William Boros is known as the standard-bearer and godfather of "Beat Generation" literature. He basically babbled a masterpiece under the stimulation of alcohol and drugs. As a semi-autobiographical novel, "Naked Lunch" In a sense, it can be regarded as the most true mirror of the writer's mental state and inner world:
Bill Lee wants to write, but he has to rely on insecticide to support his family. Soon his wife Joan became addicted to insecticide powder and lured him into the world of psychedelics.
Here is a passage where Lee talks with two friends Hank and Martin in a restaurant. Hank insists that the work should write the author’s most authentic perception and experience, and the modification is a departure from the original idea, that is, a sinful lie. And deceit; while Martin argues that failure to weigh words and ideas more comprehensively can lead to negligence, and that it is a sin to not write the best works; Lee advocates the eradication of all rationality. Here, Hank's "the most honest, original and true idea is the best idea" is one of the core figures of the "Beat Generation" genre in real life and one of Boros's friends at the same time. Jack Krujag’s motto, while Lee’s wife Joan’s name comes from Boros’s wife Joan Volmo. "Whether modification is equivalent to tampering" is also the deepest confusion and contradiction of the "Beat" group that pursues the so-called "highest truth".
Lee was targeted by the Narcotics Inspection Office. In order to verify that the insecticide in Lee's mouth was not a drug, the inspection office officer took out a large beetle. The beetle implies that Lee's wife is not a human, but a spy for Interzone.
From here on, under the action of hallucinogens, Lee gradually entered a state where reality and psychedelic were indistinguishable. Kafka Lu said that the appearance of the beetle here represented Lee's "mark of the original retrograde world." Just like the alienation of Grigor in Kafka's "The Metamorphosis", the image of the beetle responds to the transformation of human nature to insect nature, and Joan asked Lee to apply medicine on her lips, which is exactly the same as the previous beetle's performance. It is another proof of "worm nature, inhuman".
Lee tells Joan that he is in trouble, but Joan only cares about the continuous flow of powder. Lee tried to steal the medicine powder from his colleague, but was found to be introduced to Dr. Benway's clinic, where he tried a magical prescription extracted from the so-called Brazilian aquatic centipede.
On the way home, Lee found that he felt indescribable grief over the dried centipede corpses on the market. This is exactly the sympathy of the insects under the action of the drug.
Lee returned home and found that his wife and Hank were lingering under the action of drugs. He was so jealous that he took the miraculous potion again, leading to the accidental killing of Joan in the "William Knows" game. The name of the game "William Knows" here may refer to the real experience of William Boros himself shooting his wife, but the glass replaced the apple in the real event.
Sad Lee went to the tavern to drink and met Qi Qi, a Midi gay boy, and Magwam, a monster sent by the self-proclaimed organization, and suggested that he buy a typewriter and flee to Midi.
In Midi, reality and illusion are already indistinguishable. Everyone is busy typing and writing reports. Typewriters have become beetles and have self-awareness. Lee also met Hans, the businessman who supplied Dr. Benway to the Brazilian centipede, and even saw Joan again.
For a writer, words are his soul, and a typewriter is his nib. Inspired by the Beetle Typewriter Clark Law, Lee’s report that “homosexuality is the best cover for a spy” is tantamount to social orientation towards art. A kind of seduction of creation.
Joan's husband, Tom, who is also an American writer, told Lee that he was unconsciously murdering his wife. At the same time, the rich man Cloquet also showed great interest in Lee.
In the brief meeting between Lee and Cloquet, the story that Cloquet regarded as a humorous talk was Lee’s momentary inspiration. It can also be regarded as the arrogant delusion of Boros himself. The internal organs flow out of the actress with only an empty shell. Perhaps It was Lee's true fear of the disappearance of his humanity deep in his heart, and the centipede in the bathroom of his apartment afterwards was also a representative embodiment of this fear.
Tom lent Lee his own typewriter, but then the typewriters placed side by side became two beetles fighting each other. Clark Law, whose own typewriter claimed that Lee brought back the secret agent in the secret area, was talking to another After the beetle was ruthlessly killed, he ordered Lee to seduce Tom's wife, Joan.
There is a detail here. Lee appealed to his friends Martin and Hank for his "loneliness" and "fear" on two typewriters. This is exactly the phenomenon of alienation Kafka showed in The Metamorphosis, which is difficult to dismiss. His loneliness and sense of crisis, the insurmountable absurdity and fear, so the typewriter that accepted his appeal appeared as a beetle, intending to bear his loneliness and fear.
Lee came to Tom's house and tempted Joan to use another Tom's typewriter until the butler Fadela stopped the two men's cloud and rain, and drove the typewriter turned into a monster off the balcony and smashed to pieces. Having lost his love machine, Tom ordered Joan to follow Lee to get the one lent him, but Joan bid farewell to Lee on the road and followed Fadela to penance for atonement.
Fadela here is like the incarnation of social ethics and institutional laws, with a scrupulous look, rigid and serious dress, restraining you, lashing you and even punishing you when you cross the thunder pond.
Frustrated, Lee returned to the apartment and was told by the typewriter that his wife was originally a centipede from a noble birth. Then Tom came to pick up the typewriter and discovered the truth, and took Lee's Clark Law angrily. Lee cleaned up the remains of Tom's typewriter and got drunk outside. Martin and Hank came to visit him, only to find that the bag Lee used to hold the typewriter fragments was full of syringes and medicine bottles.
Here is the corner of the illusion that opened the curtain for the first time to us, through the eyes of Martin and Hank to peek at reality and truth. There are no beetles, no monsters, no organizations, no spies, but Lee's alienated mental state full of loneliness and fear.
Martin and Hank told Lee that his new book "Naked Lunch" was very popular. They tried to help him overcome drug addiction and complete the manuscript, but the disappointment in the real world made Lee already addicted to his fantasy world. The two of them could only feel sad. Return.
When the lonely Lee was sad and crying, he met KiKi, the Midi boy, and KiKi offered to take him to repair the damaged typewriter. The new typewriter appeared in the image of Magvam and told him that Cloquet was the only way to approach Benway.
Lee was kind to KiKi, and then coaxed him to take him to Cloquet. Cloquet hinted at the "intimacy" between Fadela and Benway, and at the same time was full of desire for KiKi.
The most amazing thing about the whole film is Lee's story about the person who talks in the ass on the road. It is the same as the story of the actress with the internal organs flowing out. The whole story strongly implies Lee's suspicion of his own thoughts and subjectivity. The great sense of crisis of self-disappearance.
Lee returned from the bathroom, but saw an unprecedented horror picture in the room where Cloquet raised the parrot: Cloquet turned into a huge monster like a centipede, skinning KiKi!
This period is undoubtedly the climax of the whole film. Lee's previous ideological fear has been embodied in Cloquet who has been alienated into a centipede. Kafka’s other short story "The Hunger Artist" describes the story of the artist in the iron cage and finally alienated into inhuman. Cloquet in the iron cage here has been completely alienated into a cannibal monster, bringing the audience physically and spiritually. The huge oppression is extremely shocking! The centipede has always been the representative of the dense land in the film, just like the beetle in the whole film represents Lee's confusion and loneliness, while the centipede and dense land represent the other side of Lee's fear, helplessness, and a sense of crisis.
The terrified Lee killed KiKi consciously and was full of resentment towards the new typewriter, so he used it to exchange the old Clark Law from Tom. The dying Clark Law also believed that Fadela was the breakthrough point to break into the secret area, and he was dying. On the occasion, he told Fadela where he was going. The film touches the truth again with the objective eye of the lens. Clark Law, who died in front of Lee, is just a scrapped typewriter...
Lee came to the pharmaceutical factory and saw the place where Brazilian centipedes were once covered. Hanging Magvam upside down, the fluid secreted by their tentacles became a new hallucinogenic medicine. Here he found Joan, and also saw the down-and-out businessman Hans, who became a loyal addict of Magvam secretions.
Lee finally came to the last moment to reveal the truth. The so-called "intimacy" between Fadela and Benway originally meant that Benway was covered by a layer of Fadela, and the two were one. Ironically, if the secret organization that controls politics and monopolizes the economy Representing a strong power, the integration of Benway, the president of the organization, and Fadela, who previously represented ethics, also means that the strong power ultimately determines the ideology of the society!
Benway lobbied Lee to join the organization and sent him to the new colony of Annex. Lee readily accepted and offered to bring Joan with him!
Lee was interrogated by Annex soldiers to prove his identity as a writer. Lee woke up Joan in his sleep and played the game of "William Knows" again. As a result, he shot and killed his wife again. This nightmare scene is Lee's inner condemnation will never escape!
At the end, the soldier said "Welcome to Annex", which made Lee think deeply! This is very similar to David Cornenberg’s "Game of the Senses" that I have seen before. The endless cycle of illusions, the protagonist is deeply trapped in it, and can never distinguish between reality and illusion. It was originally to escape reality, but found to be enlarged. The inner world is even more unbearable.
Both Kafka and the Beats try to touch the highest truth in their hearts. Regarding the alienated human nature and the transformation of thoughts, do we dare to peep into the soul of ourselves?
Use only the title at the beginning of the film as a conclusion:
"Liars, you have a stain that cannot be removed, and that is the stain on your heart!"-
William S. Burroughs (William S. Burroughs)
This article is reproduced in Xiaoxin's personal blog:
http://blog.sina. com.cn/u/40741647010009so
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