Dogtown is an allegorical film that completely subverts the goodness of human nature, and in nearly three hours of film, director and screenwriter Russ von Trier attempt to attack the evils of human nature in pure, simple cinematic language.
Grace, who is full of beautiful yearning for the outside world, yearns for freedom and tries to get rid of the shackles of patriarchy, so she has this adventure in dogtown. The evil of human nature in Dogtown is amplified step by step and gradually devours Grace. This unworldly little girl also began her revenge after being devastated.
At the same time, the film uses a dramatic stage-like set to expose the entire content to the viewer, the evil of human nature is also exposed, and the addition of handheld photography makes the viewer look at everything in dog town as if they are immersed, and a competition scene about human nature is officially unveiled.
The biggest purpose of the film is actually to baptize the soul of Grace, the character, and to complete an indictment of the evil of human nature with the help of this character's encounter, change and growth. She was originally the only daughter of a gang leader, but because of her father's power, she chose to flee, which is a pure and kind girl full of beautiful yearning for the world, who came to Dog Town.
Here is what she thinks is the utopia of freedom, but in fact, the people here are not warm and happy to speak of, in the narrator's introduction, we learn that everyone has their own worries, worried, the male protagonist Tom is actually a small who has nothing to do, here is not the utopia that Grace yearns for, but an American mountain village that was poor and mentally deficient during the Great Depression.
Grace has tried to integrate into dogtown many times, she tries to get to know everyone and offer to help, she is full of expectations for the future. But good luck did not come to her, and Grace, who had already been received, was gradually treated and abused by the people of Dogtown because of the police officer's deportation order and the arrest warrant for bank robbery. Chuck raped her, Tom betrayed her, the men of Dogtown used her as the target of sexual desire, the women accused her of being a slut who seduced her husband, and Grace's beauty was completely destroyed in one blow after another.
Tom thought that betraying Grace would throw her away, but did not want the gang leader to be her father, Grace launched a crazy revenge, and the dog town was slaughtered, leaving only one dog.
Human nature is more terrible than dogs, and the people of Dogtown are arrogant, jealous, angry, lazy, greedy, lustful, overeating, and the Seven Deadly Sins run rampant in Dogtown, and only a bloody slaughter may be the best way to change them.
The dramatic stage-like set breaks the shackles of the sense of reality that ordinary films must seek, and this practice of exposing everything on the stage directly shows the evil of human nature to the audience.
The film scene of "Dogtown" is very different from the general sense of the film, more similar to the stage drama scene arrangement, the entire film is unfolded on the stage of "Dogtown". Through the large overhead shot at the beginning of the film, we can clearly see the basic framework structure of Dogtown and the appearance of each household, which is an extremely bold attempt to express a realistic allegory of human nature using romantic expression.
Dogtown breaks the privacy and enclosed space, there is no "wall" to cover, the viewer can clearly see the daily state of each character, no hiding, every move to see the bottom. While Grace is being raped, the officer asks everyone at the door for Grace's information, doing his own thing, while Chuck brazenly tears Grace's clothes open and the ugly deeds are nakedly made public.
Every night after that, people from Dogtown came to Grace's room, in contrast to the fact that the people were close at hand but chose to turn a blind eye. When Tom was lying on Grace's body, everyone was eating outside the door, and Grace became the "good meal" for everyone.
There is no cover-up, the viewer sees clearly from the perspective of the onlooker, this beastly scene, the primitive desire is like a dog, and even these dog town residents are more shameless than dogs, because dogs are unconscious, and people are conscious and conscience, which is more like a public trial for human nature, an innocent and kind girl is chained like a dog, fear and numbness run rampant in the night, and the indictment of the evil of human nature reaches its peak.
The film has a strong viewing nature, in addition to the accurate portrayal of various character images, the scene of the stage play, the use of handheld photography is indispensable.
Most of dogtown's shots are done using handheld photography.
Handheld photography is not only an externalization of the inner emotions of the characters, but also a foil for the plot, characters and atmosphere rendering, while allowing the creator's subjective expression to be brought into play and form a unique characteristic style of the film.
Director Si von Trier doesn't add much to the cameramanship, on the contrary, dogtown's cinematography is more rough and simple. But this is not a lack of directing skills, but a kind of clever, loud sound wisdom.
Panning and flicking the lens are used more in the hands of photographers, just as the human perspective is looking left and right. In fact, handheld photography is more like a substitute for the audience to examine each dogtown person, so the effect of shooting is easy to make the viewer have an immersive and wonderful experience.
The audience is drawn onto the stage like a member of Dogtown, experiencing Grace's absconding, helping, blending, raping and killing. Unconsciously, we have also become the original sin, and it is the director who is sounding the alarm bell for us.
If we were also from Dogtown, would we accept Grace, and would she have given her charcoal or worsened her after she was raped? How will we react when she is shackled like a dog, whether it is the same hypocritical deception as everyone else or whether it helps her get out of this ghost place.
The director hopes that the viewer can examine himself, in the mud, whether to merge with the mud or out of the mud without staining, this human percussion also stirs in each of our heads.
The humanity revealed in "Dogtown" is naked, and it is a metaphorical and warning statement, which is at a loss in the face of temptation, unable to restrain in the face of power, and will only lead to disaster in the end.
The greatest charm of the story comes from its reality, although the film weakens this reality in the form of a stage play, but it stems from the fact that the human tragedy revealed behind this story corresponds to the reality. For Grace, perhaps such an experience can make her future smoother, only after experiencing pain and experiencing the complexity and danger of society, can she grow better.
"Dogtown" makes a very detailed depiction of the process of the gradual alienation of human nature, and the greed of human nature is amplified step by step, if we are in it, how should we live with ourselves? This may be a question worth thinking about.
Planner: Meow Trail creative team
Author: Ah Zhen
Editor-in-Charge: Ah Zhen