As a big hit of awards season and one of many critics/directors' top 10 of the year, I'm looking forward to this film. After all, the director of this film has made "Little Miss Sunshine", and the screenwriter's resume includes "Slumdog Millionaire" and "127 Hours", as well as a lot of good actors. Plus this subject has always been on my mind.
However, after watching the movie for two hours, I just felt very disappointed. It's not a bad movie, of course, but it only deserves a mediocre review.
In this biography of female tennis player Billie Jean King, the creators chose to start with one of the most famous matches of her career called the "Battle of the Sexes," which declared that women are not The Victory Lost to the Man shows her outstanding contribution to the women's affirmative movement.
The film uses a classic two-line narrative structure.
One is the ins and outs of the battle of the sexes . The other is Billie Jean's same-sex affair with hairstylist Marilyn Barnett , which created Billie Jean's psychological journey. The objective intersection of the two is mainly manifested in the influence of the emotional line on Billie's state during the game. So two threads hang over the absolutely central story of the "Battle of the Sexes."
Such a two-line narrative clearly reveals the creator's ambition. One line is the explicit women's affirmative movement , and the other is the covert gay affirmation movement .
Due to historical facts (Billie and Marilyn were in a passionate love for coming out during this period), the creator could only outline a sincere and beautiful love story, saying through the mouth of the costumer Ted, " One day, We are free to be ourselves and love what we love. ”
This clearly shows the creator's evaluation of Billie Jane: a woman who dares to speak up for the unfair treatment of women, dare to face her own emotions at the risk of the world, and thus change the world.
Unfortunately, the structure of the two-line narrative clutters the content of the film because of the unequal size. Equal pay for equal work and gay romance are not subordinate to the gender war narrative, but go hand in hand, and yet all three seem to have ended in vain.
From my point of view, the creators are clearly getting caught up in the "Battle of the Sexes" gimmick that looks good. At first glance, this is indeed an excellent subject for a feminist film. The struggle between men and women is too trivial. The creation of conflict requires a lot of lines and the accumulation of many scenes, but the problem is that it is difficult to present a climax. ending. But the "Battle of the Genders" solves that problem.
However, if you go deeper, you will find that this game is just a show, and the creators know it, so this victory is not only a great encouragement, but actually nothing. There is still a long way to go for equal rights represented by equal pay for equal work (the Australian Open achieved equal pay for equal work for men and women in 1984, while the Wimbledon and French Opens were pushed to 2007), and Billie’s homosexuality did not promote equal rights for gays (although reality is better).
◆ The battle for equal pay
This is an issue raised at the beginning of the film. Billie is at odds with the president of the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association over the men's championship prize money eight times higher than the women's. Billie believes that since the women's division can sell the same tickets as the men's division, they deserve the same rewards. In the face of Billie's arguments, the chairman had no choice but to speak his mind.
The resolute Billie Jane resolutely refuses to participate in the tournament and decides to hold her own. The chairman naturally felt that they could not do it, and had no intention of holding back.
In 1970, 9 female players represented by Billie Jane broke away from the original association in order to fight for equal rights with men to participate and win prizes, and signed a long-term contract with a nominal amount of one dollar. Organized the Virginia Slims Championships.
This tour, in the audience's prediction, should be Billie's weapon for equal pay for equal work.
I believe that the development of this tournament and the resulting Women's Tennis Association (Women's Tennis Association) is obviously not smooth sailing, and the story in it may also make a good feminist film.
But in the film, the creators did the subtraction, and what we see is that despite the US Lawn Tennis Association's threat to remove them and they can no longer play in any leagues, they are still traveling smoothly, appearing on the radio, on the radio, previously Threats and so-called risks are like a mouthful .
I understand the creator's departure, this is Billie Jane's biography, and more importantly, this is a biography of the "battle of the sexes." So the Virginia Tour and the WTA were just a foreshadowing that led to Bobby Riggs' challenge to Billie Jane.
From the beginning, Billie laid out her character motivation - equal pay for equal work, and her action was to organize the Virginia Tour. Audiences will be concerned about the fate of this threatened, desperate and burdened tour , but its story ends abruptly , and it's smooth sailing.
The creator then focused on the "Battle of Gender", after all, the tour was just the foreshadowing of it; when the game was won, a voiceover explained, "This game has aroused heated discussions among the public, equal rights for women, equal rights, it is Billie Jane managed to win equal pay for women at the US Open." Billie's action ended.
Then, here comes the problem. I believe that many people are as confused as I am after reading it. So, what is the reason for the US Open to give men and women the same amount of money? How does this "battle of the sexes" relate to equal pay at the US Open? Could it really be that a mere symbolic farce is enough to change everything?
The reason for these doubts is not only that the film is not clear enough, but it happens to be the misstep of the chosen entry point. After all, the film is titled "Battle of the Gender", and the answer to the question is destined to be solved by it, but it can't solve anything. To attribute all the achievements to such a victory, after the blood boils, it will not stand up to scrutiny.
The Virginia Tour and the WTA, which attracted the attention of the audience from the beginning, probably also played a great role in it, but their connection with the US Open equal pay has long been forgotten in the film.
◆ Homosexuality
Billie Jane and Marilyn Barnett's acquaintance in the film stemmed from a group look before the signing ceremony for the women's tour. In this scene, after Billie thanked everyone for their courage and courage to fight against the organization together, everyone was ranting about the man.
However, when Marilyn spoke to Billie, all the voices faded, leaving only the dialogue between the two, the romantic ambient music with a little throbbing, and a lot of close-ups, highlighting the birth of a romantic love.
This technique is used extensively in Carroll. But the difference is that the whole "Carol" is the rendering of the characters' emotions, and this method complements the creation of love; and the film is fast-paced in the processing of all the scenes except this line. Therefore, although it is a two-line narrative, the different sense of rhythm causes the audience to feel stagnant after the emotional scenes appear.
But that's not the main problem on this line.
The main problem is that this same-sex extramarital affair stands out of the overall narrative .
This line does not only serve Billie's love affair, but the presentation of Billie's psychological state. Her struggles with sexual orientation, regrets about betraying her marriage, and pressure from the "Battle of the Sexes" have affected her performance in the game. (especially evident in her showdown with Margaret Court).
And the end result is naturally: she won the "gender battle" and changed the world's perception; and in her heart, she bravely accepted her emotions. In a pre-match look that echoes at the beginning and end, Billie opened up to Marilyn and the crowd.
However, such veiled courage may hardly inspire the audience.
Billie Jane, as the first U.S. women's tennis player to come out publicly, I can understand the creator's mood to put this relationship into the film, but unfortunately, the portrayal of the relationship splits the original story and makes the middle part of the story. Stalled, only Bobby's line of action drives the final appearance of "Battle of the Sexes".
And this kind of ending is not easy for the audience to accept, it is like a story without an ending, or like a story that only tells the beginning (it also turns out that the breakup of Billie and Marilyn is more exciting).
◆ Gender battle
The introduction of this theme has always relied on Bobby's push. Almost every part of Bobby's appearances has his gambler side highlighted. He is undoubtedly a good gambler and a master of marketing.
When Bobby first offered to fight Billie against him, Billie decisively rejected him. At that moment, Bobby's purpose couldn't have been more obvious. This so-called "battle of the sexes" is a marketing ploy and a ticket to watch.
Halfway through the film, Billie Jane calls her husband to declare war on Bobby, and Bobby tells his wife Priscilla to fight. The same two emotional scenes between husband and wife, Priscilla and Bobby confessing to each other but unable to get back together are obviously more powerful.
Twenty-plus minutes of fast-paced editing that follows, even when Billie joins the narrative, still focuses on Bobby, not just because Bobby is a clown on purpose, but because Bobby's characterization is better than Billie's.
Billie is more of a great character, and of course the film shows her imperfections, but this imperfection has nothing to do with "gender wars". And Bobby's image of a gambler under the clown mask is closely related to this game.
But the biggest disappointment was the final "Battle of the Sexes." This unprecedented event was attended by 30,492 spectators at the Houston Planetarium Stadium and was watched by 50 million TV viewers in about 37 countries.
The climax segment of more than ten minutes was almost completely completed by the "big long-range view-long-range view-close-up shot-audience reaction shot". Although the pace of the editing is quickened in the latter part of the game, it is really uninteresting. Perhaps it is the disadvantage of small ball sports, which cannot incite the audience in terms of lens language and editing like wrestling, basketball and other sports, but the rigidity of the creator's lack of effort is really disappointing .
Of course, as I've said before, it's not a bad work, there are just too many things that I don't like.
If you are interested in tennis, women's themes, and gay themes, you might as well take a look. After all, it's just my opinion.
For more movie and episode recommendations, please pay attention to the WeChat public account: mOco in the blue box (id: mocointardis) .
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