Many people have long believed that superhero movies and TV series are brainless entertainment fast food, and are brazen money-making machines for studios, especially after X-Men: Apocalypse met waterloo and Avengers 2 was criticized for being nothing new. Of course, we don't have to avenge the superheroes, no matter how they dominate today's pop culture, they can't avoid the helpless end of being commercialized.
And when superheroes and art are linked, most people still can't understand if they're in the same dimension. The American drama "Big Flock" made a bold and novel attempt, incorporating film expression techniques, popular music, installation art, fashion elements, color science, etc. into the fictional world created by the creators, and finally presented an unprecedented audition experience.
Aside from the occasional mention of the word "mutant" in the show, it's almost impossible for viewers to define it as a superhero series, as there are neither tight uniforms nor steel claws. It is more like a work of unbridled experimentation, often challenging the limits of what the audience can accept with surrealism and abstraction: frequent flashbacks and flashbacks, rapid editing of dreams, reality, and illusions intertwined, sound effects like auditory hallucinations, and even passages with no sound at all.
Perhaps the appearance of "The Swarm" is not accidental. The copyrights of many of Marvel's superheroes have been scattered everywhere, and the copyright of "Mutants" has always been in the hands of Twentieth Century Fox. At the time when the "X-Men" series of movies entered the bottleneck, "Deadpool" and "Wolverine: Deadly War" that did not play cards according to common sense were successfully counterattacked. The head of Marvel's television division has said that there has never been a superhero series like "The Swarm.". The voiceover I can hear is that Marvel may not be able to make it, or is reluctant to risk shooting such a series. For Marvel, the loss of copyright is a major regret; for the audience, Marvel's story can shine in the hands of different producers.
The takeover of "The Swarm" this time is lead creator Noah Hawley, who is now in the production of two series, the other is "Ice Storm", which is also known as a "divine drama", based on the classic movie of the Coen brothers. In his view, "The Swarm" is not just a superhero story, but more like a strange journey to find identity in memory fragments.
In the original comic book, "Big Crowd" is the son of the famous Professor X, whose real name is David Haller. He has thousands of personalities, and each has its own superpowers. Trapped by these mutually torn personalities, David often fell into a state of schizophrenia. The series is based on David's elite identity, and although it is inextricably linked to the original comic, most of the characters and plot are recreated.
△ A large group in the manga
Accompanied by the British rock band The Who's "Happy Jack", a series of montages show David's life from a harmless cute baby, to a well-behaved child, to a rebellious and manic adolescent, and finally ends with David preparing to end his life with a wire. Sparks from the wires turn into the flames of birthday candles, and the screen is cut to one of the most important scenes in the series, the "Clockwork Mental Hospital" where David lives.
If you find this kind of opening very attractive, then there are equally wonderful openings in the next few episodes. For example, in episode 4, a middle-aged man in a retro costume sits in a space made of huge ice cubes, nervously telling stories. Just as important as how to start a story is how to end a story. Memorable endings include a one-shot battle scene that resembles a shooter, and a "three-part" battle with a mutant hunted down to the accompaniment of a sad folk song.
The series doesn't mention the era in which the story takes place, but the large number of psychedelic rock scores from the 60s and retro-inspired hairstyles and costumes make it guess that this should be the middle of the last century. However, the big tape recorder in the psychologist's office, the walkman hanging from the heroine's waist, should be a product of the 80s. Cary's lab equipment doesn't seem too far from our time, and the quirky coffee machine in the restaurant that tells stories is a "steampunk" artifact? Not to mention the "projection video phone watch" device, is not the future? This not only hints at the paradox of the environment, but also places the characters in an alternate world and age.
△ Retro shape
△ Voice Recorder | Coffee machine
△ Laboratory | Projection videophone watch
This contradiction and disharmony can actually be seen everywhere, some may be fleeting, but they all have their meanings. For example, the staff of the "three parts" wear funny pink beanies, like a big bad wolf disguised as a small white rabbit; Dr. Poole's office has a lot of eyeball-shaped ornaments, as if being spied on; the apartment that appears in David's memory, the plastic model with curly hair and clothes in the previous shot, in the next shot, the hairstyle is changed, and the clothes are gone, and it is obvious that David's memory is unreliable.
△ Three staff members wearing pink hats | On the shelves are eye ornaments
△ Curly plastic model wearing clothes | Short-haired plastic model without clothes
These tiny designs are like clues that the director quietly leaves everywhere, and if you can pick them up one by one and connect with the plot, you can sort out the seemingly chaotic story lines and get a lot of fun to watch. Another example is that after David kisses Sid, the picture is all upside down, and the audience cannot know what is happening at this time, but in fact, "upside down" has hinted at Sid's superpowers. Kelly's outfit is a perfectly symmetrical black-and-white stitching when she first appears, and we'll learn about Kelly's magical superpowers later.
What impresses people the most is definitely the two elements of vision and music. As input channels for viewing, our eyes and ears are constantly experiencing explosive experiences. You will not forget the bold colors in the picture, they seem to have their own soul.
The main color and the gown of the clockwork psychiatric hospital are orange, and it is not difficult to think of Kubrick's "Clockwork Orange". The lights turn red after a strange accident at the hospital, and David and Lenny talk in the bathroom, reminiscent of disturbing demons. The main color of the "three parts" that hunt down the mutants is indifferent mint green, and even the suit that David's sister Amy wore when she was captured by the "three parts" was also mint green. Summer Island, a sanctuary for mutants, is dominated by a soothing and safe earth color. Such a flamboyant color scheme is also often seen in Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel.
△ Orange of clockwork mental hospital
△ Demon's red
△ Mint green of three parts
△ The color of the earth of the island in summer
Creator Noah Holly once gave David's character Dan Stevens a 160-track playlist to help him shape the character, including both screams and Pink Floyd's songs. I think this playlist probably includes great episodes from the series as well. Pink Floyd's album "The Dark Side of the Moon," released at his peak, is the soul of the series. In episode 8, David's soundtrack to The Lab And the Devil appears in a row with three songs from the album: "speak to me", "breathe (in the air)", and "on the run".
The style of the series is precisely the uneasiness, fear, madness and delusion expressed on this album, and the heroine's name is taken from Pink Floyd's soul, Syd Barrett, the talented guitarist and composer who became insane under the influence of drugs.
There are also some unexpected musical clips in which David dances a Bollywood-style dance with his fellow patients in a mental hospital in a dream, with the soundtrack being "pauvre lola" by French singer Serge Gansbour. After the demon incarnated as Lenny takes the sheer advantage, there is a clip that resembles the opening silhouette of 007, where Lenny shows arrogance in Nina Simon's jazz-style tunes. Most jaw-dropping is the psychiatric battle between Lenny and the members of Summer Island, which turned into a black-and-white silent film style when "Boléro" sounded.
In addition to the above-mentioned Kubrick and Wes Anderson, the series can also see the shadow of many masters and classic elements. The villain "Yellow-Eyed Demon" is like a monster coming out of David Lynch's Twin Peaks and Mulholland Road, constantly devouring David's soul to feed himself, and his image changes over time. One of the figures, the "Angry Boy," is slender and dressed in a neat black suit, much like the eternal nightmare of an American child— the "slender man." The other figure was the opposite of him, a bloated fat man with a ragged suit.
△ Angry Boy | Yellow-eyed demon
The huge eyes that appear on the wall of David's old house have the eerie air of the surrealist master Dalí, such as the long-named painting "Face of Mae west that can be used as a surrealist apartment". Similar images have appeared in Hitchcock's thriller "Doctor Edward" ("spellbound"), in which the protagonist is also a mentally handicapped patient who gradually comes out of the shadows of life with the help of the female doctor he loves.
△ "The Swarm" | Doctor Edward
△ "May West's Face Can Be Used as a Surrealist Apartment"
Surrounded by all this dazzling graphics, overwhelmed sound effects, recurring footage, and jumping clips, we might wonder if the director is crazy. Noah Holly says that his original intention was to explore how a person would perceive the world if he had been told by the people around him that you were a lunatic, and then someone had told him that those crazy ideas were actually true. So, the perspective of the entire series is based on David's fragile nerves that are almost collapsing.
The absurd images we saw, the sneaky sounds and low groans we heard, were all experienced by David all the time. The narrative is obviously inconsistent or illogical, like David's altered and deleted memories, and in the end the audience is as confused as David is between reality and which are illusions.
The style of the whole series is like David's personality, nervous and anxious, manic, dark and depraved, bold and fearless, and even reckless, while not lacking a heartless sense of humor and hope and expectation for life. We enter the brain of a madman, see the world from his point of view, and experience a fragmented psychological state of a sperm patient when he is confused by the jumping and swinging of the episode.
Despite all the subversions in the way it is expressed, the core of the story is still a superhero who goes from being repressed to gradually awakening, and finally accepting and using his superpowers. He also conforms to the usual pattern of superhero origins, encountering major setbacks or not being understood and recognized, developing self-doubt, and unleashing repressed talents with the help of mentors.
The "yellow-eyed demon" is like an invincible demon, he is the dark side of people's hearts, and the continuous explosion of negative emotions nourishes him like nutrients, making him gradually stronger. From the "angry boy" born out of fear, to the "yellow-eyed fat man" who swells in the fall, to the "Lenny" who appears in the loss, the appearance of the heart demon is like a mirror. Lenny's attire also changed with the strength of the inner demon. Wearing a harness suit when he first appeared, the more powerful the costume became, and when David finally defeated the demons and dared to face it, Lenny's style was the most depressed.
In the mutant world, people like David who are "different" seem to have only two ways out, either to be treated as crazy by others, to suppress their instincts and become mediocre, or to be manipulated as weapons that can be used. Can he have a third option, to have the life of an ordinary person?
David's sister, Amy, asked sadly, "Why can't you have a life that everyone else has?" David replied, "Because I am sick." And we know the real answer is that you can't have someone else's life because you have a talent that other people don't have, even though that talent is more like a curse." And how you define the talent you have is the key, and your weakness may also be your most powerful superpower, and only by facing and accepting it can you complete this journey of self-discovery.
The series eventually returns to the core values of the X-Men series, and adopts an attitude of acceptance, tolerance and identification with people who are different from themselves. The story of superhero origins has always been more intriguing, and when they begin to skillfully use superpowers to save the world, they inevitably become boring. I hope that this superhero who has been living in a mental hospital for a long time, dancing awkwardly without a word, and playing the piano when he is willful, can continue to bring surprises in the second season.
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Reference quotes:
"they are ‘legion’: tracking the superhero show’s key horror references", by sean t. collins, new york times