Everyone is just a tool for their own thinking

River 2021-12-08 08:01:50

"Born on July 4th" directed by Oliver Stone is one of his famous "Vietnam War Trilogy." Ronnie, the protagonist played by Cruise, has longed to be a real man since he was a child. Young Ronnie admired the glory of the veterans when he watched the parade. When he came to the battlefield in Vietnam, he found that the war before him was completely different from the propaganda he received.
When Ronnie killed women and children by mistake and requested medical support, the order he received was "retreat immediately." Ronnie and his teammates had to obey the order. After Ronnie killed his teammate by mistake, his officer severely frightened his confession. Perhaps in the eyes of the commander, the meaning of life is just the number symbol in "There are still XX million troops." Here, a person no longer has his own independent thinking, no longer has real emotions, all he can do is obey orders, and what is the difference between people and tools? The value of human beings has been weakened into a cold number. At this time, the essence of those soldiers has become a tool for victory.
The scene of the war in the film is only fifteen minutes. Ronnie joined the war in 1968. He was injured and then paralyzed on January 20, 1969. The battlefield experience of less than a year left him with a lifelong disability. After returning to China, he received sympathy instead of respect. People's fanatical support for the war was gone, and the anti-war demonstrations intensified. When his first girlfriend told him that "war is a mistake", he still yelled "war justice" to other people who "get away without patriotism", but at this time, as an individual's consciousness began to awaken, he gradually Realizing that he has invested his entire soul to serve the country, behind its grand-sounding signboard is a group of people with ulterior motives. This group of people regard the "new generation" represented by Ronnie as a tool to gain some of their benefits.
"Fighting for human rights abroad, but no human rights at home." Lines with clear political stances like this can be seen everywhere in the film. The 289 "fuck" are also completely the director's painful insights after the Vietnam War. When faith becomes a political tool that can be used, all personal feelings and views on honor and disgrace are discarded, and victory is the ultimate goal of war. But when the war comes to an end, it is the individuals who are tortured by blood in their hands and suffering from illness.
There are three parades in the film, running through the whole story. The first time: the young Ronnie envied the glory of the soldiers; the second time: the veteran Ronnie felt the people’s sympathy; the third time, Ronnie and the veterans went to the presidential election in a wheelchair to tell people across the country "War It's a lie". Ronnie’s psychological journey followed his personal experience all the way. Ronnie once had the idea of ​​“I’m in a wheelchair, others should feel sorry for me”. He drank and abandoned himself. At this time, Ronnie found it back. His emotions and confusion as a human being have lost the attributes of a tool (he is completely idle). When arguing with a veteran, the two paralyzed people spit at each other, and when they scuffled to the ground, Ronnie's consciousness was awakened again. This time it is human value. At the end of the film, Ronnie ran for president and wanted to tell more people the truth about the war. At this time Ronnie had the attributes of human thoughts and tools. But this time, he was no longer used by others, and his experience became a tool to achieve his own goals.
This movie brought me two thoughts: 1. No matter how high-sounding the reasons for the war are, it is every fleshy individual who pays for the war, the roar of the destructive artillery and the moral self-blame. Accompany them for the rest of their lives. 2. People should not be the tools of others. As an engineering student, I have to deal with a bunch of mathematical physics formulas every day. But unlike those science students who delve into the theory of mathematics, physics and chemistry, in more than eighty to ninety percent of the cases, our main learning content is not to use a creative thinking to prove those conjectures. We continue to debug the program, if the input method missing a comma or space does not meet the program's specifications, an error will be reported. But there are also powerful programmers who use their own thinking to make their own software and make their own rules. As far as my personal learning experience is concerned, tool attributes are also an indispensable part of a person. Talking about ideology away from reality is like love without bread. It cannot find the ground to take root.
In my opinion, people should not be the tools of others, but they can be tools of their own thinking. With such thoughts in our minds and such tools in our hands, we have the confidence to make the dream of "changing the world".

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Extended Reading
  • Arturo 2022-04-24 07:01:06

    Movies are sometimes like an arbitrary door, and a good director can take the audience through time and space. The books and movies I read recently are all related to the Vietnam War, which is interesting. Learn more about the magical era of the 1960s.

  • Arne 2022-04-21 09:02:08

    Oliver Stone still doesn't like films about the Vietnam War, such as field platoons, such as Born on the Fourth of July. It's just that Tom Cruise's role in it is still different from his other films!

Born on the Fourth of July quotes

  • Charlie - Villa Dulce: The bitch thinks it's funny I can't move my dick!

  • Steve Boyer: You probably think it's just a hamburger. A patty's just a piece of meat, but it can have character. See that doughnut hole? Gets 18 patties to the pound instead of 16. Saves me about $40,000 a year. That's serious money, Ron. I plug the hole with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, spices. I cover it with a pickle. They'll never miss a thing.