EP01: The End
After watching the first episode of the new "Doomsday", I personally like it very much. I just finished reading the original at the beginning of this year, because it is impossible to objectively evaluate whether it is not very "friendly" to audiences who have not read novels. All I can say is that, as a fan of the original, I was delighted.
Now suppose that before the adaptation, the original book was disassembled into a pile of scattered plot puzzles, which were presented like a mess. Then there are two most direct processing methods. One is to sort out in a vertical chronological order, which is the most conservative and usually the most used method. Sequential narratives are also the easiest to understand from an audience's perspective.
The other is horizontal storyline integration. That's the approach I think the show is taking. Taking memory as an analogy, this is like the block memorization method . First, the relevant parts of the plot are organized into pieces, and finally a complete puzzle is assembled. Its advantage is that it closes the clues and can effectively strengthen the relationship between the characters. The first episode of the new version of "Doomsday Approaching" is to integrate three important and strongly contradictory characters in the original work, and present their stories in a jumping manner. You may have many questions, but these questions themselves are a kind of The narrative strategy (suspense) will be gradually completed in the subsequent detailed development of the episode. If nothing else, at least the next 2-3 episodes will still be the same narrative strategy: for example, the next episode may be a block of Underwood, Nandin and the kid, or a block of Nick and Tom, or Lloyd and trash can blocks, etc., while the black man and Abigail's mother are interspersed in each block, as representatives of the two sides "fighting" for disaster survivors.
Naturally, if you don't know the background of the characters at all, throwing too much content to the audience is definitely not conducive to digestion. If the narrative is in order, it will be more conducive for the audience to identify with the characters. But whether the audience can accept Lao Jin's slow narrative rhythm seems to be a problem. Take the popular movie "The Clown Returns" as an example. There are 7 protagonists and 7 story lines. The movie adopts (I call it) a "frontal attack" method and reproduces the original work as it is. Although it has a good reputation, it has also been criticized. The story line is too scattered and repetitive; the pros and cons of "Doomsday is Approaching" are mixed, and the story line is only a lot more, and the film of more than 2 hours is still "impatient", not to mention the TV series. Therefore, for Lao Jin's large-scale novel, which narrative strategy to adopt for adaptation is really a double-edged sword that is difficult to choose. (I often feel that many viewers today lack enough patience on the one hand, and on the other hand, they do not have enough understanding of "impatient".) Of course, for fans of the original work, re-reading in a brand-new way "An old story is an exciting thing in itself.
It is also worth mentioning that the epidemic that is still raging today has also provided some "facilities" for the adaptation of "Doomsday Approaching" to some extent. I really don't think it is necessary to present the epidemic situation as comprehensively and in detail as in the book. The process and tragic situation of how to gradually break out are still vivid in everyone's minds, and they can speed up the processing. This new version of the series starts from the beginning of the revived community. I personally feel that the focus may be on the reconstruction of order (this is also the core of the story in the second half of the original novel): telling the difference between the pros and cons the way in which order is rebuilt, and the intricate interpersonal relationships that intersect within it.
In addition, I want to say that, from the perspective of some performances in the first episode, the screenwriter is not blindly seeking speed. The polishing and presentation of many details can be said to have completely extracted the essence of the original work. I will try to give two examples here, but will not cite the original text. The first detail I'm going to list is Harold's typing sound that resounds through the uninhabited town, in order to preserve the wonderful "sound" element of the original (while also providing a coordinate for this block, which is the The first party mainly presents Harold's perspective. Of course, there may also be two voices and narrative changes in the later stage. Here, there are spoilers and no detailed analysis.) It also specially designed a detail, that is, Harold was initially taken After playing tricks and returning home, he broke his laptop angrily, so he later got an "outdated" electric typewriter from the shop class, which not only retained the settings in the original book, but also did not appear to be in the modern time. The background is out of place.
The second detail I want to list is Harold's " hypocritical laugh " in the reconstruction site. This is a layer of disguise on his personality after his blackening in the later period. In the episode, he found a copy of the dead body in the old house. A magazine with Tom Cruise as its cover character, and then Harold began to deliberately imitate Cruise's iconic smiling face. This slightly playful (feeling a bit dark Tom Cruise) graft finds a realistic portrayal of the original's distasteful Harold's "hypocrisy" that fits well with the experience of modern audiences.
In addition to the above two cases, including the general's quoting of Yeats' poems before his death, the details in these original works that I care about have been well restored, and I am very pleasantly surprised by this.
EP02: Pocket Savior
The combination of the second episode "Binding" is Underwood and Lloyd. The key word connecting them is "rock star", a very clever graft, and in a sense, the characters of the two are indeed comparable. It's just that the characters on the villain side, except for the trash cans and slutty girls who have not yet appeared, are basically shrouded in the shadow of the men in black. In fact, there are few unique and outstanding performances in the original work. (I'm also more than happy to see how the TV series enriches them later.)
Larry Underwood has always been one of my favorite characters in the original. Perhaps, compared to other protagonists with more heroic colors, Underwood, who is selfish and good at evasion, resonates with me more. There are times when we want to be good people too, but at critical moments, there is always a self-interested nature that makes us seem like jerk. The new version of the plot also charged Larry with "plagiarism", but it has not yet made people feel his kind heart and the contradictions that backfired. On the other hand, Rita's deathbed speech made people sigh with emotion. She felt that the feeling of surviving alone was " stupid ", like being the last to leave at a party and feeling the loneliness of the song. This dead loneliness eventually engulfed her. She faced the sea and took a large amount of ecstasy. The camera is quietly facing her back in the distance.
I don't think (and I hope) there will be the original horrific scene of Larry waking up in the morning to find her nauseous from an overdose. Now such an implicit and lonely curtain call is even more deplorable.
I've been waiting for Larry to sing his famous song "Baby, can you dig your man?" ". but. (I think I heard it, but I'm not sure, it's not highlighted.) In the show, a billboard for Larry's new album hangs on a city high-rise, which is a personal work by him and his band of Survivors in the original book. "Pocket Savior", but what really made him an instant hit was "Baby, can you dig your man?" ". Perhaps, because the name "Savior" is more in line with his role in the play, it's just that Larry still has a long way to go before this character arc.
EP03: Blank Pages
Episode 3 was indeed a disaster.
Even if I still like the show, I can't deny it; even if it sometimes shows some kind of stream-of-consciousness logic and cohesion (such as "jumping" from boy Joe to Franny's baby; Gail's mother's emphasis on spelling of words - Moon "jumps" to silly Tom's mantra), but overall it's still very confusing, and sometimes it even jumps directly to a blunt black field, feeling like being knocked out by a punch .
Still, I'd like to try to understand the creator's "intent" (if any), even though the end result may be too bad to show at all.
The single episode name of the third episode is "Blank Pages". This stalk is buried deeper. People who have not read the original book will definitely not understand it, and even those who have read the original book may not realize it. When I saw this title before (all of the episode titles were announced early in the morning), I subconsciously thought that this episode must be about Nick's storyline, because that's where the word comes from. As a deaf-mute child, he had a miserable life. If he hadn't met Luke, his life might have been completely different. Luke is the life guide that Nick met in the orphanage. He taught him to read and write. He once described Nick as a "blank page" (You are this blank page). - Of course, without this story, we must have heard of the "whiteboard" theory, although this theory has now been disproved.
OK, that's it for the brief explanation. From blank pages to Blank Pages, the creator's intention seems to be to use this part of Nick's past in the novel to mirror all the other characters in the whole story. The virus ravaged the whole world, and after everything was restarted, almost all of the survivors were like a blank piece of paper, relaunching their lives in this apocalyptic ruin. That's why you see so many characters in one episode (rather than the relatively focused perspectives of the first two episodes): Joe the autistic kid, Franny's baby, Nandin's childhood, The society of deaf-mute Nick (of course he has to be, but the creator didn't even film his childhood!), sociology professor Bateman (other than Larry, another of my personal favorite characters) society Reconstruction doctrine "one person...one man, one woman...three persons..." and so on.
The reason why these are put together is nothing more than to present the intention of this doomsday white paper, and this piece of white paper will face the temptation and solicitation from both good and evil - the spotlight stage of the men in black, Abi Gail's mother's cornfield dreams.
By the way, the only thing I liked about the third episode was the arrogance of Abigail's mother, another foreshadowing, we'll talk about it later.
EP04: The House of the Dead
This is another part of the "Two Voices" I mentioned in my review of the first episode - Franny's perspective, although her narration in this episode is somewhat empty, we naturally know her Writing letters to the unborn baby in the womb, but these letters do not closely echo the story of the play like Harold's monologue in the first episode. But I do believe that there will always be a moment in the play where the respective secret diaries of Franny and Harold will come together to form some sort of narrative contrast, perhaps at the end of someone's story.
I still enjoyed this episode though, it had some touching moments for me.
I love those nights of insomnia where nightmares (or prophetic dreams of unknown futures) haunt you and keep you awake. It is easy for people to feel vulnerable in all the silence, especially when you are still experiencing an apocalyptic epidemic that has swept the world.
At a time like this, wouldn't you seize the moment, muster up the courage, and pour out your feelings to the people around you? But the other party refused in a panic and said to you, "I don't feel these things for you! I will never feel these things for you!"; at another moment in a dark night with a similar environment, you may also pour it out to others Inner panic and secret, and the other (if lucky) will gently give you a soothing hug...
I find these moments sad and moving, especially the frail state of the actor who plays Franny. I love these moments, and also because they use just two short , similar but opposite scenarios to explain why Harold hates Larry so much and wants to kill him. I was worried that the show's frivolous and jumpy way of doing it wouldn't do a good job of convincing audiences of the emotional foundation laid down in the original through the delicate and long foreshadowing, but this episode convinced me that it still has a way to go through just some clever parallels. The setting allows the audience to empathize to a large extent.
(Also, since Ralph has yet to make an appearance - the committee's membership has also been reduced from seven to five, I have reason to suspect that the role may have been removed. And whether his absence could "change" Nick's presence in What about the fate in the original? When I first read the novel, I could actually understand why Stephen King wrote him to death. An overly perfect character makes people feel "boring". Sending him back to the West is the best solution, but emotionally I feel a little regretful. I wonder if this version of "Doomsday is Approaching" is going to let Nick replace Ralph and become a member of the final four-person team?)
EP05: Fear and Loathing in New Vegas
"Doomsday Approaching" was published in 1978, and was revised and published in a complete and unabridged version in 1990, but the overall structure remains unchanged, except that the content that was deleted due to space limitations in the first edition was supplemented and some details were expanded. Connie Willis' "The Book of Doomsday" was published in 1992, and the actual book may have been written earlier, because "The Book of Doomsday" was published in the short story collection "Fire Watch" published in 1984. The heroine Evelyn has appeared, and has already completed her unforgettable journey through the Middle Ages when the main character of the story appears.
The "criticized" communication efficiency and plot advancement problems in "The Book of Doomsday" are limited by Connie Willis' imagination of the communication equipment in the future world when she wrote it. Similarly, when the details in "Doomsday Approaching" collide with the remake of the new era, adjustments and changes will also be made according to the times. Such subtle changes are sometimes innocuous, and sometimes affect the logic of the entire story. ——If you are a gold fan like me, then you might as well recall the classic "Rabid Dog" (the original "Cujo" was published in 1981), which is a classic "animal horror film". The mother and son were surrounded by rabid dogs in the car for three Days and nights, isolated and helpless. If you have a cell phone (and, of course, your cell phone will run out of battery), this doesn't happen easily - in other words, the details may be more important to a story than the main plot, character relationships, and timeline. for important. For me, watching an adaptation does not need to be compared with the additions, deletions, deletions and changes in the style of "finding the difference" (of course I will pay attention, but the angle of attention may be "why" to do such additions, deletions, deletions and changes. ), but to see whether some core details have been grasped, or some new contradictions and conflicts can be created through changes in some details . As I mentioned in the look and feel of the first episode, in order to restore Harold's "typewriter sounding through the town" sound details, the creators had to rearrange a plot that was not in the original to make it stand.
The newly reconstructed Las Vegas is more visually striking than the pitiful description in the original: the promiscuity of the wine pool and the bloody arena of the pool transformation all show the villain's Dionysian style. Indulgent temperament, but the layout of each floor of the hotel makes people look like prison cells at a glance, luxurious but revealing the essence of imprisonment; Lloyd is also better than the original depiction, he is no different from before his arrest, still vain, Exaggerated, timid, the "support" of the man in black has not made him any progress... The most thrilling scene in this episode is naturally the two-way test of Harold and Franny presented through the juxtaposition of the changed images: Franny Pie Larry infiltrated Harold's house to search, and Harold actually took the opportunity to "sneak into" Franny's house to install surveillance equipment (reasonable and up-to-date details).
My personal favorite, though, is from Nadine's confrontation with Abigail's mom and Nadine's courtship to Larry Underwood.
You can see: when talking to Abigail's mother, Nadine's eyes always avoided contact with her, as if afraid of being peeped into her dark heart by this angelic old lady; Abigail's mother slammed sideways Alluding to the importance of her "choice", her heart is suddenly shaken; Nadine regards Larry as the last straw he can grasp when swimming, hoping to break the virginity by having sex with him, cut off The connection and bondage with the Men in Black; but Larry was entrusted by Franny and was in a hurry to search Harold's house... You don't need to know when and where they appeared in the original work, or what deletions were made. Minus changes, all of this is so logical , its arrangement in the new version neither loses the essence of the original, but also fully conforms to the role of the new narrative.
In my opinion, this is a good adaptation.
EP06: The Vigil
Although I no longer take the "chunk integration" theory mentioned in the first episode's look and feel too seriously, this episode can still be seen as linking the trash can to the fire he loves: It starts with an explosion and ends with an explosion. Along with the bomb went bankrupt , as well as my speculation about Nick's fate in episode 4. It seems that even for the new version of "Doomsday Approaching", which is so flying and jumping, it is still necessary to tamper with the life and death of the main characters in the original work. It's an outrageous thing.
Before I go any further on what has impressed me in this episode, allow me to take a little more time and talk about the author's boredom. Literature and art lovers usually have a characteristic or complex: they are accustomed to not saying things directly, but silently memorize them in a small book (of course not the kind in the movie "Jin Yi Wei"), waiting for the fermentation of time, Puffed up into a kind of pure regretful miss in the eyes of others - Japanese director Xue Dingxun's "Dust Notebook" (the reason why I cite this example and not the other, purely because it is the closest in my memory) In Iseya Yusuke The outline of the back left on the lost test paper, the diary fragments of Yuko Takeuchi folded into a paper plane and flying out of the window to record the inner love, of course, there is also the classic piece in Shunji Iwai's "Lover", which was clumsily reproduced by Xue Dingxun 's moving portrait behind the library card.
I digress from this because I did see what was "prophesied" earlier in this episode (well, you might think of the following explanation as I did to avoid the bankruptcy of another of my own predictions). Out of Dying Struggles): A duet between Franny and Harold.
In the original, these were the only two (at least judging by what Stephen King explicitly wrote) who kept a diary. I used to believe that their records (voice-overs on TV) would come together at some point, just like the diary texts I felt in the golden pen echoing each other as I read. But obviously the TV version doesn't want to play a "pure miss": if there is something that is not said, let them say it to each other; if there is any undercurrent conflict, then let them break out in person... So We see an altered confrontation between Harold and Franny in the basement. For a moment, I was moved again (like in episode 4) by the tears in the eyes of the actor who played Franny, and I really believed that Harold had a moment in her life that really occupied her. has gained an important position, although she clearly said in episode 4 "I will never feel these things for you!"
I'm not here to discuss Franny's sincerity and hypocrisy, or Harold's self-pity and paranoia, I'm just saying that it's probably easier to say what you've been bluffing out of your mouth than what's left in the diary. Thoughts (speaking words are like poured water, it is hard to catch water), at least it allows everything to be presented for comment, which may be more intuitive and sensible than the kind of secret fermented concealment.
EP07: The Walk
Abigail's mother dies, and the "Four Horsemen" team set off for the enemy camp.
Pay off the debt first, starting with the "arrogance" of Abigail's mother that I mentioned earlier. Abigail's mother chose to run away because she realized that she had committed the first of the seven deadly sins. This is her self-imposed exile . Therefore, in the last episode, Abigail's mother and the man in black are very funny. A few strong gusts of wind from the man in black blew the crumbling old mother against the tree, swaying to and fro—it certainly shouldn't be the way the man in cloth seduced the other survivors in the previous episodes, but neither should As it is now, it has become a competition between good and evil (not to mention that it is really incomparable in terms of hard power), it should only be a self-examination and self-punishment for forgiveness.
But it is this misreading that seems to be more easily combined with the questioning of God that this episode generates. Mama Abigail is clearly the epitome of faith. As for the people of other free states, they believe in Abigail's mother, because in the terrifying apocalypse world, Abigail's mother's cornfield comforts them in their dreams. This is where the old mother realized that she was arrogant to the gods, and she turned herself into a god, just like the papal priesthood of the Middle Ages who cheated in the name of the gods. People should not believe in people, people can only believe in God. This is the traditional view of religion.
Stephen King received a Methodist education as a child and remains a devout as an adult. There are a lot of religious elements in his story, but as a good writer, he doesn't use his story as a sounding board for the trail, but rather is full of religious doubts. In "Carrie the Witch", the one who drives Carrie crazy comes from her religious madman's mother, who also appears in "John's Prophecy" (formerly known as "Dead Zone"). "Doomsday Approaching" is the first time that religion appears in a positive form of spiritual comfort in several of King's early novels, but it naturally also includes the threat from the men in black. In The Dance of Death, King wrote:
All tales of horror can be divided into two groups: those in which the horror results from an act of free and conscious will—a conscious decision to do evil—and those in which the horror is predestinate…The most classic horror tale of this The latter type is the Old Testament story of job, who becomes the human Astro-Turf in a kind of spiritual Superbowl between God and Satan. (All horror stories can be grouped into two categories: one is the horror that stems from the consciousness of freedom— Intentional evil, the other type is destined horror... The most classic of the latter type of horror stories is the story of Job in the "Old Testament". In a sense, he became the relationship between God and Satan. A human symbol of spiritual wrestling.)
"Doomsday Approaching" can be seen as a work created according to this line of thought (Stephen King has repeatedly stated that his most satisfying work is "Doomsday Approaching"), the God's side and the black clothes represented by Abigail's mother Satan, represented by human beings, competed with each other, and Job incarnated as individuals who survived the end of the epidemic. Of course, this division seems to have lessened the tension in the wrestling. In fact, the best model for this model is Kim's 1999 TV series "The Storm of the Century," though the ending of that story may not be "satisfying" for decent people.
These stories all reflect the contradiction between the piety of a believer and the fictional instinct of a writer . If everything is just a predetermined plan, where is the manifestation of human free will? Is it like what Franny says in this episode when she reluctantly sends off her lover (her wish): there are always corners that God can't control?
This question is actually not answered very well in "Doomsday Approaching". In its dense narrative, especially at the climax, "Doomsday Approaching" hardly creates any strong conflict and suspense. The "Four Horsemen" team traveled long distances to the territory of the men in black (although they temporarily lost a member in the middle, they did not encounter any twists and turns along the way, not as difficult as the protagonists in other road movies), the other party Politely asked them to get into the car, and although they were detained, there was no confrontation. The evil side shows off their graceful demeanor with their usual "stupid" politeness...
I personally think that of King's early works, the most perfect answer to the question about God is "Dead Zone", where John's recovery from his car accident and the ability to foresee that comes with it is regarded as a miracle by his religiously mad mother. It comes from God's will, but God's will is obscure and unclear. John went round and round all the way. The process of escaping temptation is actually a search for the will, and once you receive it, you will do it without hesitation (even if it leads to death). Human free will is embodied in this story as this process of exploration and confirmation.
EP08: The Stand
The courtroom scene inadvertently echoes the actual congressional riots, and the entertainment director wearing a bullhorn hat to play the judge looks like a character from the famous photo. The primitive nature of the mob is always easily aroused, destroying, shouting, and wanton release. Only when death really happens, everything suddenly becomes chilling.
The new "Hand of God" is not like the finger touch I imagined in Michelangelo's "Genesis" painting. Covered by clouds and mist, it wraps the entire building like an indistinct big hand, as if everything is under control. In the building, the Thunder and Lightning Judgment randomly produced extremely impactful bloody massacres, and the death of the victims was not much better than the picture of the final judgment depicted in the Book of Revelation of the Bible.
Compared with the "hand of God" in the original work, the wrath of God in the new version seems to be more powerful and terrifying than the devil himself.
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