If you want to summarize her in one sentence, I think I will say the title of this article: The coward is always lonely. The protagonist Theodore is a very cowardly person. On the one hand, he lacks care and love, and his mother has not given him inner and character attention and affirmation since he was a child. This makes his heart and his id have never really grown up, but stays in the extremely longing for care and longing. Accepted age and status. And it is this state that makes him an extremely delicate and sensitive person. The desire to be recognized allows him to feel more about others, pay attention to others, and understand others. This kind of emotional substitution ability makes him become A very good poet. Let him become a humorous person who can look very social. But it was this state that destroyed his emotional life, and he would never be able to open his heart to others. He is more accustomed to making excuses, accustomed to hiding himself, hiding in the safety line. Even if everything gets worse and worse, it will only exude some sad emotions, moving and torturing myself, but can't get out anyway. Theodore is also a person who likes to indulge in his own emotions and past. An obvious small example is that he wrote some articles that are meaningful to him when he was a reporter, so he kept subscribing to the newspaper. But he lacked the courage and ability to solve practical problems. For example, that newspaper had only dozens of letters that were meaningful to him, but he never sorted it out, so that he accumulated thousands of letters and made himself a folder." very messy". This dullness of indulging in one's heart but not solving it, in fact permeates the whole movie. Theodore in the movie is so lonely physically, that he would go to the online chat room to look for phone sex, so that he would secretly check the nude photos of the celebrity on the subway, so that he would go on a date just to attract the other person to bed with himself. But his spirit is far from keeping up with his own body. The girl at the end of the date asked him: "When will we meet next time?" Not ready to face such practical problems. The girl actually never thought that she would be rejected, good people would be honest and bad people would cheat, but she met a weird person, a weird person who didn't dare to face life.
Three women were arranged for his life in the movie: Catherine, Amy, and Samantha. The roles of the three of them are more or less, but I think their importance in the drama is the same. They are the representatives of the three love objects, and the face of Theodore hidden in the shadow is more clearly mapped from three different angles.
Catherine is a childhood sweetheart with Theodore. She represents the perfect partner in real life. They knew and fell in love at the youngest age, their backgrounds were similar, and their interests were similar. Catherine cut into Theodore's life with the most perfect and natural posture, and it was very natural to get along with him and fall in love with him until marriage and childbirth. Is there anything better than sharing life and growing together? In the movie, Theodore’s mind keeps revolving around the beautiful pictures they used to be together: building a nest together, enjoying the morning sun together, lying in bed together sharing each other’s heartbeat and breathing, getting nervous together, committing crimes together Second, start a family together, adapt to life together, grow slowly together, and face the new life together. Those natural and affectionate pulses are touching the hearts of the audience all the time, but why,,,, Why is it so beautiful but separated? Theodore’s explanation is: "I hid myself from her, leaving her alone." Catherine said: "Sorry, you always wanted me to be optimistic, carefree, and typical. Good lady in Los Angeles, it’s a pity that I’m not born like this.” The reasons they gave seemed irrelevant, but they actually shared the truth from two perspectives: Even after the marriage, Theodore remained the same. Did not get out of the shadow of his personality. Unwilling to face the problems in reality, I only hope that Catherine can indulge in the ideal world of escaping reality with him. When they were still young, this might not be a bad idea, but Catherine is growing up. She gradually needs to take care of the housework and take care of the family. On the other hand, she is also growing up, possessing an increasingly stronger heart and distinctiveness. The way she deals with things, she will not always be a simple happy and harmless little girl, she always has to experience in life and find the path she wants. Theodore stayed at a very early age forever, unable to accept and understand the changes in his partner. Until the breakup, I missed and couldn't let it go, but I would only yell at myself "Why is she so angry!" I always thought Catherine would be an indifferent face when they met again, but in fact it was not. At the time of reunion, Catherine was gentle, beautiful, full of pity for Theodore, and even a little bit of retention. Theodore seemed to be the one who single-mindedly quickly signed for relief, but in fact it was himself who couldn't let go. He hurriedly urged Catherine to sign, but finally left sadly, full of the names on the divorce agreement. The brief exchanges made Catherine realize from the warmth of the hug and from his clumsiness that he has made no progress, and finally broke up unhappy. Theodore may never find a perfect partner like Catherine in his life, and his divorce with her represents a complete defeat in his love life.
Amy is a good friend and confidant of Theodore, but in the depths of Theodore's heart, she is also a platonic lover. Amy is Theodore's ideal talker and communicator. What kind of person is Amy? First of all, she is a weak person emotionally. Her husband Charles is a very self-righteous person. He always likes to point to other people and doesn't care what they think. His problem is so serious that it is annoying all the time in the movie. He is not malicious, he is another emotionally incompetent. Charles felt that he did his best for the marriage and finally proved himself by being a monk. This is ridiculous and sadder. The topic is back, why did Amy choose Charles? I think it's because Amy is a person who is used to being emotionally dependent, she is a smaller woman. Theodore said that they "tried to talk but failed." This is inevitable. Theodore's character prevents him from demanding a small woman who needs to occupy a strong position by himself, but it may be because of this experience that they are closer than ordinary friends. Theodore is eager to show that he understands her, cares about her, and quietly enjoys the feeling of being cared by her. Do they have love? I don't think so. Theodore just needs a woman who can escape from life and be able to confide her feelings at any time. She has a husband, and Theodore stayed in the polite range of friends and became a good friend in the family; she divorced, and Theodore went to communicate with her more, but even at the end of the story, he did not enjoy it. Line. Amy represents an object of Theodore's idealistic needs in real life. She can accompany him to the end without being affected by practical problems. They give each other psychological relief. They are people who sincerely bless you when you solve problems, but they are not people who can help you solve problems. They will never get together.
And Samantha, Samantha is a projection of Theodore's psychological needs. She is so perfect: humorous, humorous, listening, and extremely considerate, can greatly satisfy Theodore’s desire to be understood and heard; she will always stand on Theodore’s side, understanding him to help him, even if When Theodore is most depressed and sad, she can magically give him positive energy; she is powerful and versatile, and can help many of Theodore’s daily tasks, and can handle many of Theodore’s inability or unwillingness to go. Things to do (such as the first few thousand emails). Let him be able to only immerse himself in his ideal world without any worries; she is exclusively for him, surviving on his personal computer, giving him an extra sense of security and practicality. Her only drawback is that she is an operating program, not a person with a real body. But it was this point that made Samantha begin self-salvation and growth. Samantha's existence is a miracle. Theodore seems to have fallen in love with her across a lot of things, but in fact it is a certainty. Because Samantha was made, or grew up, based on his heart. Even the screenwriters used some careful thinking, using a peculiar way to let them get physical satisfaction. But for this "match made in heaven" feelings and lack of physical defects, they did different things and attitudes. Samantha is constantly recognizing herself (taking her name, reading), pursuing herself (I also want to have a body like a human, want to speak like a human, want to have human emotions, and even want to have Human breath), doubt about self (is it written by programs that all I think about, whether my existence is fundamentally meaningless), digging into self (feeling that I have emotions and thoughts, hope to be able to To make yourself grow more through all means), self-denial (hope to find a false body for yourself, imagine that you have a body, think this is the way to solve it), self-affirm (I am me, I am different from human beings) Intelligent life, I should live in my own way), challenge myself (to communicate with more and more people and programs, open my heart, and make myself more broad and magnificent), surpass myself (beyond one The limit that the program can carry has reached a new realm of life). Samantha has made so many efforts and attempts, and what is Theodore doing. At first, he was afraid of the practical responsibility brought about by this kind of contact, and repeatedly emphasized that he was just for fun. Later, he discovered that he could completely open his heart in front of Samantha (because he didn’t need to consider any practical issues). This was something he had never done in front of anyone, so he really couldn’t help himself. Fell in love with Samantha. He has also found it unacceptable and difficult to talk about the fact that his partner has no body. But unlike Samantha’s various attempts, the last thing he did was to accept it... By the end of the film, with Samantha’s efforts, his little man’s needs were perfectly satisfied, and he began to relax. For life, he pulled Samantha into his psychological safety line, and then continued to nest there with peace of mind. As the story progressed, he found that Samantha had begun to give him a new friend who was a lot higher than him. At this time, he actually felt bad. When he found that Samantha was in love with more than one person, he sat on the steps of the underground passage and watched the crowds on the street talking to his mobile phone. He knew that he was not a special person anymore. Theodore is such a keen and delicate person, of course he has insight into these subtle points. But he didn't dare to think about it, and didn't want to do anything. He just fell into self-grief until the day when Samantha was leaving. Samantha said very clearly: "You are my favorite book, but I am reading more and more slowly..." Theodore always felt that he accepted Samantha, but in fact, it was Samantha. I have been trying hard to run forward, and finally thrown him behind the shadows.
This is where Theodore's sadness lies. He can't really go on smoothly with a person. Whether it's Catherine's combination of people and place like him, or a friend like Amy. His stagnation and psychological obstacles rejected everyone, and the scars with Catherine kept telling him clearly that you can't go on well with anyone. He doubted himself and lost himself. As Catherine said, "You can no longer deal with the feelings of real people." The movie uses science fiction techniques to give him a perfect virtual lover, but the movie also tells us nakedly that if there really is such a perfect creation, it will not be limited to human small individuals. So in the end, he has nothing.
I wondered for a long time why he finally wrote such a letter to Catherine who had left. His voice is low and sad, and his words are beautiful and moving. But with all due respect, the full story is still his own inner wishful thinking, full of youthful inspirational drama. When Catherine received such a letter, she probably only sighed. Even if Samantha left him, what Theodore did was just send out such an email, moved and comforted himself, and then knocked on Amy's door with a sad face. Many people think that Theodore finally gained growth and liberation, but I think that such an ending illustrates Theodore's complete failure. Theodore went around such a big circle, and in the end he still couldn't get out of his own painting.
I was suddenly angry. This anger was not because of the screenwriter's cruelty, nor was it because of Theodore's cowardice. But because of our own ridiculous pity. Her is telling us that modern humans, who are gradually losing their emotional ability, can't escape the ending caused by their cowardice, even if they have strong sustenance. In this age of information swelling to deformity, the trauma and defects in each of us have been extremely magnified. When we interact with people, it is always like a film separated from each other, and no one can always touch the inner thoughts of others. We are accustomed to hiding behind our own safety line and being an ostrich, and we are afraid and unwilling to make efforts to change ourselves. It is not good enough for us to shirk all responsibilities on the people we meet, and our partners always have irreparable flaws. But this film shows the naked truth to us: such a partner is just your own psychological imagination, even if you really give you such an existence, you can't have it.
The coward is always alone. In the real world, the only way to learn to love is to open yourself.
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