【Writer and Art View】
Author: Chen Gang (Dean of the Department of Film and Television Media, School of Art and Media, Beijing Normal University, Associate Professor)
In the face of severe challenges brought about by repeated epidemics, Chinese films have always strengthened their cultural self-confidence and adhered to the people-centered creative orientation. The mission to move forward. In the creation of the main theme, Chinese films actively promote the national spirit with patriotism as the core and the spirit of the times with reform and innovation as the core; in the creation of realistic themes, Chinese films are close to the needs of the public, enter the hearts of the people, and feel the world in ordinary life Warmth connects the logic of art with the logic of the times and the logic of life; in the exploration of diverse types of narratives, the construction of narrative logic in Chinese films forms an intertextuality with the daily media life of current audiences, reflecting the persistence of Chinese films Creative concept of creative transformation and innovative development.
The melody of the “Chinese spirit”
The “Chinese spirit” is the national blood of thousands of years of Chinese sons and daughters united as one, forging ahead in unity, not afraid of sacrifice, and cohesive. In 2022, “Shuimen Bridge of Changjin Lake”, “Sniper”, “Iron Will”, “Miracle Stupid Child” and “The Way Back” will coincidentally focus on the melody of the “Chinese spirit” of the times, and outline the greatness of the Chinese nation for the audience. The spiritual genealogy of revival.
Movie “Changjin Lake: Water Gate Bridge” poster data picture
Unlike the previous work “Changjin Lake” which focused on showing war scenes and group portraits, “Shuimen Bridge of Changjin Lake” pays more attention to the meticulous portrayal of each character, integrating the characters’ fiery life temperature and emotional experience into real and tragic wars situation. In order to prevent the retreat of the first U.S. Marine Division, Wu Qianli, Wu Wanli, Yu Congrong, Mei Sheng and other volunteer commanders rushed to the Shuimen Bridge one after another, building a steel Great Wall with their flesh and blood. “Sniper” condenses the cruelty of war into a life confrontation and psychological game between Chinese and American snipers. Under the structural framework of the “Three Unities” that follows the consistency of time, place, and action, the limited time and space add inner tension to the film’s dramatic conflicts. When Liu Wenwu, the leader of the fifth squad, entrusted the task of rescuing the scout Liangliang to the soldier Dayong with his own life, we felt the inheritance and relay of the belief in collectivism and the spirit of patriotism. “Shuimen Bridge of Changjin Lake” and “Sniper” not only reproduce the heroic epic of the Chinese people defying power and defending the country with microscopic war slices, but also endow the time-honored spirit of resisting US aggression and aiding Korea.
File photo of the movie “The Journey Back”
In the historical process of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, the formation of any kind of spiritual characteristics is closely related to its background. In the early days of the founding of New China, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the Chinese people built a relatively complete industrial system through unremitting efforts, laying a solid material foundation for subsequent economic development and modernization. “The Will of Steel” tells the story of the arduous process of the workers of Anshan Iron and Steel Works overcoming all difficulties and realizing the resumption of work and production. The film created portraits of Zhao Tiechi, Sun Xuefei, Meng Tai and other first-generation iron and steel workers in the Republic. Their excellent qualities of self-reliance, hard work, and selfless dedication are the important connotations of the “Chinese spirit” during the period of socialist revolution and construction. The heroic passion for struggle gushes out like hot molten iron, bringing a spiritual baptism that shocks the audience. “Miracle·Stupid Child” presents an inspirational story of a young entrepreneur. The protagonist Jing Hao never gives up, has the courage to explore and innovate, and creates miracles through his own hard work. The epitome of the SAR spirit. There are also “A Thousand Miles Homecoming” adapted from the real events of China’s diplomatic evacuation of overseas Chinese, and “Peak Explosion” which pays tribute to the Chinese railway infrastructure builders. Make a useful attempt.
Movie “Miracle Stupid Kid” poster data picture
The kindness and warmth of ordinary life
In 2022, Chinese filmmakers will uphold the creative concept of realism, go deep into real life, be close to the needs of the public, focus on the life state and emotional journey of ordinary people, look for the warm flow of goodwill in ordinary life, and integrate the logic of art with the logic of the times and the logic of life. Together, they created “Life Events” and “Mom! “, “There is Her in the World“, “Holding You Through the Cold Winter” and other realistic-themed films. It is worth noting that these films pay more attention to the substitution and mobilization of the audience’s empathic experience in terms of narrative strategy, and build a mirror image isomorphic emotional resonance between the screen and reality.
Empathy is a comprehension process of comparing one’s heart to another’s, and its physiological basis is the mirror neurons in the human brain. On the surface, it seems to be an unconscious emotional response, but in fact it is a psychological identification of social value and self-worth. In the process of watching movies, the emotional appeal conveyed by an excellent realistic film can often resonate with the collective resonance of most audiences. In “Life Events”, the sympathy between the protagonist Mo Sanmei and her adopted daughter Wu Xiaowen, as well as the intergenerational conflict with her father, Lao Mo, are not only the narrative motives for constructing plot conflicts, but also Mo Sanmei’s personal growth and self-realization. emotional support. For young audiences, they can not only obtain the value recognition of personal self-realization from Mo Sanmei, but also obtain enough emotional comfort from the two family relationships. “Mother! ” and “There is Her in the World” observe the living conditions of contemporary women from a female perspective, so that female audiences will naturally have a strong gender identity. “Mother! In “, what the daughter Feng Jizhen is facing is the gradual disappearance of rational consciousness, which is a very painful experience for an independent intellectual woman. However, the film does not exaggerate the fear and embarrassment of the mother and daughter under the torment of the disease, but always focuses on the state of emotional communication between them who love each other and care for each other. Therefore, the audience does not see the withering and aging of life, but feels the dignity of life and tenacious willpower in the detailed life scenes. Not only that, the warm and harmonious state between Feng Jizhen and his mother Jiang Yuzhi after dementia also satisfies the psychological expectations of female audiences for an ideal mother-daughter relationship. “There’s Her in the World” presents how three women in different stages of life find the value of life from the difficulties of real life through three independent collection-style short films. By emphasizing women’s gender identity, the film has a dialogue with the times and society, thereby awakening the value recognition of female audiences.
Domestic reality-themed films in 2022 are also looking for touching moments in ordinary life, allowing audiences to feel the temperature of life and think about the meaning of life in daily narratives. “Embrace You Through the Cold Winter” reproduces the collective memory of Wuhan’s united efforts and the whole people’s fight against the epidemic in 2020, and portrays the sincere emotions of ordinary citizens who warm each other and watch and help each other. Looking back at those moments of warmth and healing, everyone’s innermost feelings were awakened again, and the brilliance of the best and most beautiful humanity in the face of disasters warmed people’s hearts. “Long Confession” depicts the emotional relationship between Lichun, Lidong and Achuan in prose style, allowing the audience to follow the camera to wander in the inner world of the characters, and appreciate the poignant beauty of life in the chaos of memory and reality.
Media Intertextuality of Genre Narratives
With the in-depth development of media integration, audiences are increasingly dependent on media information in their daily lives, and different media have formed an interdependent symbiotic relationship. Emerging media production forms such as webcasts, short videos, Vlogs, online literature, and games not only reconstruct our way of thinking, emotional expression, and behavior patterns, but also subtly change our time-space experience and audio-visual aesthetic logic. In 2022, “Lonely Moon”, “Ordinary Hero”, “Brother, Hello”, “This Killer Is Not So Calm” and other genre-focused films will form a “medialized” interaction with the audience’s daily media life in terms of narrative logic construction. The novel promotes the innovation and development of genre narrative mode.
Watching live streaming has become an important media lifestyle in our daily life. In “Lonely Moon”, there is a live broadcast of the plot of Duguyue’s life, which not only brings the audience an interactive experience beyond physical time and space, but also brings the unreachable sci-fi stories back to real life, providing Duguyue and King Kong The “show” of comedy performances. In “Ordinary Heroes”, which is adapted from the real incident of “Rescuing the Boy with a Broken Arm in Hetian, Xinjiang”, the restoration process of the incident is also like a live video broadcast. The shaking camera records the selfless dedication of every ordinary person in the rescue relay, bringing to the audience Strong sense of immersion and presence.
In the current media ecological environment, human life has escaped the limitation of linear time series. The jumping, changing and fragmented time and space experience in daily life makes our ability to integrate information fragments stronger and stronger. Filmmakers apply time-traveling structures and gamified narratives that are common in online literature to film creation. For example, “Brother, Hello” uses the traversal mode to allow the protagonist to go back to the past and witness the process of his parents getting to know each other and fall in love. The dislocation of the relationship between the characters not only provides a broad narrative space for the laying of comedy plots, but also promotes the reconciliation of the intergenerational relationship between father and son. . “This Killer Is Not So Calm” adopts gamified narrative logic, allowing Wei Chenggong to uphold the mentality of a role-playing game player, shuttle in a closed fictional cycle of time and space, and lead the audience to experience different plot trends.
All in all, the creation of Chinese films in 2022 is remarkable, and each masterpiece has left a deep impression on the audience. Inheriting the past and ushering in the future, Chinese films in the new year should shoulder the glorious mission of creating new glories of socialist culture, accelerate the construction of Chinese discourse and Chinese narrative systems, explore the path of modernization of Chinese-style films, comprehensively enhance the international communication power and influence of Chinese films, and promote Chinese culture is better to go to the world.
“Guangming Daily” (page 15, January 18, 2023)
[
责编：杨煜 ]