"American Animals": Thanks to my alma mater for giving me a reason to beat, smash, rob and burn

Aliza 2022-01-07 15:53:42

This film illustrates a myth: campus life is the same as not cheating or fighting, neither is it complete.

School celebrations, college entrance examination blessings, graduation season... Do you have tears in all this? If you will, it's normal; if you won't, it's normal, because it depends on whether you are a beneficiary of campus life. Many students or graduates are more or less disgusted with school life. It is not an anomaly, but a signal that reminds people how far the school is from the goal of "the cradle of dreams".

This year, a special American movie "American Animals" tells the story of a group of young people who hate campus life and commit theft in order to take risks.

(The first edition of the priceless masterpiece "The Atlas of Birds of the Americas" which was admired by these four students)

The story prototype of "American Animals" is particularly absurd: In 2004, four college students in Lexington, Kentucky, United States entered into the library of the University of Transylvania, planning to steal John Audubon’s famous book "The Americas". The first printed version of "Bird Atlas", however, was frequently revealed during the implementation process. As a result, the police arrested these four people without any effort. In the end, the four college students were sentenced to 7 years in prison each. This theft is known as one of the most reckless robberies in American history. Before the release of "American Animals", it is estimated that not many people could imagine how leisurely these boys would do this kind of thing. For such a strange and real event, how can the presentation process be plain? The director of the film, Bart Layton, is a British documentary genius. His previous documentary works have attracted much attention for visual innovation and challenging topics. "American Animals", as his second theatrical film work, is still unique in performance, and even played some new tricks on the basis of previous documentaries.

I believe that what many viewers find strange is the interplay between the outbound explanation of the prototype characters in the film and the interpretation and reproduction of the actors. In fact, I saw a similar shooting technique in the BBC feature film "Michelangelo" a few years ago. But "American Animals" is not simply splicing the archetype elaboration and the performance paragraphs, but allows the two to form an intertextuality. The same thing is in two forms (even in the archetype elaboration, the statements of the four parties conflict with each other. The presentation of) enhances the effect of each other, the reappearance of the actors makes the party’s exposition more vivid and vivid, and the party’s exposition injects more meaning into the actor's interpretation.

Bart Layton does not stop at restoring, he also expressed his speculation on the authenticity of the details of real events in "American Animals". Regarding the sale of stolen goods, the two parties had different descriptions on the appearance of the intermediary who communicated about the sale of stolen goods at the time. In terms of motivation, except for the two students who joined later, who started the two students who initially planned to steal? The two also argued differently in front of the camera. This kind of re-interpretation of real events has no subjective intention that the main creator actively adds, only a complete presentation of the state of the parties with the assistance of the actors' interpretation. Although in this way, the incident itself left too many doubts, at least through the contradictions in the statement, the impulse, carelessness and naivety of the parties at the time can also be seen.

"American Animals" did not deliberately express the attitude towards the parties, but the main creator's attitude towards the crime film is clear. At the beginning, I imitated the "Dark Knight" with the sensible slow-motion editing and Hans Zimmer's soundtrack, and then I used the shots and the protagonist of the film in the "Killer" directed by Kubrick to make a pros and cons. Imagine the crime scene using a long shot, let alone when the four students carried out the theft, they also paid tribute to "Falling Water Dog" and "Stealing and Kidnapping"... But how enthusiastic the protagonists in the front were expressed, they buried their stubbornness in classic crime films How rich it has to be, and how cruel it is to pour cold water on the protagonist, the type of crime film, and the unknowing audience. To say that this film is anti-genre is actually a light tone. This film uses the reappearance of "the most reckless robbery in American history" to ridicule and ridicule most crime films.

As a film, "American Animals" is excellent in its exploration and breakthrough in form, and its level of excellence is comparable to the excellent case of film textbooks. But I think that in the text, if you need to explore more deeply, then in the description of the protagonist's family environment and the social background of the criminal motives, the film appears to be a little poor. After all, it is not a full documentary or pure realism film. If you want to say that this is entirely caused by the protagonist’s desire and impulse, it’s hard to say. Except for one of the four protagonists, one of them is a sports student with little cultural awareness, the other three are either art students or accounting masters or have them. Business savvy, if these people do not have specific factors, it is impossible for them to take risks so desperately. The family backgrounds of art students and sports students are still somewhat explained. The family environment of accounting masters and the rich second generation with business acumen is basically not mentioned. As for the social background, if it is not for the mobile phones and computers they use, I can't see the difference between the United States in 2004 and 2018.

From my personal perspective, these four college students would think of doing such a stupid thing, which has nothing to do with the out-of-control communication of social values. In fact, some of the clips in the film still point to criticism, such as the disharmony within the family of sports specialties and the external harmony, as well as the encouragement and appreciation of the school leaders to the art students and the bullying and indifference of the school students to him-similar to these two aspects. If there is more display of the comparison, the explanation of this film is not just a display of "curiosity kills the cat". When there is a loophole in the popularization of social values, individuals will more or less question it, or even resist it in serious cases. After the belief in external ideas is shaken, one's own life needs to be supported by one's own complete and firm value system, and students who are in a state of young and ignorant are disappointed by the values ​​of the outside world, they can only be left by their immaturity and inadequacy. Driven by the value concept of formation, it is easy to go on the road of no return. Therefore, it can also be said that the experience of the four college students in "American Animals" is essentially a tragicomedy caused by the contradiction between social thoughts and personal thoughts.

As the ending of the film or the real event, after the four college students were released from prison, they seemed to have figured out their own life direction, and finally found their own way out. It seems that seven years of imprisonment is still educational for them. It’s just that the education of young people at home and on campus is far inferior to that of prisons. Isn’t this a kind of irony?

(The article was first published on the public account "Dream Eater")

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Extended Reading
  • Nyasia 2022-04-23 07:03:26

    A few young actors acted quite naturally and didn't commit the crime. The bullshit when he was in a panic and adjusted the surveillance video with the rule of law online. Generally, if the parties came out and said that I would have never imagined that this sensational library robbery was carried out so stupidly and hilariously The boundaries between documentary and documentary are getting blurry, so life is more absurd

  • Clare 2022-03-24 09:02:50

    Play a good card into a cautionary tale educational film. Every time I see Evan Peters it feels like Malcolm McDowell never grows old.

American Animals quotes

  • The Real Warren Lipka: And so, the idea that we were doing this extraordinary thing absolutely appealed to us. Appealed to me.

  • The Real Spencer Reinhard: Looking back on it, I've often wondered which events I remember from Warren's point of view, or I remember from my own. And, if it was easier to choose one over the other because of what it provided for us.