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Editor|Humble language on book style
Many people think that "Big River Love" tells the story of family and growth, but it cannot be ignored that this film is presented in a "reminiscence" way, and it is different from the treatment of memories that only appear at the beginning and end in other films.
The film uses Norman as the narrator of memories throughout the film, with the footnotes of Norman's narration everywhere, and many scenes in the memories are presented in black and white old photos, it can be said that "memory" is not just a telling technique in this film, but really participates in the narrative.
Integrating into the whole subject of the whole film, it is completely different from the experience of the audience and the protagonist experiencing the growth route together in the general film, the family and growth discussed in this film are carried out in memory, and the focus of the discussion is not on how the brothers grew up under the education of their father.
It is how Norman, as an old man, "understands" his brother Paul, or "how to understand each other" between his families. "Understanding" is Norman's original intention to recall this story, the reason why author Norman McLean wrote this autobiographical novel, and it is also the theme and core of the film "River Love".
Father, son and brother: Non-triangular relationships from the perspective of memory
Different from the three-person relationship handled by general films, the relationship between father and son in "River Love" is very complicated, and it is not a simple one-to-one or one-to-many connection.
The complexity is that the film is narrated from Norman's point of view, and the relationship between father and brother and between brothers is from Norman's perspective.
Can Norman's relationship with his father and brother Paul be equated with their real relationship? This film uses such a narrative trap.
In the process of reminiscing in the film, guide the audience to think: What will be the difference between the brotherly relationship in Norman's eyes and Paul's eyes? And based on this, the film uses the banner of "understanding" to guide the audience to follow Norman to the final conclusion.
The main part of the film revolves around the intersection between the two brothers Norman and Paul, and is divided into two parts with Norman's return from college.
The first half is the close brotherhood between the two brothers when they were young, which is a very important foreshadowing for the characterization of the two people and the depth of brotherhood.
During this period, the relationship with his father was one, and as a priest, his father taught the teachings to the two brothers, and as an angler, he taught the art of fishing. The brothers accepted it and became the foundation of their lives.
When his brother Paul refused to eat cereal to rebel against what his father called "tradition," the differences in the two brothers' personalities began to appear. Norman is a submissive and responsible son, and when considering his future career, Norman also chose following his father as a priest as his first choice, and the second was to become a fighter;
Paul wanted to be a professional angler, and when Norman said he didn't have it, Paul changed his mind to follow his brother's second choice as a fighter.
On the surface, Paul seems to be rebelling against his father's unruly son, and in the future, even the method of fishing disobeyed the "law" taught by his father, but in fact, Paul and Norman each inherited his father's mantle, Norman is more like a priest, learning the teachings taught by his father from books, and eventually becoming a teacher;
Paul, on the other hand, inherited the more artistic side of the angler, and inherited his father's teaching to them to "comprehend the laws of the universe from nature", making fishing his lifelong hobby.
It is difficult to judge which of the two brothers inherited more of the father's part, but from Norman's recollection, Norman seems to feel that he only inherited his father's "table" and Paul inherited more of his father's "ri".
These memories are presented to the audience after Norman has been screened, so it may be understood that the "perfection" that Norman pursues may be this "art" in Paul.
Brother and brother: the unity of opposition between estrangement and deep affection
The second half begins when Norman finally returns to his hometown after 6 years at university, by which time Paul is already working as a reporter at the nearby county newspaper and has a reputation for fishing.
This section mainly unfolds with what Norman saw and heard after returning home, when the two brothers are no longer inseparable, and if they cannot grasp the theme of this film, they may also wonder what seems to be irrelevant to Paul.
These are related to the theme "How Norman understood Paul and the difference between the two brothers through recollection", which is actually through the alienation of the two brothers.
It indirectly shows the different or identical attitudes of the two to different issues, fully demonstrating the differences in personality and mutual incomprehension.
During this part, the brothers had three major disagreements, all of which ended in fishing together as a reconciliation. The first time was when Norman went to the newspaper office to find Paul the day after he had just returned home, one was a wanderer who had been away from home for many years, and the other was a small town jack of all trades.
Paul says that Norman is "weak" and Norman's years of not fishing make the brothers reunited a little unpleasant, but these unpleasantness disappears when Norman sees Paul fishing in his own way.
Norman said: "By the time I was away, my brother had become an artist. This was the first time Norman had used "art" to sentence Paul.
The second event revolves mainly around Norman's pursuit of the girl Jesse, and it can be said that Jesse appeared to lure out her brother Ne-Yo.
The reason why Ne-Yo disgusted both brothers is precisely because he has defiled the sacred river and the rules of fishing, and it can be seen that the strongest emotional bond between the brothers is this "family river" and fishing.
And the appearance of Jesse and Ne-Yo brothers and sisters in the film is actually an allusion to the Norman and Paul brothers, Jesse loves his brother Ne-Yo but at the same time cannot understand him and thinks that he needs help, which is the same situation as Norman and Paul.
The film even borrows Jessie's mouth to say what Norman did not say: "Why are people who need help the most often reluctant to be helped?" ”
The third disagreement, and the brothers' biggest conflict, was about Paul's gambling debt. The usually bland narrative finally had a climax at this time.
Norman's attitude towards this naturally was, like Jesse, that Paul needed "help." But after the fight and their last fishing together, Paul refused Norman's request to go to Chicago with him, and Norman finally began to understand Paul, and the news was that Paul had been killed with the butt of a gun.
Norman felt that he was a "perfectionist", so he followed the rules and could not stand his brother's addiction to gambling, so he wanted to take Paul to Chicago, thinking that he was "helping" him;
Paul, on the other hand, is an ordinary "artist", and "art" cannot "last forever", so Norman had a hunch when the police woke him up, and Paul's "work of art" was destined to not last.
"Fishing = religion" - the image and connotation in the relationship between man and the great river
At the beginning of the film, when Norman introduces his father with a narration of memories, he raises his father's status as a "fake fly angler" to the height of equality with the identity of "priest".
It can be seen from the entire film that "fishing" has not only become a medium of family affection, but also an image of the whole film, which is exactly the role of "religion" for the brothers.
Although the image of the big river and fishing symbolizes the deep friendship between brothers, but there is love but not necessarily able to fish for each other, it is also the theme image of this film, which is the "big river" that belongs to the family.
The river in the film is like a "mirror image", reflecting the flow of the relationship between the brothers. "The Great River" projects the following different and interconnected metaphors:
The river also symbolizes the different personalities of the brothers. Since the theme of this film is about "mutual understanding" and understanding, the film uses the different states of the river as a metaphor for the differences and differences between the two brothers.
The film takes Norman's vision and angle, and every time the river appears, it is calm and beautiful, and the atmosphere is leisurely, but there are two plots where Paul is the main one, and the river as the scene becomes turbulent.
The first was when the two challenged the rapids at Paul's suggestion when they were young. This is the first scene in the film to feature Paul, and the rapids are precipitous, but Paul is at ease, symbolizing his adventurous spirit and always brave, rebellious character.
The only fight between the two brothers after the incident, of course, was in the end with fishing as an opportunity to "return to the original form". The second time was the last time before Paul's death that father and son fished together.
Paul was pulled into the treacherous water while fishing for a huge fish, but he managed to catch it. This symbolizes Paul's freedom-like "work of art."
"Fishing" is the role of God in religion, or the perfect world "created and separated from other worlds", that is, what religions call heaven. "Blood is thicker than water", the great river has a natural connection with family love as a metaphor.
Therefore, many articles have interpreted the image of "Great River" in "Great River Love" as the role of the nurturer's mother. But Caroline Maisid has pointed out that "the image of the nurturer has a culturally coercive effect on human behavior."
It "limits the types of behavior that human beings should take toward the world in terms of social morality." The "big river" in the film is not such a mandatory relationship for the father and brothers, but more of an emotional bond and bridge relationship.
Moreover, the image of "great river" here must be related to the metaphor of "fishing = religion" in the film, so this article is more inclined to think that the image of "great river" should be interpreted here as the role of God in religion.
As a pastor, his father served the God of the Bible, and at the same time taught the brothers to be devoted to the God of nature through the natural religion of "fishing", so that the father's education was finally complete and complete.
This metaphor is not only reflected in the pious rules of father and son when fishing in the river, but also in Norman's love poem showing love to Jessie, which symbolizes his love with the scenery of the river, but also in the father's statement that the river hides God's word.
The film is narrated by Norman's echoed narration, which begins: "Father said that there is God's word under the stones on the great river, and Paul and I have listened to it all our lives, and we may have heard it." ”
And at the end of the old Norman said: "There is an ageless rain on the stone, and under the stone are those words, some words belong to them." The implication is that some words belong to "me."
These words were the words of the father, and Norman used Paul's fishing method at this time. All their previous shared memories fell on Norman alone. Perhaps the words of the great river that Norman heard while fishing were the words spoken to him by his father and Paul in heaven.
"Understanding or Love" - What did the autobiographical protagonist Norman finally understand?
If the reason for only Norman's memories at the beginning is to "understand" what happened to Paul and Norman, and the main part of the film is easy to mistakenly think that the film tells Norman's life experience, then a large part of the narration after Paul's death in the film finally clearly points out the theme of the film.
Norman points out the main theme of the whole film here in his father's words, saying that Paul's affairs influenced his father's sermon, and his father's last sermon before his death said: "Everyone here has asked God at least once when he goes to see a relative or friend in need, we are willing to help, but what if we are also missing?"
Although we are often unable to help others because we do not know what we can give or what we must give, we often refuse help from others.
Those closest to us are usually the most elusive, but we can still love them, and we can love them with all our hearts and minds that we don't know. ”
epilogue
The elderly Norman then appears at the end of the film: "Now almost everyone I don't know but love is dead, including Jesse, but I still extend my hand to them. ”
"Of course, I'm too old to fish very well now, but I still fish alone in the big river, although my friends often advise me not to.
When I was in the shadow of the valley, the surroundings were completely integrated into my heart and memories, and finally everything merged into a flowing river. ”
bibliography
[1] Norman McLean. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976:2,62.
[2] Caroline McSid. The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology, and the Scientific Revolution.San Francisco: Haber Collins Publishing Company, 1980: 4.