(Spoiler) The Internet connects the world, and its bad effects seem to be global.
"Disconnect" also starts from the behavior of the young generation in the online world, but it not only treats young people as "problems", so as to consolidate the existing power of adults. The "next generation" is always shaped by the "previous generation". What "Duan" points out is actually the issue of trust in society, and the issues involving the Internet are just symptoms. In "Broken", there is a scene where a family eats on the same stage, and the son just stares at the smartphone. The son of "Duan" asked, "Dad is doing the same thing!" The father argued that it was a job requirement. The only "friend" the poor son made online was a prank that drove him to suicide.
What's deeper than "Internet addiction" is that face-to-face human relations have long since fallen apart. In human relationships that are "due" according to social norms - between father and son, between husband and wife, between classmates, and between reporters and sources, trust is broken one by one. Those people (not just teenagers) who yearn to understand each other, care for each other, trust each other, are finally betrayed and abandoned. The need for trust and recognition can only be sought on the Internet, even if it will take a greater risk: leaking private information. To hide, to be deceived, to be someone else’s commodity, or to be another liar who betrays others—perpetuating interpersonal trauma.
The most powerful irony of "Broken" on society is that it depicts several distrustful adult characters, namely lawyers, reporters and police detectives. These characters are usually heroes in other movies, and they are markers of social norms. ; These professions allow them to grasp more privacy and trust of others than others, but the film destroys these images, and finally resorts to violence, which means that the social norms they represent are also disintegrating.
(Originally published on am730, July 18, 2013)
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