"Butterfly Dream", Hitchcock's pioneering work in Hollywood, is also one of his classic suspense films. It has a strong Greek style in terms of plot setting, suspense creation, and structural arrangement. This article hopes to borrow the basic point of view on "discovery and transformation" in Aristotle's "Poetics", from the perspective of semi-secret narrative structure, the identity of the discoverer, and the relationship between discovery and transformation. A detailed analysis of the suspense and conflict presented in "Dream".
The novel is infinite in time and space, but the movie "Butterfly Dream," adapted from the novel of the same name, because of its limited time and space, is more inclined to drama in terms of narration. For the handling of the conflict development process, two opposed methods are often used: One method is to keep secrets. The characters and the audience in the film have gone through the process of ignorance and knowledge together as if changing one invisible other gradually changes the whole truth. render. As Povalo said in "The Art of Poetry," "It is necessary to be entangled and inextricable, to cover up the subject, and then to explain the truth, to reveal the secret suddenly." [1] And another method is to not keep it confidential. Some information that is not known to the people in the play is leaked to the audience in some way in advance. This early leak brings about a time difference between the audience and the characters in the play, and this time difference is essentially suspense. Diderot expresses this connection more clearly in "On Dramatic Art": "Because of keeping secrets, the dramatist arranged for me a moment of surprise; the suspense of time." [2] Hitchcock himself used the "bomb theory" to compare the two methods of explanation; a bomb unknown to both the audience and the play can only be amazed at the moment of explosion. Knowing the existence of the bomb will create a nervous and worried Qing Xue before it explodes. [3] It can be seen that the tension of the plot conflict lies in the psychological state of concern and anxiety caused by the suspense-constructed scenes in the hearts of the audience and in the many doubts aroused by the balance of keeping secrets and leaking secrets in the plot arrangement.
The complexity of "Butterfly Dream" itself determines that it cannot be explained by simple confidentiality. The truth understood by different characters is more or less fragmented, and the complete truth needs to be pieced together. Therefore, this structure is Interpreted as "semi-secret". Among them, "I", as the intruder of Mandoli Manor, stands at the same angle as the audience, presenting a completely unknown state of the secrets of the manor. As Rebecca's former husband, Mr. Derwent knew more about his true side and the cause of his death. Other supporting characters, such as Mrs. Danvers and Pfeiffer, who are Rebecca's admirers and lovers, have a more limited understanding of the truth.
However, the biggest feature of the film is that the sole owner of the secret, Rebecca, a character with an omniscient perspective, has died before the story begins. What it plays in the progression of the plot is a ghostly status, long gone and ubiquitous. The alarming R-shaped pattern on the handkerchief, the closed door of the west wing, the layered Chinese clothes in the wardrobe, and the traces of Rebecca's existence, while promoting the plot, rendered the suffocating atmosphere, as if a bird was always present. A slender hand holding his throat. The truth of Rebecca's death is not in anyone's hands until the truth is revealed. The suspense is shared by the audience and the show, so although the audience plays an ignorant role in the film, the gradual leakage of information always draws their attention. absorb. From Mrs. Van Hopper's first mention intentionally or unintentionally, Rebecca's life has been gradually presented in fragments. Mrs. Danvers' frantic and almost morbid adoration caused "I" to feel amazed and terrified of Rebecca, while Mr. Derwent's reticence led "I" to misunderstand that he was just filling Rebecca's vacancy. Substitutes, thus falling into deeper cowardice and inferiority. The layers of suspense are first rendered and laid out, reaching a climax in the masquerade ball scene, and with the discovery of the sunken ship and the corpse, the truth is gradually revealed, Rebecca's image has completed the landslide from a beautiful phantom to a slut in the minds of the audience, creating a beautiful scene. huge contagion.
Under the semi-secret structure, because the secret is in the hands of multiple parties, the discoverers in the film are also multiple. "I" and Mr. Derwent, as well as Mrs. Danvers, Pfeiffer, and other characters jointly excavated, and the complete image of Rebecca's phantom was revealed. Gilles Deleuze believes that Hitchcock's revolutionary is not only in the role of the audience on the screen, but mainly in the role of the audience. [4] "I", as the most important discoverer, has played a similar spectator identity since stepping into Mandoli Manor. From the library to the morning room and then to the west wing, the audience completed a panoramic observation of the mandolin with the help of "I". The mix of inside and outside the screen restores the basic actions of the characters to the gaze from a subjective point of view. The act of "seeing" is already highly pleasurable. However, according to Freud, from childhood voyeurism, the desire to see things that are forbidden is an instinct, although with age and morality Correction can be suppressed, the physiological basis for subconsciously peeking at others for pleasure remains. [5] But "Butterfly Dream" just fits people's peeping mentality. The actors are in the bright place, while the audience seems to be lurking in the dark and tidal corner, silently and secretly following the footsteps of "I", and secretly observing my every move. Hitchcock gave the audience a hint that they were peeping through delicate lens arrangements, to form an expectation of the story in the audience's mind and enhance the audience's expectation for the development of the plot, and when the sudden turn of the plot breaks this expectation. , the impact force formed can also be imagined.
With the intervention of the spy, the audience, the details of Rebecca's death in the first half of the film deliver a large number of clues to the audience, which stimulates the audience to explore the role of known information. Especially common in detective novels and movies. Therefore, the audience who plays the role of the discoverer does not passively wait and accept the development of the plot, but actively seeks the truth of the matter through the foreshadowed suspense. From Mrs. Danvers' ghostly stalking and her rabid praise for Rebecca to Mr. Derwent's bizarre behavior when he talks about the sea and drowning, to a West Wing mystery who calls himself Rebecca's cousin The visitor and the audience, while forming their expectations for Rebecca's beautiful image, are naturally covered with a veil of doubt. According to Lacan's Mirror Stage Theory, the subject tends to have an anticipatory and limited identification with a certain mirror image. [6] Just as Rebecca's image in the first half of the film shapes the audience's idealized identification with perfection, while suspense films The charm of the film is often in breaking the audience's psychological expectations and sense of identity through one or several concentrated truth outbreaks or even plot reversals.
The use of the audience as the snoop behind the protagonist is common in Hitchcock's suspenseful films. In "Rear Window", Jeffrey, who can only stay at home due to a foot injury, enjoys watching the life of the people in the opposite apartment through a telescope. The scene of the apartment opposite also appears on the screen accordingly. Therefore, when the murderer with the murder weapon turned his head to face the camera and stared at Jeffrey fiercely, it was originally Jeffrey's subjective perspective, but because the audience and the protagonist have been integrated in a certain sense, the horror and pressure brought by this illusion are completely at the same time. on the audience.
Aristotle believed that discovery is the most perfect form of plot development when combined with transformation, as in Oedipus because it "evokes fear and sorrow". [7] There is no need to consider tragic effects in the movie "Butterfly Dream", but since the combination of discovery and transformation, the film has taken an important turning point. The discovery of a sunken ship did not make waves, but the subsequent discovery of Rebecca's body, while overturning all the facts, stirred up a storm in the hearts of the audience. A conversation in a seaside hut, Mr. Derwent's confession of the truth about Rebecca's death, and the presentation of Rebecca's true personality shifted the audience's attention from the doubts that shrouded Rebecca to the pair of Derwent and his wife. worries about the future.
In the judge's inclination, Mr. Derwent appeared to be on the verge of turning the corner. However, the sudden turn of the plot did not end there. The discovery that the wing was dug from the inside confirmed the fact that Rebecca was submerged, and the malicious blackmail of Fevre using Rebecca's letters to push the plot to the second time change. The shaky island of safety, faced with two seemingly indestructible pieces of evidence, seems likely to fall apart at any moment, and the emotions of the audience are lifted again.
However, the occurrence of the last change has once again broken down all the characters including the facts in their eyes, and the introduction of new characters and new evidence will thoroughly excavate the truth of the matter. Feffer's accusation of Mr. Derwent's murder of Rebecca, and Mrs. Danvers' vehement denial of Rebecca's suicide, pushes Dr. Baker, an implicitly related figure, into the crux of the matter. It turned out that Rebecca had seen a doctor on the day of her death, and Dr. Baker's delay in speaking about the truth, and the connection to Mr. Derwent's previous account of Rebecca's pregnancy, seemed to be tilting in the opposite direction. However, Hitchcock chose to completely reverse everything after the layers of suspense were fully laid, and turned the unexpected ending into an acceptable reality. The sentence "she had cancer" was thunderous, subverting everything and explaining everything, Exposing lies and crushing faith.
As a result, Rebecca's image has also changed. In the hearts of the audience, it is not only the shattering of the beautiful illusion that has been established but also the birth of the image of the slut who plays with everyone. And the clearer the before-and-after contrast, the stronger the impact on the audience. For the characters in the plot, this shift has a shock to their inner state. Mr. Derwent, who thought Rebecca's death was an accident, realized that everything was already under Rebecca's control, including her death. And when Feffer told Mrs. Danvers that Rebecca was suffering from cancer and suicide, Mrs. Danvers' long-standing belief was completely shattered, and she burned the mandolin in madness, and all the love-hate entanglement was dusted.
Today, when we rewatch Hitchcock's films represented by "Butterfly Dream", there will still be a strong resonance. In the complementation of "discovery" and "transformation", Hitchcock not only subtly set up suspense and conflict, but also expressed the repressed subconsciousness contained in the propositions of love and love, life and death in the film. To describe it, it can not only bring the audience the enjoyment of watching the movie but also leave several reflections on the proposition of the philosophy of life.
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