Unhappy family, there is only one tragedy

Josue 2022-04-01 08:01:02

I used to think that Russian names were so long that I couldn't remember who was who, so I never got around to reading big tomes—except for a few short stories with characters. The original book of "War and Peace" has been read several times, and I always read a few pages and put it down in a hurry: Helena is so beautiful, but who wants to read the intricate narratives of relationships in the social field? Natasha's girlish feelings are always poetry - but a fool like me, even the girlish feelings in "A Dream of Red Mansions" were boring. The promised war—but it’s not as good as the hand-to-hand encounter as imagined.

In the words of a friend of mine back then, this book is so endearing that I fall asleep every time I open it, and I can never finish reading it.

=================
So when I opened the BBC show, I didn't really have much hope, I was just bored and looking for something to pass the time.

Unexpectedly beautiful.

As a non-original party, I can't comment on the success and failure of the adaptation based on the original. It's just from the perspective of the series, the stories of several families have been told very well (although it is only the fifth episode, the spoilers have already informed the ending in advance). The background of the war is strong and colorful, and the short-lived songs and dances in peacetime, and the glimmering little fortunes are also deeply outlined.

When I saw someone compare War and Peace with A Dream of Red Mansions before, I scoffed. It is only now understood that the two are indeed comparable. It's just that the BBC simplified the complexities and focused on the love and sorrow of several protagonist families-although Toweng said that unfortunate families in the world each have their own pains. But I hold the opposite opinion - happy families have their own luck; unhappy families, on the surface, have different troubles, but their unhappiness always comes from the same source.

Why do you say that? Let's look at the two main families:
1. Andre and Maria.

Andre's two lovers: Lisa and Natasha. Lisa is simple-minded, and Natasha is no better. Andrei quickly fell in love with both of them, dazzled and agitated. However, one ended up losing passion after marriage, while the other found a new love in just one year after Andre left. Poor Andrei, from beginning to end, loves the same person - a shadow of pure joy that reflects his thirst for passion. So Andre's death is appropriate - if the love is passion, then it is better to die before the passion fades, so as to leave the illusion of eternal love.

Maria's two lovers: Anatoly and Nikolai. Anatoly and Nikolai are largely the same, one is a prodigal and the other is a prodigal; but Anatoly is worse in nature, a madman and a gambler, while Nikolai was born out of his childhood of arrogance. And for Maria, she fell in love with them for exactly the same reason—whether they were good or bad, it wasn't her business; they were all heroes who saved her from her current life. If there is any chance of Maria being happy - and it is by chance, Nikolai is not the second Anatoly after all.

So what Andrei said to Maria before he finally went to war is an accurate summary of their lives: You stay here only because you are a woman and you can't get out. Andre's thirst for passion, Maria's indulgence in heroic complexes—largely stems from an escape from the deadly domestic atmosphere created by their grumpy, eccentric dad. Under this escapism, getting happiness is no different from winning the lottery.

2. Natasha and Nicola.

To borrow a comment from someone else, Natasha has emotional entanglements with all the main male characters in the show. If Helena enjoys greed without any worries out of moral corruption, the tragedy of Natasha is that she is bound by conscience and morality, but also unscrupulously indulges her desire for affection. The tragedy of her and Andrei, on the one hand, was due to the obstruction of Andrei's father, but on the other hand, the reason why Natasha was seduced by Anatoly was Natasha's strong desire for romantic, unconditional feelings eager. In this, Natasha is exactly like Nikolai - Nikolai said to his cousin Sonia, I love you, but I can't promise not to fall in love with someone else, and he did.

This raises a more profound question: Nikolai and Natasha's parents are obviously kind and loving to their children. Although the family's economic conditions are not good, they still allow the brothers and sisters, including Sonia, to grow up carefree and prosperous since childhood. Why did Nikolay become a prodigal and a heartless man, while Natasha betrayed her marriage contract, which almost led to her ruin?

The problem is that the love of parents for their children is conditional spoiling. When the family was well-off, Sonia was a well-behaved cousin, and Nikolay was a docile son despite all the money. When the economic situation is critical, if the wish cannot be fulfilled, Sonya becomes the broom star in the mouth of the parents, and Nikolai is not even blessed to go to the battlefield. On the surface, Nikolai and Natasha have a lot of love, but how can children not clearly understand the most subtle psychological motives of their parents? Unlike children who grew up in a love-deficient family, having love but never truly having unconditional love triggered Nikolai's irresponsible self-degeneration and Natasha's extreme desire for a dreamlike love. In this sense, Nikolai and Natasha are the luckiest people in the whole play - the plot of the hero saving beauty, let Nikolai, a weak boy who grew up in the hands of a woman, taste the taste of romantic love; Sony Although Ya is gentle and loyal, it is too boring; in contrast, Maria's love is sincere and dedicated, which can be seen from her obedience to her father. Those who understand can naturally appreciate the ecstasy of this kind of spiritual power. . Pierre, on the other hand, accompanies Natasha silently from the beginning to the end, running and giving. Although this fat man is clumsy and boring, his tolerance, company, and endless giving are what Natasha really needs.

=========================
"War and Peace" is just a novel and a TV series after all. In real life, Andre may have lived a suffocating marriage with Lisa all his life; Maria may have been deceived by Anatoly's eloquent words, only to find out the truth and divorced angrily. Natasha may never meet the ideal love in her heart. Nikolai may have married Sonia, and then continued to be a mature-looking child, living in endless quarrels between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, drinking too much and gambling too much.

These misfortunes are all the same: you don't get what you want, you don't know what you want, and you don't get what you want. So, -- so, maybe there are 10,000 ways to rewrite the ending, and 9,999 ways to lead to tragedy. And what we sigh, regret, like and dislike, maybe just out of Toon's compassion - tearing apart a corner of the real world, looking at it in a superficial way, and closing the wound silently,

- not all tragedies All teach laughter, and not all comedies are laughter.

View more about War & Peace reviews

Extended Reading
  • Jonatan 2022-04-01 08:01:02

    After watching three episodes, I really can't stand it anymore, an ugly love story of a group of ugly young people.

  • Braulio 2022-04-01 08:01:02

    The novel itself is too powerful, no matter how you shoot it, it is impossible to look bad. The biggest problem is the lack of Russian flavor, the brutality of roughness and ideological collision, while the British elegance is carefully polished, and the shelf is complete. As an adaptation, it has been considered fair.

War & Peace quotes

  • [first lines]

    Anna Pavlovna Scherer: But mon cher ami, how can you be so calm? This... this monster, Bonaparte - he's crossed into Austria now and... who's to say that Russia won't be next.

  • [last lines]

    Pierre Bezukhov: [voice-over] They say sufferings are misfortunes. But if I was asked, would I stay as I was before I was taken prisoner, or go through it all again? I would say for God's sake, let me be a prisoner again.

    Pierre Bezukhov: Come, let's sit and eat and give thanks for our good fortune.

    Pierre Bezukhov: [voice-over continued] When our lives are knocked off course, we imagine everything in them is lost. But it is only the start of something new and good. As long as there is life, there is happiness. There is a great deal... a great deal still to come.