First published on WeChat public account: [Ms. Huang Cinema], ID: huangfilm
If you are worried about being spoiled, I suggest you watch the movie first.
Fan Er, director of Zhang Yimou's party, is inevitably disqualified. I looked down on him before, but now I want to understand. This article tries to talk about "Ju Dou".
The story takes place in rural China in the 1920s. The woman Judou was bought by Jinshan, an impotent old man, to become a wife and child in a dyeing workshop. Under Jinshan's day and night abuse, Judou and Jinshan's nephew Tian Qing who worked in the dyeing workshop had a good relationship, and gave birth to his son Tian Bai. Jinshan, who always thought Tianbai was his biological son, became ill and paralyzed. He found an "incest" adultery at home. He wanted to kill Tianbai, but he was softhearted. Later, he drowned accidentally while playing with Tianbai. When Tianbai grew up to be a teenager, he humiliated his mother by stealing emotions and killed his father, Tianqing. Judou, who was in despair, set fire to the dyeing workshop, and was buried in the fire.
This film was banned. Although Zhang Yimou said that it was not because of pornography, the content of the film is really bold. SM, voyeurism, incest, wild love, Oedipus, etc., may not be released today. For example, the scene at the beginning of the film: Judou's mouth is gagged, his hands are tied back to the bed, with a bench on his body, Jinshan sits on it, beating and scolding while drinking. Gong Li, who plays the role of Judou, is also very cool in the film. She didn't have a bra in the old days, so in the film, she is basically in a state of protruding with a strip of cloth on her chest.
It is said that when Zhang Yimou was planning to shoot, he imported 50 sexually perverted movies from abroad through China Film and hid them in a guest house near Rending Lake and studied them one by one (videotape).
The major shareholder of "Chrysanthemum" is the Japanese, the production director is a Japanese, and the Japanese screenwriter participated in the adaptation of the script. The sexual elements of the film have strong Japanese aesthetic characteristics, but the commendable thing is that it did not become a cosplay. Or mixed, still southern China in the 1920s.
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Nanping Village, Yixian County, Anhui Province is the location of "Ju Dou". There are nearly 300 ancient buildings in the Ming and Qing Dynasties in the village, which is known as the "Museum of Ancient Chinese Ancestral Temple Architecture".
In the film, Zhang Yimou repeatedly used overhead shots to show the closedness of the building. Under the overlapping gray-black tiled roofs, the Huizhai is tall and simple, giving people a feeling of suffocation and depression.
As a place for family worship and discussion, the ancestral hall symbolizes etiquette and authority.
The dyeing workshop is a factory system. People sent white cloth in and shipped out various colored cloths.
The above images are all moral and can be decoded in a one-to-one correspondence.
For example, when Judou and Tianqing had an affair for the first time, Judou's foot accidentally kicked off the pin on the dyeing machine. The rollers accelerated and the hanging cloth rushed like a sloping waterfall. ——It can be interpreted as human instinct to make the system lose control. From this point on, the fate of the two people has also changed.
After the affair, the whole family of children was disturbed, and the husband, wife, son, nephew, sister-in-law... all misplaced their names.
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Chinese Confucianism is an ethical system formed around the concepts of "loyalty, chastity, and filial piety". For example, it requires women to "take the father if they are married, and the husband if they die, and the son if they die." It also has propositions such as "all evils and filial piety are the first," and "save the laws of nature and destroy the desires of others". Therefore, in feudal culture, "person" is just a symbol in the ethical order, and "order", as the rule of the game established by authority, is in the first place.
The humanity shown in "Ju Dou" is another matter. Judou and Tianqing got together because they had desires. This is the human nature of all living beings.
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The film is adapted from Liu Heng's original work "Fuxi Fuxi". Fuxi is the "creation god" in Chinese mythology, and is a brother and sister with Nuwa. When the universe first opened, the two of them united to create mankind.
The protagonist of the original novel is Azure, and the main line of the story can be said to be the growth history of Azure. It can also be seen from the name change that the protagonist of the movie has changed to the only woman in the deep house—Judou.
The text in the book is more delicate, more poetic, and more prosaic, while the ending of the characters in the film is changed, the plot is simply and rudely processed, and the seemingly undetailed development logic seems to make its symbolism more obvious. It's like an extremely abstract painting by Rothko.
Facing Azure’s voyeurism, Ju Dou decided not to cover up and show the truth about her abuse; when her husband went out, Ju Dou took the initiative to seduce Azure to release her desires; under the repressive rules and regulations, Ju Dou raised the issue again and again Suggestions to kill her husband or fly away... Judou in the movie, as an active changer, is a much plumper female character than the original. And the three men in the family—the impotent Jinshan, the cowardly Azure, and the Tianbai who later served as a defender, all succumbed to the old system.
Tian Qing shrugged his neck and said, "No matter what, he is also my uncle", which extinguished Judou's enthusiasm and showed the psychology of many traditional Chinese people. Under the pressure of survival, everyone chooses to "live" in a modest manner, rather than fighting for a dead fish. The feudal ethics and patriarchal order distorted the original natural human nature, restrained people as stipulated, and repeated the tragic fate of reincarnation.
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Speaking of the fate of reincarnation, look at Zhang Yimou.
During the WG period, the young Zhang Yimou belonged to the "Black Five" family. From an educated youth in line to a young worker at the Eighth National Cotton Factory in Xianyang, Zhang Yimou went to learn to write fine arts, posters, and brush portraits of Chairman Mao in order to get rid of the influence of his birth. Then, saving money by donating blood, I bought a Seagull camera to study photography.
After resuming the college entrance examination, Zhang Yimou was admitted to the Department of Photography of Beijing Film Academy. Before entering school, he knew nothing about movies. After entering the school, he was reported in big print for over-age (6 years older than the enrollment regulations), was dropped out of school twice, and tossed back twice.
Zhang Yimou, the oldest and from a small place, is a "marginal person" among his classmates. What other people used to play and read was "internal information", and their knowledge and knowledge were far superior to him. What's more, many of the classmates come from movie families, such as the sons and daughters of star actors, or the likes of Chen Kaige and Tian Zhuangzhuang who have famous fathers. Zhang Yimou said that Chen Kaige and Tian Zhuangzhuang were the heads of the students at the time, and the others "all flattered them at the time. The classmates had a consensus that if they were to be born in the 82nd class, these two would come out first." At that time, Zhang Yimou, who had a low starting point, Can only rely on diligence to make up for the clumsiness. For example, when watching a movie at school, holding a small card in his hand, touch the dark and jot down the composition on the screen and use it up. At the same time, try to build a good relationship with your classmates. Only when you have a good relationship can you have a network!
After graduation, Chen Kaige, the former student leader, really had the opportunity to start filming "Yellow Earth" and hired Zhang Yimou, a well-known and diligent photographer.
In 1988, Zhang Yimou became the director himself and made his debut film "Red Sorghum". The film was not only popular with audiences and acclaimed by art theory, but also won the Golden Bear Award at the Berlin Film Festival that year. This is the first time that a Chinese film has won a grand prize at a Western A-level film festival. It is considered to be "giving glory to the country". The Ministry of Radio, Film and Television also held a celebration banquet.
However, after only three months of holding his chest, the wind direction changed. Negative comments in the newspapers gradually fermented, saying that the folk customs and folk customs of the old era shown in Zhang Yimou's films were "vilifying the Chinese" and even "humiliating China." In addition, the audience who liked the film imitated the drunken look of the bearers in the film after they walked out of the theater, humming the "unbearable" tune, which also added instability to the society.
In 1990, with the help of Japanese capital, Zhang Yimou filmed "Ju Dou". This is the first work in Chinese history to be nominated for an Oscar for best foreign language film, and it has been banned in China. Zhang Yimou said that the film was banned not because of the pornography, but because the tone was too gray.
Zhang Yimou has experienced the ups and downs before. Compared with "Red Sorghum", the "Ju Dou" shot again seems to have grown into a depressed middle-aged person, and the free and unrestrained Shiba Lipo has become a closed and gloomy dyeing workshop. The temperament of the film is like Azure's deteriorating sexual abilities, and he is suffocated there with more than enough energy, and can only rely on changing the ending to set the chrysanthemum bean to set fire to the dyeing workshop to vent Dong Cunrui's pride.
In an interview, Zhang Yimou said: "Yang Tianqing is a typical Chinese. He is guilty and courageous, sneaking, hiding, and every action from the outside makes him frightened, burdened, and his mentality is distorted and repressed. But at the same time, he couldn't restrain his instinctive impulse and desire. It was like being put on a pancake pan for frying on both sides and roasting on both sides, but he ended up with no human beings inside and outside."
After "Ju Dou", Zhang Yimou still held the international film festival's award while facing the scolding of "vilifying the Chinese". Because of the award for "A Lawsuit by Qiu Ju", the Film Bureau held a celebration party. A member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee crowned him at a press conference held in the Great Hall of the People. Zhang Yimou became a "national teacher".
Then go on a roller coaster ride.
Not only was "Alive" banned, Zhang Yimou was also punished by stopping cooperation with overseas investors within two years. (I want you to be disobedient!)
After conflicting with the Cannes Film Festival for "No One Less", Zhang Yimou's domestic image was washed out and became a "national hero." The National Copyright Administration issued a copyright protection notice for "Nothing Less"-the first time China implemented "red-head file" protection for the copyright of domestic films. (Come on, give some candy~)
Zhang Yimou is Azure. Look at the list of his works, it's just a see-saw revolution all the time. Poke twice on the right and stroke twice on the left.
In 2002, Zhang Yimou filmed "Hero".
I recently re-watched the director's cut version of this film. There was no laugh in the scenes of the laughter in the theater that year, and I felt chest tightness and powerlessness after watching the whole film. If Zhang Yimou in "Judou" is Tianqing, then he in "Hero" is obviously an assassin played by Jet Li. He approached his goal step by step, and finally retreated.
After riding the roller coaster for so long, Zhang Yimou's works reveal a "complex psychology of worship mixed with fear of power". Under the constraints of the times, the original Zhang Yimou was transformed. All the brave female characters in the film are his ideals, and the real him is the azure who can no longer be tough.
He used "Hero" to persuade himself to conform to the times, trying to change from a voice of the people to a confidant of authority, and even a sage above the wisdom of those in power. "I hope you will remember," Jet Li, who gave up on assassinating Qin, left such a sentence affectionately to Wang. In the eyes of a discerning person, this is like watching Lu Xun's "AQ".
Wang Shuo once said that Zhang Yimou was a "speculator", I don't think so. I think he has been struggling between expressing himself and promoting "what you know", and he is also trying to live with his suppressed self.
It is said that his new film "Shadow" will be released this year. Judging from the information released so far, it looks like a black-and-white film. Everyone said, "Black-and-white film? That Zhang Yimou, who has been singing, dancing, and popular?" Well, I think this is what he wants. He is still proving himself and looking for his true self in continuous proof. As viewers, it is very unfair for us to project heroism that we cannot do but expect someone to do to Zhang Yimou.
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Reference materials:
✓(United States) Liu Weihua: "Ju Dou"──Interpretation of Hermeneutics of Cross-cultural Film
✓Huang Wen: An example of regional cultural visual art expression——From the movie "Ju Dou" to see the display of Hui culture
✓Ma Dengchun: "Ju Dou": show the importance of survival and reveal the tragedy of fate
✓Zhang Ying, Pingke: Zhang Yimou's Criticism History
✓Li Zeyue: Talk about the theme adaptation of the movie "Judou" to the novel "Fuxi Fuxi"
✓ Yan Xiaofang: The Fifth Generation of Film Dissemination and the Main Body of Peasant Enlightenment (1)——A semiotic analysis of the film "Ju Dou" as an example
✓Meng Xianli: The madness of the winner to the despair of the loser——The narrative interpretation of Zhang Yimou's historical films
✓Pan Guomei: Looking at Zhang Yimou's "folk" feelings from "Judou"
If you find this article useful, please help me with a "useful"~
If you find this article useful, please help me with a "useful"~
If you find this article useful, please help me with a "useful"~
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Original: Teacher Huang
Public account: Teacher Huang Cinema (huangfilm)
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