The article was first published in: Future Film Bureau.
On the afternoon of July 23, "Kingdom: Ashin in the North" finally released its resources, and the Hong Kong and Taiwan region translated it as "Dead War in Korea: The Story of Yaxin". This is a prequel series, which mainly tells the history of the origin of the zombie hunter-Yaxin played by Jun Jixian at the end of "The Second Season of Kingdom".
The 93-minute content linked the first two seasons with the character of Yaxin, leading to the third season. It also laid the groundwork for the origin of the grass and has a lot of information. The author has written a combing essay from the first two seasons of "The Kingdom"-"Jian Zhixian Opens the Zombie Universe in Northeast Asia", which can be read together.
After "Kingdom" became popular all over the world, the main creative team specially recruited Jun Zhixian as an important person to lead the next stage. She played only 20 seconds at the end of the second season, and the limelight almost overwhelmed everyone. This time, "The Story of Yaxin" took the time of a movie to build momentum for Jun Ji Hyun.
The characteristics of the "Kingdom" series are: fast pace, fierce zombies, and cool action. The contradiction is simple, direct, intense and exciting, which is a dynamic narrative. "The Story of Yaxin" is uncharacteristic and tells a relatively slow story. Jun Ji-hyun never laughed in the play. The atmosphere of the series is cold and depressing, and the tone is heavy and tragic . It was not until the end of the story that there was a symbolic catharsis.
As the super boss of the play, Yaxin's ambition is to "destroy Jurchen and all creatures on the land of North Korea." If the motives for blackening of such superhumans are not sufficient and the history is not clear and detailed, the logic will be weak and it will be difficult to convince people . The advantage of static narrative is that it is full of internal energy. The potential energy of the character is accumulated a little bit, and it can withstand fine products, but it is not pleasing because it is not straightforward. The score of Yaxin Biography is proof.
So, how did Yaxin accumulate the dark potential energy that destroys the world step by step?
1 Turbulent times: small individuals in geopolitics
The screenwriter Jin Yinhe once said: Wang Guo’s creation was inspired by real records in North Korea’s history. At that time, thousands of people died of unknown reasons, so they used the form of zombie attacks to express the suffering that people endured. "The Kingdom" is very sophisticated in reference to history and has deep thinking.
The zombies in the first season highlighted the "hunger" of the people in the feudal society, and the nematodes in the second season highlighted the "parasitic relationship" in the hierarchical society. The nobles squeeze the people, the officials parasitize the imperial power, and the nematodes control the human body, forming a vicious circle of mutual persecution.
On this basis, "The Story of Yaxin" has taken another step, focusing on the geopolitics of the Korean peninsula and the desperate struggles of individuals in the great historical era .
The map that appeared frequently at the beginning of the film depicts the geo-crisis of Lee's North Korea: the Japanese pirate rebellion in the south and the Jurchen border troubles in the north. Sandwiched between several powerful forces, the royal court of North Korea is at risk.
North Korea is known as the Little China, and naturally learned the trick of "controlling the barbarians with the barbarian". They wooed a part of the Jurchen tribe to become the screen tribe, calling them: Fanhu tribe/city bottom savages, using them to monitor/check the Pozhu Wei Nuzhen on the other side of the Yalu River.
The pressure generated by the geo-crisis was relieved layer by layer on the Phanhu tribe through the Joseon royal court, and the burden of the Phanhu tribe was concentrated on Yashin's father. Yaxin's tribe, neither Jurchen nor North Korea, has contributed the most but survived the most.
In the great changes of the times, the individual's struggle is so insignificant, the gradual increase in pressure finally made Yaxin's father overwhelmed, and the endless darkness drowned Yaxin, but she refused to accept her fate and wanted to fight this vicious world!
2 Jurchen leader Ali Duo: aggressive foreign troubles
This character is a new character, the real leader of Pozhuweinu. Pozhu River is another name for Hunjiang, a tributary of Yalu River. Jianzhou Jurchen started in the Hunjiang River Basin, and Pozhuwei is Jianzhouwei.
In history, Jianzhou Jurchen migrated to the Pozhu River basin in the middle and late Ming Dynasty and had many conflicts with North Korean forces. They were beaten up by others. It was not until Nurhachi unified the Jurchen tribes that the situation was reversed.
According to the speculation of the character setting, the leader of Pozhuwei, Ali Duogan, is based on Nurhachi. In this story, his Po Zhu Wei Nuzhen frequently invaded the forbidden areas of North Korea, exerting tremendous pressure on the North Korean border, which triggered a series of chain reactions, which was one of the sources of despair for Yaxin .
3 Haiyuan Zhao's son: the troublemaker who is strong in the outside world
The waste chai son of power minister Zhao Xuezhu fled during the first Japanese rebellion and was sent to the border to think about it. As a result, this aristocratic master was not worried at the border, and it was not a trivial matter. He killed all the 15 ginseng pickers who smuggled the pig woman Wei Nuzhen over, and he also called it: to defend the family honor.
The war is about to break out, and North Korea is still the weaker side. The Zhao family's actions will undoubtedly provoke the war between the two countries. All the crises in the story are caused by him.
In order to wipe his butt, the border officer Min Zhilu personally ran before and after he arranged for someone to expel the tiger, and also dispatched Yaxin's father to act as a spy to spread rumors of tiger disease, in an attempt to calm the real anger of Pozhuweinu.
Because of his act of pretending to be X, the people who drove tigers died, Min Zhilu's men died, Yaxin's father died, and Yaxin's people died. But as a result, people riding a big horse and being promoted to the commander of the Imperial City Guards, waited for his father Zhao Xuezhu to usurp the throne, and he was so good as a prince.
The Zhao family only showed his face twice, but changed the course of the story twice. The gorgeous arrow feather is the best irony of class society : all benefits belong to oneself, all evil consequences are borne by others, and birth decides everything .
4 She Shi Min Zhilu: A master of government affairs and a violent devil
In the first two seasons, this character was an upright imperial general. This person brought his own detective halo, and through various clues, he found the devil's cave of the empress of the nave, and made great contributions to the final comeback of the son. In the court controlled by the Zhao clan of Haiyuan, Min Zhilu, as a Qingliu's imperial general who was able to achieve the imperial city, shows his superb political abilities.
In "The Story of Yaxin", his character image has become more complicated and three-dimensional: as the military leader of the border, he not only has to deal with the frequent challenges of Pozhuweinu, but also has to appease the various requests of the Fanhu tribe. Wiping the butt of the pig teammate-Zhao Shizi. He handled crises again and again with superb political means, carefully maintaining the fragile balance along the Yalu River.
From the perspective of North Korean politics, Min Zhilu is a political talent who understands politics, takes into account the overall situation, has aspirations, and can handle complex situations . But it was this talent who pushed Yaxin's people into the abyss.
Zhao Shizi got into trouble and was passed on to the Fanhu tribe by Min Zhilu, resulting in the massacre of Yaxin’s tribe. After the incident, he wrote in his government report: With the sacrifice of the savages at the bottom of the city, the crisis was smoothly quelled.
From Yaxin's perspective, Min Zhilu is a hypocritical devil. The ferocity of Po Zhuwei was in the light, and the insidiousness of North Korean officials was in the dark. Min Zhilu brought Yaxin's despair even greater and deeper. He completely lost his hope in the world .
The hundred-year suffering of the Fanhu tribe was caused by talents such as Min Zhilu. The higher their talents, the greater the damage. The Fan Hu tribe worked desperately to fight for a chance to live, but they were never seen as human beings. In the eyes of North Korean officials, their only value is to be exploited.
5 Yaxin: Hundreds of years of suffering have gathered together, and the flames of revenge will destroy the world.
Finally speaking of the protagonist. Jin Shiya plays Yaxin's infancy. She is a little drama, she interprets Yaxin's mature, early wisdom, sassy and capable, and courageous and forbearing.
Regarding Yaxin, there are two characters that can be compared and understood: one is Nie Yinniang, and the other is the first two seasons of "The Kingdom".
Director Hou Xiaoxian once said, "Assassin Nie Yinniang" just said one sentence: No one is of the same kind. Yaxin's loneliness was also like Nie Yinniang's-no one of the same kind, struggling alone, carrying everything alone . They have the courage to act and have great mobility, but they are always ignored by the people around them. It's just that Yaxin is more resolute and has the will to destroy.
The destructive aura of the Empress of the Middle Hall is equally strong. She has lived in a political environment without love since she was a child. All the value of a person's life is to cling to power . She is crazy about this, and she does not hesitate to kill the monarch and kill her father.
Yaxin is different. Although she has a hard life, she is full of love with her family and tribe. This love is both strength and responsibility, so her will to revenge is extremely strong, but it is a pity that she believes in the wrong person. She pinned all her hopes on Min Zhilu (a North Korean official). For this reason, she could bear the insults of soldiers, but not only did her hope fail, she was also severely hit by the North Korean side.
Yaxin's father is the most tragic character in the play, and he has suffered the most torture. The suffering of the Fanhu tribe for a hundred years is concentrated on him. When Yaxin agreed to his plea and stabbed him to death, there was no pain but fatigue in that faint groan, and death was the best relief for him.
Yaxin cried two times in the story. The death of the clansman originated from the massacre of Po Zhuwei, and the death of his father originated from the conspiracy of North Korean officials . She set a fire in the Jurchen camp and the North Korean military camp. This was her anger.
Yaxin hated Po Zhuwei Jurchen, and hated North Korea even more. She stood on the roof and watched coldly as the zombies washed the North Korean military camp with blood, and revenge officially began.
At the end of the story, she went from the North Korean military camp to the camp of the tribe, from one ruin to another. She issued a declaration of destroying the world to the zombies, and the god of death was born .
A dust of the times falls on a person's head, it is a big mountain. The fierce Jurchen tribe’s bloody massacre, the hypocrisy North Korean officials pressed and framed, and the centuries of suffering of the Fanhu tribe killed Yaxin’s father and clansmen. Yaxin bears the hatred of the tribe, fights against the injustice of fate, and retaliates. In the hypocritical and cruel world, she will spread the flames of revenge on the earth, and fight the whole world alone .
The Japanese pirates in the first two seasons have already appeared, and the Jurchen forces in the third season will set off a new storm. According to the historical timeline, it is time for Da Ming to play in the fourth season! To make a preview, "The Fourth Season of the Kingdom: The Bloody Battle of Thrall"
6Finally: Talk about two interesting extensions
1Returning the soul grass: the realistic prototype of the grass of life and death
When I was a child, I used to take a kind of granule-Feining granules when I was coughing. The main ingredient in it is the retort grass, which is called aster, qingyuan or ziqian in Chinese medicine. The flowers of this herbal medicine are purple and blue. They usually grow in humid riverside areas. They are relatively cold-resistant. They are mainly distributed in Hebei, Inner Mongolia, and the three provinces of Northeast my country, as well as the Korean Peninsula outside the country.
The vitality of aster is extremely tenacious. Even if it is dried, it can be brought back to life as long as it is stained with water (it has a sense of picture). It has the effect of treating wind-cold cough, wheezing, asthma, and prostration cough, vomiting pus and blood.
Judging from the traits and efficacy of herbal medicines, geographical distribution and folklore, the prototype of Life and Death Grass is the soul-returning grass. Since ancient times, people have hoped to use divine power to fight against diseases and disasters, and the name of returning to the soul has also placed people's long-cherished wishes. Interested friends, if you have a cold next time, you can also buy a bag of grass for life and death to taste.
2Abandoned Four Counties and Guoshitang: the ultimate foreshadowing of life and death
As a foreshadowing drama, "The Story of Yaxin" links the main storyline with the two lines of Yaxin and Life and Death. The centuries-old forbidden area "Abandoned Four Counties" and the mysterious cave "National Teacher Hall" that appeared in the play are the key foreshadowing of the next stage, where the ultimate secrets of life and death and zombies are hidden. All Yaxin's knowledge about making zombies comes from the murals in the National Teachers Hall, which is the source of everything.
Many of the inspirations for "The Kingdom" come from real history, and the Abandoned Sijun and Guoshitang are no exception.
The four counties in the north are the result of Lee's North Korean expansion. It took 27 years for the two generations of Taejong and Sejong to be completed. They are an important part of the river defense system on the south bank of the Yalu River in North Korea. What is puzzling is that the four counties that took such effort to set up were quickly abolished within a few years and banned for more than 100 years. The reasons for this are unknown in history, and opinions vary.
Guoshitang is a place of worship for North Korean folk villages. The village god, also known as the cave god, is the embodiment of "the god of gods". It is usually located on the higher mountain behind the village. It has the function of guarding the village and its boundaries. It is regarded as the place where gods descend.
The first season of "Kingdom" was inspired by the mysterious plague in history. The screenwriter also incorporated "The Mystery of the Discarded Four Counties" and "The Belief of the National Teachers Hall" into the "Origin of Life and Death Grass and Zombies", interpreting historical stories with fictional stories. Suspicion, the mixture of false and real is wonderful .
According to the information in the play, Fei Sijun was formerly the seat of Hu Nuzhen, and the text on the murals of the Guoshitang is similar to Mongolian (the predecessor of Manchu). So, the same female real pigs and guards frequently send people to infiltrate the forbidden areas of the four abandoned counties. Do they also know the secret of life and death? In the third season, there must be many encounters between the Jurchen forces, the big boss Yaxin, and the Shizi Group. What kind of sparks will they collide? How will the grudge between Yaxin and Min Zhilu be handled?
We will wait and see.
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