"From the perspective of the audience, we can get fun and sadness from the interaction of young girls and young girls, and from the level of interpreting the film, it contains the emotional attention to the adolescent population, the exploration of sexual orientation, and the subtle dialectical relationship between gain and loss."
"Chen Zhengdao, are you okay?" This movie focuses on bravery + Lei Feng + youth films, who will not think it is bg, you always secretly rub and rub bl what is it? Also before the release said 'we are super sweet love', where is the sweetness, I ask you where the sweetness is? ”
The controversy of the "base film" of "Midsummer Future" has become the topic of the film circle in recent days, around the emergence of two different directions of remarks, while praising the film's sexual orientation into the category of youth confusion, with humanistic care, while another wave of audiences believe that the same-sex elements in the film have never been "trailer", on the contrary, play two small unsuspecting youth love cards, after watching the film there is a feeling of being deceived.
Whether it is humanistic care, or "hanging sheep's head to sell dog meat", "Summer Future" 7.4 Douban score, for a youth film that focuses on idols, there is no doubt that word of mouth has earned enough, as for the controversial "same-sex" element, it may start from Chen Zhengdao's famous film "Midsummer Lightyear", starting from this film that also has "Midsummer", Chen Zhengdao's directed or supervised films have some obscure "same-sex" elements, becoming the iconic elements of "Chen Zhengdao's works". And when an element appears in every film of a director, it also seems to become a presentation of the director's style. Counting the "same-sex" elements in Chen Zhengdao's works over the years, it has also become one of the contents that fans enjoy.
A Seed: "Midsummer Lightyear" 15 years ago
The period between the release of "Midsummer Lightyear" and the time when he won the award was chen zhengdao's most "crazy" day in Taiwan, and like every young man who suddenly received praise, Chen Zhengdao was indeed "floating" at that time. In fact, before "Midsummer Lightyear", Chen Zhengdao's brilliant performance in the film was already shining enough, and his debut short film "Wild" was shortlisted for the Venice Film Festival Film Critics Week Competition, and Chen Zhengdao also became the youngest director in the history of Venice to be selected for the international film competition.
That kind of excitement is not only him, but also affects his surroundings, and the Taiwanese film circle, which has always paid attention to literary and art films, marvels at his talent, youth, boldness, and youthful atmosphere. Soon, he had the opportunity to shoot feature films, and "Midsummer Lightyear" came into being. "Midsummer Lightyear" is a bit like a mild version of "Wild", both wrapped in the pain of youth, but the emotions in "Midsummer Lightyear" are more restrained and stoic, similarly, both with "same-sex elements".
For Taiwan, which "believes in" small and fortunate, it undoubtedly just pokes at the sensitive point, and with the aura of international film festivals, the recognition of the film circle, and the output of high-quality feature films, Chen Zhengdao is praised as a "genius" by the media on the whole island. How popular was "Midsummer Lightyear" 15 years ago? See how the theme song of the same name for Mayday's "Midsummer Lightyear" swept through Taiwan.
That year, the newcomer's work won four nominations at the 43rd Golden Horse Awards and was nominated for the New Wave Award at the 11th Busan International Film Festival. In the end, the film's lead actor Zhang Ruijia won the Golden Horse Award for Best New Actor, while more fans were upset that Chen Zhengdao did not get the director's award.
To this day, when the reporter interviewed Chen Zhengdao, there were still people who regretted that Chen Zhengdao did not get the director and film awards that year. Not only Taiwan, in 2006, when the young people of the mainland entered the era of discs + online download movies, when "Midsummer Lightyear" swept Through Taiwan, it also appeared on the small screen of young people on the mainland in another form, and it even became a sexual enlightenment film for many young people on the mainland - it turned out that there was more than one emotion between men and women in the world, and it turned out that boys could also like boys. In addition to being shocked, the audience also remembered this director named Chen Zhengdao.
Although the times have changed, same-sex theme works are not a new topic today, and the film and television of Delay Reform (adaptation of Tammy novels) are also in full swing, but the audience still maintains a high degree of enthusiasm for the natural voyeuristic desire of "sexual minorities". 15 years ago, "Midsummer Lightyear" captured the hearts of young audiences, especially young audiences, changed chen Zhengdao's life trajectory, and planted a seed in his heart: the expression and exploration of same-sex feelings is the driving force for himself and maintaining his creative enthusiasm, and it is also one of the reasons why his works have "heat".
A careful thought: 15 years of "entrained smuggling" has attracted heated discussion
The young and crazy Chen Zhengdao paid the price for his wanton behavior - after "Midsummer Lightyear", his cooperation with others was mostly to break contracts and settle contracts, "I don't pay much attention to who I work with, and I promise people's things to do, there are many such things, the whole thing is depressed, and there will still be Taiwanese filmmakers who say bad things about me." ”
It wasn't until he was faced with a large fee for the dissolution of the contract that he was heartbroken, and finally his father helped him pay the liquidated damages. Later, in an interview with the movie "The Secret Visitor", he confessed that the film was his interpretation of "patriarchy" and also reflected his relationship with his father. Of course, these are all afterwords, the point is that Chen Zhengdao was almost "banned" by the entire Taiwan Province, and he went north into the mainland to get new filming opportunities.
Life is not familiar, and the lessons of the past always remind him to be careful in words and deeds. Chen Zhengdao's "obedient filming" has been filmed for several years, "Happiness Quota" has won high box office, "Hypnosis Master" has become a domestic suspense classic, and "Return to 20" is eye-catching in the form of youth and retro song and dance. I have to admire Chen Zhengdao's talent, he can do his best under the established proposition. And it is precisely because of his extremely standardized genre operation that he can gradually grasp the initiative of a film and truly tell the story he wants to tell, such as quietly implanting "same-sex elements" into his own films.
The first is "Memory Master", the second part of the series known as the "Master", which combines elements such as science fiction and suspense to tell a story that can erase and replace memories at will. The "same-sex element" appears in the reasoning of the case, and the police simulate that the murderer is the victim's "girlfriend" and have a very ambiguous dialogue with the victim.
Of course, this reasoning was finally overturned, and the murderer in the film is not a "girlfriend", but Chen Zhengdao seems to enjoy this kind of rubbing edge ball implantation of "same-sex" content. And about this domestic violence of the "girlfriend" Lily Love, later used in his supervision of the web drama "Skyscraper", when Ni Hongjie played by the mother of domestic violence and the child's teacher hugged and cried, the fate of the two women was tied together, not just "girlfriend" so simple.
When Chen Zhengdao's "Soul Hunting" was released in the mainland, some viewers keenly felt that the relationship between Wang Shicong, one of the protagonists in the film, and his long-time friend Dr. Wan was not simple, but more like a "lover" relationship. Not long after, its Taiwanese version was released, confirming the audience's conjecture that Wang Shicong is a person with gender barriers, usually imagining himself as a woman, and Dr. Wan is a long-term lover, which can also reasonably explain his intention to use technology to copy personal thinking into a woman.
In the web drama "The First Love of Chitose Adult", which he supervised, the two small followers of the male protagonist are ambiguous. "Soul Hunting" is Chen Zhengdao's boldest "same-sex element" after "Midsummer Lightyear", and in "The Secret Visitor" released in May, Chen Zhengdao has a lot of convergence, and only when stitching together the past of his father played by Aaron Kwok, he knows the reason why this upper-class elite did not get married - like a talented painter uncle.
Less than three months later, Chen Zhengdao's latest work "Midsummer Future" was released, and before the release, some fans said: "How will Chen Zhengdao 'carry private goods' this time?" In view of the fact that the early publicity created the feeling of a couple between Zhang Zifeng and Wu Lei too real, the fans focused on Hao Lei and other supporting roles, and did not expect that Chen Zhengdao was very bold, and he openly took the "same-sex element" as one of the clues of the film, which was the object of Wu Lei's "love and cannot be", and participated in the growth path of the teenager played by Zhang Zifeng and Wu Lei.
It can be said that Chen Zhengdao has formed an indissoluble relationship with "same-sex", and highlighting some "same-sex elements" in the film has become one of his styles, and some of his fans are happy to look for these same-sex elements - if you can have a different "communication" with the audience in this way, it is also a unique way.
A label: marketing points and the counterattack of public opinion
"You know what? Wu Lei actually played a gay. "When "Midsummer Future" was released, many viewers began to spread this "secret story" on the Internet, and when "Secret Visitor" and "Soul Hunting" were released, such "secret news" was also passed on in the theater, and even some people actively shared the "uncut version" on the Internet after the release of the full version of "Soul Hunting" in Taiwan.
Needless to say, in today's era of delay, the "same-sex" element is not unusual for Gen Z audiences who dare to accept new things, but it still has a powerful magic - the sense of adventure that tentatively wanders on the taboo border is a pleasure that young people can enjoy.
Perhaps the addition of "same-sex" elements in the film is not essentially to attract the audience, but just a small pleasure for Chen Zhengdao as a director, or to pay tribute to his first work, or to deliberately create a sense of ceremony, just like Hitchcock always puts a soy sauce in his own film, so that fans can find it every time the movie is released.
Inadvertently planting willows, the film's "same-sex" elements grab the limelight, which seems to become the reason for the audience's word of mouth. Therefore, it is understandable that Shunshi should publicize on "same-sex topics", but it is necessary to be cautious about using the "same-sex" element as a propaganda point, one is that it is impossible to advocate "same-sex love" with great fanfare, and the other is to reach agreement with mainstream propaganda.
The early publicity of "Midsummer Future" has been pushing the sweetness of "Wu Lei X Zhang Zifeng" CP, but finally told the audience that they were not together, and it was because the character played by Wu Lei was like a boy and did not get together. Some people also question Chen Zhengdao's "not generous", good storytelling but also "private goods", if "Soul Hunting" and "Secret Visitor" can still be "excusable", one is deleted, one is obscure does not affect the main line, it is acceptable, but the elements in "Midsummer Future" are too interfering with the main line, and the "original sin" of the two protagonists who are not together is the role played by Wu Lei or like boys.
This is indeed difficult to say, and it has caused a small wave of audiences to have a "resistance" psychology in terms of public opinion. Although the "same-sex" element is good, but how to use it, it must be appropriate, especially on the basis of respect for the audience, "marketing", "deceptive" marketing will make the original good reputation decline - playing the "crush card" may be more adaptable than playing the "love card".
But in any case, Chen Zhengdao has been tied to the "same sex", if in the first few films there is still a trace of doubt, wondering whether it is a coincidence, but after "Midsummer Future", it is a matter of certainty. At the time when genre films are gradually occupying the Chinese film market, some directors with ingenious thoughts have appeared, which is still worth the audience's relish, but no matter how marketing, it must be good to grasp the scale, so as not to backfire!