On the afternoon of July 23, the world's most popular zombie drama "Kingdom: Ashin in the North" finally came out of the resources, and the Hong Kong and Taiwan regions were called "Corpse Battle Korea: Yaxin Biography". This is a prequel series, mainly telling the origin of the zombie hunter Yashin played by Jeon Ji-hyun at the end of "Kingdom Season 2".
The 93-minute content, with the character of Yashin hooking up the first two seasons, led to the third season, and buried the foreshadowing on the origin of the life and death grass, and the amount of information is more. The author has written a combing article for the first two seasons of "Kingdom" - "Quan Jixian Opens the Northeast Asian Zombie Universe", which can be read together.
After "Kingdom" became popular around the world, the main creative team deliberately found Quan Jixian as an important person to lead the next stage, and she appeared at the end of the second season for only 20 seconds, and the limelight almost overshadowed everyone. This time, "Yashin Biography" took the length of a movie to create enough momentum for Quan Jixian.
The Kingdom series is characterized by fast pace, zombie fierceness, and cool action scenes. The contradiction is simple and direct, intense and exciting, which belongs to the dynamic narrative. "Yashin Biography" is unusual, telling a relatively calm story, Jeon Ji-hyun did not laugh once in the play, the atmosphere of the episode is cold and depressing, the tone is heavy and tragic, until the end of the story there is a catharsis.
As the super boss of the play, Yashin's ambition is to "destroy the Jurchens and all creatures in the Korean land". If the blackening of super-human designs like this is not sufficient and the prehistory is not clear and detailed, the logic will be weak and difficult to convince. The advantage of static narrative is that it is full of inner strength, and the potential energy of the characters is accumulated little by little, which can withstand the scrutiny, but it is not pleasing, because the coolness is not direct, and the score of "Yaxin" is proof.
The reason why Yassin is attractive is her powerful and cold aura, only when people set it up, the third season of the fire can be really cool.
So, how did Yassin's dark potential energy to destroy the whole world accumulate step by step?
1 Turbulent Times: Small Individuals in Geopolitics
The drama "Kingdom" is not a simple brainless cool film, and the reference to history is very elaborate and has deep thinking.
The zombies in the first season highlight the "hunger" of the people in feudal society, and the nematodes in the second season highlight the "parasitic relationships" in hierarchical society. The nobility oppresses the people, the vassals parasitize the imperial power, and the nematode controls the human body, forming a vicious circle of mutual persecution.
Screenwriter Kim Kim-hee once said that the creation of the kingdom was inspired by the real record of North Korean history, when thousands of people died of unknown causes, so they used the form of zombie attacks to show people's suffering.
On this basis, Yasin takes another step forward, focusing on the geopolitics of the Korean Peninsula and the desperate struggles of individuals in the great era of history.
The map that appears frequently at the beginning of the film depicts the geopolitical crisis of Lee's Korea: there is a rebellion in the south, there is a Jurchen border plague in the north, sandwiched between several powerful forces, and the Korean royal court is exhausted and precarious.
North Korea is known as the Little China, naturally with the Heavenly Dynasty learned the trick of "yi to control yi", they co-opted a part of the Jurchen tribe to be the screen domain, calling it: the Fanhu tribe / the savages at the bottom of the city, using them to monitor / balance the Po Pig Wei Jurchen on the other side of the Yalu River.
The pressures of the geopolitical crisis were unloaded layer by layer through the Court of Joseon on the Phan Hu tribe, and the burden of the Phan Hu tribe was concentrated on Yashin's father. The more ferociously squeezed the top, the more miserable the death below. Yashin's tribe, which does not belong to jurchens or Korea, contributes the most but has the most difficulty surviving.
The Yalu River appears many times under the moon night in the play: a bright moon divides the river in half, and Yashin and her father row from one side to the other, they are destined to swing all their lives and never find their own belonging.
In the great changes of the times, the struggle of the individual is so insignificant, and the gradual increase in pressure finally overwhelms Yasin's father, and the endless darkness drowns Yaxin, but she does not recognize her fate and wants to fight with this vicious world!
2 Jurchen Chief Ali Dogan: Aggressive external trouble
This character is a new character, the leader of the Pig Guard. Po Pig River is another name for the Hun River, a tributary of the Yalu River, and the Jianzhou Jurchens started in the Hun River Basin, and the Po Pig Guard is the Jianzhou Wei.
Historically, the Jurchens migrated to the Po Pig River valley in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, clashed with the Korean forces many times, and were beaten up not lightly, until Nurhaci unified the Jurchen tribes and only reversed the situation.
According to the character setting, the leader of the Pig Guard, Ali Dogan, is based on Nurhaci. In this story, his po pig guard Nuzhen frequently invaded the forbidden lands of North Korea, exerting great pressure on the North Korean border, which triggered a series of chain reactions and was one of the sources of despair brought to Yasin.
3 Son of Haiyuan Zhao: The troublesome spirit of the outer strong
The son of zhao xuesu, a powerful minister, escaped from the battlefield during the first rebellion, and severely punched the face of the Haiyuan Zhao clan of the Wuchen family, and was sent down to the border pass to face the wall. As a result, this aristocratic grand master was also unconscious at the border pass, and the trouble was not small, killing all 15 pickers smuggled by the pig woman and the guardian woman, and also taking its name: defending the honor of the family.
War is on the verge of breaking out, North Korea is still a weak side, Zhao Jiashizi's actions are undoubtedly provoking the two countries to go to war, all the crises in the story are caused by him, proper pig teammates, troublemakers.
In order to wipe his ass, after the border guard officer Min Zhilu personally ran forward, he arranged for someone to expel the tiger, and then sent Yaxin's father as a secret agent to spread rumors of tiger disease in an attempt to calm the anger of the pig guard woman.
Because of his behavior, the people who drove the tiger died, Min Zhilu's men died, Yaxin's father died, and Yaxin's people died. But as a result, the people rode a high-headed horse and were promoted to the commander of the Imperial City Janissaries, waiting for his father Zhao Xuesu to usurp the throne, and he would be crown prince.
Zhao Jiashizi only showed his face twice, but changed the direction of the story twice, and that gorgeous arrow plume is the best irony of class society: all interests belong to themselves, all evil consequences are borne by others, and birth determines everything.
4 Shi Min Zhilu: A master of government affairs and a violent devil
In the first two seasons, this character is a righteous and awe-inspiring imperial general. This person has his own detective aura, and through various clues, he has discovered the magic cave of the Lady of the Middle Temple, and made great contributions to the final reversal of the world.
In the court controlled by the Zhao clan of Haiyuan, Min Zhilu, as a Qingliu, could actually achieve the imperial camp general of the Imperial City, which showed that this person's super government ability was superior.
In "Yaxin Biography", his character image becomes more complex and three-dimensional: as the military leader of the border pass, he not only has to deal with the frequent challenges of the pig guard woman, but also has to appease the various requests of the Fanhu tribe, and he also has to wipe the buttocks of the pig teammate Zhao Shizi from time to time. He handled crises with superb political means, carefully maintaining the fragile balance along the Yalu River.
From the perspective of the Korean political arena, Min Zhilu is a government talent who understands politics, takes the overall situation into consideration, has the spirit, and can handle complex situations. But it was this man who pushed Yasin's people into the abyss.
Zhao Shizi caused trouble and was transferred by Min Zhilu to the Fanhu tribe, resulting in the massacre of Yaxin's people. Afterwards, he wrote in the government affairs report: With the sacrifice of the savage tribe at the bottom of the city, the crisis was smoothly quelled.
From Yasin's point of view, Min Zhilu is a hypocritical devil. The ferocity of Po Pig Wei is in the light, the viciousness of North Korean officials is in the dark, and the despair that Min Zhilu brings to Yasin is even greater and deeper, and he makes Yasin completely lose hope in the world.
The hundred years of suffering of the Fanhu tribe were caused by talents like Min Zhilu, and the higher they scored, the greater the damage. The Phan Hu tribe fought desperately to get a chance to be recognized, but they were never seen as people, and in the eyes of North Korean officials, their only value was to be used.
5 Yashin: A hundred years of suffering come together, and the flames of revenge destroy the heavens and the earth.
Finally speaking of the protagonist. Jin Shiya plays Yassin in his infancy. She is a small drama bone, and the mature and precocious wisdom of Yaxin, the sassy and capable, and the courage and forbearance are all interpreted very layered.
Regarding Yaxin, there are two characters that can be understood by comparison: one is Nie Yinniang, and the other is the Middle Temple Niangniang in the first two seasons of "Kingdom".
Director Hou Xiaoxian once said that "Assassin Nie Yinniang" said a sentence: a person has no kind. The loneliness in Yasin's body is also like Nie Yinniang--there is no kind of person, struggling alone, carrying everything alone. They dare to act boldly and are extremely actionable, but they are always ignored by those around them. However, Yasin is more determined and more determined.
The destructive breath of the Lady of the Middle Temple is equally strong, she grew up living in a political environment without love, and all the value of human life is to cling to power, and she is crazy about it, not hesitating to kill the monarch and kill her father.
Yashin is different, although she lives a very hard life, but she is full of love with her family and clan. This love is both strength and responsibility, so her will to take revenge is extremely strong, but it is a pity that she believes in the wrong person.
She pinned all her hopes on Min Zhilu (a North Korean official) for which she could tolerate even the humiliation of the soldiers, but her hopes were not only dashed, but she was also hit by the North Korean side.
Yashin's father is the most tragic character in the play, and he has suffered the most torture, and the suffering of the Phan Hu tribe for a hundred years has been concentrated on him. When Yashin agreed to his plea to stab him to death, there was no pain but exhaustion in the faint groan, and death was already the best relief for him.
Yashin wept twice in the story, the death of the clan was due to the massacre of Po Pig Wei, and the death of his father was caused by a conspiracy by North Korean officials. She set a fire at the Jurchen camp and the North Korean camp, which was the anger she unleashed.
Yasin hated Po Pig Guardian Nujin, and even more hated North Korea, she stood on the roof and coldly watched the zombie blood wash the North Korean military camp, and revenge officially began.
At the end of the story, she goes from the North Korean camp to the tribe's camp, from one ruin to another. She issued a declaration of world destruction to her already zombieized people, and death was born.
A grain of dust of the times falls on the head of an individual, which is a big mountain. The fierce Jurchen tribe slaughtered bloodily, the hypocritical Korean officials squeezed and framed, the hundred years of suffering of the Phan Hu tribe forced Yasin's father and clan all to die, Yaxin was burdened with tribal hatred, against the injustice of fate, revenge was the hypocritical and cruel world, she wanted to spread the flame of revenge all over the world, and one person went to war against the whole world.
The first two seasons of Wokou have already appeared, the third season of the Jurchen forces will set off a new storm, according to the historical timeline, the fourth season should be Daming!
Make a preview, Kingdom Season 4: Blood Battle Salhu
6 Finally: Say two interesting extensions
1 Soul Reaver Grass: The realistic prototype of the life and death grass
When I was a child, I often ate a punch - lung Ning granules, the main material in which is the rejuvenation herb, which is called Aster, Qingyuan or Ziqian in traditional Chinese medicine. The flowers of this herb are purple-blue in color, usually grow in humid riverside areas, relatively hardy, mainly distributed in China's Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Eastern Provinces, and the Korean Peninsula outside the country.
Aster vitality is extremely tenacious, even if it is dried as long as you dip a little water can come back to life (there is a sense of picture), there is a treatment of wind chill cough and asthma, fatigue cough and vomit pus and blood effect, folk commonly known as its rejuvenation herb.
Judging from the trait efficacy, geographical distribution and folklore of herbs, the prototype of the life and death grass is the revitalizing herb. Since ancient times, people have hoped to use divine power to fight diseases and disasters, and the name of the soul is also pinned on people's beautiful long-cherished wishes. Interested friends, the next will catch a cold can also buy a package of life and death grass to taste.
2 Abolition of the Four Counties and the Guoshitang: The Ultimate Foreshadowing of the Grass of Life and Death
As a foreshadowing series, "Yashin" connects the main plot with the two lines of Yaxin and Life and Death Grass. The hundred-year-old forbidden "Abandoned Four Counties" and the mysterious cave "Guoshitang" that appear in the play are the key foreshadowings of the next stage, where the ultimate secret of life and death grass and zombies is hidden. All of Yashin's knowledge of making zombies comes from the murals in the Guoshi Hall, which is the source of everything.
Many of the inspirations for Kingdom are derived from real history, and the Abolition of the Four Counties and the Guoshitang are no exception.
The four northern counties are the result of Lee's northward expansion of Korea, which took 27 years to be established after two generations of Taejong and Sejong, and are an important part of the river defense system on the south bank of the Yalu River in North Korea. Inexplicably, the four counties that had taken so much effort to set up were quickly abolished within a few years and banned for more than 100 years. The reasons for this are unknown in history, and opinions vary.
Guoshidang is a place of worship for the beliefs of Korean folk villages. The village god, also known as the cave god, is the embodiment of the "tenjin belief", usually located at the height of the mountain behind the village, and has the function of guarding the village and the boundary, and is regarded as the place where the gods descend.
Guoshidang is both an altar of mountain people's faith and a shrine of witchcraft worship, which is an inherent form of Korean village belief.
The first season of "Kingdom" was inspired by the mysterious plague in history, and the screenwriters integrated the "Mystery of the Wasted Four Counties" and "Guoshitang Faith" into the "Origin of Life and Death Grass and Zombies", interpreting the doubts of history with fictional stories, and the mixture of virtual and real is wonderful.
According to the information in the play, the four counties were formerly the seat of the Jurchens of the Clan Hu, and the text on the murals of the Guoshi hall resembles Mongolian (the predecessor of manchu). Then, the same female true po pig wei frequently sent people to infiltrate the forbidden land of the four counties, did they also know the secret of the grass of life and death? Yashin at the end of the episode to fight the Pig Guard, in the third season of the Jurchen Forces, the big boss Yashin, the Shizi Group must have multiple encounters, what kind of spark will they collide? How will Yasin and Min Zhilu duel?
We'll see.