Film Name: 诡才之道/ 鬼才之道 / Dead Talents Society / Talents Society
Normally, I don’t want to watch horror movies because I’m too timid …… But when you add “comedy” to the mix, it’s a very different feeling, and “Dead Talents Society” is one of those movies that’s scary, funny, and heartwarming at the same time.
After watching this movie, I can understand why it rated high, even if it’s not that good, it’s still very popular with the audience: the laughs are close to the setting, fresh, natural and to the point, so that people can laugh and feel clever at the same time, while the theme is warm and touching, and the movie once again points to the common “existential anxiety” in life, and tells us all that ordinary people can’t be scared of the dead ghosts. With the experience of a dead ghost, the movie tells us that there is nothing wrong with being ordinary.
I’m going to talk about the above two points separately [SPOILER ALERT].
The most prominent advantage of Dead Talents Society is that it is based on the paradigm of traditional Chinese horror/ghost movies, which is a full-scale reconstruction and deconstruction, and in layman’s terms, it is “using ghosts from the netherworld to make a whole living in the yangworld”.
In this world, ghosts scare people almost no longer out of pre-mortem grudges, but for the sake of KPIs and performance, you can see all the real-world workplace curses and traffic wars in the Ghost Committee, the entertainment industry, and the netizen circle, but because of the new bottle of the “ghost world”, the original old wine really has a brand new sweetness.
Such as the Golden Ghost Awards, the famous ghost parlor, and the scary live broadcasts are just superficial jokes, but what I admire most about “Dead Talents Society” is that it implements this principle of rewriting in every aspect.
For example, the facial hydrating lotion endorsed by Jessica, the new queen of the ghost world, is blood water that has been properly fine-tuned, and words that are unlucky in the realm of the living or that are used for the dead, such as “the spirit is still alive and well”, have become iconic slogan-like blessings in the world of ghosts.
Dead Talents Society” is nominally a horror movie, but in fact it is digging up the roots of horror movies everywhere: the most commonly used JUMP SCARE in horror movies is processed into embarrassing or lucky performances; inhuman body movements, behind which even the ghosts have to cry out for hard training; ghosts that are still scaring people in the front foot may be treated as ‘redundant ghosts’ because of their poor performance in the back foot. “Redundant ghosts” are eliminated and disappear. ……
You can even see some irony of the real world in the movie – traditional ghost stories tend to be dominated by female ghosts, this is because for thousands of years women are more likely to suffer from various kinds of injustice (and easier to scare people and gain sympathy), and they usually lack the ability to fight against it, and after death, they often have more grievances, and as a result, they become the advantage of the ghosts in the movie. The more they die, the deeper their grievances, the more they have the conditions to become popular, and the more ordinary men and handsome men will have to step aside.
On this premise, it is particularly amusing that Dead Talents Society chose to cast Wang Jing’s Zhuo Xiaolei (stage name “Classmate”) as the main character, because she is just too mediocre.
Wang’s softer looks were already lacking in aggression, and the movie amplifies this “flatness” by using a variety of methods to portray Zhuo Xiaolei’s mediocrity in her clothes, makeup, mannerisms, and lines.
On earth, it would be unethical to make fun of such an ordinary girl,……, but in the ghost world, where scaring is the performance indicator, it would be impolite not to make fun of such a lonely ghost with no special features. It’s not really a ghost that scares people.
With all that funny stuff, it’s time to talk about the not-so-funny core of the movie.
Who would have thought that in life one would have to work so hard for “being seen”, “being remembered”, “being famous”, etc., and then after death as a ghost one would have to be half-dead for these things? The lingering sense of survival anxiety is exactly what “Dead Talents Society” tries to discuss and play with.
For example, Zhang Yung Rong played Catherine, she relied on the resentment of the man she loved to reach the “Wanglai Hot Spring Hotel” room 414 haunted legend, but from the Catherine went to secretly visit each other’s behavior, in fact, she has long been put down in the bottom of her heart, but in order to maintain in the world of ghosts in the vanity field of the scenery of the decency, she has time and again to force themselves to “full blood on the scene” until slowly out of fashion. “full blood on the field”, until slowly out of fashion.
More typical nature is the protagonist Zhuo Xiaolei, her “do what can not” mediocre persona, typical to the fast some unusual ……
Whether in life or in death, she is the cannon fodder and consumable material under the “fame and fortune system”.
Of course the family loves her, but her father’s homemade awards to encourage her have become a shackle that confines her, Zhuo Xiaolei has been living under the shadow of her outstanding sister, and finally was filled with her sister’s trophies in the cabinet smashed to death, which has become the most ironic irony in the film; thought that after the death of the relaxation of a little bit, but in order not to completely disappear, Zhuo Xiaolei and had to try to practice the same ineptitude of the scary people, accidentally achieved success! , or by Catherine kicking her off a building ……
So, I really like that climactic scene at the end of the movie, where Zhuo Xiaolei finally musters up the courage to jump, only to land in a position that’s off again, and after she gets up bloodied and trembling, the line “Why can’t I even jump well from a building!” The emotional high point was reached smoothly.
Not only because “classmates” in the funny and fearful atmosphere, once again, a crooked right to scare people, but also because at this moment, Zhuo Xiaolei, who has always internalized the self, finally had a chance to release to the outside, in this moment, she is the most real, the most unburdened self.
In recent years, it is not uncommon to see works criticizing and reflecting on East Asian family societies that are too internalized and utilitarian. Regardless of whether this viewpoint is correct or not, at least judging from the general feedback from the audience, people are still more receptive to it, which shows that the relevant exploration and improvement do have value.
That’s why I also liked the ending of the climactic scene where Makoto, Katharine, Camilla, and Ke Guolong’s family all change into bloody sailor suits and go after Zhuo Xiaolei to scare people together – how about not having an audience, and how about not being seen, and being happy and self-indulgent, right?
Makoto said: the biggest advantage of being a ghost is that you don’t have to care about other people’s eyes.
For me, who has long accepted that I am a loser, it is very comfortable to see a movie like “Dead Talents Society” that openly shakes hands with itself. This kind of self-compassionate state of mind is certainly not constant and stable, as long as one is not completely insane, one will inevitably fall into ups and downs and doubt ……..
But at least for almost two hours, we could let go of all our expectations and anxieties in laughter, and easily say to each other, “You’re so wasted”.
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