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Blood, Sex & Royalty (2022)
A binge-watch and an Anne Boleyn with feminism
Blood, Sex & Royalty, the three-episode mini adaptation of Henry VIII-Anne Boleyn's story is a binge-watch. To be honest, I finished it all at once and totally enjoyed the flow. Netflix continues to add elements of drama into documentary, making it difficult to define its genre. Indeed it is a modern adaptation of a classical story, as shown in its characterization, lines, and background music. Although these innovations might offend some conventional historical drama lovers, the contemporary elements add modernism to the series.
Being one of the most legendary queens, Anne Boleyn's story has been told over and over again yet still captures the audience's attention. Netflix's adaptation selects the most splendid occasions of her short life and makes her narrate her story from her POV. Definitely, it is still a documentary with some authors and professors making comments at the proper time.
This time, Anne Boleyn is interpreted from a feminist perspective. The plot adds some dominant-submissive elements in it, with Anne trying to make the King of England follow her rules but prove to fail her ambition. Anne believes the whip is her instrument to tame a man, but indeed it is only a toy to please the arrogant King.
With her destiny dependant on the man's love other than her own power, Anne is doomed to fail. Even though Catherine is beloved by the people and have strong allies in Europe, she could not compete with Henry VIII's will. By contrast, Anne comes from a common aristocratic family, and her whole power comes from Henry VIII. Anne believes she is the heroine of a fairy tale and wins over the King's heart. Indeed, her untamed triggers the interest of an alpha man, protecting her from experiencing the destiny of a typical mistress like her sister Mary. However, her crown and relationship with Henry VIII are based on her promise of a male heir. Once she can not accomplish her promise, Henry VIII takes her life as the price.
Industry (2020)
S1: Investment Banking Adventures of Generation Z
The investment bank, the background of the story, sits at the top of the pyramid and shapes the sketch of capitalism. The intern, the protagonist of the story, is at the bottom of the chain, and their life has not yet been finalized. The conflict between the background and characters makes Industry full of dramatic tension.
Set against the backdrop of the fictional investment bank Pierpoint, Industry has the ambition to present the workplace stories of a group of Gen Z. Screenwriters Mickey Down and Konrad Kay have previous investment banking experience, which makes them more confident and calm in showing the financial ecology. In addition, the writers have three industry consultants to ensure the relative authenticity of the entire story.
The entire story expresses the dynamic power relations through five graduates of different classes, races, genders, and sexual orientations, and their interactions with each other and with regular employees and clients. It is interesting to see how the investment banking culture crushes and reshapes these individuals. Besides, the story is filled with all kinds of sex and drugs, as fledgling graduates indulge themselves in the tangled web of relationships, taking relief and self-discovery from a repressive work environment.
We are not born the way we look now, the environment shapes us to be that way.
Hari is the first casualty of this batch of interns. Before he could earn a large sum of money for himself and his family or achieve self-actualization, he collapsed in the toilet cubicle because of working overtime. Hari's storyline echoes the real-life tragedy of 21-year-old Bank of America intern Moritz Erhardt, who died in the shower of his east London apartment in 2013. Hari's death in an investment bank makes him a piece of social news, however, since money never sleeps, many more Hari will ignore the risks of their bodies and continue in these cutting-edge industries.
Harper's portrayal uses the antihero narrative. She's not a good person, but a self-serving, unscrupulous person who will do anything to get her end. She has no background, no good looks, and no elite education, but she refuses to waste her high IQ and struggles to gain a firm foothold in London. After Harper completes her first high-value order, she rewards herself with a suite in a luxury hotel. When she is holding red wine in a goblet and overlooking London from the floor-to-ceiling window, she is seduced by the luxury brought by wealth and will continue to go on unscrupulously.
Yasmin's grace, poise and willfulness are given by privilege. She can introduce partners to new hedge funds for Pierpoint, and she can throw parties at her Notting Hill mansion. As a princess, Yasmin takes care of her boyfriend, alms to Harper for friendship, and teases Robert's feelings. Compared to Harper, Yasmine is still a nicer person.
Robert is a marginal person with little sense of presence in the workplace. He is the most oppressed person under various power relations, but also a relatively lucky person. At the end of the first season, he finally owns a suit that symbolizes his new status. Even though his supervisor was laid off, Adler's liking made him secure his position at Pierpoint.
Gus is one of the few people who has not been assimilated by the environment, and he has always maintained his soberness and independence. Sara invites him to dine at the executive restaurant. She has always been optimistic about his mixed identity of male, upper-class background, first-class education and ethical minority. This narrative is both sound and politically correct. But for him, his own privilege and his experience at Pierpoint make him the only one in this cohort of graduates who takes the initiative to say "no".
Even if Eric is not the protagonist, he has the most vibrant character in the first season. He succeeds in being an inspiring story for Asians, as he manages to make a fortune in a London investment bank and marries a white Google executive. However, on the way up the career ladder, Eric becomes a highly aggressive person, which makes others love and/or hate him. Eric's sympathy with Harper's low-level identity allows him to exert controlling protection over her, providing her with opportunities to display her talents.
This protection from empathy is warm, far better than Daria and Sara's feminism and culture-altering inspirational nonsense. For every graduate, the role of the direct leader is crucial. They are supposed to be mentors, leading young people out of the confusion and overcome difficulties in the real world. However, Kenny may have a negative effect on Yasmin, and neither does Clement on Robert. Gus is more exiled, and Eric's role in Harper is more complicated.
After all, these young people need to rely on themselves to steer their own lives.
After watching 8 fast-paced episodes, I really like the story. Even though people are all exploring themselves, young people from investment banks appear more "noble". I am fascinated by the scenery of investment banks, the self-exploration of young people, the struggles of the middle and lower classes of society, and the collision of various human natures in a culture that is doomed to be toxic.
RIF day arrives, the survivors are revealed, Harper, Yasmin, Robert temporarily pass the level. They will continue to collide in the coming days, fighting in the world of money and power.
Spartacus: Blood and Sand (2010)
The slaves trembled the Rome
When Spartacus wisely captured Tiberius and ordered the Romans to gladiatorially fight to tribute to Chris, the roles of the slaves and Romans were switched. The slaves became spectators in the simple improvised gladiatorial arena, invigorated by the blood of their enemies, while the Romans became gladiators and were slain by the slaves. This is however an exhilarating silhouette, but not the end of the story.
It was a tragic story of slaves who fought in the face of their fated end, knowing that they could not do it. The Spartacus Revolt, which took place at the end of the Roman Republic, was the largest of the three slave wars in ancient Rome. More importantly, unlike the first two slave wars, which took place in Sicily, this time the revolt hit Rome itself hard. The entire war lasted three years, and the insurgent army may have exceeded 300,000 men at its peak. However, the insurgents had limited fighting power and cohesion, and many of them were old, weak, women and children.
Amidst the violence and sexual spectacle, what sustained the entire story was the strong spiritual power of the slaves. These slaves dared to rebel against their masters and against Rome. The skills they developed to survive became their most powerful weapon. They fought in blood, and they were the first to defeat the Roman legions, making Rome tremble. Even at the last moment, they never retreated in the face of the fully-equipped Roman elite like dark clouds. For them, it was better to fall by the sword than to die by the whip of the master.
The gladiatorial arena of ancient Rome was lofty, but it was built on the blood of slaves. The life of the nobles was rotten, and their playfulness and competition for fame and fortune were all at the expense of the slaves. The gladiators were flesh and blood, and their lives unfolded in blood and sand, licking blood from the tips of swords, but their lives were like grass. When the dignity of gladiators and slaves was trampled, love was deprived, and survival was not guaranteed, Spartacus, the former prayer for rain, started a wave of rebellion, for love, freedom, revenge, and liquidation to the Romans.
Sadly, it was ultimately a haphazard and rabble-rousing group. As the leaders of the revolt, Spartacus and the others did not share the same motive. Gannicus was the only free gladiator, after the death of Oenomaus, he replaced his best friend on the path of the Avengers. However, although he was courageous, he was more of a wanderer in the queue, unable to bring more cohesion. Chris was the second in command in the team. After Nivea was sold away and he was poisoned, Chris chose to rush out of the training school with Spartacus. After finding Nivea, he trained her as a warrior and spent the rest of his life taking revenge on the Romans, the difference in philosophy led to Chris's departure. Revenge was Chris's mission, but in the face of the absolute strength gap, death was the inevitable end.
Spartacus experienced stages of mental state. After being forced to kill Vali, Spartacus was aware of the lie of glory. He found that every fight he had in the gladiatorial arena was only a futile increase in the wealth and interests of the slave owner. When he found out that his wife Sura died at the hands of Batiatus, he chose to pay in blood. In the process of leading the uprising, Spartacus treated the people as Sura with compassion. He did not want to take revenge on the Romans. Instead, he wished to spread the idea of equality and freedom, and fight for the ultimate freedom of the former slaves. Living far from the war to graze horses and sing was he and Sura's unfulfilled wish, and he hoped that others would realize it.
The slave-owning class was almost entirely villainous, and their profiles were rich and three-dimensional, their desires and struggles portrayed in detail. If it were not for the never-ending greed of the slave owners, the slaves would not have met their end and would not have embarked on the path of revenge. The day of reckoning finally came, the world ushered in the baptism of blood, Spartacus, at the cost of their lives, ushered in freedom for some of the slaves, so that the slave owners were forced to improve the living conditions of the slaves. More importantly, Spartacus brought the belief in the pursuit of freedom to the people. They no longer fought for the slave owners, nor for the gods, but for themselves. They chose to live their own way.
Finally, I want to discuss about the love in the play. Whether in the gladiatorial arena or the real battlefield, love was the most tender comfort in the battle where life was repeatedly threatened. Tough guy Chris's consistent love for Nivea was enviable. He kept his promise to Nivea, rescuing her from the mines and accompanying her to repair herself by taking revenge on her enemies. Though important than life, Spartacus' Sura was more of a symbol to him in the viewer's eyes. In the second season, Mira's support for Spartacus was more heartwarming. Mira's role in the insurgent army was indispensable, she was a female warrior, always cloak and dagger. Saxa was also a beautiful and tough character like Mira, but Saxa's emotional attitude was more dashing than Mira. Even if Gannicus found someone else, she was still a beautiful and strong female general, and also found her own happiness.
Persischstunden (2020)
A unique World War II movie
Compared with other World War II movies, Persian Lessons is unique. It does not portray the cruelty of death, but more of the softness of human nature. Even in the horrific environment of war and the concentration camp, a German police officer learned a fake Persian from a Jew. The Jew Gilles, under the threat of death, creatively creates a fake Persian language with the names of 2,840 prisoners, which becomes his tool to stay alive. To show the daily life of this concentration camp, the celebrations of the officers and the chaotic relationships between men and women, as well as the Italian brotherhood in a chaotic world, are interwoven into the main plot of the Persian language lessons. Beneath this uncertainty of war, some subtle emotional changes still arise between these two men. Koch, a German officer, moves from distrust and beatings to trust and rescue of Gilles. He befriends him in fake Persian, reveals his family's situation, and forgives his offense and outbursts. And finally, he saves his life.
Fedeltà (2022)
E6: Yesterday once more
Although this 6-episode short drama is not rated high, I still like it very much. The soundtrack, photography and storytelling are quite good.
The last episode is especially wonderful, and it represent yesterday. The beginning of the episode shows how Margherita and Carol met, and the end of the gathering recreates the scene sensually. Aurally, Tchaikovsky's music is a link between past and present. Visually, the framed mirror of the floor-to-ceiling windows is another connection. Meanwhile, yesterday's reappearance is ironic. Even if the beginning is as wonderful as a novel episode, even if two people are physically obsessed with each other and spiritually confidant, a marriage can still become lifeless and balanced by a 20-year-old female college student.
In the last episode, the two are also the mirror of each other. They shine in their respective area, which is inseparable from their devotion and persistence to themselves in the past and present. This actually shows that, outside of a relationship, whether or not to have self-space is more important. At most stages of our lives, we need to invest our energy to build and shine, regardless of gender.
It's an interesting couple relationship. The man is a writer, a writing course professor, and the woman is a real estate agent. The former is a very emotional profession that requires free, romantic, and unconstrained imagination, while the latter is a highly rational profession that needs to quickly measure gains and losses in the real world and help others complete important transactions in life. The two did a decent job in their roles, but they seemed to be a little off. At the same time, in this relationship, women make sacrifices and put their dreams on hold in support of her husband's writing.
This is a husband and wife relationship in which men cheated first and women followed. Cheating always refers to the fact that one of the spouses is the first to break away from the normal track of marriage and life, which must have a major impact on life. The question is, why did Carl cheat? Apparently, he was stuck in his daily life and needed some inspiration to advance his creative writing. But, at the last minute, when he found out that his wife had also cheated, he gave up the work and turned to become a publisher.
This is a TV series that pleases women. It tells a story of women's awakening, and reminds women once again that the focus must be on themselves. Margherita is saddened by Carol's infidelity. Because after getting married, she gave up her dream and focused her life on becoming a virtuous domestic helper, but she got a conventional ending of her husband's falling in love with a twenty-something college student. However, Carol's infidelity also makes Margherita re-examine her life. She chose to pick up her old dream from an old box and become a career woman, starting a decorating company. She is grateful to the handsome masseuse. Because to a certain extent, she took advantage of him and successfully used him as a tool person who would throw it away. In the relationship between the two, she took the initiative to give hints, and the other party responded positively. But in turn, he helped her start over.
After two-way derailment and looking for life, the two people are still not satisfied with the status quo, so the ending is an open ending. Of course, compared to Carol's loss, Margherita has won back the dominance over the relationship that was in her hands from the beginning. At this time, she is mature, beautiful and radiant both in her career and relationship.