"Happy Little Miss": Why are you happy?

Blaze 2022-01-08 08:04:06

The Film Archive said in the introduction of the film: "It will make you feel comfortable and carefree after watching." So with a mentality of looking for cures for my gloomy life, I watched it with anticipation. This film was translated into "Happy Little Miss" in Hong Kong. After watching it, my friends in the same industry said to me: "Hey, you really look like the opposite of this eldest sister in the film."

I don't know whether I should feel relieved or depressed about this comment, because the whole film depicts a general Loser in the world's values ​​(older age without money is not good); but more importantly, a spiritually fulfilled, optimistic, and confident woman. In two hours, Mike Leigh and Sally Hawkins used fragmentary narrative techniques to perfectly interpret an English vocabulary: pollyannasim (Polyannaism, that is, blind optimism). For me personally, if you cut out the last 5 minutes, the whole film is like a life diary of an older child, and the protagonist’s optimistic spirit, in my opinion, is a somewhat inattentive performance. For example, I angered the coach time after time for driving in high heels, or ran to put on sunglasses in a quiet dance class, etc. But at the end of the film, in the climax of the whole film’s conflict, the protagonist finally put away his smirk and still behaved calmly and bravely. I finally felt that her optimism was not the result of low emotional intelligence, but that she was a "good person". "s Choice. How difficult it is to choose to remain "optimistic" in the adversity of life, we all have an experience, and the result of this choice, the director has spent the entire film to show.


There is only one kind of heroism, which is to still love life after recognizing the truth of life. ——Romain Rolland


The film explores a kind of profound philosophy of life through a typical character, "Why be happy? Why be happy?" The heroine leads a laissez-faire but not apostate life, she is just an ordinary elementary school teacher , It’s just that I haven’t gotten married at the age of 30 and have no savings, but in general he is still an ordinary person with an extremely ordinary life and friends. In the film, a small space is used to ask the protagonist’s younger sister to ask her outlook on life: "You are 30 years old, why don’t you make some plans for your future?" Yes, her ordinary life is like a There is just half a glass of water in the glass, pessimistic people see half of it, optimistic people see half of it, and the protagonist, an older Pollyanna, sees a full glass. She was always silly, lost her bike, was silly, and she was silly sitting there without doing anything, it was like knocking high pills 24 hours a day. But she is not stupid, she is good at caring about people around her, she is loving and compassionate, and she also has simple and passionate feelings. Her blind optimism is not a disguise or deliberate, but has become her own. Even in a situation where a "normal person" would be afraid, she still fully believed that human nature is good enough that the terrible looking tramp did not treat her, and the terrible looking driving coach did not treat her. Probably this is HAPPY GO LUCKY.

So why is it so happy? The POPPY of this film can't help but reminiscent of the role of Sally Hawkins in the new work "Blue Jasmine". The social status and dress of the two characters are very similar, with exaggerated plastic earrings, colorful leggins and no-brand bags. In "Blue Jasmine", she is in stark contrast to Cate Blanchett with a Hermès leather bag. Her life is more successful than the younger sister played by Sally Hawkins in any aspect. But just like the characters written on the faces in the two films, marriage is not necessarily happy, money is not necessarily happy, and happiness is happy.

At this point, I feel that my level is limited, and I can only borrow Schopenhauer's point of view to end the discussion on this issue:
The reason why we are dissatisfied is that we are constantly trying to improve our requirements, but at the same time, other factors that hinder our success have remained the same. The nature of all happiness is negative, but the nature of pain is affirmative. The safest way to avoid unhappiness is to not ask for happiness. The lack of pain is a measure of whether a person’s life is happy.

So sometimes I really admire those so-called "living in my own world" who have values ​​that are not easily influenced by others and continue to feel satisfied and happy with their lives. Although sometimes they may seem a little stupid, they are one thing after all. It's a difficult and good thing.

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Extended Reading
  • Zelda 2022-03-25 09:01:15

    People who like rainbows must also love life. 2009 Golden Globe Award winning film.

  • Paxton 2022-03-24 09:02:56

    Fewer roots. Silly. Carefree. . .

Happy-Go-Lucky quotes

  • Scott: The left brain is information, data. It's dead. The right brain is individuality. It's where the soul lies. And the education system, it works like this... "I will give you a world view. And if you repeat my world view, if you reconfirm my world view, you will pass your exams and you will go higher and higher and higher, and you will become a policeman, a magistrate, a lawyer, a general, a politician. And you will be happy and you will succeed. But if you think for yourself, if you think outside of the box, then you will be unhappy and you will fail. That's how the education system works. Left turn. Enraha. Signal. Enraha.

    Poppy: [silence, then contemplatively] Were you bullied at school, Scott?

  • Poppy: Where are you going?

    Tramp: Longest way out, shortest way home.

    Poppy: Oh, Sod's Law.

    Tramp: [whispering very softly] Is he gone?

    Poppy: Alright, you what?

    Tramp: [moves towards Poppy urgently, whispering] Is he gone?

    Poppy: Ease up! What?

    Tramp: [whispering urgently] Is he gone? Is he gone?

    Poppy: Is who gone?

    Tramp: [whispering] The rubber knocker man.

    Poppy: What?

    Tramp: [whispering with emphasis] The rubber knocker man.

    Poppy: Oh, the rubber knocker man! Why didn't you say?

    Tramp: [whispering urgently] Is he gone? Is he gone?

    Poppy: Yah yah, yah. He's gone, he's gone.

    [playing along, looking behind her]

    Poppy: I see him. He's a-running. He's a-rubbing his knockers. He's gone.