Chameleon (or "Westridge") is a 1983 film written and directed by American director Woody Allen, which shows the wonderful life experience of the fictional protagonist Zeriger in the form of a pseudo-documentary. Zellig possesses a special ability, the ability to transform: when he stands with a black man, his skin color becomes black, and his speech and demeanor become exactly like that of a black man; when he stands with an obese person, he transforms into a fat man... Moreover, all this happened naturally, not under the control of Zerig's consciousness.
【Stills of "Chameleon"】
There are many works that have depicted human deformation in history, such as Kafka's novel "Metamorphosis", O'Neill's play "Hairy Ape", Cronenberg's film "Fly-Changing Man" and so on. In these works, the metamorphosis symbolizes alienation, and as a result of the transfiguration, the protagonist is excluded from this society and eventually dies tragically. "Chameleon" does the opposite, woody Allen attributes Zerig's superpowers to a psychological pathology: Zellig is a weak personality, he is afraid of being rejected by those around him, eager to fit into the group, so he constantly imitates the people around him, and eventually develops the ability to transform. That is to say, Zerig was not abandoned by society because of deformation, but was able to integrate into society because of deformation.
Although "Chameleon" tells an absurd story, it reflects a real problem, that is, each of us is actually afraid of isolation and eager to gain recognition, so in life we more or less imitate others, listen to the same music as others, watch the same programs as others, and believe in the same thoughts as others. Imitation is a basic human ability, without which humans cannot engage in social activities. But there is a limit to everything, and once one imitates others too much, one becomes self-lost and becomes a chameleon.
【Chameleon Poster】
"Chameleon" tells about the deformation of the individual at the same time, but also mocks the deformation of the whole society. Zerig was originally a very ordinary little person, short in stature, slightly funny in appearance, but not eye-catching, neither superior talent nor charming charm, but only gained a superpower, and he did not use this ability to do any great feats like the superhero in the comics. However, just because of this ability, he became the object of discussion in the whole society, stars, athletes, rich people, and even the president of the United States rushed to get to know him, Hollywood studios shot him biographical films, political and religious parties listed him as the target of attack, merchants launched goods around him, and the entertainment industry invented a "chameleon dance" for him. We see that the whole society is crazy for a small person, which reflects how absurd the whole society is, how barren people's thoughts are.
Zelligs are clowns who often appear in literature, they are talentless, incompetent, and immoral, but they have the power to penetrate the structure. With this power, the clown wanders throughout society and appears among all classes. When they enter the social superstructure, they cause a series of ridiculous chaos. They have seized the authority originally occupied by the big men, the relationship of power has been reversed, and the big men have to bend over to them and listen to their dispatches, thus revealing the false wisdom of the big people and the false rationality of the social order.
【Portrait of Director Woody Allen】
"Chameleon" also embodies the anti-elite spirit in its narrative approach. Humans have long been accustomed to elite narratives. All history books start from the great historical figures and observe history from their perspective. Movies are no exception, and celebrity biographies have always been one of its favorite subjects. Admittedly, this kind of elite narrative has a certain rationality, because the big people always occupy the front row of the historical audience, and they can see history most clearly from the perspective of the big people. But Woody Allen took a different approach, choosing a small person as a point of view to show the historical situation in the United States and abroad in the 1920s. The film covers many famous people and events of the time, such as President Coolidge, actor Chaplin, the Prohibition Movement, the American Proletarian Movement, the Ku Klux Klan activities, and the rise of the German Socialist Party...
"Chameleon" is not the only film that shows the big history from the perspective of a small person, there are many other works, the most famous of which is the legend of Forrest Gump. Forrest Gump, a small person with low intelligence, experienced many important historical events in the United States, such as the Vietnam War, the anti-war rally in Washington, and ping-pong diplomacy, and was successively received by presidents Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon. It can be said that "Forrest Gump" is a microcosm of the history of the United States from the 1940s to the early 1980s. Forrest Gump has testified of the assassination of many presidents, and successive presidents have come and gone, but until the end of the film, Forrest Gump is almost exactly the same as when he was young, and his body shows the immortality characteristic of clowns in comedy.
["Forrest Gump" is also a work that runs through history with small characters]
Back in the film "Chameleon", a female doctor later cured Zerig's mental illness, and her ability to deform also disappeared. However, the good times did not last long, and one after another people came forward to accuse Zerig of doing all kinds of bad things to them when he was still a chameleon. It doesn't matter whether these allegations are true or not, the director uses them to reflect the human deformation of the people at the bottom of society. Before Zerig became famous, no one ever stood up to accuse him, and after he became famous, these people suddenly appeared, and their purpose in doing so was obviously not to get justice, but to gain favor.
The spate of accusations put new pressure on Zerig and revived his desire to hide in the crowd, so he turned back into a chameleon and fled to Germany, where he joined the Nazi Party. Here, Woody Allen makes a sharp mockery of the mass movement, saying: "The best way for a person who wants to blur his identity is to throw himself into the mass movement." Indeed, in the mass movement, it is easy for people to forget their individual identity, entrust themselves wholeheartedly to the collective, and flock to the unknown direction under the impetus of the collective force.
At the end of the film, the female doctor rushes to Germany and awakens the lost Zerig. After disrupting Hitler's speech, Zerig transformed into a highly skilled pilot and led the female doctor to escape the Luftwaffe. Once again, the Joker showed miraculous immortality. In heroic works, death is a technique to sublimate the character of the character, through death, the hero's spirit transcends the individual who must perish, and obtains eternal life. The Joker, on the other hand, does not need to be sublimated by death, he himself is never dead, and will emerge again and again to stir up trouble.