50 days, the box office exceeded 4 billion, a tribute to "The Wandering Earth 2", but also to "new Chinese movies"

Text | Ling Hu Boguang

On March 12, the box office of "The Wandering Earth 2" finally exceeded 4 billion, it can be said that it was called out by thousands of people, although the film was unanimously praised when it was released, but the controversy in it is not small, and the public opinion controversy of "Manjiang Red" is not mentioned. In fact, there are many criticisms about this movie.

Whether the setting of the sci-fi film is scientific, whether the plot and characters have bugs, etc., these are still within the normal scope of discussion, but there are two points that I personally don't like very much, and I should have talked about this issue a long time ago.

First, the tragic 50 people in the movie are listed, I believe everyone has also seen discussions on the Internet about moral kidnapping and how to send people to death. The second is that the nationalism, collectivism and patriotism in "The Wandering Earth 2" are not international enough, and then how.

These two points can be summarized into one point, that is, the discussion and deconstruction of film at the level of "cultural value". This kind of deconstruction can be said to be common in domestic pop culture over the years, and many "The Wandering Earth 2" we don't say that it is not the main theme in the conventional sense.

One thing to say, I think even if "The Wandering Earth" is the main theme movie, what is the problem with being able to shoot to this extent? Most Hollywood blockbusters are not the main theme movies? "Independence Day", "Transformers", "Black Hawk Down", "Top Gun", "Robocop", "Captain America" and more.

I can cite a lot of examples, as long as the movie is well made, why can't it add the main theme, and what is wrong with a good main theme movie? Why can't movies add patriotic feelings? Film is originally a country's cultural product, what is the problem with Chinese films adding patriotic elements of their own country?

Heroism, a community with a shared future for mankind? Do the values behind the movie matter?

How to say this question? You say that it is important, it must be important, after all, film is still a cultural product or represents the cultural consciousness of a country. But if you want to say that it is very important, I believe that it seems too harsh to let a single film carry the meaning of "text to carry the way".

The most successful film cultural export in the world is still the United States, American films are also a theme, a genre, countless classic works to pile up, mature cultural industry chain, the formation of a strong popular culture, and finally cultural export, not a single film can be decided.

There are too few Chinese science fiction blockbusters, and the most powerful science fiction blockbuster at present is only one in the "Wandering Earth" series. I don't like to believe in Western science fiction films, and this anti-Chinese science fiction wants to refute it, all of which oppose this "value".

For example, now it is said that "The Wandering Earth" is canonized because of collectivist Chinese cultural values, while Western science fiction is all individual heroism, and then there is mutual war.

In fact, there must be a premise for talking about collectivism and egoism, that is, the perspective of God. Like the nuclear rebels in the original book of "The Wandering Earth", although the ending proved them wrong, but in the moment before the helium flash, didn't they also act in the common interests of mankind?

They are also staunch collectivists, otherwise how can they gather the majority. As long as there are like-minded comrades around them, even if their motives are wrong, even if their behavior is bad, they can be called collectivism.

In summary, the so-called collectivism also has nothing to sing about? It is also untenable to praise on this basis.

I don't think individualism conflicts with collectivism, and the opposite of individualism and collectivism is refined egoism. Political correctness is never a mistake, it is wrong to consider political correctness when there is no redundancy of social resources, and the formation of political correctness is in a sense the embodiment of social progress.

But when some kind of political correctness and refined egoism becomes mainstream, it really needs to be considered. Now the United States and the West really have this taste, and the domestic strength is much better because of the rise in national strength.

No civilization, meaningless ? The triple values of The Wandering Earth 2

Digital life in the movie is a sublimation of personal life, which conflicts with the wandering earth symbolizing collectivism in terms of concept and plot. At the same time, three leading actors, three lines, three values, Zhou Zhe directly represents a complete collective perspective, Liu Peiqiang is a classic opposing perspective that takes into account loyalty and righteousness as a collective individual, and Tu Hengyu fully represents the perspective of individual heroism.

The perspectives represented by these three characters are very interesting, the digital life of the dark line is like a small thorn in the flesh skin, the sense of existence is very strong but it is hidden, and the next digital lifeline is buried. And Zhou Zhe straight-line promoted the major events on the earth, and at the critical moment also deterred MOSS to start the planetary engine.

Collectivism and individual heroism do not conflict, in fact both have merit.

The most important thing is that behind the movie is the national strength in reality, which combines some practices of the United States and Western countries in reality, resulting in the audience watching the movie, the expression of the film and the foil of the realistic spirit, making people have a sense of drama, not to mention that now the American movie zzzq and routines are flooded, and even the special effects have begun to become rotten.

Because the United States and the West are still strong, audiences around the world still buy it. Chinese audiences are fighting against groups that are beginning to awaken at the real level, so the box office of American blockbusters in China is getting lower and lower.

The story of "The Wandering Earth" is just a feat led by Zhou Zhezhi and government personnel from many countries, and people around the world have united to accomplish together. Watching "The Wandering Earth" has a solid feeling, feeling that this is what will happen in the future, and it will be successful step by step.

On the other hand, now foreign science fiction except "The Martian" makes me feel a solid feeling, and the rest only stay on "fantasy", even "Interstellar" is the same: "love can save the earth through time and space" is indeed very touching, but far less solid than "everyone unites to save the earth", even if the real wandering earth is difficult to climb to the sky.

The Wandering Earth 2 has its own thing on a value and spiritual level, and that's enough. What about patriotism, nationalism, the main theme. Just like The Wandering Earth 2 focuses on the story of several people, but often has redundant parts, embodying the power of the group, individual heroism and collectivist thinking.

Even Tu Hengyu like Andy Lau's is personal heroism, but the result is not entirely a bad thing, but saves the world.

What about patriotism, nationalism, the main theme? "The Wandering Earth 2" has a more important historical responsibility

"The Wandering Earth 2" is still far behind foreign science fiction masterpieces, but it is already a good start for Chinese science fiction films, at this time, if malicious criticism accounts for the majority, especially wanton singing and wearing hats to criticize, criticize the smelly behavior, it will definitely do more harm than good to Chinese science fiction films.

There is a saying in the financial world that "confidence is more important than gold", there are more people who scold, confidence is naturally insufficient, and investors who wait and see may not invest, which is by no means alarmist.

The public opinion environment on our side seems to attach too much importance to the edification of popular culture works to the audience, as well as the seriousness of the shaping of values and three views. To give a simple example, after Wu Jing's "Wolf Warrior 2" exploded, the image of "Wolf Warrior" has been bound to the main theme and is completely symbolized.

You will not only see mockery on the Internet, even mainstream public opinion, and even social public opinion, anyway, a wolf warrior on the left and a wolf warrior on the right to define.

Wolf warrior = tough nationalism + aggressive show of force + extreme patriotism and so on.

However, I have always said that "Wolf Warrior 2" is actually quite humiliating, Leng Feng kicked the dead at the beginning and was expelled from the army, and the entire movie Leng Feng only saved a truckload of about ten innocent Chinese and a few black people together. In the middle in the hospital, and later in that factory, countless innocent Chinese and Africans died under Western mercenaries.

Leng Feng worked hard to save so many people, compared with the world of life in American movies who drive to save the universe, and was finally solved into this tough, aggressive, extreme main theme image, where do you reason?

Therefore, it is not that criticism is wrong, but that it is out of place. Just like a toddler, more in need of encouragement and guidance. If it is sung and criticized by all kinds of singing, criticism, criticism and criticism at the beginning, then Chinese blockbusters will need more time to achieve normal walking.

I blew up the "Wandering Earth" series, and very clearly said with national sentiment, I hope that Chinese science fiction works such as "The Wandering Earth" and "The Three-Body Problem" will become more and more and better. Only by forming a quantity and establishing a mature cultural industry chain can we finally talk about the export of cultural consciousness.

In addition, I think that many people complain about the main theme and values of "Ball 2", not exactly using hats to say what to support Western values, I think these people themselves have no opinion on the main theme, and even occasionally dislike some Wu Jing, wolf terriers and the like.

They complained that "Ball 2" is not entirely a matter of values, mainly because many Chinese audiences have not yet realized or are accustomed to the value of "confrontation" with Hollywood blockbuster values, we are an agricultural civilization, with deep feelings for our homeland, indisputable and win-win cooperation, and never take the initiative to provoke disputes with the world.

But in the current international situation, our realistic strategy has also become more radical, so that these people who usually do not care about the outside world are not used to it. Because they have never understood how the United States and the West do these things, or have long been accustomed to it.

Liu Cixin's sci-fi style has always been radical, and the core of the radical story plus the expression of the spirit of modern China makes them feel: "Are we too main theme, let foreigners see whether we think that our nationalism is not good", typical friendly surprise.

In the end, it is because I am not culturally confident enough, at least some people are not used to it. I believe that there are more pop culture works such as "The Wandering Earth", and these audiences will gradually get used to it, and our science fiction culture and pop culture will rise.

Before The Wandering Earth 3? The director's cut version, the derivative online drama came more violently

Finally, I think that the values of "The Wandering Earth 2" need not be discussed, because it has been very successful, just like the promotion of the Chinese film and television industry, the construction of Chinese science fiction culture, etc. After so long, I feel that there is still a lot of immaturity in the film itself.

The most unfortunate thing is Andy Lau's digital life planning line, even if this technology in the movie is not perfect, but in my opinion at least it is an indispensable plan.

Because the Wandering Earth Plan decided that regardless of whether the draw was really fair or not, there would inevitably be people who could enter the dungeon and someone who could not, and entering the dungeon also faced a sharp decline in living standards, in order to still be a crisis hundreds of years later, and in theory, it was impossible to promote the success of the Wandering Earth Project at the social level.

But the Digital Life Project doesn't, and it gives the current generation a reason to move forward. Whether it is to let the family live, or to expect that they can enter the gradually perfected virtual world in the future, this is an expectation, or a meaning of life, and development is possible with pursuit.

The Wandering Earth Project is carried out alone, and before the results of the lottery are announced, it may be able to barely rely on everyone's luck to maintain a basic stability, and when the lottery is over and the results are announced, it will be the time of total collapse of society. The movie has an explanation but it moves too fast, although the movie does not have to be too demanding, but it is still a bit of a pity.

So, what is Guo Fan waiting for? The 80-minute director's cut version is quickly arranged, and the best publicity is to shoot derivative online dramas, animation quickly, such as the digital life plan, a political game of various countries, a dungeon lottery life details, etc., and wait until "Ball 3" arrives 4 years later.

Then this is a world science fiction epic IP that truly surpasses the American "Star Wars", and at that time, let the audience around the world reflect what is the real Chinese theme movie.