Half- Awake Life" 29 conversations and confessions by idletalk "Half- Dream and Half Awake Life" Waking Life-this is a cartoon filmed in 2001. Director and screenwriter Richard Linklater used DV to shoot this film in Austin, and then used the "interpolated remake" program to convert the image, making the real scene look like a cartoon with a programmatic appearance. It is such a cartoon that doesn't look like a cartoon, and it didn't cause any repercussions at the time; I watched it 5 times, because in my opinion it may be the greatest film in the early 21st century.
The story of the film is very simple, the protagonist is a college student, he came to a surreal fantasy. The city he lives in seems to be Austin, but the rules and order of daily life seem to be completely broken.
He wandered from one place to another, constantly encountering strange people. The most interesting thing is that the people he met were talking about some grand and profound topics: from quantum theory to the origin of language, from existentialism to the reincarnation of human beings, from the absurdity of free will to film as a narrative tool, he fell into In one conversation after another.
He tried hard to know whether he was in a dream or awake. But in the end he just found himself constantly waking up and falling into the dream again and again. He couldn't get rid of the dreams that emerged one after another. He began to understand the meaning of dreams gradually, and tried to control dreams and the surrounding environment, to distinguish the difference between the awakened life and the life in the dream... A
lot of dialogue is also one of Linklater's works. Iconic element. Unlike the neurotic chatter of Woody Allen's New York intellectuals, and the lengthy conversations of Eric Rohmer's French middle class, Linklater presents the vivid and contemporary language of young Americans. Moreover, many of his films are not conversations of a few people, but rather large-scale. However, compared with past works, the dialogue in this film is much more "intellectual." Those obscure and abstract philosophical propositions are definitely a test for the audience.
In these complicated conversations, I cut it into 29 fragments, and tried to interpret its content with my own understanding. Although it's rich, I only saw a corner. But time will prove its greatness is worth it.
1. The boat driver-you can disagree with anything, but the important thing is the fact that he exists. Following the trend is the commonality of most people, but in the end you will find that you have to find your own non-commonality.
2. In the process of eliminating collective commonality, university professors may not necessarily find their own personality. The focus of the problem lies in the process of thinking.
3. The blonde woman—the incommunicable nature of language. Words have different deep meanings in everyone’s heart. That is to say, the difference between connecting objects and relying objects leads to eternal existence even if human beings use the same language. Blind spots of inability to communicate.
4. The black-and-white-haired man-the human evolutionary process like a telescope (material-spirit). The transformation of quality and quantity between different wisdoms (destruction-rebirth)
5. Self-immolation men-human self-destructiveness and social self-destructiveness have similarities. (Individual suicides, illnesses, wars and natural disasters in human society). The frequent exposure of the ugly side of society by the media cannot eliminate it, but can only force people to numb and accept it.
6. Men and women in intercourse-human memory and experience are inherited from generation to generation. The pathway does not come from words and books, but from deep existence in DNA.
7. The man in prison ---fill time with fantasy of revenge. (Many people are filling the time of daily life with dreams of desire to practice)
8. Middle-aged men wearing glasses-human freedom is largely based on physical rules. But at the same time there are some irregular elements to shake the original physical rules. But precisely in a certain sense, irregular elements may also be part of the physical rules. (God's decision-human free will-the boundary) The question is where is the boundary between the extension and the extension?
9. The man in the propaganda vehicle-breaking through the established rules, the world is the framework of the established rules, and politics is the core driving force of the established rules. The question of revolution is not whether it will be destroyed, but what will be built after destruction?
10. Elderly man wearing glasses-if the center is "none", it is empty. To say yes to any existence is to say yes to all beings.
11. Black men-the existing classification is the biggest constraint on knowledge. We must free it up, reorganize it, and bring it together. Seek new knowledge in the common field of knowledge.
12. The two women in the coffee shop-the cells of the human body will all be renewed in the course of seven years. The emergence of the new self forces us to be different from the old self, but we still maintain our identity with the old self in terms of cognition. The problem is continuity. It is impossible for one to re-identify with oneself without continuity.
13. The monkey who broadcasts the movie-the only useful knowledge that a person can obtain in hardship is: everything can happen, and when there is hardship, there must be joy.
14. The white-haired old man-there are two kinds of human suffering, either too lack of material, or too rich. But on the spiritual level, human beings have not made progress. The problem lies in human characteristics: fear and laziness.
15. The man who wrote the great novel does not lie in its story or form of expression, but in people, thoughts, and time.
16. The fat man with a big beard — the transformation between dreams and reality, illusion or reality, is sometimes very simple. Especially when the manifestation is violence,
17. Long-haired man—Dream is a process of self-identification. In a certain sense, it is not fundamentally different from reality.
18. The man who plays the piano——The meaning of dreams lies in the form of existence that transcends oneself. You can be any form of existence, not necessarily a human being, or even an object.
19. Long-haired men in leather jackets-some people are dreaming when they are awake, because they do not have the consciousness of dreams, they do not want to get the liberation of their minds in dreams, their dreams are the continuation of reality, that is to say they are Dreams of material desire.
20. Man with curly hair————silence…silence… In this seemingly chattering movie, there is a man looking at you silently at this time. This technique reminds me of the "blank" in traditional Chinese painting. Life requires silence, and then is the time to reflect on oneself.
21. The Gang of Four with a "reggae" head—the action is often just a natural screening of the idea, but it cannot be defined as having a clear purpose.
22. The man with a backpack—the dream lies in the existence of self-sensibility, looking for all new possibilities. Like traveling, yearning for all the unknowns.
23. The man in white————Nothing new under the sun? Do not. Dreams have the possibility of discovering "new things".
24. Red-haired woman-Conversation is often just a way for humans to stay away from loneliness and express politeness. The exchange of ideas is often second.
25. Afro-head man --- Memory requires more power than forgetting, so we often forget the things in our dreams. This is so similar to reality.
26. Bald-headed man——The self in the dream still cannot get rid of the projection of reality, so more often the body in the dream is just a copy of the dominant reality. Of course, there are individual differences, but to what extent does this difference affect us?
27. Salesperson——The death of human beings is the same as the death of plants. They all need to be wrapped. Death needs to be hidden, because most people don't want to see them. But this does not harm their existence.
28. Women with haircuts --- People still need some kind of connection as a link in the end. But in what way should this connection be. Can the weakening of modern people's connection be replaced by entertainment?
29 The man who hits the marbles — time wants us to forget the existence of God. And eternity becomes fearful because of the existence of time. But does time exist after eternity?
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