At the end of the first season of True Detective, Detective Rust tracks the murderer to a spooky dark place, when a vision of a huge black hole suddenly appears in front of him. The huge black hole is a symbol of tragic fate, it devours and destroys everything, and also draws all living beings into the unknowable dark abyss.
Anyone familiar with the history of drama knows that black holes are the symbol of tragedy aesthetics. When talking about the origin of the modern tragic masterpiece "Thunderstorm", the drama master Cao Yu once said: "In "Thunderstorm", the universe is like a cruel well, a dark pit..." The well and the pit mentioned here, The shape of the black hole is highly similar, and it also represents the cruel fate of the universe.
Of course, drama, especially drama, is a relatively niche art, and it is more convenient to focus on the tragic philosophy of life science in a condensed time and space. TV dramas have always been known as the representative of popular and popular literature and art. It takes a lot of time to pursue and torture the fateful philosophy of fate among the slowly unfolding images without losing the viewing and narrative quality of the images themselves. Some ingenuity.
What's more, in the episodes of "True Detective", the metaphysical thinking of fate has to be combined with pop culture elements such as crime suspense. The dilemma between form and content has become a touchstone to test the art of screenwriting.
On closer inspection, the first season of the critically acclaimed True Detective still has a small gap between art form and content. Although the screenwriter vigorously exaggerated the religious color in a serial murder case, trying to make this narrative form, to the greatest extent, show the inner philosophical thinking, but it is still a little thin after all. In order to enhance the ideological depth of the work, we can only give one of the protagonists, Rust, an alternative role function. He is a detective, and he is keen on rational thinking. He often talks about various mysterious religious philosophical theories, especially the philosophy of destiny topic of. And its own failure, downfall, and painful life experience have become a realistic annotation for this kind of fate discussion. The big black hole that was displayed in front of Rust before the end of the play directly applied philosophical thinking to the visual presentation, which raised the aesthetic level of "True Detective" different from ordinary crime dramas, and also created a good Movie reviews.
But the question is, Rust's out-of-time philosophical nagging like a narration, a black hole image that directly hits people's hearts, does the first season have a formalist tendency of "text is better than quality"? In other words, does the theme of the tragedy of fate have to be so straightforward and overflowing?
Compared with the high reputation of the first season, the second season of "True Detective" followed, but encountered "Waterloo" on mainstream film and television rating websites in Europe, America and mainland China. Some people say that the first season is a masterpiece, giving a murder story high philosophical empowerment; the second season is purely industrialized video production, and the degree of completion of crime suspense is not high. It is also said that the detectives in the first quarter, Marty is worldly and sleek, Rust is melancholy and sensitive, and has a very distinct personality, while the second season adopts a vague protagonist setting, and the three detectives are all slightly mediocre. Of course, the biggest controversy is the handling of the ending. At the end of the first season, Marty and Rust perfectly captured the murderer. Although the political and religious forces behind the murder have not been completely eliminated, the protagonist's halo is dazzling, and there are bright flashes in the final image, which is also quite heart-warming; In the second season, the four protagonists composed of three detectives and a gangster died violently, and the surviving female detectives were also forced to go into exile in South America. The ending was too dark and depressing.
Compared with the almost unanimous viewing experience, the topic I am more concerned about is that the second season of "True Detective" is completely new in terms of plot. So, does it have no implicit connection with the first season? If this is the case, wouldn't it be too reluctant to play the "True Detective" sign again?
After looking back at the first season and carefully analyzing the video narrative of the second season, I think that between the two seasons, there is still an inseparable "blood relationship" in the theme, pointing to the same "true" word, the first season is The truth of philosophy, so the expression of philosophy is extroverted, conceptual, and even overflowing. The second season is more about the reality of reality. The topics it focuses on are still cruel fate, the dilemma of choice, and the meaning of existence, but the way it presents it is restrained, restrained, and even too dignified.
Let's look at the four protagonists in the second season, police detective Vikrul, who is alcoholic, violent, and a black policeman. The loss of his ideal stemmed from the rape of his ex-wife. For this reason, he took a wrong revenge and embarked on a road of no return. He was also bitterly entangled in the mystery of his son's life experience and the dispute over custody. Suspended for slander, young patrolman Paul, who is subject to an ignominious massacre in the military, has homosexual tendencies, falls in love with a woman, and becomes a father-to-be at a low point in his life. There is also a policewoman named Bedras, whose father is a religious leader but abandoned their mother and daughter, and her younger sister is a pornography anchor. Her family relationship is broken, and she has memories of sexual matters. Very sensitive and fragile...
To investigate a bizarre murder case that melts people's eyes, these three failed cops who are all in dire straits get together. At the same time, Frank, an ambitious local gangster, was also implicated in the case. He started at the bottom and struggled for many years. He finally could not be bleached and became a member of the upper class. However, due to the murder of a high-level figure in the municipal government, he encountered a cliff in his career, and he became almost nothing because of the betrayal and separation of relatives. This murder is related to a criminal conspiracy many years ago, and it is also related to the corruption of high-level police, political scandals, and gangster fire. all of them.
As the darkness behind the glitz is revealed little by little, the four protagonists try to find the truth of the murder, but the tragedy of their own destiny is accelerated. Paul was shot and killed on the eve of the birth of the child; Frank tried to fight back against fate as a strong man, but died at the hands of Xiao Xiao in the desert; the revenge that changed the trajectory of Vikrul's life was absurdly proved to be just a mistake Vikrul himself was framed as the murderer of the police, and died in pursuit with stigma. The only surviving Vedras is in exile in Venezuela with evidence that records everything...
There is no open protagonist, no happy ending, only the heavy withering of the flower of fate, which is more cruel than reality. It should be said that the narrative style of the second season of "True Detective" is realistic, somber, and even real to people. with repressed pain. And this kind of real probe has removed the decay and erosion behind the rapid development of the emerging industrial city set by the plot, shattered our various fantasies about heroes and heroes, and pointed to the fate with the failure of the majority and the generality The irreversible and irresistible cruelty, and the vain resistance of people in the face of failure and fate.
Throughout the second season, you can't even find a philosophical metaphor, and it's hard to find the surreal atmosphere that was deliberately rendered in the first season. Only the icy images in the style of tough guys bring punches and punches in place. The bloody hammer strikes a tragic theme about fate. Many people are not suitable for this long-lost reality. I think that in an era of excessive chicken soup and excessive sensationalism, it is precisely the reality of the overall failure of such narratives that can give people more painful contemplation.
What's more, doesn't the last scene of the second season also carry the warmth of the wreath that Lu Xun left at the end of "Medicine"? On the tumultuous streets of South America, there is a New Year's blessing activity going on. With the child and the whole truth of the tragedy of fate, Bedras walked through the festive crowd and went into the distance...
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