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看电影《壁花少年》

已有 2212 次阅读 2023-1-20 21:12 |个人分类:休闲阅读|系统分类:人文社科

女儿推荐，在家里电视机上看了《壁花少年(The Perks of Being a Wallflower, 2012)》。我看了电影才知道wallflower这个含义，a person remaining on sidelines at social event. 该电影是编剧改编自自己1999年出版的同名小说，写的是90年代初的故事。30年前社会风气更为保守，也未用手机等通讯工具。

电影讲述一个经历特殊的学生在高一的困境和成长。故事本身比较简单，只是叙述的人称在第一和第三之间转换，再加上对性骚扰、吸毒、同性恋甚至性关系较为隐晦的处理，使得理解起来稍有些费力。第一人称叙述是男主人公Charlie写的信件，开始用笔，后来用Sam送的打字机。第三人称叙述是通常的所谓上帝视角。Charlie有种种困扰，童年被骚扰的心理创伤，亲人意外死亡的负疚，过去朋友自杀的震惊，不断出现的心理幻影，没有朋友的孤独，与不喜欢女生交往的烦恼，朋友的翻脸等等。也有生活中的快乐，结识了新的朋友，阅读了文学经典著作，得到心仪女生的青睐。This is my life. And I want you to know that I am both happy and sad and I'm still trying to figure out how that could be.

Charlie心仪的女生Sam和他的姐姐Candace都遇人不淑。对此Charlie与他的英语教师Mr. Anderson有段对话：

Charlie: Why do nice people choose the wrong people to date?

Mr. Anderson: Are we talking about anyone specific?...Hmm…We accepted the love we think we deserve.

Charlie: Can we make them know they deserve more?

Mr. Anderson: We CAN TRY.

Mr. Anderson对Charlie有华夏所谓知遇之恩，可以算是高中交的第一个朋友，后来也不断推荐他读文学名著。Charlie回答Sam时引用了老师的话。

Sam: I feel myself so small…I’m just asking myself that why do I and everyone love or pick people who treat us as nothing.

Charlie: We accepted the love we think we deserve…You are not small, you’re beautiful.

从理智的角度看，这其实只是信心和耐心的问题。

面对Charlie不断被童年经历所困扰，心理医生给出建议：I guess we are who we are for a lot of reasons. And maybe we'll never know most of them. But even if we don't have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there. We can still do things. And we can try to feel OK about them. 在西方语境中，加粗部分所表达的只是典型的自由意志free will的观点，不是决定论或必然性的观点。这种意思接近《论语·微子》记录楚狂所歌，“往者不可谏，来者犹可追。”差不多也是我小时候常听到的政策宣传，有成分论，不唯成分论，重在本人表现。我虽然没有什么童年阴影，当年家庭成分曾是“地主”，后来改成“革命干部”。

Things change. And friends leave. Life doesn't stop for anybody. 经过一年的历练，Charlie变得更成熟更自信，在快结束时，他有长篇独白：I know there are people who say all these things don't happen. And there are people who forget what it's like to be 16 when they turn 17. I know these will all be stories someday and our pictures will become old photographs. And we'll all become somebody's mom or dad. But right now, these moments are not stories. This is happening. I am here. And I'm looking at her. And she is so beautiful. I can see it. This one moment when you know you are not a sad story. You are alive. And you stand up and see the lights on buildings and everything that makes you wonder. And you are listening to that song on that drive with the people you love most in this world. And in this moment, I swear WE ARE INFINITE. 这本质上就是前面所述，choose where we go from there。电影不仅再现了happy and sad，还有些鸡汤。

我个人经历比较简单，对外界包括他人都不敏感，因此如稼轩词所谓“少年不识愁滋味”，只是“为赋新诗强说愁”。虽然是wallflower，但并没有不适，反而有些自得其乐的欣喜。看过The Perks of Being a Wallflower，没有什么共鸣，但对年轻人的复杂情结敏感情绪或许多些理解。

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