Chapter 875 - The Cultural View of Mission and Choice
Chapter 875: The Cultural View of Mission and Choice
Lu Zhiyao was speechless.
The script for “Mission and Choice” was originally given in segments. Director Zhu Xiaoce had put it nicely so that Lu Zhiyao could “figure out every plot and not affect the current performance because he knew the ending in advance.”
Director Zhu Xiaoce had achieved his goal.
Lu Zhiyao really brought himself into the role of Captain Qin Yi when he acted in every plot. He had no idea what would happen in the future, so he acted closer to Qin Yi’s true state in the drama.
However, this also brought about a problem. Lu Zhiyao had such fragmented information that he was dying.
He would only give the script a small part each time. However, the development of the plot was very complicated. Lu Zhiyao would be stopped every time he wanted to know the next part of the plot.
He did not expect it to be a cliffhanger now that he had finally gotten the script for the end of the movie. There was still no plot!
That made Lu Zhiyao break down and despair.
Of course, he also knew that the entire story was complete based on the current content. There were both ups and downs. It was more than enough for a movie.
Huang Sibo and Director Zhu Xiaoce probably had not thought about the rest of the plot either. They had only left a suspense for the next series.
However, even though Lu Zhiyao knew this very well, he still could not help but scold the “cliffhanger ending”.
Lu Zhiyao began to re-examine the last part of the plot after calming down.
Before this, his acting skills had been tested from every angle. He had thought that he was already experienced and fearless.
However, Lu Zhiyao realized that the real difficulty was at the end when he saw the last part of the script!
There were still many twists and turns in the final outcome. Qin Yi’s emotions were turning despair to the point of collapse, then he found a chance of survival in his despair. Then, he used his impassioned speech to lift the morale of all the warriors and successfully showed humanity the dawn of victory.
If the script ended here, it would be a standard popcorn film with a very authentic hot-blooded ending.
However, the plot took a sharp turn just as Qin Yi was about to see the light of victory.
The unconscious Qin Yi realized that he had the consciousness of the Zergs. The consciousness of the Zergs made him naturally stand on the side of the Zergs and think about problems. He had empathy for the Zergs. Qin Yi realized that humans were the first to attack the Zergs. Strictly speaking, the Zergs were the ones who were invaded.
Qin Yi ordered all the soldiers to stop the fire after waking up. The war between humans and Zergs had been forced to stop.
If the script ended here, humans and Zergs would shake hands and build a beautiful universe together. That would be a standard Western political correct ending.
However, Qin Yi did not want to shake hands with the Zergs and make peace. Instead, he deceived the Zergs and found the location of the Zerg Queen and all the secondary empresses through the consciousness of the Zergs. He then carried out the decapitation operation.
Qin Yi lied to the Zergs for the sake of mankind, but he was also deceived and abandoned. In the end, Qin Yi became the leader of all the Zergs and was carried by the Leviathan Beast to the endless space because all the Zergs’ empresses and secondary empresses were wiped out.
In this plot, Qin Yi’s emotions were still changing drastically.
Part of him was excited, part of him was surprised to learn the truth, part of him was cold-blooded, part of him felt betrayed…
Especially in the last scene, where Qin Yi woke up in the incubation pool of the Leviathan Behemoth. There would be a close-up shot where Lu Zhiyao had to show Qin Yi’s complicated emotions with one look.
Obviously, this plot was much more difficult than the previous script to Lu Zhiyao!
What’s more, he knew from the start that Qin Yi’s character tested his acting skills and was difficult to act out because his character was set as an iron-blooded soldier.
Qin Yi did not have any emotions under most circumstances. He was very reserved even if he did.
However, in this script, Qin Yi’s fate was too complicated. He always faced extreme despair or extreme pain. This made it difficult for Lu Zhiyao to find a balance.
Qin Yi’s character would easily collapse if he exerted a little more force. It was not appropriate for an iron-blooded warrior to fly into a rage or have a mental breakdown. If he did not use enough strength, the audience would think that Lu Zhiyao did not have any acting skills and could not express his emotions well.
Comparatively, young characters were easier to act because the emotions of such characters were usually very simple. Joy was joy, anger was anger. It was not that complicated and the speed was very relaxed.
On the other hand, it was the most difficult to act out a strong-willed person like Captain Qin Yi.
Lu Zhiyao sighed softly. It seemed like he would be busy again in the coming days.
He wanted to continue staying in the hotel room and study the plot with the mirror. He wanted to adjust his acting skills and expression so that he could perfectly show the last part of the plot.
However, Lu Zhiyao took all the scripts so far and read them from beginning to end before that. He analyzed the story from his own perspective.
The deepest impression that this story left on Lu Zhiyao was its ‘cultural angle ‘.
As an actor, Lu Zhiyao has seen many movies. He had seen all sorts of movies in various countries and genres.
The story of ‘Mission and Choice’, if dissected individually, would be nothing special compared to many traditional sci-fi movies.
Of course, this was normal.
‘Zergs’ had existed in sci-fi movies for decades after all. Various seniors had already expressed many different views from various angles and methods. There were not many places left for future generations to innovate.
It was impossible to turn every plot in the story upside down with so many classic works available.
However, in Lu Zhiyao’s opinion, the biggest breakthrough in Mission and Choice was actually combining the cultural perspective and sci-fi theme of China. This was something that had never happened before.
Sci-fi movies were very rare in China. That was because sci-fi movies required too much investment and required a large number of professional props, special effects, and staff. It was very easy to make them into oddities without accumulation.
Thus, when it came to sci-fi movies, the first thing people would think of were the huge sci-fi systems in Europe and America even in the domestic film market.
The problem was that almost all of the popular sci-fi works that could be seen at the moment were explained from a Western cultural perspective.
This caused many domestic audiences to question and feel disjointed about the value of these sci-fi movies. Things that Westerners were used to were completely unacceptable to domestic audiences.
The idea of ‘Mission and Choice’ was actually written by a famous foreign science fiction writer in 1985. He had also won the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award. It was an eternal science fiction classic.
However, in that story, the commander was a child. He felt very guilty after destroying the Zergs. That was why he brought the young Zerg Queen into the universe to find a new home, hoping to redeem himself.
This was the standard Western thinking. Just like how many people in the animal protection organizations in the West were calling for a vegetarian diet for animals to enjoy the same rights as humans…
This might be natural political correctness and kindness for people living in Western cultural backgrounds.
However, this was a complete stupidity and hypocrisy for people who lived in the cultural background of China. It was a manifestation of the Virgin Mary.
Westerners shouted the slogan for political correctness, and even fought for rights and benefits for animals. Ultimately, it was because their lives were too rich and comfortable, and because their resources were too abundant that they had the spare energy to spread their excess sympathy everywhere while squandering.
The source of Westerners’ wealth and ease was the exploitation, plundering, and bloody slaughter of the world by their ancestors hundreds of years ago.
Westerners did not look back at the aboriginals slaughtered by their ancestors when shouting “animals have rights”, ; they did not think about how they obtained so much material wealth because their country was plundering and exploiting the rest of the world.
While these Westerners were empathizing with the animals for their rights, their country was bullying, oppressing, and exploiting the other countries in the world. They were constantly spreading wars, famines, and plagues, causing their fellow humans to live in hell.
Therefore, it was very stupid and hypocritical for humans to sympathize with the Zergs from the perspective of Chinese culture.
The world would be much better if Westerners treated the people of other races and other countries with half of their sympathy for animals.
Zergs existed in the universe as a race that posed an extreme threat to all life in the setting. They had a strong collective consciousness, efficient sharing of information, and powerful mutation abilities. The only meaning of their existence was to expand and reproduce in the universe, eliminating all other races.
Their race was still an extreme threat to human survival even if the Zerg Queen really wanted to coexist peacefully with humans.
On the other hand, humans sympathizing with the Zergs and sparing them would be akin to rearing a tiger. How could they tell that the Zerg Queen was not lying? How could they tell if the Zerg Queen’s future thinking would change?
Under such circumstances, exterminating the Zergs was the most rational decision of mankind.
Sympathizing with the Zergs and protecting them would put humans in great danger.
‘Mission and Choice’ completely adopted the Chinese perspective on this theme.