Feelings of the past: Conflict and reconciliation of contradictions in power

Fern 2022-10-17 06:25:49

I haven't watched such a love movie for a long time. The reason for watching such a love movie this time is largely because I listened to Mr. Dai Jinhua's class. When Mr. Dai talked about this movie in the class, I felt interested. So I came to see it, and the result is that I think this movie is still very good.

past feelings poster

An era background of the film is the 1950s, this period is a special period. That is the period of the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union, and an important historical event occurred during this period, namely the anti-communist and xenophobic movement represented by McCarthyism. I will not go into too much narration about historical matters, because my own The knowledge of history is very lacking, and there is no ability to talk about this history in depth, so I only talk about what the film presents.

The film tells the love story of a man and a woman of different classes, in a form somewhat like the story of Cinderella and the prince. In the story, the heroine Katie obviously belongs to the proletarian position, which can be seen from her political position (actually, from her daily work in the surrounding restaurants to earn tuition fees and work-study, it is also possible to Infer that she is also proletarian economically), and the hero Hubbell I am not sure if he belongs to the middle class or the bourgeoisie (from the point of view of his attitude towards politics and social views, it is with a very strong middle class The cultural atmosphere of class, then I call him Bourgeois), but in short, the male protagonist is undoubtedly in a dominant position in class, or in terms of material wealth, compared to the heroine, he has a great advantage.

In this love story, we can clearly see that the heroine is in an active position for love. She likes the hero, and she has a crush on him when she was in college, and then they meet again. She has been trying to find a way to pursue the hero's love. I just said that the heroine is a staunch communist, so her pursuit of love is often with an idealistic spirit and sincere emotion. . On the other hand, the male protagonist is in a passive position in their love story. Before, he had a little affection for the heroine, but he did not have very strong feelings. In this active and passive position of love, we can clearly see the relationship between static and dynamic, and the power relationship of love is high and low. That is to say, the passive male protagonist is in an advantageous position in their love relationship, while the active female protagonist is in a disadvantageous position. Why do you say this? You can imagine that the active party in love often takes the passive party as his center. In such a form, the active party is often humble, and the passive party is held. The relationship between love, power and position in this movie is always reflected in the later stories. It is to maintain the love between them. The heroine keeps giving back, whether it is going to her friend Jiejie's house to feel the "decadent and disgusting" conversation. , or went to Hollywood for the idea of ​​​​the male protagonist, or in order to retain the male protagonist, he abandoned his communist stance and let him live a middle-class life with peace of mind. These are undoubtedly in the active state of love, the performance of the inferior position. So in this whole love, the distribution of power between men and women is very obvious.

power distribution

This movie tells the old story of love across classes. Two people of different social status come together, know each other, fall in love, conflict, fall in love, and finally the conflict can't be adjusted and finally break up. The routine of this story is still relatively old-fashioned, but I agree with the final result. I personally think that the reconciliation of class contradictions is the same as the contradictions between race and social system. It is irreconcilable. of. If reconciled, all I can say is that it's a myth, and myths often don't exist. Why do I say that the contradictions between classes are irreconcilable? I can only say this in a very general way, whether it is education, ideas, etc., there are great differences. Whether it is the Phoenix Man or Phoenix Woman that appears in society, these phenomena all show that to a certain extent the people of the lower class are rejected by the upper class. If you have read the passage "Shi Taijun breaks the old-fashioned" in "A Dream of Red Mansions", you will know that the real upper class is very strict in terms of family law and book etiquette, and it is very difficult for a lower class Entering their class, I like Shi Taijun's comments on novels like "The Story of the West Chamber" and "The Peony Pavilion". (original words below)

"Mother Jia said with a smile: "These books are just a set, Zuo is just some good people, the most boring. She said that her daughter was so bad, and said she was a 'beautiful woman'! There is no shadow in the compilation. The openings are all of the squire family, and the father is either the minister or the prime minister. A lady must be love like a treasure. This young lady must be knowledgeable and know everything, but she is actually a 'beautiful lady'. She has only met a handsome man, whether it is a relative or a friend. When she thinks of his life events, her parents also forgot her books. A ghost can't be a ghost, a thief can't be a thief, so she looks like a beautiful woman? For example, a man's family is full of articles and he is a thief. Could it be that Wang Fa sees that he is a genius and will not be involved in the case of a thief? It can be seen that the author of the book is blocking his own mouth. Furthermore: since it is said that she is the young lady of the world's eunuch and scholarly family, she also knows the etiquette and reading, and even the wife knows the book and etiquette, even if she tells her old age and returns home, naturally there are many people who serve the young lady. If there is such a thing, only the young lady and a girl who follows closely know about it? Think about it, what are those people doing? When everyone heard it, they all laughed and said, "The old lady said it was a lie. "Mother Jia smiled and said, "There is a reason: the people who compiled such a book were jealous of other people's wealth, or they didn't want to ask for it, so they compiled it and it was ruined." There is another class of people who read these books on their own, and think they are evil. How could he know the truth of the eunuch's reading people! Don't talk about the big people in the book, now it's just like us talking about it, there's nothing like that. Don't make him drop his jaw. So we are never allowed to say these books, even the girls don't understand these words. "

Shi Taijun breaks the old stereotypes

Okay, let's get back to it again, we just said so much about the impossibility. I would also like to say a few more things about this movie that moved me. The film takes place in America during the height of McCarthyism. McCarthyism is a typical representative of anti-communism and extreme right in the United States caused by U.S. Senator McCarthy from 1950 to 1954. It maliciously slanders and recklessly persecutes suspected Communist Party and democratic progressives, and even all those with dissent. In such a social context, there is no doubt that our heroine, a communist, is very dangerous. But perhaps because of love, she and Hubbell were in love for a considerable period of time in the movie, which means that she seemed to avoid some political events against her during this period of time. But in this love, she couldn't stand the middle-class decadence, ego, escapism, ignorance of politics and life-playing attitude of the middle class shown by Hubbell and other friends. But in the end, she and Hubbell inevitably suffered from the political oppression of McCarthyism. In this incident, the contradiction between the proletariat and the middle class finally broke out. Huber, who is a bourgeois, made it clear that he wanted to live a stable and stable life and did not want to participate in too many political events. Katie, a communist, wants to fight, to call for justice, and for more people. Under such contradictions, plus some things after, so the final film ends with their breakup.

The intensification of contradictions

Finally, I finally came to the place where I was moved. Some time after their breakup, Katie is back in our sights, back to her flamboyant curls, and in the Washington neighborhood she's actively signing her book, a campaign against the use of the atomic bomb. Book. In the process, she was surprised to find that Hubbell was across the street from her, and Hubbell found her, and it was here that Katie walked over to Hubbell, and the two embraced. After a simple exchange, she learned that Hubbell was already the host of a famous TV company, and he also had another woman by his side, and Katie was still fighting for her ideal, the woman with dreams who shouted in the street. Katie then returned to selling books again, but what she didn't expect was that Hubbell would come back from the other side of the street and hug Katie again. And took a propaganda poster about "against the use of the atomic bomb" from Katie.

took away a poster

In fact, seeing this, it is self-evident that the moment Hubbell walked towards Katie, the power between men and women reversed, Katie became the passive party, and Hubbell took the initiative to pass. Why is there such a reversal? I think, combined with Hubbell's initiative to take an anti-war leaflet from Katie, he should have a kind of respect for this idealistic woman. This is not only Hubbell's idea, but also Director's tribute. Bourgeois, who was originally very disgusted with politics, finally took the initiative to embrace a communist woman and took an anti-war leaflet from him. Doesn't this still explain his mood? Such a The homage of people of one class to people of another class, I personally don't think it is a kind of reconciliation between classes, but I can't deny that this kind of homage is indeed very beautiful, very moving, and it rises to a certain level. A moral height with emotional transcendence. So in this place I think it struck me.

And then I recommend everyone to watch this movie. Because in an era like ours, everyone wants to live their own small life and turn the era into a "small era". Everyone only has contact with the people around them, but it is difficult to feel that they are connected to thousands of people. Thousands of people are connected. And is this really the right thing to do, or have we really escaped from the great era in which everyone’s destiny is connected? Therefore, I recommend this film from the Cold War period between the United States and the Soviet Union, and it is also for everyone to think about the connection between personal destiny and the times. Finally, about the times, I would like to borrow the words of Mr. Dai Jinhua, that is, we have never escaped from the world and the huge times.

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Extended Reading

The Way We Were quotes

  • Hubbell Gardner: You think you're easy? Compared to what, the Hundred Years' War?

  • Hubbell Gardner: You never give up, do you?

    Katie Morosky Gardner: Only when I'm absolutely forced to. But I'm a very good loser...

    Hubbell Gardner: Better than I am.

    Katie Morosky Gardner: Well, I've had... more practice.