnitzler, Arthur. Dream Story. Translated from the German by Otto P. Schinnerer. Los Angeles: Sun & Moon Press, 1995, p. 128.
[7] Herr, Michael. Kubrick. New York:Grove Press, 2000, p. 13
[8] Ciment, Michel. "First Interview" in Kubrick, p. 163.
[9] Schnitzler, Dream Story, p. 4.
[10] Siegel, Lee. "Eyes Wide Shut: What the Critics Failed to See in Kubrick's Last Film." Harper's Magazine, October 1999, vol. 299, #1793, p.
76-83. [11] Denby, David. "Last Waltz." The New Yorker, 26 July 1999, p. 84.
[12] The ever-perceptive Ms. Kakutani, p. 22.
[13] That dimwit Hunter, p. C5.
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