"What is indiscriminate homicide?"
"The criminal suspect and the victim have no vendetta, they randomly choose the target of the crime, and see the case of who killed whom at the scene of the crime."
"How should he punish a prisoner who has killed 9 and injured 21?"
"The death penalty."
"He is an unforgivable sin, but why do you want democracy and the rule of law to accompany him to the funeral?" This is the most angry cry of Li Xiaoming's defense lawyer Wang Shu (Wu Kangren).
Moral trial and procedural justice, stigmatization of the mentally ill, journalistic ethics and morality... Any one subject can explode the heated discussion and reflection of the public.
And "Our Distance from Evil" is like a spider's web, gluing these heavy topics into the same plane of vision. And he also received the highest reputation of Chinese dramas so far this year - Douban score of 9.4.
This series, jointly produced by HBO and Taiwan Public Television, has been booked for "Word-of-Mouth Bomb" since birth. As the producer of "Game of Thrones", "The Sopranos" and other dramas, HBO has always been the "divine drama factory" in the hearts of the public.
And Taiwan Public Television, as the only non-commercial wireless television station in Taiwan, is born to be a wild horse that disobeys discipline. The delicate combination of rhythm and brushstrokes is a depressing and heavy topic of discussion— about the various sentient beings after this tragic man-made disaster.
We have all been pushed off a cliff by public opinion
Indiscriminate murderers are probably the most difficult to tolerate among many crimes. This is an act of trampling on the dual moral and legal thresholds, there is no injustice, no revenge, but nine families are broken by Li Xiaoming's "big things that have to be done".
And Li Xiaoming also shows everything that an antisocial personality "should" show: refusing to see his parents, refusing to ask and help from lawyers. It seems that from birth to death he has nothing to do with the world, leaving only the world with pain.
But the media and the public will not agree, at least they use the greatest enthusiasm and patience to dig out the people who are connected to Li Xiaoming's blood.
If your son kills someone, when you are sad and shocked, just out in the sun, you will be surrounded by long guns and short guns. Countless people have performed a nuanced dissection of your family, education, and your child's upbringing. When you look up for help, you are surrounded by the eyes of a doctor examining a precious specimen.
The so-called non-human
Even when there is no word to apologize to the person who has to kneel down to express his inner apology, he is asked, "Is it sincere?" ”
We can criticize Li Xiaoming's parents, including his name-changing sister Li Dazhi (Chen Yu), for being weak and evasive. Because in addition to the compensation for the sale of the house and the few appearances, they did respond by fleeing, trying to separate from Li Xiaoming.
But at least, the public in the show is not qualified.
"Why is your son a murderer?" Saying this sentence ten times is doubt, anger, and questioning. Saying it ten thousand times is a secondary injury to the perpetrator's family.
When the media trafficked in the social anxiety and insecurity brought about by Li Xiaoming, the public naturally poured this anxiety into his family. There was no point in asking his parents, and they were dazed. But the pleasure of moral judgment can be satisfied with the masses.
In the end, how these "marginal people" on the verge of collapse will respond, how they will introspect and be reborn has no one to care. Because the public, through moral standards, executed a number of people outside the law.
So, for those nine families who are completely innocent, is society really tolerant? The answer, of course, is no.
Liao Niushi (Hong Shengde) once said to Song Qiao'an (Jia Jingwen), I hope that the old comrade-in-arms who is very gentle in his heart will come back quickly.
Her young son died at li Xiaoming's gun, and Song Qiao'an is strong in her career as a media person, but her heart has long been broken. After the death of his son, the family crisis and his own spiritual problems certainly need to be faced, but how can the vision of society be summed up by pity?
In "The Distance Between Us and Evil", in addition to selling social anxiety, cheap sympathy for victims is also pervaded on social platforms.
Whether it is accusing Li Xiaoming's family or sympathizing with the victim's family, in the final analysis, it is a consumer behavior. Song Qiao'an did not dare to mention everything about her son's past, not only because of sadness, but also because she was afraid that her weakness would be used as a talking point for others.
It's like a video recorder with a red light behind her when she and Li Dazhi are facing each other.
Whether it is Li Dazhi and her parents, or the families of the victims represented by Song Qiao'an. In this carnival of public opinion, they have all become the commodities of the media, but no one cares about their shaky hearts.
We should need an answer
"You're a famous evil lawyer."
This is Xuemei's evaluation of Wang Amnesty, and indeed, in the eyes of outsiders, Wang Amnesty is indeed a spokesman for the tiger. Defended Li Xiaoming and Chen Chang, a mentally ill patient who tortured and killed girls.
But rather than an evil lawyer, the endorsement of procedural justice, or the identity of an invisible feature reporter, is more appropriate for him.
The legal aid lawyer's salary in one case was pitifully low, and Wang's wife could not even afford to live in a single room after giving birth prematurely. But he held out for two years for Li Xiaoming's case, until the gunshots rang out and he ran to get very drunk.
This is probably the biggest point of contention in the whole show, and around this issue, it is not even three or two journal editorials that can solve it.
Surrounded by excrement, his family being threatened, and himself surrounded by insults and intimidation, Wang Yu was all smiling and facing it. But at this moment he was heartbroken—"Because our laws, we can skip the first fifty-two, and legally execute him." ”
Wang Amnesty is not perfect, he neglects to take care of his family, galloping on the ideal road, but ignoring his wife who is struggling to support him. He ran between the families of both sides, as Li Dazhi said, reminding them that the wound was right in front of them.
It can be said that Wang Yu is a procedural justice, and it can also be said that he is a sophist and a human rights defender who disregards morality, but he is definitely not the White Lotus of the Virgin Mary.
Every effort he made was not to prove that his apologists were not guilty of death, but to find the roots behind these seemingly unprovoked love and hate, which was his criterion.
In fact, he may have an answer, such as Chen Chang asking his mother, such as Li Xiaoming finally left a letter.
And very coincidentally, Song Qiao'an also gave his own answer in the face of reasonable questioning of this procedure.
It all seems to be true. Because it's a game of procedural justice and outcome justice, but there's no winner.
"The Distance Between Us and Evil" is more often as a narrator, who tells you that there are people like Wang Shu and people like Song Qiao'an in the world.
We only believe in the truth we want to see
The public is one of the most interesting characters in this play.
When Li Xiaoming was arrested, they believed that the family was rotten.
When Ying Sicong (Lin Zhexi) rushes into the kindergarten, they believe that mental illness should be locked up.
When the child who slashed the man and his mother both committed suicide, they believed that the stigma of the unscrupulous media had deceived them...
Because the public is afraid from the bottom of their hearts to understand psychosis, because it is not difficult to judge a person through labels, because in this era, the cost of speaking is too low. There are many causes, but only one result
The most successful thing about "Our Distance from Evil" is that it not only creates the fullness of individual "points", but also puts these plump individuals into the public and interacts with them. They are not individuals enclosed in their own simple circle of life, and they produce transformations that drive characters in interaction.
For example, Song Qiao'an's thinking on his own news concept, such as Wang Yu's re-examination of the family, did not force it to be fabricated for the sake of consummation, and the audience will really feel that after experiencing so much, it will change.
Looking at the characters of "Our Distance from Evil", the audience is most empathetic to the public. This character has never appeared alone, but has always occupied an important role.
Why are reality-themed TV dramas easy to "burst" with word of mouth? It may not be how much empathy the thinking of human nature has, but authenticity must be essential.
Most people may not feel the pain of losing a loved one, but we always blush at these familiar but ill-intentioned remarks. "The Distance Between Us and Evil" is like a mirror, and all the strange beings are revealed.
Therefore, don't blame the reality of the theme of the drama is easy to explode the word of mouth, because the truth is poking the heart.