Returning to the movie itself, "Salesman" tells the story of the protagonist Imad, who is a part-time drama actor who teaches film and his wife, Lana, who is also an actor. The two are rehearsing for the classic American drama "Salesman". Because the old house was on the verge of collapse, they had to turn to the crew member Barbak to rent a room from him temporarily. The items left by the former tenant were still in the room for a long time to pick up. Lana and Babak decided to move her things out of the house without authorization, but they received threatening calls from the former tenant to retaliate. On the night at the end of a performance, Imad was delayed due to the review of the drama, so Lana decided to go home to clean up the room first, and the tragedy happened. Misunderstanding that it was her husband ringing the doorbell without further confirmation, Lana opened the door directly and went into the bathroom to take a shower. The strange man took the opportunity to break in. When the neighbor heard Lana's call and crying, he didn't care at first, and finally realized that something was wrong when he heard the sound of breaking the glass, so he came to rescue, during which the strange man fled in a hurry, leaving the truck on the spot. After Imed returned home, he found a mess and large blood stains in the bathroom, while Lana had been taken to the hospital by a neighbor for treatment. After being attacked, Lana, who suffered a bruise on her head, suffered more mentally and did not want to call the police or stay at home alone. She tried her best to erase this memory and try to restore her normal life. She insisted on performing in the theater but was lost because of her trance. Yimad, who was caught between the rumors of neighbors and colleagues and the frustration of Lana's spirit, constantly wanted to find the perpetrator of the attack. From the neighbors, he learned that the former tenant was a misbehaving woman who had sold her body in exchange for money, and the person who attacked his wife was probably her clientele, and the owner Babak was even one of her guests. He even found condoms, prostitutes, mobile phones and car keys left by the murderer at home. Through these clues, he found the truck left by the murderer, and found a bakery and user to which the truck belonged. Following the truck, Imad used moving as an excuse to lure the truck driver to his old home for interrogation. Unexpectedly, the last person who came was the future father-in-law of the truck driver, a gray-haired old man whose daughter was about to get married. During the conversation, Imad discovered that the old man happened to be the murderer who attacked his wife Lana. After being questioned, Imad learned that the old man was not instigated by others, but strayed into his house and saw Lana who was taking a bath thinking it was a former tenant, while Lana was frightened and struggling to hit the mirror. At this moment, Yimed was occupied by thoughts of revenge. He imprisoned the old man in the room and brought Lana to identify the murderer. At the same time, he asked him to confess his repentance in front of his wife, daughter and son-in-law. Lana, who didn’t want to be hurt again, threatened Imad by breaking up Tell the truth to the old man’s wife and daughter, and the old man fell to the ground due to a heart attack. In a hurry, the old man’s wife, daughter and son-in-law arrived, and his elderly wife thanked the Yimeds for saving her husband. In the end, Yimed did not confide the truth to his wife and daughter in the embarrassment, but called the old man to the room alone, gave him the car key, cell phone, money and condom, and slapped all the humiliation to the old man. The old man who could not bear the great pressure suffered another heart attack while going downstairs, and his life or death was uncertain. The story is also coming to an end in Lana's departure.
The Oscar of "Post-truth": There are too many emotions and the truth is no longer important.
In my opinion, the "Salesman" award is far from simple as the political situation behind it. Regardless of the content theme, artistic value and practical sense, "Salesman" is a movie worth recommending. Although the story it tells more reflects the plight of the intellectuals in Iranian society, and the ethical and moral conflicts contained in it are more related to religion and customs, the humanistic care that Fahati’s films has always conveyed is precisely directed to the current society. The problem of anxiety: There are too many emotions, and the truth is no longer important.
"Post truth" is the key word of the 2016 Oxford Dictionary of the year. Its meaning is that what happens in the fact is no longer important, and people’s emotions about the event exceed the fact itself. The iconic event was an "accident" that shocked the traditional media-Britain actually left the European Union and Trump was elected.
In the movie, the incident of his wife being attacked has brought earth-shaking changes to the life of the male protagonist Imad. In an Islamic society where patriarchy dominates, non-marital sex is considered illegal, and women’s nakedness in front of men other than their husbands is considered unchastity. Therefore, no matter what happened in the bathroom, whether his wife was actually raped or not, it would make no difference to the reputation damage suffered by Imad. The neighbours’ eloquent greetings all showed sympathy for Lana and even Imad. In a conversation with Mrs. Shanasari, Imad accidentally learned that it was her husband who first discovered Lana: "You If you were on the scene, you wouldn’t feel indifferent when you saw what happened to your wife in the bathroom. When Mr. Shanasali opened the bathroom door, he almost thought she was dead.” This is an invisibly magnified view of his male counterparts. Dignity and humiliation. When the conservative neighbors greeted the Yimeds, they also fiercely expressed their contempt and accusation for the act of buying and selling sex. A certain wife said excitedly: "The police should put all those people in jail and punish them well. "This sentence refers not only to the perpetrators, but also to the former tenants who misbehaved. The rumors about the good thing neighbors spread to the crew member Babak, so the whole theater knew what happened to Lana. In the social circles around Yimad, whether it is a neighbor who has witnessed the incident, or a colleague who just hears about it, everyone thinks that Lana's suffering is equivalent to being raped. Being troubled by public opinion guided by personal emotions and beliefs, Imad gradually released the patriarchal consciousness hidden in the mask of intellectuals in his heart, and his anger and vengeance were further escalated. Therefore, he would go on his own way, leading to imprisonment and subsequent imprisonment. The tragedy of interrogation and humiliation that caused the old man to have a heart attack.
In the story of "Salesman", the truth has not been tampered with or questioned, it has only become secondary and subject to emotion and prejudice. In the process of news dissemination, compared to believing in the truth, people seem to believe in feelings, in their anger and shame, and in their hurt. And these rumors, which are swayed by emotions and opinions, in turn affect Imad himself, only willing to listen, see what he wants to hear and see. He did not want to believe that the old man broke into his home unintentionally, did not believe that the old man did not notice the strange furnishings in his home, and turned a blind eye to the old man's family and plight, and refused to take the matter to justice and insisted on passing "blood for blood, tooth for tooth". The way to solve it privately. Although such a tragic story does not involve the Internet age, the media and the public, the human nature it portrays still has a wide range of practical significance. From a certain aspect, it also reflects the imbalance of contemporary social sentiment over truth. In this era of information explosion, lies, scandals, and messages are widely circulated, presenting the truth, and the truth itself is no longer important. Compared with mainstream media, netizens are more willing to trust each other. If there is evidence that contradicts their position, people tend to ignore the information.
The term "post-truth" also applies to the event that "Salesman" won this year's Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. People are more willing to believe that the "Salesman" was awarded because of its political significance rather than artistic considerations. It was to show the Trump administration its attitude of freedom and equality, while ignoring the story and value of the film itself. Some media once reported: "Although "Salesman" itself has nothing to do with politics, the attribution of the award still arouses some doubts in the industry. Every film shortlisted for the best foreign language film is affected by political situations that have nothing to do with it. Entrapment, the judges may vote for "Salesman" in order to oppose Trump and his absurd immigration policy." This implies that Hollywood has replaced artistic judgment from a political perspective in the award process, but I think the " The "Salesman" award is attributed to the "political correctness" view is obviously biased, and does not give enough respect to the film itself.
The Mirror of the Play in the Play: The Intertextual Meaning of the Salesman's Text
"The Salesman" uses a larger space to show the drama "Death of the Salesman" in which the hero and heroine participated in the performance. On the one hand, director Fahadi paid tribute to this classic work that he rehearsed many times in his early years. On the other hand, using roles to teach the plots of movies and rehearsing plays is a metaphor for one's own directorial behavior, which forms a triple mirror image structure of play in play: the metaphorical film "Death of a Salesman" that expresses the tragedies of small people in the Great Depression era in the United States The breakup of the relationship between the sexes and the dream of freedom of the middle class, the Iranian intellectuals who rehearse the drama in the film are a metaphor for the director’s own difficult situation in Iran.
From the structural point of view, the scriptwriting techniques of such play-in-play are very ingenious and exquisite, opening up the inside and outside, connecting reality and fiction, and mirroring each other. However, from a textual perspective, the intertextuality between "Death of a Salesman" and "Salesman", which also expresses the tragedy of the middle class, seems deliberate and inaccurate. Through "Salesman", the director clearly wants to express the multiple dilemmas faced by Iranian intellectuals. Dangerous buildings are on the verge of collapse, strange men's intrusion and attack are dilemmas in the sense of survival, and the drama is censored, the subtle emotions expressed after the sympathy of the neighborhood, Lana's reluctance to call the police to be frankly victimized, and Imad’s inability to put down his grudge against his wife Increasing alienation is the shackles of social ideology. The shackles of this ideology are also reflected in the unspeakable "sex". The former tenants who never appeared from beginning to end actually exist in other forms in the movie. Imad swept through her wardrobe's fashionable and revealing clothing and frivolous fancy. She was displeased in her sandals, her neighbors were discussing her with contempt, and Babak’s verbal molesting in the phone recordings all hinted at her identity as a prostitute in a subtle way, but apart from “indiscretion”, there was never People really point to this point. Lana’s experience in the bathroom has also become an unspeakable pain. Lana herself hopes to erase this experience. Imad’s sorrow and Babak’s side attack, but in fact no one can bluntly say that night. The fact.
Despite receiving a good education, eating Western-style food, and living a modern life, the lives of Iranian intellectuals have not been completely disconnected from tradition. In a sense, the drama theater is an island that is truly separated from the outside world. In a fictional context, women can pretend not to cover their faces with a headscarf, and prostitutes can appear openly. However, after all, this is a world constructed on volley creation. Returning to life, one by one, they are still confined to religious customs and social laws, and they run into walls everywhere in the narrow and narrow ideological barriers, and they are full of scars.
And this and "Death of a Salesman" did not have greater relevance and resonance in content. "Death of a Salesman" is a two-act play by American playwright Arthur Miller. The protagonist described in the work is Willie, who has more than 30 years of sales experience, and a salesman who has gradually lost his career ability in real life. He has devoted his life to the "American Dream" he recognizes and has worked tirelessly for it. However, the gap between dreams and real life caused Willie to commit suicide in the end, bringing benefits to his family for insurance compensation after death. The focus of the movie is the dialogue between the prostitute and Harpy in "Death of the Salesman", the dialogue between Willie and his wife Linda, and the bridge segment of Willie's funeral. The play itself has a strong sense of critical reality. Perhaps Fahati, who is familiar with Arthur Miller and the play script, has his own way of interpreting the play, but Willie and Linda’s counterpart to Imad and Lana seems meaningful. Insufficient, corresponding to the elderly and wives, it means too much. Behind the fragmentation of the American Dream is the era background of the Great Depression and the exaggeration and deception of the American Dream. It cannot accurately connect with the crisis faced by Iranian intellectuals in the textual sense. Therefore, the mirror image of the play in the play is set in the structure. Although the above is exquisite, it is deliberate and blunt in intention.
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