What Loser really needs

Marcia 2022-10-09 18:23:06

The film portrays the image of an American loser who is over 30 years old, tall and obese, living with his parents and working in his father's company. The protagonist has a lot of inferiority in his heart. He is jealous that his cousin is more handsome than himself and is more popular with other people in the company. He is jealous that his brother is better than him since he was a child, and he has won all the praise. But these did not knock him down, nor did he change him. He always regarded himself as a dark horse, paralyzing himself and persuading himself through various psychological cues. These psychological hints became his strong shield against external pressure. He can really face himself only in imagination, and in real life he has always been a defensive posture.

The theme of the film is about how to face the problem of oneself, which has deep social roots behind it. In an American society where the weak eats the strong and the winner takes all, family, friends, and colleagues will also care about losers. But in fact, those cares are largely ineffective. The real help is to help the losers reconcile their inner conflicts and help them to face life directly. And facing life is probably the biggest problem in everyone's life.

The whole movie combines the male protagonist's life reality with his imagination (its imagination has the characteristics of dreams, so it may be called "dreams"). This design is quite interesting. Marie's reversal in reality and "dreams" is quite good (and shows that there is no true personality independent male protagonist's deep Oedipus complex, and his true mother's care is too mechanical to meet his inner needs). Miranda's depression, cold beauty and temperament are also pretty good.

The shortcoming of the film is that the director's reflection and criticism of social issues are not deep enough, and the so-called Marxist discourse is only a gimmick. The film is just an introduction, but it is far from enough to reflect the real American reality.

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Extended Reading

Dark Horse quotes

  • Abe: Miranda, I know this might take you by surprise, I mean, like, totally wild and crazy, I know. I'm just a dark horse at heart, but I always just tell myself "Abe, go for it!"

    Miranda: Uh-huh.

    Abe: Miranda, I wanna marry you. Will you accept? Don't say anything. Just think about it. I know. It's totally crazy. I know. I just wanted to put it out there, let you know how I feel, but let's just push that aside for now. You wanna go to the movies, do to the mall or somethin', pick up some tacos?

  • Abe: We're all horrible people. Humanity's a fucking cesspool. People look in the mirror every fucking day and lie to themselves, saying they're good or caring or loving, but deep down - not so deep down - they only care about themselves. People... People treat you like shit, every fucking day, and then they act like other people are shit... so they get a pet that's all cute and cuddly, but even an animal knows the hard, primal truth: It is all about what you want; and, if there's any kindness or generosity, it only comes after being well-fed, or having good sex, or knowing that you weren't wiped out like all the other suckers on Wall Street.