In 1828, a barbarian of unknown origin appeared in the town. His appearance has launched a challenge to human civilization that cannot be ignored.
This savage has almost no training, has little knowledge of language, and can't even stand and walk alone. In terms of abilities, he is like a newborn baby. He was examined and cross-examined by the captain in the stable, after which the poor wildling Garth Hopper was taken to a room where he could be watched (it's not an exaggeration to call it a prison). People checked him in all directions, stabbed him with swords, set him on fire, and then said with confidence: "It seems that he has no awareness of the danger, and he will not cause harm to us."
After making sure Garth Hopper wouldn't be a hazard to them, the captain eased his supervision on him. A kind-hearted family took him in, and since then, people have naturally started the discipline of Gasheber. They demanded that Garth Hober must sit at a table and learn to eat with utensils. The little boy taught him to speak, and the little girl taught him to sing nursery rhymes. But Gasherb doesn't seem to be happy, and every day he spends with humans doesn't seem to be happy. Only when he was lying on the window feeding the birds did he smile happily. After being bullied by a group of boys, Garth Hopper came to the crib and cried as he picked up the baby. He said "I stay away from everything", trying to escape this horrible place where people can get hurt.
The people at the bottom tried their best to make fun of him, full of ridicule and hurt, and Gashobo escaped as a matter of course.
A scholar adopted him and spent two years teaching him to speak and write, to teach him to live like a "normal person", but Gashoeb was still unhappy. He has been in the process of being disciplined and educated. People forced him to believe in God, to repeat prayers before meals; to tell him that logic was reasoning, not description, and that even if he did not understand, he could not explain the problem without logic. Even after that, an earl wanted to adopt him just to show his kindness, and Gashobo was forced to perform a series of "performances" in front of everyone to show his "talents", and was scrutinized and criticized by everyone. laugh at. He was overwhelmed by civilization, and he fled again, like rushing out of a church full of ghosts.
Different from the physical torture of the people at the bottom, the human beings of the higher classes carried out more spiritual oppression on him. Just like the physical punishment in the late Middle Ages, because of the advancement of civilization, he was changed to physically normalize and normalize the discipline, but in the end it was still oppression.
It can be said that their discipline was a failure, and Garth Hopper did not become the "normal person" they expected to be. But on the other hand, they were successful. At the end of the film, the recorder is thrilled to discover a great "fact" - the savage's brain and liver are abnormal, and the reason why he can't be domesticated is that he is sick, not us.
In his later life with scholars, Gasshobo was like an "outsider" who suddenly broke into a civilization, and he looked at it from the perspective of a bystander.
He challenges the existing rules of social civilization, why women can only cook and knit sweaters? He questioned the truth, "Apple is wise, he jumped over his feet"; he never obeyed God, and did not do pre-dinner prayers, "I need to learn to read and write first before I can understand your faith." These questions shocked and frightened mankind. Unwilling to put the rules of society in doubt, the mysterious killer wants to get rid of him anyway. Killing him is his punishment, like a teacher teaching a child who doesn't follow the rules.
In this social rule, everyone is disciplined. When asked why women can only knit sweaters, the maid said "you have to ask the man". Discipline "makes" the individual, and women are disciplined to be women. The boy who became blind was disciplined as an optimistic example of not losing hope in life and playing the piano all day. Even if no one can see a trace of happiness from him, it is more sadness and helplessness. The emotion in his music even made Garth Hober feel "old".
In the beginning, people's domination of Garth Hober was only to let him learn to live a "normal" life. As his language and writing skills improved, he began to be asked to pray before meals, to write biographies that others liked to read, and to be used as an object to show his talents in front of the count's guests. The more power he becomes, the more domination he has over him, and disciplinary coercion establishes in the body a limited link between power and power.
We too, live in discipline. Although the director tried his best to use a calm and objective lens to separate the audience from the world in the film, I could still feel the desperation of Garth Hooper and the infinite pain behind the silent tears.
During the summer vacation, I was arranged to attend a training. They brought together more than 100 student cadres across the province for closed training. The daily schedule of listening to lectures, taking exams, and preparing for the final theatrical performance into this environment felt overwhelming. Inflamed students, meticulously dressed teachers, the more they tried to discipline me mentally, the more I wanted to escape.
Although it is only a week, when I think back to the summer vacation in 2019, it seems that most of it was spent in concentration camps. Gasheber felt that the chants sounded like ghosts, refused to speak during prayers, and I used all kinds of methods to resist silently. Pretend to be sick and do not participate in group activities, refuse to participate in performances, browse websites they call "ideological poisoning of students" during class, and refute their interpretations of some questions in a low voice. Hand in a scribbled test paper. When taking the group photo, I stared at the camera with indifferent eyes, and I was helplessly resisting that only I knew.
But I have a kind of loss that I can't integrate into the collective. Even in the defense of the scholarship, I still need to release this breathless experience and praise it with beautiful words to show my loyalty. I am a contradictory being disciplined and wanting to resist.
I have never understood why the outside world has such a bad reputation for the student union, and the original intention of joining is just that it is very interesting to organize activities. I used to think that all regulations and education were necessary, but when every "why?" of my sentence was dismissed as "probable ideological problems", every resistance of mine was dismissed as "not in line with the rules" "When they were suppressed, I would always be ashamed of being the student council president, and even had the same thought as Garth Hober: "It's a terrible fall for me to live in this world."
Garth Hober didn't give in until his death, but I'm pessimistic that I'll be tamed eventually. Like the black bears in the circus who have the ability to resist humans. Even if I really don't want that day to come.
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