Recently, the American TV series "Yellowstone" was launched, which is regarded by the industry as the best TV series in the early autumn. On the Internet, the reputation is very high. In the screenwriting circle, some friends also praised this TV series. So, I took the time to watch two episodes today. Immediately became addicted.
Now that "Yellowstone" has been broadcast to the ninth episode, I have only watched two episodes, so I am not qualified to comment too much on the plot. It's just the style of this TV show that deeply infected me. Because since last year, among the more exciting TV dramas in China, apart from a few spy war dramas, the most popular ones are female womb fights and love fight dramas. Whether it's the male lead or the female lead, the yin inside is too heavy, and suddenly watching this masculine TV series, as a man, can you not enjoy it?
To sum up, the plot of "Yellowstone" is actually a family of farmers in the western United States. How to constantly accept challenges, defeat competitors one by one, and maintain the honor and prosperity of the family in the development of unpredictable times. As for the outcome, because the plot is not over yet, I will not make a comment.
Kevin Costner, the protagonist of the movie "Dances with Wolves," plays the head of the family, John Dutton, the owner of one of the largest farms in the United States and the governor of Montana. He has three sons and one daughter, Lee, Case, Jamie and Bess. Among them, Jamie is the youngest of the four. Lee worked hard on the farm with his father, Case was a gay lawyer, and Beth was a sassy woman. Jamie, a retired military man, married an Indian woman and left the farm. (The story of "Dancing With Wolves" is actually in the same vein as Jamie's)
At the beginning of the plot, John Dutton faces a triple siege of Indians, real estate developers, and politicians. From the perspective of the film, there may also be large multinational oil production companies involved in the back. These people are coveting his farm, and he's trying to keep his farm. This is the main contradiction of the film and the driving force of the plot.
In the first episode, the Indians designed the farm's cattle to enter the Indian territory, but did not allow the Dutton family to take it back. So John Dutton stormed the Indian territory, but in the late night confrontation, the eldest son Lee was unfortunately shot. It just so happened that the younger son Jamie came from the house to relieve the siege. Seeing that the elder brother was seriously injured, he immediately killed the Indian with a gun in person without saying a word. The Indian that Jamie killed was none other than his wife's brother.
In the second episode, in order to cover up the murder of his younger son Jamie, Old John began to send killers to silence some insiders.
Just seeing this, I suddenly thought of the classic gangster movie "The Godfather". "The Godfather" has the same plot, the difference is that New York's gangster family competes for territory, rather than the family and racial grievances of the American West. Coincidentally, the family Victor Corleone also has three sons and one daughter. The eldest son was also killed in the battle, the second son was cowardly and incompetent, and the youngest son Mike, the real protagonist, was also a retired soldier.
Whether or not the storyline of "Yellowstone" is a parody of "The Godfather" is something I can't say yet. But it's safe to say that the style of "Yellowstone" is a complete imitation of "The Godfather." Introverted, quiet, but suddenly violent. That's one of the reasons the show is so masculine. That's also the biggest factor that excites me.
In recent years, Chinese TV dramas, even those with big male protagonists, lack the masculinity they should have. In the "Langya Bang" a few years ago, Mei Changsu was wonderful, but he was a very feminine and sick man. Another example is the two spy war dramas "Kite" and "Mask" that were well-reviewed last year and this year. Although the male protagonist is a spy, his appearance is not high, his muscles are not hard, and he can only dodge and dodge.
This is the case with the big male protagonists, not to mention the big female protagonists. Not to mention, those variety shows in Chinese TV shows that dress up enchantingly and talk like a girl. Therefore, in the early autumn, there was a wave of criticism of men's "mothering" in the Chinese media, and even the official media came to join in the fun. For a while, whether it is good or bad for a man to "mother" has become the focus of debate.
Men's make-up, and even women's make-up, is not only found in China, but all over the world. Some of these people just think it's beautiful, and some really choose their sexual orientation. Whether it is good or bad is not an accurate judgment, and it is not easy to draw conclusions even if it is thought that it will affect the masculinity of future generations of men.
When I say this, I am not talking about mud. In practice, it is very normal for men to have some characteristics of women, and women to have some characteristics of men. Therefore, the gender characteristics of men and women are like an acid-base PH value table. In the middle, men and women, like acid and base, have a completely separate feature, which is the difference in external organs. But the closer you get to the middle, the more opposite-sex traits in men and women, and even some special men and women will psychologically cross the middle and show some behaviors that are only of the opposite sex.
So, I don't think it's abnormal for some men to be "mothery". But why is the public so panicked by the performance of these men, thinking that these men will affect the descendants of the Chinese people?
In fact, the masculine TV series "Yellowstone" is a good mirror. Most of them are very masculine men, and there are also very masculine women. But the second son, Keith, is a homosexual, apparently a man of feminine qualities. The youngest son Jamie's Indian wife Monica (played by a Chinese) is beautiful, slender, sexy, and obviously a very feminine woman.
What this mirror shows is that in China there are very feminine women, masculine women, and more feminine men. However, China lacks masculine men.
This is like the acid-base PH value table, the acid side is full, but the alkaline side can only reach 8.0 at most. More than this threshold, there are very few masculine men in China. This is probably what the Chinese are really panicking about.
Reaching the full value of 10.0 does not depend only on the muscles on the body, nor is it possible to reach the full value by being tall and burly. In the "Yellowstone" play, the third son Jamie is not a sturdy guy in the conventional sense, but a handsome little boy. But when he shot his eldest brother, he didn't even hesitate, didn't even think about it, he fired five shots in a row, and the last shot killed him. At this moment, Jamie's masculinity was undoubtedly at full capacity, and I was shocked even outside the screen.
It can be seen that masculinity is manifested both physically and mentally, and it can be called full. The Chinese are not in a physical problem, but in a spiritual problem, which is why there is a lack of masculine men.
Just like the current Chinese TV dramas and movies, it has been too long in Chinese culture to promote the decisiveness, bravery, and decisiveness of men. Too many men are entangled in various calculations, too much. Even if you get an advantage and win in the end, you always have a plan and don't look happy enough.
For example, last year's hit "The Alliance of Counsellors", the Three Kingdoms Sima Yi in it is indeed more in line with the characteristics of wittiness in history. But the real heroes of the Three Kingdoms, in the real history, which one is not a full-fledged commander. Zhuge Liang gave Sima Yi women's clothes, but Sima Yi wore women's clothes, almost mad at Zhuge Liang. Isn't this the best prediction for the current Chinese society?
There is no other reason, the only reason is that traditional Confucian morality castrated the spirit of Chinese men.
Confucius' father was a strong man, and Confucius was able to open a hundred stone bows. When he was in power, he killed a Shaozheng Mao without blinking an eye, and he was not afraid of criticism from future generations. Therefore, Confucius said that people should be "gentle, kind, respectful, frugal and yielding", and he did so after fully publicizing his character and philosophy. In "Yellowstone", which one is not a polite gentleman, and which one is not "five and four beautiful" in ordinary times? But does it prevent them from suddenly drawing guns and shooting?
It is a pity that the further back the Confucian tradition is, the more it succumbs to the pressure of political kingship and suppresses human nature more and more. When Confucius was still able to get a divorce, after the Ming Dynasty, divorce became a different kind. When Confucius went to see the beautiful Nanzi, he couldn't help but be moved, but Chinese men in later generations would all pretend to be upright gentlemen. Fortunately, men in Ming and Qing Dynasties could recite poems in brothels. Now, when there is a sexual scandal, Chinese men are almost always disgraced and disgraced. Home is broken.
Under the catalysis of hormones, men will inevitably have the tendency to "kill, steal, prostitute and drink". Under the blow of morality, these five are increasingly regarded as the dirty side of human nature. It's really evil, it's really dirty. But the question is, does morality really hit these natural human natures?
No!
Morality can never overcome human nature. These evil and filth will only be remade, in some indirect, secret way. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Hou Fangyu and Li Xiangjun could talk about national affairs in a brothel, and prostitutes could also be patriotic. Nowadays, even Wang Quan'an, an internationally renowned director, can only live on, talking about film art?
Morality cannot reduce the evil and filth of human nature, but stimulates more secrets. Naturally, when men show their nature, they only become more feminine, competing in a feminine and less morally bounded way. Over time, this femininity will become the main characteristic of men in a country. Those men who directly publicize their nature will be regarded as outliers and nailed to shame.
Therefore, the victory of the "Me Too" movement is definitely not the victory of all women, but the victory of all hypocrites, until all men are forced to become "hypocrites". China has already gone through this process, while Europe and the United States are just getting started.
The value of "Yellowstone" is that it shows real men. These men are lecherous, greedy, murderous, and do all kinds of evil, but they are also like the heroes in "Water Margin", loyal to their hearts and courage, and can be regarded as family role models for their relatives.
A real man will never become a woman, he will never be a hypocrite, and he will never make a nation or a country too feminine.
The same goes for The Godfather. China is not lacking such works of art. In Hong Kong, John Woo's "The True Color of Heroes" and "Blood Two Heroes" are all films that show real men. In the end, "Young and Dangerous" appeared in Hong Kong, a modern urban chivalrous gangster film. It is a pity that in Taiwan and mainland China, where modern moral concepts have been castrated, they are quickly used as negative teaching materials and become moral
target of criticism.
History is never about morality. The most important turning point in all history was opened by a man with a wolf-wolf character. These morally "full of evil" men are all guilty of going to hell, burning, killing and looting, opening up an era of long-term peace, creating conditions for the "mothering" of future generations, and creating conditions for the history writers who criticize him. Peaceful environment, and later generations are rarely grateful to him - because he is not a moral perfection.
But this is the truth of history. In the era of "girly" fashion, I appreciate these so-called "villains" more and more.
Maybe, you didn't put on makeup, but your heart has been covered with thick dust, making you disguise and wearing a mask, so that you can't live in this world as a real person until you are caught by those real people. wipe out.
If it's not really alive, why shouldn't it be wiped out? This is heaven.
(End of full text)
Notes:
1. Hou Fangyu was a famous literati in the late Ming Dynasty, and Li Xiangjun was a famous prostitute in the Qinhuai River in Nanjing. The two fell in love after meeting in a brothel. Later, the Qing Dynasty destroyed Nanming and invaded Nanjing. Hou Fangyu surrendered to the Qing army, and Li Xiangjun was so angry that he vomited blood. Later, people in the Qing Dynasty compiled this story into the famous opera "Peach Blossom Fan".
2. The Me Too movement is an online campaign against sexual assault and harassment launched by American women on social media since 2017, and has extended to real life. The word means "me too", which means "I too have been sexually assaulted or harassed". So far, American film tycoon Harvey Weinstein, famous movie star Kevin Spacey, etc. have all been involved in this movement and have suffered major setbacks in their careers.
3. Shaozheng Mao: Shaozheng is an official name, and Mao is a name. At the same time as Confucius, he was fickle, he also recruited apprentices, and even attracted Confucius' students. In the 14th year of Duke Ding of Lu, Confucius was appointed as the chief minister of the State of Lu, acting as the prime minister. Seven days after taking office, he killed Shaozheng Mao under the Dongguan of Liangguan, and his body was exposed for three days. When Confucius answered the questions of Zigong and other disciples, he said: Shaozhengmao is "the hero of the villain ". And Ze " has five bad qualities and has the ability to confuse people to rebel. This move of Confucius was often criticized in later generations.
4. Nanzi: A Queen of the State in the Spring and Autumn Period (cannot be called Queen, because her husband did not call King). She was originally a princess of the Song Dynasty, married to Duke Ling of Wei. With a beautiful appearance, it is said that she had an affair with a minister of Duke Ling of Wei, but historians doubt it.
This article was created by the WeChat public account "Guanshiying"
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