And it's not bad, because it also gave me a lot of meaningful confusion and enlightenment. Obviously, one of its biggest signs is feminism. However, compared to the few works I have ever seen marked with "feminism," compared to their "anti-patriarchal oppression" abstract and monotonous themes, compared to their conceptual illustrations and preaching taste, "Piano On the contrary, "Lesson" can be called full of flesh and blood, and its connotation is complicated. I don't understand at all, so I don't dare to talk about this "ism", and only discuss issues that I don't understand.
1. What is the meaning of language and piano?
Ada is a dumb girl. If it is in conceptual diagrammatic works, this symbol can be directly reduced to an idea: women's aphasia. Coupled with Ada's tight black clothes and indifferent temperament, another concept: women are imprisoned. However, the situation is not so simple. Words are right, of course, but Ada's refusal to speak is for an inexplicable reason she doesn't know, and it's not that she can't say it or it's useless. Is she deprived of her rights? Is she willing to give up her rights? Or does language have other meanings to her? On the other hand, how much the two men expected her to speak! In their view-this seems more obvious-"language" means trust, honesty and love.
Can the metaphor of the piano be understood as the spiritual world of Ada? Maybe it can. The piano gives her the greatest spiritual nourishment and gives her a closed and self-sufficient world. With the piano, she doesn't think dumb is a defect at all; with the piano, she can be indifferent and calm to the changes in the outside world and even her own destiny (such as marrying a stranger). She has also been stubborn, brave and even brutal guarding her world-using nudity and touch as a bargaining chip, at the cost of losing her fingers. Baines can somewhat understand the importance of some pianos to Ada, but he respects and makes more use of this importance. The piano has become a means of obtaining Ada. And her husband Stewart has never had a good impression of piano, it firmly binds Ada's whole mind, and he is neglected; then it becomes an opportunity for women to derail, and he is even more insulted.
If the piano can give her an independent and self-sufficient world, then her aphasia has a transcendent meaning-she does not have to be the subject or object of rights, because she does not think that she is in such a structure of rights at all; she does not have to speak, just because She has nothing to say or need to say. This is a bit like "Birdman", Birdman is not mentally ill, he just suddenly discovered the absurdity and alienation of this world during the war, and it is natural when he wants to speak. But this is not the case. Language and piano are not two indifferent images, and she is not aloof: at several critical moments, she can use language to protect the piano. If the piano is important, then why not? Is it unwilling or can't? The reason for the aphasia is still unknown.
2. In the triangle relationship between two men and one woman, who is active and who is passive? Who is tough, who is cowardly? Who is powerful and who is lacking? Who is the enlightened and who is enlightened? The complexity of "Piano Lesson" lies in the fact that these binary oppositions are not rigidly assigned to men or women.
Some people say that the great thing about this film is that it subverts the male perspective, and that women are in control. This is not unreasonable. In the outside world, Baines could easily get Ada's body. Although Stewart was always cowardly, there was a cruel outbreak at the end. However, without her care, Baines was also ashamed of his methods; and Stewart was just a hard-hearted paper tiger. Because in the emotional world, both men are crawling under Ada's skirts, longing for her favor. Here, men become weak and needy, and need to be loved and cared for. But Ada's control status is not established early, from beginning to end, but has undergone a process of growth and change. In the relationship with Baines, she is passive and enlightened; although the enlightened person is not superior. In the face of her husband, she was always tough and proactive; after she released her heart and was able to face her own desires, men became the object of her mercy.
3. The most critical issue is the relationship between Ada and Baines. You can say that this is a disgusting seduction, then all the content after that can be dismissed as false and artificial; you can also think that this is a love of soul and body, only all evaluations and interpretations are meaningful. Both possibilities are sufficient, because this "love" process is really weird. If it is a novel, I think a large psychological description is indispensable here, and the movie can only give a self-evident conclusion. In fact, it is just a hypothesis, perhaps simply a blank.
Then you have to accept the conclusion of "love" and ignore or construct this bizarre process: if Baines fell in love with Ada at first sight and tried to make Ada fall in love with himself, then you have to forgive his clumsy or even despicable means; if Baines was just a clump of desire at first , Then you have to admit that desire can also produce love, and even seduction can produce love. In short, this desire must be sublimated. In this way, on the basis of "love", the film can be interpreted as an allegory of women's growth and self-improvement (here I think the theme of "oppression/liberation" is not important), and those metaphors can be understood:
The piano world is Ada's closed and self-sufficient spiritual world. It is what Woolf calls "one's own room". She has always adhered to this world, even after throwing away the piano—she would always think of the piano sleeping on the bottom of the sea. The problem is her aphasia. In fact, there is no reason for aphasia, so she can only understand the meaning of aphasia itself, and use aphasia as the reason for her actions to deal with the outside world. It's not that she doesn't have the will and need to speak, but that she can't master this symbol system, and thus loses the medium of communication. In other words, she can be satisfied in her spiritual world, but she is completely helpless and helpless with the outside world. She can only follow the trend and return to her own world to seek comfort at most. She was thoughtful and enthusiastic, but they were all hidden under the tight black clothes and pale face.
Baines, a physical body with great danger and seduction, an enlightenment and beggar, reluctantly and fortunately squeezed into Ada's world by cunning means-saying that "reluctantly and lucky" is because of Ada's own world. The barrier is too strong, and he can't break in by force, because Ada may give his body and love him, then the enlightenment is a failure. Fortunately, there is this "love". Love needs to release one's enthusiasm and desire, and love needs the convergence of two spiritual worlds. At least, starting from this person, Ada's tightly walled world began to be open to the outside and to others...
She no longer needs a tangible piano because she is determined to enter a vast and new world with Baines. The moment she wanted to die with the piano, I think it was a small shake when she took this step. In fact, Ada does not need a piano anymore, she will enter a new world with language and start a new life. And Ada has never lost the piano. In her relationship with the two men, she has always had the power, principle and choice. Outside of her own world, she will get the code to enter the outside world. And the whole process is under the dominance of her powerful self. She will never lose her piano, she will only win more excitement.
In fact, it's still a bit awkward...
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