Everyone is a voice fetish, because everyone is tired

Jacynthe 2022-01-04 08:01:54

Before writing this movie, I told a friend that I couldn’t think of what to write about it, because it was so clear that I didn’t need to talk about it or mention it again. She said yes, the visible (person) saw it. I agree with her: if you don't think that what he (Charlie Kaufman) creates is just for you, you are not his real audience.

In the last issue, we recommended Kaufman's "New York Synonymy". You may have felt that only this genius screenwriter who is unwilling to be silent can play the complex and subtle of a story so well. He also understands very well that only he can accurately and perfectly express the story in his imagination. Yes, it is accurate and perfect, so "Abnormal Anomalisa" is very clear. Rhetoric, symbolism, meaning, dreams, confusion, love, loneliness, depression, alienation, boredom, etc., you can see clearly, I shouldn’t talk nonsense anymore. It was restated in one pass.

But I still want to say something. Because it accurately attacked my emotions, because you may not have watched it yet, or you may miss this movie. So let's say a few points.

Let me talk about the background first:
1. "Aberration" is an R-rated stop -motion animation film, all shot with dolls of about 30cm;
2. Kaufman doesn't want to be restricted by the narrative, so he won more than 5,000 fans through re-funding Funding, and the initial shooting funding was raised, but the final production was completed, which cost far more than fan sponsorship;
3. Except for the male and female protagonists, the other roles of the entire movie were dubbed by a male voice actor;
4. This is Kaufman’s first Two director works, shooting for more than three years, eight years after the "New York Synonymy";
5, won the Venice Film Festival Jury Award;

the story line of the film is very simple, a day when an inspirational writer went to Cincinnati to give a speech What happened inside. Get a taxi out of the airport, check into a hotel, make a phone call with your wife, meet an old lover, have a one-night stand with a female fan who makes you emotional, have a nightmare, fail a speech, and return to a boring life.

But Kaufman's reflection and emotion in this ordinary and even boring story are intense and meaningful. Precisely because of the ordinary and daily life, he accurately hit every modern person. Simply put, the situation and emotions of the protagonist Michael Stone, this inspirational writer, are equal to mine, yours, and everyone: he is a voice fetish, and each of us is a voice fetish.

Voice fetish? Yes, Michael Stone in the movie is in a world where everyone speaks with the same man’s voice, a world where chattering is endless. This repetition of voice is the repetition of meaning, thought, and concept. Michael is a best-selling author, and what he does is spreading repetitive thought and language. It is said in the movie that customer service is "90%" of the service industry. Michael has participated in creating the flatness of the world, and he is also enduring the boredom, loneliness and pain caused by 90% flatness.

Michael has been tired of the passengers on the plane who shook his hand by mistake, the chattering driver, the concierge who spoke stylizedly, to his wife and son, to his work partner on the phone, to everyone who spoke in the same male voice as him. People, full of boredom. How can we not get bored? Do you feel your feelings about all the same, rhetorical, and pretending tones around you. Are you as tired of him as he is? Tired of it and eager to hear fresh, different, and unique sounds?

In this world where 90% are all the same, looking for the remaining 10% becomes the inner way out of life. So, when Michael heard the voice of a woman talking outside in the bathroom, he was in a kind of ecstasy and excitement of finding the sky in the labyrinth of a long cave. The craving and fascination with women’s voices is a symptom that Michael has on behalf of each of us-voice fetishism. And in this ecstasy of being hit, I naturally mistakenly believe that this infatuation is love.

If we want to use love to save life, we naturally know that the disappointing ending of this matter is inevitable: a woman’s voice allows Michael to accept her unbeauty, scars, ordinary, and reckless, but after a one-night stand, in a sunny morning, women The details of eating and talking began to make Michael impatient. This detail is very accurate: infatuation can't cover up all the defects and discomforts, and the smallness triggers a torrent of mundane daily life-women's voices begin to accompany male voices.

The voice is no longer pure, and begins to blend into the other 90% of the world: it’s over, Michael discovered that any person is as flat and convergent as the world. If he wants to get 10% difference, he faces to endure the remaining 90% of the same. Dilemma.

So, where is Michael's problem? Is it out of this world? No, it's because of himself, he selectively observes and filters love. Partial tenderness cannot replace the hopelessness of life as a whole. A little bit of passion can't solve complete boredom. Because, like us, he entered life from passion and love, experienced their disappearance completely, and finally fell into the ordinary and broad dilemma of life.

Michael's love for this woman is no different from his love for his wife or his love for his old lover, and the ending is naturally the same. Therefore, his speech failed, in addition to his emotional breakdown, it also failed in the absurd universal logic: he preached that in the customer service attitude, he paid attention to the differences of each person, but he gave examples of those different times. Everyone needs love, which is actually the same. Is it different or the same? Michael is lost in his absurd inspirational logic. He has no answer, nor can he tell others what the answer is.

Charlie Kaufman said: "What you write will become a record of the times... But more importantly, if you are honest with yourself, you will also reduce the loneliness of others because they see it in your work. My own shadow, I see hope." We accepted Michael's honesty in "Abnormal" and felt our common loneliness, but do we see hope? Although Kaufman wants to give you hope, this kind of hope is still a kind of compromise hope.

Just as Kaufman was tired of the directors’ incompetence in explaining his own stories, he filmed his own stories. But is Kaufman satisfied himself? I believe he is still not satisfied with his movie, but he will still shoot the next movie. And those of us voice fetishists, no matter how weary, will continue to live: with a passive hope.

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Extended Reading
  • Vinnie 2022-03-24 09:02:36

    Immersive experience.

  • Camylle 2022-01-04 08:01:54

    I always imagined the male lead as George Clooney while watching the movie

Anomalisa quotes

  • [From Trailer]

    Michael Stone: Look for what is special about each individual, focus on that.

  • Michael Stone: Sometimes there's no lesson. That's a lesson in itself.