Qilu Evening News Qilu One Point reporter Shi Wenjing
Recently, the documentary "Cao Xueqin and the Dream of the Red Chamber" was broadcast, which presented the main artistic charm of Cao Xueqin's life and "Dream of the Red Chamber" with rich artistic techniques, triggering the discussion of "Dream of the Red Chamber" fans.
"Cao Xueqin and the Dream of the Red Chamber" studies "Dream of the Red Chamber" in an image-like way, which is very conducive to doing popular science and can help readers understand the complex writer Cao Xueqin and his era.
However, the film claims to absorb the latest research results of the red academic circles since the new century, especially in the past 10 years, and has made a new interpretation of "Dream of the Red Chamber", which is a more "adventurous" way of presentation, and the work gives a conclusive conclusion to some controversies that have existed about Cao Xueqin and "Dream of the Red Chamber", and also triggers the discussion of fans.
One line of "Cao Xueqin and the Dream of the Red Chamber" is Cao Xueqin's ups and downs in life and the arduous process of creating "Dream of the Red Chamber", and the other line is the interpretation of the work of "Dream of the Red Chamber", trying to analyze Cao Xueqin and "Dream of the Red Chamber" from the aspects of literature, history and sociology, answering the three main questions of "Who is Cao Xueqin", "Why "Dream of the Red Chamber" is a masterpiece of traditional Chinese culture" and "How to appreciate "Dream of the Red Chamber".
The documentary's presentation of Cao Xueqin and "Dream of the Red Chamber" is very rich and artistic, including the actual shooting of historical sites and materials, the presentation of cao Xueqin's life's dramatic performance, the film and television expression of the content of "Dream of the Red Chamber" by cartoons, and the detailed comments of experts.
The documentary restores Cao Xueqin's life in the form of dramatic performance, and the performance, editing, and camera scheduling are all more powerful, and many shots have a sense of cinema. For example, when portraying the young Cao Xueqin, the traditional beauty of Jiangnan weaving and Cao family drama class is presented, and the camera is like a dream, and after encountering the raid, the small drama to Cao Xueqin to send rice dumplings is full of warmth.
The documentary's presentation of "Dream of the Red Chamber" takes the form of an animation film, reproducing some famous scenes in the novel. For example, the use of animation to present the legend of Nüwa Patching Heaven and the origin of "Stone Record" can not only present the mysterious color of the beginning of the novel, but also let the audience understand the temperament of "Dream of the Red Chamber" through a very short period of time.
The first character presented in the animation part of the documentary is Yinglian (Xiangling), which presents the complex story of "The Thin Life Girl Meets the Thin Lover, and the Gourd Monk Judges the Gourd Case" through a short animation. In the animation, it is told that Tanchun is in charge of the Rongguo Mansion, and no matter how good the means and measures are, they cannot save this extravagant family from falling step by step; the drama performance part shows the dilemma of Cao Xueqin's grandfather Cao Yin who took charge of Jiangning Weaving. The contrast between the content of the novel and the real history makes it easy for the audience to understand the background, purpose and significance of Cao Xueqin's writing of "Dream of the Red Chamber".
The documentary uses large-scale animation to present the characters and stories of "Dream of the Red Chamber", mainly to tell the life of Cao Xueqin, and to analyze Cao Xueqin's life situation through "Dream of the Red Chamber". Cao Xueqin wrote so lightly about the "Gourd Monk Judgment Gourd Case" only because he had already felt helpless about the officialdom and society at that time.
The animation presents the style of daguanyuan, the luxurious life of Rong Guofu and the major events of "Dream of the Red Chamber" such as Yuanchun Provincial Relatives, depicting the decline of Jia Fu from luxury to decline, and finally through the analysis of the complex world in the novel, to reflect Cao Xueqin's delicate observation and thorough analysis of the historical "Kangqian Prosperous World", to explain why Cao Xueqin is great and why he can write this imperial masterpiece. Behind the "full of absurd words" is the fate and symptoms of a family and an era.
This form of expression is a good way to popularize Cao Xueqin and his "Dream of the Red Chamber". The live-action performance of restoring the real scene has a strong impact on the audience, and the animation narrative also promotes the development of the plot, and the three alternate appearances of the real shots, the scene reproduction, and the animation story alternately appear and seamlessly dock, through the colorful content, let the audience immerse themselves in Cao Xueqin's world.
The documentary interviewed nearly 20 first-line writers, historians, red scholars, and translators of "Dream of the Red Chamber" at home and abroad, such as Wang Meng, Hu Deping, Bai Xianyong, Min Fude, Ye Lang, Zhang Qingshan, etc., asking them to interpret the experience and historical background of "Dream of the Red Chamber" and the Cao Xueqin family, and maximize the artistic charm of "Dream of the Red Chamber". The large-scale quotation of the original poems of "Dream of the Red Chamber" in the documentary, the profound excavation of the characters, coupled with the interpretation of experts, are both deep and easy to understand.
The biggest highlight of this documentary is to combine Cao Xueqin's life and his era with the literary world described in "Dream of the Red Chamber", interpret writers and history through works of art, and then refute the preciousness and greatness of literary works through historical truth. The way of excavating historical figures in the documentary can be described as novel, and the analysis of literature, aesthetics, historiography and other aspects presents the charm of excellent traditional culture in a relaxed and easy to understand.
However, as a popular documentary for the public, the controversy of "Cao Xueqin and the Dream of the Red Chamber" lies in the fact that it gives a conclusion to the issues that have always been controversial in the academic circles, such as the birth and death of Cao Xueqin, the date of Cao Xueqin's birth and death, Cao Yin's companion reading of Kangxi, and Cao Yin's creation of "Continuing Pipa". Regarding the last forty times of "Dream of the Red Chamber", the documentary gives the conclusion that "Dream of the Red Chamber" does not have the regret of not being completed, Cao Xueqin completed "Dream of the Red Chamber" 120 times, and Cheng Weiyuan and Gao Hu only did sort out and repair.
For whether Cao Xueqin wrote the last forty times, even if it is whether it is written in a state of "completion", the documentary gives a conclusive conclusion. At the same time, the documentary supports its own views with the help of the two authors' argument that "books cannot be continued". In fact, in the cognition of ordinary readers, the first eighty times of "Dream of the Red Chamber" was completed by Cao Xueqin, and the last forty times were written by Anonymous, Cheng Weiyuan and Gao Hu, if new research results are to be presented, more scholars should come up with new research conclusions to discuss and debate each other, and the audience's acceptance may be higher.
Cao Xueqin's "Dream of the Red Chamber" is a treasure in the history of literature, and it is a existence that cannot be ignored in the field of mass culture and film and television creation, and the current interpretation and screen presentation of "Dream of the Red Chamber" have not stopped. The biggest attraction of "Cao Xueqin and the Dream of the Red Chamber" is to interpret "Dream of the Red Chamber" in a professional and non-obscure way, so that the current audience can re-read this great work in a novel way.