Since the release of "The Devil Child of Nezha" to its official release, the good reputation has boosted the box office's steady rise, and its popularity is no less than the weather this summer.
Looking back at the 1979 version of "Nezha Nao Hai", the new version of "Nezha" seems to have done a lot of bold subversion; and after watching the movie, it is not difficult for the audience to find Stephen Chow's "nonsensical" style and the shadow of Hollywood type films.
subversion
In fact, compared with the 1979 version of "Nezha Nao Hai", "Nezha's Devil Child Comes into the World" is not so much a subversion, but a "conservative" choice, yes, maybe for stability. In the 1979 edition, although the plot of Nezha's "cutting the flesh to change the mother, eviscerating the bones to return the father" is only simplified to wielding a sword and committing suicide, but a 7-year-old child made such a "rebellious" act on the big screen, and he was not good at "skinning his body". For viewers who have been steeped in Confucianism for a long time, the challenge is still great.
In the new version of "The Devil Child of Nezha Comes to the World", Nezha's "death" is adapted into "Tian robbery", and even the tear-jerking family plot of Li Jing's suffering for his son is added, which is completely different from the cowardly Li Jing in the 79th edition. . Such changes have successfully avoided the minefield of ideas and made the story more accessible. At the same time, the passage of suffering in place of a child is revealed at the climax of the plot by means of flashbacks. The choice of narrative strategy is very clever, and the sensationalism is also restrained.
In the 1979 edition, Nezha resisted the violence on behalf of the people and beat the Dragon King of the Four Seas to pieces. Such a spirit of rebellion is not easy to pass the trial now. In the 1979 edition, Heavenly Court seemed to have no attitude towards the Dragon King's habit of eating boys and girls. This kind of setting was terrifying, but Nezha broke this tacit "rule" and avenged the people and let them They became masters. This kind of plot that reveals the consciousness of "class struggle" may be the appetite of people in that era. Although 1979 is the first year of reform and opening up, the public's consciousness always seems to be sluggish, and the inertia of thinking still remains in the era of struggle. A hero who fought against injustice like Nezha is naturally very popular.
And in "The Devil Child of Nezha Comes into the World", the object of Nezha's fight was subtly changed from class enemies to Nezha's fate and the prejudice of the world, and incidentally, he touched on the theme of parent-child relationship. At the same time, a dilemma such as "ethnicity and friendship" was set up for the "villain" Ao Bing. It seems that every single piece can make the audience find support from themselves, which makes the whole film more understandable, more universal, and more immersive.
Such universal changes seem to be the preference of today's movies, and they are readily available. Take prejudice, for example, it can exist in female subjects, such as the female wrestler wrestling with fate and prejudice in "Wrestle, Dad"; it can be about racism, such as in "Green Book" demanding to be treated like white people Black pianists; it could even be about mutants, like X-Men, who always have to save the world time and time again to prove themselves harmless. For commercial films, the final outcome will be positive, just like "Nezha's Devil Child Comes to the World", Nezha wins, but fate and prejudice are defeated. Audiences need this kind of excitement.
And bolder movies will not let fate and prejudice be defeated so easily: how many people can overcome fate in the real world! That's why the two cowboys in Brokeback Mountain can only be separated by yin and yang; that's why the female boxer in "Million Dollar Baby" is paralyzed in bed; that's why there's an inexplicable bullet at the end of "The Hunt." Therefore, these "bolder" films will be more favored by awards, and they will be more poignant in the not long film history.
In terms of characters, "Nezha's Devil Child Comes into the World" completely subverts the audience's imagination of these mythical characters. In the 79th edition, the immortal Taiyi real person rides a crane, while in "Nezha's Devil Child Comes to the World", Taiyi is a fat alcoholic who rides a pig and talks about Trump; in the 79th edition Nezha is white and fat, and can be broken by blowing bullets. Nezha in "The Devil of Nezha Comes into the World" has black eyeliner and straight hair when he was born, just like a punk boy; Li Jing in the 79th edition has a general belly. Li Jing of "Nezha's Devil Child Comes into the World" has a modern aesthetic, his face is angular, his eyebrows are big, his nose is high, and his tone is between "nonsensical" and "father's love is like a mountain". The most exaggerated is Ao Bing. He is white-faced and fangs in the 79th edition, and he is a handsome and beautiful boy in "Nezha's Devil Child Comes to the World".
This kind of change reveals a bit of confidence: other cartoon protagonists are handsome and cute, but I chose to draw the "ugly" and "evil" ones. Such changes also reveal a bit of cleverness, such as Taiyi's changes, not only the external image, but also the personality from the shrewd and strong in the 79 version to so unreliable. Even the crucial turning point like the theft of the Lingzhu was almost entirely due to Taiyi's character flaws, not to mention the series of jokes he made later. Such changes have increased the commercial appeal of the film, which is not a failure.
pay tribute
It seems that as long as it is a Chinese-language movie audience, you can see the tribute to Stephen Chow in "Nezha's Devil Child Comes into the World". Not to mention the most obvious "fairy self-cultivation", even the fire in Taiyi's crotch is very similar to Wu Mengda's crotch in "Moonlight Treasure Box". In addition to these, the director even took the portraits of the little people who are outstanding in Star Lord at his fingertips, such as the big sissy, does he look like "like a flower", does he look like the "old chrysanthemum" in "Kung Fu"; The blind old man, and the ugly girl with heavy makeup, seem to have appeared in Xing Ye's movies before.
More directly, it is the director's use of the "nonsensical" style. Li Jing is the chief soldier of Chen Tangguan after all, but in the face of Taiyi who is still drunk, he will still raise his fist to his chin like Zhou Xingchi and make an "ah" sound, and then throw Taiyi like Xingye beat Wu Mengda. Get a fat beating. Shen Gongbao, who is serious, will eat wood when he is surprised. Nezha's mother, Mrs. Yin, kicked the shuttlecock with a "black humor". She was frequently abused but greeted her with a smile. Such a "nonsensical" style is suitable for use in cartoons, and the expressions of the characters can be drawn more exaggerated and in place, and the audience does not feel fake.
Of course, in addition to paying tribute, some of the little humor in "Nezha's Devil Child Comes into the World" is quite a shadow stalk. For example, Taiyi's gossip password when he opened Baolian is very similar to the combination lock of a safe in a police and bandit movie. For example, Taiyi gave Nezha artificial respiration; another example was the lines that the two mythical beasts said "very fantastic and unscientific". This kind of modern behavior of ancient people is quite straight-forward in science and engineering. The design of the pig sneezing can be played back by video, which maximizes the narrative role of sound and picture, saves lines, is clear at a glance, and has a good sense of humor.
learn from
The story structure, specific comedy sections, and audio-visual performance of "Nezha's Devil Child Comes into the World" seem to show that the director is very familiar with Hollywood genre films.
In terms of story structure, "Nezha's Devil Child Comes into the World" seems to be a "Golden Fleece" type of story. The protagonist of the original "Golden Fleece" type has to take a road with a certain end point and achieve growth on the way, while "Nezha's Devil Child Comes to the World" changed the end point of the space dimension to the "Deadline" of time, that is, 3 years later 's catastrophe. The protagonist of "The Golden Fleece" wants to grow up along the way, and there are many people around him who help him grow. There are also such a group of people in "Nezha's Devil Child Comes into the World": parents and masters. At first, his father taught him that "only you can decide what kind of person you become", and finally Nezha said it himself in the contest between Nezha and Ao Bing, realizing his growth in the rough fate. Such an obvious arc of characters, couldn't be more enjoyable.
The ubiquitous comedy sections are well integrated into the narrative, to put it bluntly, and avoid being just funny for the sake of being funny.
The director's control over the shot is achieved through animation techniques. For example, Nezha, Ao Bing and others grabbed a paragraph in the Shanhe Sheji map and realized it with a "pseudo" long shot; for example, when Nezha and his master experienced the "roller coaster" in the Shanhe Sheji map for the first time, he took a big bird's-eye view. Combined with the big Yang shot, the shot is very atmospheric; and when Chen Tangguan's little friend was tricked by Nezha, it was a combination of montage and slow motion, which was neat and tidy. Nowadays, the use of film technology is not the only guarantee for visual effects. What is more precious than technology is that the director knows what kind of lens to use in what kind of bridge segment will bring greater impact on the perspective. Dumplings, the director of "Into the World", did it.
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