"Wealth became our biggest concern in the elementary school years. We thought that if we study hard, we can write books and make money by writing books. For us, wealth is piles of dazzling gold coins stored in countless boxes. As long as you study hard and write a book, you can get these wealth." - "My Gifted Girlfriend"
The so-called "economic foundation determines the superstructure", in the last few years of elementary school, Lila and Elena were aware of the importance of material foundations such as money.
At that time, their idea was very simple. They thought that as long as they studied hard, they could make money by writing books like the author of "Little Women", and even let their families live a good life from then on.
Their dreams are more or less idealistic, but the cruelty of reality far exceeds their expectations.
The idea of publishing a book was first proposed by Lila, but it was Elena who finally fulfilled Lila's wish.
How did Lila, a genius, compromise to reality step by step and get further and further away from her dream?
It all started when she failed to take the high school entrance exam.
What makes people sad is that because of the economic embarrassment and shortsightedness of the original family, a genius has been deprived of his right to continue his education.
Of course, you can't blame Lila's family entirely for the fault, and what happened to Lila is just a microcosm of the whole social environment.
This is not only the plight of the poor, but also the sorrow of the common people.
Women in a patriarchal society are in a difficult situation. They obey their fathers, husbands, and elder brothers, and they don't even have the freedom to make their own decisions.
This episode can make you feel heavy whether it is Teacher Oliviero's definition of common people or Lila resisting everything with a weak body.
This article is a plot analysis of the second episode of the first season of "Money". I will properly combine the first "My Genius Girlfriend" in the original "Naples Four" to interpret each diversity analysis article in detail. The writing is not good. The place also asks readers to understand.
[Warm reminder: There are spoilers below! 】
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At the end of the last episode, Lila and Elena mustered their courage and knocked on Don Archie's door.
It's a little surprising that Don Archie doesn't look as scary as the legends make it out to be.
"I can't believe he's an ordinary person, he's a little short, a little bald, and his limbs aren't very well-proportioned, but he's an ordinary person, so I'm always on the lookout for him out of shape." - "My Gifted Girlfriend"
In the original book, the appearance of Don Archie was described from Elena's perspective. Although he looked no different from ordinary people, Elena still couldn't believe it. After all, Don Archie was in their hearts. , but the shadow-like existence of childhood.
Amazingly, instead of berating Lila and Elena, Don Archie gave them a sum of money that could be used to buy new dolls.
This is partly due to Lila's bravery and determination in the face of Don Archie's questioning. She insisted at the time that Don Archie stole their dolls, even though she knew the dolls were not actually taken by Don Archie.
"We were wrong. I've been wrong since then." - The New Name Story
The rag doll is a relatively important object throughout the original novel. Later, when Lila recalled this experience, she thought that they did it wrong at the time, and she also felt very emotional that maybe she has been making mistakes since then.
They hid the money Don Archie had given them and used it to buy Little Women, a novel they couldn't put down.
"Poverty is so painful... It's not fair that some girls have so many beautiful things and other girls have nothing."
This sentence in the novel is not a true portrayal of their childhood life. Literary works really have a powerful force that resonates with people.
Lila's biggest motivation for writing books to make money is that she wants her brother to be the richest person in the entire neighborhood. She realized that only by working hard to make money can she escape the status quo of poverty.
Lila loves her brother, Reno, who is the only person in the family who understands and supports her.
At that time, Lila pinned her hopes on her brother, who she thought would receive a salary from her father and be able to support him in school.
In order to get Lila's school expenses, Reno did not hesitate to quarrel with his father, and even received a slap in the face from his father.
Their stubborn father, Fernando, refused to allow Lila to continue her studies, mainly because the family’s financial conditions were limited and they could not afford the tuition fees: the shoemaker’s shop was the family’s only source of income, Fernando’s two unmarried sisters and his wife Nongzi Ya's parents are also counting on him to support him.
What's more, Fernando is a more traditional person in his bones. He did not support his son Reno to continue his studies, let alone support a girl to go to school.
Even though Lila's mother Nunzia was invited to the school by Teacher Oliviero and knew of Lila's talent and talent, she could only helplessly express that they could not afford Lila's tuition.
After all, she has no right to speak at home, and Lila's father has the final say in all major matters at home.
Although Elena's family is better than Lila's, the whole family has to live frugally to afford tuition.
Elena is luckier than Lila because she has the support of her own father.
Despite her mother's vehement objections, the father, the head of the family, eventually managed to persuade Elena's mother, but they had one condition: Elena had to achieve the best grades.
truancy
Before the graduation exam, Lila persuades Elena to do something daring: play truant.
If it weren't for Lila, I'm afraid Elena wouldn't have thought that she would have the courage to do such a deviant thing, which is not what a good student should do.
In the original book, Elena was so excited that she couldn't sleep the night before they left the city to play truant.
I personally feel that the fact that the plot of truancy is handled just right in the play is actually mainly due to the two young actors who played out the complex and subtle emotions between Lila and Elena.
Although it was Lila who first proposed the idea of going to see the sea from a distance, but then she clearly felt a little regretful as she walked. Lila kept looking back, showing that she still had a little nostalgia for this city, she couldn't let go of her family, and couldn't get rid of the fetters of her original family.
The most amazing thing is the transformation of Elena before and after: she was obviously the passive one at first, but later found that she is the one who wants to see the sea the most. She couldn't understand Lila's anxiety at the time, and she didn't understand why Lila gave up halfway and decided to return to the city without seeing the sea.
Perhaps that was the first time Elena found out what she really wanted, and from this point of view, her desire to escape was far stronger than Lila's.
The different attitudes they presented to this hinted at their different life trends and destiny in the future.
Lila took Elena to skip school, but she actually had her own selfishness. This was out of a kind of jealousy. She hoped that Elena would be punished by her parents because of this incident, and she would not be able to go to school like her.
Later, Lila was absent-minded on the road, and hurriedly brought Elena back. Perhaps she felt guilty at the time and was in a conflict in her heart.
Although Elena's mother has a bad temper, she can see that she still cares about this eldest daughter from the fact that she dragged her limping leg to deliver an umbrella to Elena and kept looking for her daughter's whereabouts in the rain.
Elena's mother was very critical of her daughter's schooling, and she made a big fuss about it, quarreling with Elena's father, and even accusing her husband of being cowardly.
In order to show masculinity and establish the authority of the head of the family, his father beat Elena violently.
Elena almost lost her chance to go to school because of this incident. She would like to thank herself for having a long-term visionary father who did not easily give up her daughter's training because of one mistake.
Lila apologized to Elena the next day, and at first seeing the scars on Elena's face, she thought her conspiracy had succeeded.
When she learned that Elena could go on to take the entrance exam, she had a look of disappointment on her face.
Judging from Elena's reaction, she seemed to have sensed Lila's plan to drop out of school.
Teacher Oliviero saw the injury on Elena's face, and she probably guessed that the injury might be related to Lila.
In class, instead of praising Lila, she reprimanded Lila:
"You think you're amazing, you think you're the best, but you're nothing!"
Lila fell ill after being reprimanded. What Teacher Oliviero said was a blow to Lila's self-esteem. The person who had been praised all the time was suddenly poured cold water. I am afraid that this huge gap is difficult for ordinary people to accept.
Teacher Oliviero might have thought of her failure to persuade Lila's mother that day. A genius lost her bright future. This reality made her unacceptable. As a result, the sense of loss and anger of "hate iron is not steel" erupted together.
resist
"She's miserable, I don't like her misery. I prefer her who is different from me, Lila who doesn't have anxiety. I find her vulnerable and it makes me feel uncomfortable, this inconvenience Comfort secretly transforms into a sense of superiority." - "My Gifted Girlfriend"
The reason why this work impresses me is that the author dares to express his true thoughts and show the dark side of human nature.
The love-and-kill relationship between Lila and Elena resonates with many female audiences, and friendships between women are often as complicated as this:
Lila deliberately did evil, intending to make Elena unable to go to school like herself; Elena was also jealous of Lila, she didn't like seeing Lila's pain and weakness, but she also had a sense of superiority, Presumably because seeing the genius finally get into trouble like ordinary people, she finally got a chance to surpass Lila herself.
We also cannot ignore the shining points in human nature. For example, Elena has kind and beautiful qualities. Although she knew that Lila deliberately pulled her into the water when she skipped school, she still forgave Lila for what she did.
After reading Lila's novel, Elena really appreciates Lila's talent, and she is willing to help Lila transfer the novel to Teacher Oliviero.
When Elena handed Lila's novel to Teacher Oliviero, the teacher not only did not read it, but also instilled into Elena the disturbing common people theory:
"Do you know what a commoner is...Being a commoner is a very bad thing. If a person wants to be a commoner all the time, his children and grandchildren will all be dead and worthless. You don't want to be a commoner. Forget Cerullo, think about yourself." - "My Gifted Girlfriend"
It means to tell Elena, you better take care of yourself. She had given up on Lila, because Lila's family background made her hopeless.
Lila, who is strong, really wanted to get a positive encouragement from the teacher, but the teacher didn't say anything, which aroused Lila's resistance, and she wanted to give it a shot:
"Elena, tell Mr. Oliviero that I'm going to take the entrance exam."
The result of Lila's resistance was that she was violently thrown out the window by her father during a quarrel with her father.
Judging from Lila's father's expression and words, he was actually very sorry for himself. As a lowly commoner, he is powerless to resist the cruel reality.
Her father's determined attitude basically declared that Lila would never go to school. Even though Lila broke her arm and was still bleeding, she, who has always been stronger, still concealed her sadness in front of Elena, smiling and saying that she was not in pain. .
At that time, Lila, like Elena, was only a ten-year-old child.
Violence
He didn't even lift his eyes, and he could tell that he was actually quite sad, but the violence of his father was nothing compared to the violence that took place in this city. Some men beat people, some were beaten, and some men returned home in a rage, because they lost money, drank, owed money, still didn't pay, and when they were beaten, family members would attack if they said something wrong. , is such an infinite loop. ——"My Gifted Girlfriend"
The moment you see Lila fall out of the window in the play, you feel fear and despair.
However, a passage in the original book tells you plainly that Lila's father's discipline to her daughter is nothing compared to the violence in the entire city.
Men are suffocated outside, and after drinking and losing money and being beaten, they will vent their anger at weak women at home when they return home.
One second he was the victim, the next he was the perpetrator.
The strong bully the weak, and the weak bully the weaker. This is the despicableness of human nature and the reality of society.
And the strong and the strong will fight to the death for the benefit.
Before Elena could celebrate her excellent graduation, she heard the news of Don Archiler's murder.
When Lila and Elena were sitting on the block stools reading Little Women, when they saw the Solara family beating Don Archie's guys on the street, Lila knew something bad was going to happen. , Don Archie's death undoubtedly confirmed her judgment.
At that time, Lila thought it was very strange that the Solara family could offer Carmela's father a job, after all, he had offended Don Archie before.
After Don Archie's death, Carmela's father was convicted of the murder. When he was taken away by the military vehicle, Lila turned to look at Manuela Solara, and the smile on her face said it all.
Lila knew very well that Carmela's father was just a scapegoat.
She saw the true face of the Solara family very early, and sensitively observed the struggle situation and the alternation of power in the neighborhood, which also paved the way for her future choices.
At this point, Don Archie's horror story comes to an end, and Elena and Lila are about to say goodbye to their childhoods.
- What kind of experience is it to get along with a genius? | "My Gifted Girlfriend" S1E1
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