文|Linghu Boguang
20 days have passed since January 2022. Among domestic literary and artistic works, there are no popular games, music, cartoons and movies. The only absolute hit right now is the TV series "The Beginning". I don't think I need to say much about how popular this work is in China. However, "The Beginning" is about time loops and preventing explosions, so some people have been accusing it of plagiarizing "Source Code".
This will be over until now and some people are still saying this, but I believe that with the broadcast of the thirteenth episode. I believe everyone can see how good "The Beginning" is. This work is not plagiarized in terms of subject matter or setting. The most important thing is that its expression is currently a realistic work.
I personally think that as long as it is not unfinished, it will be as good as "Mountains and Seas", and it will definitely not be the 8-point work it is now.
"The Beginning" has been said to have plagiarized "Source Code"? So is it plagiarized?
The standard of "plagiarism" has always been very clear. If the theme and setting are the same, it is not considered plagiarism. It is mainly the narrative framework, character settings, and plot trends that are similar on a large scale. As for the other kind, it is plagiarism of image style. , even if the storyboard , lens processing, and actor positions of a certain sequence are the same, it is considered plagiarism.
A martial arts drama that Chinese audiences are familiar with. It starts with a group of bad guys going to exterminate a family, and a child survives by chance. Then there are three general settings for the characters. Either the child is raised by the villain, or the child goes wandering. There may be an adventure, or an old friend suddenly appears and rescues the child. In the next eighteen years, the child grew up and went down the mountain to experience, and ended up falling in love with the hero and heroine who was exterminated.
This concept and setting can be found in countless martial arts dramas. Aren’t the settings of martial arts killing families and children growing up all plagiarism?
The time loop of "The Beginning" is just the basic setting of this theme, and of course it is not considered plagiarism. However, we still feel that when "The Beginning" came out, many people could only think of "Source Code" for the first time. There are probably two reasons for this.
1. Although time loop is a large-scale theme, compared with the martial arts dramas that have been popular in China for decades, the time loop theme is still much smaller. This leads to the Chinese audience’s range of materials being too narrow to see it. A certain representative work immediately came to mind.
This time loop has long been a big theme in film and television dramas, similar to martial arts, but the more famous ones are mostly foreign works, and many works have limited dissemination in China. For example, " Groundhog Day ", " Happy Death Day ", " Horror Cruise ", " Edge of Tomorrow ", "Source Code", " The Night the Comet Came ", etc., even if you add a lot of Japanese Anime, after all, is still a foreign work, right?
These works have one characteristic. Maybe except for "Edge of Tomorrow" and "Source Code", they have been released in China. In addition, they are science fiction blockbusters or top commercial blockbusters, so more people have watched them. Others include "Groundhog Day", "Happy Death Day", "Terror Cruise", "The Night the Comet Came", etc.
These are high-concept, low-budget movies that not many people have watched except for movie fans. The same goes for Japanese animation. Even the four major migrant cartoons are not well-known in China, let alone the more unpopular theme of time loop.
This led to the fact that when "The Beginning" was launched, most viewers had too few materials on "time loop" themed works. Apart from "Source Code", they would also accuse them of plagiarism when they saw similar themes. However, this also leads to the second question, which is why do people think of "Source Code" instead of "Edge of Tomorrow" when they see "The Beginning"?
2, except for the similar theme of time loop, the main settings of "The Beginning" are also similar. The main narrative setting is that after the protagonist is trapped in a time loop, the problem that needs to be solved is an explosion. "The Beginning" is a bus explosion, and "Source Code" is a train explosion.
Even if you look at the time loop, even the protagonist is trying to prevent the explosion. Isn’t this plagiarism? Is it different if one is a bus and the other is a train?
time loop, all to prevent explosion? Is "The Beginning" really plagiarized from "Source Code"?
In fact, even if it is to prevent the explosion, the narrative framework and core settings of "The Beginning" and "Source Code" are completely different. "Source Code" is more sci-fi. The explosions in the movie are facts that have already happened. The US military uses technology to The product sends the male protagonist's consciousness to the passengers before the explosion to find the murderer. The main purpose is to find the murderer, not to prevent the explosion. The setting of
" source code" is parallel time and space travel, and it is not time travel in one's own body. The protagonist is time travel into someone else's body, and it is a controllable time travel. The male protagonist is a US military stationed abroad who was bombed to pieces. I don't know. Under the circumstances, he became the tool of the institute.
The male and female protagonists of "The Beginning" are ordinary people, and they all return to their own bodies to prevent the explosion. The basic settings of are completely different, and the character settings have nothing to do with it. Is this plagiarism? currently has the last two episodes left without explaining why it loops?
I personally prefer Li Shiqing to Wang Mengmeng, because it was foreshadowed that the birds would only fly around Li Shiqing. Li Shiqing also said that the souls of people who died unjustly could not survive. It might be her obsession or something. The biggest problem with doing this is that our method of dealing with ghosts and gods cannot pass the test.
"The Beginning" has not yet explained why it loops, and what exactly did Wang Mengmeng encounter on the bus? According to the trailer, the hero and heroine may cycle again, most likely entering the bus where Wang Mengmeng is, to see how the mystery is revealed.
Finally, the biggest basis for "The Beginning" not being plagiarized is that the bus bombing was an adaptation of the bus bombing in Wuhan, China. This is a real case. Are you making fun of plagiarism from a real case in a movie?
This also involves the third point: the expression of the kernel.
ps: In reality, Xiamen also has a bus case, and the TV series was also filmed in Xiamen, so many people think it is an adapted Xiamen case. The main creator answered that it was mainly because Wuhan did not allow the bridge to be closed for some reasons, but Xiamen allowed it, so the filming was moved to Xiamen.
When the couple on the bus revealed the truth, "The Beginning" could already be "conferred as a god"
"The Beginning" is a realist look at the various conditions of the world, and "Source Code" is an American hero commercial film with reset + soft science fiction. The two are completely different. The former is a fictional science fiction story, but it was set earlier, while the latter is an adaptation of a real case in China, but it was filmed later.
"The Beginning" and the original novel are both adaptations of the Wuhan bus bombing. "The Beginning" was written after the sensational bus incident at the time. The author said that he was inspired by that incident. At that time, many people were Discuss how to avoid it if you are in the car? So the protagonist doesn’t know anything at first, so we need a time loop to let them explore the ins and outs.
The male and female protagonists are very ordinary people, like everyone in real life, there are no plug-ins, and what they experience is what each of us might experience if there is a time loop: not being understood, being policed The torture collapsed, and the cycle of collusion began again, but the result still collapsed. After seeing the damage caused by the explosion, I felt guilty. After being seen by the police, I was comforted. There was also a witty attempt to help the police get into the car. In the middle, the male and female protagonists gave up their weakness...
bus Every passer-by on the bus has a story, and even the reasons behind the bomber’s troubles are very real. They are stories that really happen around us every day. An American movie can still focus on so many small and insignificant Chinas. On the little characters, write their emotions, anger, sorrow, and helplessness and pain?
"The Beginning" focuses on expressing the various aspects of life of small people, and even spends several episodes talking about the reasons why the murderer takes revenge on society. When the story of the bus driver Wang Xingde and his wife Tao Yinghong came out in the thirteenth episode, it was It completely talks about the realistic dilemma of Chinese society.
When we think about this show now, apart from the male and female protagonists, what do you remember most clearly? In addition to the drug-carrying aunt and rock climbing coach who have few roles, we all remember his status even as the first brother in the live broadcast, not to mention Officer Zhang, Officer Jiang, the two-dimensional boy Lu Di, Uncle Watermelon, the uncle who works, and the villains Wang Xingde and Tao Yinghong life experiences.
In the scene between the two of them in the thirteenth episode last night, every detail of can clearly emerge before my eyes, because it reflects the social reality. Everyone on the bus seems to have passed us by. , it illuminates human nature, makes us think seriously about tragedy, and is full of hope for life.
"The Beginning" is about how ordinary people get out of trouble. There are no plug-ins and they can only turn to the police to connect with other people on the bus and feel their joys, sorrows and joys. The focus is on the portrayal of human nature, focusing on ordinary people in life and reflecting social reality. "The Beginning" was born out of China's social reality, and even the final explosives and the reasons for the prisoners' crimes have a strong flavor of social news.
What is the "source code"? It’s a classic American hero who saves the world, showing off his operations, skills, and sci-fi ideas. I believe that most people can't remember the murderer or the plot except for the time loop and preventing the explosion, the hero and heroine falling in love, and the hero's resurrection at the end.
ps: Huang Jue and Liu Dan’s acting as the bus couple is really great, especially the role of Tao Yinghong created by Teacher Gao Dan. It has really reached a super level and will definitely go down in the history of horror villains in domestic dramas. , on the same level as Li Toyota. What if
is not finished? "The Beginning" is definitely not inferior to "The Love of Mountains and Seas"
Finally, let me talk about my personal feelings about watching the drama. "The Beginning" has always exceeded the upper limit of my expectations, and it became more and more shocking as it went on. It made me go crazy several times while watching it. Ma even burst into tears. I am tearful that there are such good works in China, and I feel the same for the content expressed. To be honest, the first three episodes of
were a bit dull. I thought it was just a love story with a time loop. At that time, I felt that as long as the logical details could be successfully localized, I thought it would be around 7 points.
5-Episode 8 begins to describe the stories of other people on the bus. Although the logic, details and foreshadowing are excellent, it still feels like other realistic urban dramas. When using the time loop and the male and female protagonists to prevent the explosion, it is just a glimpse of realism.
I remember that many people didn’t rate these episodes very well, because they felt that the male and female protagonists were not pursuing careers, and because they focused on portraying ordinary people on the bus, the pace was slow, the suspense was not enough, etc., my inner rating was the same as It's almost 8.2 points now.
9-13 episodes are really sublimated in an all-round way, not only paving the way for many previous details, but also the thorough growth and emotional enhancement of the male and female protagonists.The police officers Zhang and Jiang's police responsibility and personality development were perfected, especially the truth about the motive of the bus bombing couple in the end.
I personally think that "The Beginning" scored at least 8.5 points by episode 13. This is a particularly good realistic work, and it has a strong color of China's real society. I think from the expression point of view It is already as good as "Love between Mountains and Seas". The most important thing is to see how the ending is. Of course, I hope it won't end badly.
There will be "Mountains and Seas" in 2021 and "The Beginning" in 2022. Domestic dramas really need the noon sunshine.
