"Sense and Sensibility" is the novel of the British novelist Jane Austen in the early 19th century, director Ang Lee will integrate the Eastern and Western cultures into it, using the traditional Chinese concept of the way to tell an 18th century feudal and conservative British love story, the novel more shows the confusion and trade-off between the two women in love and marriage, reason and emotion, Ang Lee through the two twists and turns of the experience to explore the different attitudes of women in the new era to deal with emotional problems, thus triggering the audience's thinking.
01, two sisters with very different personalities deal with feelings in completely different ways
The protagonists of the story are two sisters who grew up in the same family, but their attitudes towards emotional issues are very different. Sister Eleanor is tolerant and rational, gentle in personality, and has the demeanor of everyone in dealing with people, but on the issue of feelings, she always suppresses the true thoughts of her heart, puts love in her heart, and waits for the care of the god of love with restraint.
Sister Marianne is lively and cheerful, persistent and brave, sincere and emotional to her feelings, desperate for the pursuit of ideal love, even if she is deceived by Willoughby, she believes that he is involuntary. When the naked truth is revealed, Marianne has a nervous breakdown and even wants to commit suicide to get rid of this pain, and the more intense the emotion, the greater the trauma is often.
The reason why Eleanor and her sister have different ways of handling their feelings stems from the different identities and positions, Eleanor, as the eldest daughter, has to take on the heavy responsibility of assisting her mother, while Marianne has been in a carefree state since she was sheltered since childhood, and has not tasted a bitter life, so she lives in an ideal way.
Eleanor is very polite when facing Edward, but she will also take advantage of Edward's defenseless time to secretly hit Edward, which shows that Eleanor has a naughty and lively side of her personality, but in order to live she has always suppressed this emotion, and Marianne will not be attached to anyone, she has no specific concept of possessions, thus showing the characteristics of women in the new era, but Marianne's female consciousness is not completely awakened, which also reflects the limitations of the times.
02, the awakening of female consciousness reflects the female thought of the new era
In 18th-century Britain, feudal rule was gradually replaced by the emerging bourgeoisie, and although society was still dominated by men, women had to embody values through obedience to men, but in novels and movies, the image of women full of personality and charm was reflected. Eleanor had no father and was thrown out of the house with her mother, but she did not give in, still treated life with a humble attitude, restrained her emotions, and this strong, independent, and mature spirit was the embodiment of the awakening of female consciousness.
In Britain, men have the right to inherit property, men's status is based on property ownership, women to be respected, to reflect their own value, must have independent economic resources, just like "Pride and Prejudice" said that "a bachelor with rich property will marry a wife, which is a universally recognized truth", which reflects the mainstream values of society at that time.
Eleanor's attitude toward money and marriage contradicts it, showing a woman's rebellion "I hate the chase between money, and marrying for money seems to me to be the most immoral thing", so she does not use money as the standard when choosing the object, but pays more attention to his inner character. To achieve marital happiness, in addition to being kind and independent, it is more important to have self-analysis and judgment, first respect themselves, love themselves, and then love others.
The film contrasts the virtuous Colonel Brandon with the selfish Willabee, showing the different aspects of men, expressing the equal status of men and women, women are not appendages of men, men are not perfect, and women must be carefully identified to choose the best partner for themselves.
03, the tortuous emotional road interprets the complexity of human nature and praises the kindness of women
Eleanor and Marianne's path to love is full of thorns and bumps. Their concept of love is disturbed by many factors in the outside world, because there is no independent economic foundation, the two sisters have great uncertainty in finding a partner, they are eager to find the true love in life, but the reality is always the opposite.
Marianne believed that edward, whom her sister loved, "was immature in appearance, missing something, and did not have the kind of intelligence and fortitude in her eyes, and the enthusiasm of fire." She commented on Colonel Brandon as an "honest old bachelor", but it was these two people who became lifelong partners between the two, which showed that love needs companionship, passion and commitment, and the three are indispensable, the passion of loving each other, the eternal companionship and the commitment to love.
The three-dimensional unity of reason and emotion shows the complexity of human nature, Victorian women are bound by many traditional concepts, and their love is thus subject to various conditions, resulting in an extremely limited range of women's choices, Eleanor and Marianne's attachment to love is women's struggle for the right to choose life. With the passage of time, the proportion of reason and emotion in their bodies also changes, but only the combination of reason and sensibility can make a person more real and complete.
Ang Lee keeps his promise throughout the film, this oriental traditional virtue embodies the inspiration and guidance of morality on human nature, Eleanor's brother betrayed his father's last words on his deathbed, drove out his mother and sisters, Willoughby betrayed the vow of love, abandoned Marianne, in contrast, Eleanor kept his promise to Edward, which is actually an ode to female kindness.
Different people have different understandings of commitment, some people feel that it is not important, some people defend it with their lives, and the sisters' kind, sincere, and warm humanity has also been sublimated in their understanding of commitment.
"Reason and Emotion" through the portrayal of the two female figures, interpreting women's patience and strength in the face of emotional choices, sacrifice and return, sensibility and rationality, women in the pursuit of self-worth should also get the corresponding respect and encouragement, Ang Lee will be the traditional Chinese virtue thinking into the Western value system, giving us a combination of Chinese and Western philosophical thinking.