[404 Archives]Issue 195: Unacceptable Suffering: “Hidden Into the Dust” and the Dilemma of the Main Theme of Chinese Movies – China Digital Times

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In 2022, on the Chinese cinema screens, there will be two domestic films with very different fates: “Hidden in the Dust” and “Returning Thousands of Miles”.

“Hidden in the Dust” tells the life of the rural people at the bottom of the northwest. After the delay, it was released in a low-key manner in July. After the film was released, due to its popularity on short video platforms, the box office grew against the trend and exceeded 100 million. However, it began to suffer from the fate of being removed from the shelves, released, and topics blocked in September.

In contrast, the main theme movie “Returning Thousands of Miles”, which is said to be based on real events, tells the story of a Chinese diplomat assisting the evacuation of overseas Chinese during the war. The box office has exceeded 1.3 billion.

The very different experiences of these two domestic films are also the “new normal” of the current Chinese film market: independent films are less and less appearing in international film festivals, the release of non-theme films is becoming more and more difficult, and the golden schedule is monopolized by the theme films. .

The audience’s feedback on this was to vote with their feet: the total box office of the eleventh period was 1.496 billion yuan, the worst since 2014.

In this episode of the program, let us review the recent encounters of Chinese films and the film market, which are deeply trapped in the “main theme” dilemma.

1. “Hidden in the Dust”: The Suffering Not Allowed to Be Presented

“Hidden in the Dust” is director Li Ruijun’s work on the theme of northwest rural areas. The filming location is located in a small village on the Hexi Corridor in Gansu Province. Most of the actors in the film are non-professional actors, and the male protagonist is the director’s uncle. The only big-name actor in the film is the heroine Hai Qing. In order to play a good role, Hai Qing joined the crew 10 months in advance and lived in a local farmer’s home to familiarize himself with the environment and the local dialect. The film focuses on two lonely individuals abandoned by their respective families in the countryside, and tells their mental journey from unfamiliar to familiar, from knowing each other to staying together.

The filming of this film is hard but attentive, and the subject matter involves the marginalized groups in rural areas, discrimination against the disabled and women, and the display of the barren face of the countryside. It is a rare rural bottom-level theme in Chinese films in recent years. The quality of this film has also been recognized by international film festivals, and it has been selected for the main competition unit of the Berlin Film Festival, one of the three major European film festivals in 2022. It is the only Chinese feature film selected in the main competition unit of the three major European film festivals in the past two years. .

But just like what happened to many excellent Chinese films in recent years, the release of this film in China has been met with considerable resistance. Originally scheduled to be released on February 25, it was suddenly withdrawn on the eve of the release for unknown reasons. As the public opinion on the iron chain girl incident in Fengxian County, Xuzhou continued to ferment, and the “black box operation” of the Chinese film censorship system, the decision to withdraw the file caused a lot of speculation. The audience thinks of Fengxian Iron Chain Girl. Naturally, this statement cannot be verified, and no one has falsified it.

After months of delays, Chinese audiences can finally watch the film on the big screen on July 8. However, the initial box office performance of this film was not outstanding. Due to the niche subject matter, lack of stars, and the nature of literary films, coupled with the already bleak film market under the epidemic prevention measures in 2022, “Hidden in the Dust” broke through 10 days after its release. 6000000.

And the turning point of fate happened at this time. The “Golden Sentence” clip in “Hidden in the Dust” was made into a short video by netizens on Douyin, and received more than 1 million likes and shares.

The popularity of Douyin has boosted the magical growth of the box office against the trend.

At the end of August, the box office of “Hidden in the Dust” began to grow rapidly. On August 31, the box office of the movie exceeded 40 million yuan; on September 7, the box office exceeded 100 million yuan. It is also worth noting that in the later stage of the release, the source of the box office has shifted from first-tier cities to third- and fourth-tier cities. The discussion of the film has continued to increase with the box office, and interviews with the director and the main creator have also poured in.

In the face of doubt and criticism, in an interview with Jiemian News, director Li Ruijun said:

“The purpose of criticism is to hope that it will become better. I think sometimes the voice of criticism is more courageous than praise. Those who praise you may not really love you or be for you.”

Just as “Hidden in the Dust” was booming in word-of-mouth and box office, on September 12, the film was suddenly released in Chinese theaters. On September 26, it was suddenly removed from streaming platforms such as iQiyi. On October 10, “Hidden in the Dust” disappeared without warning from the screenings of the Busan International Film Festival, which was originally listed. Previously, although “Hidden in the Dust” was criticized by some for “beautifying suffering” or “the lines were too deliberate”, they all belonged to the category of film criticism. This time off the shelves, there are obvious traces of public power involvement.

Dr. Chen Zhiting from the School of Film of Hong Kong Baptist University analyzed that the removal of the film is not a problem of its content itself. He said: “I think the government is not afraid of this movie, but it is afraid that this movie is too popular, and when an event, or a movie, receives such wide attention and everyone is talking about it, everyone’s opinions will start. Disagreement. Then it could easily become a sensitive event.”

The movie “Hidden into the Dust” tells the story of suffering. After suffering, finally, under the suppression of public power, it truly “hidden into the dust”.

2. Under the domination of the main theme, the worst “Eleventh gear” in 8 years

In recent years, the “Eleventh Gear”, which has gradually become a popular schedule, also ushered in Waterloo this year. During the holiday from October 1st to 7th, the total box office of China’s cinema chain was 1.496 billion yuan. The box office data for the same period last year (2021) was 4.388 billion yuan, and the box office of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China in 2019 reached 4.466 billion yuan. This year’s box office was only higher than in 2014 and was the worst in eight years.

The “Eleventh Schedule” coincides with the so-called National Day holiday. After the 2008 film “Painted Skin” achieved box office success in this schedule, it has become an important schedule in the Chinese film market. Before 2016, the films released in this period were still relatively diverse, including comedy films, spy films, fantasy films, and road films over the years, which have won the top box office. However, since “Operation Mekong” in 2016 integrated commercial genre elements into the main theme and won the box office champion, the main theme of this period has become more and more high. Especially since the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China in 2019, the main theme movie has monopolized this period.

In this year’s “Eleventh Schedule”, among the 7 films released, 4 live-action films are all main theme films. In particular, “The Journey Home”, which performed the best at the box office, occupied 70% of the total box office of all films during the “Eleventh Schedule” period. The film tells the story of the evacuation of Chinese diplomats, but ironically, at the same time as the film was released, the epidemic prevention measures in many places in China were upgraded, and a large number of people who chose to return to their hometowns and travel during the 11th period were affected, and they were unable to work and live normally.

The main theme is not the “gold of death” that the film passed the censorship. This year’s “Eleventh Period” originally received the most attention from public opinion, and there was also a Chinese Air Force theme film “The King of the Sky”, but like “Hidden in the Dust”, this film suddenly announced a few days before its release. The announcement states that “in order to present a better production effect”. However, most netizens do not believe this reason. Some people speculate that the film is a copy of the US Air Force-themed “Top Gun” (Top Gun), and some people speculate that the film has caused dissatisfaction with the Chinese Air Force. But no one knows the exact reason.

3. Solo of the main theme: Decaying cinema and a single voice

As we mentioned in the 82nd episode of the program “”Unending Gossip”: The Evolution History of Chinese Film and TV Censorship”, in 2021, in the “14th Five-Year Plan”, the official proposed to “focus on the launch of about 10 films every year. It is also a well-received film masterpiece, with an annual box office of over 100 million yuan in domestic films reaching about 50”, strongly promoting the main theme film. These films have become part of the government’s overall propaganda, and they are well-funded, recruiting well-known domestic directors, and filming and distributing them step by step.

In the face of the bleak “Eleventh Period” at the box office, the party media “Beijing Daily” still published an article saying: “The National Day theme film arouses the audience’s feelings for the country and the country”, while at the same time, practitioners in the Chinese film and television industry are mourning. In a report by China News Weekly in April this year, it wrote about the wave of closures of Chinese cinemas. The article concluded: “‘As long as the epidemic is over’ – many people in the industry have repeated this sentence: as long as the epidemic is over, the movies will come back. , the audience will come back, the theater will be lively again… But the question is, can the theater last until that day?”

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