November 5, 2021, for many people, may be a "grandfather back" or "grandfather child return" day.
The 4K commemorative version of the classic animation "Tianshu Qitan" of Shangmei Film Studio will be released on this day, and unlike the previous "New Hulu Brothers" remade by various magic reforms, "Tianshu Qitan" not only retains the original picture and dubbing, but also does a frame-by-frame HD restoration treatment, it is said that the amount of engineering is very large, but it is a big good thing for the audience.
However, there are two not very strict statements on the Internet for "Tianshu Qitan", and this article is a chat.
First, "Heavenly Book" is the script of the British BBC?
There is a saying that the script of "Tianshu Qitan" was provided by the British BBC to the Shanghai Mei Film Studio, and the Shanghai Mei Film Studio was adapted on the BBC script, so "Tianshu Qitan" is a Sino-British co-production animation.
Could it be that the classic animation we grew up with is actually British? Is this actually the case?
According to the author's understanding, the original origin of the filming of "Tianshu Qitan" by Shangmei Film Studio is indeed related to the British BBC, and they did provide a script and promised to invest in filming.
However, after reading the BBC script, the Shanghai American Film Studio felt that it could not be filmed, and they proposed to the British side that the script must be completely revised, otherwise it would be a big deal of non-cooperation.
The British BBC script is completely a combination of Westerners from the Eastern story, from Pangu to the "Classic of Mountains and Seas" a variety of stories are mixed, many of the characters are also very chaotic, more importantly, the script adopts a Western perspective to see the Eastern story, to put it bluntly, it is not in the ocean.
There are similar examples, such as the opera "Turandot" is a typical Eastern story from a Western perspective, Chinese certainly cannot think that such a story of ruining the three views takes place in China.
Wang Shuchen and Bao Lei of Shangmei Film Studio extracted a fox essence story that accounted for only 10% of the original script from the BBC script, which is derived from China's classical divine and demonic novel "The Legend of ping demon", and the author has two people before and after, namely the famous Luo Guanzhong and Feng Menglong.
There are several main characters in "The Legend of Ping Demon", namely Saint Aunt, Hu Mei'er, Zuo Dethrone, Egg Monk and White Ape, corresponding to the old fox, beautiful fox, one-legged fox, Egg Sheng and Yuan Gong in "Heavenly Book Qitan".
In terms of storyline, "Heavenly Book Qitan" retains the story of the white ape stealing the Nine Heavenly Secretary "Ruyi Book", the egg monk stealing the Heavenly Book, the saint aunt, Hu Mei'er and Zuo De's folk rebellion, and finally the egg monk and the white ape assisting Wen YanBoping Demon.
From the overall creative idea, the theme of "Tianshu Qitan" is in line with the idea of eliminating evil and promoting good in China's folk tales, and the painting style and character design are also the traditional style of our country, such as the various images of shengdan and the end of the ugly in China's Peking Opera can be found in "Tianshu Qitan", and there is no trace of the British BBC at all.
More critically, after the "Heavenly Book" project started production, the investment promised by the British BBC was delayed, and finally the Shanghai American Film Studio had to choose to shoot it itself.
In addition to the role of the British BBC in "Heavenly Book", there is also a small role, that is, the Shanghai American Film Studio considered that it was a co-production film when creating, so it was bold in the creation style, but then the BBC did not invest, and the Shanghai American Film Studio modified some slightly out-of-line plots back, but retained some funny but out-of-line plots.
For example, in "The Legend of Ping Demon", there is an old Taoist monk Jia Qingfeng who covets Hu Mei'er's beauty and is deceived by Hu Mei'er's design, and finally Jia Qingfeng dies because he misses Hu Mei'er. This plot is a bit like Jia Rui and Wang Xifeng in "Dream of the Red Chamber", so Shangmei Film Studio designed the plot according to the idea of Dream of the Red Chamber, which is obviously a bit adult. After the BBC investment was yellow, Shangmei Film Studio decisively changed the plot to an old monk and a young monk who fought over incense money.
Overall, the British BBC did play a role in the creation of "The Book of Heaven", but on the one hand, the BBC only provided a source of ideas, on the other hand, the BBC did not invest. How much of this role can be discussed, but to say that the BBC can share half of the credit, the author believes that such a statement is obviously very loose.
Second, Yuan Gong and Prometheus did not have a dime relationship
If the British BBC has a certain relationship with "Tianshu Qitan", of course, there is still a certain reason, but many people on the Internet regard Yuan Gong in "Tianshu Qitan" as the Chinese version of "Prometheus", or simply think that the prototype of Yuan Gong is Prometheus, which the author can never agree with.
1. Yuan Gong's plot comes from "The Legend of Ping Demon"
In the "Heavenly Book of Qitan", Yuan Gong was responsible for guarding the Heavenly Book, and then privately stole the book to teach the human world, and finally the Jade Emperor was furious and ordered the Heavenly Soldiers to arrest Yuan Gong and return to the Heavenly Court for punishment.
Of course, it is not impossible for this plot to be rigidly applied to Prometheus in Western mythology, but in the "Biography of Ping Demon", the story of Yuan Gong's prototype white ape is not much different from the "Heavenly Book Of Qitan" itself, and it is also a theft of the Heavenly Book carved on the stone wall of the Baiyun Cave of Yunmeng Mountain, which was also discovered by the Jade Emperor. The only difference was that the White Ape finally assisted Wen Yanbo in leveling the demon, and the Jade Emperor asked him to break the merit.
Why is Yuan Gong still dressed in white with this name, because his prototype is a white ape, where is there any Prometheus thing, otherwise why is he not called Romi? Of course, some people think that this white ape may be Yuan Hong in the "Fengshen Yanyi".
The most crucial thing is, did Luo Guanzhong and Feng Menglong also read Greek mythology?
2) The story of stealing tinder is not only Prometheus
For example, in 1984, There was an art film "Fire Boy" in Shanghai Film Studio, and I believe that friends who have seen it may still have psychological shadows.
Synopsis: Hani child Minza is determined to regain the fire stolen by the demon and find his father, he went through a lot of hard work to kill the demon, and finally swallowed the fire into his stomach, sacrificing himself to bring the fire back to the human world.
This cartoon is based on the myths and legends of the Hani people in China, is it not true that the Hani people have also learned Prometheus?
3. China's "Classic of Mountains and Seas" also has a similar story
In the pre-Qin book "Shan Hai Jing Hai Nei Jing" recorded a story of "Cang Yu Zhi Shui", which contains the text: The flood is monstrous, the carp steals the emperor's rest of the soil to flood the flood, not waiting for the emperor's orders, the emperor ordered Zhu Rong to kill the carp in yujiao.
The translation is: Cang stole Emperor Shun's soil (divine soil) to control the Flood, but he did not consult Emperor Shun in advance, so Emperor Shun ordered Zhu Rong (the god of fire) to execute Cang near Yushan.
Therefore, the deeds of the white ape stealing the Book of Heaven in the "Biography of pingyou" should be derived from ancient Chinese myths and legends, and the story of Yuan Gong in "The Strange Tan of the Book of Heaven" is derived from the white ape in the "Biography of Pingyou", and its ending may also refer to the story of Cangyu Zhishui.
Therefore, Yuan Gong in "Heavenly Book" and Prometheus of Western mythology have no dime relationship at all, please, all the "experts" who have read Western books, don't spread it blindly.
Finally, I saw a detail on the poster of the 4K commemorative edition of "Tianshu Qitan", and six of the main creators in this cartoon have unfortunately passed away.
They are director and screenwriter Wang Shuchen, screenwriter Bao Lei, stylist Ke Ming, composer Wu Yingju, Yuan Gong dubbing Bi Ke, and Zhixian dubbing Shang Hua.
Man is gone, God is still there, and the scriptures are always there.