The fading of the plot does not mean that the plot is completely abandoned, but rather that the inherent plot modes such as "start, development, climax, and ending" are abandoned, and the dramatic plot is abolished, and the natural development of the narrative is like the narrato

The classic animation " Tadpole Looking for Mother " produced by Shanghai Meimei Film Studio is mostly nonlinear narratives, and the logical relationship between the picture is not strong, but has the beauty of beautiful prose poetry fragments. The fading of the plot of

does not mean that the plot is completely abandoned, but that the inherent plot modes such as "start, development, climax, and ending" are abandoned, and the dramatic plot is cancelled, and the natural development of the narrative is like the narrator telling it, and the dramatic conflict is abandoned. Pay more attention to the expression of the picture, while the narrative moves with the picture.

Prose Poetic fragment structure

Since the 21st century, Chinese animation still has fragmentary expression characteristics. For example, the very beautiful " Big Fish and Begonia " is a film with a high degree of completion. The picture is exquisite and grand, and the film music conforms to the plot direction. The style of the entire movie has both the beauty of traditional Chinese elements and the shadow of Japanese animation.

However, it has been criticized repeatedly in terms of the plot. The narrative of the whole work presents a fragmented sense of fragmentation. Whether it is the motivation of the characters of Chun and Qiu or the direction of the plot development, it is incompatible with the grand and exquisite world view that the whole movie wants to create, making the audience feel a breakdown. On the surface, every action of the protagonist Tsubasa Chun is due to the influence of her current environment, but as the plot continues to develop, the protagonist's behavior is more like a product of whatever he wants, without strong logic. The whole movie is like a fragmented beautiful puppet, beautiful but lacks some vitality.

nonlinear animation has a relatively low degree of fit for "family fun" animated movies, because nonlinear expression means that the narrative nature of the story is weaker than that of linear expression, and pays more attention to the movie itself, including style expression and values ​​conveyed.

uses the charm of the movie itself to attract audiences. For example, ink-style movies are the works that are most in line with the Chinese school. Beautiful ink-style works are more like works of art than commercial products.

With the continuous development of "Family Fun" animated films, the choice of narrative structure has put forward higher requirements for the creative team of "Family Fun" movies. The prose poetic fragment structure conforms to the expression characteristics of "restricted and implicit" in Chinese culture. The processing and recreation of fragment structures should be the direction that domestic animation filmmakers should think.

binary opposition structure

In the process of learning from the Western "family joy" movies, China gradually embodies the idea of ​​"non-duality" in traditional Chinese Buddhism. "non-duality" means "neither this nor that and that". It is not difficult to see that it has this idea of ​​" binary opposition " in China's "family joy" movies.

reflects the confrontation between tradition and change in " Little Door God ", " Journey to the West: The Return of the Great Sage " is a conflict of freedom and responsibility, and in " Nezha: The Devil Child Comes into the World ", it is a confrontation element between the magic pill and the spirit bead.

According to Gremas's symbolic square array theory, the setting of "Nezha: The Devil Child Comes into the World" forms the opposition of the magic ball - spirit beads, good - evil, justice - evil. The conversion to the characters is the opposition of the Nezha - Ao Bing , and Shen Gongbao/Dragon Clan - Taiyi Zhenren /Li Jing.

derives the dramatic development of the film in these conflicts of opposition. Because of the opposition between the Spirit Pearl and the Demon King, the Demon Pill must be destroyed and the Spirit Pill must be used by him; because of the opposition between Shen Gongbao and Taiyi Zhenren, Shen Gongbao was dissatisfied with Taiyi Zhenren's task of taking over the Spirit Pearl, so he stole the Spirit Pearl.

Because of the opposition between the Dragon Clan and the Heavenly Court, the Dragon Clan and Shen Gongbao cooperated to transform the spirit pearls into their son Ao Bing, allowing his son Ao Bing to inherit the hopes of the entire Dragon Clan, and assumed the task of freeing the Dragon Clan from the fate of guarding the Invincible Purgatory and completing the task of rejuvenating the Dragon Clan.

Because Ao Bing and the Spirit Pearl are fused, Nezha, who is opposite, must be destroyed by heavenly thunder.

Through a series of contradictions and confrontations, the plot continues to develop. Nezha, who symbolizes the evil, assumes the task of saving Chentangguan , and Ao Bing, who symbolizes the kindness, uses his spiritual power to bury Chentangguan alive. This is another reversal amid opposition. The two sides of the contradiction can transform each other, sublimating the theme "My fate is by me, not by heaven". Good and evil determined by fate are in their own hands.

Nezha and Ao Bing, influenced by the spirit beads and magic pills at the end of the movie, finally understood each other, held hands and faced the arrival of the sky thunder together, and finally merged with each other to obtain a happy ending with the soul retaining. This is the binary confrontation that eventually transformed into a higher degree of "Datong" realm.

The two sides of the conflict in Marxism can transform each other, and the current Chinese "family fun" movies are gradually moving towards mutual transformation. From the earliest distinctive black and white to the emergence of the phenomenon-level animation "Nezha: The Devil Child Comes into the World", the magic pill is not necessarily "evil", and the spirit bead is not necessarily "good".

reflects the Marxist philosophical principle of mutual transformation between the two sides of the contradiction. In the end, Lingzhu was forced to bury Chentangguan alive under family pressure and killed all the people. Nezha, who was reincarnated from the Magic Pill, did not hesitate to protect the safety of the people of Chentangguan. This is the dramatic tension caused by the mutual transformation between the two sides of the contradiction.

clutch combination structure

in China's "family fun" animated films tend to set up clutch narrative combinations, which is inseparable from the origin of Chinese movies from "drama". The shadow of drama can also be found in animated films. Chinese animated films tend to express the unique expression of the emotional relationship between people, and pay more attention to the emotional expression of gains and losses, such as changing the mind and regaining the gains and losses.

The ending of the movie narrative does not end with the completion of causality or the fulfillment of the contract. Therefore, to a certain extent, the characters in the clutch-type combination structure do not have a very clear causal relationship in the role behavior, but pay more attention to the changes in the character's inner heart or emotional catharsis, and finally end with the changes in the character's living state.

In "Nezha: The Devil Child Comes into the World", Nezha has always been unaware of his fate of reincarnation of the Demon Pill. The audience watches Nezha from an omniscient and omnipotent perspective because his fate is excluded and blindly seeking recognition from others, he cannot be recognized in the end. In the end, Nezha found his true heart and completed his personal redemption.

"Journey to the West: The Return of the Great Sage" also expresses the inner entanglement of whether Sun Wukong, as an ordinary person, should bear social responsibilities after he loses his ability.

" Lion Boy " reflects the left-behind child Ajuan struggles between reality and dreams. The clutch-type narrative structure is different from the finished structure and cannot be expressed by formulas, which is inseparable from the complexity of the characters' behavior and the dramatic elements of Chinese films.

How to tell a good story is a key issue facing Chinese animated films at present. Through comparative analysis of the narrative structure of Sino-US family-friendly animation films, we can find that "linear narrative" plays an important role in the stylized creation of animated films.

American animated films have a high degree of commercialization. The important reason for their success is that they are mass-created in the creation of animated films. The commercial properties of animated films require that the creation of animated films require a certain amount of mass production. The "Bears" series of Chinese young IP has made meaningful attempts, and the total box office revenue of 4 billion yuan has confirmed the importance of the stylized creation model.

Due to the influence of "drama", Chinese animated films attach great importance to the expression of the separation, joy and sorrow of the characters. On the one hand, this narrative structure not only expresses artistically, but also increases the production time and difficulty of creating animated films. This is also the reason why the box office share of China's "Family Fun" animated films has changed greatly.

"Family Joy" type movies rely on the box office of the top movies and cannot carry out effective systematic creation; on the other hand, they over-imitate the American linear expression narrative structure, such as the narrative structure of " City of the City of the Fiction " is consistent with the linear structure of Hollywood , but only achieved a box office of 69.93 million. The same narrative structure also requires richer and more creative expression methods.

linear narrative is an effective narrative structure for "family-loving" animated films, but it needs to be combined with more creative expressions. The clutch-type combination structure that Chinese animated films are good at has its advantages, but it is the key to improving the narrative structure of Chinese animated films, which are well-known for.