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Disaster movies have always been a hot subject, favored by many directors, and many audiences are keen on disaster movies not only because of shocking special effects, but also because of the smallness and helplessness of human beings in the face of disasters, as well as the deep excavation of human nature.
It seems that every disaster movie that has attracted attention now has a performance of human nature, but do you know which master pioneered such a technique? He is the famous American writer Stephen King. Today, Wheat wants to recommend to you the disaster movie based on Steven King's novella - "The Mist".
Stills from The Mist
"The Mist" was released in 2007, I believe many friends have already seen it, so the plot of wheat will not be repeated here. In short, a small town is suddenly shrouded in fog, and the male protagonist hides in a supermarket with his son and a group of survivors to fend off the evil forces in the fog and has a series of conflicts in order to survive.
It is worth mentioning that the director of this film is Frank Darabont, yes, the director of the classic movie "The Shawshank Redemption", so many fans express disbelief after watching "The Mist", because the last bit of human brilliance that Dalabant retained for us in "The Shawshank Redemption" was personally crushed in "The Mist" more than a decade later.
"The Mist" was released that year after the polarization of word of mouth and evaluation is very serious, some people are extremely sought after, some people regard it as a bad film, so is this Steven King's masterpiece worth watching? And listen to the wheat slowly.
First of all, why is it said that Stephen King is the pioneer of "digging humanity in the face of disaster"? People familiar with his works know that the core idea of Stephen King's large number of works is "destruction", because his life experience, experience is quite rich, and living in such an era at that time, which determines that he has always expressed human nature in this way, such as his famous work "Carrie the Witch" and later "The Shining", "Dead Light" (the prototype of the movie "Joker Returns") and so on.
But Stephen King's use of this expression of human nature is different from other works that we usually see, in other words, more skilled and diverse, just like in this "Mist", not limited to fighting and disagreement, but also evolved faith, and this is also one of the larger grooves about this film, many people think that in that situation, how can these normal people listen to the words of a mentally abnormal person?
In fact, this is exactly the most ingenious point used by Steven Jin, just imagine that in the case of rubbing the edge ball between life and death, any kind of thing can happen, there will always be people who take advantage of the opportunity to deceive people's hearts, and people will always listen to the rumors that they usually do not believe in order to survive, which is a kind of stress reaction as a person in the face of desperate situations.
The most obvious person in the film is the one who initially did not believe that there was danger in the fog, stood in the same camp with the male protagonist after witnessing the danger, and finally listened to the rumors of the so-called cult in order to survive, because in that case, anyone, including people who usually have opinions, may be assimilated over time.
In addition, Mr. Stephen King also left a great reflection on human nature, initially the people in the supermarket found that there was danger in the fog outside, one of the mothers mentioned that there was a very small child in the family, she had to go back, and begged everyone to help her, everyone was indifferent, including the male protagonist, so before leaving, the mother cursed everyone in the supermarket. But would you choose to help her if it happened in real life? I think everyone's answer is no, because this is human nature, and the most metaphorical and direct place about human nature is.
And Mr. Stephen King also avoids the so-called personal heroism in this movie, and no one saves the world. Even if the male protagonist and his party always maintain their sanity, in the face of the supermarket is safer than outside, the pedestrian finally chooses to leave the supermarket, and is aimlessly fleeing, because they do not know where it is safe, to put it bluntly, they are not fundamentally different from those in the supermarket, the fear of danger is the same, even more than enough, trapped in a smaller space of interests, and finally choose themselves.
But if you think about it, in life, who can be blameless? From the audience's God perspective, the behavior of the protagonist and his party is irrational, but it is detached from the so-called protagonist aura, and they are just ordinary people, representing the choice of some people in the face of crisis. If you have read stephen Jin's original work of "The Mist", you will be more clear, because many details in the original work are the inner monologues of the male protagonist, including his true thoughts and selfishness as an ordinary person, in fact, his image is not so brilliant.
The most touching and unacceptable thing about this movie is the ending part, the male protagonist and his party drive deep into the fog, the gasoline is exhausted, the desperate crowd chooses to cut themselves off, when the male protagonist shoots and kills several people, including his own son, who are preparing to cut themselves, the military rescue team is late, these few people who still have humanity in the face of disaster are not rescued, and the extremists who listen to the cult in the supermarket are almost fanatical, but they survive, which is why Dalabant will "The Shawshank Redemption" The only remaining bit of humanity is the most direct reason why it was smashed by hand in "The Mist".
Some people commented that the final outcome was unpredictable and unreadable, and some people were impressed by this subversive ending, but I was a little dismissive, because since everyone in the supermarket refused the mother's request, it was all destined to happen. The mother who is willing to take risks for her children at the end flashes the most direct message that Dalabant and Stephen King convey to us, that those who choose to be trapped in the supermarket, including the male protagonist, have made mistakes from the beginning because they chose to protect themselves, but this is in line with the humanity of the vast majority of people.
All in all, this work is actually very meaningful, not comparable to those disaster movies that simply show human nature, but it all depends on whether you can understand and accept it.
(This article is original by Wheat Watch Movie, if you need to learn from it, please be sure to identify!) ）