Wen | Yu Yue
Recently, I have been busy with the arrangement of general courses, and I have more or less neglected in reading books, but in the same way, in my recent elective courses, I have a lot of views on Western art history, art culture appreciation, and so on. Therefore, there are also some personal opinions on some of the articles and works of the times.
This adaptation of Dostoevsky's short film of the same name, The Absurd Man's Dream, I also came to mind by learning about the genius imaginative painter Salvador Dalí. This highly representative surrealist painter, who shaped the art of dreams, reached the aspect of transforming the subjective world into an objective and exciting image, and can be called the pioneer of Cubism in the twenty-first century. I believe you have also heard such a well-known sentence,
"The only difference between me and a madman is that I am not a madman. The only difference between me and humans is that I am a madman. ”
This familiar classic quote is also naturally reminiscent of the golden sentence: "Genius is on the left, madman is on the right".
For me, the short film "The Dream of a Ridiculous Man", which I want to tell today, is undoubtedly a collection of dreams about the fusion of dream art and realism. The short film embodies the spiritual core of Dostoevsky in terms of content, spiritual embodiment and philosophical thinking. Like a flying literary page, there sits a rhythmic phonograph, quietly setting off a wave of realism.
The short film "Absurd Dreams" presents us with a short picture of only twenty minutes long, which takes place in Russia, an old social era full of materialism, lies and hypocrisy, when a young man is about to end everything by suicide, and is reborn by an encounter with a little girl and the dream "Kingdom of Heaven".
I will also dig deep into the philosophical connotations of the various hidden details and symbols in the short film, and tell my personal thoughts and understanding of the short film.
<h1>I. Content Level: The details and symbols in realistic paintings are the key to shaping the dream "kingdom of heaven". </h1>
The short film "Absurd Dreams" is directed by the famous world animation master Alexander Petrov. Therefore, on the main picture of the short film as a whole, its unique oil paint style is adopted to highlight the retro and absurd atmosphere of the times in the work, which is more prominent for the theme presented in the work.
Similarly, the thick Western art style also casts a mysterious veil over the entire work, and the less line exchange in the short film also presents a lot of blank space for the style of the short film, which makes the label "short film lining theme" more powerful in "Absurd Dreams".
(1) Lots of metaphors and symbols
The short film begins with a more special introduction list as the starting point, followed by a shaking oil lamp and a more witty color background, as well as the protagonist's dialogue with others.
The most important dream segment in the short film is inserted in the form of flashbacks.
It is not difficult to see that when the protagonist returns to the house where he lives, he who has witnessed everything on the street is aggravated by this materialistic social reality, aggravating his suicidal thoughts. The continuous fall in the dream is more like being ruthlessly dragged into the abyss by the negative energy of depression and depression, but at the same time, because of the protagonist's encounter with the little girl, some of the gloomy emotions are alleviated in his heart, so that a new situation can arise in his mind.
In the dream situation, there are naturally many more things that the audience cannot understand. For example, the little girl who piles sandcastles on the beach, the people dressed in white, the black dogs who change their attitudes, and the children in the palms of the protagonist's hands...
In fact, the meaning of these things, Alexander Petrov did not give too much connotation, but left this space for thinking to the viewer, in the discussion of various opinions, to build this very thoughtful short film.
In my opinion, everything in the dream is changed by the protagonist wearing a white veil and a mask. The originally naïve and simple people, the environment itself is a picture of a cosmopolitan society, in which open men, women and children treat each other sincerely, and the white robes on their bodies symbolize their pure and innocent thoughts, and it is precisely in contact with the "mask", which represents the "illusion", that everyone inadvertently comes into contact with lies.
This is nothing more than the creation of an invisible ditch between people.
And the initiator of all this is the interloper of the dream- the protagonist. This can also be expressed in the attitude of the black dog, who is more like a messenger of the "kingdom of heaven", and when he sees the war "crimes" brought to the people by the protagonist, the black dog naturally shows his fangs to him. Similarly, looking at the metaphorical things from the perspective of such an interloper, it is not difficult to understand the series of changes brought about by the "lie" in the short film.
(2) Surreal screen switching
Similarly, not only in metaphors and symbols, the picture switching of the lens is also a means of reflecting the theme more obviously. In the color tone of the short film, the ink of reality and dreams contrasts the chaotic old social order with the tranquility and simplicity in the heavenly wonderland, so that the plot rhythm of the whole work is gentle and powerful, the picture style is clear, and the "absurdity" in the title of "absurd people's dreams" is once again declared, laying the groundwork for the subsequent changes of the people.
Among the several images that appeared with greater repercussions, there were also masks, brightly colored beak masks.
It is also such a highly realistic lens switching that makes such a "sentient being" appear more vivid. It also gives us as the audience that the highly reversed plot picture in the short film and the monologue space with inner expression give us more topics to discuss in an impressive way, so that the short film can be circulated in the world for more people to talk about.
<h1>Second, the social level: The "sentient beings" constructed by a short film are also a mirror that refracts the reality of reality. </h1>
In the short film "Absurd Dreams", whether it is from the structure, style, or shooting order of the whole film, the thematic idea that director Alexander Petrov wants to express is unchanged - the final end of the social order brought by lies.
First, there is the overflowing human repression in parallel worlds. At the beginning of the short film, the protagonist's despair at being in the world is clearly shaped from the perspective of Alexander Petrov, and the overly real picture created in the social background of the short film gives the audience a strong sense of visual impact and oppression.
Some people may question: is our society not like this, is it too extreme? But if we have truly experienced the oppression of the old Russian social order, will we still question it? This is a work of great epochality, and it also implies that the cruel and realistic human lies similar to those in the short film have never disappeared, but are hidden under the undercurrent of peacetime, hidden in the depths of everyone's heart.
This is not only a portrayal of contemporary people, but also a wake-up call.
Secondly, it is the exposure of hypocrisy made by people under lies. Combined with a scene in the short film: a high human ladder, telling the understanding of truth and life itself, but it collapses completely because of a small stepping stone. People call themselves:
"Even though we are hypocritical, vicious, and misbehaving, we know this, but we have the knowledge to thank her for making us find the truth in the new. We will consciously accept the truth, knowledge is more important than feeling, the understanding of life is far more important than life itself, we must unite, friendly society belongs to everyone. ”
They talk about their knowledge of life, but they don't care that they are in such a harsh environment, which is a well-deserved manifestation of hypocrisy. People are blinded by apparent hypocrisy, but they do not know that the society they think is good has long been in ruins. The reason for this is that formalism, built by lies and hypocrisy, persecutes people's minds so deeply that they burn themselves without knowing it.
Finally, it is also a celebration of the spirit of man who is not willing to succumb to the mercy of fate in the face of despair. From the protagonist bringing "bad luck" to the dream world as the starting point, until the final roar of despair in the protagonist's attempt to save it, it makes him return to the real world. The most touching sentence for me: "Isn't our life a dream?" ”
It is true that all misfortune and despair will disappear at the dawn of the day, and one will not be in darkness forever, and hope and despair depend only on whether you are willing to come out of the empty world. When I watched this short film, I did not have too many low emotional ups and downs, but Alexander Petrov's performance at the end gave me new points of thought.
"If the world you praise wants to destroy her, wants to kill me and my ridiculous dreams. Show me another life, a whole new, better life. ”
Throughout the short film, he does not intersperse the transformation of events large and small in the form of some inspirational narration, but ends with the protagonist's reluctance to dream. I guess it's more like the original author Dostoevsky's examination of his own life and his determination to challenge the unknown.
<h1>Third, the spiritual level: the awakening of self-consciousness in a desperate situation depends on the determination to face the unknown</h1>
Philom has this saying: "There is no desperate situation in the world, only those who are desperate for it." In the short film "Absurd Dreams", most people can easily focus their attention on the entire oppressive environmental atmosphere, and as viewers, we will subconsciously perceive emptiness and loneliness to the darkness surrounding us.
In other words, the hero, who has been under extreme repression for a long time, shuttles through the bottom stage of the materialistic flow of the old society, and he is closer to despair than us.
Similarly, on the basis of such inability to change the status quo, people instinctively regard their adaptability as a means of self-preservation—when they are unable to live themselves, the first task they convey to the brain is to live safely, not to resist.
However, if you are like the protagonist in the short film, you are in a depressed environment and state for a long time, it is easy to fall into the worldly cognition of trance, and then deny the self and society. Inevitably, a sense of nothingness breeds psychologically– an attitude towards everything that happens in the real world can be derived from it. And this attitude does not come from the imposition of others, but from the judgment of the self.
Therefore, in the oppressive environment of the whole short film, although Dostoevsky did not focus on the protagonist's resistance to despair, combined with the atmosphere of the old era in the background of the short film, it is enough to prove the strength of the protagonist's spiritual world. Even if the times change rapidly, the innate desire to survive hidden in people's hearts will never be lost, and we do not have to push ourselves into a desperate situation in an extreme way.
epilogue
In any case, as long as a person is clearly aware and determined to get rid of his or her disliked state and begin to enter the process of implementation and advancement, then his (her) life will not be too bad. There will always be some highlight moments or negative emotions in a person's life, but those are nothing more than short-lived. Like a dream, we can only perceive a moment of pleasure or fear; what is really worth relying on is the determination to constantly prepare for the unknown.
We can have "ridiculous dreams" but never be "pessimistic people."
#新作者扶植计划 Phase II #