In 1986, Xi'an Film Studio joined hands with director Zhang Zien , adapted from Feng Jicai's novel of the same name, and filmed a satirical comedy " God Whip ". This film is not a simple martial arts film. Although it is not delicate enough, it is important to satirize reality.
The movie tells the story of Tianjin in the late Qing Dynasty. Glass Flower at the temple fair changed from a fair woman to a second grandma Bao because of her previous relationship. She deliberately found fault and disrupted the temple fair performance. Sha Er, who sold fried stinky tofu to make a living, persuaded him, but was bullied by Glass Flower. Sha Er fought back with his braid, and the glass flower made a fool of himself.
Glass Flower gathered some martial arts masters to find trouble with Sha Er. The slingshot king Dai Kuiyi, the "grandmaster" of Tianjin martial arts, and the Eastern samurai Hidero Sagawa, were all defeated by Sha Er's braids. Sha Er's reputation was greatly improved and he respectfully called the "Divine Whip".
Silly Er wanted to marry his neighbor Juhua, but Juhua told him that he had been insulted by foreigners. Sha Er was very angry. After marrying Juhua, she joined the Boxer under the introduction of Uncle Liu Si and met with the Eight-Nation Alliance battlefield. The Boxer corpses were everywhere in the face of foreign guns and cannons, and his braids were also blown off.
The Qing Dynasty was destroyed. By the early years of the Republic of China, Glass Flower became a policeman, but her evil deeds remained unchanged and forced her to cut her braids and drive her crazy Chrysanthemum's father. Glass Flower was obsessed with the fact that Sha Er had sniffed her face and took the gun to find Sha Er, but she couldn't find it.
One day when Glass Flower was out alone, she was stopped and brought to the "Master". Glass Flower realized that she was stupid. The two fools have magical shooting skills, and they hit every shot. The glass flower was frightened silly. Sha Er's braids had also been cut off and he rode his horse away, leaving behind a shocked glass flower.
1, full of joy, subtle irony
The most distinctive thing in "Divine Whip" is the insight into human nature, full of Tianjin-style joy, and subtle irony.
The gangster glass flower played by Chen Baoguo has small items such as ear digging, manicure movements, fans and snuff bottles that are full of Tianjin characteristics. The eyes are beaten by someone, and the pupils become turbid, so they are called "glass flower". This is probably a kind of gangster image that only Tianjin has.
It is said that Chen Baoguo has been studying in the gangster circle in Tianjin for a long time. In that era, there were no contact lenses and contact lenses, so he used buttons to grind them into thin sheets instead, and almost blinded his eyes.
male protagonist is very famous. He is the champion of the national martial arts Sanda competition and the first captain of the national boxing team. Although Chen Baoguo's Glass Flower is the second male lead, it is the character who promotes the satirical plot. At the beginning, Glass Flower was beaten by Sha Er and lost her face, and was helped by Hun Xingzi and stayed in the store by Cui. The shopkeeper knew that the gangster could not afford to offend him and refused to let his wife call the police.
But the boss lady is a social person, a typical Tianjin fool. She used money to deal with Cui to death. With a little bit of excitement, Glass Flower went out to seek revenge on Sha Er. Tianjin people are famous for their poisonous mouths. The proprietress casually said, "I want to draw the two eyes of the glass flower (San Ye) into a pair of glass flower, and I can't even separate the rice pot and pit."
This glass flower is almost a common problem among Chinese people. It is best to be faced in front of others, but there is no dignity behind others. Glass Flower invited the slingshot king Dai Kui, who was the slingshot king, lost the battle. Glass Flower ridiculed him a few words, Dai Kui turned his face, Glass Flower looked at her and was about to be beaten. She knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Slingshot king Dai Kui, saying, "You are my grandfather."
Glass Flower is unwilling to give up, and invited the "grandmaster" of Tianjin martial arts world, Suo Tianxiang, with a fairy-like and a childish face. Glass Flower introduced the "grandmaster"'s unique skills to Sha Eryao, and actually lying on a spider web to sleep, kicking flies and pulling a big cake with one finger. Most of the audience have probably realized that this "grandmaster" is a liar who deceives the world and steals the reputation, and is a pure Tianjin liar.
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Suo Tianxiang started to compete with Sha Er. It was impossible for Sha Er to use a whip (braid). The lower plate was unstable. The little pink fist hit Sha Er's chest seemed itchy. After a while, he was beaten down. Then he lost and was in a hurry and sent a secret dart behind him, but he failed.
There is a Boss Yang who is a "face-saving business". If a person is very proud, he will sell foreign goods to others for face. Glass Flower went to Boss Yang to ask him to help him find the Oriental Warrior to deal with Sha Er. The patriotic "face" business of the competition was completed under Boss Yang's constant hint to Glass Flower, which was done.
Glass Flower Man is respectfully called "Three Master". In order to invite an oriental warrior to a meeting gift, he fell to the point of playing rogue with a soldering iron and burning his thighs. He is also a pitiful person who has been cheated by the "Face God Cult".
No surprise, Sha Er beat the Japanese samurai, and suddenly had a large number of followers in the era of being keen on the God-making movement.
Sha Er is also respectfully called "Sha Erye". The "Divine Whip" plaque was hung at home, but it fell off when it was hung, which is also very ironic.
2. Restore the scenery of Tianjin in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China
Compared with the Kung Fu films of the same period, the biggest feature is that it greatly restores the scenery of Tianjin in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, and faithfully depicts the appearance of sentient beings in Tianjin Wei in the late Qing Dynasty. The description of traditional folk art and civilian life in the film is very precious.
For example, the second grandma Bao sat on the stage proudly. At that time, the big family was rich and used eight large snacks in the time-honored brand Xiangderui, piled up into a mountain. The movies at that time had not been advertised, but in fact they promoted the time-honored brands.
For a living, Sha Er, who grinds tofu, can also see the old-fashioned tofu mill here, and you need to drive a donkey as a driving force.
Tianjin people have the custom of naming bad names.
The remnants of Tianjin city wall were also photographed in the film.
3, Metaphor for Social Change
The background time of the film was probably around the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. As mentioned earlier, any foreigner is third-ranked than the prefect, which is also the reason why the people are keen to join the church. In order to seek the protection of the church, foreigners in the church can help negotiate if something happens. But this also led to the differentiation of the people. The infiltrated people hated the people, and the Boxer Rebellion gradually developed.
Boxer performance is also reflected in the film. The big knife slashed the fat man's belly, leaving only a white mark. In the film, Sha Er's braid is still a symbol of tradition. The magical skill of braid defeats foreigners many times, which is also a traditional skill of "invulnerable swords and guns". He also performed at the Boxer Rebellion rally.
Then it was the day of the decisive battle between the Boxer Rebellion and the foreigners. The Eight-Nation Alliance was neatly decorated, the Boxer Regiment was messy and casual, and there was even a group of superstitious swearers.
Boxers believed that they were invulnerable and stood at the gun without cover. Sha Er was surprised. Finally, someone woke up and told everyone to lie down.
Sha Er was fainted. When he woke up, the Boxer Rebellion was everywhere and his braid was burned. Sha Er threw the whip into the river, which also symbolized Sha Er's awakening, or the awakening of the Chinese.
In the blink of an eye, everyone cut their braids. Glass flower forced the braid of the silly second wife's father, and the conservative old man went crazy because of this. The chrysanthemum lured the glass flowers that had become policemen to come to the woods. Glass Flower was surprised to find that Sha Er had cut off the magic whip.
Silly Er said: The whip is cut, and the gods keep it. No matter how good the things of our ancestors are, they must be cut when they should be cut! No matter how much it changes, it will be difficult for us to die. Any new thing can be played, but it will be a unique skill once it changes!
However, although the film burned the magic whip and smashed the altar of the Boxer Rebellion, when she turned around, Sha Er used a gun representing modern civilization, Glass Flower still praised it as a "magic gun". She would die if she didn't create a god. This is also a common problem among the Chinese, and this is the biggest irony of this film.
But when I recalled the movie, I realized that Sha Er was a sensible person, which is not ironic. In the movie, he played a pig and ate a tiger throughout the whole film, and he was almost the peak of IQ in the whole film and the biggest winner.
At the beginning, the glass flower brought the slingshot king Dai Kui was defeated by the second hand. Dai Kuiyi was also used by Glass Flower to provoke him, and the fake Chuansan Er said bad things and tricked him into a duel. The stupid second thought was as clear as a mirror, and the sentence "They are making money for you with words" made Dai Kui immediately turn against him and turn to pack up the glass flowers.
silly defeated the Japanese samurai. When the father of Juhua next door, Old Man Jin, invited him to drink, he actively performed and easily impressed his father-in-law. It was a lifelong event in an instant. You must know that after Xinhai, Glass Flower was still a bachelor.
"The Whip" was released in 1986 under the wave of modernization of Chinese film language. The commercial film boom is coming, and no longer sticking to orthodox history. "The Divine Whip" explores the balance between art and business. "No matter how good the things of our ancestors are, they have to be cut when they should be cut, and they still have to be a unique skill when they change." This has made classic films. (written by: Mankei Wu)
