Xu Chunwei
Editor's note: This is a nostalgic theater.
On January 3 this year, Teacher Feng Jiannan, art designer of Shanghai Fine Arts Film Studio, took "Nine Colored Deer" to the "National Treasure" program of CCTV's comprehensive channel to share his creative story with the audience. Nine Colored Deer is an animated short film produced by Shanghai Fine Arts Film Studio in 1981, based on the mural "Deer King BunshengTu" on the west wall of Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes in Northern Wei 257.
The nine-colored deer walked into the "National Treasure" program
Since 1981, the Fame of Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes has risen at home and abroad, and "Nine Colored Deer" has contributed to it. Bunsen is a Buddhist term that refers to the story of the Buddha's past life. Shakyamuni had multiple births, such as Prince Sasuke who sacrificed himself to feed tigers, and even animals such as the elephant king and the monkey king were incarnations of his previous lives. The nine-colored deer is also a benevolent bird and righteous beast reincarnated by the Buddha in his previous life, and its story is derived from the Buddhist classic "The Buddha Says the Nine-Colored Deer Sutra".
"Deer King Bunsheng Tu" is a mural based on the "Buddha Says the Nine Colored Deer Sutra", it is the earliest horizontal scroll story comic strip in China, with a total of eight plots, starting from the left and right ends and ending in the middle. This compositional style of concentrating from both sides to the middle is a typical feature of Buddhist painting. For Buddhist paintings, the climax is set in the center of the picture to facilitate the worship of the Buddha.
"Deer King Bunsen Diagram"
The legend of Shakyamuni has multiple births
"Deer King Bunsheng Tu" shows the story of Shakyamuni's previous life as a nine-colored deer to save people and was betrayed, mainly to persuade people to do good deeds and be merciful. According to the character setting of the original "Buddha Says the Nine-Colored Deer Sutra": The crow who often gives messages to the nine-colored deer is Ananda's past life; Ananda is the son of the White Rice King, the cousin of Shakyamuni, and one of the ten great disciples of the Buddha. The drowning man (the snake-bearer) is the past life of Tunda, who is Theradharma, the brother of Ananda and the cousin of Shakyamuni.
According to the Five Hundred Arhats, Tunda claimed to be a master and led five hundred disciples to break away from shakya Buddha's monastic order and establish another sect. He plotted to kill Shakya Buddha, and once wanted to kill the Buddha through five hundred trebuchets, wild elephants, and so on. The queen (lady) is the beautiful daughter Suntory in her previous life; she and the Buddha are three evil relations, one of the Buddha's ten difficulties.
For the creation of "Nine Colored Deer", director Qian Jiajun conceived it for decades. It wasn't until 1980 that the studio launched the cartoon. In order to do a good job in the animation of "Nine Colored Deer", the elite did everything. Feng Jiannan served as an art designer, and Hu Yongkai was responsible for the image design of the nine-colored deer, the king, the queen, the drowning man, and the crow.
After visiting the Mogao Grottoes, Feng Jiannan and other creative personnel believe that the mural style of the Northern Wei Dynasty is clumsy but not fine, the Tang Dynasty is rich but not concise, and the Sui Dynasty is roughly both. In the cartoon, they adapted the artistic style, based on the Northern Wei mural style, and then integrated the Sui and Tang mural style into it. By early 1981, the crew had drawn more than 20,000 original animations. Wu Yingju was in charge of music, and he set the background music of the cartoon as the sound of the two instruments common in dunhuang murals, the lute and the pipa.
The story of "Nine Colored Deer" has a strong Chinese flavor at the beginning. The lantern of the Changxin Palace of the Western Han Dynasty, the first lamp in China, shines on an ancient map, and the audience's eyes are taken to the Thousand Buddha Caves (Mogao Grottoes) of the Dunhuang Buddhist Art Gallery.
Western Han Dynasty Changxin Palace lights on Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes (Thousand Buddha Caves)
Like the artistic style of mogao grottoes, the character setting is a fusion of Chinese and Indian elements. Tunda dressed like Indians; while kings and queens dressed like the Han Chinese of the Central Plains Dynasty in China. The shape and posture of the female characters in the animation are similar to the flying sky in the Dunhuang murals. The high walls are lined with female walls, which are also In the Han Chinese style.
The king and queen are Chinese images
Women are the image of Dunhuang Flying Sky
Chinese-style city walls
In terms of character setting, the playwright is not limited by the original work, but is enriching it appropriately. Neither the original nor the murals set the snake, and in the cartoon "Nine Colored Deer", in order to highlight the poverty of the drowning man, it was set as a snake man. Snake traders on the streets of India are generally low-caste people. The original book does not have the gender of the nine-colored deer, and the cartoon is set as a doe, voiced by Ding Jianhua. In this way, it can better reflect the compassionate character of the nine-colored deer. The original book also does not have the name of the king, and the "Moyin Guang" on the bulletin is also original.
The profession of a drowning man is to make snakes
The nine-colored deer is a doe
In terms of story plot, the playwright has also made appropriate changes to increase the logic of the story. There are a number of major changes. The reward target of the original "Buddha Says the Nine Colored Deer Sutra" is too exaggerated and illogical. The king, for the queen, captured the nine-colored deer, "when ruled with division." The cartoon only has a simple "official seal a county, gold and silver full of buckets" in the past. This favor is already a huge reward for poor snake catchers. The original king did not kill the nine-colored deer because when he saw the deer, he already thought it was extraordinary; the nine-colored deer was let go because of its crying. The cartoon is a nine-colored deer that shows its miraculous powers, releasing divine light to block the soldiers' bows and arrows, and shocking the king and a group of bad people with its own magical powers.
Bounty Announcement
The nine-colored deer emitted divine light
Cartoons increase the logic of the story while also reducing religious elements. After all, the audience of cartoons is mainly children and teenagers. In the original work, the snake catcher received very little retribution, only leprosy.
It is worth noting that the snake catcher in the "Deer King Bunsen Diagram" has an aperture drawn on his head. The author brings his understanding of Buddhism into the painting. The Buddhists believe that everyone can turn back and be redeemed, and everyone can become a Buddha. The Five Hundred Arhats record that the tune of life eventually fell into hell and regretted enlightenment. He chanted the Buddha in hell all day, and was eventually liberated and reincarnated as a Buddha. The cartoon does not absorb these religious elements, and the story ends in response to the opening of the film, where the snake catcher eventually drowns.
The ending after the adaptation of the cartoon makes the story structure of Deer King Bunsen clearer and closer to the psychology of Chinese audiences, reflecting the simple desire of the Chinese people to punish evil and promote good. As the host of the "National Treasure" program said, "Nine Colored Deer" made "Deer King Bunshengtu" come alive, and also made the Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes come alive. It deservedly became the story of this life in "Deer King Bunsen Map".
This issue is edited by Xing Tan