In this 29-minute short play, I don't intend to go into details about who is the "split personality", but I want to do some analysis on every symbolic meaning in it.
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First of all beggars.
Obviously, the beggar is the devil incarnate. When the actor Tom invited him in, the doodle on the workbook was a demon.
This demon doesn't suck your blood or drive you crazy, he represents a person's inner depravity. This kind of depravity is rarely seen in a normal person under normal circumstances. The protagonist in the short film has fallen because of two situations, one is the gap between his actual work and his ideal, and the other is the blow to him caused by the death of his wife.
When the male protagonist Tom said that his job - a language teacher - needed to constantly grade and write comments for students, it was boring and meaningless for him, the devil came to ring the doorbell. Because of the typical British love of face, the language teacher gave in step by step, and finally let the beggar Migg live in his home. It is not so much a beggar as a devil. This devil sees the desire and inertia in your heart. It sees your soft heart and your love for face. Enter your clean house and sit on your clean sofa. That threshold is actually your last bottom line: once it steps in, it will be difficult for you to invite it out; once you allow the beggar to be filthy, you will continue to let him make trouble.
Migg talks to him about work while drinking: Your job must be well paid, right? The language teacher said yes, not bad, but not what I really wanted to do. He wanted to be a writer, and the writer he admired most was a beggar who happened to be born. The first step for the Chinese teacher to accept the beggar was because he knew the writer. Once a person—whatever he is, once he is connected to your dreams, he begins to be noble and acceptable. Because the writers he admires were also once beggars, he thinks this depravity may be a shortcut to his dreams.
The first step that Migg made Tom make a change was to let him give up doing something he had to do, such as making up for mistakes - he was late for work, and Migg advised him not to work so hard to get there, but to simply call in sick. Then play games with him, drink, do whatever is easy, play games endlessly, relax endlessly. Delete all messages, all job invitations, all concerns, all contacts with relatives and friends. Then let him quit his job as a primary school Chinese teacher who was "naive and unable to show his ability", and stayed at home, lying in bed and writing essays every day. Slowly, something went wrong in his life - dirty dishes piled up in the kitchen, flies all over the place, not going to shower, not doing anything, not having a job, not willing to make any effort for that job, just waiting for relief Kim - he has given up everything. On his birthday, there was no birthday card, and everyone forgot about him. "I'm out of touch with society," he said.
If we regard Migg as the fallen demon in our heart, you will find that when a person chooses to fall, he will unknowingly give up a lot of things, and while giving up, he is also lost in life and does not know life The meaning of , eventually becomes like a beggar, with nothing.
At the same time, the beggar Migg, through "staying" in his home, went to the relief station to find a job, and gradually got better day by day. Tom saw the comparison between himself and him, and his heart was very unbalanced. He satirized that when he first arrived at his house, he was still a stinky beggar who had to wash three layers of dirt off his body. Migg glared at him fiercely: "You can't criticize me, you don't have the right to criticize me." It's nothing but irony. In this state of life, no matter whether you are a beggar or not, you are actually the same as a beggar.
At worst, his room was cluttered with wine bottles and rubbish, he refused any invitations from friends, and was completely cut off in the cold winter because he owed electricity bills. At this point, his life was completely swapped with the beggar Migg. The well-dressed former beggar Migg has now found a new job with considerable income. He gave tom 20 pounds, just like tom gave him 40 pounds for pity he was a beggar. At this time his wife came in and told him: "There is no Migg here at all, he is just an existence you imagined to fight against reality." And the only way to fight this demon is to kill him completely and drive him out of your house. brain.
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Followed by the wife.
His wife is a very realistic and hard-working person, who can recognize her talent and know that she cannot become a great actor, but she is willing to perform little-known scripts. Therefore, the role of a wife is actually the embodiment of positive energy and hard work.
And this is also what Tom despised at the beginning. Until he completely degenerates, he didn't think highly of his wife's job. He thought that the obscure job was just like his primary school teacher's job. , not a dream.
In the thrilling ending, Tom killed the "devil", and relied on his belief in his wife to regain his face to face life. That is to say, the only thing that can bring people back on the right track is a little bit of positive energy from small things.
No matter which one he imagined, "beggar" or "wife", what I prefer to believe is that once the person who has been supporting you is gone, your soul can easily be taken advantage of by demons. I remember a metaphor, the dementors in Harry Potter. Dementors will pick those who are fragile and are going through hardships, suck their souls, and turn them into a numb, unable to take care of themselves. . At this time, the only way to defeat the Dementor is to summon the patron saint in his heart, the stag.
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Finally the writer.
The writer represents Tom's dream. He wanted to be a writer, and from obscure and then famous writers made him feel that the dream was full of drama. The mutual understanding between Migg and the writer made him feel that the depravity of doing nothing might be a shortcut to his dream.
I think the Chinese teacher must have wanted to ask himself, why the writers he admires can gradually become writers from beggars, but he can never become writers after he degenerates into beggars?
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