"Love Myth" is the film debut of screenwriter and director Shao Yihui. (Film/Image)
Shao Yihui's social avatar is a picture of Ginsburg. Throughout her life, Ginsburg continued to break down gender bias and defend women's rights, and was the second female justice in American history. Shao Yihui also liked female writers such as Beauvoir. In her private list, there is no shortage of women's films such as "Women Suffragette".
"I don't know which character I should bring in," Shao Yihui said of her confusion when reading some romance novels at home and abroad, and the female characters were heavily masked: they were either "morally flawless" or "full of charm." Since neither one could resonate, she had to bring in male characters. "Female creators can write about women's unique life experiences." Shao Yihui told Southern Weekend reporters.
The film debut "Love Myth", directed and written by Shao Yihui, is being released, with a Douban rating of 8.3 points. The story is set in Shanghai, with Shanghainese dialogue. Shao Yihui lived in Shanghai for six years, renting in the original French Concession, writing novels and scripts, and usually loving to go to cafes. There are many locals and uncles among the friends, and Shao Yihui is willing to chat with them.
The three Shanghai women set in the film have their own characteristics: Miss Li of "Blue Rose" has a free soul, but is subject to an unfree family; Gloria of "Red Rose" is rich and romantic, and there is helplessness that no one understands; Bei Bei of "White Rose" pursues equality, looks at men everywhere, and covers up inner trauma.
A man named Lao Bai strung together their real love, he is a painter, and at the same time he is worried about chai rice oil and salt. "Lao Bai respects women and is willing to listen to women," Shao Yihui described the male image he admired, "he knows that it is not easy to be a housewife, and he can understand the plight of women." ”
The relationship between men and women in the film is often "reversed" with daily life: men and women get together, the three women's words do not fall behind, and the party is in charge; the love of men and women, women have active choices or considerations, and are not fully entrusted to men; male and female friendship, women are helping men achieve long-term dreams.
The dark line of the movie, "Mythical Love", is interpreted by Lao Bai's friend Lao Wu, who is childless and childless in Shanghai. In the 1990s, looking for the fountain in the square in the Italian director Federico Fellini's film "La Dolce Vita", Lao Wu and the Italian film star Sophia Roland met and fell in love in Rome. The story is also true and false, and "The Myth of Love" has the same name as another fellini work.
Shao Yihui graduated from the Beijing Film Academy, and in 2019, her "What are the people who graduated from the Beijing Film Academy doing" detonated the Internet. At that time, she graduated four years ago, rejected projects, unsuccessful creation, poor living, and sold e-cigarettes in the circle of friends.
At that time, Shao Yihui had already completed the preliminary script. The following year, she took the script to the FIRST Youth Film Festival Venture Capital Film Program, winning awards and receiving investment. Another year, the film landed and was released.
Director Shao Yihui believes that film and television dramas should not overly beautify women, but should face up to their original advantages and disadvantages. The picture shows the stills of "Love Myth". (Film/Image)
"I don't want to show off these niche things"
Southern Weekend: Before the movie was released, people's impressions of you stopped on two "xiongwen", a year later you went to FIRST, and another year your movie was released. How did you successfully get the investment from a "selling e-cigarette" to a cutting-edge director in just two years?
Shao Yihui: In 2019, before I wrote those two articles, I actually wrote the script. At that time, there were investors when writing the script, and then they did not vote, because the script was too literary and did not want to vote. I had no choice but to put the script there and do something else. I wanted to survive and serialize my novel, so I opened a public account, and I didn't expect the first article to be on fire.
I originally wanted to tell others that I was going to open a public account, but now I am "selling goods". Of course, it can be said that the point of "selling goods" attracts attention, but I would prefer my novels to be seen by more people. If the first public name is published as a novel, then no one will look at your public name, which is my truest appeal. Later, everyone's focus was on selling goods, and I couldn't do anything about it.
The next year, I heard that FIRST could venture again, so I quickly took out the script and revised it again, with the mentality of trying it out. In fact, I have invested in other venture capital before, but I did not have the opportunity to enter the shortlist.
After investing in FIRST, everything went smoothly, and everything happened because of FIRST. The owner of the production company was a judge at the time, and then he gave the script to Xu Zheng, and then Mr. Xu served as the supervising producer, and then found a cadre of personnel, and finally had the current film lineup. From the beginning of preparations in September last year to the start of the launch in March this year, I myself did not expect it to be so fast.
Southern Weekend: There are a lot of personal expressions in the movie, such as the night bar, the red breeze grocery store, the Yihui International School, and the character who has sold e-cigarettes, self-deprecating, more like the content of the author's movie, why put these in a commercial film?
Shao Yihui: At the beginning, I didn't know I was going to make a commercial film. When I first wrote this script, I didn't think about whether it was a commercial film or a literary film, I just wanted to write a funny story. The opportunity to make a movie is very precious, and I stuff a lot of things that I want to express, so it may seem that the author has a little more content.
However, I hope that this "authorship" – which I don't think it is at all – is something of my own that will not affect the original story. If you don't know those memes, there is no obstacle when watching this story, this is what I ask of myself. I don't want to show off these more niche things, such as Fellini, but there are many people who don't know. Taking advantage of these "fan terriers" that ordinary people don't know, I hate this arrogant posture the most. I've been satirizing this kind of literary and artistic tone in the story, and in fact, many people (people) can't watch Fellini's films.
Xu Zheng (left) served as the executive producer and male star of "Love Myth", and "found a cadre of personnel, and finally had the current film lineup". (Film/Image)
"No life is wasted"
Southern Weekend: You are from Shanxi, but you have written an authentic Shanghai story, and the Shanghainese and sense of the city in the movie are rarely violated, so that many people think that you are a Shanghainese, how do you usually observe and speculate about this unique emotion in Shanghai?
Shao Yihui: I stayed in Shanghai for six years, I couldn't find a job, I had to live. I write novels at home, and I usually go to the street to buy vegetables, cook, drink coffee, and chat with friends. My economic status is relatively ordinary, I have no desire to consume, and I am meticulous every day, just like the old white in the movie. This story was also only wanted to be written in 2019. For a long time before that, I had been writing a long novel with a great span of time.
I really didn't think about writing such a story, so I didn't deliberately observe it, but I think that no life is wasted when a person lives, especially those of us who write for a living. As long as you live, whether you go to work in a big factory, or stay at home every day, or get married and have children, every life will give you feedback. The things you see and hear every day don't have to be deliberately collected, they exist subtly in your mind. So, I used some Shanghai symbols and photographed a lot of Shanghai things, which is a very natural thing
I understand this doubt of others, a Shanxi person wrote a Story of Shanghai, and even wrote it well. It is precisely because I am a foreigner that I treat Shanghai as a level-headed relationship, treat it as a good friend, do not worship it, and do not belittle it. If you are really a local, you may be too emotional to know where to start, or too familiar to pay attention to some details. However, for me as an outsider, I will keep a lot of details fresh and curious.
Southern Weekend: If we take away the Shanghai symbol in the movie and change the story to any place, such as the people in it speaking Sichuanese, do you think this characteristic love story can still be established?
Shao Yihui: This is a very good question, I thought so when I wrote the script, I didn't really write it as a Shanghai story, the focus was on weaving the story between these people. I just want to make up a funny, good-looking story, I hope these characters are very attractive, are all people I like, people who identify, and I don't want to write about a person with values that I don't like.
Later, Teacher Xu got involved, and he hadn't read the script at that time. The first time we met and talked, Teacher Xu told me that he hoped that this story would strip away the elements of Shanghai, still be established, and still be a good story. He said at the time that many films like Woody Allen's did take place in New York or Rome, but removing those elements is still a very complete story.
After that, I paid more attention to stripping away these elements, everyone in it, and when I wrote it, I didn't think about what middle-aged people really are, what people in their forties think, what I think about people I identify with, or how I think myself. Their attitude towards their interactions and feelings is actually my own attitude, which is a more modern attitude that can be established in many big cities.
The characters in the movie "Love Myth" incorporate the personal tastes of screenwriter Shao Yihui, such as gossip, door slamming, and high heels that are broken and will be repaired instead of buying new ones directly. The picture shows the stills of the film. (Film/Image)
Southern Weekend: The way mature men and women in the movie deal with their feelings is very special, dependent on each other and if they are about to leave, this does not seem to be the common kind of "vulgar" and "trivial", middle-aged love that quarrels over a handful of greens. Is this an ideal male-female relationship you're looking forward to?
Shao Yihui: It's not just my expectations, it's always my attitude towards feelings. I cast Lao Bai as a man I like, and the qualities in him are all I like, and if I'm going to be in a relationship, that's what the people I interact with are. Lao Bai respects women, listens to women, he knows that it is not easy for women to be housewives, he will understand women, and at the same time he can have real communication with women, and the dialogue has content and feedback. Sometimes when you talk, you will find that many men don't listen to women at all, always talk to themselves, which is certainly not what I like.
There are many people like Lao Bai, and there are many friends around me, and some of them are also in their forties, and their lives are very relaxed and open. I think this state has something to do with whether you get married or not, whether you have children or not. If they are not married in their forties, and at the same time their work can afford a decent life, everyone lives a very elegant life. After all, the story to be shown is limited, and their trivial parts will not be shown this time. So it doesn't really exist so much in the ideal state, but it's just that there may be more cases of not getting married.
Southern Weekend: The country and era in which the "mythical love" that occurred in Lao Wu is also lively, and now that the times are changing, love seems to have returned to calm again?
Shao Yihui: Lao Wu is a disillusioned idealist, and his hilarity is all because of the sadness in his heart. The more pessimistic a person is, the more noisy he is in his daily life, because he cannot calm down, and when he is alone at home and faces himself, he will find himself powerless and will feel very desperate. Such a person can only go out every day, thinking about helping his good friend Lao Bai to do work every day, letting these busy or labor occupy the brain, and he does not have to think about it, because he feels disappointed in the present.
Lao Wu, played by Zhou Yemang in the film, led to the title of the film "Love Myth", and director Shao Yihui believed that Lao Wu was a "disillusioned idealist". (Film/Image)
"Women become more free, men will be freer"
Southern Weekend: Although there are male characters, this is undoubtedly a film with a female perspective. What kind of personality metaphors do people have? Female directors substitute male perspectives, will there be any difference in focus and perspective?
Shao Yihui: I write the script directly, not in advance to design which kinds of people to write, and then put these metaphors into the story. I wrote it according to the storyline, and in the process I gradually felt that they should talk that way. Later I thought, if he were talking like this now, I would have to change my previous behavior, which is a process of creative thinking.
These characters definitely have a lot of fun and characteristics that I personally like, such as the old white I just said, who is the person I am willing to fall in love with. Lao Bai is a painter, loves to cook, and has a lot of interest in life. I personally am more gossipy, and Lao Bai often has a little gossip when interacting with Miss Li. I'm more of a door-slammer, and old white is also a door-slammer. If the high heels are broken, I will definitely repair them, not buy them, including buying food that is about to expire, going to the cottage foreign trade shop, etc. The things that the old white do are all my work.
Why would a young girl write this story from a male perspective? Some time ago, I reflected on the short stories I wrote in the past, and many of them were also brought in from a male perspective, such as what happened to the hero and his wife. I was also asking myself why this was the case, and later found that the literature I grew up reading, even the movies, was written by men. These works are written from a male perspective, either as immaculate and perfect women, or as debauched women with a variety of styles.
When I watched these works, I was confused for a while, not knowing which one to bring in, and finally I could only bring it to a male perspective. When writing this story, I hope that more female creators can write about some unique life experiences of women, and some little girls can really bring it into it after seeing it in the process of growing up, rather than just choosing to bring it into the male perspective.
As a female screenwriter and director of the film, the relationship between men and women in "Love Myth" is often "reversed" with daily life. The picture shows the character played by Ni Hongjie in the film at KTV Entertainment. (Film/Image)
Southern Weekend: You often speak for women on social platforms, you should also understand the emotions of men and women in today's social arena, the film has both the sincere treatment of men and women, as well as calculation and business, what do you think these independent women and men should be? What kind of relationship should they have?
Shao Yihui: I am a relatively gentle person, and my views can be gently exported, hoping to make more men understand women. For example, the female characters I create here are the kind of people who don't want to spend money on men, but want to give him money. Many men will be prejudiced, thinking that women are snobbish, worship gold, and they are not worthy of love without a car or a house.
Setting up the old white male perspective is a good place for me to express my point of view, there are a lot of female characters in the film, and female audiences will like it; male audiences can also easily enter and accept the story. If it is the story of the big heroine, sometimes the male audience can't enter, and some of the big heroines are still scumbags, and the men feel unreal, because it is really unreal.
Lao Bai was actually quite aggrieved in it, as if everyone was bullying him, and then including his ex-wife, some words may not sound so comfortable. What these female characters say to Lao Bai, male audiences will feel that it has nothing to do with me, lao Bai is miserable, so that they can better accept this story.
I don't think it's necessary to tell girls what to do, just treat girls as a living person, face up to women's original strengths and weaknesses, and don't be afraid to show them. In the past, some film and television works always perfected women, I think this is very wrong, in real life, everyone is a person, the advantages and disadvantages are the same, shaping so many perfect women, how do ordinary women like us live?
Men and women are treated equally, they all have strengths and weaknesses. There are many cute places for men that should be shown more. Only if it is shown equally, it will be easier for both the story and the people watching it. When women become a little more free, men will be freer.
Southern Weekend reporter Zhang Rui