Comment on ＂Feng Shen I＂： The Magnificent Light of Constructing China’s Mythological World

Original title:The first part: the wind and cloud of singing songs.: Building the Magnificent Light of China’s Mythological World

Author:Ren Shengshu, Associate Professor, School of Art and Media, Beijing Normal University, Deputy Director of Art Education Research Center.

　 　 　 　 　 Wang Wenxin, Master of Arts and Media College of Beijing Normal University, 2022.

New film viewpoint

Special fund support for the development of national film industry

The publication of "Feng Shen I" is amazing. It is innovative in the selection of mythological novels, unusual in the expression of epic modality, unusual in the opening and extension of the story, and refreshing in the performance of characters. The image world of China mythology has indeed achieved unexpected results.

The image of Yin Shou, played by ChristianRandPhillips, seems to be powerful, but scheming and treacherous, which not only makes him sit up and take notice, but also makes fresh comments on the rumored image of Zhou Wang. Li Xuejian’s Xibohou’s connotation is complex and contradictory, Yolanda’s Queen Jiang’s calm and decisive, Na Ran’s Su Da’s flattery and unexpected performance of assisting the king are all refreshing. In particular, Ji Fa, who is played by Yu Shi, and a group of "protons" are brave and brave, which greatly breaks the softness of small fresh meat and is particularly attractive.

The combination of epic temperament and historical beacon smoke, and the interweaving of the celestial world as a struggle with the world, shaped the sense of shock and awe of the trilogy of gods.

One. China’s Story Journey to Shuoyuan

As of press time, the box office of the 14-day-old mythical movie "Fengshen Part I" has exceeded 1.3 billion, making it one of the most important phenomenal "explosive" works in this summer’s file.

This epic masterpiece is praised by netizens as "a classical body, a modern soul, both historical reflection and the awakening of the times". Its outstanding features are that, on the one hand, it embodies the high-level stage of China’s film industrialization, showing the internationally competitive technological level and craftsman temperament; On the other hand, at the core of the story, the trilogy of deities constructed a "journey to the source" of China’s mythological world, provided a typical paradigm template for telling the story of China well, and also practiced "promoting the creative transformation and innovative development of Chinese excellent traditional culture" with the power of images.

The trilogy of sealing gods is directed by director Wu Ershan, starring ChristianRandPhillips, Li Xuejian, Bo Huang, Yu Shi, Chen Muchi, Na Ran, etc. It is based on the well-known classical novel "The Romance of Sealing Gods". In terms of story adaptation, it changes the story of "The King of Wu" with Jiang Ziya as the core, but through the "Zhou Wuwang" in his youth.

The creative team hopes to fully tap the contemporary significance and innovative ideas in the story of "Goddess" through a more cutting-edge young perspective, and combine the core of myth with modern values, so that the main young audience in the current film market can gain conceptual consensus and emotional resonance.

As director Wu Ershan mentioned in the interview, "Zhou is a humanistic society based on rites, music and ethics, which also determines that the establishment of Zhou has made China society and the Chinese nation move towards a humanistic society. Zhou takes rites, music and ethics as the social structure. For example, its society is structured by the relationship between father and son, monarch and minister, husband and wife, family, etc., including the moral standards of people it established and the isomorphic world view of home and country. Through these details, we can find the cultural code of our nation. Under this world view, we have adapted the story for the contemporary era. It can be seen that this oriental epic not only hopes that the audience can appreciate the industrial wonders presented by film weaving as a bystander during the viewing process, but also hopes to inspire the deepest "cultural confidence" of contemporary audiences with this myth and legend bearing the cultural code of the Chinese nation. The trilogy of deities is not only far-reaching and well-intentioned, but also has many highlights in shaping scenes, characters and emotions as the first show on the big screen.

Two. The momentum of scene construction

The film uses magical methods to shape the struggle between Shang and Zhou Dynasties, full of historical magic charm, and uses strong contrast means in scene shaping. As the capital of Shang Dynasty, Chaoge City is prosperous and luxurious, and the magnificent Longde Hall symbolizes power and desire. production designer Zhang Cheng said in the scene: "Use sculpture to set off the whole building, use painting to emphasize sculpture, and use gold foil to touch the painting, which will make the picture layered and it will be very rich, which can better highlight the luxury of Shang Dynasty", although Lutai.

On the contrary, Xiqi’s eyes are all rice fields, full of simple and peaceful beauty, and it is also a key scene to lay the foundation of Zhou culture and even Chinese cultural temperament. The director team visited many wheat field bases and collected harvesting and farming customs in different regions. Finally, the wheat field at the foot of Tianshan Mountain was selected, with endless wheat sea in the foreground and high mountains stacked on the horizon. All this is true and dreamy, and the snow in Jizhou City is full of sky.

In addition, the wonderland of Kunlun, the Jin Ao Island with huge waves, the desert and the wheat waves that Ji Fa crossed home all reflect the charm of China’s natural landscape. The trilogy of sealing the gods not only understands the rich imagination of myth, but also shows the magnificent beauty of China’s humanities and scenery. It is like a picture scroll of oriental aesthetics, which is spread on the big screen with the story telling.

Three. The characterization is unique

Ji Fa, the protagonist, is full of arc light through the setting of group portraits of teenagers. These childish teenagers are nicknamed "Proton Group" boys by netizens. The actors who play these aristocratic hostages were carefully selected by the casting team from Chinese people all over the world in February 2017. Instead of using traffic stars, they boldly adopted new people and new faces to highlight the original sense and masculine charm of Chinese men.

Boys who are in the same place but have different minds are also different when faced with choices. At first, proton groups all took Yin Shou as their spiritual model, and faced with Yin Shou’s "PUA", but with Zhou Wang’s cruel acts such as "proton patricide", the gear of fate choice began to turn. In the face of Xibohou’s sentence, "Whose son you are is is not important, who you are is the most important", Ji Fa began.

4. Emotional expression dimension processing

The creative team set up a number of emotional lines. The relationship between Ji Chang and Ji Fa, as an important detail, appeared repeatedly in the plot, which promoted the sublimation of their relationship every time. From the father’s "ring", he hoped that Ji Fa could "return" home as soon as possible, and then Ji Fa "returned" it to his father, hoping that his father could return to his roots. In the end, it was this kind of homecoming that supported Ji Fa’s return to Xiqiao and his father. In the film, it is not only the affection between father and son that is touching, but also the brotherhood between Ji Fa and Boyikao. Although "Bai Yueguang" Boyikao has few scenes and short appearance time, his presence like Xiqiao’s warm sun has left a deep impression on the audience. For eight years, he trained Xuelongju to travel back and forth from Xiqiao to Chaoge, hoping that one day Xuelongju could return with his younger brother, and the brothers would go to Qian Shan in both directions. Ji Fa can become Zhou Wuwang precisely because he has the national conditions and sense of justice. He can’t bear to see the people suffer from the scourge and the world fall into the hands of evil people. He always has compassion for the creatures. It is this responsibility and responsibility of being at home that makes him become the "master of the world" in the future. The interpretation of various emotional lines makes the audience feel multi-dimensional and deep-seated emotional collision when enjoying the film.

As a series of epic masterpieces, The Trilogy of Gods is highly completed in the first part. With excellent production, novel perspective and multi-level empathy, the audience deeply feels the meaningful charm of China mythology, and they also have infinite expectations for the following two films. Just as Weibo, director of Wu Ershan, updates "Thanks to tens of millions of audience friends for going to China’s mythological world with us" every day, as an audience, this summer vacation, they also cherish "Feng"