HBO's new drama "The Deuce" (The Deuce) focuses on the development of the porn industry in New York in the 1970s and 1980s. The rapid expansion of the porn industry turned Manhattan into a city of love .
Take a look at its translated names, "Prostitute War", "Prostitutes Superior", "Red Light Restricted Area", and "A Look at Shiri" to know how big the scale is. The show is active in major large-scale American drama lists. I believe that many people, like me, came for the lively and fragrant bed scene, but were impressed by the acting skills and sincere emotions of the actors and even the small supporting roles. This is probably the difference between pornography and eroticism.
Of course, this is not a vulgar work known for its scale, but more like a charming New York style painting. Screenwriter David Simon said: "The show is about what it means when a society is all about profit, so it's not erotic or puritanical, it's about an industry, and the creation of The industry is at the same time a character shaped by the industry.”
How strong is the lineup of this show, in a word, it brings together almost all the directors and screenwriters of the hit dramas in recent years, and is regarded as the best successor after the end of "Game of Thrones" in 2017. As a drama about pornography, gambling and drugs, produced by H (yellow) B (violence) O (dirty), it has won numerous awards abroad, but it has little splash in China, because the drama cuts into the 1970s from a very controversial perspective. New York, an epic saga about whores, pimps, gangsters, punks, porn. It can be said that you can see a real era in "Legend of the Fallen Street".
Epic sense · sense of history
"Being able to see what the predecessors saw and feel what the predecessors felt, this feeling is a sense of history" - Wang Xiaobo
The "epic feeling" lies in the richness of space, the degenerate streets of mixed fish and dragons, and every night has a story.
At the beginning of the lights, the sleepless night on 42nd Street in Manhattan slowly opened. Under the shroud of the lights, there were thriving pornographic bookstores and pornographic video shops. At the entrance of the small hotel, there were street girls who were scratching their heads and talking about prices. The streets and alleys were full of Drug and gun trade.
The male protagonist, Vincent, is a bartender in a Korean bar. In order to raise his two children, he has to work two jobs a day. On his way home, he has to pass through a degenerate street. Robbery with guns is a common occurrence. A mother-in-law who loves to ignore, obsessed with soap operas, and a wife who has no choice but to go out for fun because of lack of company.
The career has not improved, the relationship is facing crisis, and the creditors of his twin brother Franky are often trying to collect debts from him. The middle-aged Vincent felt that it was time for a change. He went to the bar across the river to start a business. He was appreciated by the gangster Rudy because of his proficient human sophistication and unique business acumen. He finally ushered in his new life. . There is a lot to see about how Vincent dominates Degenerate Street and how he chooses between money and principle.
On the other hand, the life of the street girls is obviously not easy, because there is a lack of control in this area, and there are all kinds of customers. The street girls have to rely on the pimps to seek protection, and can also "spur" themselves. A pimp is a jerk to a street girl. "These bitches are just tools for making money." Almost all pimps think so. Only the heroine Candy fights alone and makes money and spends herself. There is a reason behind this. Candy still has a child to raise. But it also meant she had to deal with the credit and violence of her guests alone.
The girls have different personalities and appearances, and the customers they receive are also different. The little black girl Darlene has met a sadist playing SM, and also met a strange old man who only asked to watch a movie with him. Candy also disarmed the young boy who had just grown up, but the boy couldn't bargain, so he was educated by Candy.
"It's not fair, you basically don't do anything, but I pay the same money as those who have been around for a long time"
"What does your father do?"
"He sells cars and is a car dealer"
"Will your dad give him a buy-one-get-one-free discount for a customer who doesn't grumble, shop around, test drive repeatedly, and quarrel over color or something? No, it's mine. Work."
Candy finally made up her mind to change after "killing" a customer. By coincidence, she decided to make a blockbuster (a film that adults watched). At first, she was only doing technical guidance next to the director, and gradually she was able to take pictures. Now, it is conceivable that there will be another legendary story about pornography.
It really makes people unable to help but sigh, there are really all kinds of people in this world. And Ashley, the chief courtier under the pimp CC, was not so lucky. Ashley was jealous of the new girl Lori Yan, who worked so well and made more money. Well", after coaxing a few times, CC finally ran out of patience, and on a rainy night showed her true face of ferocity and cruelty to Ashley who didn't want to work.
Abby, a student at New York University, is too mature, smoking, drinking, sleeping as a professor, and reluctant to live an ordinary life.
Unexpectedly, the ex-boyfriend who was traveling with him was robbed of everything in the degenerate street. He had to work as a bartender in Vincent's bar to survive. She is one of the few purely positive characters in the play. She will persuade the errant girl to follow the good, and give Darlene's novel and a ticket home who is obsessed with "A Tale of Two Cities", and has been fighting for the cause of feminism.
This series is a typical multi-threaded narrative style, as well as a small black cop who is determined to change the degenerate street, the idle and gambling Frankie, the various "face brother" pimps, the rise of brothels, pornography, police officers. bureau, government corruption, enrichment and profit-seeking. The fates of the characters are intertwined, the victims and beneficiaries of the torrent of the times. No need to expand here.
The human affection in the degenerate street is equally touching. The scene that impressed me the most is Candy Road meeting "Sister Elephant Legs" Ruby, and greeted her excitedly. During the argument, Ruby was pushed out of the third-floor window and fell to her death. On the set, Candy was wearing the leopard-print coat that Ruby gave her. Ashley couldn't stand the oppression of CC, so she finally chose to leave. Back then, she came to the big city with the insults of her childhood, and fell into the dust in the midst of being intoxicated with money. The elevator at the station, with the slogan "Welcome to New York" behind it. Some left, some came with hope. Human nature, human affection, human taste, and human heart constitute the sleepless nights in the degenerate street.
New York, please forget me tonight...
"Legend of the Fallen Street" is a high-level restoration of New York in the 1970s, giving people the texture of an oil painting and a work of art. With a soothing rhythm, it tells the rise and fall of the glory and disgrace of that era, and restores a real legendary epic for us with exquisite soundtrack, superb camera language and expression techniques. As a microcosm of New York, Fallen Street reflects the social panorama of the entire United States. It can be said that if you understand "The Legend of Fallen Street", you will understand the economic and cultural changes in the United States in the 1970s and 1980s. A truly legendary epic.
Screenwriter David Simon: "There's a compelling story, characters with a lot of character, and a grotesque pornography business, and I guess you can't wait to see it."
This play restores the development process of that era and that industry with an extremely objective and calm attitude. After watching the first episode, we can smell Manhattan's red light district in the 70s and 80s, and naturally start to imagine how legendary the story of the Fallen Street is.
Of course, in addition to imagination, for the audience, it will be more thinking.
Most viewers are not familiar with the porn industry. Not to mention New York in the 1970s and 1980s, even in heaven and on earth, it was a restricted area of knowledge for the vast majority of people.
Such a story is bound to have a strong psychological impact. Many people will think about this question: How should we treat these sex workers?
Is it contempt, disgust, or concern, sympathy? Or, in a normal sense? How should we view the porn industry? Disgusted? Or is it reasonable to exist? These two questions have been discussed by countless people since ancient times, and countless conclusions have been reached, but no one has been able to convince anyone. Looking for an attitude is actually not very clever. Because the show "Legend of the Fallen Street" does not express its attitude towards sex workers and the porn industry.
What this show wants to do is to reveal the true face of the entire industry chain. Like the bystander shots that often appear in the show, the creators see themselves as bystanders, calmly recounting what they see.
This is the best of times, this is the worst of times;
We have everything, we have nothing;
We are all going straight to heaven, we are all falling into hell.
This is 42nd Street in Manhattan, and here is a legendary epic just waiting to be discovered.
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