◎Chen Jianxin
The fourth season of " Stranger Things " has indeed lived up to expectations. On Douban, its score has jumped to a new high of 9.4. Although the last two episodes of the nine episodes were artificially cut out and were scheduled to be released on July 1 in the name of "the second half", the long seventh episode has eliminated all the disconnections, abruptness and inconsistencies in the first three seasons. Give a satisfactory explanation - considering that the first season was launched in 2016, we can't help but marvel: the lie 6 years ago can actually be fulfilled.
can find various words to praise the fourth season of "Stranger Things", such as: amazing imagination, delicate pictures, fast pace, brilliant performances... You can also find various words to express your own transcendence, such as: the story is old-fashioned , many old jokes, lies for the sake of telling lies, a combination of various strategies...
However, beyond these, "Stranger Things" still has a charm that goes beyond description. Only when compared with various domestic fantasy dramas in recent years can we suddenly realize: It turns out that it can tell complicated stories, but we will only tell complicated stories. How does the story of
roll on its own? Why does
make the story complicated?
Because a single story is too monotonous, it is nothing more than "occurrence-development-climax-end", which corresponds to the human way of understanding - subconsciously, we will use storytelling to see the world, which is the main source of information input. channel. But in fact, stories are not the essence of the world. Stories distort the world and present us with a false image. Therefore, the more people's cognitive abilities improve, the more they strive to tell complicated stories.
The fourth season of "Stranger Things" can even be said to have five parallel lines. Although the main line is three lines, such as Soviet spies and other lines, it is only a half line or hidden line. It is more decorative than practical, but it is also dizzying and breathless. An integral part of Qi.
The story is too complicated, and it is inevitably draggy, slow, and messy. This is true of the first two episodes. There are two reasons: the action line is slow, and the monster does not appear until the end of the first episode; the campus triangle scene is the root of all evil, and it is difficult for the audience to relate to it.
's procrastination may be intentional - to pave the way for Little 11's emotional line. After all, in the first two seasons, Xiao 11 was a standard type of character who was only responsible for being sweet and harmless. But the success of the lie in the entire fourth season depends entirely on her to reverse it - deep in Xiao 11's heart, there is another Xiao 11. Therefore, we had to use persistent PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) to uncover her history. It's just that she had a close fight with PTSD, and that after losing her superpowers, she was unable to protect herself and encountered school bullying. This contrast is not too strong and can only slow down the narrative.
However, the small sense of procrastination accumulated in about two episodes creates opportunities for drastic changes in the plot - the "heart-stirring" episodes in episodes 3 and 4 are not without reason. It comes from the quiet reversal of the core contradiction: how to establish a foothold since childhood. , becomes how to deal with monsters.
As a result, the fourth season of "Stranger Things" realized the "self-rolling" of the plot - different narrative lines pushed each other, iterated and crushed each other, making the narrative rhythm faster and faster.
If it is not rich or novel, it means there is no story.
In recent years, domestic fantasy dramas have become popular. Compared with the fourth season of "Stranger Things", they seem rough.
When talking about fantasy, the whole place will be filled with smoke. There will be nothing but ancient costumes, martial arts, and flying. In recent years, ancient artifacts have also been requisitioned, and clothing, daily utensils, ancient terms and even the history of material civilization have been inserted into the narrative. These parts have nothing to do with the rationality of the plot or the shaping of the characters, but are just to add an eye-catching device. . The result is increasingly complex details and increasingly flat stories.
The fourth season of "Stranger Things" is also nostalgic, but they are just the background. People who are nostalgic can see it, but people who are not nostalgic can ignore it.
The fourth season of "Stranger Things" pays more attention to selling lifestyles, such as the club culture on campus at that time, the background of the struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union, and the popular hippies and basketball craze. It was a time of confusion and helplessness, so it was more interesting. It was fuller and more diverse than life today, which in itself constitutes a new story element.
In our fantasy drama, the goals of all actions are too clear. In addition to supporting justice and unifying the divine world, love is a must-have seasoning, and this love basically follows the path of "misunderstanding - getting closer - misunderstanding again - getting closer - success" mode. Each character accepts daily life unconditionally, which highlights the unreality of this life and makes it unworthy of nostalgia.
The fourth season of "Stranger Things" also has some "canned plots", but it uses too many styles, which exceeds the audience's depth of reading-when most parts have never been seen by the audience, then it is will be recognized as a new story.
Story quality comes from the underlying design of the story
In recent years, domestic film and television drama producers have also begun to pay attention to the richness of the story. Judging from the results, it only increases the bizarreness of the plot. Behind this lies the question of "why tell stories?" The purpose of
storytelling is to understand the world.
Every modern person is locked in a "self", relying on external information to confirm themselves and gain a sense of reality. When we talk about a certain TV series, we are not necessarily interested in its creation rules, but to prove that we are in the same time stream and have common concerns.
Film and television stories are by no means ordinary stories. They must be topical, communicable and ritualistic. What it really wants to solve are the questions that haunt our souls: Is this world real? who I am? What is hidden behind the appearance?
This is why, the more advanced science becomes, the more people love stories about ghosts and gods, and the more they long for such a world to really exist. Because the clearer the reality, the greater the oppression the individual will experience. The world should be curved, and as human beings, we need a sense of mystery to comfort our hearts and confirm ourselves. In this sense, stories are people, and they are only valid when combined with people's needs and spiritual dilemmas.
Xiao 11, under the influence of mysterious power, transcended good and evil, which brought her inescapable suffering. Only through cover-up and deception can she gain herself, and cover-up and deception are so fragile, and the mysterious world is still chasing behind. Kill her.
The story of Little 11 is a metaphor for everyone's adolescence - suddenly closing themselves off, struggling and doubting in their own secrets, amidst the squeeze of good and evil, thinking that they can choose freely, but being conquered by fear again and again.
In contrast, the stories of domestic fantasy dramas basically stay in the hypnotic stage: providing a utopia that is slightly higher than reality and partially enhances human abilities, such as immortality, flight, etc., but there is no abyss of self, and There is no built-in suffering. In that world, one does not have to bear the pain of growing up.
Utopia provides a placebo, while "Stranger Things" provides a different world. Reflected in the narrative, the former will become slower and slower and more cliche, while the latter will become faster and faster, and the possibilities will become wider and wider.
Story is a cognitive tool for people, and its motivation comes from people. The fourth season of "Stranger Things" is a joy to watch, not just in terms of imagination and storytelling, but in terms of the underlying design.
If you don’t know what to shoot, just shoot a good story. If the logic of
is more complicated, the story will be more complicated; if the elements are more complicated, the story will be more complicated.
Facts have proved that film and television works need "how to shoot", but without "what to shoot", it is difficult to establish "how to shoot". What determines market success is probability, and that is unsustainable. Individual decisions are not the key reason for the peaks and troughs. The so-called rules are mostly artificial comfort.
Therefore, the fourth season of "Stranger Things" is quite enlightening: if you don't know what to make, then make a good story. As for what a good story is, a good story is one that enhances human cognition and helps humanity grow. It may not be bizarre and novel, it may not be unique, it may not be eye-catching, and it may not be abrupt, but a good story must be complex and not cumbersome.
"The fourth episode made me cry so much. In the first season, I stayed up all night on my cot in the college dormitory to watch it. Now I have graduated three years ago, and they have all grown up, and they are about to say goodbye." ” One netizen left this comment on Douban’s “Stranger Things” Season 4.This just goes to show that since human nature is constantly growing and it always needs comfort, good stories will always have vitality.
can produce good stories, and fantasy dramas can turn around.
