Before we survive
The way Totalitarianism unfolds may be ubiquitous control, or it may be extreme happiness and no anxiety. Godard's keen sense of smell naturally grasped the characteristics of this deformed large organization in human society in the 20th and 21st centuries. In response to this, he developed a fantasy about possible forms of future society in the science fiction work "Alpha City".
The background of "Alpha City" is set in an "Alpha City" that is isolated from the outside world. The core of Alpha City is a computer called "Alpha 60". Everything in the city is operated strictly according to logic. People in the city are not allowed to have any behavior that "exceeds logic". Violators will be sent to a mental hospital or even executed. At the beginning of the film, the computer’s mechanical voice tells us its view of the world: “Sometimes, the world is too complicated.”
Remy Kexiong, a reporter from the outside world, took a mission into Alpha City, trying to find the designer of "Alpha 60", Dr. Von Braun, and let him return to the outside world. In this process, he ran into the doctor's daughter Natasha, and developed the "exotic" element of love. The first sentence they met was: "I have traveled 9,000 miles just to give you (fire)." Natasha, who has lived in Alpha City for too long, doesn't know how to face this seemingly ordinary but full of With emotional love, you can only return to the world of self to confirm yourself-"I am Natasha."
The whole film unfolds in a cold and weird atmosphere. The letters and shapes flashing on the screen from time to time, as well as the depressive background music, make people feel like they are in a logically constructed world. Alpha 60 occasionally appears as a narration in the film to make an annotation for the operation of this world-"Everyone lives only in the present, no one lives in the past, and no one will live in the future." Godard also took this The two ideologies were mocked: "Capitalism and socialism both use capital or enlightenment to make people succumb to slavery." What human beings ultimately need is only the logic of domination and obedience, rather than other secular myths.
To deal with the heresy in society that does not obey logic, Alpha City naturally has a different approach. The film shows how to execute people with emotions and beliefs. Men, poets, artists, etc. who shed tears because of the death of their wives will all be "solved" in the aesthetic massacre.
Remy asked puzzledly: "Why were they killed?"
"Because they violated logic.", "In the outside world, isn't this also a crime?"
Even when Remy was looking for a friend, the hotel owner asked his friend: "Why don't you commit suicide?" This also surprised Remy: "Why did he ask you to commit suicide?" If a person can't Adapt to this, then death is a way of liberation, and may even be the only way of liberation.
The film does not tell us what Alpha City’s "Outland" looks like, but I guess that in another world, love is probably also not valued, but the degree is different. If colors are used to describe the difference between the two worlds, it is possible that the outside world is gray and Alpha City is pitch black. Remy has become a traverser of these two worlds, and only in this kind of break away can he find love again.
At 1 hour and 15 minutes of the movie, Natasha recites a poem "Capitale de la douleur" by Paul Éluard. This is probably one of the most beautiful shots in the history of film: the alternating light and dark lights represent one side of the camera. , The invisible strobe light emitted by the Alpha 60 when it is running; and the close-ups of the faces of the heroes and heroines show their subtlest changes in expressions. The depressive background and atmosphere express the helplessness and emptiness of people due to the lack of love; and through poetry, it seems that all emotions are to be stimulated, so as to obtain the most complete liberation of people. Poetic language and love seem to be naturally connected to everything, and rigorous logic does not require dialogues such as "Why" and "Because".
In Alpha City, vocabulary will gradually be scarce and even be replaced by "new words". This reminds people of a similar plot in the novel "1984". "Poetry-sentences and words that cannot be understood". The development of science and technology is likely to bring people's liberation on a certain level, while at the same time it puts people in a complete bondage on the other side. In the past, a panoptic prison that actually existed may be needed, but now it only needs cameras, keyword filtering and other means to review it. Once a certain red line is touched, we may be unable to speak out due to censorship, and even the original meaning of the vocabulary will be completely subverted and become a new discourse system. The development of science and technology is very likely to be a nightmare existence for us. We will live closer together, and thus be seen more thoroughly.
Finally, I want to say that when poetry becomes a cryptic word and the words of love, conscience, and pain are erased from the Bible, that will be when we step into the abyss.
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