2. If at the end the idealistic young Ed has no longer existed, can we say that this black "growth film" is about the destruction and defeat of idealism? Yes and no. Whether it is Ed or Mike in "The Godfather", their original idealistic "non-bloodthirsty" and "all or nothing" pursuit of absolute justice has been destroyed, but the idealistic Other parts, such as Ed's enmity, sense of justice, or Mike's love and protection of the family, are preserved. It can be said that the protagonist has completed the "realistic transformation" of idealism by selectively discarding and preserving some parts of idealism. This is the "maturity" that many "teachers" call. If not, idealism will be completely annihilated in the blood and blood of the real world.
3. If "L.A. Confidential" is only about "maturity", it is not enough to make me love it so much. Ed's "maturity" is not greasy, and the boundary between good and evil is vague and ambiguous. Even in the end, the core of Ed's soul is still justice. In short, retreat from procedural justice and seek result justice, and compromise from absolute justice to relative justice.
4. Procedural justice and result justice, absolute justice and relative justice are the two dimensions of justice. The third dimension of justice revealed in this film is hidden justice and explicit justice. Secret justice only pays attention to the personal significance of the fact that justice is done, and does not care whether this fact is known to the public. Explicit justice believes that justice must be known to the public. Only in this way can the ultimate goal of justice be achieved: to educate the public and strengthen social norms, making the concept of justice more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Obviously, at the beginning, Ed was a believer in explicit justice, but in the end, he began to pursue secret justice. We might as well ask ourselves, if everything we are doing now won’t be known to anyone in the end, will we stick to it? If the answer is no, then what we love may only be the meaning attached to this matter, rather than its personal meaning to us. This is the so-called "impurity." Ed is a "pure" person. In the end, he did not spend much effort to persuade others to believe in his story of justice, and even obediently participated in the construction of Smith's hypocritical persona as a "model hero." For Ed, it does not matter whether Smith is recognized by the public as a criminal, as long as the facts of justice can be realized and the "self" is remembered, it is enough. What is shown at the end of the film is this charming tension of taking on the "hidden truth" alone. This tension is reminiscent of Bruce Wayne, the Batman who is willing to be misunderstood by the world at the center of The Dark Knight.
Does Ed, who bear the "secret truth" alone, enjoy the "secret ecstasy" at the same time?
5. It is difficult to say whether Ed's change is progress or regression, but it is undeniable that Ed's mature is more charming. "Anything simple is boring, and only chaos and complexity are the infinite source of beauty." I like "L.A. Confidential" in large part because of the complexity that the protagonist shows in the end. This complexity is manifested in the coexistence and overlap of multiple levels of justice and evil, truth and lies, externally and internally. I don’t know if you have noticed that the last version of Ed 2.0 has become a composite of Ed, Jack and Bard at the beginning of the film: with a sense of justice, familiar with the world, and at the same time able to do whatever it takes. Idealistic youths are naive and innocent, and sleek and sophisticated "social people" are greasy and annoying. Only those who are skilled and pure, who can break the rules but stick to the bottom line, are the real "old guns." ", it's worthy of being taken care of.
The boiled water is monotonous and boring, and the bad wine is sour and difficult to drink. Only fine wine can become more stale and more fragrant.
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