"Manjiang Hong": Speculation on historical narrative and literary narrative

Author: Song Zhanxiang

Aristotle's Poetics, as a work of early classical narrative theory in the West, first put forward important concepts such as "plot" and explained the difference between historical narrative and literary (epic) narrative. In ancient Chinese texts, "narrative" as an artistic expression method associated with language began in historical transmission, so in our ancient literary theory, historical narrative and literary narrative are mostly mixed together - there is a history in history and there is a history in the text, "Shiji", "Zuo Chuan", "Three Kingdoms", etc. are nothing more than this, until the Southern Song Dynasty philosopher Zhen Dexiu listed "narrative" as a separate category for the first time in "Article Authenticity", so that the semantic extension of "narrative" was expanded, while Liu Xizai in the middle and late Qing dynasties in his book "Art Overview, Wen Zhi" For the first time, the term "narratology" was proposed in the form of literary theory, nearly a hundred years before the concept of "narratology" proposed by Todolov in France in 1969. In Liu Xizai's view, the ancient Chinese "narrative science" mainly comes from the narrative study of the six classics and nine streams, which is naturally different from Western narratology, which is mainly based on the narrative observation of fictional novels, so we have many straight writing and curved writing techniques from ancient to modern "narrative science", and even in the novels that flourished after the Ming and Qing dynasties, there were spring and autumn brushwork methods such as "grass snake gray line" and "Zhen (true) things are hidden". After the 20th century, there have been more exchanges and integration between Chinese and Western academic circles, and the literary nature of historical narratives and the sense of history of literary narratives have always been a problem worth discussing and speculating in the academic circles. When historians construct historical narratives and historical texts, they will prefer the words and deeds of the real and important political figures of historical sources, while the "small" figures under the "big" era are often fully displayed in literary narratives and works of art.

The story of the movie "Manjiang Hong" is actually a rather interesting idea: in the Southern Song Dynasty, four years after the death of the famous anti-Jin general Yue Fei Fengbo Pavilion, on the eve of Qin Hui about to meet with Jin Guo, the envoy of Jin State died in the prime minister's residence, and the secret letter he carried disappeared... Prime Minister Qin Hui ordered Zhang Da and Sun Jun, deputy commander of the pro-army camp, to find the murderer within an hour. In the investigation of accidents, He Li, the chief manager of Xiangfu, Wu Yichun, the deputy chief manager, Wu Ji Yaoqin and others were involved one after another, and the undercurrents of various forces were surging, and the truth seemed to be foggy...

A single spatial narrative

Single space narrative is often used in the theater stage, which is one of the fixed requirements of the "Trinity Law", but as a classical theatrical art law, its limitations and constraints on artistic creation are obvious, so later generations often make artistic innovations that break the "Trinity Law" in creation, in order to obtain a larger space for artistic creation. However, as a form of dramatic structure, the "Trinity Law" can make the script structure more concentrated and rigorous, creating successful classic theatrical works such as "Hypocrite" and "Thunderstorm". Compared with the drama stage, the single-space narrative in film creation often pays more attention to the smoothness of the narrative structure and the dramatic creation, and "Manjiang Hong" should have been carefully scrutinized in the beginning and end of the plot, and the overall structure is relatively exquisite and smooth. With Zhang Da and Sun Jun as the leading characters, they travel through a limited space (Xiangfu House), and a personal character appears by the development of the plot, and after completing their narrative function, they "exit" one by one in a dramatic way, and the plot and characters are embedded with each other. And the design of the "cherry" bridge is also very warm and beautiful, the delicate red cherry in the hands of Little Peach and Yaoqin, like a little light shining in their hearts, even in the dark can still have the strength to move forward. The fly in the ointment is that in the so-called "reversal and reversal", it is inevitable that due to the obsession of "reversal for the sake of reversal", the obsession of "reversal" makes individual characters lack the internal logic of their actions, and the fate of characters is also deliberately heading to death. The plot is always to serve the characters, and the plot trend that deviates from the internal logic of the characters will dissolve the artistic profundity of the work to a certain extent.

The opera elements are strong and distinct

"Manjiang Hong" presents a very distinct opera style in the overall production, with a Yu opera soundtrack, a marquee-style rhythm, and a face-painted character setting - this is not a pejorative meaning, but similar to the character setting in traditional Chinese opera: distinctive and colorful.

Musician Han Hong carefully selected the classic singing sections of Yu opera "Bao Gong Ci Chao" and "Mu Guiying Hangs the Commander" for the soundtrack of the film for adaptation, and used traditional instruments such as Sheng, flute, qin, 筚篥, and Suona to play, and added electronic music elements to collide with the fatalism of the characters and the drama of the plot. In order to match the mood and rhythm of the film, Yu opera actor Zhang Xiaoying changed the traditional singing voice: the original drag cavity was removed, and rock elements were integrated to enhance the rhythm and penetration of the sound. The high-pitched and vibrant singing voice of Yu Opera, combined with the precise connection of the editing picture, makes the overall soundtrack of the film extremely audio-visual impact and unforgettable.

The characters in traditional opera often have distinct or even exaggerated personalities, and their makeup is often thick and colorful, which is a kind of distinctive character makeup. The characters in the film actually correspond to the setting of Shengdan Jing Ugly in traditional opera from the dramatic function: Sun Du Wusheng, Yaoqin is Hua Dan, Zhang Da is Wu Clown, Wu Yichun is Wen Ugly, Qin Hui and He Li are white-faced Jingjiao (commonly known as Flower Face), and three-dimensional and rich group portraits of characters jump on the screen.

Character and shaping

Lei Jiayin's Qin Jiayin is the most surprising character in "Manjiang Hong", from the breath in the lines to the shape of the body, it can be seen that the actor's careful design and shaping of the role, coupled with the pale makeup and the action design of coughing from time to time, from the appearance has already shown Qin Juniper's sickness and vulnerability, and what is more praiseworthy is the actor's grasp of subtle emotions: although it gives people a feeling of sickness, a "chop" word when talking to the chief manager He Li at the beginning shows Qin Juniper's ruthlessness and viciousness in the seemingly fluttering breath lines. And the final climactic recitation of "Manjiang Hong" is undoubtedly a huge test of the actor's acting skills, it seems that Qin Hui is actually a stand-in, and the impassioned recitation of "Manjiang Hong" is both the highlight moment of the stand-in but also the fate of the shadow, and the actor appropriately presents the different levels and differences between the two. As the only historically real character in the film, Lei Jiayin has successfully created a generation of treacherous Qin Hui who is sinister and vicious but fearful. In fact, the creator's portrayal of the role of Qin Hui in the film reflects the dialectical relationship between historical narrative and literary narrative and the paradox of human nature, Qin Hui is a literati after all, and his heart is very concerned about fame and reputation, but he is tempted by fame and fortune and is willing to abandon his conscience to be a puppet of interests, so the explicit character is ruthless, and the hidden character is split and fragile.

Although Sun Jun played by Yi Yangqianxi is a completely fictional character, the image of a young general in fresh clothes and angry horses is exactly the same as Yue Fei's first half of his life, wise and brave, full of ambition, but he is not ambitious under the faintness of officialdom, and even reduced to a "lackey". As a young actor, Yi Yangqianxi presents the inner struggle and depression of the character when shaping the character, and the polishing and progress of his acting skills can be expected in the future.

Zhang Yimou, a photographer, has always had a very distinctive image style, and the excellent photographer Zhao Xiaoding, who has cooperated for many years, has a tacit understanding with each other, so although the cinematographer of the entire film is "hiding" himself due to the consideration of genre and style diversification, it is recognizable from the gray-blue tone and the overhead hollow wooden wall of the first lens, which makes people recognize that this is Zhang Yimou's work. And the characters in the film also seem to let people see a certain refraction and echo: Qin Hui substitute for "Shadow", dance Ji Yaoqin for "Jinling Thirteen"... Despite the addition of various genre elements such as comedy and suspense, Zhang Yimou's artistic expression and aesthetic paradigm remain the same. Just like Yue Fei, who never appeared in the film but has always been there - in fact, Yue Fei's resistance to gold in history is not a narrow sense of nationalism, but because the Jin State at that time was a tribal people who had just been civilized, and its brutal and bloodthirsty barbaric nature made the common people of the Song Dynasty miserable, Yue Fei's resistance to gold was both an ambition and an instinct as a "human" - great compassion for the slaughter of the common people, but when he was about to win, the imperial court issued twelve kings in succession to order his class teacher, and died a tragic death. Yue Fei was loyal and incorruptible, extremely caring for the people and his subordinate officers and soldiers, and was a functional, civil, and martial artist, and a general, with both wisdom and courage, and was extremely charismatic. The only thing is that it is similar, and one or two can be perceived from the open description in the film, so although "he died before he left the master", he left the love and sympathy of generations of ordinary people, as well as the ancient infamy of Qin Juniper that lasted for thousands of years.

It is true that any history is the history of the present, so the truth under the historical narrative is often the existence of time, while the "truth" under the literary narrative of the work of art can cross the barriers of time and be timeless and new.

(The author, Song Zhanxiang, is the director of the Theoretical Research Division of the China Film Association)

Source: Literature and Art Daily