Taking the movie "Flying Crane" as an example, talk about several typical expressions of domestic films in the 1980s

text: Su Yehua

陈家林 in film and television series directed by historical theme TV series "康熙王朝", "唐明皇", etc. The most famous. In fact, as early as the 1980s, film works directed by Chen Jialin like "Tan Sitong" and "The Last Queen" (starring Jiang Wen and Pan Hong) were nominated for 中国电影金鸡奖, and they were also loved by the audience. This 1982 长影厂 movie "Flying Crane" is his early film masterpiece, which won the Excellent Film Award from the Ministry of Culture.

The movie "Flying Crane" was produced by 长春电影Studio , directed by Chen Jialin, written by Wang Xingdong, Wang Zhebin, Liu Zicheng, Sun Caihua, 张伟欣, Wang Shangxin, Yang Leading role with .

This is a very representative domestic film in the 1980s. From story idea to film expression method all reflects the typical creative feature of domestic films in the 1980s.

Before this, we must briefly talk about the overall creative environment in the 1980s. "Documentary Aesthetics" is the mainstream aesthetics of domestic films in the 1980s . The fourth-generation directors, who are in the golden age of creation, return to realist creation with their own unique styles.

This film is also an example of the Domestic film creation style . The story of the film is not complicated. It tells a couple of fishermen who adopt a traumatized ballerina, the son of Egret, Xiaoxiang out of good faith. When the child grew up, he had the opportunity to return to his biological mother and lead a better material life. The couple reluctantly sent the child back to the biological mother. But the child is between the foster mother and the birth mother, between the rich city and the country where he was born and raised.

电影 involves a lot of realistic elements . For example, the movie Reflection caused the death of the protagonist mother and son in the past (the mother is physically injured, the mother and son parting), and explore The value orientation of children's growth in the urban-rural dual structure . In addition to these obvious themes, the movie also vaguely touches on how to guide and educate children, release the child’s nature, and other practical issues . These themes also often appear in the same period movies.

Here, I will talk about the typical characteristics of the domestic films in the 1980s reflected in the film's performance techniques in the following aspects.

01. Strengthen the use of imagery

The so-called IMAGE , that is, " art image formed by the fusion of objective object image and subjective emotion in literary works."

In the movies of the 1980s, imagery is not only widely present in the details of the movie, is sometimes strengthened and used, becoming the highly recognizable label of the movie. In Tie Ning's novel "The Red Shirt Without Buttons", the title of the novel is the important image. The unique clothing of is the symbol of the avant-garde and independent personality of Enron, a female student in the new era. In the film "Girl in Red" adapted by him (the representative work of the fourth-generation director Lu Xiaoya), this image is more intuitively presented , and Enron's "Red Dress" is full of visual impact, which is similar to the movie The strong character, integrity, and enthusiasm of Enron are complementary to each other.

In the Changying Studio film "General Sabre" (directed by Xiao Guiyun and Li Qiankuan), the "Sabre" in the title itself is an image, and "梅" and "Crane" still appear in the movie. "Etc. multiple objects like . 梅Among them, it symbolizes loyalty, and the crane symbolizes the firm belief and unchanging heart of the two generals .

In "Flying Crane", the movie uses 丹冠鹤的传说 in the mouth of Xiaoxiang's adoptive father, He Fengzhu, to give it a clearer symbolic meaning. The crane sends the fairy back to her hometown . Combining all the scenes of cranes in the movie, it is not difficult to see that "God of Wetland" cranes are the symbol of the Nenjiang River where Xiaoxiang grew up, and raising cranes is the life style of fishermen of Xiaoxiang's adoptive parents of this generation . Xianhe represents Xiaoxiang's inseparable nurturing feeling, and the homeland love that is hard to abandon.

seems to understand this layer of imagery, and will predict Xiaoxiang's final choice at the end of the movie.

02, poetic imagination

In the reflection film, it is usually Take poetic imagination to dissolve the suffering , this is particularly evident in "Bashan Night Rain". At the end of the film, Qiushi seems to be with her daughter Towards an imaginary paradise. Even in many reality-themed movies, there is usually an idealized, simple and beautiful pastoral society in , where people who have been traumatized can find their strength again (for example, Chi Le Chuan in "The Wrangler" ). This kind of beauty comes from life itself, and to a certain extent it has been poetically rendered .

In the theme of the times, whether it is about the city or the country life, it is destined to have some roles. In the process of continuous urbanization, they feel at a loss and integration. Without entering the city, the spirit is hard to sustenance. At this time, the beautiful rural landscape can also become a spiritual harbor for the lost villagers . In "Flying Cranes", the rural life of Xiaoxiang Nenjiang is still a beautiful pastoral scene with certain idealized characteristics.

In "The Flying Crane", Xiao Xiang still faces the conflict of values ​​between the two cultures. He lives in Nenjiang, is naturally obsessed with nature and rural life, but he has to be asked to play piano and paint by his parents living in the city. His nature is imprisoned . In the movie, the adoptive parents of are typical fishermen. They themselves are kind and tolerant. The director presents Xiaoxiang’s hometown, Nenjiang, a scene where people, cranes, and nature are perfectly blended. This is more subjective and poetic than the real scene, showing a simplified beauty . This kind of description completely makes Xiaoxiang's choice in the end logical.

is worthy of fun, the urban-rural dual culture in the movie is not completely opposite, they are also merging with each other . The adoptive parents know that they lack knowledge and hope that Xiaoxiang will receive the best education in the city. The egret also returned to the Nenjiang River to dance with the cranes and was content. Xiaoxiang was very curious about the tape recorder (representing the product of advanced material civilization) brought by his birth mother, Bailu (Zhang Weixin) . If he continues to integrate into city life, he may be completely accustomed to this lifestyle. At this time, the film took theatrical approach. The tape with the adoptive mother’s voice was washed off, and his patience was worn out by being forced to play the piano and learn to paint. This made it difficult for him to accept it, and he immediately plucked up the courage to return to his hometown and Beside adoptive parents.

This kind of arrangement also incurred criticism at the time, that is, this kind of plot tendency is considered to be negative and deviates from the modern lifestyle in some opinions.

Under the social development at that time, the change of material civilization and the renewal of life style brought the impact to people in different situations, which can only be experienced by everyone who has experienced . Under the motif of urban and rural culture, everyone can only make a choice that suits them . The movie is not necessarily for whomIn class, it often provides a perspective.

03. Children's Roles and Children's Perspectives

Domestic films developed rapidly in the 1980s, audience demand has led to the emergence of more levels of roles, and the proportion of children's roles is increasing . Children's films have become an influential genre. The Chinese Film Golden Rooster Awards also set up the Best Children's Film Award. Major studios have also produced masterpieces for children's films, such as "Miao Miao" at Beijing Film Studio, "Flashing Balls" at Shanghai Film Studio, and "Green Wallet" at Changying Studio.

here is mainly talking about the role of children in general feature film .

Children’s vision is often the simplest. They don’t understand the complex rules of the adult world, and they will maintain the richest innocent view of things .

Many movies in the same period also use children's roles and children's perspective in their expressions. In Xie Jin's "The Wrangler", Fang Chao played Xu Lingjun's son There is no childish sentence Ji will bring out Xu Lingjun’s sad and desolate situation, making people laugh with tears ; In Bai Chen’s "Under the Bridge", Fang Chao plays Qin Nan’s son, when he is bullied by his friends and he doesn’t know what he means. , It is dumbfounding, at this time heroine Qin Nan's difficult situation as a single mother is even more sad .

A child is a mirror. A child’s personal perspective and pure thinking can reflect all the absurdities of the adult world . This expression is sometimes more powerful.

Xiaoxiang in this film is also in a variety of contradictions. His separation from his biological mother is destined and he cannot choose when he is young. Influenced by the different values ​​and educational views of his biological mother and adoptive parents , these have had a great impact on him.

In this film, Xiaoxiang is not a big deal and has no vanity yet. He can not be ashamed to maintain friendly interaction with animals under the ridicule of everyone; he does not understand the development and changes of life on a more spiritual level, so he resolutely chooses Return to hometown.

If he becomes an adult and has a more rational understanding of the world and life, will he still make the same choice? This question is worth thinking about.

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This article is only thought of from the movie itself, and will briefly talk about some of the same period movies. There are many characteristics of domestic films in the 1980s, which will be discussed later in other films.