The original title: Living in harmony with all rivers and reality—the reshaping of oriental philosophical propositions in modern animation language
The recently released animated film "Jiang Ziya", based on the legendary mythical novel "The God of God" The clues, core themes, character relationships, etc. have been redesigned, and the speculative propositions with oriental philosophies are interpreted through modern animation language. The film has made useful attempts in the depth of the theme and creative techniques.
As an adult-oriented animation work, the theme of "Jiang Ziya" is not a simple opposition between good and evil, but three paradoxical propositions. The first is about the sense of belonging among the three realms of gods, humans, and demons. For example, did Jiang Ziya choose to be a god of peace and emptiness, or to be a compassionate savior who understands the sufferings of the world; the second is how to choose between saving one person and saving lives, so-called "A person is like dew, and the common people are like the sea" is a transformation of the world-famous paradox proposition "Trolley car problem". The core is to explore whether there is an absolute justice of salvation; the third is the conversion between reality and illusion, and whether the world can be realized in the eyes. The four elements of human and Tao are empty. This is also one of the core propositions of the Eastern philosophical system after the localization of Buddhism and Taoism with the concept of "flying ascend to the gods".
First of all, the roles of Jiang Ziya, Shen Gongbao, Nine Tails, Xiao Jiu, Sibuxiang, and Master in the film all reflect the creator's thinking on the above three themes to varying degrees. The narrative line of Jiang Ziya and Xiao Jiu’s puzzle-solving journey, and Jiang Ziya’s choice of whether to enshrine the gods, are the most important adaptations of the novel text, and further extend the allusions of the "first war enshrined gods" in the myth system, and narrate the story. Expand to philosophical thinking. Achieving a sense of belonging to the Three Realms is the common behavioral motivation of each character, and this motivation cannot simply be divided into good and evil.
Secondly, the film transforms the confrontational relationship between Shen Gongbao and Jiang Ziya in the novel into a united teammate relationship. Shen Gongbao can be regarded as a mirror image character whose understanding and depth of thought are not as good as Jiang Ziya. On the question of "saving one person or saving the common people", he was the only one who firmly agreed and supported Jiang Ziya, and finally sacrificed himself to save Jiang Ziya and Xiao Jiu. Both Jiang Ziya and Shen Gongbao practiced their choice of belonging and absolute justice through "defying Master" and solved the "tram problem" in their hearts.
As for the philosophical expression of virtuality and reality, "Jiang Ziya" mainly uses creative techniques and visual symbols to cause audiences to think. Specifically, it is reflected in the contrast conversion of color relations, the transformation of character modeling, and the conversion of two-dimensional and three-dimensional expressions.
The color composition of the whole film is mainly divided into three types: red, white and blue. The contrast between red and blue is a common color relationship of opposite attributes in film art, and white, as the full color in the spectrum, means borderless and inclusive. The fetters, fate, and war represented by red rewrite reality from the perspective of visual stimulation and "shape", while blue represents ascension, relief, and tranquility, which has a more empty "meaning" flavor. Red symbols, including two forms of Fate Lock, the main colors of Nine Tails and Xiao Jiu's characters, and the blood color of the opening title Conquering God War, etc.; blue symbols, including the main colors of Xuanniao and Jiang Ziya characters before enlightenment, and various divine power releases The skill color of time, etc. In the contrast between red and blue, the key to balance is white, and white is also a sign of the coexistence of reality, character enlightenment, and sublimation of the theme. For example, Jiang Ziya's practice in the northern realm, Jiang Ziya's enlightenment and the main character of the four non-identical characters.
In terms of character modeling deformation, the film also adopts the creative thinking of virtual and reality. Through three ways of role gamification, animal characterization, and character animalization, the philosophical concepts of reality and illusion are expressed in animation language. Sibuxiang and Xiaojiu are typical representatives of this creative thinking. In the novel, the four non-phases are originally Jiang Ziya’s mountDivine beasts are used to resist attacks from beasts. However, in the film, it transforms into a companion pet beast with a puppy action look and a child's personality, and transforms into a mighty deer-shaped flying mount in the battle with Nine Tails. Xiao Jiu was originally a human girl, but under the influence of the demon method, she showed the characteristics of animal modeling. In addition, the flying feather design of Jiang Ziya's clothing and the mysterious bird form an intertextuality; the master's model has a tree-like feature, which can be regarded as the expression of the transformation of the virtual and the real. The conversion of
two-dimensional and three-dimensional representation is mainly reflected by the contrast between the title and the narrative line of the feature film. In "Jiang Ziya", there are as many as 1,300 special effects shots, accounting for more than 70% of the total shots, which can better complete the performance of three-dimensional animation on combat movement trajectories, character micro-expressions and skin texture. The two-dimensional animation of the title Conqueror of Gods has the typical aesthetic characteristics of fluid animation. The scene scheduling is completed through the combination of curves and surfaces, and the aesthetics of the painting environment is used as the lens movement method. The camera's push, pull, pan, and line movement not only focus on narrative, but also set off the mood of the scene. It is a relatively freehand and traditional animation language.
In addition to the visual, the sound design of the film also has many ingenuities. The first is to vocally restore the Taoist five-element symbols of gold, wood, water, fire and earth, and combine this design thinking with character modeling, which not only reflects traditional culture, but also enriches the character attributes. For example, water represented by the four different elements, fire represented by nine tails and Xiaojiu, wood represented by the master, gold represented by Shen Gongbao, and Jiang Ziya's comprehensive performance of the five elements. In addition, through the design of dynamic effects and environmental sound, the film strives to create a space atmosphere of emptiness and imagery, such as the collision of bone pieces in the memories of Xiao Jiu, the sound of water droplets when the four are not moving, and the sound of wind sighing in the wrong soul. Although the film also uses a large number of national musical instruments, such as the banhu, gongs and drums in the scenes of Xiaojiu and Jiang Ziya's tricks, the music only serves as a cushion for emotions, not the main source of sound. This is a big difference in the design proportions of music and sound effects from films such as "Nezha Nao Sea" and "Journey to the West: The Great Sage Returns". It is also an improvement in the sound design and production of domestic animated films.
Although there are some flaws in the narrative structure and the smoothness of the plot, "Jiang Ziya" as a whole greatly enhances the philosophical speculation of domestic animated films. Compared with other animation works produced by Caitiaowu, it has a more profound theme, More technical details and a higher degree of completion. Inherited by all rivers, fiction and reality coexist, and the film realizes the thinking and reshaping of Eastern philosophical propositions through modern animation language. (Author: Zhao Yi, associate professor of New Media Arts, Xi'an Polytechnic University)
