何棄療的查理·考夫曼

本片結尾，查理·考夫曼在車裡用一句 "who cares what Mckee says?" 宣告自己最終放棄治療，他知道自己無力用一個意識形態的心靈雞湯包裝一個標準的好萊塢故事了，但他也不在乎了。

這裡「意識形態」用的是它比較原始的意思，「錯誤的觀念」。阿爾都塞曾拿意識形態與科學對立，比方說現在我們現在有一些科學原理解釋打雷閃電的成因，但這之前人類就只能用雷神敲錘或其他類似的神話故事來解釋，這些神話故事就是一種意識形態。陰謀論也是一種意識形態，例如說王朝滅亡因為農民戰爭，農民戰爭又因為土地集中，基本就屬於一種陰謀論，把一些可能相關的事情用因果律串聯起來，讓人感覺「確實很有道理啊」，但實際上相關性推不出因果關係。

可是「無巧不成書」，電影的本質就是製造意識形態的，例如庫里肖夫著名的蒙太奇實驗，鏡頭之間沒有任何事實上的邏輯關係，全靠觀眾腦補出來一個完整的故事情節。意識形態就是在兩個鏡頭之間被創造出來了，因此我們可以做一個假設，意識形態就是在資訊不完備的情況下產生的。例如我們晚上「怕鬼」的意識形態就是因為夜晚周圍的視覺資訊缺乏，親王在知乎上對「如何克服晚上怕鬼」的解答就是，儘可能腦補四週的資訊。同樣，張戎深知打破對毛主席的偶像崇拜，首先是補充他生活上的細節：他不愛洗澡，不刷牙，而且便秘（請花半小時想像你偶像便秘時的各種情景）。

《爸爸去哪兒》據說一集要拍攝1000小時的素材，最後只播出90分鐘。看真人秀節目的時候，我都想到《愛在黎明破曉時》里 Jesse 在火車上對 Celine 說他的電視夢想：找365個人，拍他們24小時的生活，起床洗臉刷牙做飯洗碗等等，每天播24小時連播365天。Celine說誰會看這種無聊的日常生活，Jesse說這叫「每日詩意」（poetry of day-to-day life）我們想想如果《爸爸去哪兒》完整播放1000小時素材會是什麼效果，不要配樂也不要配可愛的字幕，我猜完全是一場災難，因為抹殺了意識形態成長的空間。田亮親身經歷 Cindy 說「生日快樂」的時候表現尷尬，但回看節目的時候就泛起淚花，節目比現實要感人得多。《感動中國》這類雞湯節目，用幾個鏡頭就交代了一個人幾十年，意識形態在鏡頭之間野蠻生長，難怪觀眾看得稀里嘩啦。

好了，最後要說查理·考夫曼為何要放棄治療，不聽 McKee 的話，安排一個精彩的劇情，再講一個「發人深省」的道理呢？在他的《紐約提喻法》里似乎給了我們答案：

Everything is more complicated than you think. You only see a tenth of what is true. There are a million little strings attached to every choice you make; you can destroy your life every time you choose. But maybe you won't know for twenty years. And you may never ever trace it to its source. And you only get one chance to play it out. Just try and figure out your own divorce. And they say there is no fate, but there is: it's what you create. And even though the world goes on for eons and eons, you are only here for a fraction of a fraction of a second. Most of your time is spent being dead or not yet born. But while alive, you wait in vain, wasting years, for a phone call or a letter or a look from someone or something to make it all right. And it never comes or it seems to but it doesn't really. And so you spend your time in vague regret or vaguer hope that something good will come along. Something to make you feel connected, something to make you feel whole, something to make you feel loved. And the truth is I feel so angry, and the truth is I feel so fucking sad, and the truth is I've felt so fucking hurt for so fucking long and for just as long I've been pretending I'm OK, just to get along, just for, I don't know why, maybe because no one wants to hear about my misery, because they have their own. Well, fuck everybody. Amen.

前面是說意識形態之不可能：Everything is more complicated than you think. You only see a tenth of what is true. There are a million little strings attached to every choice you make; you can destroy your life every time you choose. But maybe you won't know for twenty years. And you may never ever trace it to its source.

後面是說心靈雞湯之不可靠：you are only here for a fraction of a fraction of a second. Most of your time is spent being dead or not yet born. But while alive, you wait in vain, wasting years, for a phone call or a letter or a look from someone or something to make it all right. And it never comes or it seems to but it doesn't really.

因為考夫曼的 loser 感深埋心間，所以他放棄 McKee 這樣成功人士的治療的理由只有一個：說到底誰不是 loser 呢？你對整個人類來說有何意義，整個人類對宇宙來說又有何意義。

Indeed, who cares what McKee says?