tell me what "the sea" really means

Wendell 2022-10-23 16:29:39

After watching this film, I am most interested in the role of the mother. It is impossible to say whether I should hate her or sympathize with her, because she is both an accomplice and a victim of the creation of the family order.

At the beginning of the film, the three children listen to the new word teaching tape explained by their mother. The mother is responsible for the child's family education, and the mother has compiled a set of special teaching materials for the domestication of the child.

The mother's first official appearance was when she was combing her hair by the window, finding her son near the fence again (closer to the border) and reporting it to the father. When the mother accused her son, the son tried to refute it, but she didn't believe it and punished him anyway. During this process, the father stood by and didn't say a word, and the whole process was carried out by the mother, obviously she was under the authorization of the father.

After the family sent her father to work, the eldest daughter looked at the plane in the sky and said, "If it falls, it's mine." But the mother immediately slapped her and reprimanded: "Whoever is qualified can take it." When present, the mother is the maintainer of order.

As a maintainer of order, you also need to "seem" to lead by example. Therefore, when the father trains his children to bark, the mother also needs to participate in it and bark harder, so it can greatly improve the credibility of the matter.

The father also "conspired" with the mother to get pregnant, in order to deter and stimulate the behavior of the children.

The son asked the mother what a zombie is, and the mother explained it to the son with a lie, while calming the son with orange juice. In such moments, the mother does not remain silent or scold her son, but concoct mild lies to dispel her son's doubts. The son has also become accustomed to listening to his mother's explanations and teachings, and is convinced by the answers obtained, with a satisfied expression on his face.

The mother has certain privileges, such as using the phone, discussing everyday topics (buying chocolate), relaxing in her bedroom (listening to tapes), or watching pornography, but at the same time she is responsible for the only way to communicate with the outside world through the phone , the task of reporting the situation at home to the father immediately.

When there is a conflict between the children - the son accuses the younger daughter of hitting him with a hammer, while the younger daughter shirks on the "evil" cat. Due to the consistent ideological indoctrination, the crime of the "evil cat" that the youngest daughter referred to can also be established. Therefore, in order to maintain his own authority, the father has neither reason to punish his son nor to distrust his younger daughter. So the father accused the mother of "spending less time with the child" and not doing a good job of supervision. In front of my father, my mother is just a weak and submissive helper. You can see fear written on the tearful face of the mother, and licking her father's ear with a bowed head. She has no objection to her father's request, even if she treats the flesh and blood of her close relatives, and even dresses up her eldest daughter herself, and pushes her children into the abyss of immorality.

I was thinking that the role of a mother is like a news media, with the task of spreading knowledge to the public, answering public doubts, and participating in folk life. However, under such an order, the "mother" is dependent on the authority of the "father" and can survive only by obeying the "father", so the "mother" has completely become a tool for the "father" to manage the "family". Although the "mother" is also performing her duties, it has deviated from justice - popularizing knowledge has turned into domestication of thought, answering doubts has turned into weaving lies, and participating in life has turned into supervising life.

In the media reports, it is not that the "sea" is interpreted as an "armchair" and the "shotgun" is described as a "white bird". Such intentional or unintentional misleading is not guaranteed even in a place where the press is relatively free. does not exist.

"Father" wants to punish someone, and many times, instead of doing it himself, he instructs "Mother" to speak for him. We have seen too many examples of this, where the media launched a collective scolding against a certain individual as agreed, and then the individual who had been convicted by the media was "justifiably" sent to the judicial process. In a normal family, if the "mother" discovers a child's wrongdoing, she points it out and scolds the child, which is of course good for the family's development, but in the family in the film, the children can't tell the difference. What is the motivation for the "error correction mechanism", and it is not known whether it punishes the real wrongdoer in an appropriate way.

In addition to not having any doubts about the "father", the "mother" must continue to help the "father" establish an authoritative image and consolidate his credibility.

Sometimes, "fathers" need to use the medium of "mothers" to test, stimulate, and deter children. For example, "mothers" announce "bad news" (pregnancy), so to reduce the benefits of daughters, if they don't want to, they have to Listen and behave well.

The "parents" in the film never refuse to answer the children's questions, but they are not told the truth. Children do not have the ability to discern lies and obtain the truth, and they never believe their "parents"' explanations, and are satisfied that their questions are answered, and there is no reason to feel wronged.

As a loyal helper and accomplice of "Father", "Mother" enjoys certain privileges, but "Mother" knows clearly that she must not cross the line, and these privileges are likely to disappear when "Father" is angry and dissatisfied.

As a condition of the privilege of "using the telephone", the "mother" must also monitor the children's every move, and report and convey the instructions of the "father" in time. When the "father" is not present, he remotely controls the "mother" through the phone and the children through the "mother". It can be said that because of the existence of "mother", the authority of "father" has been greatly extended.

I am reminded of a scene in an old video clip from "The Summer Palace", where the crowd on the street pulled up long and short banners, one of which read "The News Media Wants to Tell the Truth".

But living in such a family order for a long time, probably even the mother herself has forgotten what the word "sea" actually means.

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Extended Reading

Dogtooth quotes

  • Father: [subtitled version] Soon your mother will give birth to two children and a dog.

  • Older Daughter: Mom, what is a "cunt"?

    Mother: Where did you learn that word?

    Older Daughter: On a case on top of the VCR.

    Mother: A "cunt" is a large lamp. Example: The "cunt" switched off and the room got all dark.