Text | Jiang Yuqi
"All sold out!"
During the National Day holiday in 2009, when a large number of Guangzhou citizens wanted to use their leisure time to go to the cinema to watch a movie, they found that before evening, many cinemas posted notices to announce the day The movie tickets are sold out. This year’s National Day file, Guangzhou’s cumulative box office hit a record high of 44.56 million. When describing these grand occasions, the "Yangcheng Evening News" said excitedly: "The'October 1'holiday has completely turned into'Movie Golden Week'."
In the movie market ten years ago, it was hard to imagine such a box office spree. The gift films for the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, "The Founding of the People’s Republic" and "The Sound of the Wind" were the "main force" of this carnival. In the case of being questioned before the screening, the two films harvested the National Day files in many regions. Nearly 80% of the box office. In the end, the two earned a total of 416 million and 224 million in box office respectively, and "The Founding of a Country" broke the box office record for domestic films at that time.
"The Founding of the People's Republic" and "The Sound of the Wind", stars gather
Although behind these achievements, the box office appeal of dozens of celebrities and the support of related policies are inseparable, but the two main themes of the film at the same time set off a craze for watching movies. Too many people's expectations. After all, in the concept of the general public, "theme film" often means patriotic, historical or realistic films that praise the revolution and the people. is often born with national forces such as "Tunnel War" and "Southern Expedition". "Political correctness" films are equated, more like a product of history, not in line with the preferences of young audiences.
But in fact, the concept of "main theme" has long been broadened. At the relevant literary symposiums in the 1980s, the concepts of “fully embodying mainstream ideology” and “promoting mainstream values” were mentioned many times. What followed was the iteration of the main melody film’s expression techniques and aesthetic characteristics. , The combination of the main theme film and the market has also begun to become an important proposition in the film and television industry.
Faced with the doubts of the outside world, the director of "The Wind", the director of "Tokyo Trial" and other major works of Gao Qun, said before the release of "The Wind", the audience did not abandon the main theme: "You can't say the main theme is not Well, there is nothing wrong with this word, but it creates a lot of rubbish and abuses the word main melody." In his opinion, , "there is no insult to the main melody in "The Wind"," which implies that the main melody work is The market is willing to pay the bill-facts have proved that his judgment is accurate. In the ten years since "The Wind"
, Gao Qunshu's judgment has been fulfilled many times. "Party Founding", "Take Tiger Mountain Outsmart", "Operation Mekong", "Wolf Warrior 2", "Operation Red Sea"... 毒眼 found that almost every year's most popular Chinese film, there must be one or more main theme movies . During the National Day holiday this year, three gift films "My Motherland and Me", "Captain of China" and "The Climber" contracted the major screens once again, contributing 2.2 billion, 1.9 billion, and 770 million box office respectively. (September 30-October 7) The total box office ratio reached 96%. What is important for
is that, judging from the user portraits provided by the ticketing platform and the voice of the social platforms, the young and patriotic audience has not abandoned the main theme of the movie, but has become the most important audience and "tap" group of the movie. The times are developing and the market is changing, but the patriotic enthusiasm makes the main theme never lack of audiences.
一
From 1949 to 1950, a large number of well-known filmmakers who went to Hong Kong during the war, including the famous playwright Xia Yan and director Cai Chusheng, chose to return to the mainland. For special reasons, director Yue Feng, who failed to return to the north, used to give the students A letter mentioned that at that time, "the people who stayed in Hong Kong were all going home." Many of them have given up some high-paying jobs in Hong Kong film companies for this reason. The reason why the director Cai Chusheng of
made them so urgent is that after the founding of New China, the situation in the mainland became more and more stable and the development became more and more rapid. At the same time, the demand for cultural construction was gradually highlighted. A large number of state-owned film studios such as Beijing Film Studio and Shanghai Film Studio have been established successively, and the demand for film talents in the mainland film industry has reached an unprecedented height. These filmmakers returning from Hong Kong have joined these newly established film studios one after another after returning from the north, and they have become the backbone of the new Chinese film industry.
zThe first peak of 1z new Chinese film creation kicked off.
In the film history of New China, this period is collectively referred to as the "seventeen-year film" (1949-1966), although due to the many adjustments of related literature and art policies, there have been several ups and downs in film creation in the Mainland during the seventeen years. However, this is indeed the beginning of new Chinese films from zero to one-statistics show that during this period, major studios across the country released a total of 1,213 films, including more than 600 feature films.
Affected by the environment and the needs of cultural construction at that time, the main theme film centered on patriotism and praise of the proletariat is naturally the mainstream of the creation of the "17-year film" film era: "Honghu Red Guards" and "Fires" by Beiying Studio "Zhong Yongsheng", "Southern Expedition and Northern War", "Feather Letter", "Railway Guerrilla" by Shanghai Film Studio, "Tunnel Warfare" and "Landmine Warfare" by Bayi Factory... a large number of excellent works with strong main themes have become a generation The Chinese people have the deepest memory of movies at first.
"Railway Guerrillas"
Because of the relatively simple entertainment at the time and the special environment of the times, the Chinese people who have just emerged from the revolutionary era have a deeper feeling about the suffering and the arrival of the new era, so many popular themes will be repeatedly screened. And attract the audience to watch it many times. According to data reported by relevant media after 2012, the war movie "Tunnel War" produced by the Bayi Film Studio in 1965 had more than one billion viewers nationwide, 10 times that of "Wolf Warriors 2" The above is by far the most visited film in the country.
Under the conditions of extreme lack of material and immature technology, the birth of these excellent themed works has the meaning of "raising the power of the whole country".
In the spring of 1951, on the eve of the filming of the gift film "Southern Expedition and Northern War", the then Mayor of Shanghai, Chen Yi, reimbursed Shanghai Film Studio for 1 million yuan based on the exercise fee, and personally explained the details of the battlefield for the crew. Su Yu and other founding generals also All have talked about the play to the main creative team, and the "group performance" transferred during filming was a division transferred from the North China Military Region, with a scale of thousands of people. In the end, this movie, along with lines such as "It's not that we are too incompetent, but the Communists are too cunning", has been remembered as a classic by generations of Chinese for decades.
However, the craze for film creation stopped abruptly after 1966. With the criticism of the ideological field and the tightening of related policies at the time, many excellent films born during the "17-year film" period were banned from being released, and domestic film creation was once stagnant. For many years, no new domestic feature films were born. . For a long time, only a few films such as the "Old Three Wars" ("Tunnel Wars", "Land Wars" and "Northern Wars") were screened publicly. This is also the reason why the number of viewers of "Tunnel Wars" is extremely high. One.
So far, the most-visited film in the country, "Tunnel Warfare"
, this state of restraint continued until 1979, with the surging trend of literary and artistic thought again, and many literary and artistic people were rehabilitated successively by major art schools. Enrollment resumed one after another, and the creation of new Chinese films once again ushered in a peak. In 1979 alone, many classic films such as "Little Flower", "Look at This Family", and "Distressed Smile" were born.
In 1979, the 30th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China was celebrated. From the perspective of genre and theme, many films of this year were still the main theme films of revolutionary history and patriotic struggle, but they had extreme styles and expressions. The big breakthrough is no longer just about singing the great age and heroes, but paying more attention to human nature and individuals. Although the film "Little Flower" produced by Beijing Film Studio tells a wartime story, it spends more of its pen and ink on the emotions of the characters. For this reason, Zhang Baiqing, director of the Chinese Film Association, commented that it was "very different from previous war-themed films." .
This batch of new themed movies represented by "Little Flower" has come out, fully releasing the Chinese audience's long-repressed desire to watch movies.
The new theme film "Little Flower"
According to incomplete statistics, in 1979, the cumulative number of movie viewers nationwide reached 29.3 billion, but by 2018 this figure was only 1.7 billion. At the same time, the new generation of actors such as Tang Guoqiang began to enter the public eye (click here to read: "Little Fresh Meat" transformation, a problem that lasted for 40 years), slowly driving the transformation of Chinese audiences’ aesthetic orientation and entertainment needs. For the future giants of the Chinese film industryChange has laid the groundwork for it. At the same time,
, a group of young people represented by Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, and Tian Zhuangzhuang, began to enter the Beijing Film Academy and other art schools to study. In the future, they will change Chinese film aesthetics and bring Chinese films to the world. We officially embarked on the stage of history. However, people at the time would not have thought that the new generation of creators were not the inheritors of their parents, but more of them were named as "subversives."
2
In May 1983, four new graduates of Beijing Film, including Zhang Junzhao and Zhang Yimou, who were assigned to the Guangxi Film Studio, formed the country's first "youth film crew" and filmed the film "One and Eight" together. The film tells the story of the Eighth Route Army instructor Wang Jin who was imprisoned unjustly, but still focused on the cause of national liberation, probating and educating the bandit deserters who were in prison, so that they used actual actions to atone for their crimes and resist the Japanese invaders.
"One and Eight"
Judging from the summary of the story, this is a very "very popular and upright" movie, but in fact, the film rarely focuses its perspective on the marginalized people and villains of the revolutionary era. Then there is the hero perspective in the main theme works in the past. For this reason, the film was labelled as "mental pollution" at the time and was criticized at major literary and art conferences. It was not released until after 107 revisions were made.
Although "One and Eight" has gone through ups and downs, the appearance of this work, regarded as the "fifth generation pioneering work", still indicates the turn of the new Chinese film creation thought. When evaluating the fifth generation of creators, 's 1985 "Contemporary Film" once called them "accepting the prevailing Western philosophies and aesthetic trends of thought at the time and forming new values and aesthetics", and called them "an abnormal spiritual character". , "Like young grass after a cold winter, fresh and unique."
As the fifth generations gradually grow up and begin to become famous internationally, their creative uniqueness and rebellion become more prominent. Many people's works are not like the "17-year film" era, with facial makeup and story patterning, but with a lot of critical and experimental nature, perspectives, expressions and aesthetic temperament are also blooming.
Although at the National Feature Film Directors Conference in 1987, Shi Fangyu, then director of the Film Bureau, put forward the slogan of "promoting the main theme and advocating diversification" , which in turn made it a guide for major systems in the future. The core policy of the studio's creation, but due to the conceptual change of the core creators, this policy did not bring another climax to the main theme movie. Especially after the fifth generation of directors became the main force of Chinese film creation, the main theme works such as "Southern Expedition and Northern War", "Tunnel Warfare" and "Landmine Warfare" are obviously no longer the "main theme" of the creative world.
Even without the creative breakthrough of the fifth generation, the tastes of the new generation of audiences are already different from those of the past. Since the beginning of reform and opening up, domestic and foreign cultural exchanges have become closer, and movies have naturally become the vanguard of cultural exchanges. Before that, few imported films from countries and regions other than the Soviet Union could be shown in the mainland. However, since the 1980s, commercial films from the United States, Japan, Hong Kong and other countries and regions began to occupy the mainland market, which greatly impacted and Changed the audience's aesthetic and entertainment needs. Compared with , in the era of richer material life, the themes that traditional theme works hope to convey seem to be more difficult to resonate.
The hottest movie in the Mainland in the 1980s was the co-production "Shaolin Temple" released in 1982. The film sold 160 million yuan in the box office in the era when the ticket price was only 1 cent. It is conservatively estimated that the number of viewers in the Mainland has exceeded 1 billion. After the film starring Jet Li became popular, he has starred and directed films such as "Chinese Hero" and "Once Upon a Time". Although these films also have patriotic and anti-imperialist themes, they obviously stimulate fighting and commercial elements. , Is the point that attracted the audience the most.
"Shaolin Temple"
arrived in the 1990s, when the share-sharing blockbusters entered the mainland, the audience's preference was further inclined to commercial films, and "entertainment" has become the most important criterion for many people to choose to watch movies. Therefore, not only the main theme movies, but also many traditional domestic feature films can hardly attract the audience to pay. By the mid-1990s, there were often only one or two mainland movies among the top ten movies on the mainland's annual box office chart.
When the planned economy era begins to end, this change will undoubtedlyLet the operating pressure of state-owned studios become more prominent. In the early 1990s, major factories were still producing various themes of movies, but due to the impact of revenue pressure, they could no longer shoot films at any cost as they did during the "Southern Expedition". Therefore, with the exception of a few key gift films, the quality of many of the main melody films at that time was quite satisfactory, and it was difficult to receive widespread attention.
In 1993, Beijing Film Studio produced and distributed more than 20 films, including "Jinggangshan" and other red films, but the market feedback of many films was not good. In the face of difficulties, the old factory director Han Sanping shouted out "Ask the market for money" in 1994, and led the Beiying Factory to initiate a series of market-oriented reforms, and merged with 7 other studios and companies in 1999. Became the China Film Group.
"Jinggangshan" produced by Beijing Film Factory
Han Sanping is not the only person who realizes the importance of marketization. It was also in the late 1990s that Shanghai Film Factory and others proposed the concept of "new mainstream movies" and believed that they should create a Criticize movies that can not only express mainstream values, but also have market returns. In 1999-2000, in a large number of gift films such as "Sky Flying Leopard", "Yellow River Love", "Born in the Sky" and "My 1919" produced by China Film, Shanghai Film and other factories, it is obvious that many commercializations can be seen. element.
However, compared to the menacing visual effects blockbusters and commercial films that are closer to contemporary life, even the "new mainstream movies" are difficult to impress when the revolutionary era is getting further and further away and related memories and feelings are gradually diminishing. With younger and younger audiences, many movies were still labelled as "over-educational" at the time, failing to achieve a satisfactory box office.
In 2002, when the era of Chinese commercial blockbusters officially arrived and private capital entered the film industry in large numbers, the monopoly of state-owned film companies was completely lost. At that time, private companies favored films with sufficient commercial value such as "Heroes" and "A World Without Thieves". Therefore, in the first few years of the 21st century, the top blockbuster movies and the annual top box office lists were all It is difficult to see the main theme movie again. also started from that time, and the argument of "the main theme is outdated" has become more and more.
Feng Xiaogang's "Assembly Number" was one of the few domestically produced war films that sold well in those years. In 2007, the box office reached 250 million, ranking first among domestically produced films. Wang Zhonglei, the CEO of Fang Huayi Brothers, said that the purpose of making this film was because "the war film was forgotten." However, from the perspective to the theme, this film can hardly be attributed to the main theme. On the contrary, it can be said that it is a "rebellion" against traditional war films. It is rare that soldiers fear death and question their superiors on the battlefield.
"Rebellious" "Assembly Number"
"Evening News" used a sentence when evaluating the film, accurately summarizing the meaning of the film: "Chinese war films finally got rid of straightforward heroism, The simple binary opposition of red and white... (soldiers) are no longer members of the team gymnastics of the war blockbuster." The big sales of 's "Assembly Number" may formally announce the curtain call of a certain type of theme movie.
三
Unexpectedly, two years later, the main melody film will open up a new situation, it is actually Han Sanping and the representative of private enterprises, Huayi Brothers, who have actively changed.
"The Founding of the People's Republic" is a film dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, produced by China Film and produced by Han Sanping as the producer. It invited dozens of popular stars including Tang Guoqiang and Zhang Guoli to perform and was awarded by Rao Shuguang, Secretary General of the Chinese Film Association It is evaluated that while inheriting the traditional narrative mode of the main melody movie, it also "learns some experience from Hollywood genres" to meet the consumer needs of the audience; "The Wind" is a gift film recommended by Huayi Brothers, Zhou Xun, Li Bingbing, Zhang Hanyu, Huang Xiaoming and other leading actors were all Huayi artists, and many celebrities still held shares in Huayi.
"The Founding of a Country" has a strong star lineup
In fact, both films have suffered some controversy after they came out. The former is criticized by some for being too entertaining, while the latter is questioned and cannot be regarded as the main theme movie. However, Gao Qunshu didn't care about this. He believed that the main theme in the true sense was to express mainstream values: "is not about the advocacy of the government, but a value recognized by the government and people."
Gao Qunshu's standards and the success of the two films In fact, it also shows a change in the market and industry's attitude towards the main theme. In fact, as early as the end of a certain movie in "The Wind", there was a certain theaterThe company’s boss said to Wang Zhonglei: “The Founding of the People’s Republic of China” is the commercial promotion of the traditional theme of the movie, and “The Sound of the Wind” is the theme of commercial movies; state-owned companies and private companies will eventually reach the same goal by different routes.” The era is changing, and the main theme works must Adjust the entry point; but there are some things that remain unchanged. Chinese practitioners have to learn how to express mainstream values.
Huayi Brothers is the first private company to find the trick. After the "Assembly Number" and "The Wind" made two "anti-traditional" precedents, Huayi teamed up with Feng Xiaogang to create "Tangshan Earthquake" in 2010, which sold 673 million, which once again broke the box office record for domestic films; In 2011, "New Shaolin Temple" directly moved the background of the times to modern times. It is about the story of heroes and heroes saving the country and the people in the warlord melee era... Open the Huayi Brothers movie list, many of which are trying to use commercial genres. Way to convey mainstream values.
"New Shaolin Temple"
However, if Huayi is using various types of films to express the main theme, then another private enterprise, Bona, has summarized a set of "the main theme methodology" and used it to describe the main theme of the film. Developed into its own signature.
In 2014, Bona produced "Take the Tiger Mountain out of the blue". The story was first known to the majority of Chinese audiences in the form of a model drama. Therefore, although Bona made major changes to the story and invited young actors like Lin Gengxin, he was still worried about being affected by stereotypes and young audiences would not pay. , So the main melody element was avoided at the moment of release. However, the results of the film were quite unexpected. After the Lunar New Year file was released that year, it defeated the same period of "One Step Away", and the final gross box office was 880 million, ranking third in domestic films that year.
"Take the Tiger Mountain out of Wisdom"
"The main theme of the past is the concept first, but the drama is ignored." In an interview with Poison Eye at , Bona Chairman Yu Dong said that since then Bona has consciously used " "New Way" is the main theme. Specifically in terms of methodology, one is to have a breakthrough in ideological value, no longer simply labeling, and to be closer to young people in context; the other is to have a breakthrough in aesthetic value, and to be closer to commercial films on the technical level. Yu Dong believes that "if we still use the shooting methods 20 years ago to make a movie, the audience will naturally not accept it."
Based on this methodology, Bona has also invested and controlled major commercial blockbusters such as "Operation Mekong" and "Operation Red Sea". Among them, "Operation Mekong" counterattacked "Grand Trail" in the National Day file when it was not optimistic, and won 1.17 billion box office; and "Operation Red Sea" even more force after the Spring Festival, with 3.62 billion results in 2018 year.
"Operation Red Sea" aspires to win 3.62 billion in 2018
In addition, because of the success of "Take the Tiger Mountain", Yu Dong realized that young audiences are not so repulsive to the main theme, so he took the initiative to amplify these in subsequent works Promotion point. and this year, Bona created the "Chinese Pride Trilogy" ("Heroes of Fire", "Moment of Battle" and "Chinese Captain") and became the second producer of "My Motherland and Me". He is the most active player on the main melody stage.
is not only that private companies are becoming more and more "radical" on the road of the main theme film, but even state-owned enterprises have laid down more burdens. In the second part of China Film’s "The Founding of the People’s Republic of China", the film used more young and popular actors, and the drama conflicts were also amplified; in the third part of "The Founding of the Army", not only a large number of Xiao Xianrou, like Bona’s main theme, invited a Hong Kong director (Liu Weiqiang) to perform his work. For this reason, it also attracted a group of controversies among the descendants of martyrs, including Ye Ting's descendants.
The controversial Ouhao
in "The Founding of the Army", however, the most commercial "The Founding of the Army" did not achieve satisfactory results. After its release in the summer of 2017, it only won 400 million box office, which obviously cannot match the lineup and investment. But the failure of "The Founding of the Army" does not mean the failure of the main theme, because the opponent it lost to that year was "Wolf Warrior 2". The picture of Wu Jing holding a five-star red flag and the 5.7 billion box office brought by the nationwide movie have become the most true memory of the main theme of the new generation of audiences. also started from that time. Wu Jing, who shouted "I am patriotic and innocent", replaced many older generation actors and became the most important representative of the current theme film.
The success of "Wolf Warrior 2", let people see againThe strong appeal of the main melody movies, and the main melody movies that have exploded in the next few years, whether it is "Red Sea Operation" or the current "Chinese Captain", are under the shell of nearly Hollywood blockbusters and contain mainstream values. This is undoubtedly a "reverse push" to literary and artistic creation due to changes in the aesthetic and entertainment needs of the audience.
These films are more "people-friendly" expressions, and naturally they also get more popular opinion at the box office: From 2009 to 2018, five years of domestic box office champions were the main theme films, including this year, and other years. There are also a lot of popular themes that have come out. Since the late 70s and early 80s, the theme of "Little Flower" and other theme films have been popular, the theme has once again returned to the center of the stage. What
four
changes is not only the way of expression of the main melody movie, but also the changes that meet the needs of young audiences and young audiences, which is the core reason why the main melody has become the "main melody" again.
It is not difficult to find that the main theme films in the early years promoted the concepts of how the revolutionary martyrs sacrificed, how the Chinese soldiers and civilians resisted, and the supremacy of collectivism. However, the main theme films nowadays are all shifting: "Operation Mekong" and "Operation Red Sea" shows the protection of citizens after the country is strong, and "Wolf Warriors 2" rarely shows individual heroism.
"Wolf Warrior 2" shows the personal heroism
, and in this year's National Day file, the switch of perspective has a new change. In "My Motherland and Me", the seven clips are aimed at designers, engineers, taxi drivers, watchmakers, police and other ordinary people or unsung heroes from various walks of life; "Chinese Captain" is more like The praises of a group of civilian heroes; and the controversial "Climber" amplifies the element of love. As a gift film for the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China,
’s success in the box office and social influence of these three main theme films will undoubtedly be an important inspiration for the creation of related films in the future. It is foreseeable that there will be more and more movies with similar themes and perspectives in a short period of time. This trend of
also just meets the demands of today's audience. In the years of "Tunnel War" and "Northern War", the survival of the nation is in danger, and the hardship of the revolution is not easy. It is the emotion that every ordinary Chinese feels deeply and hopes to express. What the era needs is the power of collective forge ahead and struggle. Today, although many of the main themes of are still subject to controversy, there is no doubt that the "sense of crisis" is no longer convincing for young consumers, and "happiness" is the greatest Selling point. A set of surveys released by VarkeyFoundation, an international education charity organization
, shows that Chinese young people, represented by post-95s, have higher national recognition and evaluation data than many developed countries. Therefore, although the stereotype of generally believes that the post-90s and post-00s are two generations who grew up in Japanese anime and Hollywood blockbusters, this group of young audiences has not diminished in terms of national identity and patriotic passion. Chen Rui, chairman of
B station, also mentioned in a previous speech that according to the background data monitoring of station B, many post-90s and post-00s actually showed high patriotism. His explanation for this is: "They have lived very richly since childhood, their education is very good in all aspects, they really feel that they live in a very very good country, they love us from the heart Country." The change in the user portrait behind the
film is a good proof of this. According to data from the professional version of
Lighthouse, when "Taking the Tiger Mountain" and "Operation Mekong" were released, users under 19 accounted for less than 4%, and audiences aged 20-24 accounted for less than 30%; By the time of "Wolf Warrior 2", users under the age of 19 had exceeded 4.1%, and the proportion of audiences aged 20-24 had reached 30.4%. The current hits "My Motherland and My Country" and "Captain China" have all More than 12% and 32% of the audience are 19-year-old and 20-24-year-old audiences, which account for the highest proportion in many main theme movies.
It is worth mentioning that the popularity of "My Motherland and Me" has not been too high in the early stage of publicity, and the number of people who "want to see" has been growing slowly. The first surge in the number of people who "want to watch" appeared on August 22 (increased by 35,800). On this day, the film party released a trailer for "Return", and it was during the fermentation period of the Hong Kong riots-platform data showed , Half of "want to see" usersA few or so are young people under 24.
When the screening of "My Motherland and Me" ended, when the post-95s and post-00s of the scene joined the team of Gao Ge's theme song, the doubts about the main theme of the film were self-defeating. The enthusiasm for watching movies of "Gen Z" is increasingly being released in these main theme movies, making this category of movies the most stable existence in the market.
