Chapter 130: Chapter 129: Regarding God-Making Through Traffic
To the audience present, Elsa’s singing style in the Shadow of Evil was both familiar and strange.
It was familiar because it resembled a performance in a musical, using melody and lyrics to express the character’s experiences and emotions.
As for why it was strange, her specific singing technique was different from that of mainstream musicals.
Feilin’s musicals were derived from opera; their vocal techniques emphasized purity and stability. The main difference from opera lay in the dancing, but the singing styles themselves hadn’t completely diverged.
But in the Shadow of Evil, Elsa wandered a snowy mountain, her singing not what you would call proper or standard, but absolutely free, pleasant to the ear, and full of emotion.
Critics might not like this kind of singing, evaluating it as lacking polished details, devoid of profound expression, with emotions that were only skin-deep, and so on.
Just like their reviews of the Underground Discard’s album.
But who cared?
As long as the audience loved it, that was enough.
Most people were past the stage of being led by the nose by reviews. In the end, cultural and entertainment works were meant to be experienced for oneself, not for seeking validation.
"Let it go, let it go,
"To speak with wind and sky.
"Let it go, let it go,
"The tears will fall no more..."
When the song reached the chorus, the soaring melody lifted the viewers from their low spirits and sympathy for Elsa. Infected by her unrestrained freedom, they began to sway with the rhythm.
Seeing her wave her hand to build a staircase of ice and a crystalline palace, everyone was stunned by this unprecedented, spectacular sight.
’How did she do that?’
They had never heard of such Magic. Even if it were an Illusion, a castle couldn’t be created with just a wave of the hand.
When Elsa threw away her crown, let her hair down, and infused her dress with the color of ice crystals, applause, cheers, and whistles erupted in the theater.
Normally, a film only received such a reception at the end, but it had been a long time since they had seen such an exciting Shadow of Evil, so much so that they collectively broke viewing etiquette.
The cheering continued until the music ended.
A rare smile appeared on the Elder Priest’s face. She was starting to like this work.
It had been her mistake to judge it so hastily. This was certainly no mediocre, clichéd story. Elsa was no mere ornament waiting for a Prince; she was the true protagonist of this Shadow of Evil.
"Elder, why do the people in the Shadow of Evil hate Elsa? She’s so good, and she even has a talent for Magic," the young tribesman beside her whispered in confusion.
A talent for Magic was something so many people wanted but could never have. Now there was such an outstanding Princess, so why did they have to treat her like a monster?
"Because they are afraid," the Elder Priest replied in a low voice. "The power Elsa has shown is too great. People fear her, and when fear reaches a certain point, it turns into angry hostility."
She was born with this knowledge, able to cast Magic instantly without chanting, and capable of plunging a Kingdom into a harsh winter when her emotions ran wild.
She could even give life to a snowman, which was a completely different concept from animating an object.
An object animated by Casting could, at most, follow simple instructions. The snowman in the Shadow of Evil didn’t just have its own consciousness; it was also quite clever.
The Elder Priest guessed that they used a person to control the snowman to complete the filming.
If she could truly grant life as depicted in the story, Elsa’s ability could no longer be called a talent. It would be the second coming of a Magic God.
It would be strange if the people around her weren’t afraid.
Even in reality, while everyone nominally respected and worshiped the Magic Goddess, no one, aside from the most extremely devout followers of the Church, truly hoped for the Goddess to descend to the world again.
A Deity with a personality was an unstable Deity. If It could bring Magic to the world, It could also bring destruction.
So when her tribe’s faith gave rise to a Deer Spirit without a personality, she had actually felt a sense of relief.
Reviving the God of Nature was the mission passed down through their tribe for generations, but no one could be sure what end that mission would lead to.
Perhaps the current Deer Spirit was the Deity that best suited their needs.
It both honored their ancestors and provided security for future generations. Nothing could be more fitting.
"Afraid?" The young tribesman didn’t quite understand the logic.
He had clearly put himself in Elsa’s shoes, thinking that a kind person could pose no threat.
But who could bet on a person remaining kind forever?
"You’ll understand in the future. Shh, be quiet. The Shadow of Evil is still playing," the Elder Priest reminded him.
The theater fell silent once more.
The Shadow of Evil continued. Zog had no intention of discussing profound themes in this tourism promotion film. The social impact of Elsa’s absolute power was not the main point of this Shadow of Evil.
Lighthearted fun was the main theme of *Frozen*.
The plot became more cheerful as the younger sister, Anna, went to find her older sister, meeting and teaming up with the grown-up ice harvester Grove, Little Deer, and the snowman along the way.
Especially Grove. It was hard to tell if he was genuinely foolish or just acting foolish, and he kept the theater roaring with laughter.
The Elder Priest knew very well that this unlucky kid really was that foolish. It was all genuine emotion, without a trace of acting.
She hadn’t expected, however, that Little Deer could so vividly portray a reindeer that acted like a goofy dog.
’He had this kind of talent?’
Little Deer won the affection of many audience members. He and the snowman were probably the most popular characters after Elsa.
The biggest surprise in the rest of the story was probably that the only Prince to appear turned out to be the villain.
He wanted to kill Elsa while she was unresisting, wracked with guilt over hurting her sister. Then, by marrying Anna, he would gain control of the Kingdom, which would help him secure a higher status in his own country.
A truly refined egoist.
In a fairytale where the main character was a Princess, the Prince was the most evil person. For an audience that hadn’t seen many stories, this was quite subversive.
In the end, the Prince’s plot failed. Anna turned into an ice sculpture to block the Prince’s attack, and Elsa’s love saved her sister.
A happy-ever-after ending for the whole family. It was a fairytale, after all.
The film ended, and sustained applause echoed through the theater.
The Elder Priest stood up, clapping generously.
Although she would have preferred to see Elsa go on a rampage and seize control of the Kingdom, that obviously wouldn’t have fit the overall style of the film. A beautiful fairytale was satisfying enough.
As this was the premiere, there was a Q&A session with the main creators after the screening.
And this post-screening session would be broadcast live to every corner where a Magic Vision Device could be watched.
The main cast, dressed as their characters from the Shadow of Evil, walked onto the temporary stage at the front of the theater one by one.
When Little Deer walked onto the stage in his reindeer form and then instantly transformed into a human, the atmosphere in the venue reached its peak.
’But,’ the Elder Priest wondered, ’when did he learn to conjure clothes for himself while transforming into a human?’
’Filming a Shadow of Evil teaches you quite a few Skills.’
"That Ice and Snow Castle, is it a real place?" an eager audience member shouted, asking the question he was most curious about.
"Of course," replied Zog, who was sitting on a high stool.
And he smoothly cut to a promotional short film for the Northern Domain’s Ice and Snow Paradise.
Amid a wave of gasps, the same audience member pressed on, "So, this Ice and Snow Paradise, can we visit it?"
"You can. If you want to learn more about the Ice and Snow Paradise, as well as behind-the-scenes stories and performance outtakes from *Frozen*, you can log on to Weibo, follow the Northern Domain’s ’Super Topic’, and you’ll find everything you want to know there."
The moment his voice fell, the Elder Priest suddenly froze.
It wasn’t that what Zog said was so surprising. Rather, as the Priest of the Deer Spirit, she could constantly feel the changes in the faith the Deer Spirit received.
At the very instant Zog finished speaking, she discovered that the faith being received by the Deer Spirit had begun to skyrocket at an unprecedented speed.
