Four stars for storytelling skills. Narrative motivation is not to be commended. Essentially a manly fantasy story packed with "female growth" elements. The emotional core echoes that of "Evangelion". Women endure hell and are victims, forgivers, stunners, mothers, saints, and angels, while men can be ordinary human beings, and finally escape the punishment they deserve in the tender love of women. .
After reading it, I sent a message to my friends to share my thoughts. Too lazy to self-translate. The original message is posted below.
My short (long) letter:
I finished watching The Innocent yesterday. Turns out it's actually adapted from an American novel. That explains why the story feels so American and not specific to Spain at all. Anyway, upon finishing the show, I liked it for its complex plotting and dazzling skills in weaving multiple storylines together to create strong central conflict through the second half.
BUT, on second thought, I decided I really cannot appreciate the core of the story. It's at the core another male sex fantasy with story elements resembling a female empowering story. In the show, men are all allowed to be deeply flawed humans who THANKS TO the women (all are angels and saints), get away with their sin and take the easy way out without getting the level of punishment they deserve. At the same time, all the gruesome violence is directed to women's bodies and souls. Women in the story go through hell, both physically and spiritually, and somehow are expected to become loving mothers and forgiving victims. One learns to love her baby during her pregnancy when the child was a result of rape and an abortion wasn't allowed because customers are into pregnant women. WTF.And one grows affectionate to the killer of her son and views the killer as her alternate son. The male main character's voice over at the end grosses me out, “As rare as second chances are in life, I had it twice. Thanks to the forgiveness from a woman whose life was ruined by me, and the love from a woman who survived hell, I blah blah…”
The story is fundamentally driven by this typical fantasy created by “men child” — strong, beautiful, sexy women who are sex object, mother, fighter, life savior, victim, angel, saint, all in one. This “core” reminds me of the widely adored anime legend Neon Genesis Evangelion, basically the same thing, women are in the front fighting to protect men, getting hurt, losing parts of their bodies, and responsible for fulfilling male sexual fantasy, while adult men hide behind and get away . Grow up, men child! Seems like it's “natural” for men in all kinds of narratives to love women for what they have but not for them. This is the direct opposite of emotional maturity, DO NOT sugarcoat it and call it love! Ugh…
Friend's reply:
Ahhh i totally see your point!! Unfortunately these things are so frequent in entertainment industry. And we calling this “entertainment” proves this industry is driven by men! There are so many contents out there thats supposed to cover womens rights and womens suffering stories and yet its actually strangely disguised “women suffering fetish” contents by harmful men. Thats why i never really watch anything thats abt, pregnancy, abortion, rape, prostitution etc by men. They never do it right.
My friend's "women suffering fetish" really got to the point.
above.
View more about The Innocent reviews
