The first season of "Enemies" tells the story of two superstar actresses of the old Hollywood era, bettie davis and joan crawford. The selection of this theme inherits Ryan Murphy's consistent principle of maximizing eyeballs, because the grievances between these two Hollywood actresses were almost a hot topic in the entertainment gossip circle at that time. Influence, and the background of the rapidly changing film industry, it can be said that this matter itself has been very topical and dramatic. These two actresses have hated each other for a lifetime, and almost brought hatred into the coffin. If you want to dig deeper into the things behind these hatreds, there are still many entry points.
The relationship between bettie and joan was formed almost when their careers improved a little, and it lasted for decades, but the time point selected for "The Enemy" was in the 1960s. The star is almost out of time to begin. It is against the background of the past that can make the two people who are fighting with each other meet. Under the heavy economic pressure, Joan is in urgent need of making money to support his expenses, so he took the initiative to find that there was no screen invitation at that time and could only be in the stage play. Together with bettie from the background, re-shoot a movie full of topics, so as to protect the economy and return to the film industry again. There have been many scolding battles between bettie and joan before, but the audience certainly could not have imagined that the former enemy would cooperate with each other. This cooperation between joan and Betie is unprecedented in topicality.
"The Enemy" begins with joan contacting bettie to cooperate, and it shows in detail the various open and secret battles between the two during the filming of the movie "The Surprising Change of Lan Girl", and tries to find a clear reason for this struggle. Vanity, this is undoubtedly the most important reason. Both bettie and joan are pulling for some things that others think are insignificant, such as the seating order of the press conference, the inexplicable competition for the director's favor, etc. People's career status used to be caused by top stars, but the series rarely shows a deeper reason in the gradual unfolding of the plot - the two people envy each other in the bottom of their hearts. Bettie is an actress of the orthodox college acting school, from a decent background, she relies on her real skills to break into Hollywood, but in the beautiful Hollywood, her ordinary appearance is her biggest regret; on the contrary, Joan has outstanding appearance and rich emotional life, but Her humble background and non-professional background made her actually full of inferiority, and she was eager to seek recognition from others for her acting skills. bettie envied joan's beauty, and joan envied bettie's irreproachable professional quality, so from the bottom of their hearts, they envied each other, so they hated each other.
In addition to telling the story of the two actresses working together in the film on the main line, the plot of "The Enemy" rarely gives the plot a different texture in two other aspects - the performance of the background and the role of gender.
In those days, the film industry was changing rapidly. From silent to sound, studio production and all aspects of movies have undergone tremendous changes. Actors at that time were probably the busiest actors, not only to hone their acting skills, but also to keep up with the changes in the film industry in the torrent of the film era. Adapt to the ever-changing way of making movies, because actors are more likely to be eliminated by the industry. The plight of bettie and joan is not only caused by age, but also inextricably linked with the industrial background at that time. Not to mention that Hollywood in that era was dominated by men, and actresses, even in positions like Bettie and Joan, didn't have much say, let alone change anything. In "The Enemy", a lot of ink was used to describe the then President of Warner, and he used his mouth to tell many truths and unspoken rules in the industry at that time, including both the industry background and the gender identity between men and women. The role of the director is crucial to the success of "The Surprise of the Blue Girl". "The Enemy" has been very careful in shaping the director, and the director has exhausted his gender advantage in the whole process. "The Enemy" always tries to make the audience feel the humility of women in the industry, intentionally or unintentionally. Even women like bettie and joan who have climbed to the top of the pyramid are still unable to escape the plight of being at the mercy of men.
As the most gimmicky producer, in "The Enemy", it is commendable to interpret this most gimmicky theme with multi-dimensional weight. Aside from all kinds of factors, no matter how much dissatisfaction and disdain bettie and joan have for each other, they can always agree on one thing - the pursuit of film quality. In the plot, no matter how much friction the two actresses have, they are professionally striving for perfection and try their best to make their performances impeccable. The two people's love for movies, their awe of performances, and the three-dimensional vividness and realism make people feel in the bottom of their hearts that real actors should look like this.
Of course, it is a pity that "The Enemy" excavated the stories of bettie and joan, but did not analyze it too deeply. It can almost only be used as a brief introduction to the science of the two actresses. Decades have passed, and many things have not changed and are still repeated, especially the interviews of Casey and Zeta Jones interspersed with them, which are more intended to refer to many current issues. The story of the first season of "The Enemy" belongs to bettie and joan, but also to many other people, especially for the two actors, I am afraid it is even more profound. .
The finale of The Enemy, though fictional, is deeply moving. When Joan, who was dying, sat and played cards face-to-face with his lifelong opponent, Bettie, in hallucinations, laughter, and said the words that the two of them had been looking forward to in their hearts, the regret and emotion were indescribable. Although I don't know whether the two parties who have passed away like this ending, it is undeniable that this is the ending everyone is looking forward to. The two excellent women shook hands and made peace. This is especially true in women's thinking that emphasizes mutual support, we can make it easy if we lift each other.
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