Japanese drama "miscalculation of Pareto": a complete despair

stills of Pareto's miscalculation

there is no Chinese translation of the novel of the same name, the miscalculation of Pareto

poster of Pareto miscalculation

text / Cashier Xiaoqiu

the performance of Japanese dramas on" class "is actually somewhat paradoxical. On the one hand, the focus on social stratification is not absent in the TV stations facing the general public (the so-called" Minfang "), but they are mostly" dispelled "by other narratives such as healing, struggle or sensationalism 。 On the other hand, the pay channel represented by wow for viewers with higher living standards has a more direct and incisive discussion on the bottom. The new play "the miscalculation of Pareto: the murder of investigators of social welfare institutions" to be introduced today is another outstanding representative of the latter

Satomi Makino, the protagonist played by AI Hashimoto, is an informal employee of the welfare branch of a municipal government. While undertaking the work of sending benefits to social relief workers, congmei hopes to enter the urban development department that she really likes one day. However, under the covert operation of her colleagues with backgrounds, she was suddenly told by her leaders to undertake a more difficult task and become a social worker who visited the families of the recipients on the spot. Congmei is not only pessimistic about her career development prospects, but also has doubts about the welfare system itself. Fortunately, the experienced mountains and rivers in the office continue to encourage her. With the help of her predecessors, congmei soon became familiar with the community she was going to be responsible for, and had a new understanding of this profession, which is essentially helping others

But this seemingly full of healing story quickly turned around. In an apartment fire accident for low-income people, the remains of the elder Shanchuan were accidentally found. After an interview with the residents, congmei and her colleague Shunichi Onodera (played by Yoshihisa Zenda) found that although the residents were full of respect for mountains and rivers, many people were silent about the accident. Congmei, who wanted to find out the real cause of death of her predecessor, didn't give up. With the cooperation of the police and other forces, she slowly uncovered the dark curtain behind the social welfare system and the role of Yamakawa in it. But at the same time, her own security seems to be under threat...

"The miscalculation of Pareto" is adapted from the original work of the same name by novelist Yuko Naruto, who won the award of the Japanese Association of reasoning writers. The leisurely social reasoning style of the original work has also been well presented in the TV series. In the short five episodes, we can clearly see two styles of narration. In the first half of the play, especially in the first two episodes, director Kobayashi Santaro, who once directed "late night canteen", showed a group of people at the bottom of the social relief fund. Among them are those who are deeply gratified by the state subsidies and try to find new jobs to integrate into the community again, as well as those who constantly complain about the society but go to eat, drink and have fun immediately after receiving the relief fund. Correspondingly, the social class employees also have different positions. There are bosses who only want to retire safely, and there are colleagues who don't agree to pay too much money to the bottom of the staff from the bottom of their hearts. And every character often has different and even contradictory personality aspects. Together, they made the place where the story took place, a small town that was gradually depressed by the impact of economic transformation, become three-dimensional and distinct

With the development of the story, the play is gradually shrouded in a gloomy atmosphere. Although the story is generally about the detection of a case, there is no such feeling of evidence interlocking after watching, and the final truth is revealed. Instead, we can find the similar atmosphere of Film Noir in the director's other work "haze" five years ago. But "haze" is still a little adventurous in languor and gloom, but "miscalculation of Pareto" shows us a complete despair

The overall gray filter, coupled with the indoor or night scenes that account for the vast majority of the lens, constantly makes people feel the depression of the bottom group in the economic stagnation. If the welfare system, as the last guarantee of their lives, has also become a tool for politicians to play games and make profits in the market, this darkness will not end. This drama does not follow the line of Hollywood movies or the thriller political genre that Korean dramas are best at in the past two years (although this theme is so appropriate). On the contrary, a rhythm sometimes called "daily account" guides the development of the whole story. But perhaps only this kind of "gentleness" can show the unbearable long daily life

"Pareto" in the title of this play refers to the law of social operation proposed by the economist Pareto. In the Chinese context, generally known as the "28 principle", this law holds that in a society, only 20% of people actually create all wealth. On the positive side, it may be concluded that to complete a career, we only need to grasp the key points and expand it. On the negative side, it seems that the vast majority of people in the group just don't have the necessary burden. The latter logic is also the idea of some politicians and people in the play. But the problem is that people who think so don't seem to distinguish whether this (essentially hypothetical) fact is the cause or result of various social problems. In fact, people struggling in poverty are often not given the opportunity to stand up and contribute to themselves and society, and this dead cycle is the real source of the tragedy of Pareto's miscalculation