Urban phantoms in movies: the movie is not dead, the city is still obsessed

In 1983, Susan Sontag's "A Hundred Years of Movie Looking Back" was like a eulogy prepared in advance. She pointed out sharply: Maybe it's not movies that have fallen, but people's movie obsessions. If the movie obsession dies, the movie also dies. Every time I see these two sentences, I feel sad. Until one time, on a summer day in New York, I went to Central Park to hang out with a few classmates. Wherever he went, a French boy who just got an A+ in his poetry class would excitedly point out the scenes of classic movies and suggested that we go boating on the lake together. The boating situation of

is very funny: this one is a French classmate who is dressed in a sea soul shirt and sings "Moon River" brightly, while on the other is a stuffy head shaking the oars and sweating profusely. I feel helpless for this sudden romance. American boys. At that moment, my optimism also came to mind: the original city illusion is still there, maybe the movie can be saved.

Before arriving in a city, people have already heard from the movie, building a clear and bright, or alien and alien city impression. Beijing is steady and solid, with both vulgarity and elegance; Shanghai is modern and open, with unique eccentric beauty; Los Angeles is full of sunshine, giving no room for melancholy; Barcelona is enthusiastic and unrestrained, letting people unconsciously let go of restraints and enjoy the moment; Athens is quiet and restrained, shimmering With the light of wisdom...These distinctive urban temperaments can often provide the most appropriate background for the film narrative and provide the audience with a basic experience consensus.

For example, in Ozu Yasujiro's "Late Spring", although only a 20-minute shot of Kyoto is given, the theme of the movie is revealed through the plants and trees of this city. The quietness of Kiyomizu Temple and the silence of the dry mountains and rivers, the wind blows bamboo leaves outside the window lattices, and the vases placed in the house appear aloof and forbearing. For the short joy of the father and daughter's last trip, for the helplessness of parting, the characters do not need to say a word, they can all be expressed restrained through the urban details of Kyoto.

Of course, the world under the viewfinder is not completely real. In a high probability, the director will add a layer of rose-colored filter to the city, so that all the advantages are magnified, and the shortcomings that are difficult to ignore become cute. However, not all cities have the potential to be paid tribute to movies repeatedly. Whether a city can be favored by critical directors depends on whether its temperament elements are rich enough and whether its spiritual core is strong enough. Woody Allen has made many films related to New York, and "Annie Hall" and "Manhattan" are regarded as love letters to the city. In the

movie, Woody Allen captured many of the details of the city that are intriguing: in the long line of cinemas, there are always intellectuals who talk about Freud and McLuhan; they come at any time The pouring rain made the art exhibition people feel a little embarrassed, but it was just right to save the slightly excessive romanticism; the street setting that preferred walking instead of driving, the Empire State Building, Brooklyn Bridge and other city signs, the corner of the second-hand bookstore The literary accent and the garbage piled up at random in front of the door complement each other...In this way, many elements have their necessity and seem to be indispensable, so the so-called movie filter is understandable. After all, a love letter written to the city was originally emotional and not objective enough. It left out the calculation of "Ding is Ding, Mao is Mao".

What is interesting is that these unrealistic urban illusions seem to feed back the reality of the city. As Lawrence said: Art is related to people gaining peace in chaos, and art is related to people capturing focus in chaos. Every city is complex and multi-faceted, and it usually emits multiple signals at the same time. Film directors often capture the most artistic and impactful signal, and constantly repeat and amplify it. And when people consciously accept the presupposition of these urban temperaments, the movie illusion becomes a better reality.

For example, when people talk about Italy, they always think of the Mediterranean style, the emphasis on the big family and the wanton enjoyment of life. And for all this, I have to pay tribute to the poetic and romantic expression of directors such as Fellini. In the film "Sweet Life", the heroineThe scene where Silvia danced gracefully in the fountain impressed countless people. Since then, many movies will still pay tribute to this segment. It can be seen that the establishment of a city's film image should not be a day's work. It is made up of a stack of multiple memories. After the big waves wash the sands, only one or two of its characteristics can be continuously inherited. And these films have also become unofficial city declarations, attracting people of similar temperament to go there and fulfilling a quite artistic self-fulfilling prophecy.

It is worth noting that in many movies, people's likes and dislikes of one city often come from the comparison of another city. Between a pair of mirrored cities, they can reflect each other or deconstruct each other. In "Marriage Story", her husband Charlie scoffed at Los Angeles at first: in the New York small theater, Hollywood commercial films appeared superficial and kitsch; compared to New York's miscellaneous food culture, Los Angeles often used quinoa and kale. The “organic” culture that he expected was unreasonable and stubborn; compared with the pedestrian-friendly streets of New York, the “large space” of Los Angeles made him complain about “the feet are always off the ground.

"I will teach you the difference." This line in "King Lear" has been quoted by posterity for many years. To understand how difficult the difference is, just look at the attitudes of people toward it in the movie. The movie "Lost in Tokyo" shows people's disgust and alienation towards strange cities. The neon lights written in Japanese amplify the strangeness of the city, and the indifferent faces on the zebra crossing pass one by one. For the hero who is forced to go, golf with Mount Fuji as the background is also full of bitterness. The day is so difficult that he half-jokingly said to the heroine: I am trying to organize a "prison escape". I am looking for an accomplice. First we have to escape from this bar, then escape from this hotel, then escape from this city...are you joining?

Of course, some people will fully embrace the heterogeneity of the city, but this is mostly because the previous life was not satisfactory. In "Under the Tuscan Sun", the heroine Francis, who was divorced in San Francisco and could not write a manuscript, after arriving in Tuscany, not only enjoyed the local noisy market, but also wrote, "Everything here is "Purple" poetry, learning the cold knowledge that olives cannot be picked on rainy days, and even devoted all of them to buying a country house locally and living a life of reluctance. Perhaps, the preference for praise and criticism is not much different from the city itself, but lies in the mood and growth stage of the characters at that moment. One is a place to escape from, and the other is the helplessness of losing oneself. Perhaps the image of the city itself is a mirror that mirrors the heart.

The impression of a city can sometimes be quite fluid, and sometimes it can even change. In "Midnight Barcelona", the two heroines come to this enthusiastic city, worship Gaudí's buildings, listen to Catalan music, and follow strange artists to visit local towns wherever they can. But "hope and disillusionment will always alternate." After some exploration, they realized that they were not suitable for the coveted lifestyle, so they chose to return to the mediocre life. Of course, people do not get nothing in this process. After inner struggles, they often understand better what they want.

Perhaps, in addition to contributing to the box office and providing considerable tourism income for the city, the urban illusion in the movie is making a more significant contribution to reality. Some city illusions let you discover that your life is useless; some city illusions let you discover that you don't know much about the place where you are. In the past few years, I have been studying, working and living in Beijing one after another, but every time I watch "Sunny Day", "The Evil Does Not Suppress Righteousness" and other Beijing-related movies, there is always a sense of strangeness. The magnified blue bricks and gray tiles, the beauty of the hutong courtyard, and the old Beijing's exquisiteness of "it is for this vinegar that I made this dumpling" all provide me with new filters for viewing the city. At this moment, the illusion finally contributed to reality.