In the 1960s, Jobs was still a teenager. There was no mobile phone in the world, but there were already the first group of people with heads down on the subway in Tokyo.
men, women and children almost held a booklet in their hands and kept their eyes on. People in Europe and the United States were puzzled when they saw this scene. They took photos and published them in domestic newspapers to appreciate this cultural phenomenon: Japanese adults watched cartoon comics like children.
The Japanese were full of sympathy for their fuss-free appearance, and responded with a gentle and sullen voice: "You don't understand, because your country does not have Osamu Tezuka."
Osamu Tezuka is known as the god of manga by Japan. Although his works are comics, the literary nature of the story is not inferior to the famous novels. Among them, "Firebird" still represents the pinnacle of comics as a medium (none of "Firebird" is as regrettable as not having been in love ).
and the enlightenment teacher of the Japanese manga master is in China.
In 1921, Wan Laiming saw a short American animated film "Jumping Out of the Ink Bottle" that took a few minutes.
Wan Laiming, who was born in fine arts, has always wanted to make the picture move. Seeing this come true, it is beyond words of excitement. He asked animation creators about the technology, but the United States blocked animation production methods and did not reply.
Wan Laiming and his three younger brothers, Wan Guchan, Wan Chaochen, and Wan Dihuan, decided to study their own methods of making animation.
They converted their 7-square-meter house into a drawing, printing, and screening studio, and used the money they saved to buy an old camera and transform it into a video camera. With reference to revolving lanterns and shadow puppets, a few people studied for a year or two, and finally figured out the principles of animation. In 1926, they filmed an animated short film "Break in the Studio"-an animated villain jumped out of the ink bottle and made a mess of the studio. Eventually the painter grabbed it and stuffed it back.
, a combination of live action and animation, surprised people at the time. The Wan brothers decided to take the road of animation in this life.
In 1937, Disney's color animation feature film "Snow White" was screened in Shanghai, and the box office was very high. The Wan brothers secretly competed with the Americans and determined to make a high-quality Chinese animated feature film. At the time of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Wan Laiming selected talents to travel to the west and used Monkey King to show his determination to resist.
hundreds of people painted for a year and a half, and the film is more than 8,000 feet long. In 1941, the production of "Princess Iron Fan" was completed and screened at the same time in three Shanghai cinemas, and the box office revenue exceeded all feature films released at that time. One month after the
animation was released, the Japanese army invaded and occupied the Shanghai concession, and "Princess Iron Fan" was confiscated as a trophy. Japanese businessmen recorded and copied the film and broadcast it to Tokyo, Kobe, and Nagasaki.
A Japanese reporter said:
"People who watched China's first cartoon with contemptuous eyes, saw the film so luxurious and so interesting, and stunned.
"
In 1943, 14-year-old Osamu Tezuka saw it. This cartoon. He asked his father for help, copied the film, and watched it several times.
Although the films released in Japan have been cut, Osamu Tezuka still sees the theme of "anti-Japanese and national salvation". Cartoons can also carry stories and take all men, women, and children, which is perfect as a means of expression. Since then, Osamu Tezuka has taken Wan Laiming as a teacher, determined to devote himself to the manga business.
<手冢治虫借动漫表达对万籁鸣的敬仰>
"Princess Iron Fan" was a big success, and the owner of Xinhua Company felt that it was profitable and planned to continue filming the large-scale animation "Havoc in Heaven". But at this time the Japanese army had entered the concession, the cartoon department of Xinhua Company was cancelled, and the plan had to be shelved.
Wan Laiming was forced to move to Hong Kong and started a set design. The colleagues who had followed him kicked up three rounds, sold tickets on the tram, or fiddled with silhouettes on the streets.
Seeing that his ideal is shattered, Wan Laiming grieves from it:
"The capitalist suddenly changed the course and ordered to stop filming. Because of the soaring prices, the sale of film and medicine made more profit than filming;
I was desperate for it, and I feel that this life will never happen again. It's impossible to draw the "Huge Trouble in Heaven" into an animation. After the end of the war of resistance
"
, Wan Laiming returned to Shanghai Fine Arts Film Studio (hereinafter referred to as Shangmei Factory) as a production director. After the liberation of
<万籁鸣（左）与手冢治虫>
, domestic animation was basically created for international film festivals. The state allocates funds and releases production targets, and the state-owned film company will purchase it after the production of the US factory. Shangmei FactoryThere is no need to face the market directly, nor to worry about profit or loss. The creators of
just try and polish, without considering the market. The most ideal creative environment is this. From 1954 to 1965, Chinese animation ushered in its first climax.
's 1956 puppet film "Magic Pen" won the first prize of children's entertainment film internationally. In 1958, Wan Guchan took Hu Jinqing (later the father of Gourd Baby) to produce the first paper-cut cartoon "Zhu Ba Jie Eating Watermelon".
<猪八戒吃西瓜>
At the 1960 China Fine Arts and Film Exhibition, Chen Yi, then Vice Premier of the State Council, listened to the report and said: "It would be better if you can move Qi Baishi's paintings." Participate in art direction.
Three months later, the ink-and-wash animation "Little Tadpoles Looking for Mother" turned out. Japanese animation circles call it a miracle, and Disney also regards Chinese animation as a force from the East.
"Snow White" was considered flashy by Hayao Miyazaki, but he was shocked by the artistic level of "Little Tadpoles Looking for Mother".
<小蝌蚪找妈妈>
At this time, "Making Havoc in Heaven", which was suspended due to war, is back on the agenda.
The director of the Shangmei factory gave Wan Laiming the most luxurious team. In order to draw the appearance of the gods, the working group visited all the temples in Beijing. In order to study the movements of Monkey King, professional opera actors were invited to give lectures.
didn't have a computer at that time, and it relied on hand-painting. A 10-minute animation required 7,000 to 10,000 original paintings. It took nearly two years to draw only the first and second episodes of "Havoc in Heaven".
was so fascinated by the design movement once that Wan Laiming, who was over 60 years old, picked up the stick and waved it, and fell into the pool accidentally. He told his young colleagues: "Don't tell me my wife, my pants are wet." It took four years for the
<《大闹天宫》>
film to be completed. In 1961, the production of "Havoc in Heaven" was completed. During the screening, the 64-year-old Wan Laiming cried out: "Monkey King, we finally meet." The
film came out and received international praise. "Happiness is nothing more than getting a long-cherished wish." Wan Laiming had a wish.
Associated Press comment:
is "more exciting than Disney's work, and it is impossible for the United States to produce such cartoons.
"
During the Cultural Revolution, Chinese animation came to a standstill.
The Jade Emperor in "Havoc in Heaven" had a mole, as did national leaders. Someone asked, "Who is Monkey King against?" The film was banned, and Wan Laiming was censored in isolation. In the past ten years, talents have been destroyed, making the development of animation missing a whole generation.
After the Cultural Revolution, the ban on "A Rare in Heaven" was lifted and Wan Laiming was reinstated. At this time, the Shangmei factory still maintains a meticulous production model, regardless of market demand and broadcast schedule. The two animated feature films "Nezha Nao Sea" and "Tanshu Qi Tan" are both works of this period.
Nezha cannot go against his own spirit, but he is limited to the value system of loyalty and filial piety. In the end, he can only retain his spirit to return his parents in the flesh and slay himself.
such a decisive move is rare in the entire history of animation.
The protagonist Dan Sheng uses the heavenly book to benefit the people, and fights against the foxes who steal the heavenly book. In the end, the egg was born and the vixen was crushed to death by the falling rocks. The
Tianshu was originally stolen from the heaven by the master of Dansheng, Yuan Gong. Although the Tianshu benefited the people, Yuan Gong was guilty first. At the end of the story, Heavenly Court threw off a chain and took Yuan Gong away. The egg was helpless and cried on the edge of the cliff. Yuan Gong became the Prometheus who stole fire for the people, and a children's animation has the tragic spirit of Greek mythology.
<袁公被天庭抓走>
At this time, Chinese animation is mostly feature films or independent short films, and no series of animation works. Since 1984, the TV market has gradually taken shape, and audiences can already see animations on ordinary TVs, while the Shanghai American factory still produces them at the cinema level.
"Black Cat Sheriff" made a series of attempts, but just launched two episodes. Authoritative experts criticized it for "lack of national characteristics" and had to stop broadcasting urgently. The system of
Shangmei Factory is still stuck in the past, but new changes are coming.
In 1984, after the filming of "Nausicaa", the company rewarded Hayao Miyazaki and Takahata for sightseeing in China, and got the opportunity to go to the Shanghai Art Film Studio to communicate. Hayao Miyazaki regarded this as a pilgrimage and specially prepared "Nausicaa of the Wind"The film as a gift.
<1984年的动画《风之谷》>
Hayao Miyazaki proposed to film a scene in China and jointly produce an animation between China and Japan. However, the leaders of Shangmei Factory were all focused on "restructuring" and were not interested in his suggestions. They grabbed him and asked him how to achieve "piecework" wages for animation, how much is a Japanese original painting, and how much is an animation cost per second.
Osamu Tezuka set a precedent for low-cost animation in Japan, resulting in the production funding has been unable to come up, the animators are miserable. Hayao Miyazaki hates saving money in creation the most, so he complains about his opponent Tsuka Osamu throughout his life. I don't want him to travel across the ocean, but Chinese colleagues are learning from him how to save money.
"The disappointment with China cannot be added." After
returned to China, Miyazaki said nothing about his trip to China, and decided that he would not come again in his lifetime.
For Miyazaki Hayao, it was talking about the ideal meeting and talking about money, and he poured blood on the iceberg. But for the leaders of the Shangmei factory, the onset of change is the moment of survival.
In 1986, Shangmei Factory finally realized that the audience's demand for cartoons had "gradually shifted from theaters to TV screens", and the top priority was to rush to produce "series of art films."
"Black Cat Sheriff", which had been suspended for a long time, was restarted, and three to five episodes were filmed.
In the fourth episode of "Black Cat Sheriff", the little animals held a grand wedding for the mantis bride and groom. On the morning of the wedding day, the mantis groom was eaten. After investigation, the Black Cat Sheriff told everyone that it is a mantis habit for the bride to eat the groom and the bride is not guilty. This integration of
is the black memory of countless people's childhood. The
<黑猫警长>
Calabash Baby series also came out at this time. Director Hu Jinqing adapted the story of "Ten Brothers". He considered every action and did not waste a picture. In the end, "The Calabash Brothers" was produced at a cost of 3 to 6 yuan per frame. Although the cost is low, the animation is popular.
<成本低廉却不失精致的《葫芦兄弟》>
Reluctantly, the transformation of the US factory was too late, and the gourd baby and the black cat sheriff were unable to turn the tide.
After the completion of the last ink-and-wash animation "Landscape" in 1988, a large number of animation talents from the Shanghai American Factory moved to a Sino-foreign joint venture animation factory.
<山水情>
Like a clothing factory, an animation OEM company "takes over" from a foreign animation company and does not require much creativity. The remuneration is piece-based, and people with fast hands can earn several thousand yuan a month. During the same period, the fixed monthly salary of the US factory was only a few hundred yuan. The young people in the
factory called the job-hopping a "victory escape", but the Shangmei factory was hit hard. Zhou Kexi, the then factory director of
<太阳之子与铁臂阿童木，发型和动作相似，美术水准却天差地别>
, said: "...The decline in production capacity has exacerbated the economic downturn...With the economic difficulties, the ideological confusion in the factory and the disintegration of people's hearts have directly affected the cohesion and combat effectiveness of the whole factory. This seriousness. The situation of "Black Cat Sheriff" was once ridiculed as "The Great Escape" and "The Big Shipwreck". "
is short of talents and funds, and the "Black Cat Sheriff" series can no longer be on the agenda. At the end of the fifth episode of
, the Black Cat Sheriff raised his pistol. With four gunshots, four big words popped up on the screen: "Please watch the next episode."
More than thirty years have passed, and we can't wait anymore. Next episode.
In the early 1990s, with the loss of talents and the squeeze of foreign animation markets, domestic animation fell into a trough. But with excellent screenwriting, domestic animation still retains the dignity. "The Adventures of the Sloppy King" and "Cube Building" are all works of this period.
In 1993, the "Cube Building" screened by Zheng Yuanjie was released. The eerie and weird tones made people shudder, but the content of this animation was very hardcore.
In the eighth episode of "The Rubik's Cube Building", the hero Lake comes to Helmet City. Everyone in the city lives with helmets and cannot show his true colors.
was ordered to chase Lake's policewoman, saying that she didn't want to catch him, but just wanted to ask him how to take off his helmet. With the help of Lake's "sincere power", the policewoman took off her helmet. She ran to the lake and laughed at the reflection in the water. The wind blew through her hair, and the face looked more attractive. The
police dog grabbed the helmet, and the policewoman shed tears. The ripples of tears disturbed the reflection. Knowing that she could not resist the system, she put on her helmet again. The policewoman
held the police dog and said to Lake: "Run, don’t get caught." In just a few shots, the beauty and compromise of human nature under the system are all available.The height of beauty is no less than "the muzzle is raised by two centimeters." Although children may not fully understand it, those who create such content at least do not regard children as fools.
Zheng Yuanjie is a dissatisfied person in his bones, and all the ugly ones must be satirized one by one. The animation he wrote is just a fairy tale shell, and the content is still adult.
"Children and adults are equal in terms of human rights and personality."
However, parents don't think so, and it is inappropriate for children to report the content created by Zheng Yuanjie. The problems of
domestic animation have begun to emerge. There is no grading system, and there is no standard for judging the content. Whether the film is not suitable for children depends on the controversy after the broadcast.
Zheng Yuanjie was defeated in this contention dispute. The 26th episode of "Cube Building" was only played for ten episodes. To make matters worse, TV stations and creators have lost the right to speak of the work. As long as viewers report it, the film will be banned.
In the final analysis, video works rely on the story and the spirit it carries.
Low cost cannot destroy the spiritual core, but you can report it.
In order to avoid parental censorship and balance production costs and broadcast revenues, an animation company has come up with a clever plan—one piece of knowledge for each episode of animation science, and the plot is compiled around the knowledge points, and one episode is completed.
"Haier Brothers", "Blue Cat Naughty Three Thousand Questions" and "A Thousand Thousand Questions" series are like this.
Blue Cat Animation Company can produce 30-minute movies every day, which is several times higher than the industry average. The price is that the images and plot are crude.
In addition to popular science, naivety can also avoid risks. Pleasant Goat is an example.
"Father of Calabash Baby" Director Hu Jinqing commented on the two animations "Pleasant Goat" and "Blue Cat Naughty Three Thousand Questions", saying: "You can make some money, but the artistic vitality will not be too long."
Even if the story level is lowered, these The animation still failed to escape.
An old Red Army reported that Blue Cat threw a dagger like a Japanese war criminal. This inexplicable report banned thousands of episodes of the "Blue Cat Naughty" series. Wang Hong, the director of
Blue Cat, recreated the martial arts theme "Rainbow Cat and Blue Rabbit and Seven Heroes". The status of animation in children's hearts is comparable to that of Jin Yong in the adult world.
<最受喜爱的反派黑小虎>
In 2007, a self-media writer surnamed Liu issued an article claiming that "The Legend of the Rainbow Cat and Blue Rabbit Seven Swordsman" was bloody and violent. A child who had just learned to type left a message on the Internet and said: "Uncle Liu is necrotic." The suspension of
animation caused a war of words. Whether the rainbow cat and blue rabbit are black or red. The children said on the Internet that they only saw partners and dreams, and there was no bloody violence. In the end, CCTV gave a conclusion, saying that this is an excellent domestic animation, and the animation can be broadcast.
This is the only anime that sparked controversy but survived. Unfortunately, the director Wang Hong left, "Rainbow Cat and Blue Rabbit" failed to continue its glory, and the company was also acquired. After
, Pleasant Goat "dominated the rivers and lakes."
Pleasant Goat is a bit naive, but still satirizes the status quo of society. With a relatively good arrangement and cute style, he won the ratings championship in one fell swoop. Never thought that a false accusation lawsuit in the "roasting sheep incident" damaged Pleasant's image and was completely depressed. Subsequently, "Bear Infested" successfully reached the top of the throne of the king of animation.
<熊出没>
In this cartoon, two bears randomly broke into the bald-headed Qiang's house, burned his house and destroyed his car, even stealing things and beating people. The shameless humiliation is the only "laughing point" of this animation, which makes people feel that the animation is anti-intellectual.
On October 12, 2013, the CCTV News Network reported that "individual domestic cartoons have violent and vulgar language" and other phenomena. "Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf" and "Bear Infested" were required to carry out content rectification.
just, rectification can delete swear words, but can not add connotation.
In 1988, Osamu Tezuka came to China for the last time and met with Wan Laiming again. The following year, Tezuka passed away. In 1997, Mr. Wan Laiming passed away. The two pioneers of
have passed away, but the animations of the two countries have embarked on different paths.
At first, animation was regarded by Japanese society as a superficial reading material for children's entertainment. In the 1960s, "Astro Boy with Iron Arms", which Osamu Tezuka participated in, was broadcast on TV. Many adults and children watched it together. Because the story was wonderful enough, the animation gradually gained social recognition.
In the 1970s, Tomino Yuuki of Osamu Tezuka created the machineMobile Warrior Gundam series. In the 1980s, "Saint Seiya", "Doraemon", "Fist of the North Star", "Three Sisters of Cat's Eye" and other animations suitable for all ages came out.
Japanese animation is not limited to children, and has produced works with complex and profound world views such as "Evangelion" and "Ghost in the Shell". Adults can also feel life in the world of animation. Hollywood will even copy Japanese anime and make it into a live-action movie.
In contrast, China defaults that animation is content for children to watch, and
animation content never returns on the road to young children.
In recent years, some domestic animations have returned to adulthood, but the word "adult" refers to the picture, but not the connotation. The work pursues the wonder of fighting, and the core of the story is thinner than Pleasant Goat.
<成人向动画《画江湖之不良人》>
In 2015, the animated film "The Return of the Great Sage" landed in theaters and became the domestically produced cartoon with the highest box office in the history of mainland movies at that time with a box office of 956 million.
This animation is well-made, but only the shell is good-looking, the story has no beginnings and ends, and it still has not been able to get rid of the influence of low juvenile. "Big Fish and Begonia" is similar to "The Great Guardian", with beautiful pictures but a weak story.
The story of young children has been done for a long time, and the creator can't go back.
In 1980, Osamu Tezuka came to China for the first time and met his childhood idol Wan Laiming. He said, “It was after watching your animation that I decided to go on this road.”
In the history of animation development, we have One position ahead of Japan, but now he has lost almost every dimension (except box office).
<手冢治虫送给上美厂的画>
This year, "Nezha: The Devil Boy Comes into the World" won 4.9 billion box office, breaking the domestic animation box office record. But compared to "Nezha Naohai" 40 years ago, this film can hardly be called particularly outstanding.
Of course, there are still people working for the country. Maybe one day in a few decades, another foreigner will travel across the ocean and come to China, saying the last sentence: I started on the road of animation after seeing your work.
References:
[1] Zheng Yuanjie, children should not be suitable for the respect of personality
[2] Looking back at 80 years of Chinese animation
[3] "Goodbye, Red China"-Why is Miyazaki so disappointed in China
[4] The death of "Hu Jinqing", the father of "Brother Calabash", where is the road of Chinese animation?
[5] Witness-Hu Jinqing
[6] "Mulan": Looking at the duality of aesthetic form from Mulan
[7] Maturity is a plague, and speaking is a privilege-"The Great Guardian" film review
[ 8] Forever "Havoc in Heaven" and teacher Wan Laiming
[9] 30 years ago, the short-lived truth of "Black Cat Sheriff" was exposed
