After reading "Mr. Streeter's Story" for the first time, I immediately re-read it the next morning. After watching it again, I usually either like this kind of movie or I don't understand it. I think "Mr. Streeter's Story" accounts for both. I like it because I think this movie made me rethink the state of being "old". I didn't understand it because I was entangled in some small details and metaphors, and I always felt that I lacked some knowledge to interpret. One of the most interesting to me is the "deer" element.
one. Deer in the
movie Deer appeared many times in the movie, and some of them can't really "appear". My friends think that I understand it too much, but I still think it has some meaning of interpretation.
The first time I think it happened was when Street was returning to town to buy a new lawnmower. The movie gives a close-up of the lawnmower's brand "John Deere". Deere and Deer have the same pronunciation. Later, when I looked up information, the official translation of this company was Deere Corporation. There was a translation called "Jiang Deer" before, and the company's logo was a deer. If it weren't for the placement of advertisements, (I believe the director has a reason for this arrangement, of course, if it is an advertisement placement, it is also a very good placement.
The second time the deer appeared was the female driver who hit the deer on the road , this part is actually very tense and weird. It is a very conflicting part in this slightly dull movie. The words of this woman are also very intriguing. At least one deer is killed every week, no matter what method is used to avoid it. No, it's like repeating a nightmare that never wakes up. It's starting to feel a little weird here.
The third time came right after the second, when Street was roasting venison in the evening, suddenly There are a lot of deer around Street. This scene is both true and false. If it is true, it can be interpreted as a sculpture in an abandoned reserve. If it is false, it includes the woman who hit the deer in front of it. The driver's scene can be considered unreal. The
fourth and immediately before, the camera starts with the antlers of Street hanging on the car, and this time the lawn mower he is riding on is like a deer.
The fifth appearance is of the ashtray Street used to smoke while waiting for the lawnmower to be repaired while living in someone else's house, and the camera gives a close-up.
Because of the dullness of the movie, it can magnify every detail, intentional or unintentional close-up and preference for a certain element, which may be the director's personal preference, but I think it can also help us interpret the story in the movie.
two. The story in the movie
I think if Street is the protagonist, there should be two stories in the movie. The first is the story of him sitting on the lawnmower to visit his brother, and the second is that Street accidentally killed a comrade-in-arms during World War II. After hiding this secret for many years, the story was finally told during the journey. While it looks like the whole movie is a start-to-finish story, I think the story told in the bar conversation is more important, the story that enriches the "road trip" and makes Street a lot more .
three. Stories about deer
After watching the movie, I went back to find western legends and stories about deer. Because there is no rich knowledge reserve, this process is not very easy. In the stories I found, the most closely related deer is Artemis (corresponding to Diana in Roman mythology), the moon in Greek mythology The goddess is a symbol of hunting, but in the myths associated with her, deer are the victims, the target of slaughter. Likewise, in the story of the famous hero Hercules, the capture of the doe of Keryne is his third feat.
In fact, when it comes to legends related to deer, the first thing that comes to my mind is the story of the nine-color deer. I didn't think about it before, and I wanted to find Western myths and stories. Later, I suddenly thought about the meditation of David Lynch mentioned by the teacher, so I felt that the story of the nine-colored deer and Mr. Street's story can be compared and understood. of.
Nine-colored deer is a story about rescue and betrayal. Nine-colored deer rescued Tiaoda when his life was in danger, but when the queen wanted nine-colored deer fur, Tiaoda betrayed nine-colored deer in front of interests. Of course, in the end, nine-colored deer Selu was not captured, and Tiaoda died of shame and indignation after being questioned by the nine-colored deer. The king finally ordered that the nine-colored deer not be captured. Comparing with the secrets that Street told in the bar, he accidentally killed the scout comrades who had helped them a lot, the appearance and implied meaning of the deer are obvious.
Looking for so many stories is nothing more than trying to prove that there are many details in this peaceful film worth deciphering, and it is these details that make this film not poor and thin in my opinion.
Four. Understanding of Deer in Movies In
almost all stories, deer are kind and harmless, sometimes the victim and sometimes the savior. The teacher mentioned in class that this is not a typical road movie, because it has nothing to do with self-growth. In my opinion, it is more like self-redemption and self-forgiveness. It's a movie about "old age", no doubt, so why is it about deer, I've been wondering since I watched the movie. What does a deer stand for, and what does a dead deer stand for?
I think the deer is first and foremost a comrade-in-arms in Street's story. In Street's memory, he was a scout who helped them ensure safety on the battlefield, but was killed by his own comrades manslaughter. Street says in the movie that all his brothers have so young faces while he is old. So whenever I recall it, it is guilt and pain. Why do some people survive and some people die early? When they were young, they fought for the country and peace, and they also had a longing for life and a longing for the future. However, in the future, already old, but suddenly lost the desire to live, so began to doubt the former self, and hate the current self. But in the end, we have to reconcile with ourselves. When we tell the truth, we have to face the fact that we passively choose life and death, and passively accept old age. Sin Street survived, growing old in secret misery.
Secondly, the deer is still a savior, and the savior in the movie is Street himself. When you're old and you're labelled as needing to be cared for and cared for, suddenly there is no connection to pleasure, sex and adventure, and when you're about to die, it seems that everything is acceptable and Excuse me. But Street couldn't accept it. He can't accept this kind of rigid relationship with his younger brother because of his own body. He can't accept that because it's an old man who accepts help from others as a matter of course, and he can't accept that no one knows the darkest side of his heart even after he grows old. , the scariest secret. So he hit the road. He just accomplished a small thing, he just faced himself. What saves him is his own essential goodness, which has not yet been labeled by society, bound by morality that has not yet been constructed.
The deer may also represent youthful life, and the deer that was struck and killed represent premature death. I once sighed with emotion for the young lost lives, they will never grow old, they will always be regrettable, and they will always stay in the best time. I don't think about the young lives lost - Kurt Cobain, Amy Winehouse, or Van Gogh or Raphael. It seems that the death of young people is more heartbreaking, and the mistakes of young people are more easily forgiven, because they should have time and a lot of future, and people still have hope for them. But when you die in old age, it is different. Your long and not wonderful life is spread out, and the audience has already lost patience. It seems that only the stain can be noticed. Therefore, young life is a deer, which is loved and cherished, and only when death is unbearable.
five. For other details and old age
, when I watched the movie for the second time, I made some scattered records, such as how many elderly people appeared, how many children appeared, how many times the starry sky appeared, how many thunderstorms appeared, Or how many times long takes have appeared. These records led me to discover some interesting details.
For example, children appear very rarely, middle-aged people are the most, followed by elderly people, almost as many as middle-aged people. Maybe the director wants to simulate a more exaggerated elderly society. There is also an interesting phenomenon among the elderly. The female elderly appeared on the bus on the return journey of Streeter. Except for the male elderly, I think "sex" is also concerned with the elderly. Problems that must not be ignored when surviving the state. In addition to the role of transition, I think the appearance of the starry sky is also a space for the audience's emotions and thinking.
I rarely think about the state of "aging" seriously, maybe it's an escape, telling myself that I must die before I grow old and live forever young. Like most people, I am more afraid of old age than of death. I thought about it carefully, the state of old age is a state in which it is difficult to recreate memories and can only digest memories. Those past events, good or bad, are like water from a broken faucet, leaking a little from time to time, the tired body can no longer easily accomplish what it wants to do, and the people I know leave one by one, loneliness has become the norm, and it seems that Forever out of touch with the mainstream culture, new things start to become irrelevant to themselves. Yu Hua wrote: Death is not the loss of life, it is just out of time. I was shocked, when I thought about it again, I found that when you are old, you have started to step out of time, death is just a proof, a button, when you lose your patience, press it.
Street said
The worst thing about being old is remembering that you was young.
The film's star, Richard Farnsworth, shot himself at 80 the year after the film was released. With a grief in my heart, I couldn't help but think of Street's fate. I don't know if he will always think of the deer, or if he will continue on the road.
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