Memories remain in the deepest part of our minds, and they are called out from time to time!
"The End of the Sea is the Grassland", this film is adapted from the real historical event of "Three Thousand Orphans Entering Inner Mongolia".
Before filming, director Er Dongsheng consulted a lot of materials, interviewed many children and scholars, had an in-depth understanding of history and folklore, and used small incisions to present the grand theme of national unity.
The film tells the touching story of small family and big love from the perspective of diverse and integrated cultures, adopts polyphonic narrative in structure, emphasizes the emotional identity of healing, and is a reboot of collective memory. Instantly take people's thoughts back to that time when they belonged......
Identity imprints: anxiety and trauma in historical memory
In real life, the construction of an individual's identity is more or less influenced by a variety of factors such as society, family, and culture.
"Identity" is an important interpretive perspective of cultural studies and cultural criticism, and it is a "self-identity" composed of the present "me" and the past "me".
The self is the source of life, but it is discrete into a kind of ephemeral "self", and "centerlessness, fragmentation, difference, fracture, and contradiction have become the key words of contemporary identity".
In the historical dimension, the present self-identity exists in attachment to the past self-experience.
British sociologist Stuart Hall believes: "In the process of modernization of human society, the relationship between man and nature, man and family, has been constantly weakened, history has been broken, social faults have appeared, the mobility of modern society has replaced the stability of traditional society, and people are confused about the acquisition of their own cultural identity." ”
In "The End of the Sea is the Grassland", her sister Du Siheng is unfamiliar with the grassland and anxious. She was always confused and at a loss for her mother's deception and parting.
Who am I? Where am I from? Where do I go from here? This kind of identity anxiety made her sister Du Siheng nostalgic for her original identity, and she was reluctant to throw away the towel embroidered with her name, which was her identity certificate when she was born.
In addition, identity anxiety is also an emotion. Du Siheng's stubborn temperament made her unable to let go of the scars left when she parted, she wanted to escape from the grassland, to find the reason for her "abandonment", to find her relatives, to find her own food and living habits, all because she was reluctant to her home, and because she didn't want her mother.
(1) Painful memories and warm realities coexist
The word "trauma" is derived from the ancient Greek word "injury", which means "the direct external force on the body".
Sigmund Freud is the founder of the Austrian school of psychoanalysis, he introduced the concept of "mental trauma" into psychoanalysis, and extended it to sociology, literature, film and other social sciences, culture and art and other fields.
Trauma usually occurs in an individual or group experiencing something special.
Memory, on the other hand, can help people extract information from past memories, and through the construction and review of memories, they can show the experience in a specific cultural and historical context, which is the evaluation of individuals and the evaluation of others by groups.
The film "The End of the Sea is the Prairie" transforms the painful memory of the "three years of natural disasters" into a visual image, showing the audience individual and collective trauma in a documentary-like way.
(2) The "fluid" space and the plurality of narrative subjects
The so-called "flow" is the displacement in space and the intersection in time. American postmodernist geographer Edward M. W. Suja proposes that "space may be primoritively given in itself, but the organization and meaning of space are the product of social change, social transformation and social experience......"
The film uses the narrative mode of "space + time" to integrate "past" and "present" to realize the interactive integration of spatial dynamics and time continuity, so that "at the same time" and "consensus" are both.
The flowing space promotes the development and continuation of the story time in the film, carries the identity change of the protagonist of the film, reflects the living state of human beings, and with the spatial presentation of the grassland and the change of cultural characteristics, the character and identity of the characters have also undergone new changes.
In the film "The End of the Sea is the Grassland", due to the influence of the natural environment, the former Mongolian herdsmen live in pursuit of water and grass, and their living and production space has been in a state of flux. With the influence of modernization, urbanization, social and economic development, grassland degradation, and changes in production methods, grassland residents have transitioned from nomadic yurts to stable houses.
Today, this grassland has become a tourist attraction, and the herdsmen's yurts have also become a symbol of viewing and experiencing grassland culture.
In the film, the flow of time and space slowly breaks the original order, and the non-linear narrative replaces the linear narrative, and the director Er Dongsheng constantly builds a platform for his brother Du Sihan to find his sister based on memory and reality.
The movie "The End of the Sea is the Prairie" tells the story of finding his sister Du Siheng, just like the plot of looking for "rosebuds" in the movie "Citizen Kane". They all abandon the traditional linear narrative mode, "fragmented" to question the "multiple perspectives" of the parties and narrators, and finally piece together the characters' growth experience and emotional experience.
At the same time, the narrator's content is to choose a representative stage of life, and to tell the growth process of the characters from an artistic point of view, and the time is divided and there is a considerable span. Compared with "Citizen Kane", "The End of the Sea is the Prairie" pays more attention to the changes in time and pays more attention to the fullness of the characters.
At the same time, the growth construction of her sister Du Siheng belongs to the "non-present" narrative, which is a dynamic or social construction process completed by others' narration, when the individual receives sympathy, care or encouragement from others, self-consciousness is highlighted and changed, self-emotion and behavior are consistent, and finally breakthrough and self-growth, and the final construction of self-identity is completed.
The Search for Identity: Recreating the "Past Present"
Perhaps, from the moment humanity was driven out of the Garden of Eden, humanity was already doomed to its fate. American mythologist Joseph Campbell pointed out in his "Hero with a Thousand Faces" that the model of the world's hero story is "departure-enlightenment-return", and the protagonist discovers a utopian space different from reality after an exploration, which is actually an external manifestation of the self, but also a kind of pursuit and identification of self-identity.
Normally, the male protagonist in the film confirms and pursues his own identity, which is to go through a difficult search and painful struggle, find his lost self on this road, and finally achieve self-reconciliation and growth, so as to achieve his spiritual salvation.
In the film "The End of the Sea is the Prairie", director Er Dongsheng unfolds the "search" method of his brother Du Sihan and his sister Du Siheng, presenting a state of "past and present" through the reproduction of the past and the awakening of memory by the "other".
The helplessness and separation in the natural disaster created a kind of implication in the "search for each other" in Shanghai and Inner Mongolia, and triggered a new wave of "identity attachment" and "identity search" many years later.
Perhaps, if you want to heal your wounds and find your true self, you must re-examine your historical memory.
His mother's guilt and indebtedness made him constantly look for his daughter, and his mother's remorse and guilt before dying forced Du Sihan to come to the grassland to find his sister for his mother.
Identity: The construction of a pluralistic and integrated life
Sigmund Freud, the founder of the Austrian school of psychoanalysis, proposed that the core concept of self-defense is "identity", that is, "the process of emotional and psychological integration of individuals or groups."
Professor Zhou Xian of Nanjing University believes that identity is essentially a subject issue, a relational positioning and self-confirmation of the subject in a specific social and cultural relationship, and a construction and questioning of self-subjectivity. Identity, on the other hand, is driven by the individual's thoughts, emotions, will, and other factors, and has the characteristics of personality, society, and stability, so it is easier to construct.
Identity is a prerequisite for the survival and development of individuals, and in social life, there is an interactive relationship between people, and individuals will be affected by the social order and the expectations of others.
(1) Psychological healing and self-restoration
The film "The End of the Sea is the Prairie" is to cross the self and others through the narrative of "memory + redemption" to complete the philosophical reflection of self-identity.
From Descartes' "I think, therefore I am" to Nietzsche's "Be yourself", the elder brother Du Sihan in the film is reminiscing and narrating while otherizing.
As a "scheming" brother, he searches for his lost sister for his dying mother, and reflects on the reflection of modernity and traditional culture on national impressions in the conflict between self and others. The game between tradition and modernity, city and grassland, modernity and primitiveness, and the great love for the origin of life.
(2) Emotional identity of pluralism and integration
"The End of the Sea is the Grassland", the "sea" and the "grassland" transcend the family and blood relations between regions, transcend the limitations of time itself, continue the great love of national unity, and build the warmth of the world.
In the context of Acura national reunification, the film is full of love for life, and through the balance of big love and small love, it conveys the grand theme of "the vastness of love, across mountains and seas".
Perhaps, only the examination of historical memory can truly heal the wounds of the soul and rebuild the integrity of the soul.
The film takes the vast natural scenery as the surface, the cultural presence of identity and memory writing as the texture, and is accompanied by the philosophical connotation of seeking spiritual solace and self-redemption, which undoubtedly expands the deep theme of the film.
Director Er Dongsheng and his team, on the basis of fully understanding the touching story of "Three Thousand Orphans Entering Inner Mongolia", used visual art techniques to turn historical memories into touching audio-visual expressions, transformed grand narratives into micro feelings, and combined the main theme and commercial appeals well, showing this real and touching story of great love.