The article is reproduced from Century Jun 21st Century English Newspaper
In the past two days, a national comic "Lion Boy" that is currently being screened has attracted the attention of netizens.
At present, more than 140,000 netizens have scored 8.3 points on Douban, and the film has become Douban's highest-rated Chinese film this year.
Source: Douban
Since its release on December 17, the film has exceeded 100 million at the box office so far.
Image source: @Movie Lion Boy Weibo
CCTV News recently commented that the film expresses cultural self-confidence and spreads the national spirit.
Image source: CCTV News
CCTV News pointed out that "the lion dance is one of the national intangible cultural heritage, and "Lion Boy" continues the national style gene of excellent domestic animation, integrating the awakening lion culture in the national essence into the story of teenagers chasing dreams, so that the audience can follow the protagonist all the way to create miracles and feel the unique charm of traditional culture." ”
Despite moderate box office gains since its opening on Dec. 17, Chinese animation comedy "I Am What I Am" continues to grab headlines and receive wide applause.
The film has integrated the "lion dance" culture into a story of teenagers' dream pursuit, which reflects the charm of Chinese culture and embodies the spirit of the nation, says a comment by national broadcaster CCTV.
So, what kind of movie is this?
From myth to reality
(Note: The following contains spoilers)
Different from the previous popular "Nezha's Devil Boy Descending", "Jiang Ziya", "Big Fish and Begonias" and other national comic mythological works, "Male Lion Boy" is an original story, telling the story of the teenager Ah Juan, inspired and encouraged by the girl of the same name, with her friends A cat and a dog to form a male lion squad, experienced all the way to the grinding, the inner "male lion" was finally awakened, and created a miracle.
When it comes to Chinese animated films, which titles first come to mind? Big Fish & Begonia, Ne Zha or Legend of Deification?
They are based on Chinese mythology. But I Am What I Am sets its eyes on reality. The film, released on Dec 17, shows three stay-at-home children from a poor village in Guangdong. The story follows a boy named A’juan and two of his close friends as they overcome difficulties in pursuing their dream – becoming the best lion dance performers.
In the film, several protagonists are left-behind children in the countryside, they always have a dream of "salted fish turning over", the lion dance competition in addition to a small stubbornness with youthful blood, everyone also has their own motivations, A cat is to see a beautiful sister, a dog is because of the management of rice, A Juan is to meet the parents who go out to work in the provincial capital city where the competition is held.
In the first half of the film, three laymen learn to dance the lion from scratch, and in the humorous study path of the former lion dance god "Salty Fish Strong", what unfolds is the carefree innocence and happiness that is not mixed with any impurities, and the teenagers harvest the fullness of their dreams, strong bones, companionship and trust...
Source: The movie "The Lion Boy"
The real surprise and convincing growth is the reality that Ah Juan endured after encountering family changes and embarking on the road to work in the city. Ah Juan originally wanted to borrow the lion dance to meet his parents who were working in the city, but when their parents returned from illness, he began to take up the burden of the family.
The teenager who was laughing and playing in the field a second ago grew up overnight. He moved bricks and delivered takeaways at the construction site, sleeping on the "lower bunk" of the dormitory. When asked how much money he needed, he said, "It's because I don't know how much it takes..."
Ah Juan, who came to the city, shaved her head flat, her complexion was tanned, and her body became stronger in the wind and rain.
In order to earn more money, Ah Juan plans to go to Shanghai to work. The night before his departure, he held up the lion's head on the roof and stepped on the steps of the lion dance, as if he was reliving or making a long-term dream, and the city under his feet gradually revealed the dawn of a new day.
And the end of the film is not the family-style routine of the teenager's life to the peak, after becoming stronger through the reality of "whipping" and striving to exert the highlight moment of his life, the "lion boy" did not change his fate overnight, however, in the heart of the teenager, everything is no longer like before. As netizens commented: There is no fame in the First World War, no glory to return to the hometown, some are behind the fireworks, experiencing an ordinary and real life, but we still have to be a lion forever.
Animation to illustrate non-genetic inheritance
The story is fictional, but the emotions of the creator of "The Lion Boy" are real. According to reports, director Sun Haipeng has been working and living in Guangzhou for a long time, and when the creators created the film, they went deep into the countryside to collect various details of the villagers' lives and understand the vegetation in the village, such as the moss on the wall, the grass in the crevices, and their seasonal changes. They have integrated their knowledge and love of the city's history and culture into every process and detail of the production and creation of this film.
In particular, it is worth mentioning that "The Lion Boy" is based on the background of lingnan intangible cultural heritage "Guangdong Awakening Lion". Lion dance is a distinct representative of traditional Chinese culture, which is not only divided into north and south, but also has certain differences in each specific province or region, and this may seem to be a more subtle difference. It often hides the living habits and cultural customs of a place, which is a symbol of a local cultural code.
The design of the lion dance is the difficulty of the film.
Director Sun Haipeng introduced: "The number of lion's head hairs is very large, very dense. And the lion's head twists up, the hair will move, this dynamic can not be controlled by hand, we are making, calculating a formula, can make the hair adapt to different states, showing the most suitable effect; the structure of the lion's tail is equally complex, we have done several versions of the 2D model before, but it feels wrong, so we went to see the field, the original reality of the lion's tail has springs and rubber bands, and then according to this situation and structure, re-made the model. ”
What makes it distinctive is the filmhighlighting a centuries-old Chinese folk art – lion dance. This is attributed to the director Sun Haipeng’s personal life experience. Sun lived in Guangdong for over 10 years and has been fascinated by lion dancing there. Previously, he was also impressed by a lion dance performance when he was on vacation abroad. As an animated filmmaker, Sun decided to bring this to the big screen.
But it was not easy. Technically speaking, the biggest problem lied in how to vividly present the moves of the head of the lion through special effects, Sun told The Paper.
Different lion heads are made out of different materials. This greatly affects how the hair on the lion’s head moves. So the production team bought many lion heads to observe, photographing the movements of the hair. They then spent several months designing each individual hair on the lion’s head to make it look as realistic as possible.
In addition, as an animated film with rich Guangdong characteristics, the film also invited the band Gojo and Jiulian Zhenren from Guangdong to sing for the film, and the soundtrack was also well received.
Image source: @Jiulian Zhenren Weibo
The music of the film is in the Guangdong style and uses Cantonese. Bands from Guangdong, like Wu Tiao Ren and Jiu Lian Zhen Ren, made music for the film.
The creator responded to the design controversy
Compared with going to the movie, some netizens are more concerned about a public opinion storm involving the appearance of the film's characters. Some netizens pointed out that the protagonist's eyes are too small.
For this controversy, film producer Zhang Miao never shy away from it, he said in an interview with the Beijing News that the realist style is a yardstick for the story, picture, and character image in the movie, and he will never regret making this choice: "In terms of image design aesthetics, our requirements are to go to the Internet and remove the filter aesthetics. ”
The design of the main characters in latest Chinese animated film I Am What I Am is designed to be real, and avoid beauty standards of online influencers and filter aesthetics, said the film's producer, after the main character's "slanted eyes" were criticized by some of feeding into Western stereotypes.
He mentioned that he is very aware that it will be safer and simpler to make the character handsome, but we need to make an exploration of different aesthetics, although not necessarily successful, but need to have such a consciousness: "Why everyone has such a big reaction to 'squinting', it just shows that our aesthetic expression of animation has been homogenized, there is no aesthetic confidence." 」 After all, everyone has been influenced by American and Japanese comics for many years, and has formed a unified aesthetic habit. For example, the aesthetic characteristics of American comics are to be handsome and cool, and Japanese comics are all big eyes (even if the eyes are small, they will wear a pair of large glasses). But in reality, the real ordinary teenagers, such as you will also have slightly fat friends around you, if our role is too handsome and cute, then it is difficult for you to see the fireworks of life through this ordinary child, and you will not obviously feel Ah Juan's blood, strength and the spirit of life confrontation. In addition, many people think that Ah Juan is 'squinting' from the screenshot screen, and if you watch the complete movie, you will not think that these eyes will be troubled. ”
Zhang Miao, film producer of I am What I am, told the Beijing News recently that the production team has been sticking to the realistic style of the film and he never regretted making such a design choice. On aesthetic design, the team avoids following the beauty standards of internet influencers and filter aesthetic.
Zhang said he was aware that making the character into a handsome figure would be safer and simpler, but he tried to explore the aesthetic in animation from an angle of reality.
The response to "slanted eyes" of the character shows that we lack aesthetic confidence and our aesthetic view of animation has been homogenized given the huge influence of Japanese and American animation, Zhang said, adding that the selection of such an ordinary boy perfectly depicts his spirit of strengthen and resistance to life.
Director Sun Haipeng does not think that Ah Juan's squinting eyes are ugly, in his heart Ah Juan is very handsome: "If you have been criticizing this role for its appearance, I actually do not understand this judgment, we need to explore the aesthetics of animation, if he looks like a rich second generation, a big handsome man, the audience may not be convinced that this is a real inspirational story, especially many shots can see that his eyes are not small, especially when he dances lions, how handsome, how bloody."
If he looks like a rich or handsome kid, the audience may not be convinced that this is a true inspirational story, the film's director Sun Haipeng noted.
According to the 1905 film network report, in fact, Sun Haipeng and the team designed no less than 6 versions of the character image, even Zhang Miao has not seen, "all kinds of there are, there are also everyone thinks that the round face is cute design, those shapes are OK to look at alone, but in that environment, it is not matched." ”
When the young Ah Juan came to the city from a small village, after experiencing hard work, the image of the character actually changed significantly. The originally thin arm had muscle lines, and the originally dull and unfocused eyes also had light. This is all Sun Haipeng's intention to handle the role.
What do you think of this movie? Let's talk about it in the comments section
Comprehensive source: Xinhua News Agency, Global Times, 1905 Movie Network, The Paper, Beijing News, Southern Metropolis Daily
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