A Brief Comment on the Red Desert

Jessica 2022-03-21 09:03:00

The French philosopher Pascal pointed out in "Thoughts": People need entertainment, and entertainment makes people temporarily forget that they are a tragic and mortal life. Human beings have transitioned from the industrial age shown in the film to the current information age. The entertainment in Pascal’s sense has been strengthened, and our surroundings are full of over-entertained information, so that in the face of some major events (such as the epidemic), the A way of thinking that goes back to childhood, making disasters (viruses) "anthropomorphic", "cute", "everything is cute", and the way of looking at things and events has become simpler, "With brother Ah Zhong" (referring to China), "copying homework" (referring to calling on countries to adopt methods that China has implemented in epidemic prevention). This phenomenon has always existed and even formed a trend. The harm caused by practical problems is better avoided in the way of thinking degradation, and some philosophical thinking about personal existence and other issues is avoided. Compared with the phenomenon of individual loss in the background, many people also lose themselves in the information age, but the psychological feeling it causes is the opposite of the one in the film. Unsure of where to go. The red desert of the information age still exists, and Antonioni has noticed the existence of these problems with detached thought, which may exist as an unsolved phenomenon before mankind enters the next stage.

In the eyes of some viewers, this is an unconventional film, and Antonioni himself has said: I never compromised with the producers, if I compromised, I would be rich, but in fact I am not rich, I am Just trying to make a movie in my eyes, sincerely. This allows him to have a personal style, to use a large but unorthodox method, extract and transform new content from previous films, reduce the level of entertainment in the film, and make the audience who choose him get emotional and cognitive. significance. When watching his films, I feel like I am in the position of a bystander, because the drama of the narrative is weakened, a large number of editing is avoided to replace the camera movement, and there is no scene content with high information content, etc., and rational thinking can be generated while watching. , pay attention to the texture, shape and color of the scene in the empty mirror feel etc. In addition, the framing of the characters when they appear emphasizes the connection between people and the surrounding environment. For example, the characters are very small under the towering huge industrialized machines, and people are struggling to find self-perception and constantly determine whether the outside world can To give warmth, the surrounding environment has always been in a dominant position. It can change people's traditional living conditions and bring about a new and unpredictable future. Due to the limited range of human cognition, it produces a feeling of confusion and weakness. After watching the movie, you may feel as if you have talked a lot and seem to have nothing to say. When watching a movie that does not follow the commercial format, you should change your perspective and way of thinking. This movie focuses on the magical moment in a certain state, the huge smoke The appearance of clouds, ships, the blurred vision of people in the thick fog, etc., show a mysterious and disturbing feeling, placing images on the characters; on the one hand, this method can enhance the empathy of the audience, and on the other hand, because The camera is not simply recording the facts, it weakens the documentary, so that the audience's mind is in a state of inexplicable dissociation, seeing the history and the future, as well as the predicament that human beings have not been able to solve for millions of years.

uses surreal subjective colors, and he has greatly developed the possibility of color. According to the book "Cinema Colors" (written by Ao Rilige) as a classification, the "red" in the title It should belong to the philosophical color above subjective feelings, and it represents a kind of philosophical thinking. A large number of gray and black tones are used in this film. Compared with gray, red as the theme color only appears in a small range. It also represents different meanings at different times. When used in industrial structures, it plays a finishing touch, indicating that it is a kind of A special product that is detached from nature, as if it does not belong to this world and is separated from the surrounding landscape; red also appears in the small space of the small house, producing a feeling of lust, venting, and restlessness; red is also When the relationship between the heroine and her lover undergoes a qualitative change, the large-scale appearance (ships and hotels) conveys a feeling of disappointment and anxiety. At the same time, the advancement of the camera also makes the audience's vision stay on the red area, laying the atmosphere and triggering thinking. After that, the huge red area of ​​the cruise ship at night sublimated this emotional feeling. In addition to this, there are other colors that symbolize different aspects: white - loneliness, helplessness, confusion; blue - abandoned, repressed; yellow - pollution, destruction, nausea; purple - psychedelic, unknown, spiritual Abnormal; green - more secure, love, expression; gray - silence, death, shattered, no future.

Just as character monologues mostly start with questions and end with helplessness, there are always these questions in life: where am I, where am I going, and what is the process of life itself. At the end of the film, the woman said that the bird knew that it would die if it flew to the yellow smoke, so it would not go. It was also a way for a woman to compromise after a series of struggles and no results. Correspondingly, each of us defines own way of being.

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Extended Reading
  • Destini 2022-03-28 09:01:11

    What is the symbolic meaning of the green dress on the head and tail of the heroine? Is it a symbol of the weak vitality under the ravages of the barbaric modern industry, or is it implying that the heroine chooses to compromise and become peaceful after suffering from the fear and anxiety brought by the cold industrial society, or do you want to say that the heroine has greened her husband?

  • Reva 2022-04-22 07:01:48

    It is indeed a cold, lonely, modern, and pathologically perverted movie. It is often out of place, but if you grasp a little "love incompetence" (the mental sequelae of the heroine's car accident and concussion), you can slowly understand the heroine. The audio-visual language is wonderful, and the color combination is especially good and meaningful. It's a film that is metaphorically obvious, and about modernity and industry and human emotion, no one is more profound than Antonioni.

Red Desert quotes

  • Giuliana: I feel my eyes tearing up. What should I do with my eyes? What should I watch?

    Corrado Zeller: You ask what you should watch. I ask how I should live. It's the same thing.

  • Giuliana: There's something terrible about reality and i don't know what it is. No one will tell me.