The sci-fi film “The Wandering Earth 2” was released during the Spring Festival. This film adapted from the novel of the same name by the famous sci-fi writer Liu Cixin has been sought after by Chinese audiences and has been officially hailed as a milestone in sci-fi movies. However, the American “New York Times” gave the film a negative review of two stars. Many commentators bluntly said that this is a Chinese propaganda film wrapped in science fiction.
domestic sci-fi blockbuster
“Look up to me, Chinese sci-fi bullshit! The Chinese, the Chinese own science fiction movie bulls! Long live!” Searching for “The Wandering Earth 2” on Chinese social media, one of the most widely reposted videos is this A Chinese boy applauded the domestic sci-fi film excitedly in the theater after the suspected “Wandering Earth 2”.
(Movie Soundtrack)
“The Wandering Earth 2” is a Chinese-made science fiction film launched by director Guo Fan again after “The Wandering Earth” in 2019. It is adapted from the novel of the same name by Liu Cixin. According to the official narrative, “The Wandering Earth 2” tells the story of the earth facing the sun crisis and the countries falling into panic. The Chinese government and scientific research representatives stepped forward at the critical moment, taking the continuation of human civilization as their own responsibility and shouldering the important task of protecting the earth. .
In an attempt to continue the upsurge of “Ball 1” in China, the filmmakers increased the budget of “The Wandering Earth 2” to three times higher than that of the first episode, reaching 1.1 billion yuan. Domestic audiences in China also responded enthusiastically to the film, with a Douban rating of 7.9. From its release on January 22 to January 31, the film’s box office revenue in China has exceeded 2.81 billion yuan, and the box office in North America has also performed well, ranking 10th in the rankings within three days of its release.
Positive and negative reviews
“The theater is really shocking. I think the online reviews are right, especially the space elevator at the beginning. It’s really cool! The overall layout investment, I think it’s well spent. The set is really cool!” in Shanghai Mr. Liu, a worker in the film and television industry, watched it on his mobile phone before buying a ticket to enter the theater for a second time. He is proud of the Hollywood-level visual effects produced by Chinese science fiction films. But when it comes to the story line of the movie, he said with reservations, “The original party said that it is not easy to make it like this.”
In fact, the CCP officials have not shy away from expressing their affirmation of the main theme of “The Wandering Earth 2”. Fu Ruoqing, Secretary of the Party Committee of China Film Group, said in an interview with CCTV, “Chinese scientists have finally shown that we have this ability and may take the earth to wander. In fact, this is also a reflection on the community of shared future for all mankind. .”
The story of “The Wandering Earth 2” is set as the sequel of “Ball 1”. The three story lines are Tu Hengyu (played by Andy Lau), a scientist who wants to preserve his daughter’s memory and is concerned about digital life engineering, and wants to fight for his family to survive in the dungeon The Chinese aerospace pilot Liu Peiqiang (played by Wu Jing) who received the ticket, and Zhou Zhezhi (played by Li Xuejian), the head of the Chinese delegation of the United Earth Government.
The New York Times gave the film a scathing critique, accusing “The Wandering Earth 2” of nearly three hours of convoluted storylines, flawed themes and confusing, apparently nationally sanctioned political subtext, and “except Disaster scenes with gorgeous special effects, the plot cannot withstand scrutiny.”
“Over the years, China’s domestic industry has indeed learned a lot of first-class practices from Hollywood, and the films they have produced are very impressive on a technical level, and this is something that has happened in a very short period of time.” Former Hollywood Producer Chris Fenton, author of the book “Feeding the Chinese Dragon”, told this station that although Chinese films are developing rapidly in technology and investment, the reason why it is difficult to connect with international audiences in terms of plot core is that Creation of core values.
“In the West, the system works for the people; but in China, the people work for the system. Until recently, collectivism and group mentality have been the dominant philosophy. The idea of true individualism, freedom of creative expression, has been very limited, making speaking The process of storytelling is heavily censored and policed, which is a huge stumbling block to translating original ideas on the international stage.”
Propaganda project under the cloak of science fiction?
“I regard “The Wandering Earth” as a propaganda project of the Communist Party, using writers like Liu Cixin to package nationalism and authoritarianism under the sci-fi.” Liao Yiwu, a Chinese writer living in Germany, told this station. He and many Tucao “The Wandering Earth 2” is like the netizens of the promotional film, who are uneasy about some lines, details and instilled ideology in the movie.
Netizens have named the outrageous propaganda symbols in the film. For example, the character played by Li Xuejian is similar to Zhou Enlai’s clothing and speech style, and at the end of the world, the Chinese representative still wears a Chinese Communist Party brooch; The one with “CCP” printed on his red vest.
The Twitter account “Ms. Li” said bluntly after watching, “This is a nationalist commercial blockbuster wrapped in the so-called world unity and life community.”
A netizen commented, “Li Xuejian’s final decision is terribly thoughtful. Even if the consequences are the destruction of the whole earth, we still have to follow the original plan, because I firmly believe that 97% can become 100%. The crisis resolution method that determines everything with will is also popular in Hollywood blockbusters. Common, but often about universal values shared by all human beings: love for family, longing for freedom, pursuit of truth. But the will here is: ‘our’ people must be able to do it, and ‘we’ are China people, only Chinese.”
Another netizen wrote in a movie review that the whole film is full of heroism against “straight male cancer, and the few female characters are reduced to tool people. Foreigners are also like fools, except that they are in the way and they are stupid. “
“At the moment, their films seem to please their own domestic audience,” said Chris Fenton. “I don’t blame them for that, because their own domestic audience can push the movie to Nearly $1 billion (at the box office).”
The famous Weibo V “Pingyuan Gongzi Zhao Sheng” wrote that “The Wandering Earth 2” does not talk about “freedom”, “human rights” and “listen to your inner voice”, but emphasizes “mutual assistance”, “responsibility” and “unity”.
“People who have been brainwashed by American universal values for a long time will definitely not like it.” He wrote, “”The Wandering Earth 2″ is currently invincible.”
The comment has been retweeted more than 6,000 times.
Reporter: Tang Jiajie Editor in charge: He Ping Online editor: Ruizhe