文|Linghu Boguang
htmlOn July 26, the martial arts film "The Bodyguard" produced by Wu Jing and starring Yuan Heping was launched.Many people may not know that martial arts films are now a very declining genre in the domestic market. Needless to say, there are no movies at all, and there are no TV series. As we all know, like Xianxia, they are basically ancient puppets wearing martial arts skin. Wu Jing not only returned to martial arts movies, but also brought the largest team to film this movie.
Since Wu Jing became famous in "Wolf Warrior 2" in 2017, domestic netizens have scolded him for many years. Even if he hands over works such as "The Wandering Earth" and "The Wandering Earth 2", this will not be an exception. This "The Bodyguard" proves why Wu Jing has become the number one brother in Chinese movies. The only person who can rival him is Shen Teng, but Shen Teng's contribution to Chinese movies is much less.
From the strong rise of Wu Jing in "Wolf Warrior 2" in 2017, to supporting the two "The Wandering Earth" to become the absolute king of Chinese movies (only Shen Teng can compete with him at the commercial level, others Xu Zheng, Huang Bo, and Wang Bao are stronger and weaker in more than one category. Shen Teng's The influence of Chinese movies is also weak in more ways than one).
However, since the rise of Wu Jing, netizens have criticized him too much, saying that he "eats patriotic food". Whenever something happens in real life, they will immediately come out to criticize Wu Jing. Anyway, there is no good evaluation of Wu Jing. After so many years, many people still don’t understand why Wu Jing rose.
After Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Donnie Yen, why did Wu Jing become a "kung fu superstar"
Wu Jing is essentially an action actor, similar in attributes to Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Donnie Yen. I have actually written before about why Wu Jing stands out.
You will know why Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Donnie Yen are so popular.
Note that the above four kung fu superstars (excluding Sammo Hung, etc.), except Jet Li, did not have much action guidance, nor did they have their own action team. The other three largely combined the environment of the times + international pattern + innovative film types = contemporaries A well-deserved action star.
Bruce Lee rose to prominence around the 1970s, not long after the end of World War II and less than 20 years after the founding of New China.
As for the international wave, in addition to the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union and the movement in the mainland, countries around the world are also widely in the wave of national and national independence and counterattack against colonialism and imperialism. Colonialism and imperialism are naturally dominated by Western countries such as Europe and the United States.
This extends to the root of the counterattack. The left-wing revolutionary wave of that era actually had a greater impact, but the problem is that it is difficult to combine film expression with industry and revolution. You will find that except for Soviet films in the world, before New China Thirty years of movies, as the wave becomes lower and lower, there are fewer and fewer such movies, and they are getting worse.
South America, which is also at the peak of the wave, has few photos, not to mention Africa, Southeast Asia and many capitalist countries.
Hong Kong and Taiwan are not countries, but because of special historical reasons, they are capital economies. At the same time, because history has inherited traditional culture since the Republic of China, its biggest feature is anti-colonial and what it relies on to fight back against imperialism is to beat foreigners with fists.
If you look at it from this perspective, you will find that India beats China and the United Kingdom; Southeast Asia beats France, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Japan. South Korea shoots movies about fighting against Japan, ancient China, and then North Korea, including most parts of the world.
Because there are only a few countries that have succeeded in revolution and industrialization over the past few hundred years. If we want to solve national and spiritual problems, fists are the easiest way to solve them. Bruce Lee became the representative of the third world in East Asia who beat the colonizers with fists. At the same time, his kung fu movies also revolutionized kung fu movies from a film perspective, and their influence was very far-reaching.
Jackie Chan and Jet Li inherit to a certain extent but are different, because the time came to the mid-to-late 1980s, when everyone knew about the international sports situation, which was significantly reduced. We opened up, the Soviet Union was about to disintegrate, and the economic development of Hong Kong and Taiwan reached its peak and became Representatives of international and economically developed countries.
(the four Asian tigers after all).
Jackie Chan almost represents Hong Kong's economic success, action combined with comedy, and an East Asian image representative of international adventures (that is, the representative of the Four Asian Tigers).
Although Jet Li has modern works such as "Fist of Heroes" (which also attacks the colonists) and "Letter to Dad", his representative works are still martial arts movies. This is a representative example of a country's regional economic and cultural development reaching its peak and beginning to explore the blooming of traditional culture.
You will find that mainland literature and art have risen in recent years, such as "Black Myth", "The Twelve Hours of Chang'an" and "The Wandering Earth".
Why can Wu Jing rise? In fact, we know from watching Donnie Yen
Around 2000, Hong Kong movies in the Donnie Yen era were obviously no longer good. And why did he rise? Apart from Jackie Chan, Jet Li and others left Hollywood to vacate the market. What types of movies do you think he revolutionized?
Is it a fashion action film like "Slaying the Wolf" and "The Fuse" that inherit Bruce Lee but extend to MMA? Jackie Chan and Jet Li are playing the same thing? But the "Ip Man" series that he truly became a god is a movie about boxing colonists.
Kung Fu movies must have one core: why they fight!
At the end of the last century, many Hong Kong martial arts movies were just for the sake of fighting, without their own core. There is no conflict, but conflict is created by force. It just doesn't look interesting. In China, martial arts have been given philosophical significance. They cannot be weapons for killing people, but can only be techniques for self-protection.
In fact, in the late 1990s, Wu Jing had just made his debut. Jackie Chan and Donnie Yen had no successors (which was indeed special). The real successor to Jet Li was Zhao Wenzhuo. At that time, there was Wu Yue who was similar to Wu Jing, and the child star Shi Xiaolong.
So why can Wu Jing rise, but Zhao Wenzhuo, Zhang Jin, Wu Yue, Shi Xiaolong, etc. cannot.
Due to the social environment and international structure, the routes of our predecessors cannot simply be copied, because times have changed. Zhao Wenzhuo failed to find a way and wasted early. Zhang Jin is copying Donnie Yen's route, Wu Yue and Shi Xiaolong can't find the route, but Xie Miao is better to see what happens next.
As for Wu Jing, after not appearing in Hong Kong action movies such as "Slaying the Wolf" and "Po Jun", I don't know how to realize it. Maybe he got some advice from an expert to combine kung fu with the military to reflect the pulse of China - the rise of China. .
Therefore, the military theme developed by Wu Jing is actually a very good idea. After all, the military has a license to kill.
To a certain extent, the "Wolf Warrior" series also uses fists to fight imperialism, but behind these two movies stands the rise of China as a great power in the new era. I have always said that in "Wolf Warrior 2" if the Chinese warships had not destroyed the mercenary tanks, Leng Feng would not have had a chance to fight the big villain.
This is what makes the audience feel great. Are you talking about the Hong Kong police and gangster movie where a group of foreigners sneak in a nuclear bomb and then the Hong Kong police defeat the villain? Or is it like the situation in "Wolf Warrior 2"?
This movie and Wu Jing have been scolded for several years. It is nothing more than that New China has been hiding its capabilities and biding its time. Even as a Chinese audience, reflection is the main thing. Obviously everyone is happy, but some people criticize it every day. But do you think that after the incident in northern Myanmar last year, people stopped criticizing "Wolf Warrior 2"?
Because everyone found that it was more enjoyable in reality than "Wolf Warrior 2", that movie was no longer enjoyable.
"Wolf Warrior" rises, "The Wandering Earth" becomes a god? Chinese movies need more "Wu Jing"
Wu Jing has become the absolute top brother of Chinese movies in the new era. The "Wolf Warrior" series can only be said to be the works that established his status, which laid the foundation for China's modern military action blockbusters. Then he invested and supported Guo Fan to shoot the "Wandering Earth" series, and then he became a god.
Think about it, this is the beginning of China's heavy industry science fiction blockbusters, two top commercial blockbusters, how powerful they are.
The weakest Chinese movies nowadays are actually the ones with too few Wu Jing and Guo Fan.Do not believe? You can also expand your thinking: Can we create our own commercial agent movie? (007, The Bourne Supremacy, Mission: Impossible kind), in order to track down the terrorists who entered our country and stole secrets, our agents drove BYD and chased them abroad along the Belt and Road...
Kung fu movies can also do many tricks and can be developed. It can create many genres and go bigger and higher, but it needs to find the right actors and innovate commercial genre films. Chinese filmmakers also believe that the audience is tired of it, and it is useless to seek changes and innovations, so Tsui Hark's new movies will no longer be Tsui Hark's.
The era of Hong Kong kung fu movies and action movies has really passed, because the same resources can make higher genre movies. The next assertion is that we must pay attention to classical culture such as Chinese mythology and Chinese history, and at the same time pay attention to the rise of modern China's national power. This will make our movies world-class and expand our influence.
At this time, some people will definitely say that these movies have poor foreign box office and foreign audiences will not watch them at all.
This is the time when American hegemony and China’s national power have not yet reached that point. Good American movies and American patriotic films can become popular in China. Good Chinese movies and Chinese patriotic films can go to the American empire without any hindrance and be fairly arranged. ?
American iPhones and American cars can be sold well in the Chinese market. Can Chinese mobile phones and Chinese cars enter the American market? China also hates and resents the behavior of American imperialism, but it is rational and appropriate and will not reject good things from American imperialism, such as technology and artistic works.
On the other hand, can China's products, China's modern life, and everything in China be able to flow unimpeded in the United States and other countries under the influence of the United States? As a result, every software that comes out is like facing a formidable enemy, sanctioning this and that every day. If it cannot be obtained in reality, it is impossible for Chinese movies to be screened fairly in the United States and achieve good box office.
If China had more Wu Jing, more Guo Fan would make more outstanding industrial blockbusters. If China's "007", "Mission: Impossible", etc., China's "Lord of the Rings", "Pirates of the Caribbean" and so on, it doesn't matter whether foreign audiences watch it or not, Chinese audiences will laugh in their dreams.
Wu Jing made movies with the greatest sincerity when martial arts movies were in such decline. He is not the best brother in Chinese movies, who is.
