When we think of Yang Guifei, we will think of "a red dust concubine laughing, no one knows that it is a lychee coming"; we will also think of "famous flowers pouring into the country and the two sides of the country, often having the king smile to see"; more importantly, "The sky is long and sometimes ends, and this hatred has no end". As one of the four beauties of ancient China, Yang Guifei not only attracted the attention of many Chinese literati and inkers, but also was worshipped as a "god" in Japan.
Japanese people not only believe in Yang Guifei, but even some people (film and television star Momoe Yamaguchi) claim to be descendants of Yang Guifei. Due to the special feelings of the Japanese for Yang Guifei, in 1955, the Japanese director Kenji Mizoguchi cooperated with Chinese directors to bring the story of Yang Guifei to the big screen.
This work is based on the love story of Yang Yuhuan and Li Longji, and once it was broadcast, it attracted widespread attention. Although he won the Special Prize at the 1956 Daily Film Awards, he was also nominated for the Golden Lion at the 18th Venice International Film Festival. But the score of Douban is not high (6.2 points). This is mainly because Kenji Mizoguchi elevated and fabricated some plots in the movie in order to convey his own ideas.
Kenji Mizoguchi is a famous Japanese director who has won awards at the Venice Film Festival for three consecutive years. He is a director with a unique style in shooting, whether it is a silent film or today's sound film, he can do it with ease. One of the biggest features of his shooting is "one scene and one shot", that is, one scene and one shot are shot, and there is no cut in the middle. Shooting in this way can make the whole story richer and more realistic.
In the movie "Yang Guifei", he used this "one-shot to the end" shooting method, which not only recorded the awakening and development of women's consciousness, but also expressed his sympathy for the involuntary of low-level women.
"Yang Guifei" is a secondary female art film, and in the scene where An Lushan discovers Yang Yuhuan's beauty, Kenji Mizoguchi uses a 2-and-a-half-minute-long passage shot. Yang Yuhuan first carried a flat burden and hummed a song into the kitchen, and then pulled behind the camera, An Lushan and his brother, and saw Yang Yuhuan who was busy in the kitchen in the distance. With the gathering of An Lushan's eyes, the camera focuses on Yang Yuhuan and An Lushan's pulling and pulling.
Secondary women's art films: works in which the director is non-female or has masculine and psychological characteristics, is influenced by the surrounding environment and life experience, so as to have a deeper understanding of women, and tries to live and feel women from an objective, non-female perspective.
In this paragraph, Kenji Mizoguchi not only explains yang Yuhuan's identity, but also allows the audience to see her helplessness as a low-level woman. Although she did not want to be dedicated to the emperor as a pawn, she still had to compromise when she thought of her situation. And this paragraph is also in stark contrast to yang Yuhuan's departure from the palace and returning to his brother's house again, seeing a maid who is like his past self, humming songs and working. From her asking the maid, "Are you happy here?", it is implied that Yang Yuhuan, once he entered the palace, was as deep as the sea, and he could not help but feel sad that he was not free.
As we all know, China is known as the "State of Etiquette", and in ancient China, the first meeting between men and women should be treated with courtesy. However, in the movie, An Lushan treats Yang Yuhuan rudely and rudely, but also to express the inferiority of Yang Yuhuan's status. In fact, here, in order to express his sympathy for the women at the bottom, the director ignores the truth of history. In fact, Yang Yuhuan was originally a concubine of Tang Xuanzong's son, and because of his coveting of her beauty, Tang Xuanzong re-incorporated her into the palace in the name of "female Taoist". And far before Yang Guifei entered the palace, she and An Lushan did not know each other.
Based on Kenji Mizoguchi's personal life experience, he was raised from childhood to adulthood by his sister who was a geisha, and he was very concerned about the awakening and development of women's sense of autonomy. Although with the rise of the feminist movement in the West, more people began to realize the equality of men and women, but in Japan, a country that pursues "male superiority and female inferiority", the status of women is always below that of men, and this complex of absolute control of men has also made Japanese women lose themselves more and more under the influence of "others".
According to the "other" theory put forward by French feminist Simon Beauva, women are under male control and completely lose their sense of self. The male "self" has absolute dominance.
In the movie "Yang Guifei", Kenji Mizoguchi exposes their suffering to the camera by capturing the living conditions of low-level women, and also pushes the awakening of women's autonomy consciousness to a climax through Yang Yuhuan's departure and self-hanging. In the film, about Yang Yuhuan's departure, the director uses a paragraph shot of less than 3 minutes to show the awakening of Yang Yuhuan's female consciousness in the form of a dialogue between Yang Yuhuan and Tang Xuanzong.
Because of the Yang family's misdeeds, the people were quite dissatisfied. Yang Yuhuan took the initiative to ask the emperor and reduced himself to a commoner. Later, An Lushan launched the "An Shi Rebellion", and the Sixth Army demanded that Tang Xuanzong kill Yang Guifei. Regarding the death of Guifei, the director used another 3-minute long shot to show Yang Yuhuan's inner entanglement and peace before her death, when she took down Bai Aya, the camera turned sideways with Yang Yuhuan's turn, and she slowly walked out of the room, towards death and also to freedom.
In the film, whether it is Yang Yuhuan's exodus or hanging herself, it is out of her own decision. And this decision, it is her awakening and development of autonomy as a woman, from not being able to control her own destiny, to taking the initiative to choose sacrifice for love, Yang Yuhuan Although the ending is tragic, she finally has the right to choose. Although the audience is touched by it, it is not so beautiful in history. In fact, after the outbreak of the "Anshi Rebellion", Tang Xuanzong was bent on self-preservation, and Yang Guifei became a "scapegoat", so he killed Yang Yuhuan with a white silk. And even if Yang Guifei was reluctant to do so, it was difficult to violate the Holy Will.
In fact, women in ancient China and women in Japan have many similarities in social status. Under the control of patriarchy, women cannot be treated fairly. Before they leave the cabinet, they have to listen to their parents and brothers, and after they leave the cabinet, they have to listen to their husbands, and they have no sense of autonomy at all. Among the many film and television works in China, there are also many works that record the awakening and development of women's consciousness.
Among them, the director of "Know It or Not, It Should Be Green Fat Red Skinny", which is also through the shooting method of "one shot to the end". The authenticity of the plot created under the "one shot to the end" records the awakening of female consciousness. Sheng Minglan, as the daughter of the Sheng family, lost her mother at an early age and lived with her grandmother. Without the protection of her mother, Sheng Minglan, who was excellent everywhere, could only pretend to be stupid and be patient everywhere.
However, when the grandmother was poisoned by the eldest lady and dying, Minglan decided not to be patient anymore. The director used about 17 minutes of large paragraph shots, from Minglan entering the house, the camera focused on the three people of the big lady, Sheng Hong, and Minglan, showing us that Sheng Hong, as a representative of male power, asked his daughter to sacrifice the threat of Ning Ren, and also let the audience see that even if Minglan was slapped, he must adhere to the firmness of finding out the truth. This coherent shooting method not only allows the audience to have a strong sense of watching the drama, but also passes on To the audience minglan as a maid, for the sake of justice, at the expense of disobeying the elders, and her sense of autonomy in defending the people she cherishes.
But it is inevitable that in film and television works, some exaggerated and coincidental plot sections will be inserted.
For example, in the case of the film "Yang Guifei", Sato Tadao once commented: "Mizoguchi, who has great interest in appreciating and searching for ancient art, devotes himself to the filming of this film with great enthusiasm, but due to the lack of information, his desire to recreate ancient Chinese customs has finally failed, and he can only rely on absurd fabrications."
In fact, even if a work of art such as a movie or TV series tries to restore history, it is still necessary to turn it into the form of a story and show it to everyone. As long as it is a story, there must be a theme, and in order to better illustrate this theme, it is necessary to make processing and trade-offs in the plot.
For example, "Yang Guifei" aims to record the growth process of low-level women from involuntariness to the awakening of autonomous consciousness; "Know It or Not" is intended to tell the audience that women also have the right to pursue justice and equality. Although, they have the same way of calling on women to break free of the shackles. However, in order to achieve artistic effects, they also added some untrue or illogical plots. And these plots often leave people with criticism.
In fact, Zi Mo believes that judging the quality of a film and television work depends on whether it gives us some inspiration. After all, "although art originates from life, it is higher than life after all", and the rotten and vulgar bridge section that does not know what to do cannot shock us, let alone touch our hearts. In terms of material works, although flawed, they should be worthy of our objective attitude to taste. So, let's be more tolerant and look at today's film and television works.