Abstract What can a film tell us? Different people have different opinions. There are countless films describing the WWⅡ, but none of which likes the film Life Is Beautiful is full of love instead of bloody Holocaust. In this film, the writer finds a perfect image of man, a perfect man should not just be successful in career, but pay more attention to building a harmonious family with family members and should be the reliance and spiritual mainstay for his wife and the protective god for his child.
Man has been endowed with many responsibilities and titles, but in the writer’s opinion, family responsibility should be the most important one and the title of husband and father should be the happiest ones.
Key Words Perfect man; family; responsibility; love
摘要 一部电影能告诉人们什么？这是个仁者见仁，智者见智的问题。描述二战的电影不胜枚举，但是没有哪一部电影像《美丽人生》一样让人感受到的只有浓浓的爱，而没有其它二战电影中血腥的大屠杀。在这部电影中笔者看到了一个完美男人的形象，一个完美的男人所要具备的不仅仅是事业上的成功，更重要的是和家人一起创造一个美满和谐的家庭，做妻子的依靠和精神支柱，是孩子的保护神。
男人被赋予了很多的责任和称谓，但是在笔者眼里，家庭责任才应该是一个男人最重要的责任，丈夫和父亲才应该是最幸福的称谓。
关键词 完美男人; 家庭; 责任; 爱
Introduction
After seeing a film, different people have different opinions. There are many films describing the Second World War, many of which emphasize on the inhumanity of Nazi. Those films are filled with sanguinary scenes which express the slaughter. In ordinary people’s impression, the Second World War is horrible memory especially for the Jewish people. The audiences are convulsed by the bloody scenes again and again.
However, not all of the directors choose the same angle, there is a director choosing to use another angle to reveal the War and to produce a film called Life Is Beautiful. It has less to do with the Holocaust but more to do with the human feelings and the beautiful relationship between a husband and his wife, a father and his son. After watching the film, some audiences may be happy and some may be sad. But no such a piece of art has ever before combined laughter with tears of sadness in and after the movie. The writer does not know what feelings the audiences have after watching the film Life Is Beautiful, but she feels really sad. And she also finds the qualities of a perfect man from the actions of the hero Guido. A successful image for a husband and father is presented by Guido perfectly.
A perfect man should not only be successful in career, but also pay more attention to building a harmonious family with family members and should be the reliance and spiritual mainstay for his wife and the protective god for his child.
Ⅰ. Anatomy of the Film Life Is Beautiful
A. The Creative Background and Main Plots of the Film
The film Life Is Beautiful selected its material from the Jewish life in concentration camp of Nazi , which was the most remarkable picture in the World War Ⅱ.
In 1930s, in Italy, a carefree Jewish bookkeeper named Guido starts a fairy Tale life by courting and marring a lovely woman from a nearby city. When Guido moves from the country to a large Tuscan town where he falls in love with a school teacher Dora. But she is already engaged to another guy, and Guido uses his humor and wisdom to court his “princess” by popping up at unexpected times. Dora abandons her fiancé and chooses Guido.
Then the film jumps ahead to the last months of the war. Guido is married to Dora and they have a son called Giosue. Guido and Giosue are sent to a concentration camp because of their Jewish origin. Dora, who deeply loves his husband and voluntarily follows him, but is sent to another part of the camp. Although the men and women are separated in the concentration camp and a child is in great peril. Guido finds his special ways to communicate with Dora and to hide Giosue. In an attempt to hold his family together and help his son survive the horrors of a Jewish concentration camp, Guido imagines that the Holocaust is a game, and the grand prize for the champion is a real tank.
Finally, at the end of the film, little Giosue cheers: “I really win the tank.” Then he and his mom are rescued by the American solider.
Life Is Beautiful is an important film; it is triumphant, timeless and sublime. It manages to entertain and educate the audiences with its potent combination of humor, poignancy, wisdom and dignity. Roberto Benigni has taken pure honor and turned it into a love story between a man and a woman，between a father and his son. As an actor, Benigni manages with his wise and simple performance to make the audiences laugh in the tragic situations.
B. The Different Angle between the Film Life is Beautiful and Other Films Describing the Jewish Lives during the World WarⅡ
There are too many films describing the lives of Jewish during the World War Ⅱ, in which Schindler’s List directed by Steven Spielberg is the most famous one. After watching the film Life Is Beautiful, the author found that it has less to do with the Holocaust and more to do with the human feelings and the beautiful relationship between a husband and his wife, a father and his son. The Holocaust provides the ultimate context that brings and highlights the story and adds yet another deep dimension to the movie. No such a piece of art has ever before combined laughter with tears of sadness in and after the movie.
The film helps in bringing the audiences to a state of mind away from reality, focusing on the feelings generated by forgetting about all external events and developments of the war. Despite that, the movie does not fail to point out an element of the Nazi psychology demonstrated by the doctor who was obsessed with riddles. Life is really beautiful as you watch Guido’s relentless efforts to make a lovely exciting experience of the concentration camp to his son. You get exhausted just watching him going through his painful day and make you smile as he speaks to his son and makes him laugh.
C. What a Family Should Be
A family begins with a man and a woman, each created in the God’s image. A family should be a place where you can go, no matter what you have done wrong and still be loved by your family members. In a family, the man plays the most important role, he is the reliance and spiritual mainstay for his wife and the protective god for his child.
As everyone knows a man should earn to support his family. There is no doubt that family should be in the most important position in everyone’s mind. The family unit begins when a man shall leave his father and mother and he cleaves to his wife. This is a presentation of the man’s commitment to his wife. Thus they become one flesh. How two people become one is a great mystery in life. When two people create
a new family, it means they are born again. And the marriage helps us understand how a family life should be. The couple should be loyal to each other. The husband serves his wife by giving his life for her. This does not mean he becomes her servant and jump at her every beck and call. Rather, he serves her by loving her----be her reliance and spiritual mainstay. He loves her more than himself. He admires her talents and abilities and “praises her”. Not only does he tell her that she is a treasure for him, but he tells other people what a wonderful wife he has.
To make your family more happy, take a long look at what is preventing you from having this ideal family relationship. For many families, there’s just a fixed pattern of non-communication when schedules differ and watching television absorbs the little time they might have together.
And in the family, father should be the protective God for his child. After the birth of child in the world, the man plays his role as a protective god. No matter what happens, he would love and protect his children. The prodigal son left his home, squandering all his money, yet, when everyone else had turned away from him, his father still welcomed him home with open, loving arms.
Ⅱ. The Qualities of Perfect Man
As a perfect man, in other words, a successful man, he should not only be successful in career, but also maintain his family to be happy and harmonious. Any defects of the two sides is hard to acceptable for a perfect man. Man has been endowed with many titles: leader of the society, manager of the company, son of parents, reliance for wife and protective god for children.
A. The Whole Image of a Man
The image of man is indeed a kind of responsibility. A kind of responsibility towards society, towards wife and towards children. First and up most, as a man, he should play an important role in the society which can be called social responsibility. To some degree, man’s social image influences his development of career and future.
Everybody plays different kinds of roles during different periods all through his life. And different roles endue them with different responsibilities. It’s no doubt that man is requested to undertake more in the society, many of them are considered to be the ridgepole and mainstay and should be ready to contribute to the country all the time. At the same time, they are also the mainstay of the family, he should take care of parents, wife and children. So everyone belongs to the family as well as the society.
B. Man’s Social Image and Responsibility
Men are endowed with more power in the society, at the same time, they should face more pressure. In our country, the important positions almost belong to men, they are key leaders and representatives of the country. In the companies, men also play important roles, they are managers, directors or principals. In fact, responsibility is equal to pressure. The more important position he has, the more pressure he undertakes. In traditional thoughts, man should pay more attention to the development and advancement of the society.
How to contribute to the society? Not all of the men are leaders of the country or managers of the company. As an ordinary man, just doing what he can do is all right. Everyone has his certain position and responsibility. Not only should the leaders and managers pay attention to the development of the society, but also everyone should tries his best to contribute to the society.
C. Man’s Family Image and Responsibility
People belong to the society, and more directly, people belong to family. An integral family consists of a man and a woman, in other words, of husband and wife, of parents and children. And different family members play different roles in the family. In the former section, we have discussed that the man plays an important role in the society. In the writer’s point of view, the man’s family image and responsibility is more important to them. A perfect man should not only be successful or great in the
society, but also tries his best to make his family members happy.
It’s well known that only one single people can’t compose a family. No matter how successful the man is in the society, he is also a failure without an integral family. A perfect man should pay more attention to building a harmonious family with family members and should be the reliance and spiritual mainstay for his wife and the protective God for his child, but should not just be successful in career.
Love is supernatural, when two persons fall in love with each other, they will begin to compose a new family for their own. An ideal husband can give his wife the feeling of safety and credibility. When a man is married, many of his faults will be exposed day by day. The husband should be capable as well as practical, and at the same time be considerate for his wife. Namely, an ideal husband should do well both in career and family. Moreover, he should also be the reliance and spiritual mainstay for his wife.
In family education, women are considered to be more important. They take care of the children and educate them since the babies are born. But in the writer’s opinion, father could not keep away from family education. It’s reported that most of the Nobel Prize winners are influenced by their fathers deeply since their childhood. The image of father is considered to be important in the formation of the children’s personality. With the accompany of the father, the children will become more tough and more brave. To be a successful father and the protective god for the child is also an essential qualification for a perfect man. So as a man, he should pay attention to teaching the children.
Ⅲ. Some Negative Phenomena and Their Solutions
A. Which Is More Important, Family or Career?
Nowadays, under the fast development, the adults pay much attention to their career and neglect the communication with family members. When asked about their opinions of career and family, people always respond differently. Some people consider it more important to pursue their career, while there are always other people who argue that family should be the most important one in one’s life.
It goes without any question that career plays a key role in our life. In the first place, career can give us an aim to live on. Without career, much of our living time will be certainly wasted. What’s more, career can provide us with a means to live on. Most of the people get their income from a job. On the other hand, family is also an indispensable part of life, as many people will admit it. Family is always regarded as a place where people can escape from troubles in life. In addition, people can obtain a sense of belonging from family. Without it, anyone will feel lonely and desperate.
Nowadays, it is a society filled with money and power, many people, especially the men pursue them at all costs. In order to get more money and dominating power, many men spend most of their time in working and not caring about their family members. In their eyes, family can be regarded as a hotel or just a place to rest. But in fact, no matter how rich a man is , he can only live for several decades. It’s said that the significance of the life is not measured by the length but the depth that counts.
In the writer’s opinion, career and family are not in opposition to each other. Rather they can be combined with each other so that one’s life can become better and better. Therefore, it’s not a choice between right and wrong, but one between ideal and practical. It’s no use to spend much more time in working instead of caring about family members. No matter how successful a man is in the work, he is still a loser if not having a happy family. Perfect family life is the final goal for everyone.
B. Marriage’s Being Not Only for Love, but for Benefit
“How much money do you have?” ”Do you have a beautiful house?” ”What’s the brand of your car?” These questions are familiar to us and they are frequently used in daily life. Nowadays, when two persons fall in love with each other, they should pay much attention to the reality. In some occasions, many lovers can not get married only because of lacking the martial support.
In last generation, people get married and create a new family just because of love. But people’s attitude towards love and family has changed gradually with the developing of the society. Many people hold the idea that money is much more important in marriage than emotion. Everyone has his own idea towards marriage and love, we should not criticize their opinions. We can not but admit that love and marriage can’t last long without the material support. But this doesn’t mean that benefit is more important than emotion. People should establish the right attitude towards the relationship between love and benefit.
It’s well known that family is the final arrangement for everyone. The biggest difference between home and hotel is that hotel is just a place for people to rest while home is full of love. So the family needs all the members to manage for it’s not the business for one single person.
C。The Children’s Becoming Indifferent and Rebellious, Not Wanting to Communicate with Parents
Nowadays, more and more parents find that their children become indifferent and rebellious. Facing such problems, the parents always blame the children and criticize the teachers. In their opinions, they have spend much money in supporting their education and the responsibility for training the children have been passed to the schools and teachers. So if the children become rebellious, the parents will blame the schools and teachers immediately. Most of them doesn’t realize that it’s the defects of the family education. And it’s also the defects of the whole Chinese family education. Talking about the defects, we can summarize them as the following points:
Firstly, doting on the children and neglecting the education of non-intelligence elements.
To love the children is the essentiality of the parents, but cosseting is the original love creating by the human beings. The doting degree of Chinese parents towards their children is situated in the first several places all around the world. Such kind of love is abnormal in the human beings. In such condition, the abnormal love will be enlarged and such ignorance will be changed into chains, and favor will be changed into trap. The strict Chinese parents’ neglecting the education of non-intelligence element is another terrible phenomenon besides cosseting. In this aspect, according to their own thinking mode, many parents snuff out the children’s non-intelligent elements including mentality, emotion, volition and interest. Three or four years old or even earlier, children are forced to learn Chinese characters, recite poems and practice mathematics. Playing is the nature for the children while ignored by the parents. The children’s self-respect, self-confidence and the ability of creating is destroyed by learning dead knowledge blindly and passively under the orders of the parents. However, child is indeed the child, no matter how many excuses in their hearts to hate such kind of teaching mode, they couldn’t find any excuse to defy their parents. They could only obey the parents who give in to the Chinese traditional culture.
Secondly, ignoring the establishment of the personality of independence. There is an interesting story about education focusing on the differences between Chinese and Western family education. When a Chinese child gives his drawing to the parents, he will ask: “ You see, is my picture like or not?” In the same case, the foreign child will ask their parents: “Is my picture good or not?” Although there’s only little difference in using several words., in fact it has large distinction. In the same condition, there are two different answers, then two kinds of educational manners and thoughts are obvious.
It’s well known that the Chinese people are wise since ancient times, but it’s also well known that they lack the abilities of creating, variation and competition. Parents are the first teachers for the children, but if the teachers are educated in such an abnormal way, their old thoughts haven’t been changed with the development of the society. When the task of education turns into their responsibilities, what kind of result the next generation will face is distinct. The children haven’t been trained to own the personality of independence in such malignant circulation. In the writer’s opinion, the Chinese children have penetrative understanding and feeling , it’s not the fault of the parents, but the defect of Chinese family education system.
Thirdly, father is far away from the family education. In Chinese traditional culture, men are considered to support the family, they are free from the children’s family education. In the childhood, without the help of father, the children will become timid. But there is another phenomenon in other families that men really take part in family education, but the methods are not advisable. They hold the idea that good children are trained by the stick. It is a terrible transmigration that the children are trained by caning and they will use the same methods to train their children after being parents.
The parents should find problems from themselves instead of blaming the children and teachers. Family is the responsibility for every member, men should not be free from family education. In fact , father plays a more important role in the formation of the children’s personalities. Men have been endowed with many crowns in the world , but the crown of father should be the most important one.
D. Some Useful Methods for the Fathers
The writer pays more attention to the image of a man as a father and the audiences can learn some useful methods from the hero Guido. The Jewish people have their special ways to train their children. As everyone knows that Jewish people are the most wise people in the world. The population of Jewish people shares only 0.2% of it in the world, however, owns nearly 20% in the Nobel prize winners, which wins respect from other people. It has deep connection with their education style, especially their family education. From the film Life Is Beautiful, the audiences can learn some different ways to teach their children.
As a Jewish father, Guido uses his specific ways to educate Giosue. Firstly, be humorous. Guido always makes his son laugh in the daily life. He knows what an important role laughter plays in their life. Being optimistic is a traditional mentality for the Jewish people. Let’s first talk about the distinctive charm presented by the humor from Jewish people. As it is known to all, Jewish people suffered from countless crucifixion and tribulation, being homeless for a long time, they were annealed by such living conditions and humor was the unique return. Too many sufferings had they undergone, long lasting tears and moan could not relieve their misery, only laughter can protect them and only laughter can dispel bitterness. The Jew cries to God, but smiles to the people of the world; smiling on the face, but crying in the bottom of their hearts. So their laughter is filled with thick sadness and full of irony and criticism towards life. They make fun of themselves using their own laughter, purifying their soul, alleviating pain and sufferings, entertaining mind and body, pursuing dignity of life. No matter how terrible the condition is, the Jewish people always find ways to make fun of the condition. Just like Guido in the concentration camp, he can make his son happy all the time. If the writer were the little Giosue, she would have the idea that the life of the concentration camp is just a game for it’s full because it’s full of funs and interesting things.
Secondly, be wise. In the movie, the hero Guido’s intelligence is obvious. When little Giosue was tired and wanted to give up the “competition”, Guido just used several clever sentences to let him stay there voluntarily and happily. Jewish people’s intelligence is well known, they move here and there and do not settle in a fixed place. Thanks to the continuous moving, they can learn new knowledge from other people and keep them advanced all the time. Jewish people appreciate the idea that wisdom is more important than knowledge, they consider the person who just masters knowledge and lacks wisdom as a fool ass who carries a lot of books. In Jewish people’s opinion, such kind of people do not have ability to use the knowledge to practice even though they are full of knowledge. If someone keeps on learning all kinds of knowledge while does not digest it, it is just like someone owning many books while not using them ,both of them are wasting. So Jewish people know that wisdom should be used. When they move to a new place, they just merge themselves with the local people and learn advanced knowledge and techniques from them. The history of their moving is just the history of their advancing. Jewish people have the ability to change knowledge into wealth, so it is no doubt that they can turn up as rich every time. The wisdom makes them grow up again and again. Guido knows the importance of the intelligence, and it affects little Giosue step by step.
Thirdly, interest is the best teacher. When the children are young, they do not know the importance of learning. Only interesting things can attract their attention, Guido knows what Giosue likes, so he tells a lie. He tells Giosue that the life of the
concentration camp is just a funny game and the winner will get a real tank as prize after the game. After watching the film, the audiences may think that it is the lie that protects little Giosue, but on the other hand, we can say that it is the interest that saves him. Suppose little Giosue does not like the tank and is not interested in playing game, he would not take part in the game with his father. Interest is the best teacher, it is just the children’s desire of something. Only when he has desire, he will try his best to get things he likes, and he will feel happy instead of feeling tired.
Last but not the least, the power of example is great. When Jews teach their children, they always encourage them to settle a model to follow. They think that parents and family members are the direct models for their children, so they pay much attention to getting on well with each other. The relationship between the husband and wife sets the stage for children to behave in a family. If the mother shows respect for her husband, the children will respect their father. If the husband cherishes his wife, the children will honor their mother. In the movie, Guido shows his deep love to Dora, even in the concentration camp, Guido tries his best to let Dora know how much he loves her. In that case, Giosue knows what an important role his mom plays in the family. Jewish people also teach their children to love their mother. And they think that the good relationship between the parents is the best example for the children to know the importance of the family.
Conclusion
There is no doubt that we ordinary people belong to the society, but more directly we belong to the family. Nowadays, with the development of the society, people pay more attention to the social image and responsibility, especially for the man. In many people’s opinions, a successful man should be successful in career. The writer admits that a person who succeeds in the career should be admired by others. But a really perfect man should not only be successful in career but also own a happy family.
In this world, there is a kind of occupation which is round-the-clock, he who takes part in it will never retire. He should work day and night, leave, laziness and rest are not allowed. Furthermore, he will never be paid, he should earn salary from other places and spend here. In the world, there is a kind of crown which is lifelong, he who will never be deprived since coroneted. However, sometimes it brings him responsibility instead of glory. This kind of occupation, this kind of crown is man. A perfect man should pay more attention to building a harmonious family with family members and he should be the reliance and spiritual mainstay for his wife and the protective god for his child, but should not just be successful in career.
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