Watching Robert De Niro in "Raging Bull," I can't help but think of "Othello." Shakespeare's play "Othello" is one of the four major tragedies, even more tragic than Hamlet. A hero's triumph, integrity, responsibility, and composure make him a legendary general on the battlefield, but it is because of the fatal weakness of his character that ultimately He killed his beloved wife with his own hands and committed suicide.
Jake in the film has a very similar overlap with Othello in character. He loves his woman very much and has a strong possessiveness, but due to his inherent insecurity, that stubborn temperament makes it difficult to trust women and even more. Difficulty communicating with women seems to be a constant theme in many lonely hero love stories. Jake's ambivalence toward women is what Freud called the Madonna-whore Complex, a goddess who is flawless before marriage and defiled after marriage or sex Scumbag. If Othello's jealousy, possessiveness, and gullibility were the fatal character weaknesses that contributed to his tragedy, then insecurity was the initial cause of these character weaknesses, and it was reflected on Jake. Likewise, insecurity also made him jealous. .
Insecurity, anger and jealousy will manifest, resulting in an emotional man, and in certain circumstances, the character of anger and jealousy may inspire some kind of success, like Othello in the battlefield, Jake in the ring, but , If the same character is copied in life, it is a mess. Look at Jake, the film is a very vivid representation of a man's inferiority complex, fear and impotence, and it is these issues that drive men like Jake to use violence against women and completely disrespect women. The boxing in the film is only the background of the story, not the theme of the story. The anger and jealousy are sublimated to the fullest in the boxing ring. He stood on the ring in a passive posture several times, with his hands hanging by his side, and let others beat him. Body, why didn't he fall? His pain was so profound that he would rather continue to suffer in order to redeem his inner sin.
Everyone's sense of insecurity basically comes from childhood, and there is no way to investigate their own reasons. Life is like a cog, and it is easy to derail if there is a track, or even be thrown out of the track completely. Fortunately, Jake in the film was later recognized and accepted by himself and others, while the lonelier Othello did not have such a fate. Therefore, "Raging Bull" is not a film about boxing, but about an insecure man suffering from jealousy and seeking redemption and punishment in the boxing ring.
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