Whenever we talk about heroes and great men, we can easily think of revolutionaries and insurgents, and of cannon-firing wars and shocking bloodshed.
If revolution is a visible transformation, an unbreakable pursuit of justice, then revival is a silent mist rising from the low bushes of the soul, which finally brings spring, Botticelli's spring, yes Another glorious birth of virtue.
There would be no Renaissance without the Medici family, who as merchants, bankers and tyrants of Florence defended the best of humanism with the most venerable things—money, the most dangerous—rights , so that the unseen, the great thinking of human beings on art and life can be spread. Although it is a historical adaptation and re-creation, "The Medici Family: The Emerald House" is still remarkable in terms of settings, lines and characters. It must be quite difficult to select stories from the countless legends of the Medici family. The play still presents the audience with an ancient family that gathers darkness, mystery and full glory.
1.
The story traces back to the death of Giovanni the Elder and the rise of Cosimo. Giovanni laid the foundation for the wealth of the Medici family, not without reason. The play shows Giovanni's attitude towards money in just a few details. One of them was a conversation between Giovanni and Cosimo. Cosimo, who was devoted to art, told his father that he vowed to complete the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore, but Giovanni said, "The dome of the church cannot be completed by an artist. It needs a powerful person who can really mobilize all resources to complete it.” This shows that Giovanni clearly realized that art needs a stable environment to protect, and it is empty talk to talk about art when there is nothing left. This also has a profound impact on the later Medici's great contribution to the jade art and the Renaissance. But if this "material basis determines the superstructure" dialogue is over, we can probably conclude that "the old Giovanni was a historical materialist", but he went on to say, "People build such a glorious cathedral, Is it out of stupidity? No, they believe that the Creator will bring forth a steady stream of amazing people, generation after generation, and even if this generation is not completed, someone will eventually complete the dome of the church." What a vision , projecting his eyes from the Medici family and this generation can be said to be a complete human consciousness and a godly spirit towards the future and the unknown.
In this spirit, Giovanni created wealth, but he was not greedy for it, he was just convinced that money had more noble uses. He reprimanded Lorenzo for wearing brocade clothes, and he spared no expense to support the Pope and stabilize the family's dominance in Florence. He lived a simple life, died in the vineyard, and worked with pious hard work, laying a solid foundation for the future of the Medici. Giovanni's theory of "doing good with evil" is difficult to understand. Using his only powers—coins, bribing the pope, manipulating elections, which he says are "using evil ways to do the right thing"—understanding the plot requires a certain background in church history and theology, and in short, Giova It is remarkable that Nielsen transcended the category of religious liturgy, the theological understanding of the dualism of good and evil, and the constraints of Catholicism on his spiritual level as a believer. In the Middle Ages, people needed to establish a relationship with God through an intermediary. The intermediary brought a certain degree of order and stability, and also brought the cover of grace.
2.
Giovanni's understanding of money left a lot of doubts in the young Cosimo's mind, and a scene constantly appeared in the film: in the basilica of St. John the Baptist's Baptistery, Cosimo kneeled in front of the icon and prayed in pain. It must be noted that St. John's Baptistery, located a hundred steps away from the Church of Our Lady of Hundred Flowers, is the baptismal church under the jurisdiction of the Church of Our Lady of Hundred Flowers, where infant baptisms and confirmations are held. This symbolizes the formal establishment of a faith relationship between Cosimo and God. So Cosimo came here every time his conscience was aching. He couldn't understand his father's ruthless rejection of his artistic career, nor his father tearing down his first love, a down-and-out washerwoman. But what he was more puzzled about was his father's "doing good with evil" and the violation of his teachings. Because of the picture in the baptistery, we cannot simply attribute the conflicting and tense relationship between Cosimo and his father to "the new generation resisting patriarchy", but to the culture and beliefs of the place and time. level to recognize Cosimo's pain. More importantly, in the pain, he chose to obey his father and chose the family tradition.
Given our habitual glorification of revolutionaries and insurgents, it is difficult to affirm Cosimo's choice. The play uses a highly artistic reconstruction of the imagination, affirming the far-reaching impact of Cosimo's choice on the Medici family and Europe throughout history. This is where the concept of "family tradition" needs to be reconsidered. A recurring feature in the opening credits is the Medici emblem. In fact many old European families have their own coat of arms. At some critical moments in the play, "the Medici family", "family glory", "mission" and "responsibility" are frequently mentioned. While wealth is a channel of pleasure, the responsibility that comes with it is also the price of pleasure. In the play, Cosimo took on the important task of protecting the people of Florence when the plague came. Due to the wealth of the Medici, there were countless robbery and assassination attempts. Whenever the city-state fell into crisis, these families were placed in special The expectations of the people, failure will lead to rejection, only by bravely enduring the sufferings that accompany the glory, can you live up to the family, the people, and the God. Therefore, we can see that the images in these family coats of arms are not all the comforts and miracles of the pillars, but the beasts, the crowns and the thorns. The heaviness of the coat of arms comes from suffering, and the source of suffering comes from the suffering of Christ. It is this history and tradition of suffering that prevents us from simply looking at the aristocracy and wealth with the eyes of modernity. For the honor of the family, Cosimo gave up his original pursuit. His father was right. He later became the tyrant of Florence, leading the Medici to accept greater challenges and glory, not as an ordinary painter, son, and laundry Women are lifelong companions.
3.
Here appears one of the most lovable characters in the show - Cosimo's wife Contansina. When people describe family legends, they focus most on heroes and anecdotes, and the women who remain focus only on those who are known for their unruly behavior or outrageous remarks. Contansina was completely inconspicuous, and she did not leave a glorious page in the Medici family, but it was a woman like her who made the Medici. After driving away the washerwoman, Giovanni decisively decided on Cosimo's marriage. At that time, Cosimo and Contansina entered the marriage based on "the words of their parents" - this has been a long time. Their married life and family practices later proved to be the cornerstone of their marriage. The decision to submit to the family still sounds "feudal", but the show is unusual, with a more complex interpretation of this submission, especially for Contansina. In the face of her husband's unloving, sleeping out, even the entrance of an outsider, and the birth of an illegitimate child, Contansina has maintained her dignified character from beginning to end. If this noble woman is married according to her own wishes, a beautiful life can be said to be at your fingertips. But from the moment she married Cosimo, she made her own choice: to serve her husband firmly and to the Medici family, this is a mission and a blessing from God. Therefore, no matter how hard she suffered from her husband, no matter how her first love persuaded her to leave, she had a chance to leave, and she did not leave, but turned her grudges into persistence. She did not marry Ke Ke for love. Simo's, but after becoming a part of the family, she felt the true meaning of marriage from the family identity and family expectations - she said to Cosimo, I fell in love with you. Cosimo was saved because of his wife, and because of his wife he grew into a true warrior.
This is the legendary romantic love of the ancient knights. It's also something quite different from the romance we understand today. This makes us wonder what love is. When we examine love in terms of the comfort of the individual soul, love is only a kind of comfort in the floating world. Even if it is as deep as Shen Sanbai and Chen Yunniang, Xiao Shuang is at ease, but can't escape from sadness and sigh, such love can only be attributed to "hidden together". The background of Cosimo's marriage is what we usually call the "dark Middle Ages". The reason for using "darkness" is probably to criticize the anti-human nature of religious rituals and feudal ethics. In fact, this has something in common with the form of ancient Chinese feudal society, which all depend on the adherence to tradition. Yunniang insisted on speaking to Shen Fu with honorifics, that is to keep, the ancients believed that keeping is good, keeping is also virtue. But the difference between the two is also obvious. Yunniang knows how precious it is to keep her husband, she keeps her husband and her time in this life, and Qiyi still travels with her in the next life. Contansina's guard is to keep the family, and she chooses to leave that place on her own initiative. A relaxed and happy soul is for the sake of the family mission, placing oneself in a higher position, and can guide and assist the husband to achieve greater things. This is actually a struggle between the ideals of the East and the West, and it is similar to the struggle between the hairpin and the hairpin. Do people have a mission? Is love going to twilight, or does economics matter more? It's just that there are differences even in economics. One is to stand up and seek benevolence, and the other is to fight for God.
Contansina is beautiful, lovely, and tough. She went beyond the crystal clear snow and the loneliness of the woodland in the female position, but came to a position equal to the male, with a humble and patient attitude, to achieve the future glory of the entire family. When Lorenzo appeared in the second film, old Contansina took him to look at the family portrait, instilling a sense of honor and mission to the next generation. For women, love is by no means everything. What exactly is aristocracy? In the same way, this word still reminds us of "the wine and meat of Zhumen stink, and the road has frozen bones". Our understanding of "expensive" is money and respect, and our understanding of "suffering" is the opposite of happiness. Therefore, getting rid of misery means robbing the old and wealthy of the landlords, so that the misery and wealth can be converted into each other, and the feng shui turns; Gui, is wealth, is money, is material, is speculative and malicious in the name of "material foundation determines the superstructure" compete. However, the meaning of nobility is not like that. We see the Medici sitting on countless wealth, but the price, even life, of its characters for the Florentine city-state is moving. Aristocrats will not hide together. Almost the entire European history is the history of several major families participating in politics. It is not a personal enjoyment of prosperity, but a bloody storm. The Medici worked hard and did not hesitate to become an artist. The sanctuary brought the Renaissance, with this revolution without force, changing the course of human history. If suffering for ordinary people is just the fact that they cannot escape, it is the injustice caused by the "differentiation between the rich and the poor", but for the Medici, suffering is an active choice, and they also endured suffering. For the dome of the huge Hundred Flowers Church, someone always thinks that they have an obligation to complete it for God. In Florence's future, there must always be someone who feels closely related to them. The destitute artists, there is always someone to see the meaning behind the drawing paper, which cannot be framed by the temple. Nobility means greater responsibility, to bear the crown of thorns, nobility means to deal with suffering correctly and be an example to everyone. Here I can't help but think of the young and powerful class that has recently flourished in our country. This group of people is composed of the rich, the descendants of high officials and entertainment stars. Are they really aristocrats? It depends on whether they have shouldered the spiritual value of leading and even creating thought-provoking. Apparently, no, they left only staggering immorality and ruthlessness, and they will never have Cosimo's Baptistery, and Cosimo's God. The attitude towards suffering can point to nobility.
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