In 1977, several Americans went to Britain to stage a major drama in the history of lace journalism. The curator was Joyce McKinley, and she was the protagonist of this documentary. At the age of 19, Joyce had a relationship with Kirk Anderson, a young Mormon man, but was strongly opposed by the other's mother. Mormonism advocates marriage with believers, and Ms. Ko said after seeing Joyce, “She doesn’t look like a Mormon.” This is true. Joyce is indeed not like a typical Mormon, she is more like a Mormon. A beautiful Southerner. She grew up in North Carolina and was once elected as the beauty queen of Wyoming in the Rocky Mountains. With long blonde hair and a graceful figure, Joyce should be considered a beauty when he was young. The appearance is good, but the inside is even more amazing. She claims to have an IQ of 168. According to expert assessment, Einstein's IQ is between 160-180, and Darwin's is about 165.
It is impossible to tell from the movie whether Joyce's intelligence can be compared with the most outstanding representative of our species. What the audience can see is a smart girl's extraordinary pursuit of love. After breaking up with Kirk Anderson, Joyce went to Los Angeles to work for a few years. Judging from the ability to operate the project, she should have done quite well. She can hire a private detective to investigate Kirk's whereabouts---he has gone to the UK to fulfill the missionary mission shouldered by the Mormon youth. Soon she took her bodyguard and a male friend named KJ on a rented fixed-wing plane. Crossing the Atlantic, made a special trip to London to find an ex-boyfriend. Next, Joyce and Cork lived in a country house for three days, during which they were always accompanied by KJ.
The vast majority of Mormon youths have to undertake a two-year missionary mission, during which they have maintained a frugal collective life, abide by the church’s various clear rules and regulations, wear magic underwear, and must not deviate with girls. Romney learned French in two years of missionary work in France. Hong Bopei went to Taiwan, and he mastered Chinese. Kirk Anderson only needs to practice his accent in the UK, he doesn't need to learn a foreign language. He should have more time dedicated to preaching itself, but all of this has been completely changed because of the three days spent with Joyce. According to Mormon rules, magic underwear should be worn at all times regardless of day or night. This is not only a commitment to religious belief, but also protects the body and mind from being attacked by the evils of the world. Joyce’s opinion is very different. She feels that Kirk’s magic underwear emits a peculiar smell and smells bad, so the first task is to solve the underwear problem. She used a thorough tearing method, not just taking it off, the torn pieces were quickly burned. After that, starting from the warm-up of slow dance, Joyce broke another taboo of the Mormon youth Kirk. Their love, at least Joyce's love has been successfully realized. According to Joyce, the only three days they spent together were food and love. It’s not hard to imagine what their love is. I’m even more curious about food. In order to cope with the high-intensity love that lasted for three days, according to the view of Chinese medicine, Kirk needed velvet antler and tiger whip. As a result, Joyce prepared fried chicken, mashed potatoes and chocolate cake according to the routine of the American Southern Beauty.
Joyce was 61 years old when she appeared in front of the camera of director Errol Morris. Her narration was vivid and interesting, very contagious, and could smoothly realize the instantaneous transition between crying and laughing. Even when it comes to some details that are difficult for ordinary women to talk about, she can deal with it freely. If there is a film festival in the world for the best actress in a documentary, she will definitely become the first choice. In her narrative, what happened in London was a peculiar love story that broke the restrictions of religion, the Mormon version of Romeo and Juliet. In fact, Kirk Anderson reported the case to the British police and charged Joyce and others with kidnapping and sexual assault. Kirk refused to accept an interview with Errol Morris. Another witness, KJ, passed away a few years ago. The director arranged for two British tabloid reporters to provide different views on this matter. After the Joyce case became a sensational lace news headline, the "Daily Mirror" and "Daily Express" continued to attract the attention of readers in Britain and the United States in a tit-for-tat manner. In the narrative of a newspaper, Joyce is like a virgin. She is innocent and innocent. In order to seek love, she will not hesitate to cross the mountains and rivers, flying from Los Angeles to London, rushing to the heart and body covenant, but unfortunately she is framed. According to another newspaper, Joyce was just a prostitute who had never given birth to a child. She cosplayed evil and planned a big kidnapping and rape case in order to satisfy her desire. The headlines of this newspaper include "Mormons in Shackles", "Sex under Chains" and so on. The interviewee in the documentary sat in front of the same smoky-gray screen to answer the director Morris’ inquiries. He either used the same camera to jump to the same scene, or to the same scene shot by another camera. The location is only slightly different. Most of Morris's works adopt this style. In a concise and focused environment, the interviewees are subject to Morris's calm questioning. His posture is mainly full of curiosity, occasionally a little ironic.
There are many interpretations of the nature of journalism. I agree with a relatively broad statement that we need to explore the truth in a certain way and then tell it in a certain way. As a documentary director, Morris is in the same position as a newsman, and everyone stands between the truth and the audience. The Mike Wallaces of "60 Minutes" represent an outstanding way of uncovering the truth. He sees the world with a scrutiny eye. Faced with the various problems he has designed, the interviewees often fall into self-contradictory traps. Morris's pursuit is just the opposite. He assumes a posture of learning and understanding, approaching the interviewee with curiosity, and the same effect can be achieved. In Morris’s most famous work "The Thin Blue Line" (The Thin Blue Line), he successfully reversed the case of a death row prisoner through his own exploration; In War), the extremely smart former US Secretary of Defense McNamara unreservedly shifted the responsibility of the Vietnam War to others with seemingly rigorous logic. At the same time, his own absurdity has also emerged; in a recent feature film "Standard Operating Procedure", US soldiers who abused prisoners in Iraq have the opportunity to describe the rational elements of abnormal behavior from their own perspective.
Unlike the heavy depression I got when I watched "Standard Operating Procedures", I often couldn't help but laugh when I watched this "tabloid". Joyce obtained one after another cocooned silk thread from Morris, but I can feel the director's heartfelt love for this role. The two films also have an important similarity in that they both explore the limitations of news narratives. Morris's documentary presents to the audience a situation in which different people tell the same real thing from their own perspectives, and everyone is good at telling stories. The process of the audience watching a movie is also a process of being involved in different narratives. Everyone circles around the truth, but they are always inaccessible. This is a reminder to the audience. When you enjoy the joy or sadness brought by news reports, don't forget that you need to be moderately vigilant even in the face of the telling of real events. In addition to one kind of narrative, there may be another or even many completely different possibilities.
View more about Tabloid reviews
