Ingrate

Hmmm, haven't been doing anything here, but I have been waxing lyrical in other arenas. Maybe I should just copy and paste it here, save myself the effort. Nah, that just seems lazy. But I am lazy. In fact, here's a snippet of something I wrote as a favour for a friend, who subsequently failed to show the slightest hint of gratitude. It's a walkthrough of a script for a cultural show. I think it's good, but apparently these people have bad taste. Oh well, whatever.

The story is an adaptation of the tale of Dong Zhuo and Lu Bu from the Three Kingdoms period. The main protagonists are the Emperor, his general and adopted son, and Diao Chan, the female lead.

We begin with a battle between the Imperial forces, led by the general, and a peasant army. The Imperial forces are outnumbered by the peasants, but even as the general is eventually isolated, he wins the day by individual force of arms and presence.

Back in the palace, the Emperor congratulates the general on yet another job well done, bestows honors, land etc on the general, but is then quick to turn to his dancing girls and whatever other debauchery is convenient to show onstage. The various court officials stand to the side and observe the Emperor in some distaste. We split into three groups here; the Emperor, the general and the dancers, a group of older courtiers, and the Crown Prince and some followers. We shift from the dancers to the courtiers, who are discussing the excesses of the Emperor, mentioning the unwillingness to focus on serious matters, preferring instead to spend his days in pursuit of pleasure. Shift back to dancers. Shift to prince who is worried about the violent methods used to suppress the revolts instigated by the extreme taxation. He thinks the Emperor should lower taxes and spend more on the public as opposed to simply using the general to quash rebellion violently. Shift back to Emperor. Emperor again congratulates the general and invites him to partake in the merriment, which he gladly does, betraying a hint of the lusty, self-involved fellow he is. Emperor and general are happily drinking and laughing as we shift back to the prince. The prince is also worried about the general becoming too high in the Emperor’s favor, and is beginning to wonder if his own position in the succession is secure, as the Emperor is displeased with him for constantly nagging him to change policies. Shift to the courtiers, who come to an agreement to try to eliminate the Emperor and install the prince on the throne. But they are worried about the general, who has sufficient power to wrest the throne from the prince if the Emperor were gotten rid of. So they decide to create conflict between the Emperor and the general in order to weaken both and then eliminate the winner. The scene comes together as the Emperor orders new dancers to come in. Finish the dance and fade out to the Emperor and the general laughing and enjoying themselves.

The female protagonist is taking a stroll with her maids as her father, the senior courtier from the previous scene, enters. The courtier dismisses the maids and speaks to his daughter. He starts telling Diao Chan the story of how the Emperor is so terrible and extravagant. He oppresses the people and doesn’t pay any attention to official matters, leaving the prince to settle all the administrative work. Worst of all, the Emperor doesn’t give his senior officials (meaning himself) any respect. Clearly there is a need for a new Emperor. Diao Chan is pretty worried about this, pointing out that casual talk like that is liable to get him and his entire family (including herself) executed. The courtier then asks if she is willing to sacrifice herself for the good of the country. Diao Chan is naturally pretty suspicious, and asks him to clarify. The courtier says he has a plan to get rid of the Emperor and install a new ruler, but it requires a great sacrifice of her. She is intrigued by the possibility of making history and asks for details. We fade away as the courtier begins to outline his plan.

We start with a dance which includes Diao Chan as the lead. After the dance concludes, the courtier presents Diao Chan as his daughter, who he offers to the Emperor as a concubine. The Emperor, the lecher that he is, is happy to accept. Diao Chan greets the Emperor, the prince and the general. All present are quite enamored of her except for the general, who is unimpressed, being the tough military man that he is. The Emperor dismisses the others and begins to enjoy himself with Diao Chan.

The next scene is in a garden, where the general is taking a walk, when he runs into Diao Chan, who is apparently practicing a dance. Diao Chan asks him if he dislikes her. He admits that he does not particularly dislike her, and welcomes her to the palace. They talk for a while, Diao Chan clearly playing the part of a lost little girl who is overwhelmed by the palace. Eventually, she asks him to watch her practice a dance for the Emperor, saying she is worried that she is not doing it well. He agrees, and she begins a solo, unaccompanied dance. He is quite enraptured, and after she is finished, begins to leave, when she starts to cry and act pitiful when she thinks he doesn’t like the dance. He comforts her and reassures her that the dance is wonderful, and they end up kissing as the lights fade.

The Emperor is fawning over Diao Chan in court as the general is summoned. The Emperor takes a moment to order the general to go quash another rebellion. The general barely hears him as he is glaring at Diao Chan as she looks sheepish when the Emperor is addressing the general. The prince cuts in and argues that they should negotiate with the rebels instead. The Emperor gets upset and declares that he has no need to negotiate because he is the ruler, and the peasants should pay for him to do whatever he wants. After some arguing, the general interrupts them and says that he will take care of the rebels easily, then walks offstage.

The Emperor is shown with Diao Chan in the background as a battle plays out in the foreground. The general is obviously angry and taking it out on the rebels, abusing the enemy soldiers badly and being pretty brutal.

We return to a lion dance for the opening of a structure for the Emperor’s favourite concubine, Diao Chan. The Emperor is drawn away to chase some other concubines. The general takes the opportunity to speak to Diao Chan. After some quiet argument over meeting, they arrange to meet later. The Emperor returns and grabs the girl, while the general stands there looking angry. The prince steps in and advises the general to cool down and not let his lust make him do anything silly. He attempts to engage the general in a discussion about the rebellion just recently suppressed. Thinking that he is being criticized for his methods, the general becomes angry and snarls at the prince that unlike some soft noblemen, he was in the field and would do what was necessary. The Emperor walks back and is boasting to everybody that the general is the finest fighter in the land and was his man. To prove his point, he tells the general to demonstrate his prowess. The general is quite aghast, but has no choice but to comply. He proceeds to beat up a bunch of soldiers barehanded and becomes so worked up that he’s slapping the beaten soldiers around pretty cruelly. Amidst this scene of the Emperor delighting in the general’s prowess, the prince and courtiers quite shocked at the cruelty, and the general visibly humiliated and furious, but holding it in, the scene ends.

The general is pacing the stage impatiently as Diao Chan enters, still adjusting her clothes. She cozies up to him a bit, but he becomes impatient and tells her that he is not satisfied with such little interaction. She tries to pacify him, but he is still upset and begins to complain about the way the Emperor made him perform for the court. She is sympathetic and starts to subtly point out the possibility of doing violence to the Emperor. He is initially resistant to the idea, but as she begins to talk about how the Emperor is so possessive of her and how boorish he is, he starts to become angrier. Eventually, he storms out offstage and the scene ends.

The courtier is talking to the prince as the general strides past. The courtier hails him and talks about how the Emperor doesn’t respect those who are his loyal subjects. The general is upset and brushes him off. Scene ends.

The Emperor summons the general and asks him to go on yet another military expedition. The general is quite exasperated and complains that he is asked to do everything. The prince intervenes and asks the Emperor to negotiate. This time, the Emperor is quite at a loss, since his prized general is unwilling to aid him. Eventually he gives in and says he will make a concession this one time. He even asks the courtier to take care of the negotiations. The general reluctantly apologizes and offers to go anyway, but the prince cuts him off and leaves him aside as they discuss the impending negotiations.

The general meets Diao Chan, but she is more reserved. She says the Emperor is becoming suspicious, and they should not meet anymore. This upsets him, and they begin arguing. Eventually he becomes enraged and kills her out of hand. When the guards and the Emperor show up to investigate the noisy altercation, the general claims that she had tried to instigate her to assassinate the Emperor, so he killed her for treason.

Final scene, the Emperor is in court, with everybody around, when a messenger tries to stab the Emperor, but the general stops him and is holding him down, the dagger in the other hand. The Emperor dismisses everybody else except for the general and proceeds to interrogate the assassin. The fellow turns out to be a peasant who was disgruntled by the negotiations of the previous rebellion. The Emperor is incensed and berates the general for refusing to suppress the rebellion by force. At this point, the general snaps, tosses the dagger in front of the assassin, then releases him, standing back. The assassin is surprised and looks at the general for a moment, but the general stand motionless. So the assassin grabs the dagger and stabs the panicking Emperor. The rest of the court rushes in and are shocked that the Emperor is dead. The general swiftly apprehends the assassin and strikes him extremely hard when he tries to say something. He then orders the assassin taken out to be executed. The prince tries to take charge, but the general stops him cold, and claims that the prince had been behind the assassin. The prince is surprised and tries to defend himself, but the soldiers listen to the general and arrest the prince. When the courtier tries to intervene on behalf of the prince, the general loses his temper and declares all the prince’s allies to be guilty of treason as well. So the soldiers drag out the prince, the courtier and a bunch of other officials. The Imperial physician shows up and tries to examine the Emperor but is ordered out of the room. Instead the general tells the soldiers to take the body out and bury it immediately. The general then picks up the crown where it had fallen to the ground and stares at it for a moment, then slowly and deliberately sits down on the throne.

And we end.

Not bad, I think. Took me like an hour to bang that out. Those morons complained that it was too complicated, that there shouldn't be an Emperor in it. All I can say is, wtf? If you're scared of complex plots, go read Harry Potter, don't ask me to come up with something. I can't help it if I try to make things interesting and engaging, can I? Well, maybe I can, but I certainly don't want to.

Ugh, not in the best shape of my life, I'll be back eventually.