In a sophomore psychology class, everyone discussed the role that most people play in society, in the final analysis, whether it is a well-adapted slave (tame slave). At that time, I, even in college, thought that even so, being a gentle slave is not so bad; because life is already hard enough, if only by strictly observing a set of social rules, you can be safe. It would be a smart choice to spend a lifetime. As a student, I spent 16 years familiarizing myself with the relatively simple rules in the school environment, and thus became a person who is often rewarded for following the rules. But after graduating, I found that the rules of the real world were much more complicated than I thought. From this, I changed from a gentle slave to a perplexed slave, and I was beaten for my perplexity. When I think about the question discussed in the psychology class that year, I can no longer give a definite answer.
I watched the movie "Joker" twice in a row, and thought this movie gave an answer. In the first half of the film, Arthur, who has not yet become a "clown", tries hard to play the role of "tame slave", but he will never be able to abide by the social rules, not because he doesn't want to, but because he can not. As a low-level person suffering from mental illness, he cannot escape the fate of being marginalized. When we define mental illness, one of the principles is that mental illness is abnormal. And this abnormality caused Arthur to be unable to understand and express emotions like a "normal person"; he would laugh when he was in pain, attracting strange eyes from others. If people who can comply with social rules are defined as "normal", and those who cannot adapt to social rules are regarded as "abnormal", then most normal people cannot understand individuals who seem abnormal. ; In other words, the existence of social rules deepens the estrangement and separation between people, making it almost impossible to understand people who are different from themselves. As Arthur said, "The biggest difficulty of mental patients is that people expect the patient to behave like a normal person" (to the effect).
The image of the clown, I think, is a metaphor about "individual alienation". The clown has facial features and limbs like ordinary people, but the clown’s facial features are hidden under layers of oil paint; the clown’s exaggerated facial expressions and body movements make him look human and inhuman, so the uncanny valley theory can also be used Explain the weirdness of the image of the clown. In the film, Arthur was beaten by strangers twice. In these two encounters, he was dressed as a clown; it seems that after becoming a clown, Arthur was not seen by others. It's another person, so the violence and malice that people have toward him no longer seem to be constrained by morality. It can be imagined that before this, Arthur, who was dressed as a clown because of his work, had been beaten countless times. Generally speaking, Arthur’s alienation is from the inside out, and his mental illness has caused him to be internally alienated—he is destined to be unable to gain the understanding and sympathy of others; and his clown appearance reflects his external appearance. alienation. In this “cold and dark” city, Arthur has never enjoyed the most basic respect and warmth that a normal person has; this is an inherent right for most people, but for Arthur It is a luxury. Therefore, when he finally met the mayor who might be his biological father, he said, "All I want is a hug, a little warmth and kindness-Dad!" (to the effect); however, the answer to him was cold. Punch.
In this way, Arthur's life seems to be a hopeless tragedy. However, the film has beautifully completed the transition from tragedy to comedy. The key is that Arthur finally realizes the absurdity and meaninglessness of the social rules that he has tried to abide by for many years. Arthur, who lost his job and was completely out of touch with society, first knocked the timer symbolizing order and rules off the wall. And in the climax of the end of the film, Arthur said, "I killed the three people on the subway, and I don’t want to pretend that it’s not funny anymore... You decide whether it’s funny or not, and you decide right or wrong. " (main idea). I think that "you" here does not refer to any person or government, but human society in the abstract sense. I think that linguistically speaking, the connection between words and word meanings is random and meaningless. For example, the word "tree" is used to describe the kind of green, bifurcated objects-which in itself is totally unreasonable. , And humans have given the meaning of the word, so "tree" has become a tree. What Arthur is discussing is the illogical and meaninglessness of social rules: Why are some words considered humorous and some not humorous? Why are the lives of Wall Street young people considered valuable, while the lives of the low-level people are not cared about? These questions can be attributed to: Is the artificially defined morality reasonable?
The role of the clown was born outside of human society, so it will not be constrained by human morality. But in fact, the clown’s world is not completely chaotic and disorderly. He follows his own set of moral standards: he kills the people (colleagues and foster mothers) who have hurt him in the most brutal way, and treats him weaker than himself. Yes—or the dwarfism colleagues who are on the margins of society like him are extra gentle. One scene I like very much in the film is that when the clown found that the dwarf wanted to escape but looked at the deadly horrible corpse, he said softly, "Don't look over there" (to the effect), and Before letting go of the dwarf, he leaned down and kissed his forehead. In this scene, the gentleness he showed his father to his children is exactly what he has always longed for but never experienced.
I think the biggest difference between Joaquin Phoenix’s clown and Heath Ledger’s clown is that the latter is active between chaos and disorder ("I am an agent of chaos."), while the former breaks the existing social order. , And created his own order; therefore, he has the right to judge and rule like a god, so he will say when shooting a comedy star, "This is what you deserve" (to the effect). This is not to say that the rules set by the clown are more reasonable and noble than the original rules of society. I think what the film wants to express is the absurdity and meaninglessness of the rules themselves; in other words, anyone can make the rules, the mayor or the clown. As ordinary people, our tragedy lies in the fact that we have given too much meaning and value to these originally meaningless rules, and we are ultimately tired of these meanings and values. When we realize the truth of these rules, we will probably ask like clowns: "Why so serious?"
However, most people are not clowns after all, and they cannot complete the clown-style self-salvation. I think the terrible thing about social rules is that most people can get some benefits by following the rules, and these benefits make us not motivated enough to break the rules and continue to be enslaved by the rules for a lifetime. I want to change Zhang Ailing's words slightly to express another meaning: In the life of ordinary people, no matter how good they are, they are also acting as "tame slaves." I believe that if Arthur is not a complete "insulted and harmed person", but becomes a comedy star as he hopes-or even just gains more love and understanding, then he will Willing to be a gentle slave for a lifetime.
There is a very suitable example, that is, the horse male PoJack. If "Joker" is a comedy dressed in tragedy, then "BoJack Horseman" must be a tragedy dressed in comedy. The tragedy of BoJack is that even though he is aware of the absurdity and irrationality of social rules like the clown, he still chooses to struggle with it; although he does not know the final direction of the plot, it seems that BoJack still chooses to treat his own psychological problems. , Choose to be a normal person again.
I am very grateful for this type of tragicomedy, which allowed me to see the different trends and possibilities in my life-those paths that I want to choose, but can never choose.
(The original text was published on the personal WeChat public account)
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