Sorry, a headline party, but this is what I want to say the most. The following interpretation is only a personal point of view.
The tearing of "subject" and the sorrow of "success studies"
——Talk about the complex attributes of "City of Philharmonic"
"City of Philharmonic" has attracted considerable public opinion since its release. In addition to the relatively large number of praises, the criticism of the "success" dream created by Damian can be described as a point of view that cannot be ignored. From "no morality to obstruct watching movies" to "X life lacks", from "jazz picking up girls" teleology to "everywhere hypocrisy". Distinctly different perspectives of appreciation have brought different perspectives, and objectively they have also brought more possibilities for further exploration of this film.
Because of my special love for this film, I watched it 5 times in different theaters, different specifications, and locations in different regions. I personally think that it is possible to summarize "City of Philharmonic" as a thorough and successful reading book. Although there are fragments and sentences to follow, it cannot dominate the story area of the whole film; but it is fine to regard it as a beautiful dream-fulfilling story. Basically tolerates most of the plot, but it's not conventional and somewhat one-sided.
Damian Chazelle’s fans, of course, have appreciated the talent of this young director in his previous work "Burst Drummer". What "Blasting Drummer" presents is not only the acquisition of skills, but also the distinction between art, success and tools. From this, you can see Damian's complicated attitude towards art, dreams and success.
And with this as an intertextuality (a continuation of a multi-faceted attitude), the "City of Philharmonic" is also not a barren plane. My personal appreciation of this work lies in the three-dimensional presentation of this simple dream-catching story, in addition to the various gorgeous presentation forms. There is always another hidden power under the light singing and dancing and the dazzling light and shadow. It pulls me so that I can't really sink into joy and fantasy --and the final tragic ending is just the aftermath of this deep flow-- this feeling finally made me sure that it is not just a technical memorable. Works, and possesses quite deep current meaning. Personally, it reflects the tearing of the self-subjectivity of young dreamers in the process of integrating into the logic of capital in the current society (not just Hollywood) . This has nothing to do with the success of capitalism, but it is more like falling into it. lament.
1. The fundamental opposition between the consciousness of "subjectivity" and the theory of success
"Subject" here is different from "people with knowledge and practical ability" in the general sense. We can understand the meaning of "subject" here from the following statements of historical facts.
During the People’s Commune, all means of production became public. In the agricultural field, due to the one-size-fits-all distribution model, the enthusiasm of farmers has dropped significantly. In the industrial field, the decline in production enthusiasm was after the movement. Industry, as an assembly line operation method, determines the collective synchronicity of the same group of workers participating in labor, and the results of labor are already in a relatively stable structure (different from agriculture). At this time, when workers realize the nature of public ownership and the status of “master” in labor, the driving force they obtain in labor becomes this kind of “participation” with themselves as the “main body”. The status of being the master of the house makes labor itself a kind of self-construction of "subject", which has a more adequate motivation.
There is no doubt that the rash communist experiment ended in failure due to various reasons such as backward productivity. In the same way, we still cannot imagine what “free labor” in the true communist conception looks like. But this does not prevent us from understanding the meaning of "subject" from this historical process: laborers themselves are the masters of life, and labor itself becomes a process of self-realization, a nourishment for material and spiritual wealth-rather than the final result of labor Therefore, laborers treat labor with almost pure love and devotion.
In a society where the modernization process is advancing by leaps and bounds, the meaning of "subject" seems to have even more piercing practical significance. The consciousness of "subject" no longer becomes the main driving force of labor, and the "object" that is the object of labor (or the result of labor) becomes another invisible oppression that pushes people forward. More and more people are focusing on "goals" and "results", and the achievement of "goals" means the end of this labor process full of resentment and decadence. The end of a cycle means the beginning of a new cycle—and such a labor cycle no longer has a "participation" construction, and the "subject" is finally aphasic.
The reason is not difficult to express in the most popular language: I can't find a job I really like. After the process fails to achieve self-realization, the result becomes the only yardstick in fact. And the logic of capital quantifies the results, and quantifies the feelings of laborers participating in labor as they should-and finally all of this is incorporated into the social system. Most people are trapped by it and can no longer regain the sense of participation as a "subject".
In such a bleak reality, "Success Studies" came into being. It teaches workers to fundamentally integrate into the logic of the supremacy of "object", and through thousands of twists and turns, it spurs people to work hard for the ultimate fruit of capital operation-the name "success" is like this, and it is ultimately about "success" Methodology. The spiritual chicken soup contained in "Success Studies" is responsible for creating a false "subject" consciousness, allowing workers to further indulge in this logical chain-like a grinding donkey blindfolded and chasing close at hand The sound of bells.
Therefore, this kind of "subject" consciousness is fundamentally opposed to successology. In today's society, especially among young people who are still pursuing their own life positioning, the contradiction between these two forces is particularly prominent.
In the story of "City of Philharmonic", the story of Mia and Seb exactly shows the game of two logics and the social system that created this dilemma.
2.
The film shows quite typical public scenes at the beginning and the end : one is a traffic jam and group dancing on the highway, the other is a jazz club in Seb's.
The group dance on the highway expresses the strong "love" in the "City of Philharmonic" vividly and vividly through the body. Under the common call of music, everyone withdrew from the restless civilized discourse of "traffic jam". The entire highway is occupied by a flowing rainbow, strange and intimate connections are formed between strangers, and the singing and dancing steps of different skin colors and genders are performed in turn-as if it is a utopia suspended in the previous dilemma. And in
It called me to be on that screen
And live inside each scene
It happens to prove that they are called by this sacred "subject" consciousness to choose to be the protagonists of their lives (note that here is "choice" rather than "ability").
In this film, a grand virtual image is constructed : they, every vivid and unique person, are the masters of this "City of Philharmonic", and they have gained the experience of "subjectivity" in music.
And even when the answer's no
Or when my money's running low
The dusty mic and neon glow are all I need
Driven by this "subject" consciousness, the things you love become the core needs . As long as the sun rises every day, the master of life can continue this idealized surging passion.
*Say a lot, the first lyrics of the first song are spoiled at the end...
The film 's allusions about "host", "subject" and "home" are more than that. For example, when Seb sits at a small open-air round table, the background has a distinct "California" meaning. For example, Seb's sister (or not sister) used Seb's "home" as a way to invade Seb's "home" for the first time. "I love this", such as Mia entering the theater after escaping a dinner with her boyfriend and brother and standing in the middle of the screen. For example, Mia's one-man show is a farewell to her hometown. For example, after the failed premiere, Mia denied Seb's treatment of Los Angeles. The positioning of "home" turned to find the real "home" in Boulder City.
In the end of the film, Seb's Bar presents a scene that echoes the beginning: in a purer musical environment, blacks and whites talk and laugh vigorously, the relationship between Seb and the musicians is equal and close, and the customers and the server are gentle. Rhythm without alienation... Seb has constructed another miniature "City of Philharmonic" in Seb's.
However, the biggest difference lies in this-the miniature from the exterior scene at the beginning to the interior scene at the end. The ideal of utopia ended up only in this underground jazz tavern. Music gives the final destination, but the sense of belonging of this "subject" ultimately cannot be extended to a broader picture of life beyond art.
Therefore, from the perspective of the public ideal of the "city", what kind of retreat has it experienced? How does this retreat spread the metaphor through Mia and Seb? This is the question to be discussed later.
Three,
The scenes of "Someone In The Crowd" were filmed extremely accurately. A song contains the ups and downs of Mia's psychology, and at the same time, for the first time, it embarks on an intriguing description of the world of Los Angeles.
Mirror images in movies generally represent the multiple faces or even divisions of the characters. Two mirror images of Mia appeared in just seven minutes, which clearly portrayed Mia's "subject" in a shaken state. For the first time, Mia took a shower and changed clothes after the audition failed. The "subject" consciousness could not be recognized by the outside is still the fruitless bleakness of "success"; the second time, Mia was at a party where "Hollywood routines" and "humanity" were intertwined. Being left out in the cold and exhausted physically and mentally.
"Someone In The Crowd" can interpret two meanings. On the one hand, it is Bole who recognizes the "subject" nature, and on the other hand, it is a fellow person who also has the consciousness of "subject". The description of this paragraph is obviously a double aphasia in the vision of the "subject".
Mia is not a socialite who can walk freely among drunken fans. Pushing the cup to change, the fireworks whirled, the crowd finally jumped into the pool, and Mia's world had fallen.
Later in the story, there is still a description of the first layer of "someone", and almost every possible Bole uses a prestigious posture to measure Mia's "subjectivity" with a predetermined ruler-even incomplete, only a few seconds. The "main body" of the clock. They are people of a higher class in this social system. They all adopt an evaluation system based on the final "object" that is the performance result in the audition. System)-This kind of evaluation system may not come from their original intention, but it is the easiest and fastest way to achieve the goal under the conditions of "success studies". In this process, the "subject" characteristics of the participants themselves have not been truly extended and realized.
In the course of several auditions, the very typical dress changes reflected the identity narrative and psychological changes. The most obvious is the jacket . Mia wrapped herself in a blue jacket after the shirt was stained, and immediately opened the zipper after the first audition-caught in the elevator between two successful people with glamorous clothes; In the "second time" (especially the second round of the TV series) audition, Mia was rejected immediately after less than five seconds of acting and kicked off the red jacket. In such an audition, Mia always needs that jacket. The layers of depression it symbolize prevents her from verifying the meaning of "subject", and thus cannot obtain true "free labor". In addition, Mia's smile when talking with people at the social cocktail party is exactly the same as the smile squeezed out after the second audition failed, which can be seen as the trajectory of Mia's psychological changes.
Throughout the whole film, the first level of "someone" can also be extended to the meaning of "other", which includes the upper level "other" impregnated by the logic of success, as well as "the other" under the influence of consumerism. The crowd who don’t respect anything. They stare at the "subject" of the two invisibly, and ultimately constitute the control of the retreat of the "subject" and the penetration of "Successology".
On the other hand, "someone" corresponds to the pursuit of love based on like-minded people. The biggest difference from the first layer is that it is basically the extension and realization of the "main body".
4. &
Mia and Seb's love is based on mutual confirmation after being overwhelmed by "Success Studies". Love is the process by which the two people's "subject" consciousness is fully released in the whole story-not only for the cause they love, but also for love itself.
In my personal movie-watching experience, apart from the final fantasy montage, the most moving scene is that Mia ran away from the restaurant to the cinema. The petals flying in the night are of course a psychological mapping. But in retrospect, I can't even be sure whether the music Mia heard in the restaurant is real, maybe it is also a projection of Mia's subconscious "subject" pursuit. Mia escaped from the restaurant and even stood in front of the screen regardless of public morality. The two sneaked into the planetarium late at night to become the new protagonists of the old movie-this is another kind of "unreasonable rebellion . " Not to mention the volley imagination: the dance steps in the city of stars belong only to the two in love, and they have achieved the ultimate romantic realization of the "subject" in this unannounced defection.
Another song in the film
5.
City of stars
Are you shining just for me?
City of stars
There's so much that I can't see
...
City of stars
You've never shined so brightly
Although the song finally returned to eulogize the dream and the "city" where it was, it is undeniable that this kind of self-realization revealed the panic. And this is just the epitome of all Los Angeles dream chasers. The self "subject" abstracted by their love converges into this starry city, and all the stars long for the mutual reflection of light.
In Seb's house, the two sang this song together for the first time. Inserted in the middle is a montage of the process of "chasing dreams" between the two. Before that, it was Seb's lyrics:
Think I want it to stay
Here the song once again assumes the task of reverse suggestion . In the following paragraph, the dream journey of Mia and Seb has already split. Although Mia has concerns about attendance, debt, etc., she still realizes herself with her "subject" as the center, and performance is still her favorite. Ingrid Bergman’s poster was unveiled. On the one hand, it is a new expectation. On the other hand, it represents Mia’s work on the fruits of her work in the process of busying her one-man drama-that is, the final " The downplay of the "object" object.
Seb's life is in stark contrast to this. After joining Keith's orchestra, his personal wishes have been constantly eroded. Before joining the orchestra, the film presents a narrative of clothing similar to Mia's jacket: Seb puts on a tie, listening to Mia outside the room explaining their current situation to his parents, his eyes staying on the corner of the room's water-stained ceiling. In the interlude montage, Seb signed the contract, accepted the "measurement" of the clothing customization company, and recorded the seemingly calm but embarrassing video on the website.
After singing the song, the two of them are still immersed in the deep affection. And two almost completely opposite dream pursuits determined the split under the same Ecstasy light. The dispute between the two focused on whether Seb's dream is his own. The confirmation of the dual "subject" in dreams and love is a sufficient and necessary condition for this relationship to be maintained. Mia perceives Seb's sinking in his dream journey-falling into the closed loop of "recording new songs-tour-recording new songs" and even almost abandoning the idea of a jazz bar-thus repeatedly emphasizing the "ownership" attitude towards dreams. And Seb's rebuttal proves his inner "success" logic at this time: your love is only for the satisfaction of your "subject", and I am a person who knows "flexibility" and can ultimately achieve "success". At the dinner table, it is the confrontation between "subject" consciousness and "success", which also determines the disintegration of this relationship.
Next, the most important turning point of the whole film appeared in the story. Mia was selected by Brandt for an audition. The mode of this audition is completely different from the past. The model of creating with the actor himself as a ruler is a confirmation of the "subject". The free choice of actors has been elevated to an unprecedented height, and the actors themselves also need to feedback the realization of the "subject"-to some extent, its meaning is even somewhat similar to the imagined communist "free labor". Compared with the previous clothing narratives of Mia, she has no cumbersome coats or high heels at this time, which coincides with the labor model with the core concepts of "subject" and "participation". The song
She smiled,
Leapt, without looking
And tumble into the Seine
...
Her, and the snow, and the sand
The same act of "diving" , jumping into the icy Seine River alone constitutes a completely different metaphor from the competing influx in the previous cocktail party. The behavior of Aunt (not vaguely translated here) has a direct guiding effect on Mia. If the leaping into the previous social cocktail party was a kind of sinking in an object that cannot be sympathized with, leaping into the Seine is to choose to blend into it like snowflakes and gravel and truly become the "subject" of the Seine. The snowflakes, mud and sand at the bottom of the Seine and the stars of Los Angeles all imply a certain voice from the lower class of society. Mia sings the story of "someone", but it is also her own story.
Sky with no ceiling
Sunset inside a frame
...
A bit of madness is key
to give us new colors to see
Who knows where it will lead us?
And that's why they need us,
So bring on the rebels
The ripples from pebbles
The painters, and poets, and plays
Layers of "ceiling" have been set up in the environment of "Success Learning", which echoes the corners that Seb has focused on before, and points to the solidified capital logic and social class. The setting sun in the frame and the "California" advertisement in the background when Seb is sitting alone convey the praise of the "subject" . The upholding of the "subject" is the only revolutionary way of breaking through and "rebelling." In the environment of "Success Studies", insisting on the "subject" is undoubtedly "childish" and "crazy"-all these are just small ripples when the "pebbles" collide with each other, and these ripples converge into the final The Seine.
I trace it all back,
to that
Her, and the snow, and the sand
Smiling through it
She said
She'd do it, Again
Ultimately, what needs to be "backtracked" is also the real "subject" consciousness. The image processing of this song restores Mia's "subject" to a certain extent: abandoning the dazzling montage, handing over the role to the actor himself, and simply surround the close-up long shot . Even from the performance of Sister Stone, we can see the expressions that are a bit exaggerated and uncomfortable under normal circumstances-and this is the "subject" itself with a true self and rebellious complex. It is the beauty of variety and even roughness that is presented in the process of the realization of "subject". The sand and the foam sang and danced, and they still chose to jump into it.
In the subsequent dialogue, Mia hopes that Seb's dream "subject" consciousness will return on the one hand, and on the other hand she is still eager to find her own "subject" of love. Therefore, it is almost logical for them to recombine at this moment, but the following story is unexpected.
6.
The similar melody of
However, when the two are reunited with known conditions, the "subject" and the two are about to be realized-it is difficult for us to imagine this sudden separation. What happened in "Winter" and "Five Years"?
Before answering this question, we may be able to start with another question: Whose is the dream of
How we hope this is the shared vision of the two. But in fact, this argument seems to be hardly supported by the audience's wishful thinking.
From a rigid logic, the journey from Mia's home to the bar in the last dream is not a memory that the two can share but only Mia's. In addition, we can also measure, when hearing this melody that strongly calls the "subject" consciousness, who will be more deeply touched?
It is not difficult to see from the film that Seb finally returned to the original dream track. The small utopia of the jazz bar is a field where the "subjects" of different people are released and blended. In addition to love, Seb's "subject" feeling can be said to run through his current life. And Mia's situation does not seem to be the same.
We might as well start again from Mia's clothing narrative and psychological changes . Five years later, when Mia came out, he was very noble and even oppressive high heels. In the process of buying coffee that we all knew before, we could not see anything other than the same etiquette. However, as soon as Mia returned home, she took off her high heels, her dignified face no longer, replaced by a relaxed and tired smile... Did Mia not live the promised "subject" life?
Back to this parallel time and space: the key difference from reality comes from the change of Seb, but the change of Seb is Mia's psychological compensation; and the other changes are mainly the strengthening of Mia's "subject" (such as full Audience). Then we may explore the following possibilities in the blank story:
Although Mia was recognized by the "subject" in the "second round" audition, the general environment of "Someone In The Crowd" remained unchanged. In the initial period of the blank, Seb was still working in the band. This "subject" dislocation could not be easily bridged, so the two broke up. After that, Seb returned to his previous dream path, and finally found a way of working to realize the "subject". Although Mia is famous, she will inevitably continue to struggle in the previous system measured by "object" and "outcome"-her "subject" still cannot be fully realized.
At this time, it is probably not Seb that needs a dream as compensation, but Mia.
This is already the case. They finally embarked on the road of forking. Mia is caught in the net of the social system, and Seb is still alone despite being immersed in free labor. Compared to five years ago, the "subject" situation of the two seems to have been replaced by fate. In the end, the two looked at each other and smiled, Mia seemed to re-see the vision realized by the "subject", and Seb started a new movement with the beat.
I'm afraid there is no more "complete" ending than the separation of the two. The confrontation between "subject" and "success studies", the melancholy of "subject" in the wave of "success studies", and the longing for "subject" that still needs to be further realized are all done in the final heavy smile.
The content of "City of Philharmonic" does not lie in its innovativeness, but in its meticulous presentation and expression of the realistic and representative stories of this contemporary youth group, and arranges the dreams in it appropriately. Proportion to tragedy. From this, we can't cover the creator's value orientation in general, but we can read the contradiction that is engulfed by the two forces immersively.
I will still be moved by a line from Mia:
I've seen better.
What is a better scenery? The film did not give a complete answer. Perhaps it is that the “subject” of the self is always in the process of chasing and realizing without the ultimate, perhaps it is that this starry city composed of different “subjects” still has more possibilities—not just confined to music. middle.
Perhaps this is also the meaning of "City of Philharmonic" for myself, and the further exploration of it is also a constant confirmation of the existence of my own "subject".
*All pictures are from your petals
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Fengying Film "City of Philharmonic": The tearing of "subject" and the sorrow of "Success Studies"
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