"Hotel Spirit": Breaking the self-cult of mankind

Dannie 2022-01-06 08:01:30

"Hotel Wizard 3: Crazy Holidays" landed in theaters in the summer of 2018. It has been 6 years since the first movie was released, and the level of excitement has continued to increase. Compared with the two previous works, the story of this sequel is no longer confined to the hostel, but transferred to a luxury cruise ship in Bermuda. The scene is closed and open, liberating the imagination of the screenwriter, and the audiovisual effect is more abundant.

Gothic culture is a typical subculture, originated in the Renaissance period, and represents a state where the boundary between evil and sacred is blurred, and its style is mainly dark, horrible, and mysterious. In Gothic literature and film and television works, the protagonists are mostly monsters such as vampires wandering on the margins of human society. The "Hotel Wizard" series is a product of subculture incorporated into the mainstream culture. Many of the characters are the re-creation of classic Gothic images. The horror and mysterious atmosphere is replaced by a sense of neurotic comedy. The story becomes popular and lively, and the values ​​are also Tend to tradition. The series includes many classic monster images, such as Dracula and Frankenstein, which are well-known in Europe and the United States. At the same time, it incorporates modern popular elements, such as smart phones, ghost videos, brainwashing divine music, and so on. These attempts have made the audience base of the movie very broad, becoming a standard family movie.

Dracula is undoubtedly the most successful one in the adaptation of the classic monster image in the "Hotel Wizard" series. Strictly speaking, in the two previous works, Dracula is not the first protagonist, he is not the direct party in the story conflict. In the first half of the film, Dracula is a hindrance to the love between humans and vampires; the second is the self-recognition process of vampires and hybrids born by humans. Dracula just acts as a constant in this process. Crazy grandpa. However, Dracula's image is the fullest in the entire series. He has a complete character arc, and the contradictory parts of his character collide fiercely, and constantly improve himself in this collision. In the third "Crazy Holiday", Dracula finally became the protagonist of his own responsibility, and continued his contradictory side-abiding by the value of "you can only love one person in your life", but he fell in love with hopelessly after his wife's death for many years. Other women.

In the "Hotel Elf" series, Dracula contradicts the image of a vampire in popular perception. Although he still has superhuman powers, he is best at selling cuteness. In fact, Dracula’s "sprouting" is not an isolated incident. If you have a little bit of research on the history of vampire literature and film and television development, you will know that the image of vampire has always evolved with the development of the times, and the audience's attitude towards vampires is gradually changing. .

"Nosferatu" (1922)

"Nosferatu" (1922) can be regarded as the originator of vampire movies. The image of vampires created by this film is ugly and distorted and terrifying. Therefore, for a long time, vampires have tended to be negative demonic images in the audience's perception. In 1966, in the ABC TV series "Dark Shadows", Jonathan Fried's image of a vampire is closer to humans, and has the ability to reflect and empathize like humans. At this point, people began to change their stereotypes of vampires, and the image of vampires in film and television works gradually changed from bloodthirsty monsters to mysterious gentlemen. In 1992, Gary Oldman played Count Dracula in "The Four Hundred Years of Surprise". Although he is still an evil villain, he has a luxurious temperament, a full character, and a sad past, so he has also won many audiences. Sympathy and affection. In 1994, the film "Interview with the Vampire" based on Anne Rice's novel was released. The vampire played by Tom Cruise had a beautiful appearance and conquered a large number of female audiences. His charming charm almost obscured the character's villain. position. Since then, the image of vampires in film and television works has completely changed. Their appearance and character are no longer just close to humans, but they have become perfect existences beyond humans. Both the idol drama "The Vampire Diaries" and the girl movie "Twilight" are both. in this way. The development trajectory of the vampire image in the animation works is similar to that of the live-action film and television series. When it comes to "Hotel Wizard", the image of the vampire has been further innovated. While retaining the charm of the nobility, Dracula has turned into a nagging, arrogant, and neurotic single father.

Lester the vampire played by Tom Cruise

Similar to "Crazy Zoo", "Hotel Wizard" also created a utopia where all beings are equal. The former tells about the strong friendships established between different species and even natural enemies, while the latter is about monsters living in peace with humans and even in love with each other. However, compared with the former, the image in "Hotel Wizard" is more marginal and out of the ordinary. If "Crazy Animal City" metaphors the tolerance and connection between different races, then "Hotel Wizard" metaphors the mainstream culture's acceptance and understanding of subcultures and "normal people" to marginalized people. In fact, the development process of Gothic culture itself contains the connotation of rethinking the world, and is committed to exploring the tentacles of art to the complex and subtle aspects of human nature. In this sense, the innovation of "Hotel Wizard" is not completely Abandoned the Gothic cultural tradition.

Re-organizing the trilogy of "Hotel Wizard", it is not difficult to find that the whole series has been emphasizing the motif of "acceptance". The first part tells about the female vampire Mayvis fell in love with the human teenager in Form Two. The whole film revolves around the monster’s acceptance of human beings; the second part is a two-line narrative, Mayvis enters the human society and desires to be recognized. The half-blood son Dennis is also undergoing a critical identity phase; the theme of the third part is the two-way acceptance of monsters and humans. Dracula, who had a prejudice against humans and believed that vampires can only have true love once in their lives, fell in love with human captain Eri. Card, Erica is not an ordinary human, but the great-granddaughter of Van Helsing, the vampire's feud.

Looking at it from another angle, this process of acceptance and acceptance is actually a process of gradually breaking human self-cult. In the first part, the human boy enters the world of monsters, merges into the son-in-law of the vampire family, and becomes a completely non-mainstream and marginal person; in the second part, the biggest suspense in the whole film is whether the identity of the half-blood Dennis is a human or a vampire. In the end, the mystery was revealed, Dennis lived up to expectations and grew up as a vampire; the villain in the third part, Van Helsing, preached that humans and vampires are incompatible with each other, but it is very ironic that he has turned himself into a man-machine monster for longevity, which is no longer true. Human beings, this setting further crushed the self-cult of human beings. In "Crazy Holidays", the setting of Dracula falling in love with humans and enemies is not only an echo of the plot and philosophy of the previous work, but also a further sublimation of the theme.

Although the originality of "Hotel Elf" was born out of classic Gothic works, it is similar to the mainstream animation films in North America. It extols the truth, goodness, and beauty, promotes the importance of family, and affirms the power of love. In the end, it ended in a happy ending. Although the values ​​tend to be conservative, it must be admitted that for younger audiences, this may be the best way to deal with it.

View more about Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation reviews

Extended Reading
  • Gracie 2022-03-25 09:01:14

    Super cute, the music is hahaha, the end credits are also cute, I want to eat the raw meat drama version. cute thing.

  • Colt 2022-03-24 09:02:40

    I don't like the heroine very much, but it's still very funny, and the picture is not bad, and the whole family can watch it together.

Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation quotes

  • Eunice: Everybody just, please, watch the hair. WATCH THE HAIR!

  • Dennis: There you are, Tinkles! Don't worry, we're almost there.