Continued from Tony Perez's Electronic Diary (October 19, 2018 - March 12, 2019) http://tonyperezphilippinescyberspacebook41.blogspot.com/

Photo by JR Dalisay / April 21, 2017

Wednesday, January 26, 2022

Watched China's 2019 Super Me (1:43:35). Sang Yu, a starving, unsuccessful screenwriter, has schizoid fugues in which a shadow figure physically attacks him. Harassed by his landlord and a movie agent he owes, he is saved from committing suicide by a kind food vendor who helps him assert himself in his fugues by telling him to declare aloud that he is merely dreaming. Very soon, during those fugues, he not only learns how to confront the shadow figure--he also returns to reality with valuable apports that he sells to collectors, and becomes very rich.

The movie is really a love story with fantasy trappings. Having acquired billions, Sang Yu purchases the flailing coffee shop of his secret crush, Hua'er, partners with her, and makes the business boom. Inspired by his crush, he writes a screenplay and becomes a world-famous moviemaker.

And then the twist happens.

Though not apparent to many, the movie is a deconstruction of the German fairy tale "The Fisherman and His Wife." In school we studied the 36 dramatic situations, but I  find it very interesting that most, if not all, contemporary movies are still actually variations of classical fairy tales.

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