Because it stars Amy Adams, "Hillbilly Elegy", which was released in 2000, was stored in the network disk early on. I wanted to watch it but never watched it.
When Trump announced J.D. Vance as his presidential running mate, Vance, a best-selling author and investor, suddenly became popular. Then, the memoir written by Vance and the movie "Hillbilly Elegy" adapted from the work of the same name became popular again.
The prices of used books published online suddenly skyrocketed.
Well, follow the trend and watch the movie quickly. This time, it’s not just about appreciating a movie, but also about looking at the political spectrum behind the movie.
"Hillbilly Elegy" is a rare "red neck" film in Hollywood. More common in Hollywood are films from a variety of white and left-wing perspectives, which pursue various egalitarianisms and pursue freedom of thought. Especially in recent years, the rise of movements such as "Black Lives Matter" and "MeToo" has made radical liberalism more popular. It has become politically correct in Hollywood. It is indeed rare to see a conservative film focusing on "rednecks".
"Hillbilly Elegy" rarely goes deep into a traditional white family who moved from the "mountain people" of Kentucky to the "Rust District" of Ohio to show the details of the life of a typical American "redneck" family, giving people a glimpse “How Trump ascended to the presidency.”
The original book "Hillbilly Elegy" became the best-selling book in the United States in 2016, making the author J.D. Vance a big hit. When the book was translated into China, the recommendation was directly marked as "Why Trump Can Win the U.S. Election."
Let’s compare it to the “Beijing Drifters” in China. Beipiao came to the metropolis relatively late and are eager to integrate into the city. Therefore, they are eager for fairness, require equal treatment, and require locals not to discriminate against outsiders. On the other hand, the local aborigines have a messy environment due to the influx of too many outsiders. In addition, the outsiders have taken local jobs and school and hospital beds. Therefore, the aborigines often hold a conservative attitude and require outsiders to enter. Differentiate treatment and strengthen control to ensure that the interests of indigenous people are not harmed.
For white Americans, blacks and Latinos are latecomers and "beautiful people." For middle- and lower-class white Americans, also known as "rednecks," blacks, Latinos, and other immigrants have brought turmoil to American society and taken away white people's jobs, so they will have a conservative attitude. It demands that new immigrants be driven out and that the requirements of "American immigrants" cannot be met at will. The United States must give priority to meeting the various guarantees of white people. Correspondingly, blacks, Latinos and other immigrants pursue freedom, fairness, and advancement, and have become the spokespersons of liberalism.
These two groups constitute the basic base of the American Republican Party and the Liberal Party respectively. The Republican Party represents conservative forces and demands more protection of the interests of white Americans. Of course, the banner is "protecting the interests of the United States"; while the Democratic Party prefers emerging forces and liberals. After all, new economic forms like Silicon Valley and Wall Street need emerging forces. With the addition of , this faction is overall more radical.
These two basic markets are currently represented by Trump and Biden respectively. Trump represents the traditional white Americans, while Biden represents the "American drifters" and new economic forces. Their bases are around 60 million, which is about the same. The difference is not as big as imagined. The final victory or defeat will depend on who can truly convert their votes into votes, and at the same time strive to win the choice of some middle voters.
Trump’s greatest contribution to the Republican Party is to transform the Republican Party, defeating the traditional establishment of the Republican Party, and then turning the Republican Party into a populist representative, no longer pursuing ideology, and becoming a "red neck" concentration camp. The so-called "red neck" refers to the grassroots blue-collar workers or farmers in the United States. Because they have been engaged in field work for a long time, their necks are tanned purple-red. Compared with the skin color of other parts of the body, their necks become red.
Trump’s “maga, make america great again” (maga, make america great again) means to make the United States once again a country dominated by white Americans and to make the United States a world leader again. This is almost like what the locals in Beijing say: "Let Beijing be a Beijing for Beijingers." It is an xenophobic slogan.
For Trump, he has upgraded maga and made it more deceptive, because the United States was the first to become a modern country, a pioneer in developed countries, and an aborigine in the developed camp. China is a latecomer and a "Northern Drifter". The arrival of latecomers will inevitably affect the interests of earlycomers. In order to ensure that the self-interests of earlycomers are not damaged, it is necessary to exclude outsiders and latecomers and treat them. Make restrictions.
Therefore, "making America great again" means not making China great. This slogan is a typical conservative stance both internally and externally and is easy to understand. For many Chinese, because they are dissatisfied with China, they greatly appreciate Trump's behavior of rejecting China as a pioneer and a latecomer. Because Trump excludes China, they support Trump and become Trump fans like "red necks". In fact, in the eyes of "red necks", they are the primary targets of exclusion.
However, why are "red necks" conservative? Because the jobs they were engaged in when they were young later became backward production capacities and were changed by industrial upgrading, such as the traditional steel industry, traditional coal and other mining industries, traditional automobile manufacturing, etc., the once developed industrial areas in the United States later became famous "Rust Zone" practitioners in these traditional industries do not understand the concept of industrial upgrading. They will only attribute the injustice of their fate and the damage to their interests to the conspiracy of politicians, the conspiracy of emerging capital, and the immigrants. Stealing their jobs, they are eager for traditional heroes like Trump to ascend to the throne, restore traditional industries to glory, and make the United States as they understand it great again. Just like the Northeastern people in China, they all long for the Northeast as the "eldest son of the Republic" to develop again.
In fact, economic development is irreversible. Once traditional industries fall, it will be difficult to revive them. The development of the times cannot turn back time. Just like the Rhineland region in Germany, it has also become a rust belt. It can only find new opportunities in transformation instead of restoring its glory. But "red necks" can't understand it and will only grow old with time. Therefore, among Trump’s base, the voters are older and they are the last conservative force in the United States. Emerging economic forces, in need of new vitality, tend to favor liberalism. However, it will take another twenty or thirty years for the "red neck" generation to completely disappear and withdraw from the stage of history. Therefore, Trump is eager to take office and time does not wait.
The younger generation in the "red necks" are trying to step out of themselves and integrate into the new life. J.D. Vance, the author of "Hillbilly Elegy" and Trump's running mate, is a typical representative.
As a young man born in 1984, Grandma JD Vance’s family belongs to the “mountain people” in the Kentucky mountains, that is, typical American country people. His mother, Bev, moved him to an industrial area in Ohio, hoping to live a better life here. As a traditional heavy industry base in the United States, Ohio is similar to Northeast China.Bev became a nurse there, and JD's father became an industrial worker in a steel plant. If we could go back in time to the 1960s, JD's family would be a typical middle-class family, living a happy life together.
However, the Ohio that Bev came to was an industrial area that was going downhill. It was later known as the "Rust Belt". Although there were a large number of steel production tools and huge workshops, it was now rusty and turned into a rust belt. Not moving anymore.
Bev did not get the life she wanted, so she became degenerate, continued to take drugs, and was vulgar.
Only JD Vance, through hard study, first became a Marine, and then was admitted to Yale Law School, becoming a proud man. Later, he joined Wall Street, became a new type of elite, and married an Indian woman, Usa, and embarked on the road to success step by step until he became Trump's running mate and Trump's successor.
In fact, Vance was initially opposed to Trump’s proposition because he lived in a “red neck” family and knew that Trump’s attitude towards red necks was deceptive and that traditional industries could not be revived, so he He criticized Trump as a "demagogue", a "cynical bastard" and "America's Hitler".
(I’m not surprised by the rise of Trump, and I think the blame lies with the Republican Party itself. Whether we like it or not, we are the party of low-income, low-educated white people. I’ve said it for a long time , we have to offer these people something (even gradually expand our appeal to the black working class), otherwise, there will be demagogues to do this. This is the situation we are facing now. Trump is the result of the collective neglect of the Republican Party. I wonder over and over whether Trump is a cynical bastard like Nixon, or if he is not that bad (and maybe even useful); or if he is actually American. Hitler. Can this not be discouraging? )
Unexpectedly, within a few years, J.D. Vance became a supporter of Trump, his running mate, and his successor.
This is fun. Did Vance betray him? Why did he slap himself in the face?
All these answers can be seen from "The Elegy of a Countryman".
Looking at the original work of "Hillbilly Elegy", J.D. Vance's true transformation occurred during his time in the Marine Corps. At that time, he was not only a top soldier, but also responsible for the news reporting of his company. It was his extensive exposure to information that changed his thinking and made him aware of his own shortcomings and the direction of his life. This gave him the will to study at Yale University after he retired from the army.
In the movie version of "Hillbilly Elegy", the scenes of JD's experience in joining the army were compressed. JD's ideological change turned into a conflict between JD and his mother Bev, and then he stayed at his grandmother's house. In order to help him study, his grandmother He even stopped paying for his own medical expenses and bought school supplies for JD. It was his grandma's behavior and living environment that stimulated JD and made him change. He no longer did nothing like other local children, but vowed to stand out through the college entrance examination.
The movie version of "Redneck Elegy" is far less touching than the original work, with weakened impact and lack of authenticity. But the good thing is that they have worked hard to create the mother Bev played by Amy Adams and the grandmother Brandon played by Glenn Close. Both images are pretty good, especially Glenn Close's performance is very good. amazing.
jd·Vance both hates and loves the "red neck" family, is angry at them for not fighting, and hates them for their lack of talent. However, this is his family of origin, and he still has to love without reservation. Regarding Grandma Brandon and Bev, JD also tried his best to understand the reasons for their misfortune, and then continued to explore the brilliance of their humanity, and then praised them and loved them.
The reason why the movie version of "Hillbilly Elegy" is not good enough is that director Ron Howard still strives to make the story of J.D. Vance into an "American Dream" story. That is, as long as a person works hard, no matter what the living environment is Even if it’s bad, you can still succeed. The "American Dream" is a typical American white leftist thinking. The real masterpiece is "The Pursuit of Happyness". Trying to use a liberal attitude to make a conservative film will be awkward and difficult to succeed.
"Hillbilly Elegy" is more of a realistic story, not a romantic fantasy of the "American Dream", but the film has a tendency toward romanticism, which leads to a sense of tearing in the film. The story is very realistic, the aesthetic is very romantic, and the appearance and body are not harmonious, which makes the film not that high-quality. Even if the director is a master like Ron Howard, it will not help.
The name "Hillbilly Elegy" explains all the ideological tendencies of J.D. Vance, because he knows that as a country boy of "mountain people" and "red necks", people like him who can change themselves are very few. More children in our hometown will follow the environment and become degenerate, becoming a new generation of "red necks" without any hope of change.
"Redneck Elegy" shows the living conditions and warmth of the "mountain people" and "rednecks" in the United States, and also demonstrates Trump's powerful power in deceiving voters in rust areas. Precisely because the lives of people in the Rust Area are full of all kinds of misery, they look forward to the emergence of a populist president like Trump, hoping that he can become their great savior.
J.D. Vance, who has become an elite, initially faced Trump’s slogans, and of course he knew that he was pure deception, ideological opium, and spiritual fraud. However, for the "red neck" group, after all, Trump is willing to speak for them and make changes for them. Vance is faced with the problem of "haves" and "have nots". In the face of "bad police" and "bad police" Between "no police", of course you have to choose "with police" first. Therefore, after thinking about it for a while, Vance changed his mind and said, "If you can't beat him, join him." He became part of the Trump family, and then thought about how to help similar families like his own. Of course, as a political amateur, Vance's joining brought new strength to Trump, so Trump generously ignored Vance's previous criticism of him.
What’s more, on the external level, Vance and Trump are consistent. They both want to regard China as the biggest opponent of the United States and want to exclude China from the United States. Therefore, in his first public appearance as Trump's running mate, Vance pointed the finger at China and made wild remarks.
So, what should American voters choose? What should the United States do? What should China do?
Let’s see.
In any case, JD Vance has become famous and is very likely to become the future President of the United States. This work of his is still worth reading.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-