This is probably a movie with more popularity than the main film, but because of this, it is also a classic Hong Kong film that is over-entertained and consumed.
And this off-field factor more or less weakens the film, the edges and sharpness that it should have.
"Green Snake" directed by Xu Ke is adapted from Li Bihua's novel of the same name.
Different from the traditional mythological story "The Legend of the White Snake", the main direction explored in "Green Snake" is not the love affair between people and demons, nor is it to attack the traditional feudal order.
Because in these micro and macro propositions, people project too many imaginations and visions of the beauty of the world.
Like a cloak draped over a shell, no matter how glamorous it may be, the dirt it hides is still fermenting, and the acne it covers is still growing.
And how much of a difference is there between a white lie and a malicious fraud? For this too subjective question, it may collide with a subjective answer that is closer to the objective in the contrast of subversion.
And Xu Ke, who has always been unruly, what kind of story did he tell through "Green Snake"? And what values have been subverted?
Let's go back to the movie itself and look for clues.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="22" > Synopsis:</h1>
In the streets of the downtown area, the greed and anger of all sentient beings in the world are all seen by Fahai.
However, in the face of this indistinguishable world of human beings, even if they were high-ranking monks, Fahai would not be able to transform this chaotic human world.
And just as he was studying the Dharma in the landscape, a demonic qi disturbed his practice. Within a few moments, Fahai found the source of the demon qi.
The yokai had cultivated a certain amount of mana and turned into a monk holding a Zen staff. But this kind of spell did not escape the true eyes of the Fahai.
After his identity was revealed, the false monk immediately changed into a prototype and wanted to escape. Although the spider spirit defended himself, he once prostrated himself at the feet of the Great Golden Buddha of Lingtai Temple, absorbing the Buddha's shadow day and night, and his temperament was peaceful.
However, in Fahai's view, the four realms of gods, men, ghosts, and demons are hierarchical and cannot be destroyed, and if they are demons, they must receive them, and if they are demons, they must descend.
After the spider essence was subdued, the Buddha beads left behind still had aura, and this accident made Fahai wonder if what the spider essence said was not a fraud.
Is he really at the feet of a bodhisattva, under the shadow of a Buddha? Is it true that "I" can also commit greed and anger in people?
The answer to this question was already conclusive when it existed.
Fahai, who could not accept the reality, was running wild in the rain forest, and at this moment, Fahai sensed two demonic qi.
Looking at it, two snake spirits were hovering above a bamboo forest.
But just as Fahai was preparing to accept them, he found a village woman giving birth under the bamboo forest.
From this, it can be seen that these two snake spirits are not doing evil, but doing good.
Seeing such a situation, Fahai had no choice but to withdraw his mana and prepare to come to the rescue of the village women first
However, at this time, the village woman was already naked, and the Buddhist monks attached importance to the color ring, and Fahai had no choice but to give up, and left behind the Buddha beads that gathered the two hundred years of aura of the spider essence as a reward for the good deeds of the two snake spirits.
As soon as the camera turns, you come to this small city surrounded by mountains and rivers.
In the rainy night, the literati rioters in the Qinglou were talking about wine and enjoying songs and dances. The white snake and green snake on the roof of the building are crossing the robbery, transforming into adults.
In the midst of the restless song and dance, the impatient green snake fell in the middle of the dance floor.
The feminine look coupled with the graceful posture and the appearance of the green snake instantly attracted everyone's attention. At this time, the white snake, who was still on the roof, was attracted by the sound of reading from not far away, so she left her sister and swam to the study.
After the rain stopped, the peach blossoms blowing in front of them completely disturbed the thoughts of this group of readers.
In the Qinglou, the dance steps of the green snake became more and more open, and the white snake in the water had already found a husband and wife who was ready to start for himself.
At this moment, a Taoist monk passing by on the shore smelled something strange nearby.
After sensing that there was danger, the white snake and the green snake sensed each other and disappeared
On the other side, Fahai, who was meditating and practicing at the Golden Mountain Temple, encountered a demonic obstacle in his heart.
In his mind, what he replayed was the village woman he had met in the bamboo forest, but compared with the actual situation, the village woman in Fahai's heart had a little more charm and tenderness, and this kind of imagination that people in the Buddhist gate should not have was a projection after Fahai broke his vows.
And after the fire is enchanted, this projection turns into a group of monsters with ugly voices and embedded human and animals.
Although he used his mana to temporarily suppress these evil thoughts, this breaking of the vows had left a curse for him.
There is no distinction between good and evil, the six roots are not pure, and Fahai is not unable to understand the problems, but he does not want to admit that he is trapped by these problems.
He covets the wisdom of the Buddha, is disgusted with his own heart, and is obsessed with mortal dust.
And now, he only attributed the crux of the problem to the spider spirit that he had wrongly suppressed.
This disaster has been cast, and he wants to get through this in this way.
Back at Aoyama Castle, the white snake and the green snake have transformed into human form and began to learn to integrate into the lives of the locals.
As a sister, White Snake has been practicing for thousands of years, and she not only quickly adapts to people's living habits, but also has a clearer understanding of people's identity and attributes.
The younger sister Qing Snake had only been practicing for 500 years, and even though she had already transformed into an adult, because her skills were still shallow, she could not master the humanoid torso skillfully.
The most fundamental difference between white snakes and green snakes is their understanding and perception of people. Although her sister White Snake claims that talent is the spirit of all things, the Green Snake has always maintained a certain vigilance and distance from the human world.
At night when it was time to enjoy the flower lanterns, Xu Xian took a boat and broke into the peach blossom land where men and women sent each other their hearts.
Seeing that the students who should have studied hard to obtain meritorious names were obsessed with love, Xu Xian, as a teacher, deliberately obstructed them and disturbed their dreams, but when the same situation fell on him, Xu Xian did not have the courage to cut off his love.
During the Qingming Dynasty, the rich old men chartered large boats to go out to the mountains and rivers, and Xu Xian, who was anxious to cross the river, had to stop at the ferry port and wait for the next ferry
At this time, the white snake had been waiting for a long time, and this gentleman who taught and lectured was the honest man she had found in the first place.
Seeing that the white snake was about to attack Xu Xian, the green snake was a little excited, and even revealed its tail.
Qing Snake asked why he chose Xu Xian, and Bai Snake said that the honest Xu Xian was easy to get along with.
The subtext is that such a person is suitable for home and also suitable for control.
The purpose of the white snake is not simple, and Xu Xian's personality is not honest.
The so-called pure rules and precepts, moral flaunting, are naturally appropriate to put on others, and placed on oneself, because it is too heavy, and loses its weight, a simple love word, is enough to shake people's hearts.
After being pulled onto the boat by the white snake, Xu Xian immediately forgot the harsh rules for his students and quickly fell into the tenderness and charm of the white snake. Although Xu Xian pretended to be calm, his every word and deed, and every move betrayed his mind.
After landing ashore, the white snake met Xu Xian and asked him to come to the palace tomorrow to get an umbrella.
Borrowing an umbrella to be merciful, this kind of adult trick, although Xu Xian is a little clumsy to use, but the white snake knows that people will always use cunning means to cover their minds, so she has no intention of poking, but pushing the boat along the water.
On a deeper level, as a demon, he can grasp the hypocrisy that talents will have, which shows that the snake has not only transformed into an adult from the form, but this transformation has broken through the realm that the green snake can never reach by imitating people.
But this is not the shortcoming of the green snake, because she does not despise betraying her identity as a demon. Even to a large extent, the green snake is very resistant, and the white snake wants to be a person in the full sense.
When it was time to meet Xu Xian, Lao Dao and Dao Tong found the residence of the White Snake and the Green Snake. For them, catching the thousand-year-old snake spirit is not to support the right path in the world, but to refine Dan and strengthen cultivation.
However, just as they were casting the spell, Xu Xian rushed to the White Mansion and prepared to go to the appointment.
Soon, the old Dao's formation had an effect on the green snake who had not practiced enough, but the white snake that had been practicing for a thousand years was able to cope with it freely, and without any effort, it called the wind and rain to break the old Dao's formation.
Although Lao Dao planned to pull Xu Xian away when the situation was not good, at this time, Xu Xian was already determined to go to the White Mansion for an appointment.
At this time, the white snake had already made arrangements to let the green snake lead the old way, and he and Xu Xian built a good relationship.
But when the green snake and Xu Xian met, the honest person in the sister's mouth was full of flaws that were visible to the naked eye.
When the white snake saw the situation, she immediately reminded the green snake of the task she should do, and the old way that wanted to catch the demon was almost the way after all, and was quickly cleaned up by the green snake.
The white snake on the other side, determined to take down Xu Xian, first woven a not-so-subtle lie to coax the confused Xu Xian, and after several tentative teases, Xu Xian let go of the hypocrisy of the man and the reticence of the literati and fell into the arms of the white snake.
While watching from the sidelines, the green snake watched her sister and a person turn over the clouds and rain like this, and she tried to empathize with her sister through imitation, but she still couldn't experience the pleasure that only a human being could have.
Afterwards, Xu Xian completely fell into the beauty of the white snake, and xiucai, who had originally studied hard, had now become a plaything in the deep courtyard mansion.
The old gentlemen of the study did not know whether they were sorry for him or jealous of him.
In the rainy season, there was a flood under Qingshan Castle.
Seeing the disaster on the human world, the White Snake and the Green Snake were ready to use mana to control the water, and the same idea was held by the Fahai, who had high mana.
When the bamboo forest was separated, the white snake and the green snake formed a fate with Fahai. Now, in the face of human tribulations, they have given grace side by side.
Seeing the Buddha's light of the Fahai, the green snake moved his mind, but the white snake warned that the Fahai, which had reached the unity of The Buddha and me, did not have human emotions, and the implication was to let the green snake not provoke the Fahai.
After the wind and rain, the relationship between White Snake and Xu Xian has entered the right track, and he runs a local medical center, which is respected and loved by the world.
With status outside and lovers at home, White Snake fully appreciates everything that a human being should have.
Seeing that her sister was getting farther and farther away from the demon, the green snake had another thought about Xu Xian's existence. She learned to use her sister's means to provoke the relationship between Xu Xian and the White Snake.
She took Xu Xian as the object of the experiment to taste the seven passions and six desires that only "people" in her sister's mouth, but she never got the point.
But the white snake knows that the human world is about rules.
Although as a demon, she would not mind sharing Xu Xian with Xiao Qing, as a human being, she could not condone her sister's transgression.
Therefore, the white snake will not punish Xu Xian for emotional infidelity, because in order to evolve into an adult, she has long had a city government and tolerance that is more human-like than a person, so she can understand Xu Xian's betrayal.
But no matter what, she couldn't let Xiao Qing spoil the current good situation, and the safest way was to let Xiao Qing also find a tool like Xu Xian.
And when Xiaoqing asked her sister how to find an honest person like Xu Xian, the white snake told her that there are no honest people in this world, but the most important thing is to let him fly out of the palm of your hand.
On this day, the unguarded green snake was bumped into by Xu Xian when he was playing with his sister in the water.
Seeing such a scene, Xu Xian naturally panicked and fled to the street. The public was also greatly puzzled to see such a deranged gentleman.
After sorting out his thoughts a little, Xu Xian went to the restaurant to buy a pot of male yellow wine, ready to drive away snakes,
But seeing that the neighbors respected his wife so much, Xu Xian also began to waver.
Now he and his wife are like glue, and they have moved their true feelings, that is, he is already inseparable from the demon.
If you do this, how can you end it?
After thinking about it, he still drank the altar alone, drunk by the river. The white snake who went out to look for a husband saw her drunken husband, so he had to bring her back and prepare to make up another set of lies to round up Xiaoqing's mistakes.
Xu Xian was also very interesting, he followed his wife's words, and temporarily stopped delving deeply, but there was still a lingering palpitation in his heart, and a cold sweat on his face.
The next day, Xu Xian came to the study hall to pay his salary, claiming that he wanted to go to Beijing to catch the exam. The elders of the study also ridiculed Xu Xian, who did not want to be a slave to women, and only Xu Xian knew that he wanted to escape from the country.
On the other hand, the white snake saw that the good situation that had been hard to manage was about to break up, she had to ask Xiaoqing to find another place to live, and there was a hint of despair between the words, and in order to regain her husband's trust, the white snake took the initiative to set up a table of male yellow wine feast.
But at this time, Xu Xian had already seen through the white snake's lies.
Seeing that madame did not hesitate to use male yellow wine to dispel his worries, he also moved his heart and could not bear it, so he took it upon himself to pour male yellow wine into the pool to prevent his wife from being injured.
However, this "superfluous move" approach not only wasted the painstaking efforts of the white snake, but also allowed the green snake hiding in the pool to completely expose the prototype, and in the midst of fright, Xu Xian almost died of exhaustion.
At this time, the old road that calculated the time to catch the demon broke into the mansion, but in the end, he was not skilled enough, and after a few rounds, he was driven away by the white snake.
By the next day, the green snake, who had gradually regained consciousness, was still chanting words, telling her sister not to drive her away.
At this time, Xu Xian was already unconscious, and even the White Snake's thousand-year-old Daoist practice was powerless to return to heaven, and at present, only the Lingzhi Grass of Kunlun Mountain could save his life.
But the lingzhi grass is guarded by the Antarctic immortals, and even if it is a white snake, there is not much chance of winning.
After all, the white snake still moved the feelings of the human world, so she was ready to fight to the death, and seeing her sister going to danger, Xiao Qing had to go to the disaster together.
In the Fahai of the human world, sensing that there were demons doing something, he immediately took off the clouds and chased after them
Arriving at the location of the Lingzhi grass, the white snake handed over the Buddha beads to the green snake to protect her, and she herself turned into a demon qi, quickly pulled out the Lingzhi grass, and prepared to leave.
But the crane in charge of the caretaker had already chased after him, and the Fahai behind him was getting closer and closer.
In order to let her sister retreat safely, Xiao Qing took the initiative to ask to stay behind.
Although the White Snake had a psychological struggle, he still fulfilled Xiao Qing's sacrifice and set out to leave.
And just when the crane was about to attack Xiao Qing, Fahai, who had rushed to see the Buddha beads on Xiao Qing's hand, used his mana to stop the attack of the crane, and told him that there would be an explanation in the future.
After taking the crane away, Fahai tortured the green snake why he wanted to steal the lingzhi grass, and when he could not make sense, he had to use his mana to subdue it.
In the panic, Xiao Qing said the reason, he wanted to save people.
After Fahai received mana, Xiao Qing finally came into close contact with the experimental object that he had been thinking about for a long time.
Is Fahai really as her sister said, without human feelings?
Despite knowing that it would be risky to do so, Xiaoqing was ready to find the answer herself
She first used the method of dealing with Xu Xian
Applied to Fahai, but this trick is too kitsch, and Fahai is not used at all.
Seeing that this snake demon seemed to be no threat to himself, Fahai planned to use Xiao Qing to unblock the magic barrier in his heart.
He told Xiao Qing that if you could mess with my concentration, I would let you go.
In the face of this request, Xiao Qing naturally will not refuse, but the next plot development allows Fahai to see his own heart.
Xiao Qing was naked and playing in the water, and Fahai closed his eyes and meditated. On the surface, Fahai did not move at all, and it was Xiao Qing who lost, but at this time, the more Concentration Fahai had, the more will he used to use emptiness.
When Xiao Qing showed weakness, "You haven't looked at me until now, of course you win", Fahai said that you don't have to look to know what you are doing.
This seemingly decisive refusal has actually betrayed the essence of his residence.
Emptiness means color, and only by emptying the emptiness at this time is the true realm.
This trial, in fact, from the very beginning, Xiaoqing had the upper hand.
The more Fahai behaved, the greater the scale of Xiao Qing's temptation, until the end, FaHai still overestimated his concentration, whether he admitted it or not, he was greedy for entanglement with Xiao Qing in the water.
After the end of the competition, Xiao Qing was even more convinced of his judgment, even if he cultivated someone like Fahai, it was just like that, so his sister's idea of worshipping people as the spirit of all things was wrong.
At this time, the white snake had already saved Xu Xian's life with the Lingzhi grass, but the green snake that returned to the White House had already aroused its own desire.
Seeing Xiao Qing with such a look, Xu Xian also became greedy and wanted to steal pleasure.
After a contest, Xiao Qing no longer believed the white snake's deception of her.
At the same time, White Snake also knew that she was no longer able to help Xiao Qing, because she knew better than Xiao Qing that the concept she had instilled before was her greed and paranoia about the identity of "human".
Now she understood that what she had gone to great lengths to make herself accept, Xiao Qing would never understand.
Therefore, she had to make a fierce decision to expel guests.
And at the time of parting, the white snake shed tears, this fragility and tenderness, is the evidence of human existence.
Although Xiaoqing does not understand the feelings between people, she knows her deep affection for her sister.
To a large extent, her doubts about love stem from the concept that her sister instilled in her, that is, only when Xiaoqing becomes a human being, can she have human emotions.
But is that really the case?
Not long after, Fahai, who failed the competition, found Xu Xian, who shared a bed with the snake spirit, with only one purpose, that is, to borrow Xu Xian's hand to get rid of these two snake demons.
He lent Xu Xian a string of his own mana Buddha beads to exorcise demons.
But at this time, Xu Xian had already walked too close to the demon to get out, so he first pretended to agree to Fahai's request, and then turned around and threw away the Buddha beads.
Back at home, Xu Xian told White Snake that he had committed an official offense and wanted to leave immediately. Since he didn't see Xiao Qing, Xu Xian stopped the white snake who was preparing to go out to find Xiao Qing, in case he bumped into Fahai on the street
When Xu Xian found Xiao Qing, the white snake immediately appeared, and the scene was once very embarrassing, but Xu Xian knew that this was not the time to make trouble, and told the matter of Fahai.
Up to now, Fahai had no intention of letting go, he came to the white snake's residence, once again found Xu Xian, and with a wave of dust, the white snake's illusory mansion gradually appeared prototype.
Everything is illusory, everything is illusion.
Seeing that Xu Xian had been poisoned too deeply, Fahai took him back to the Golden Mountain Temple, where he was ready to hand over to the elders of the temple to chant the scriptures.
The white snake who heard the news also chased to the Golden Mountain Temple to intercede with Fahai, hoping that he would let Xu Xian go and complete their husband and wife.
At this time, Fahai was still boasting that he had no ordinary feelings, nor did he agree that people and demons could have ordinary thoughts, but the green snake that came later suddenly poked at Fahai's weakness.
Judging from the results of the previous trials, Fahai had already moved the hearts of mortals, and Fahai, who had been touched by the scales, immediately became angry and prepared to use mana to subdue these two snake spirits who were "demonizing the people".
Whether it is an ugly person or a Buddha who lives in the form, when they want to achieve their goals, they always raise a big banner that cannot be doubted.
Seeing that the intercession was fruitless, the white snake joined hands with the green snake and prepared to flood the golden mountain.
When Xiao Qing asked her sister how many chances they had of winning, the white snake was somewhat desperate.
She has done her best to understand the human condition of the world, and she has even behaved more like a human being than a person in many ways, but this practice of betraying her identity still does not prove herself correct.
Maybe she already knew she was wrong, but like Fahai, she just didn't want to admit it.
Living too deeply, there is no way to turn back. Next, there is the performance show between Fahai and the White Snake and the Green Snake.
Due to the large scope of the Fighting Technique, the entire Golden Mountain Temple was implicated.
At this time, Xu Xian, who was in the temple, could no longer support the transformation from the elders, and now he only hoped that there would be no more fighting outside, and he was willing to become a monk.
Outside the Golden Mountain Temple, the white snake that was fighting with Fahai violently moved the tire because of excessive force, and as soon as the mana was released, the flood immediately rushed to the homes of the people in the city.
And this situation, obviously beyond Fahai's expectations, at this time, the white snake that gave birth to the child was only accompanied by Xiao Qing.
Seeing that Fahai was uncertain, the white snake said to Xiao Qing, go and save Xu Xian now, otherwise everything will be abandoned.
Xiao Qing, who must have heard these words, was already desperate to the bottom. It turned out that the sister at this time was still remembering the identity of the person.
And when she experienced this despair, she understood that this was what her sister said about love, but her sister did not admit it until her death, not only people have feelings, but also demons.
Coming to the Golden Mountain Temple, Xiao Qing found Xu Xian, who had been cut off from his perception and became a monk.
And she also saw the human affection that her sister coveted, which turned out to be so worthless. Thinking of this, Xiaoqing burst into tears.
On the other hand, Fahai also paid the price for his greed and anger, and the Golden Mountain Temple was eventually flooded, but what he saved was the child born by the white snake.
When he saw the demon give birth to a human, his worldview completely collapsed
Although the green snake brought back the useless Xu Xian, she had completely lost her sister, so in the end, she sent Xu Xian to be with her sister.
Life is like this, so is the floating world.
The white snake that seems to penetrate the truth of the world, but in the end there is no green snake to live through, because she always credulously believes in the lies that are most like the truth.
Even her cultivation was enough for her to perceive the flaws in it. But when she decides to abandon her identity, the next thing to do is to convince herself by all means.
And the green snake from the beginning of the curiosity, to the subsequent imitation, until the final absolute, she finally understood, love, but so, people, but so, demons, but also so.
To some extent, xiaoqing who can see through this layer are closer to the realm they flaunt than those who flaunt morality.