This article has a total of 4,291 words, and the recommended reading time is 11 minutes. The editing of multiple metaphors like
is just like the theme of the film. "You are a teenager" unexpectedly cuts the possibility of the theme of domestic cinema.
When the viewers rushed into the theater with the little fresh meat fairy on the poster, intending to watch a youth film full of "cancer, abortion, car accident", they will be destined to gain shock: I am really watching one A youth film?
No one can deny that this movie marks a watershed in the history of Chinese youth movies. Most of the previous youth films were based on beautiful dreams in the illusion, but then used "Youth in Youth" as a pivot point to cut through the bloody wounds of reality, so that audiences who are youth or once youth have to look directly at reality .
dates back to 2013 directed by Zhao Wei's "To Our Dying Youth". At that time, the high box office of 700 million yuan allowed youth films to gradually have their own place in the film market, which changed the predicament that there was no separate classification of “youth films” before.
Years are like songs, and youth is the theme of mankind forever. What a tortuous route has gone through the development of youth films. Is there really only youth in youth films?
01
, a youth film linked to the blood of the times,
In 1905, the film entered China. In the 1930s, Chinese film developed into a brand new era. Films that were separated from the realities of life, such as the love of martial arts and martial arts, were gradually abandoned by the audience, reflecting the national danger and high The film calling for help has become the needs of the times and the people. A large number of films with strong social criticism and crying for help have emerged.
Such as Ying Yunwei's 1934 "Peach and Plum Tribulation", Shen Xiling's 1937 "Cross Street", Yuan Muzhi's 1937 "Road Angel" and other films are veritable portrayals of growth. Although the protagonists of the youth films of this period are young people and they tell the stories of young people, they are more about placing young people in the great torrent of the times. The personal growth of young people is closely related to the destiny of the country. The value of individual existence in this era is often realized by finding a collective fate and participating in the revolutionary war.
"Cross Street" tells the process of a few young people who have just graduated from university in the society, which is a true portrayal of Chinese youth in the 1930s. "Cross Street" is a far-reaching symbol, indicating the choice of life. Standing at this intersection, Lao Zhao, Atang, and Xiao Yang were once indecisive, isolated and helpless, and their hearts were lingering in confusion.
Xiao Xu's suicide shocked them. Brother Liu returned to his hometown in the north to participate in the war of resistance and became a national warrior. This awakened them: intellectual youth should not become unnecessary victims of the times. At the end of
, the young people gather together. In a long-term shot, four side-by-side back figures bravely face the sun and march into the distance, which contains the director's profound meaning: how young people should find a way out to realize their ideals.
After the end of the War of Resistance Against Japan and the founding of New China, Chinese youth films began to promote the collective spirit as a representative, and selected young people as the protagonists to show their life status in a specific era. In this era, youth is defined as a stage of self-improvement of individuals for the supreme sacred cause. These films also have a certain influence in China, such as "The Red Detachment of Women", "The Story of Willow Castle", and "The Song of Youth".
Lin Daojing in "Song of Youth" originally had a seemingly warm and comfortable petty family. Yu Yongze saved his life. His gentle and generous smile and Peking University's education made Lin Daojing after the catastrophe see the sky again, so they fell in love.
But their attitude towards the revolution quickly broke them, and Lin Daojing still merged into the torrent of revolution. She was lonely, blind, naive, and even used repeatedly. However, under the enlightenment of Communist Party members Lu Jiachuan and Jiang Hua, she ruled out her own limitations and turned from an individual lacking political consciousness to a clearly-targeted and strong-willed revolution. By. The young generation of
walked out of the fate and tragedy of the past era, looking for their own historical mission. Although the youth films at that time were based on collectivism, they still revealed the spiritual outlook of the young people of that era.
It can be said that the earliest youth films are not only youth. A strong youth is a strong country, and early youth films are moreThe most conceited is that young people aspire to make the country stronger and to change the mood of the times.
With the development of the film industry integrated with the market, this vigorous and reflective youth is over. The young people had to go to the barren age of ferocious animals.
02
The cruel youth linked to the individual
ended in 1976, and Chinese cinema has made great progress. At this stage, the "scar film", which appeared in a call for humanity and a critical attitude, opened the door to Chinese cinema in the new era. There is nowhere to put the dream. Become the main trend of film creation.
In 1994, Jiang Wen's "Sunny Day" was adapted from Wang Shuo's novel "Animal Fierce". But what is shown in this film is a history completely different from previous film works. In the film, the protagonist has no suffering or trauma. Some are high-pitched revolutionary songs, brilliant sunshine, and unreal love, which are the youth memories of the director's boyhood. The
film uses the male protagonist’s first-person narrative method. From his perspective, we can see the characteristics of that era. The only books that the protagonist usually read in the film are "How Steel is Made" and "Gadfly". The cultural life was poor at that time. "Do you think it's so powerful?" "Strong!" The hysterical dialogue in a conflict between Ma Xiaojun and Milan became an emotional and cruel footnote in the great age.
was the lack of emotion at that time, which made the love of Ma Xiaojun's generation a victim of the times. "Sunny Day" is not a purely romantic movie. Like Jiang Wen's favorite American movie "Once Upon a Time in America", a group of young people who cannot define good and evil according to common sense of society, are gradually lost on the road of youth and head towards nothingness. The youth films of this period became more individualized and complicated.
A young man named Jia Zhangke walked on a melancholy road alone in a small valley where the bright sun could not reach. His "Xiao Wu", "Platform" and "Ren Xiaoyao" are called "Youth Trilogy". The
film focuses on the survival and dreams of marginalized people from a sincere perspective, and objectively displays the mental state of young people in the social transition period. The story told by "Platform" took place in the special period of 1979. The advent of the commodity economy made people in it at a loss.
Cui Mingliang and others are ordinary art troupe employees. They are dissatisfied with the boring life in the small county and yearn for the colorful world beyond the mountains. But they could only leave their home in Fenyang in a truck with the art troupe, perform in remote towns and barren mines, and then return in a truck. Wearing flared pants, growing long hair, and walking in the holes have changed their lives from the outside. Hearing the whistle running on the rails and yelling in front of the roaring truck can only be a temporary emotional catharsis. In the end, they can only coexist. Like most people in the county, they lead a mediocre life. The dream of
has never come true, but the pain makes the poetic lens permeate everyone's heart.
Compared with the "Youth School", "Train Guessing", "Dream Requiem" and other films on the other side of the ocean, which reflect the puzzles encountered by American youths, Chinese youth film directors are still too immersed in personal personalities due to creative consciousness. In the recollection, the work can be called "author's film", which cannot effectively answer a series of questions in the era of change, nor can it fully arouse the audience's sympathy for youth. Yin Hong, the vice chairman of the Chinese Artists Association of Artists and Artists, once stated the reason why the sixth generation of directors’ youth films were not popular. “The biggest problem with the work is self-satisfaction, self-enclosure, and the social life displayed is too narrow and out of ordinary people’s reality. Life only depends on skills and techniques to support a movie.” The result is that “personal small scenery is more than enough, but the era is not enough.” Youth movies are high and few, which has become the biggest problem facing the new generation of directors. The
market is calling for more commercialization and more youth films that are compatible with consumer groups.
03
The youth movie
connected with the public is released with Zhao Wei's "To Our Dying Youth". Boys are in groups, girls are talking at night, drinking to dissipate their sorrows, classroom self-study, graduation hysteria, these Chinese born in the 70s and 80s After the post-90s, the elements of youth memory returned to the public's vision.
Since 2013, I have tasted the sweetness of the box office miracle of "To Our Dying Youth", and the youth film market has begun to show a blowout trend. In the past 7 years, ChinaThe film market is developing rapidly. The number of films has increased from more than 300 in 2013 to more than 500 in 2019, and the number of films that can be called "youth films" is only a dozen of 300 to 500 each year. The 21 films with the highest number in 2017 accounted for only 4% of the total number of films in the whole year.
In 2015, "Charlotte Troubles" ranked fifth in the annual box office with a box office of 1.441 billion yuan. Then in 2016, the youth films showed signs of weakness. Six of the 16 films had a box office of more than 10 million yuan. The total box office of the youth films in 2016 was 1.946 billion yuan, a decrease of nearly half compared to 2015. In 2017, more than 20 youth films were released centrally, but the total box office was only 166 million yuan. This directly caused the coldness of the youth film market in 2018.
However, the interesting thing is that although the number of youth films dropped sharply to 8 in 2018, the dark horse film "Later Us" appeared, which again raised the market's expectations. When
made a lot of commercial profits, the artistic evaluation was very embarrassing. In 7 years, 42 of the box offices exceeded 10 million, and only 16 Douban scores passed. The film with the lowest Douban score was "Who Says We Don't Love", with a score of 3.5; nearly 62% of the Douban films of Qingchun failed.
At this time, Guo Jingming drew the general from the dwarf. From 2013 to 2019, Guo Jingming became the director with the highest cumulative box office among youth films by virtue of the "Little Times" series of films, and the cumulative box office of 4 "Little Times" films was nearly 1.8 billion yuan. However, in terms of word-of-mouth, Douban scored an average of 4.6 points for the 4 small-era series, all of which failed.
On the whole, the two youth films, "You are a teenager" and "July and Ansheng" directed by Zeng Guoxiang, currently have a gross box office of nearly 900 million. Although they are not as good as Guo Jingming at the box office, they far surpass the small era series in terms of word of mouth. . The Douban scores of the two films "Youth in Youth" and "July and Ansheng" are averagely divided into 8 points.
From 2013 to 2019, the most appealing box office was "The Later Us" directed by Liu Ruoying, with a cumulative box office of over 1.3 billion yuan; and in terms of word of mouth, the highest rated Douban was directed by Zhao Wei's "To We Will Die" "Youth", Douban scored 6.6 points, the films directed by Xu Jinglei, Su Youpeng and He Jiong all failed word of mouth. Many directors of
youth films are transformed from popular actors. The lack of director expertise and experience has also become an important factor in the film's failure. The short-lived splendor of "Fang Hua" brought by the old director Feng Xiaogang is ultimately no match for the decadent attitude of the youth film.
is at this unreliable stall. With the help of the rising trend of online movies, a group of grassroots creators stand out on the youth film track with their unique creativity and perspective. The
youth series movie "Old Boy" was once all the rage. "Old Boy" is the famous work of Chopstick Brothers. The nostalgic campus story, humorous expression techniques and tear-jerking music show the helplessness of the generation born in the 1980s towards youth and the persistence of ideals under the oppression of reality. One of
's success is to accurately grasp the understanding of "youth". As a movie aimed at young audiences, details such as Jackson’s obsession and happy boys' draft show nostalgia for youth, grasping the aesthetics of young people, but breaking a blood path in many youth films. The popularity of
youth-themed movies is inseparable from the fact that the producer considers the aesthetic appeal and value standards of young audiences in the pre-planning, and at the same time pays attention to the marketing of the film. Old boys don’t rely on their looks or celebrities. They only rely on telling the commonalities of the times, placing familiar things, awakening memory fragments, and resonating with youth. In an environment like the Internet, which is more suitable for interactive discussion than cinema, The topic exploded quickly.
This reflects that the new generation of youth films has begun to re-emphasize the commonality of the times, using nostalgia, love, friendship, dreams, etc. as the keynote, igniting the resonance in the audience's hearts. Why
youth films are so popular? Let me give an explanation: Human growth is a process of continuous self-destruction and self-reconstruction. Youth, too.
When you are experiencing it, you may feel heavy, boring, boring or even oppressive, but when you look back, memory is like a filter that automatically beautifies many things. Youth films are like a large collection of this layer of filters, making people willing to kowtow, remembrance, and cry over and over again. Let the heart numb by urban life fluctuate again, making people feel that they have truly loved, cried, and lived. Even if this is just a fictional piece on the big screenYouth, but truly connects the past of every audience.
But after this illusion, people still have to face reality. "Young You" created a broader and more realistic creative experience by facing reality directly, and gained the resonance of the audience and achieved success. The future youth movies will have sea water and fire, beauty and reality.
And how to make the more important and precious things after the filter bring to the audience has become a more important question for the new era of youth movies. let us wait and see.
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