Throughout the films directed by Ridley Scott, there are the lonely heroines who persist in "Alien" first, and then the pure devilish female mountain monsters of "Devil Girl Soldier", or simply like the "Human Demon" Once again confronted with the murderous demon Hannibal, the more frustrated female detective. It can be said that in his eccentric works, although the number of works showing feminism or feminist tendencies is not many, each shot is surprisingly large. On the contrary, in "Alien" (1977) and "Devil Girl Soldier" "The End of the Wild Flower" (1991), filmed between "(1997) and "Man and Demon" (2001), did not have an earth-shattering battle, nor did it lack American patriotism or a horror atmosphere, but it was better than Scott Works with women as the main narrative object are more plump and sharper, and even more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
Obviously, the two women portrayed in "The End of the Wild Flower" drove madly on the end where love and sin are incompatible. Compared with "Alien" or "Human Demon", they are almost insignificant. However, the key point is that no matter what It is "Alien" or "Human Demon". The female protagonist appears as a single but extremely strong image. The feminism in these films is a kind of absolute patriarchal discourse system discussed by Laura Mulvey from the appearance to the inside. The subversion of the controlled film industry products, the heroine has completed the impossible exorcism task in the face of all the masters of the spacecraft (of course, male, female, and robots) in the face of alien monsters. In the incompetence and suspicion of the surrounding colleagues (mainly male compatriots), dealing alone with the murderous maniacs who are lurking and reappearing, are all powerful and highly traditional male characteristics. In this type of film, it is even a kind of performance. Inverted feminism, that is, although women are the only protagonists, the character traits and behavior patterns imposed on female characters are still male images in traditional shadows. In this sense, it is because of these space heroes. The existence of female and sassy policewomen strengthened the further establishment and consolidation of the so-called "male power discourse system" in movies.
And "The End of the Wild Flower" has escaped the circle differently, designed two heroines, and does not involve a large-scale blockbuster momentum, the two heroines are not wise heroes, one is the only one. The housewife, a careless coffee shop waiter, now places the original features of the female character on the characters. The reason why "The End of the Wild Flower" is so successful in the feminist meaning is entirely because the director did not fully structure the character and plot of the two heroines in developing the rebellious temperament of the two heroines. The two heroines are traveling. In the process of fleeing, they all showed different degrees of psychological fragility and behavioral loss of control. Under the calm appearance, they showed the true nature of women from time to time. While the heroines Selma and Louise continue to deepen inwardly as the story progresses and the schedule progresses on the surface. Their original appearance will gradually become weaker. Their originally lacking self-confidence turned out to be surprisingly decisive. The corresponding male role setting has produced different degrees of promotion and influence on the evolution of female roles. The feminist aura of the film is the spark of getting along between the two heroines (this is different from the above-mentioned several movies). The biggest feature) was sublimated. In the end, the two drove over the cliff and completed the baptism of Phoenix Nirvana.
At the beginning of the film, Selma is a genuine teacher who only promises in front of her violent husband. She dared not pursue the freedom that life should have, while Louis is a strong-behaved café waiter. The two met for a trip together. In the hotel Selma arbitrarily indulges her desire for freedom, which provokes the unruly Harlan, while Louis has always maintained a considerable degree of calm. After shooting Harlan, Louis was relatively calm. However, in the process of the film, Selma's behavior has always tended to be exposed, while Louis has a tendency to be introverted despite being strong. In the subsequent development of the plot, this process of character exchange between the two accelerated with time. This gradual change reached a qualitative change in the halfway hotel. The two who fled due to the murder carried the cowboy boy JD, and Louis’s lover Jimmy He also arrived with money as promised. That night, Louis's cold appearance and tenderness will collapse in front of his lover, while Selma will let go of the one-night stand between the body and mind and JD. This is the watershed where the two's personalities reach a certain level of balance. The roles began to change. Louis remained calm, but he developed a tacit understanding with the gradually unrestrained Selma, and this tacit understanding later showed that in the scene of punishing truck drivers, the two women were in the same balance of power and subverted the patriarchy. .
While the character differences between Selma and Louis gradually approached and eventually broke through the traditional "1+1=2" model to stimulate a multiplied or even cubic anti-male social order force, the choreographer also deliberately designed the male characters. A rather bold and anti-traditional attempt. The male characters in the film, like Selma's husband, are grumpy and weak at the same time, or are sexy thieves like JD, while the highway police and truck drivers fundamentally deconstruct the myth of male martial arts. The only male character with a vigorous character is police officer Hal. After learning of the case, he tried to do something for the tragic situation of the two heroines, but in the end, he watched the two driving down the valley. In the background of the basically male-dominated social system set in the film, the male characters that should have played a leading role died or died one by one. Harlan was shot and killed by Louis for an attempted rape; JD defrauded Selma A night of love stole all the cash; Selma’s husband was cowardly and incompetent but jealous was still alive; the road policeman was put into the trunk of his police car by two; the wretched truck driver was shot through the tire by two "goddess" and blown up The courtesy of the truck, together with Louis's most trusted lover, Jimmy, are gradually suspecting, revealing the whereabouts of the two to the police. If the betrayal of JD and Jimmy means the ugly presentation of a patriarchal society that restricts women’s freedom, then the road police and truck drivers have become a counterattack against the patriarchal system by the female forces represented by Selma and Louis. The point of view's intention to observe the female images in the film for consumption is completely invalid, because the film presents a world that is completely subverted from the perspective of men. The short-lived appearance of Police Officer Hal has also become helpless at the end of the film, the male world. Whether it is strangling or saving, it is a failure for Selma or Louis. The male role setting here is completely successful if it is interpreted from the perspective of taking "The End of the Wild Flower" as a manifestation of pure feminism. By the way, some seemingly insignificant characters, such as the old man outside the wooden house, and the mother-in-law in the shop window, correspond to a kind of desolation. The former seems to be a shrinking male miniature, and the latter may be regarded as an inextricable female. Going old, just like the ending of the movie, it hurts both sides.
In terms of environment and theme, the film chose to escape on the highway between Osland and Texas. For the characterization, it is a deliberate release environment. Only escape from the city. Selma and Louis are racing on the road. Only after experiencing sadness and surprises along the road, they finally achieved their challenge to themselves and the existing order. Louis, who was suffering from insult, walked forward with injuries, and Selma, whose character was released, robbed the store, but the night before JD was used. In the way of presentation, the imprint of the patriarchal discourse on the two heroines is still clear. In the end, the desperate two mads had a look and a tacit understanding, and they started the car to fly directly down the cliff. Their journey of self-liberation came to the end. Although gorgeous, in the end, they just made the final destiny for the men with a high-spirited attitude. The failed counterattack. In this sense, the message that Ridley Scott and the female screenwriter Carly Kerry (still unavoidably using the word "female") want to convey is both a revolutionary Jedi counterattack and a dead end. Health, an antagonistic, invisible compromise with the object of the counterattack.
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