chivalrous culture is one of the representatives of traditional culture with Chinese characteristics. The combination of the spirit of chivalry and the quintessence of martial arts has formed the image of martial arts. There are a considerable number of literary and artistic works involving martial arts themes in ancient and modern times. Since the pre-Qin period, there has even been a history of the theme of chivalrous literature; at the same time, modern and contemporary literary and artistic works about chivalrous, typically novels and movies, are also endless. The image of
martial arts maintains a very broad sense of identity among the Chinese. Some people comment on the famous martial arts novelist Mr. Jin Yong: Where there are Chinese, there is Jin Yong. This praising Jin Yong also proves in one aspect that martial arts lie in the Chinese people's mind.
However, in history, the original image of the chivalrous man was negative. The article in “Five Beetles” in “Han Feizi” believed that “Confucianism used literature to chaos law, and chivalry used martial arts to violate bans”. Xun Yue’s "Han Ji" directly denounced the ranger as a "thief of virtue." Later, when Tai Shigong wrote the "Historical Records" for the assassin ranger, he believed that "although his actions are not in line with justice, his words must be believed and his actions must be As a result, Enoch will be sincere, do not love his body, and go to the troubles of the scholars. He has survived and died, but he has not been able to use his ability, shame and condemn his virtues, and there are enough people to cover." At the same time, he evaluates in his own preface. Rangers "both benevolence and righteousness have the right to choose."
However, since then, except for Ban Gu's "Han Shu", it is no longer an Assassin Ranger biography in the official history. The ranger as a group of entities gradually declines, but it shines in the writings of later literati. The negative image of the knight in the pre-Qin era is slowly being subverted. This point can be found in ancient poetry, drama, and novels. Context, until the rise of the old school and the new school of martial arts novels in modern times, the martial arts and the so-called martial arts spirit were officially accepted and recognized by people, and a large number of representative writers and works of martial arts novels were produced, which finally made the culture of chivalry unique. One of the representatives of traditional culture can even say that “understanding Chinese cannot bypass Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, nor can it completely bypass the heroic spirit.
The latter does not have a complete theoretical form as the first three, but it does rely on poetry. , Opera, and novels (and now film and television are added), shaping generations of Chinese people." Even the recognition of the image of martial arts by ordinary Chinese is self-evident. And under the vision of globalization, as one of the traditional cultures with Chinese characteristics, Xia culture has a very unique charm to the whole world. Taking film and television works as an example, in the classification of traditional film and television genres, there is a unique genre of martial arts films in China, and it is very different from action films in Western genres. Martial arts movies first appeared in the Republic of China. After the development of Hong Kong martial arts movies in the 1960s and 1970s, they eventually became a pillar of the box office that carried the spirit of traditional culture. It was marked by "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" directed by Ang Lee. It has been affirmed by Western audiences. The chivalrous culture has truly become a characteristic culture that can not be bypassed by the understanding of the integration of tradition and modernity.
However, if we carefully examine the image of martial arts, we seem to find that martial arts are martial arts and care about the heroic spirit of helping the poor. However, this spirit is by no means unique to Chinese people, and Westerners also have it. If you take literary works for example In the Middle Ages, there were knights in the West, while a series of superheroes with Hollywood labels frequently appeared in contemporary film and television works. What is interesting is that when we Chinese translate such superhero movies, we often translate them as rich with local characteristics. The "Man".
such as Batman, Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Green Hornet, Iron Man, etc. Of course, there are also some "Man" that are actually "Man" but not translated as "Man", such as Superman, Wolverine, Green Giant, Catwoman, etc. Most of this series of superhero movies are based on comics that were once popular. Although they don’t have a profound historical background like Chinese martial arts, their impact is not trivial. In fact, taking movies as an example, whenever Hollywood superhero movies have landed in the Chinese movie box office market. Generally speaking, they are invincible. The so-called domestic martial arts blockbusters simply cannot be beaten. Of course, this is not enough to show that Chinese martial arts are inferior to American superheroes. After all, there is China's own film industry. The foundation is not as good as the human factor, but at least it illustrates its unparalleled influence. Superhero movies such as
can be described as the icon of Hollywood, and Hollywood itself is considered to be a representative of American culture. If you look at it from the perspective of China, you can also think of it as one of the characteristic cultures of the United States, and at the same time as its own. Representative culture, how should we understand the relationship between traditional Chinese martial arts and American superheroes?One point, how do we compare Xia and Superman?
Speaking of the commonality between martial arts and superheroes from superpowers
is obvious. If the biggest common feature between traditional Chinese martial arts and modern American superheroes is that they are not ordinary people, they are all equipped with special skills. The extraordinary characters are legendary heroes with super powers. Of course, this is directly related to the literary and artistic works or readers' and audience's preference for legendary characters, and this preference is obviously not distinguished by national boundaries.
After all, the ordinary things of an ordinary person really cannot arouse people's interest. The extraordinary things of an ordinary person can be a good story, and an extraordinary person is destined to be a good story. This preference for legends embodies the psychology of readers and viewers who want to get rid of the ordinary trivial life and dream of becoming an extraordinary character or hero. "The popularity of martial arts novels is mainly based on the readers' "dream heroes" and "hero dreams". The popularity of Western superhero films is probably because these heroes fit the audience's heroic dream psychology. Therefore, the monotonous and repetitive themes can be renewed and prosperous.
So, for superheroes to become superheroes, they must be given superhuman abilities, so superheroes with various superpowers have appeared. The same is true of traditional Chinese martial arts, martial arts are martial arts, and must be able to martial arts and then martial arts, although Liang Yusheng once said that "xia" is the soul and "wu" is the body. "Xia" is the purpose, and "wu" is the means to achieve "Xia".
However, if the shell of martial arts is discarded, it is estimated that chivalrous people will not be so attractive. Ordinary people who do not know martial arts have become famous knights, such as Jing Ke, but they are mostly in the pre-Qin era, and they are not in the general meaning of later generations. Even Zhang Yimou gave the protagonist excellent martial arts in the film when he filmed "Hero" based on Jing Ke's assassination of the king of Qin, and he even had the ability to fight in his mind. It can be seen that most of the knights who are not capable of martial arts cannot be accepted by modern audiences, and can even be said to be inexcusable.
So, what are the superpowers of martial arts and superheroes as legendary extraordinary characters. Intuitively, martial arts can martial arts, which distinguishes them from ordinary people. Western superheroes seem to have richer and more powerful abilities. Generally speaking, invulnerability, heaven and earth, and transfiguration can be done. Xiao Feng in "The Eight Dragons" will suffer 80% of encounters with Superman. of.
Of course, this comparison is very problematic, because regardless of the martial arts or superheroes, although their superpowers have a certain basis in reality, they have added fiction and imagination to a large extent. Since the middle Xiaofeng, the eighteen palms of the dragon can kill hundreds of people with bare hands and a big bear with one palm. In "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", the eighteen palms of the dragon can kill dozens of sharks at sea. Later, some of the peerless martial arts in the film and television works have the photoelectric effect, and when one moves out, the land collapses and the ground shakes.
There is no doubt that these staggering superpowers are largely exaggerated imaginations based on traditional martial arts, and this kind of imagination is obviously far away from the basis of reality. In "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" directed by Ang Lee, the battle between Yu Jiaolong and hero Li Mubai in the bamboo forest, and the fight between Yu Xiulian and Yu Jiaolong by the city wall exaggerated the light work to the extreme. They basically surpassed Newton. Obviously, there is no scientific and factual basis for gravity.
In contrast, the Americans are more generous when giving their superheroes superpowers. Based on a little scientific theory, the superheroes are invulnerable, flying, and possessing god-like supernatural abilities. , Without taking into account the possibility of science at all. For example, Superman has a super ability that is capable of flying faster than the speed of light. Even the conclusion of the theory of relativity has been overturned. Obviously, it is very unbelievable.
But aside from science, having such superpowers is undoubtedly extremely fascinating. Moreover, no audience will believe the existence of these superheroes. Everyone just throws themselves into a fictional exaggeration and imagination when watching a movie. In the world, to experience what it is like to be a superhero, this is the embodiment of the heroic dream of readers and audiences. This is also true for martial arts. Therefore, whether it is martial arts or superheroes, we will find that their superpowers are always renovating and becoming stronger and stronger, precisely because they are free from the shackles of fact and science, in order to cater to the audience andReaders’ heroic dreams, directors and novelists are all devoted to giving their protagonists all kinds of dazzling superpowers.
So, since the superpowers of martial arts and superheroes are built on the basis of fiction, this kind of superpower naturally has no distinction between strengths and weaknesses, and it does not matter who has more exaggerated imagination, and who has more reasonable imagination. Because the respective superpowers of martial arts and superheroes are also related to their cultural backgrounds, and they are all exaggerated to the greatest extent on the basis of their respective reality. Martial arts must be based on traditional Chinese martial arts, no matter how exaggerated they are, they must be based on a certain amount of martial arts, the most typical being light work. No matter how powerful or exaggerated the hero's light work is, it is impossible to fly like a modern airplane.
Superheroes are much happier. They live in modern times and can possess many superpowers based on modern technology, such as flying. But it cannot be said that flying is not as good as flying, so martial arts are not as good as superheroes. Xiao Feng couldn't beat Superman, just as the ancient army couldn't beat the modern army. It was in fact natural.
Therefore, the most important thing for both is not the size of the superpowers, but that the superpowers of the two are the basis for the existence of both. The martial arts are martial arts and the superheroes are superheroes. Both have The superpowers that ordinary people don’t have, no matter how strong or weak it is. Both superpowers are the primary prerequisite for fascinating people. It is precisely because of the existence of superpowers that they provide their respective righteous heroic behaviors. Possibly, in fact, every time the final duel between justice and evil becomes a confrontation between superpowers and evil, as individual martial arts and superheroes, if they do not have such superpowers, such tasks would never be possible. It can be done. In addition to superpowers, the common feature of
martial arts and superheroes is self-evident, that is, both must be the incarnations of justice, even if their opponents may have more powerful superpowers than them, in the end, It goes without saying that the righteous side must defeat the evil side.
Although in the pre-Qin period, the ranger appeared as a negative image, but when Tai Shigong wrote "The Records of the Historian · The Biography of Ranger", he commented that the rangers "save people from evil, invigorate others, and benevolent. It’s a point of view.” This point gave a great brilliance among the knights in later martial arts novels, forming the so-called chivalrous spirit of “seeing injustices and drawing swords to help each other”. Later, Jin Yong was sublimated to “xiamen” in his novel creation. The big one is for the country and the people. This is extremely important. This makes the knight spirit conform to Chinese traditional ethics and modern value standards, and makes the image of knights widely accepted by people. The superheroes are labeled as justice almost as soon as they appear, and they will use their superpowers to eliminate bad guys, save hostages, save disasters, and fight evil forces. Sometimes in order to please the audience, I have to take time to rescue a dog in trouble in my spare time to show love. What's more, these superheroes have to shoulder the responsibility of defending the earth. "The greater the ability, the greater the responsibility" has become their unique creed. Such an image as a savior and protector is undoubtedly positive.
In fact, martial arts and superheroes are not only heroes who represent justice with superpowers, but they also behave in the same way. They are all lone rangers. In martial arts novels and related film and television works, martial arts as the protagonists seem to have a common feature, that is, they are all traveling alone, at most there is a beautiful lady around them, like Xiao Feng in "Tianlong Ba Bu", " Guo Jing in "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", Linghu Chong in "Smiling Proud Jianghu" is still the case, as for other worldly masters, such as the Taoist Masters of Quanzhen Sect, the East Evil, the Northern Beggars and others, and the independence of the legacy What impressed readers the most is that Duguqiu defeated in "The Legend of Condor Heroes". His martial arts have reached the point of seeking an opponent in his life, so I feel lonely and live alone in the mountains. In the barren woods.
These people tend to have higher martial arts, and their whereabouts are more erratic. When they reach No. 1 in the world, it seems that the dragon is gone. They often meet inadvertently, point people to the maze, and then disappear again. This kind of lone ranger-style behavior was revealed to the rangers in the pre-Qin period. "'You', trained as'walking'. This is the original meaning of the'you' of the'ranger'. There is no fixed occupation, no fixed residence, for a certain One purpose and a background of leaving home, wandering around, this is the common characteristic of wanderers, vagrants, wanderers, and rangers."
this wandering worldThe life of a lone ranger is naturally very lonely, whether it is because of the high martial arts or seeing through the world, this loneliness reflects a kind of resistance to reality. Loneliness is actually symbiosis with the seemingly romantic and wandering wandering life. Those who seem to be glorious heroes have a sense of loneliness hidden in their hearts, and readers can obviously understand this kind of loneliness, so naturally they want to be loved. The protagonist can get a close companion, so that the love and the multi-angular love in the martial arts will continue, and the protagonist will eventually get one or more beautiful people who can be in love and can travel together as the ending.
And the classic routines of Western superheroes are nothing more than the same. Although they do not wander around the world like martial arts, they are different from ordinary people because of their superpowers. Although they can mix in the crowd, once they become Superheroes must be lonely and lonely, so they often have to taste loneliness alone. This is also the only way for superheroes to grow. And this kind of lone ranger behavior is inevitable, because of their unique superpowers, mortals cannot obtain them. If everyone has superpowers, superheroes will be overshadowed.
So almost every superhero is a lone ranger, of course, besides the ranger, love is also essential. In fact, whether for martial arts or superheroes, the significance of Lone Rangers is that this makes them extremely special. As an extraordinary hero image, they have a certain mystery and legendary color, and they also cater to readers and audiences. The expectation of a heroic image.
The contradiction of heroic dreams
Through the above discussion, we have discovered that martial arts and superheroes have superpowers and represent justice, punish evil and promote good, and adopt lone ranger-style methods. These characteristics make the two have similarities and comparability, but most of these characteristics are superficial. If you look at it in depth, martial arts and superheroes are inherently related to their own culture from the perspective of their respective cultures. contradictory.
First of all, both martial arts and superheroes are the projections of heroic dreams in readers or audiences. Martial arts novels are the literature of dream writing, and superheroes are also formed by the projection of heroic dreams in comics and film and television works. Both are projections of heroic dreams, so they have many common features as mentioned above in many aspects. It is precisely because both of them express heroic dreams. From their respective cultural perspectives, they are both related to their own culture. There are inherent contradictions.
First look at the Hollywood-style superheroes in the United States. The superheroes are handsome and have extraordinary abilities. At the same time, they are full of justice and love, and they devote all their efforts to fighting evil forces. As superheroes who help justice and rescue in distress, their appearance is often extremely popular, whether it is the civil or the government. They have also been used as cultural products exported abroad to promote American ideology. "The red and blue dresses of Superman and Spiderman are exactly the colors of the American flag, which in itself has been given the color of American cultural imperialism. In addition, the iconic American statue of Liberty often appears in the camera, and both rotate rapidly. The panoramic view is impressive.”
But the question is, when people always call for the emergence of superheroes to save them in critical moments, where are the police, the army, and the government at this time? Where is the freedom, democracy, and legal system that Americans believe in? When these superheroes violently punish the so-called evil forces, normal legal procedures are ignored; when these superheroes become the protector of all the weak and justice, what is lost is the independent national spirit advocated by the Americans. When these superheroes become idols for people to worship, how should the original state authority to maintain social justice lie? These heroes actually replaced the state authority. They robbed the police, the army, and the government. They may use their superpowers to do better than the government, the army, and the police, but once these former incarnations of justice no longer decide to martial arts, or simply decide to enslave the people they used to protect, what should they do? Do you expect the next super? Heroes come to save the world again? Therefore, this kind of existence above national authority is not only impossible, but also absolutely impossible.
The spirit of democracy and freedom advocated by Americans is based on individual liberalism at its core. Therefore, the main theme films in the United States are centered on individual heroism, but these individual heroism films often focus on performance. Another theme-patriotism. This is because there areOne premise is that personal freedom cannot interfere with the personal freedom of others. Therefore, the government and other national authorities are required to coordinate and protect the personal freedom of the people. At the same time, it is necessary to coordinate the relationship between the government and the people through the separation of powers and the rule of democracy. Freedom became the core of the American system.
However, "In the movie, the heroes seem to uphold freedom and democracy, but they also emphasize the power of individuals to change the world. This is indeed paradoxical. When people put the world in peace and their lives and safety, they put their hope on one Human beings are talking about democracy. As if the world has returned to feudal society, people respect heroes as "heaven", everyone obeys him, and his will determines people's hearts. This is completely contrary to the spirit of democracy." A superhero who is above the authority of the country and the rule of democracy is not in line with American democratic culture. Such an existence is a threat to a democratic society and will eventually lead to dictatorship and slavery. During World War II Hitler was advocating and distorting the philosophy of Superman. Asking all Germans to obey the will of the leader eventually led to a world war.
Therefore, there is a contradiction between the super powers of superheroes and national authority. Superheroes and the democratic culture of the United States are also contradictory. This is also reflected in movies. For example, in "Superman 3", Superman returns from the universe to Earth. It was later discovered that people without Superman are still living well. In "Iron Man", Iron Man was asked by the Ministry of National Defense to hand over his powerful steel armor, on the grounds that this would endanger national security. However, directors often take a relaxed approach to this kind of contradictory performance, unable to make people think about the problems seriously.
And this kind of problem encountered by superheroes, martial arts also has it. As early as the pre-Qin period, the article "Five Beetles" in "Han Feizi" pointed out that "Confucianism used literature to chaos law, and chivalry used martial arts to violate bans." Xun Yue. "Han Ji" also regarded the ranger as a "thief of virtue." Later, when Tai Shigong wrote the "Historical Records" for the assassin ranger, he believed that the knight "has no righteousness and righteousness", but he also criticized his behavior for being unruly in justice. It is the method of suppressing first and then raising, and generally affirms the knights; however, from then on, Ban Gu's "Han Shu" adopts the attitude of raising first and then suppressing, thinking that it is "extremely different" and "unfortunately" Morality, indulge in the dynasty", generally negative. Eventually, in the official history after "Han Shu", he no longer wrote the biography of rangers and assassins, but under the interpretation of later generations of literati, the image of martial arts deviated more and more from its negative image in the Warring States period and became people's yearning and admiration. However, the negativity of the knight has always existed.
is embodied in the prevention and control of the vagrant by the feudal dynasties of the past. For the unified feudal dynasty, the ranger, as a group not controlled by the government, is always a threat to social stability and political stability. Han Feizi and Xun Yue criticized the ranger from this perspective. The so-called knight's so-called suspicion of imposing penalties for Tian Xing Dao is also a contempt for the authority of the government. Therefore, the existence of knights deviates from the traditional culture centered on the unified Confucian culture. In fact, until today, the existence of knights is intolerable to national authority.
Conclusion
So, from this we can find that whether it is a martial arts man or a superhero, their so-called just actions are controversial about the legitimacy and rationality. The essence of this contradiction is that personal superpowers cannot be compared with national authority. As a result, their behavior appears to be extremely contradictory from a cultural point of view. Superheroes or martial arts shouldn’t have been so overly praised, but should have more criticism, but the facts are just the opposite, no matter it is. Both martial arts and superheroes have gained great recognition and influence.
However, this situation is not difficult to understand, because the contradiction between martial arts and superheroes and national authority can be understood as the contradiction between individual heroic dreams and the reality of society as a whole. The greater the contradiction, the greater the heroic dream. It is difficult to achieve, and the more difficult it is to achieve, the more attractive it is to people. Moreover, the difficulty of a heroic dream is not that it is difficult to obtain superpowers as a hero, but also that becoming a hero with superpowers cannot be accepted by social reality. Therefore, such a heroic dream can only be a dream forever and cannot be achieved at all. , So they can only appear in literary works, and the most important ones are novels and movies.
To sum up, whether it is martial arts or superheroes, their popularity is that such extraordinary characters with superpowers greatly satisfy readers and audiences' heroic dreams. Since the same comes from the dream of a hero, the same is a description of the dream of a hero, so martial arts and superheroesThere are many similarities in many aspects such as superpowers, representing justice, and adopting lone ranger-style behavior, which makes them comparable.
However, since personal heroic dreams are in contradiction with social reality, even if it is impossible, it is not possible. As a result, both martial arts and superheroes are faced with controversies about rationality and legitimacy. Some people may think that these martial arts and superheroes are originally literary works, and no one wants to take them seriously, so they may be justified as an artistic exaggeration. But it does not mean to point out that the contradiction between martial arts and superhero-like dreams in literary works is meaningless. Perhaps no one will take the existence of martial arts and superhero dreams seriously, but their popularity is really true. Reflects the universality of individual heroic dreams, and this heroic dream embodies the individual's attempt to surpass the authority of the group to become a so-called hero; at the same time, it also reflects the individual's recognition and recognition of the emergence of heroes who have exceeded the authority of the group look forward to. And this is worth thinking about.
