I. Script Design
The film begins with a long freeze frame on the cover of "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs", and then it is opened, and the table of contents is flashed, and then it is found that this book is like many stories. Like the book, the name of the first story is used as the title of the book, but the "juxtaposed structure" of the film is realized after reading the first story.
At the beginning of the first story, we were taken in by the beautiful singing voice of Buster Scruggs, fascinated by his superb marksmanship, quick wit, and most importantly, his humorous and arrogant speaking style. In fifteen minutes, we excitedly began to speculate on the adventures of the protagonist who rode a white horse in white clothes. The appearance of a gunman in black clothes quickly ended the audience's speculation. In a trance, watching the gunman in black hum a song, watching Buster's soul float to the sky, and watching the new chapter, we realize that neither Buster or the gunman in black are the protagonists. This is a "decentralized" movie. ' movie.
Of course, we're not so much watching a movie as we're flipping through a compelling collection of stories.
I personally really, really like movies that are made like a book, or have subtitles, manually cut into paragraphs, and look neat (Just like Wes Anderson, there's another reason for liking this movie, it's very similar in some ways) Budapest). The film also highlights the benefit of a "book design" that is novel from start to finish. It is difficult to keep the audience interested in the whole film. Some regular feature films will always spend a certain amount of time introducing characters, building the world, and laying the groundwork. They are important, but many times the length of the introduction part will make you impatient. of viewers (like me) whose interest is exhausted before the climax begins (like "Creed," Souri Ronaldinho). Composed of six completely different stories, this film shortens the boring time to a minimum, that is, the introduction time of each story is very short, and each story is a new and wonderful fable to the audience, and after listening to one Desperately want to know the next one.
In addition, the chapter citations in "Book Design" (called Color Plates in the film), the passing opening and closing paragraphs all give the audience a strong immersive reading experience. After thinking about what this introduction means, after reading the last sentence, I will reflect on what the whole story is about and what the moral is, and then turn to the next page with great interest.
Some people may think that the text in "Book Design" is a "slightly lazy" method of externalizing audio-visual language. They may think that shooting six stories (short films) is easier than shooting large-scale feature films. Personally, I think Cohen Brother has his own reasons for taking pictures like this.
① First of all, these six stories seem to be unrelated to each other, but in fact they are similar in theme, all pointing to the uncertainty and precariousness of the Westworld (will be discussed later);
② Secondly, the reason why Westerns can become a kind of genre films is because they are all-encompassing, not just cowboy gunmen Indians, in the eyes of the Coen brothers, there are too many interesting stories in the monochromatic, low-saturation land It could be told, so they crammed half a dozen stories into two hours, trying to show us as many possibilities out west as possible;
③ Finally, to go back to the name of the film, why is it called the ballad, because the ballad is sung for people, the directors may hope that when the audience closes the book, they can slowly reminisce about these legendary American frontier stories, and then tell them to More people listen.
II. Characters
Start by writing about my three favorite characters!
• Buster
As mentioned at the beginning of this article, he is humorous, intelligent, can sing, and speaks martial arts. I think his series of performances in the second tavern seem to tell us what a gentleman sharpshooter is like (pay guns according to the rules → Be calm and reasonable with people who don’t talk about martial arts → find that reasoning doesn’t work and subdue him with his bare hands → lead the whole tavern to sing his improvised ballad
• Teenager with broken arm
The moment the curtain was pulled away, I was amazed by the beauty of this young man with a broken arm. His shoulders, drooping eyes, and head tilted to one side, when silent, he was an ancient Greek bust. Then he started preaching, started reciting sonnets, Shelley's poems, telling Genesis stories, giving Lincoln Gettysburg speeches, incoherent passages, rhythms, even if those words and The discourses seem to be fragmented and incoherent, and it is not against harmony to piece them together and edit them together. At that time, we were like the audience sitting under his stage, and we seemed to find a sense of relief and a strong emotional resonance. After he finished saying "... and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth." After that, I wanted to take a second to digest it and then gave him an excited applause.
• Billy Knapp
Billy Knapp is like one of the few good men in the West. His proposal to Alice had been carefully considered. He had been a coach driver for fifteen years, and had been wandering in the sand for fifteen years. Although people in this industry should like the feeling of walking freely, but watching Old companion Arthur grew old alone, and he began to think about having a home to settle down, a child to take care of his aging self, someone to accompany him, and a piece of his own land (a bit like the idea of a shepherd boy at the beginning of The Alchemist). But he is not tough. He will tell Alice that accepting his proposal is not the only way out the day after the proposal, and he will continue to help her and give women respect and understanding. Besides, he is very kind and kind, he will let Pierce President go and feel sorry for Arthur.
In addition to my favorite three people above, there are also several small characters in this film, such as the cunning bank boss, the persistent miner, Alice who pulled the trigger in advance, the old team leader Arthur, and the Coen brothers can write It's pretty cool to have so many interesting, distinct, different characters and fit them all into two hours, right?
III. Themes
The Coen brothers want to tell us, through these six parables that mostly end in tragedy, that uncertainty is inevitable. Uncertainty, instability, and impermanence throughout are the commonality of these six stories, and it is also something that is certain, stable, and eternal in Westworld.
• Buster is not always the boss, "there are faster guns in this world", he will be replaced by the gunman in black, and then the gunman in black will be replaced by the next The Kid;
• The thief who robbed the bank seemed to be on a just and moral trial, but somehow ran to the next unfair sentence;
• For the young man with the broken arm, he performed almost sacred art, and every performance was the descendant of these artist spirits. How could he be replaced by a chicken that can do arithmetic? But to his owner, he is just a money-making machine. If the machine is broken, it can be thrown away if it can't make any money. What's more, it is much cheaper to feed a chicken than to feed half a person (his stage name
• Although the story of the old miner seems to have a happy ending, maybe the director is praising "the hard work pays off", but who knows if there will be a third follower to steal the fruits of his labor;
• Billy Knapp's desire to settle down was shattered because Alice was dead and he had no reason to stay, but Alice didn't have to die," Mr. Arthur had no idea what to do with Billy Knapp Say something";
• The sixth story is filled with rambling dialogue, and some uncertainty can still be seen in it, such as the young man sings the Moly he is looking for, the old woman's faithfulness to her husband she hasn't seen in years, the hunter and his The illusory and vague love between foreign lovers...
The West is brutal, grim, and rough. There, all heroism, justice, love, wealth, work, family, and even life are floating in the air.
In the west, everything is at stake.
In the West, everything is at stake.
Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14But small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it. —— Matthew 7:14 The Narrow Gate
This last sentence is from the Gospel of Matthew, it says that those wide and bright doors will lead to destruction, but many people will choose the wide door; few will choose the narrow and small door, only it can lead to survival. Perhaps the director is using the character's mouth to warn us to pass through the narrow door, and only after suffering can we have the chance to obtain the redemption of life.
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