When I first saw the title of this film, it brought a question to my heart: “At what point does one’s heart thump?” Growing up is a very important theme in Flipped. I have watched Flipped three times, and every time I watch it, I can interpret it from a different perspective.
The end of the film “Let It Be Me” simple and pure song slowly played, in the last shot, the heroine Julie Baker and the hero Bryce Loski in the planting of a new sycamore tree hand and hand touched together, in Bryce’s hand on Julie’s hand at that moment, my heart pounded for it, the picture also from a near and far pull shot slowly narrowed the hero and heroine until the panning camera to The scene is also from a close and distant pull shot slowly narrowing the hero and heroine until the panning camera to focus on the bright sky covered with sunshine. When I first saw the title of this film, it brought a question to my heart: “At what point does one’s heart start to flutter?” This is probably the state of the heart is also a way of expressing feelings, the film is to young boys and girls that the heart of the first flutter as a clue, step by step to lead the audience into the plot, to see through the love, family, family love, uninterruptedly to our hearts to bring a trace of impact, perhaps some people simply think it is just a small fresh film about pure love, but in fact, there are also But in fact, there are too many questions that we need to think about and worth thinking about the values and pursuits that need to be explored in depth.
I. Theme and character setting and narrative means
Growing up is a very important theme in Flipped. in the summer of 1957, before the second grade, the male protagonist, Bryce Loski, moves to meet the female protagonist, Julie Baker, and lives across the street from her house. The moment she sees Bryce’s bright, sparkling eyes, Julie’s heart is struck by him. Julie falls in love with Bryce’s blue eyes, which seems like it would be the beginning of a romantic love at first sight, but unfortunately, Bryce never feels anything for her. Moreover, he thinks that Julie is a bit strange, in his words, “avoidance war” and “social phobia” to begin with, and deliberately avoids her at school, in the setting of the film’s character function, in addition to the heroine, the hero is the object of his love, leading to In the setting of this film’s character functions, in addition to the heroine, the hero is the object of his love, leading to the main plot and forcing the hero to introspect and pursue his own growth, while the hero’s grandfather Chet and the heroine’s father take on the role of mentor, giving Julie and Bruce two people an important gift – bringing them from the heart to think about the careful sculpting of human attitudes.
The great change in the story of the film comes from the storm that the sycamore tree, which Julie Baker devoutly believes to be holy and incomparable, was sawed. Early that morning she sat helplessly and firmly alone on the branch of the tree, defending the tree she loved most in her heart, and she asked Bryce for help, but did not get a response. She understands that “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”, and is no longer obsessed with the eyes of her childhood, girls in their teens have a sense of self-reflection, examining whether the person they love is worth loving. Once her self-esteem is touched, she decides to give up the boy immediately, without letting her love lower to the dust. Her days of watching the sunrise and sunset on the sycamore tree and in the process of talking with her father her heart gets settled and her worldview gradually changes. From Bryce’s point of view, the first half of the film, he is still resistant to Julie, will use a variety of reasons to put off Julie invited him to do everything, but in the grandfather, a spiritual mentor advice, in the knowledge that he was born almost and Julie’s uncle became mentally handicapped, he began to pay attention to and re-acquaint himself with the stubborn but backbone of Julie, from her family to step into her heart. Bryce begins to find Julie’s unusual interests and pride in her family to be fascinating.
The film uses the different perspectives of the male and female protagonists, using the internal narration of the protagonists, there are six paragraphs of text repetition, all of which are retold by the male protagonist first, and then the female protagonist reenacts the plot once, although a text sometimes appears twice, but it will reflect the drama of that time period from the two protagonists’ completely opposing attitudes and perspectives, and also to a certain extent to complement some of the plot, let’s say, when both sides For example, when the two sides face the sycamore tree and the backyard eggs, the attitude of the male protagonist is “how can anyone see the chicken and sitting under the tree as fun?” Julie, on the other hand, gradually feels that Bryce’s beautiful eyes may be as hollow as his own, thinking “After all, how could anyone not take someone’s feelings for trees and chickens seriously?” This narrative leaves a lot of room for the audience’s imagination, making the story more realistic and relatable, from the first-person narrative of the two protagonists respectively, to better lead the audience into the plot, but can break the audience’s inherent ideas when watching, reducing the emergence of stereotypes, bringing the audience two very different and fresh experiences, more from which to figure out what to do, increasing the audience’s thinking space, standing in the protagonist’s The audience’s attention is drawn to the specific situation, and they will think: “What is she/he going to say and feel in this scene?” This is the success of the film narrative.
II. The material and the spirit of transmission
After watching “Flipped” three times, I can interpret it from a different perspective every time I watch it. This film, which is only one and a half hours long, always brings people real and straight to the heart, which is very touching, especially in the expression of the Western concept of family and thinking about the relationship between spirituality and materiality. In this film, Bryce’s father himself is full of anger towards the world, even though his mother is kind, but also easily swayed by his own husband’s concept, questioning himself, this is the main reason that led Bryce did not find some true goodness and beauty around him, from the beginning when Julie wanted to help his family move things, he told tiny Julie with a cold look: “No need You, here are all the valuable items”, and thinks that this little girl has no sense; when Julie presents his family with eggs raised in his backyard for his family to eat, he doubts with inherent prejudice whether these eggs are edible, and asks his son to ask for proof; when his daughter wants to go out to meet the Baker brothers to discuss about the record, he presses them severely, questioning their singing ability and suspecting that the money they purchased for recording In a family conversation, despite learning that Julie’s father has a mentally handicapped brother and is not interested in managing the yard, he even jokes about being full of concern …… he is sarcastic and presents a misanthropic face.
And very different from this, Julie’s father was not kidnapped by Western individualism, abandoning his unfortunate brother, but took up his own responsibility to carry the whole family, he passed to his children is the warmth of affection, rather than like Bryce’s father in the world stubborn, with colored glasses to look at others, bringing others only indifference and incomprehension. And Julie also acted on the attitude of disdain behind the Bruce family’s panicked lawn, and went to tidy up the lawn, giving life to her yard, even though – it was not the house her family really owned, and tidying up the lawn should be something the landlord should do. Perhaps on the material level, the Bryce family is more affluent than the Julie family, and the parents give their children “fish”; but on the spiritual and spiritual level, the laughter of the Julie family is more real and moving, and the parents give the next generation more education, and give their children the gift of how to “fish “But on the spiritual and spiritual level, the laughter of the Julie family is more real and moving.
Third, the director’s perspective
In 2007, the then 60-year-old American director Rob Reiner expressed his ultimate thoughts on life with a “bucket list”. Three years later, he abruptly changed his perspective and used the film “Flipped”, an adaptation of Wendelin van de Laanen’s famous novel, to express his thoughts on human growth from the “war” between boys and girls during childhood and youth. In reference to the weight of the work “Flipped” in his heart, Rob Reiner said, “I think it’s very important that you actually have a boy like Bryce who is at a loss. When you’re at a stage like 12 to 13 years old, you’re wondering about a lot of things. You don’t know who you are, you don’t know what to do next. Having a mentor and a guide is a very important thing at this point. Bryce was fortunate to have a grandfather in his life who told him who he was, what kind of person he should be, and what kind of perspective he should use to see a person for who they are, and likewise, Julie was very fortunate to have a family that gave her the right values. She has a strong self-awareness of her own values, and she knows exactly what she wants.”
In fact, this is the heart of the film in the characterization, we can see such a family that gives them the right values, and the children of other families can also benefit from it to seek their own values in life. The director condenses the ideas he wants to express in these two families, and thus reflects the problems that exist in the whole Western system, with a strong American flavor, and some areas about family ethics and legal regulations are also covered.
A pair of children, a tree, two families, a very simple story, but told with a different meaning, “Flipped” is a niche, special film, it puts you in a warm, funny and humanistic atmosphere, but what you get is not only a heartwarming and delicate emotional experience like first love, but also a consideration of personality and human relationships. Until the end, it gives you a beautiful story that doesn’t seem so unreliable. It is a family film with a great motive, a lesson in the details and life of first love, and it is a treasure to be mined.