Physical Imprisonment and Death of Love
---Comparison of "Lolita" and "
American Beauty" When I look at "American Beauty" directed by Sam Mendes, I repeatedly think of "Lolita" directed by Edrey Rene "Tower", "Lolita" is like a kite made of flesh, hovering, flying, and lingering over "American Beauty". Like the shadow in front of the traveler, no matter how the traveler pulls it, it can't get rid of the vague and magical power of the shadow. In my eyes, "American Beauty" and "Lolita" are two typical "body" movies. They both care about the position of the body in people's lives. Their origins are the fascination with the body. The end is the loss and absence of the body.
The difference is that they have their own distinctive narrative methods. Narrative has brought differences between the two films. These differences hide factors such as time evolution, advancement in artistic methods, and changes in aesthetic taste. However, the most significant difference lies in the interpretation of concepts. In my opinion, this difference It reflects the two modes of modern movies from one side.
"Lolita" belongs to a more typical story mode or suspense mode. The characteristic of this mode is to narrate based on a clue. In the process of narration, it constantly creates suspense to hold the audience tightly. And because of the existence of awards such as Oscars, this kind of suspense film can not be limited to the suspense itself for a certain purpose. In addition to the suspense, it must seek additional meaning and depth. In the search for meaning and depth, the film faces the problems of how to combine suspense with meaning, and how to interpret the meaning brought by it when the suspense ends.
When analyzing Nabokov’s "Lolita", most critics believe that this novel is an anti-moral novel. The author uses the character Herbert to mock Americans’ desires. The grotesque technique satirizes the American ambitions, explaining the idealization of youth and shameless individualism. Some critics also believe that the novel is the result of Nabokov’s fascination with his childhood. The author passed through the beauty of Russian childhood. After arriving in the United States, this graceful feeling was provoked and tortured by desire, grace and desire. Mixed together, it became a freakish depravity.
Obviously, these criticisms also apply to the film. In this film, such themes are not out of shape, nor have they evolved new connotations.
From a narrative point of view, how is this connotation conveyed?
Let's go back to the movie. First, Herbert came to Hetz’s house. At first, Herbert didn’t have a good impression of Hetz’s house and even wanted to leave. But when she saw Lolita reading the picture album under the fountain, Herbert decided not to leave. , So he thought of his first love, the kind of grace and warm feeling. In those evocative physical contacts with Lolita, Herbert felt the beauty and happiness. Later, he married Mrs. Haz. Mrs. Haz discovered the secret of Herbert's love for her daughter. After the argument, he was accidentally hit and killed by a car outside the door. Herbert got the chance to get along with Lolita alone. During the long journey, they began to travel. Herbert tempted and got Lolita in an adult way and trapped, but such good times did not last long. Rita quickly became infatuated with the playwright Cui Di, and Herbert, who was panicked, maintained the relationship with Lolita while relying on money, while being dominated by Lolita and chasing Cui Di. Sadly, Herb Te has never understood who is attracting Lolita. Until one day, Lolita finally escaped from Herbert. Herbert fell into a lonely existence again. A few years later, he saw Lolita again. Lolita was abandoned by Cui Di and lived an embarrassing life. Herbert found that Lolita was swollen and collapsed, but he still loved her deeply. When he wanted to regain When Lolita's begging was rejected and it was learned that Cuidi had seduce Lolita, Herbert hunted down his enemies and rivals with a gun.
In this narrative, we can easily find that this is a one-line story of despair from gains and losses. There is only a single core in the narrative. In the story, there is a mode of gradually uncovering the secrets. With the end of this mode, a feeling of confusion looms over the face. Later, people will reflect on the meaning brought by this feeling. These meanings are just like the previous article. As explained.
The intriguing thing about this movie, it should be said, is the entanglement and obsession with a young body. But compared with the novel, this movie has one thing that it ignores. This is that the movie does not explain that Herbert had been in a mental hospital due to a mental breakdown before going to Haze's house and was diagnosed as "potentially homosexual" and "Complete impotence", if you add this premise, we will find that the meaning of the movie will be further deepened, and there will be such a connotation: it is the beautiful body of Lolita that recalls the characteristics of Herb Desire and ability, and he sinks deeper and deeper under the attraction of the body, unable to hold on to himself. At first the body was an unconquered land. Herbert was a quiet aggressor. With the deepening of possession, possession has become an indispensable part of life, even though he has understood that possession is becoming more and more difficult. , More and more hollow, more and more without the meaning of vitality and love. Perhaps for Herbert, Lolita’s body has become a prerequisite for his body’s existence. Only when Lolita exists can his desire and sexual ability exist. Lolita disappears and sex will leave him. . It can be said that Herbert went through a process from asexuality to sexuality and then to asexuality.
Looking at "American Beauty" with this view, we will find that the protagonist of the film, Lite, also goes through a process from asexual to sexual. Due to the pressure of work and the vulgar family life, Litte also lost the requirement of sex life, and sexual communication gradually degenerated into a kind of masturbation. It was the appearance of his daughter Jie'er's friend Xizera that made Lite regain her desire for sex and wanted to achieve new sexual exchanges with her. As a result, Litte began to regain his physical training under the teasing of Sizera. Then, his self-confidence in life and personality began to recover. When he finally wanted to make love with Sizela, he always showed lewdness. Sizela, who was careful, said to Lite that she was still a virgin. Faced with Grace, Litte understood that as long as he took a step forward, Grace would disappear, and the real lust would attach to Sizela’s body. Litte did not continue to do it. He already felt gratified and satisfied for his body. The idea of re-examining my life came up.
If the story is told in the above single line, the story made by "American Beauty" is undoubtedly a variant of "Lolita", and the narrative mode should be similar to "Lolita".
But this is not the case with the movie. In "American Beauty", the creator set up a double line. The most important one is Litte’s neighbors. The host of Litte’s neighbors is a violent homosexual, which makes his family full of wood-like atmosphere. The host loves his son, but often violent towards his son. However, the son is obsessed with beauty and freedom. He likes marijuana and video. The son falls in love with Lite’s daughter Jie'er. During the process of giving Lite marijuana, his father finds him and mistakenly believes that his son is providing sexual services for Lite. . Father went to Lite's house and wanted to kiss Lite, but Lite refused. He was annoyed that he killed Lite with a pistol and was dreaming of a new life.
There are also two small clues in the movie, one is tied to Litte’s wife, and this clue is an extramarital affair between his wife and his boss. The sex between the wife who has not had sex for a long time and her boss rejuvenated her life. When their relationship was discovered by Litte, although she understood the cowardice of her boss and the cowardice with her, she still decided on her own Can no longer bear the mediocre life before, coupled with Li Te's ridicule facing her and her lover, this irritated and hurt her, and even wanted to kill her husband. Another clue is the love between the neighbor boy and Jie'er, both of which are carried out in a love without sex.
The final interpretation of the theme of this film is also a physical theme. This theme has been summarized as "the death of love" by some media. The implication is that the restoration of vitality and self-confidence is not restored by love, but by the body. Yes, it is the existence of an extra body that activates the protagonist's desire to re-search for vitality and confidence.
Although this theme eventually overlapped with the theme of "Lolita", the way it came out was quite different from that of "Lolita".
If the narrative of "Lolita" is an arrow, then the narrative of "American Beauty" is an airplane. Ritter's fascination with Sizela is the fuselage part of the airplane. In the front, the love between daughter Jie'er and the boy next door and the life of the boy’s house are on one side of the wing, and the extramarital affair between the wife and the boss is the other side of the wing, and the wings on both sides are formed with different forces. In addition to the pressure on the fuselage, the fuselage cannot get rid of this pressure and cannot do without this pressure.
The way an arrow terminates or destroys is always a point. No matter how sharp the arrow is, it only penetrates an area with the same point. This is similar to the individualized meaning conveyed by "Lolita". This kind of meaning is aimed at the individual, and the individual is also destroyed. The meaning outside the individual is artificially derived from the audience, not directly given to the audience by the artwork itself.
And the crash of the plane must have happened on one face. Sometimes, its limbs will even fall apart, and the impact it forms is also vast. This is because at the beginning of the creation of the artwork, the meaning is aimed at the entire society. , The individual is just a fuse, and it will cause a very trembling explosion. Before it exploded, the creator had realized its power and looked forward to the scattering of this power. This is what "American Beauty" pursues.
How did this meaning of socialization come about?
Looking back at the movie, we will find that the creators designed the face at the beginning of the interpretation of the meaning, and this face is typical. Among them, the Lit family is a more general point, the marriage life is dull, and the internal crisis of the family This phenomenon is common in real life. The neighbor’s family is different. The neighbor’s family is a special point. The father is gay and loves violence, and the son is a problem young man. The wife walks in the shape of a corpse. Although this point is special, it has a certain degree of representativeness in modern society. The love between the neighbor's son and Jie'er is a point that constitutes a healthy marriage and love for young people. It has a traditional beauty, but in the face of modern times, it appears weak, weak, and anemic. Litte and Sizera are points of unhealthy relationships. Lite’s wife and boss constitute points of extramarital affairs. The accumulation of many points, interconnects, and crosses each other to form a face. This face is drawn by the development of multiple points, along with multiple lines extending out, and the movie is over, and this face is complete.
In a movie like "American Beauty", suspense is not important. What is important is how the meaning of the face and face is created. This creation is often preceded by the movie because it is quite complete. Instead of syncing with the movie. At the end of the movie, it is only to interpret and enrich this meaning with the help of images, and to give this meaning more vagueness and speculation through the images.
This also requires that suspense must give way to the atmosphere. When watching, we will find that the movie seems to be carried out in a prose style. The existence of multiple clues constantly interrupts the audience and continuously divides the audience’s attention to the understanding of an event. Many details should be very different. Things that are real and very close are blurred, and they are invisible and incomprehensible. It was not until the audience saw that the leading clue had ceased, that is, when the body was suddenly strangled after recovery, did they get the opportunity to reflect and organize themselves, and then they would come up with a clear and meaningful idea.
After clarifying the meaning and analyzing the meaning, the audience will understand that the original prose style is not meaningless, but a purposeful and step-by-step approach. While watching this movie, I also fell into a trap of meaning. The completion of the film narrative is also the accomplishment of the purpose of the trap. The meaning is buried in advance, but derived from the narrative of the film.
In my opinion, the difference in interpretation of meaning between "Lolita" and "American Beauty" actually reflects the two modes of the new movie to some extent. One mode is to use stories to find meaning; the other mode is to use meaning to structure stories.
The former embodies how the vulgar comes to melody the elegance, and the latter embodies how the elegance is expressed through the vulgar. The former embodies a kind of flattery, while the latter embodies a kind of playfulness.
These two methods are also the two most mainstream methods in the current exploration of film art. The former is popular and runs in line with tradition. It has certain meanings and connotations based on the commercial standpoint or the aesthetic requirements of the audience, but it does not extremeize these meanings and connotations. They are universal, easy to understand and can evoke beauty. Emotional; the latter is avant-garde, conceptualized, and cut off from tradition. They do not avoid one-sidedness, do not need to gain universal understanding, and do not assume the responsibility of calling for beautiful feelings. They are for some people. Therefore, the commercial consciousness is relatively weak. At the same time, this type of film also has a high degree of self-confidence. Because its concepts are avant-garde and complete, the power to implement these concepts is very strong.
From the perspective of discourse mode, the former discourse mode can be said to be an accumulative discourse mode, which reaches the core of meaning through continuous accumulation and experience, thus forming a power discourse. It starts from a weak place and then evokes a powerful In the constant incitement of this kind of feeling, he has made clear his own meaning. The latter is through the transplantation of discourse, implements discourse in a powerful or even violent way, and finally establishes the status of the original discourse. Its starting point is strong, and its narrative is desperate, even ignoring the audience directly from the creation. It is transplanted from the author, and finally returned to the beginning of the conception. The only space for the audience to participate in the construction of discourse is in some areas that are not clear or unclear in concept.
These two different modes of discourse have also triggered different aesthetic choices for the audience. As for who can get more, longer, and stronger support, whether they can distinguish between superiors and inferior ones remains to be tested by time.
2000's
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