Ang Lee once said: "The movie is not to take everyone into the darkness, but to take everyone through the darkness, test it in the dark, and then return to the sun, you will understand how to face life." 」 ”
When I calmed down and watched "Dog Thirteen" for the second time, I suddenly understood the deep meaning of director Cao Baoping.
After watching "Dog Thirteen", many people regard Li Play's final compromise with life as the cruelty of growth, and strongly criticize Li Play's father's "slap and rub three" education method for Li Play.
But director Cao Baoping said that "Dog Thirteen" did not have the "heart-rending lungs" in previous youth films, but this is precisely where it touched people, and it re-examined the ditches and bumps of life that we usually swallow.
So the second time I watched "Dog Thirteen", I felt that the truth was suffocating, not because Li Play finally compromised his life, but because Li Play and his father and their entire family had inexplicable emotions, like the parent-child relationship of most Chinese families.
Because I was also a parent, so when I revisited, I substituted myself into Li to play father, looked at this character from a different perspective, and suddenly found that he was not as bad as everyone attacked, in fact, under his authoritarian patriarchy, there was still a deep love for his children.
Below I analyze the hidden fatherly love under the autocratic patriarchy of Li Play from three aspects:
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" >, from the series of acts of the father sending dogs and throwing dogs, reflects the coercion and disregard of the patriarchy of the Chinese family</h1>
At the beginning of the film, the contradiction between Li Play and his father is presented. Li played wanted to report to the physics group, but the teacher suggested that she apply for the English group, and the father, who never asked her daughter what she liked, followed the teacher to force Li to play to change the English group.
Watching the stubborn Li play, his father was angry, and he grabbed the pen and changed it to the English group.
A weeping Li Play and her father walked out of the office, and her father began to persuade her to obey, even taking money to persuade her.
Watching Li play or gamble and ignore it, his father began to complain bitterly, "Your father is so busy that he has not even slept, is it easy?" When you grow up you will know who you are good for. ”
Forcibly changing to an English group against the wishes of my daughter, which is a typical patriarchal coercion in Chinese families, I am your old man, you have to listen to me.
In the patriarchal family dominated by Li Play's father and supported by Li Play's grandfather, the father seems to be the externalization of the "patriarchal" force, under the coercion of patriarchy, Li Play, as a child, can only obey and obey, and once he shows resistance, he will be suppressed or even served with sticks.
Because of guilt, his father gave Li to play with a puppy, and over time, Li played with a puppy named Albert Einstein and developed a deep relationship.
But grandpa walked the dog but carelessly lost the dog, in the face of Li Play's questioning, the father did not answer positively, but twisted and turned, you are about to take the exam, study nervous, the dog was meant to be taken away, now the dog is lost, you don't care.
Chinese parents are always waiting for their children to say thank you, but children are always waiting for a word of apology from their parents.
But in a Chinese-style patriarchal family, the father does not apologize to his children, and apologizing undermines the father's authority, so he loses Li Play's dog, and no one in the family says sorry to Li Play from beginning to end.
And Li Play, who is crazy looking for dogs, is not looking for dogs, but herself who lacks love.
After Li played, his mother came up with the idea of Li Daitao, so the whole family teamed up to deceive Li Play, even including cousins, who tried to turn the "fake" of Einstein's identity into "real".
But Li Play repeatedly denied the identity of the dog, and even did not return at night, these acts are challenging the patriarchy, so the father uses violence to make her understand the consequences of trying to challenge the patriarchy.
Li Play's violent beating by his father is the most suffocating scene in the whole film, but this just shows the strength and irrevocable patriarchy of the Chinese family.
Although Li Play has no feelings for the fake Einstein, when her father is asked by her stepmother to send the dog to the dog meat restaurant, she still begs her father softly and bitterly, but this time her father ignores it and drives away.
In patriarchal societies, fathers never examine their own behavior, they demand absolute obedience and obedience from their children, and they use filial piety to kidnap their children and maintain patriarchy.
The most criticized point of "Wrestling Daddy" is here, the father initially completely disregarded his daughter's wishes, forced his daughter to learn wrestling, he imposed his unfinished dreams on his daughter, fortunately the daughters finally succeeded, if not successful, is not a tragedy of patriarchal oppression?
In addition, there are two small details in Dog Thirteen.
Lee doesn't drink milk, but as a father, he doesn't know it at all, and pours milk for Lee at the party.
Li played with his grandparents to eat, saw that there were pumpkins on the dinner table, kindly reminded grandpa that "diabetes can not eat pumpkins", but grandma said that "the newspaper said that eating pumpkins can prevent diabetes", Li play said that the American pumpkin can do it, listening to this Grandpa naturally refused to believe, but also laughed at Li playing "admiring the foreign".
These two small details just illustrate the indifference and neglect of women in this patriarchal family, as well as the hidden preference for sons.
Because Li Play is a girl, he even has a name at will, and when he gives birth to a boy, he must solemnly name him.
Father and grandfather constitute the power core of the family and become the power center of the small society, and Li Play's various behaviors are precisely the rebellion against this "patriarchal power" and the resistance to the operation mechanism of family rights. Therefore, her rebellion was bound to be suppressed by the patriarchal family represented by her father.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > two, the father's three tears, implying the father's deep love for his daughter</h1>
In fact, "Dog Thirteen" can touch the emotional resonance of audiences of different ages, precisely because it does not have a facial character, nor does it give the protagonist the opportunity to wake up.
In "Little Joy", the three children initially have different contradictions with their parents, but in the end they all reach a reconciliation, although the perfect ending is gratifying, but it actually weakens the authenticity.
Because we know that in real life, it is more Ding Yi who jumps off the building without being understood by his parents, rather than Qiao Yingzi, who finally gets the understanding of his parents.
The most touching place of "Dog Thirteen" is precisely here, at the end of the movie, Li Play's father did not wake up because of Li Play's resistance again and again, no longer persecuting his daughter and learning to respect his daughter, but Li Play learned to compromise with reality.
But isn't that what many of us really are?
It is true that Li Play's father is the defender of the patriarchal family, but in fact, he is not without love for Li Play.
From the film, we can see that Li played a little patriarchal in the family, but her father did not abuse her because of this, and she ate and wore less. Her grandparents seem to like their grandchildren more, but they still spare no effort to take care of their granddaughters, grandpa lost the dog, and will also feel guilty to go out to look for it, Grandma watched Li play for a long time, and did not go out for many years to pluck up the courage to go out to find, in fact, this is all love.
We can't deny that our fathers and grandparents lack respect and understanding for their love.
In recent years, the original family has been hotly discussed, and many people grit their teeth when they mention their parents, but they forget the limitations of their parents themselves and their hidden love.
In the film, Li played with his father three times in tears, the first time because of the dog loss incident after hitting Li play, and crying when he apologized to Li Play.
The second time was when he took Li Play to the stray dog shelter to look for the dog that had been sent away, he learned that the dog had died of hunger strike, because he was ashamed to play with Li and choked up his eyes. The third time was after the celebration banquet for Li Play, when her father sent her home, she received a call from Li Play's mother, and then cried bitterly.
These three tears actually imply Li Play's father's love for her, although this love lacks respect and understanding, but for people who grew up in patriarchal families, this is fatherly love.
In fact, I think Li plays with his father much better than those who ignore his daughter because of his preference for sons and daughters, whether it is out of guilt or real fatherly love, at least he is trying to care for his daughter, but the way he loves is too limited.
But the limits of the way of love cannot be determined entirely by him, but by the patriarchal society in which he lives.
And this epitome of the relationship between father and child is the normal performance of the Chinese family, as director Cao Baoping was asked "whether the relationship between Li Play and the father is normal": Very normal, in our patriarchal society, the father is at home is a word, but every adult in China is burdened with many difficulties, few fathers will put all their thoughts and energy on their daughters.
Many scenes in the film show that Li played his father as a pressure on the elderly and the young middle-aged men, in the face of Li Play's out-of-the-box resistance, he repeatedly complained that "dad is not easy", although there is an emotional kidnapping component, but from the side, it is indeed very difficult for the father to support a big family.
This is so similar to our parents, who, as adults, complain that they didn't give us enough company, forgetting that they had to work hard to earn money to support their families.
Therefore, in the "good for you" of Chinese parents, what is missing is not love, but understanding and respect. So when we talk about the original family, we can't blindly deny that they don't love you because the love given by our parents lacks respect and understanding.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > third, the Chinese patriarchal family always has patriarchy first and father's love last</h1>
In the ancient patriarchal society, women must "follow the father at home, marry the husband, and the father dies from the son"; even Confucius, who advocated "teaching without class", regarded women as alternative: "Only women and villains are difficult to raise". Women who are influenced by patriarchal cultural practices will inherit the traditions of patriarchal culture and will unconsciously demand their own development by patriarchal standards.
Although the grandmother and stepmother in "Dog Thirteen" are both women, they have been eroded by the patriarchal culture, and the stepmother is proud of having a boy, asking Li Play's father to hold a banquet to celebrate his son's first birthday, and Grandma, as a representative of the weak right to speak, actually has no say in various matters in the family, such as when Li Play was beaten by his father, the patriarchal representative Grandfather sat on the side and acquiesced that Li Play needed to be taught, and Grandma's obstruction appeared to be powerless.
Single parents lack of love Li play actually long for father's love, from the scene of Li playing crazy dog search, we can see that her crazy search actually implies the call and desire for father's love, what is lost is not an ordinary dog, it is a dog sent by the father, so Li Play insists on finding it, in fact, what she is looking for is the lost father's love.
Trapped in the siege of "Father Lover", Li Play, all her deviance is on the one hand a rebellion against patriarchal dominance, on the other hand, it is actually a call and desire for fatherly love.
But her resistance turned into a senseless struggle, because for Li Play's father, who followed patriarchy, maintaining his father's authority came first, and his love for his children came later. Therefore, when Li Play touched his father's reverse scales, his father first suppressed it by force, followed by warm persuasion.
Not only for Li play, but also for Li playing with his half-brother, at the end of the movie, Li Zhao kept slipping on the ice rink and constantly crying "I don't skate", but no one paid attention to him.
Because in the eyes of Li Play's father, it is for your own good to let you learn to skate, just like when Li Play changed to the English group, I am for your own good, you have to understand. If you don't understand and forcibly resist, you don't understand.
Li played in the struggle, the initial rebellion against patriarchy changed from obedience and flattery, from her drinking her uncle's toast, swallowing the calmness of dog meat, and facing Einstein's refusal to recognize, indicating that she has accepted the rules of the patriarchal society, and she also understands that "in the Chinese patriarchal family, there is obedience before love." ”
So when she won the prize in the physics competition, her father took her to look for the dog she had sent away before, and when she learned that the dog had died of hunger strike, she did not make hysterical noise like before, but quietly said "thank you" to her father for a moment.
In the end, Li Play chose to compromise on life and grew up in self-alienation and discipline, which is the price of the times and the universal fate of every you and me.
"Dog Thirteen" was filmed 5 years ago, but when this small-budget youth film was re-released, it became the highest-rated Chinese film of 2018.
Because it touches on the secrets of human growth that are torn apart and constantly disciplined in the process of human growth, it also reflects the coercive indifference of patriarchy and the unspeakable fatherly love in the Chinese patriarchal family.