Source Title: Planetary Engines, Space Elevators… How Domestic Science Fiction Embraces the Future Listen to what Liu Cixin has to say
Right now, the movie “The Wandering Earth 2” is showing in theaters across the country. At the same time, the TV series of the same name adapted from the novel “Three-Body Problem” is also being broadcast on the TV drama channel of the main station and CCTV and other platforms. As the original author of “The Wandering Earth” and “The Three-Body Problem”, what does science fiction writer Liu Cixin think of these two domestic science fiction film and television works that are currently being screened? How Science Fiction Movies Embrace the Future? Today’s space-time interview, the headquarter reporter exclusively interviewed the science fiction writer Liu Cixin.
How can domestic sci-fi film and television surpass imagination?
Liu Cixin believes that “The Wandering Earth 2” has given a more “documentary” sci-fi imagination. Science fiction may be the history of the future, and artificial intelligence is getting closer and closer to us. This is worth thinking about for all of us. When talking about the grand narrative and special effects technology of the movie “The Wandering Earth 2”, Liu Cixin repeatedly mentioned the word shock.
Liu Cixin:“The Wandering Earth 2” gives people a very shocking feeling. Because of a series of movies, generally speaking, the later sequels are not as good as the first one. In the history of world cinema, there is rarely a series of movies that are better shot later than the first. But “The Wandering Earth 2” has indeed surpassed the level of the first film in all aspects. From special effects, to acting, to the story, it surpasses the first one a lot.
The TV series “Three-Body Problem”, which is currently being screened, has been evaluated by many netizens as an extremely high degree of restoration of the original work. This point has also been recognized by Liu Cixin.
Liu Cixin:I am not very good at the final evaluation of the TV series, because after all, you have only watched a third of it, and we don’t know what it looks like afterward, but after watching this part, I feel that it accurately restores the contents of the book and puts the contents of the book It is very accurately expressed by this kind of TV image, and the pictures it shows are very consistent, including the author’s and readers’ imaginations, very much in line with their imagination.
Liu Cixin introduced that “The Wandering Earth 2” is an original work of the film’s creative team, not an adaptation of the original novel, which reflects the transcendence and improvement of domestic science fiction films in terms of production capabilities and standards.
Liu Cixin:The second part of “The Wandering Earth” has nothing to do with my original novel. So this is a great encouragement to people. Where is this encouragement? It used to be said that Chinese sci-fi movies are keen on adaptation. First find an IP literary work or a science fiction novel, and then adapt it. This is actually somewhat helpless, because sci-fi movies are actually more suitable for original scripts, not adaptations. There are also adaptations, but Most of the world‘s sci-fi movies are original, but the problem is that our original sci-fi scripts are still relatively weak in China. We have a lot of screenwriters, and there are many excellent screenwriters, but you have to say excellent screenwriters who are familiar with science fiction. , is still relatively lacking. However, “The Wandering Earth 2” has really changed my opinion. I think if we work hard to create original sci-fi movies like this, if we don’t adapt novel IPs, we will now have a considerable level of ability.
Liu Cixin is also relatively open to the adaptation of novels into film and television dramas. He believes that the content of science fiction literature is actually more suitable to be expressed in the form of visual images.
Liu Cixin:Every author of text hopes to turn his work into a film and television. Some don’t want it, maybe people are worried that people will misinterpret his stuff, but mostly I think there is still this expectation. This is especially true for science fiction authors. why? Because the content of sci-fi literature is actually more suitable to be expressed in the form of visual images. For sci-fi art, the power of images is much greater than that of words, because sometimes words are very difficult for us to imagine. It is difficult to convey it to readers accurately, but images can.
Where is the soil for the continuous heating up of domestic “science fiction fever”?
Where is the soil for the “sci-fi fever” that is currently heating up in China? Regarding this issue, Liu Cixin said that China’s rapid development and China’s modernization process have profoundly promoted the breakthrough and leapfrogging of films, which is the soil for the existence and development of science fiction literature and science fiction films.
Liu Cixin:The development of our current science fiction, including our current movies, successful movies, and TV series, is of course the product of the creators’ efforts, but in essence, it is a product of the times. Let me give you an example. Take “The Wandering Earth 2” as an example. If you made such a movie 30 years ago, first of all, this movie would not be made, because the investors would say that this movie is not possible. Believe me, how can the Chinese save the world, how can they have spaceships to enter space, how can they have such a huge ultra-modern machine, that kind of sky elevator, and they can blow up the moon. Credible, but now we don’t have this feeling. China’s development and China’s modernization process have first made science fiction far away from the point where we can appreciate it (very close). On the other hand, China is now in a period of rapid development. The reality around us and our society are undergoing tremendous changes every moment. This is different from thirty years ago. The changes brought about directly Each of us is full of attraction to China’s future, and China’s future to each of us. The attraction of this future to people is the most fertile soil for the existence of science fiction literature and science fiction movies. Therefore, I say that whether it is the current science fiction movies or works, including those of us science fiction writers, he is really a product of the times.
Will the future technology in science fiction works be realized in reality?
For sci-fi film and television works, most viewers are very curious about the brain-opening, magical and magnificent imagination inside. Will the future technology, artifacts and details shown in these hard-core sci-fi movies be realized in reality one day?
In the movie “The Wandering Earth 2”, the “hard core technology” elements such as planetary engines, intelligent quantum computers, and space elevators shocked the audience deeply. Can future technologies such as space elevators and digital immortality be realized in reality? Liu Cixin answered the hot topic among netizens.
Liu Cixin:In theory, there is no suspense in the space elevator. In fact, the biggest obstacle to realizing it now is its material, because the space elevator needs to lift a steel cable from the ground to a height of 30,000 kilometers in geosynchronous orbit. At present, our strongest material is probably carbon fiber. It makes A chain of mine can only be raised to 200 kilometers at most, so how much is the difference. Digital immortality has two aspects of technology, one is information technology, which is making rapid progress, and the other is brain science. Our understanding of our own brain and research on the brain are progressing very slowly. How our brain works, how our memory, self-awareness, and thinking are produced, although we have a lot of research results, but we don’t really understand it. If there is no breakthrough in this area, how can we live forever. You can’t retrieve the information in your brain. No matter how good the numbers are, no matter how big the computer is, you are like water without a source and a tree without roots.