HBO's dark campus drama "Excitement" has remained popular since its inception in 2019, and the second season recently returned, breaking HBO's historical record in the first week of broadcasting, and the first episode welcomed 2.4 million people around the world to watch online, twice as much as the first season. The story begins with the events that happened after the heroine Rue, played by Zendaya, was sent to a rehab facility for drug overdose and returned to school.
1. Diverse cast
If you are new to this play, you should soon find that the cast of the play is very diverse, in terms of ethnicity, body, sexual orientation and other aspects are all lacking, such as the heroine's girlfriend Jules by the American actress Hunter Schafer), this role is also the first time in her life to perform, through sincere acting skills, for many transgender actresses in the world who have not been given the opportunity to speak.
2. Adapted from the screenwriter's own experience
The film is actually adapted from personal experience by screenwriter Sam Levinson, so the story adds a lot of depth and realism to many details. "I spend most of my teenage time in hospitals, rehabilitation centres and halfway homes."
Sam, who has suffered from anxiety disorders, drug addiction, and depression for a long time, explained at the premiere in Los Angeles why the story was rendered like this, "Sometime at the age of 16, I accepted the idea that drugs would eventually kill me! And there is no reason to resist. I'll let it control me and eventually give up resistance." Then he decided to quit drugs, and during his stay in the drug rehabilitation center, karma would go down to a book, and a sentence in it changed his life - everything we did in the past finally defined who we were.
"In a way, I was really scared. If I were to die today, who would I be? I'm a thief and an addict. I'm terrible for all the people in my life who love me." Then a voice came into his head, "Stop taking drugs." And now I've been abstinent for more than a decade." The show presents the life of a teenager caught up in drugs. Capturing a fairly true and original story, the viewer is able to resonate with the storyline at a glance as it might happen in real life.
3. Explore current youth issues
The reason why "Excitement" has received a global response is not only because the social issues discussed by the story itself are extremely broad and in-depth, from the current adolescent anxiety, identity, to queer depression, etc., it depicts many problems that mainstream youth dramas do not mention or want to avoid. In addition to this, the album story is quite naked and sincere, and is not packaged by the so-called sugar coating. It is also because of the truth that it has been loved by many Generation Z audiences.
4. Epic soundtrack
Whether it is a series or a movie, although visual is important, in terms of hearing, it is often one of the elements that can give the audience more sense of immersion. For the show, Zendaya also co-produced the song "All for Us" with British singer-songwriter Labrinth, which debuted in the final scene of the first season of the album, and the song style spanned electronic, hip-hop, blues, gospel and other genres. The shocking scenes are accompanied by an epic soundtrack, and the lyrics are also very moving.
5. Beautiful vision
The cinematographer of this play, Marcell Rév, through artistic beauty, has created many scenes that are unbearable to look at but are quite dreamy. In some scenes, there is no dialogue, and the photographer also skillfully presents the mood of the characters through the movement of mirrors and colors, and each shot accurately captures the flow of emotions and the details of the story.
6. "Imperfection" is the selling point
"Excitement" is regarded as a contemporary breakthrough album, different from the perfect narrative focused on in previous youth dramas, and this drama conveys through many characters full of many problems: perfection does not exist. By actually projecting the story of the heroine XiaoYun and her peers, the audience is triggered to think about the dialogue and begin to pay attention to the voices that have been ignored by mainstream society.