If you want to talk about the opening drama of 2020, it is not the BBC's annual blockbuster "Dracula".
On January 4, 2020, the series was simultaneously released by China's video platform and Netflix Worldwide.
Broadcast simultaneously, watch for free, this is the first time in history!
What is more exciting is that it was also created by the team of "Sherlock".
Among the directors are Paul McGuigan, the screenwriter is Mark Gatis + Steven Moffat, and the soundtrack is David Arnold and Michael Price, such as the fake replacement of the original team.
What other reason not to look?
It can be seen that the mini-series "Dracula" has only three episodes, each episode is 90 minutes, and it is all broadcast at once.
Speaking of which, here is a brief chat about Dracula's origins.
Dracula refers to a vampire based on Vlad, Grand Duke of Wallasia in the 15th century, who is known for his cruel and bloodthirsty.
The British novelist Bram Stoker, who published Dracula in 1897, pioneered the vampire novel.
The novel flourished as soon as it came out, from the 1938 radio drama "Vampire" and the 1979 film "Dracula", to the 1990 TV series "Dracula".
Over the past 120 years, it has inspired generations, and based on it, there are countless film and television dramas, stage plays, and radio dramas, which can be called the most famous vampire big IP in history.
Until now, Dracula's image has been constantly changing, such as the 2005 animation "Batman v Dracula", 2012 'Dracula 3D', and 2013 'Obsessed Dracula'.
It can be said that it is a bad subject, so it is challenging to provide a refreshing adaptation.
So, what did the Sherlock crew do? Let's talk about it from three aspects.
01. Three episodes of three styles: play through horror + reasoning + crossing
The story of the first episode, The Rules of the Beast, takes place mainly in the Castle and revolves around Dracula and The English lawyer Jonathan Huck.
On one side, the imprisoned Jonathan is gradually weakening, his face as white as paper, and on the other side is the old and terrible Dracula rejuvenated, full of red light.
Jonathan, who finds something wrong, is trying to escape by approaching the truth step by step in the dark labyrinth of castles.
The tension caused by the contrast of the yellow candle lighting, the living dead locked in boxes underground, the vampires that suddenly appear around the corner, the confusion and nightmares in the middle of the night.
The first episode has a Victorian Gothic tone, like stepping back in time to the retro castle horror movie scene.
After escaping, Jonathan went to St. Mary's Monastery in Budapest and told Sister Agatha Van Helsing about what had happened to her.
Dracula, who followed Jonathan to the monastery, was even more bloodied, and the flies in the eyes of the living dead were cut off from the bloody heads, which gave the horror film a disgusting taste.
In the second episode, Blood Ship, the whole story takes place on a cruise ship called the Demeter.
Traveling by boat to Dracula in England, he performs a trick to gather different people in a boat and spews smoke so that the ship does not see the sun all day long.
And on board were Indian doctors and mutes, noble duchesses, newlyweds and little black servants, chiefs, vice-captains and sailors, severed cooks and rookie little ones.
As Dracula kills one prey after another, the ship panics and begins an investigation into "some of us are murderers."
The fog shrouds the cruise ship with no way out, and the suspicion brought about between killing and being killed is obviously the Blizzard Mountain Villa model written by detective novelist Agatha Christie!
This episode, like the first episode, takes a dialogue flashback approach, with the previous episode having the nun ask Jonathan and this episode asking Dracula what happened.
When you feel that watching a cruise ship murder led by Dracula from The Perspective of God lacks the thrill of reasoning about not knowing who the murderer is.
The second half suddenly reverses, telling you that the story is that the nun completely forgot that she was also present. The two people's step-by-step reasoning and life-and-death wisdom fight are also very exciting.
The biggest brain hole is episode 3, "Dark Compass", where Dracula died with the nun, so he slept at the bottom of the sea for 123 years.
Waking up to find that it was 2020, Zoe had arrived with a gun and a helicopter, and Sister Agatha had become her great-aunt.
This kind of "sleeping" routine of falling asleep, waking up and crossing into the modern era, and opening the door to the new world from then on is not uncommon.
At this time, Zoe became a member of the institute founded by Jonathan's fiancée Mina, and the purpose of capturing Dracula was to do research.
However, Dracula's learning ability is strong, and he immediately found a lawyer to defend his "human rights" in captivity.
Dracula, who was released, found that modern society is really good, and prey does not have to be found by himself, as long as he opens his mobile phone, he can meet the door.
So I found a promiscuous bundy girl who was not afraid of death and was ready to pocket it.
Lying on the couch watching TV, social software sends selfies, satirizing the love theory of spirit and flesh, directly hitting our current life scene.
It can be said that after a drama, three episodes and three styles are self-contained, gathering horror, reasoning, crossing and many other genres, just like watching three movies.
02. Tribute and innovation coexist: incorporate their own characteristics into the classics
First, the narrative of the series pays tribute to it.
In Bram Stoker's novels, Dracula's story is told in the form of letters, diaries, telegrams, newspaper communications, etc., in a way that intersects time and space.
At this point, the first two episodes of the story use dialogue flashbacks to cross over, which is undoubtedly similar to the original.
At the same time, the first episode of Jonathan's gibberish written a bunch of diaries and the novels of the crew who escaped the day are also tributes.
Second, the series has a huge adaptation of the content.
The novel mainly tells the story of Jonathan, a notary, who goes to Dracula's castle to deal with the property, but is imprisoned by Dracula.
In a battle of wits and courage with Dracula, Dracula took the dirt of Transylvania, boarded a cruise ship to England, and finally told the story of the strange events that happened on the ship in the diary of the slain captain.
Jonathan's fiancée Mina and her friend Lucy were then implicated.
In the end, mina was rescued when the Dutch doctor Van Helsing and the American vampire hunter Quincy Morris were brought to life when Morris stabbed Dracula's heart with a dagger, reducing him to ashes.
Arguably, the first episode is the closest to the original, and on this basis adds the detailed process of Jonathan's escape from the castle that the novel skipped.
The second episode takes place on a boat, some of which are set in the dirt of Transylvania to rest in the same setting, and the story content is very different.
Not to mention the modern Dracula, who came to the present day, was completely free to play.
Third, the character image is recreated.
In the novel, Dracula lives in the castle for centuries with three Dracula brides.
In the new play, Dracula, who says to Jonathan, "You can be my most beautiful bride", wants a bride who is even transgender.
The same is true of Xiao Bai, who has a leg with Xiao Hei in the second episode, in the play, Dracula eats both men and women, blatantly sells corruption, and the scene of the base is a fight with Sherlock and Watson.
In addition to Dracula, Sister Agatha Van Helsing in the play becomes the absolute heroine.
Agatha was originally an insignificant character in the novel, the nun who took care of Jonathan after he escaped from Dracula.
I believe that the little friends who have a heart have long discovered that the name of the nun is particularly interesting, becoming a combination of detective novelist Agatha and the ultimate sworn enemy Van Helsing.
Sister Van Helsing, who has a detective mentality in the play, is full of interest in Jonathan's experience, and also takes care of herself to study some mysterious and bizarre things, and even has her own research room.
The deviant, questioning, courageous and resourceful nun became Dracula's enemy across a century.
Fourth, the homage to classic films adds Sherlockian cold humor.
Whether it's the nun", "I have never found God, trapped in a loveless marriage, maintaining the illusion of marriage to the outside world in order to have a tile cover", or Dracula's "Democracy is the tyranny of the ignorant".
Agatha's confrontation with Dracula is full of chemistry, fun and alertness.
It is between these beautiful words and playful words that all kinds of ridicule and irony are the flavor of "Sherlock", which is full of riots.
And in the play, there are countless tributes to the classics, ridiculing the Easter eggs of "Sherlock".
The same castle design as in the silent horror classic Nosferatu (1922) and the same wallpaper design as the corridor carpet in The Shining (1980). Room Number 9 on board, a reference to the British drama The Secret Affair of The Nine (2014).
Not to mention Agatha's statement that "I have an acquaintance in London who is a detective", which is not to say Sherlock Holmes at the same time.
The third episode also has the shadow of the 2016 movie "Sherlock: The Hateful Bride".
The adaptation of Dracula embodies the balance between classic and modern, horror and humor, restoration and tribute.
03. High and low: Modern Dracula has lost its charm
Viewers who watch the ratings first and then watch the show must have noticed that "Dracula" currently has a Douban score of 7.2, IMDB 7 points, Rotten Tomatoes 75% freshness and 56% popcorn index, and the results are not too good.
Why?
It's all because the third episode of Dracula, who came to the modern era, got rid of it!
At the beginning of 90% of popcorn started, to 56% now, it can be said that "Dracula" ratings on major movie websites have experienced a cliff-like decline.
The IMDB episode score is also evident, from 8.2 points in the first episode, 7.8 points in the second episode, and 5.2 points in the third episode.
It's all because the third episode of the magic reform seriously drags the entire show back, and the high and low walk is comparable to the eighth season of "Game of Thrones".
As mentioned in the plot introduction to the third episode earlier, Dracula came to 2020, and there was a series of old and new terriers that did not adapt.
The small jokes that make adaptation in modern dramas are only superficial, while the new characters are mediocre, bungee little Internet celebrity Lucy and Jack who is obsessed with her.
The main line jumps out of Dracula and Agatha, and even if Lucy dies, no one really cares, and it is difficult to arouse the audience's empathy.
In particular, it is surprising to reveal the mysteries of Dracula's various confinements and blame him for his psychological problems.
Finally, he and Agatha came to a touching love that went to the Yellow Spring and the combination of spirit and flesh?
Obviously, the third episode ended in a hurry, the foreshadowing buried in the front was wasted, and there were many outstanding questions, which became a big mess.
Netizens can't help but sigh:
"All this virtue, are you still looking forward to the fifth season of Shenxia?"
It can be said that the first and second episodes started well, adapted classics, and retro has its own taste.
Let's take a look at the three questions that run through the show:
1) Why is Dracula afraid of the sun?
2) Why did Dracula not believe in God but fear the cross?
3) Why does Dracula need an invitation from someone else to enter the room?
Take the fear of the cross, for example, where Dracula explains:
"The cross is not a symbol of virtue and goodness, but a symbol of terror and oppression, and your idiot church oppressed the Untouchables for centuries, and I sucked the blood of those Untouchables for centuries, and I absorbed their fear of the Cross."
On the one hand, there is distrust of Catholicism, and like Agatha's "God is nowhere to be found," it is the authority of the Catholic Church that dissolves.
Dracula, on the other hand, reasoned with the lead, and he himself believed it.
As a result, in the third episode, he was not afraid of the cross, could enter the room without invitation, and would not die when he saw the sun, all of which was the cowardice of his own heart, and suddenly overturned all the previous reasoning.
This actually reflects the postmodern society's deconstruction of theological authority towards a concern for the individual's heart.
And the innovation of it in doing so is that it dissolves the common stereotype of vampires, which is undoubtedly a new attempt.
In fact, from the "Twilight", "Warm Corpse" and other fantastic romantic love stories, it can be seen that the current vampire is no longer terrifying and ruthless.
Dracula in the new drama cannot suppress the urge to suck blood, is a cruel and bloodthirsty real demon, and is the "evil hero of his own" that the Shenxia crew wants to create.
Therefore, episodes 1-2 take the audience back to the nightmarish horror story and remind them of the fear of being ruled by the demons of the Middle Ages.
However, in episode 3, it went to collapse, and finally Dracula turned evil into good, and even staged a modern light comedy.
The split from the style of the first two episodes, the hasty elimination of engraving impressions that makes viewers unconvinced, is an external reason for the bad reviews.
In fact, there are two deep internal reasons why modern Dracula has lost its charm:
First, the declassification of modern society has made the dracula of the aristocratic class lose its charm.
What is the most significant change in modern society?
It was the serfs who turned over and sang, overthrew the feudal autocracy, and everyone was in charge.
The prototype is dracula from the medieval princes and dukes, with meticulous hairstyles, neat and straight suits, and a wide black cape, and is a gentleman with an aristocratic atmosphere.
Then in modern London, the superiority of dracula's aristocratic class is not used in modern society, and it has lost its mysterious and noble charm.
This is also the most important reason why vampires are suitable for wandering in Victorian cemeteries.
Second, the sharing of information in modern society has made Dracula's blood colonization lose its charm.
The biggest highlight of the play is the new ability to give blood.
"Blood is life."
Dracula, who has sucked blood, can get all aspects of the language and memory of the person being sucked, like a computer with a stored personality, which can integrate all people's abilities with himself.
This colonial power can receive exoticisms that others cannot accept in the closed feudal era.
In the modern era, where ordinary people can enjoy miracles, the network is developed, information sharing, and gradually become a connected global village.
Exotic exorcisms that everyone can explore.
Holding high the banner of scientism and technocracy and creating miracles for you in minutes, Dracula's superpowers don't seem to be so bullish.
Either you are the modern Dracula who is not a nobleman, or you are the ancient Dracula who is a nobleman.
When the aristocratic modern Dracula, secular grounding mass culture is not uncommon.
This is also the deepest cause of the discomfort of the noble and elegant Dracula modern society.
It is worth mentioning that the special effects makeup in the play is excellent, especially the zombie child who accidentally comes home with you and the charred Lucy, which brings people a mysterious pleasure and fun.
In general, the "Dracula" adapted by the "Shenxia" crew has a new meaning and lacks ingenuity.
Or first think about how to solve the modern Dracula, you can't help but fall in love with the century of sexual problems.
Bluestone Film Editorial Office | Morning