In the recent hot "Joker", the treatment of the comedian's section undoubtedly borrowed from this Martin version of "The King of Comedy". There is a saying that this movie can be regarded as a prequel to "Joker". I find it quite interesting. There are many comments that "Joker" is a rare "villain writing", I think from this perspective, "The King of Comedy" is completed much better than "Joker".
The subtlety of "Villain is writing" is that it allows people to reflect on our existing rules. By bringing the villain's perspective, it allows us to re-examine the phenomena and systems we take for granted, and challenge ethics and morality.
In the film, we can see that Martin's attitude towards Putin and Martha is not whitewashed. They are not only harlequins in the movie, but also in life. After thinking that he had obtained Jerry’s approval, Putin immediately went to find his goddess in high school, and brought the goddess to Jerry’s villa. Such vain and stupidity eventually led to hilarious embarrassment; and Martha from At the beginning, she was the image of a silly fan. In the end, when she tied Jerry to the dining table, she confessed through her confession that she was actually a genuine mental patient.
Even so, it does not prevent us from feeling a deep shock when we see Jerry's last talk show on TV. His show is mixed, the audience in the movie laughed very happily, but the audience in front of the screen has a different feeling-"A good comedian is to be able to take his most painful experience. Just kidding, this is the first step to success".
This is the black humor, or the charm of villains like Putin. From beginning to end, we can see that he is so vain, naive, and acting like a paranoid all sorts of crazy behaviors. At the same time, from another point of view, this is also the performance of his extremely desire for success, and it also makes his act of kidnapping Jerry to get a performance finally has a kind of Don Quijote's heroic and unstoppable desire.
We can notice a detail. When Putin gave the producer Jerry’s token, he gave the handkerchief that Jerry wiped him in the car at the beginning. The producer asked him what a mark on the handkerchief was, and he said that It was his symbol, he was referring to the blood stain. This detail is a manifestation of the good continuity and integrity of the film.
Regarding the ending of the film, at first glance, I thought it was the plot of Putin's fantasy. After all, this kind of daydreaming fantasy appeared in the film many times. After careful thinking, I denied this idea. First of all, the first few fantasies have more obvious suggestive shots. For example, when Putin fantasized about eating with Jerry for the first time, the camera did a quick movement towards the handkerchief as a reminder, but there was no such treatment at the end. .
Secondly, although ending directly after Putin's arrest can highlight a sense of tragedy and powerlessness, this is not the director's intention. It can be seen that in this film, in addition to the mockery of Putin and Jerry, Martin also pointed the finger at the entertainment industry. A very interesting scene was that Jerry met an old lady on the road. At first the old lady was still saying how much she liked Jerry, but after Jerry refused to talk to her nephew, she immediately cursed Jerry for cancer.
We are now at a stage very similar to that of the United States at the time-attention is king in the entertainment industry, audiences and content producers do not pay attention except for "interesting". This is the so-called "entertainment first, entertainment to death." . At the end of the film, Putin became famous because of the opportunity to take the stage from the kidnapping of Jerry. After serving just two years in prison, he became famous all over the world. De Niro's last performance was also very wonderful, his face was mixed. . Undoubtedly, this is Putin's personal victory, but it is the failure of the whole society.
When Putin went to Jerry’s company to entangle, the advice given to him by Jerry and Jerry’s secretary was actually very pertinent—starting from the basic work of the club’s performance, but Putin did not do so. He chose to use illegal means. And "an overnight fame". We might as well imagine the development after this, what will thousands of people eager to become famous do after seeing Putin's experience? Of course, to follow his example, the result is that Putin is kidnapped dozens of times every day.
Without basic legal constraints, violence is rampant, and every kind of work that requires complex mental activity will not be possible, but things like this are happening constantly at the moment, and success can be achieved by grandstanding and speculation. Things happen from time to time. This is the pathology of the "entertainment to death" spirit.
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