Tomato Jun recently discovered a paradoxical thing.
We all know that the lowest score of Douban is Bi Zhifei's "Dream Showbiz", but the score of Douban 2.2 is not only what he got.
There is also a movie, more than 96% of netizens hit a star, more than 20,000 people commented, the score is also 2.2.
The movie is called "Inuyasha.".
The film was filmed in 1993, but a recent post about the film "boycotting director Yao Shougang and boycotting "The Dog King" has continued to ferment, triggering heated discussions among many netizens.
So what really happened to make this "Dog King" so controversial?
Today, Tomato Jun found the reason:
People's malice toward it all comes from the "death" of a meritorious military dog.
1. "Inuyasha" was released, and the limelight was unparalleled
In 1993, director Yao Shougang made a war of resistance against Japanese aggression with the theme of military dogs, which was "The Dog King".
The film is based on real events, telling the story of underground party member Guan Hanliang disguised as a good dog to come to the village of Wuping Mountain, Guan Hanliang and the Japanese officer Yagi both found that Erlin's dog Sea Dragon was a rare excellent wolf dog.
Later, the Sea Dragon died to save its owner, and its puppies Da long and Xiao Long joined Guan's military dog commando team.
After a year of intensive training, they became the head dogs of the military dog team. Yagi leads his army to attack the guerrillas and nearby villages, and the story of the great dragon rushing back to the training base of the military dog and sacrificing himself, and the little dragon leads Yagi to the tomb of the sea dragon and takes revenge in his own way.
At the beginning of the film, there is a touching scene in which the military dog Sea Dragon bites the bomb placed by the agent and runs in the opposite direction of the village in order to save the lives of the whole village.
The villagers struggled to shout the name of the sea dragon, but it did not stop.
With a loud "boom", the sea dragon disappeared and the village was saved.
In this scene, the performance of the sea dragon is very exciting. Because it is a military dog, it is very spiritual.
The story of the movie is very vivid, the actors' acting skills are also online, and just one shot makes people can't help but cry.
After the film was released, it not only won the special award of the "Excellent Film Award" in 1993, but also the two creators were nominated for best cinematography at the 14th Golden Rooster Awards of Chinese Film in 1994.
But behind this touching, it hides the cruel truth.
2, the military dog died, the owner vomited blood the director applauded
The military dog who plays the "sea dragon" in the film is tied with a real bomb when shooting the bomb explosion scene.
This is a one-time shot, at the cost of the life of a meritorious military dog, the dog was blown apart on the spot, crushed to pieces.
Because this military dog is old, his owner came with the crew when filming.
The dog trainer only knew in advance that he was bringing his dog to shoot the scene, and did not know that he would really blow up the dog on the spot.
He was kept in the dark watching the performances of his comrades-in-arms, but the next second, the dog was blown to pieces in front of him.
Seeing that the dog was really killed, the dog trainer cried on the spot, and the crowd could not be dissuaded, and finally vomited blood.
This bombed meritorious dog was actually "deceived" by director Yao Shougang.
Before the performance, no one knew, no one believed that he would really blow up a meritorious dog in the movie, and what the dog trainer learned from beginning to end was only to bring the dog to shoot the movie and shoot the first few shots.
Just like that, the "Sea Dragon" went.
No one knows what it thought before it died, but perhaps it was a simple task to return to his dear dog trainer.
Maybe you can even spoil in exchange for some delicious food.
This matter was recently re-picked up, and some netizens said that as a military dog with a keen sense of smell, it is likely to pick up the explosive package when it knows that it is a real bomb, with a determination of "one last mission", generously dying, until the last moment is still unswervingly performing its duties.
But in any case, the "death" of a meritorious dog was exchanged for a show in the movie.
"The Chinese director blew up a Chinese military dog with great military achievements in order to show the brutality of the Japanese army", which is a great irony for Chinese films.
But the person behind the curtain is still complacent about his "artistic authenticity".
3. Yao Shougang, what's wrong with you?
Yao Shougang, the director of "The Dog King", personally directed this drama of killing the meritorious dog.
He not only deceived the "sea dragon" and the dog trainer, but also shouted when the dog was killed and the dog trainer vomited blood, clapping his hands and saying: "Great! That's great! That's what I wanted, this dog is stupid. ”
At the beginning of Yao Shougang, in fact, this is not the case, from a small actor to a big director, Yao Shougang has a love for movies.
His first work, "Outpost in the Birch Forest", won the "National 29 Best Film Award".
With this debut, he won big and small awards, won many honors, and even opened up the passage to international film festivals, indicating that he is still talented.
But what exactly made him into such a cruel and cold person, Tomato Jun did not know.
After the release of the film caused a strong response, all sectors of society learned that the meritorious dog in the film was really bombed, they all collectively boycotted the movie "InuYasha", and under the pressure of public opinion, the crew was forced to come out and apologize.
But Yao Shougang did not have the slightest intention of repenting.
In "The Golden Years" 13 years later, talking about the fact that the dog in the film was actually killed, he said that it was for his "artistic authenticity".
After being questioned by the audience, he still spared no effort to wash himself white, without the slightest sense of apology or repentance.
He said that he wanted the dog to "finish at once" because the military dog was old and sick and could not live for more than a few days, and he was helping the dog reduce its pain.
Hear that? His focus is not on hurting an innocent life for a movie, but on the twisting of having to kill him for the sake of artistic excellence, so that the dog can "not be painful".
He did not have the slightest reverence for a lost life.
He had no remorse for a meritorious military dog that he had killed with his own hands.
Such a director is a disgrace to the Chinese film and television industry.
Tomato Jun felt like he was going to cry when he wrote this!
And with "The Dog King", in his lifetime, he will be nailed to the column of shame of history and used as a negative teaching material for later filmmakers and audiences to spit on.
4) No art should be based on the deprivation of life
Having seen so many movies, in fact, many movies have a reverence for life.
There are shots involving harm to wild animals in the film, and a subtitle will appear at the end of the film: no animals have been injured or abused during the production of this film.
Even harry potter and the Goblet of Fire will give a disclaimer subtitle at the end: no dragon was hurt while filming this movie.
This may seem like a little Easter egg to us, but abroad, making a movie without harming or abusing animals is already the default rule.
In fact, foreign movies are not white lotuses, and there have been cases of killing animals in the film very early.
In 1939, the film "Dangkozhi" used a landslide device to drop horses and actors from a 70-foot cliff while filming a "Western Rider Falling off a Cliff".
The actor was protected by a safety device, but the horse used as a prop broke its spine and died. At that time, the American public, after learning the inside story of the shooting, compared this kind of animal cruelty with the alcoholism and extramarital affairs in western films and police films at that time, and regarded them as a symbol of the moral degeneration of the film industry.
Later, to quell public outrage, the American Film and Television Association (MPAA) signed a contract with the American Association for the Good Treatment of Animals (AHA), founded in 1877, authorizing it to monitor the treatment of animal actors used in the production of all films of the film companies that are members of the MPAA and ensure that the abuse does not occur again.
Although AHA avoids the "death" of animals in film and television films, it cannot avoid the accidental death of animals.
In the 2008 movie "Snow Dog Brothers", five cute little golden retrievers died one after another after filming because they were not old enough.
In contrast, foreign blockbusters still have a strong sense of animal protection.
Little Plum got the little golden man's movie "The Revenant", the bear he killed was special effects synthesis, and the sleeping horse's belly was also made of silicone.
During the filming of The Shawshank Redemption, there was a scene in which Andy found a bug from his meal and gave it to Old Cloth to feed the birds.
During the actual shooting, the relevant personnel were supervising the whole process, and the film crew specially found a naturally dead bug to shoot this small insect.
Douban 9.7, top250 first place, not without reason.
In contrast, domestic directors' awareness of animal protection is far behind. "Inuyasha" was just exposed, and behind it, movies that hurt animals abounded.
During the filming of "New Three Kingdoms", director Ghosh showed off buying 50 thoroughbred horses from New Zealand, 6 dead and 8 crazy during filming.
He also claimed that "even horses can't be carried, let alone people" to show that the shooting is difficult.
Because horses are indispensable actors in ancient war dramas, horses die the most in film and television works.
In the 1995 release of "Sorrowful Brooke", in order to pursue the truth, the director blindfolded the horse's eyes, and forced the horse off the cliff and fell to the point of blurring flesh and blood, which is a reenactment of the 1939 "Dangkozhi".
It is reported that the white horse is very humane, and has desperately resisted and shed tears, but still cannot escape the fate of falling off the cliff.
Filming "Emperor Wu of Han", because the conditions were too cruel, many horses died due to high temperatures and environments.
"Soul on a Leather Rope", which was released in the mainland on August 18, 2017, killed a pregnant doe during filming...
Tragic cases are not uncommon, and there are two reasons for in-depth investigation:
First of all, there is no organization like the American AHA to protect animals from abuse and harm, there is no public supervision, domestic directors in the production of film and television works, naturally choose simpler and cheaper "hurt animals" shots, rather than using more expensive CG special effects.
Secondly, the only law involving the protection of animals in China is the Wildlife Protection Law issued in 2004, and many pets, including animals in film and television dramas, are not wild animals and are not protected by the law, so harming animals only needs to bear moral condemnation, without being held legally responsible.
But Tomato Jun wants to say that the ultimate purpose of art should be to celebrate life and protect life, and no art should be based on deprivation of life. To harm life in the name of cinematic art is a blasphemy against cinematic art.
Fortunately, with more and more people paying attention to animals in China, the phenomenon of cruelty to animals in film and television dramas has gradually been concerned.
In "Crazy Alien", there is a scene of a dog falling into the water, which has attracted attention, and the film even gave a statement.
If you really don't have the money to do special effects, as long as you don't hurt animals, fake it's enough.
To borrow the words of Zhihu netizens: as long as the movie is good enough, it is fake, what does it matter?
(Rotten Tomatoes Editorial Board: Yang Yang)