Why are the thesis titles every year "The Lost Dream of the Covered Bridge" and "The Affair Bridge"?

I finally finished my thesis. This is the longest thing I have ever written! Recalling the difficulty of finding information, please send it to future classmates to share! Introduction In the history of world movies, there are many movies with extramarital affairs as the theme and exploring the themes of love and obligation. However, due to the requirements of social ethics, this type of movie already has an ending that is expected and set by the audience, so it is difficult to obtain it. Another breakthrough in art, especially the extramarital affairs stories about middle-aged people, are more of a monotonous repetition of family warmth and social ethics. However, in the 20th century, two unusual extramarital affairs movies emerged. One is the American "Bridges on Madison" (also known as "Bridge of Dreams"), with its delicate depiction of scenes and sharp questioning of social ethics. It has achieved unprecedented success and hot discussion; the other is the French "The Secret Bridge", which was released four years later and is full of French romantic spirit and European literary and artistic tone. (1) Introduction "The Bridges of Madison County" (The Bridges of Madison County) is a 1995 film adapted from the American best-selling book "Covered Bridges" (written by Robert ?6?1 James ?6?1 Water). Directed and starring the famous director Clint Eastwood. The film tells the story of Francesca Johnson (played by Meryl Streep), an Italian housewife who lived a traditional country family life in the summer of 1956. When her husband and children went out to participate in a competition, she met a man who came to the local photography gallery. Bridget's National Geographic photographer Robert Kincaid (played by Clint Eastwood), and the two quickly fell in love. The four days they spent together became a turning point in their respective lives, but there was no intersection. Until her later years, Francesca recorded this experience in a diary and asked her children to bury her ashes with Robert after her death, and the location was the covered bridge where their love began. This movie directly describes the extramarital life of middle-aged people. The love between Francesca and Robert is a harmonious unity of love, sex and love. Although the plot of the film is monotonous and the progress is slow, through the superb acting skills of the two actors, the pervasive love, lifelong identification and separation anxiety are truly, delicately and vividly portrayed. Although the love between the two is so certain and irreplaceable, in order to maintain the family, Francesca gave up running away from Robert and chose to treasure this love in her heart. It was not until after Francesca's death that she made her love known to the public through the diary she wrote during her lifetime. After gaining the understanding of her children, she fulfilled her wish to be buried with Robert. With the ashes scattered, Francesca was finally able to fully and completely Embrace your lover and love. "Un Pont entre deux rives" (Un Pont entre deux rives), filmed in 1999, although the time span is not as long as "The Bridge of Madison", it also ensures the integrity of the story and the distinctiveness of the theme. The story takes place in Normandy in 1962. Mina (played by Carole Bouquet) is the wife of a construction worker Georges (played by Gérard Depardieu). She is not a typical housewife. She likes to watch movies. For the livelihood of the family, she insists on... Go out and do odd jobs. She prefers spending time with her 15-year-old son than her husband. Due to various opportunities, she met Matthias (played by Charles Berling), a foreign engineer who came to repair the bridge. The two fell in love at first sight, and with the encouragement of her son, they soon began their extramarital affair. Until he was exposed by Georges (played by Gérard Depardieu). Then, Georges's threats and pleas did not stop Mina from leaving her son and husband. At the end of the film, the couple met by chance at a gas station. The beautiful Mina regained her life and looked more charming and confident. Georges also came out of the frustration of marriage and love. In the end, the two of them had their own aspirations and moved in different directions. The plot of the film seems to be full of twists and turns, but the way it is expressed is unusually calm. Even when Georges heard Mina and Matthias crying, he did not make any drastic move. He only said one sentence: "I'll chop your head off." I can’t help but feel like I’m twisting my heart.” He passed by and then left calmly. The rich romantic atmosphere, free and easy humanistic feelings, and sad black humor in the film all make this film less introspective and more philosophical and humanistic. It is more like the French's interpretation of "Madison" "Bridge", announcing to the world that humanity is supreme and true love is invincible. (2) Theoretical elaboration and film analysis Van Digen believes that "works with the same theme are interconnected and influence each other, but this does not hinder the tendency to have the same idea but choose different conclusions." "The Bridge of Madison" "" and "The Secret Bridge", two films with the same theme and the same theme have produced completely different concepts. Francesca gives up love and sticks to her marital obligations; Mina runs towards love and abandons her marital obligations. However, the choice between the two was affirmed.

If we say that the difference between literary works depends on the content and meaning of the work, the difference in content and meaning is reflected in the theme and concept. So what is a "theme"? Tuzon mentioned in the introduction: "Why do (people) constantly catalog the legends of their ancestors? It is to study their history, to meditate on the mystery of their endless rise and fall, and to understand their own Odyssey, some of which The most noble, but also often profoundly tragic. In every loyal and righteous heart, there is an Antigone... These heroes are in our hearts, and we are also in their hearts: they share our fate. , and we find ourselves reflected in their images...the themes of our myths and legends have a polyvalence; they are symbols of human nature, ideal forms of human tragedy, indicators of human nature as it is." As explained above, although the theme is abstract, in some works, the theme is actually tied to the characters. It is no longer erratic. People can catch it, and the characters are the best nets. Characters embody abstract themes into corresponding concepts. In the film, the characters who embody the theme are obviously Francesca and Mina. Compared with traditional cheaters, neither Francesca nor Mina made me feel disgusted. On the contrary, in my opinion, Francesca seemed to be a tragic and introspective self-sacrifice, while Mina seemed to break through the shackles of tradition and have the courage to act. Pioneer. They all have the courage to take on responsibilities and are heroes in love and marriage. The reason for this feeling is that this work is different from previous works in the way it handles the subject matter. Previous works mostly used themes to introduce plots, stuck within a specific framework, focused on the integrity of the plot, and used plots to explain themes but ignored people. However, these two films use themes to strengthen the characters, and then use Use the uniqueness of the image to delve deeper into the theme. In both films, they both denounced the constraints of marriage on love and the suppression of human nature, but they also affirmed the final choices of the two heroines. What's even more interesting is that in different eras and different societies, the public's choice of them has given them different era positionings. 1. The era positioning in the film: Francesca is the actual model, while Mina is the ideal model. Francesca lived in rural America in the 1960s. When it comes to the United States in the 1960s, most people think of rock music, drug abuse, sexual abnormalities, abortion, streaking, obsession with eccentricities, and the pursuit of absurd hippie culture, etc., and these are all countercultures. sports. In fact, Francesca, a traditional woman, was the representative of mainstream American culture at that time. Therefore, in the film era, Francesca was a practical example of protecting her family and abiding by her wedding vows. But Mina is a typical example of rationality. Mina lives in the French town of Normandy in the early 1970s. In France from 1965 to 1980, family crisis was a hot topic. This was also a period when feminism and avant-gardism were flourishing. Mina's escape also affirmed these two cultural trends. In the film era, Mina is an ideal example of a successful escape and happiness. 2. The positioning of the times after the release: Francesca is the imaginary model, and Mina is the actual model. According to "The Impact of the 1970s on America Today": "In 1978, a play was staged on Broadway in the United States. The theme of the play seems a bit weird today. It talked about all the absurd things that happened in a mixed dormitory. . This is a typical reflection of the values ????of young Americans in the 1970s, and illustrates how the changes brought about by sexual liberation were reflected in ordinary life. There is no better example of this change than marriage in 1910. , married households accounted for 80% of the total households in the United States. In 1970, 69% of people were still married. Since then, this number has dropped sharply, leaving only 52% in 2000. "Look at France again," France Modern. One of the characteristics of the family structure is the substantial increase in the number of people living alone. Single households composed of widows, divorcees and singles account for a quarter of the total number of households, especially the elderly. Paris seems to have become a home for singles. In the capital, on average, one out of every two households is a single household." Women's liberation, feminism, sexual liberation, avant-garde spirit, etc. that emerged in the 20th century have penetrated into every corner of the world with the process of globalization. Their original intention is to respect human nature and liberate women, but they have gradually become another way to deconstruct the family. driving force. The 21st century is a century of loss of faith, broken families, chaotic relationships between men and women, and a sharp increase in homosexuality. In this era, which is distorted by economic relations and alienated by large-scale industrial production, most people pursue the concepts of profit first, egoism, and timely enjoyment. Most people think too much of themselves, their selfishness becomes justified, their greed becomes more unbridled, and self-sacrifice is completely forgotten. The society is full of Mina who fled, but Francesca has become the object of people's nostalgia. Therefore, in the 21st century when the film was released, Mina was the actual model, while Francesca became the ideal model. Not only that, you will be surprised to find from the above that the era positioning of Francesca and Mina actually circulates with each other.

This cyclical positioning in the times once again illustrates that love and obligation are not two contradictions, but the main and secondary aspects of a contradiction. They are unified in opposition, mutually exclusive and interdependent, and can transform into each other under certain conditions. . The status of a social marriage is determined by the dominant party among them. In society in the late 20th century, the state of marriage and family was like the crumbling Leaning Tower of Pisa; in the 21st century, the disintegration of marriage and family has become an unstoppable trend. This is actually the manifestation of love and obligation in human society when these two primary and secondary aspects are transformed and their focus shifts. Tuzon also mentioned a similar point in the heroic theme in the study of subgenre themes, that is, those so-called heroic characters “are not constrained by narrative frameworks because of their adaptability, changeability, and multiple utility.?6?1 ?6?1?6?1?6?1?6?1?6?1 can integrate itself into the ideological characteristics and customs and tastes of a certain century, and can actually present various and even extremely contradictory meanings , can adapt itself to the nuances of contemporary life by embracing all variations. In this way, the theme becomes spiritual history at the same time. "Isn't the choice of the heroines in these two movies an aspect of the spiritual history of human marriage? Their transformation from obedience to resistance, and then from indulgence to restraint, isn't this one of the best proofs of the repetition of human spiritual history? The repetition of spirit is reflected in the objective world, which is the cycle of social trends and ideologies. All of this proves once again that human history is repetitive. (3) Summary In summary, with the help of Tusson’s research theory on thematics, the author analyzed the image and era positioning of the heroines in the two films and found that the thematic conflicts between marriage and obligation in the films are concentrated here. The essence of the ideological conflict between the two female characters is the entanglement between obeying human nature and adhering to marital ethics. At the same time, in different eras and different countries, the public’s choices about marriage and obligations, or the public’s aesthetic needs are also different. This is reflected in the fact that in the 1960s and 1970s when the film is set, Francesca is the actual model, and Mina is the ideal model; in the 21st century when the film was released, Francesca is the ideal model, and Mina is the actual model. This choice cycle, or aesthetic cycle, firstly shows that love and obligation are not two contradictions, but the main and secondary aspects of a contradiction. They are unified in opposition, mutually exclusive and interdependent, and at a certain point They transform into each other under different conditions, and every transformation and shift in their center of gravity brings changes to the family structure of human society; secondly, it is also a manifestation of the cycle of human spiritual history and the result of repeated human behavior. Therefore, as long as human society continues to exist, love and obligation will be the eternal social and cultural themes.