Yes, after unraveling the 5 controversies of "Fengshen ", I dare not underestimate Wuershan anymore

Chinese mythical novels with two high mountains.

One high mountain is "Chat Zhai Zhi Yi".

The book has 24 volumes, telling a total of 491 ghost stories, among which stories such as "Painted Skin", "Nie Xiaoqian" and "Xiaocui" are the most widely spread.

Another mountain is "Romance of the Gods".

"Romance of the Gods" was born in the Ming Dynasty, earlier than the Qing Dynasty's "Liaozhai Zhi Yi".

However, in terms of artistic value, it is slightly inferior.

If you dig deeper, many characters in "Romance of the Gods" appear inexplicably.

For example, why did Li Jing, a famous general of the Sui and Tang dynasties, appear in the Shang Dynasty and be associated with the "Treasure Heavenly King" in Buddhism?

And how did the "four great kings" in Buddhism become "international reinforcements" and appear on the battlefield during the Shang and Zhou Dynasties?

At the literary level, "Romance of the Gods" also faces some controversy.

For example, why did Empress Jiang say Zheng Banqiao's famous sentence?

Why are some hymns in the book directly copied from "Journey to the West"?

And in terms of storyline, some places have confusing logic, why do some characters suddenly have no follow-up?

Although it has various flaws, "Romance of the Gods" has been precipitated for 400 years, but it is more popular among the people.

The main reason for this is its imagination of the past and present.

It builds a genealogy of Taoist mythology based on the long-standing folklore of ancient China, allowing the mythological characters who appear in folk tales to connect with each other.

It's kind of like the Marvel Universe.

Among them are Captain America, who participated in World War II, to the modern-day tycoon Iron Man, and Thor, the god of thunder in Norse mythology.

Everyone has their own story line, and in the end, all kinds of heroes can also "smelt together".

The original work of "Romance of the Gods" also has the smell of this heroic assembly.

On top of the heroic attribute, this kind of mortal step by step to fight monsters and seal the gods is even more interesting.

But we can imagine the discussion that this book will face when it first comes out.

This controversy caused by adaptation seems to have become a kind of "fate" that has lasted for hundreds of years.

Take the 1990 version of "The List of Gods".

This drama now has nearly 50,000 people on Douban with a high score of 8.2, but it caused no small controversy that year.

由于是内地‬港台合拍剧，决策层听取了香港团队的意见，在服化道上加入所谓的“前卫”元素——

Have the actors wear shorts and bring a unique blend of ancient Greece and ancient Egypt.

The actress who played Su Daji was once full of complaints because her costume was too revealing;

Lan Tianye, who played Jiang Ziya, was even more arguing, and finally let Jiang Ziya wear a robe to avoid the embarrassment of wearing shorts to expose his thighs.

But the other characters were not so lucky.

King Wu Jifa, Nezha and Yang Jian were all wearing shorts and dressed like Saint Seiya, which made people cry and laugh.

Fortunately, although the service of this drama is thunderous, the story adaptation can still be faithful to the original work, and it has also filmed its own characteristics.

Over the decades, it has also gradually been accepted by audiences, and now it is also a classic.

33 years after the broadcast of the drama version of "Feng Shen List", the same "fate" was bizarrely staged again -

The fantasy blockbuster "The First Part of Fengshen Feng Shen" directed by Wu Ershan is about to be released.

But every time the film party exposes a little material, it will attract some netizens to pick.

It is said that comedian Huang Bo is not suitable for playing Jiang Ziya;

There are doubts about director Wuershan's ability to control blockbusters;

It is said that the image of the nine-tailed fox in the poster is "vulgar and vicious".

There are more serious ones.

Recently, the film party exposed a rivalry scene between Fei Xiang (as King Jun) and Li Xuejian (as Ji Chang), and some original parties criticized their writings and questioned their "destruction of the original".

As the original party of "Romance of the Gods", Pi Ge is also particularly interested in these controversies on the Internet.

Today we will pick up dry goods and go straight to the heart of the controversy.

Look at these controversial adaptations of "Fengshen Part I", what is going on.

Controversy 1: "King Wen eats meat

First of all, let's pick the hottest and most controversial point, which is the rivalry between Fei Xiang and Li Xuejian.

This video on the Internet is only 30 seconds, describing the classic passage of "Romance of the Gods", "King Wen eats the meat of the child".

This story takes place in the 20th episode of the original book "Sanyisheng Secretive Feiyou".

According to the novel, Xibo Hou Ji Chang was convicted of direct advice and imprisoned in the city of Qili for seven years.

His eldest son, Bo Yi Kao, paid tribute to Chaoga to atone for his father's sins, but was killed by King Shun instead.

And his body was chopped into meat sauce, made into meatloaf, and given to Ji Chang.

The king is so cruel, what is the purpose of killing people and making corpses into meatloaf?

It was all Daji's idea.

It is said that Ji Chang in the original book has a special skill -

He "can know the number of innate gods and know the good luck and murder", which means that he can avoid evil through divination.

King Jun and Daji have scruples about him, so they take the meatloaf and put his abilities to the test.

Ji Chang knew the source of the meatloaf in front of him, but he still endured the pain of losing his son and ate the meatloaf.

After seeing this, King Shun believed that "people's words cannot be fully believed", and also relaxed his vigilance against him.

Therefore, in the end, Ji Chang was pardoned by King Feng and escaped the clutches of King Shu.

This plot profoundly depicts the cruelty and inhumanity of King Jun and Daji, and also sets off Ji Chang's forbearance and wisdom.

"King Wen's Meat Eater" is also a key plot of the whole book of "Romance of the Gods", and it is also of great significance to the direction of its subsequent story.

How is it portrayed in the movie "Fengshen Part 1"?

As can be seen from the 30-second video on the Internet, this plot in the original work has been greatly changed.

First, when Ji Chang ate meatloaf, he didn't know that he was eating his son's meat;

The second is that King Jun's subsequent words revealed the truth, and Ji Chang collapsed on the spot and shouted out his despair as a father in a hoarse voice.

After that, the king flew away.

After vomiting for a while, Ji Chang trembled and picked up the pieces of meat scattered on the ground, carefully put them back in the bowl, and finally held the bowl and lay on the ground crying.

It should be said that such a change is indeed quite different from the original.

But adaptation is not actually "absolutely prohibited".

While following the original ideas and conforming to mainstream values, we need to be tolerant and allow for appropriate, and bold adaptations.

Take an example.

In the 86th edition of "Journey to the West" episode 9 "Stealing Ginseng Fruit", Sun Wukong searched for immortal fangfang to heal fruit trees, returned to Fangcunshan Mountain, Lingtai, and looked for his master, Bodhi Grandmaster.

In the play, Sun Wukong returned to Xian Shan and saw people going to the three-star cave of the building light and ruins, and could not find his master, and fell into despair for a while.

At this time, Grandmaster Bodhi's voice suddenly sounded, telling him how to resolve the crisis.

Grandmaster Bodhi did not show up because he had said that he would not see each other again.

But he still couldn't bear to see the loss of his beloved disciple, so he still pointed out the way forward for Sun Wukong.

But there is actually no such paragraph in the original work, it was specially added by the creator of "Journey to the West".

After the broadcast, the audience applauded the change.

This is a good plot based on the original book and in line with contemporary values.

Compared with this 30-second video of "Feng Shen", Li Xuejian's heartfelt interpretation perfectly presents Ji Chang, as a father, angry and desperate in the face of his son's tragic death, which makes the viewer unmoved.

At the recent premiere, Li Xuejian also talked about the role he played.

"In order to realize his original intention, King Wen of Zhou endured a great shame that human beings could not bear."

So Pico thought it was an acceptable adaptation.

Under the plot design in the original work, the dimension of consideration of the monarch is obviously more emphasized;

After this adaptation, the character of Ji Chang has become vivid, the image of his father is more three-dimensional, and his emotional outburst is more likely to infect the audience.

Dispute two: "Hulk" Thunder Zhenzi?

The image of Lei Zhenzi is also the focus of contention among netizens.

Lei Zhenzi, as the main character, was still in the 2001 TVB version of "Feng Shen List".

In that drama, Lei Zhenzi is a humble young guy with a hood on his face.

Due to preconceptions, some netizens will think that this is what Lei Zhenzi originally looked like.

In fact, what is the image of Lei Zhenzi in the original work?

Since eating two red apricots under the Hu'er cliff of Jinanshan Mountain, Lei Zhenzi has grown a pair of wings.

The original book describes it as "face like blue indigo, hair like cinnabar, huge fangs, eyes like copper bells, and a length of two feet".

From height, face, hair, teeth and eyes, all of them are described in great detail.

In this way, it is indeed a monster.

If measured by the description of the original book, the image of Lei Zhenzi in the movie is still very in line with the original setting.

As for copying the Hulk, it is only because Lei Zhenzi is green like the Hulk.

If this is also really plagiarism, isn't Shrek also plagiarism?

Dispute 3: The nine-tailed fox became the "nine-milk fox"?

For the image of the nine-tailed fox in the film, there is also some talk on the Internet.

Combined with the poster, the nine-tailed fox can clearly see the nursing organs under the body.

In the original work, the nine-tailed fox is difficult to clearly define with good or bad.

In ancient mythology, the nine-tailed fox originally meant good luck.

The reason why the changing human form appeared in the world was because Nuwa arranged for her to end Xia Shang.

The film side also shared the design ideas here with the audience through character posters.

It boils down to four words, which is "the unity of man and fox".

It can be seen that the curved waist structure of the fox body and the lactation organ under the body clearly refer to the proportion of human organs.

Whether it's eyeballs or imagination, it's still too early to say.

You may wish to wait for the main film to be evaluated objectively.

Dispute 4: Jiang Ziya became a "land father"?

In the words of netizens, Huang Bo does not play Jiang Ziya, but a bit like a land father.

The direct reason for this evaluation is Jiang Ziya in the old version of the TV series.

In the 90 drama version, Lan Tianye's shaping of Jiang Ziya can be called a fairy wind Dao bone, elegant temperament, and strategizing.

In contrast, Huang Bo's shaping obviously does not belong to a style.

It is difficult to have a clear definition of who is right and who is wrong.

In the description of the original work, Jiang Ziya's appearance is average, his qualifications are average, and his achievements in cultivation in the Jade Void Palace are completely inaccessible.

After arriving at Chaoge, he could only live on the relief of his friends, and when he returned home, he was looked down upon by his wife and even beaten.

If it is performed according to public expectations, the fairy temperament will definitely be more loved;

But if based on the description of the original book, Lan Tianye's version is a little deviated.

At the premiere, Huang Bo also talked about his role:

"It may be a little different from the previous impression of Jiang Ziya, who is clever and strategic, but it is precisely because of the difference that it may bring surprises."

Whether Huang Bo can really surprise the audience, we are still not sure to decide.

But such a questioning situation, Huang Bo should be no stranger.

In 2013, he starred as a bald man as the Monkey King in "Journey to the West: Demon".

The original image design is extremely subversive, and it is not related to Sun Dasheng in the original work.

But because of Huang Bo's excellent image shaping, he was accepted by the audience, and was also known as the most evil image of the Monkey King so far.

This time, Huang Bo basically did this again.

If described in the original book, Huang Bo's appearance is shaped a lot, and it is also in line with the character's story line.

As for the inner part of the character, it is easier to grasp the control of this character and shape the spirit of the character.

Whether actor Huang Bo can "slap the face" in the face again, we will soon know.

Dispute five: The level of director Wuershan

Netizens' doubts about Wuershan, mainly focused on this series that lasted for several years before and still disappeared.

In fact, director Wuershan is good enough in commercial films.

In 2012, he directed "Painted Skin 2" with a box office of 702 million yuan in the mainland, more than three times higher than the previous works directed by Chen Jiashang and Qian Yongqiang;

In 2015, "Finding the Dragon" sold 1.679 billion yuan, and it is still known as the best "Ghost Blowing Lamp" adaptation movie.

The "Fengshen " trilogy is a project that Wu Ershan has been preparing for many years, so he carefully polished the script based on the original novel, and strictly checked from the obedience to the selection of actors.

The exposed stage background, the weapons and props used by the actors, and the costumes of the actors are all simple and atmospheric, making people look comfortable.

Especially the stills of several recently exposed characters riding horses, the armor and weapons on the characters and horses are all simple and the image looks majestic.

In terms of casting, it is also "unconventional".

The main characters are not familiar faces or traffic stars, but carefully created through auditions.

The crew organized 8 casting teams, traveling throughout North America, Europe, Australia and Southeast Asia, looking for suitable and potential newcomers from all over the world, and finally selected actors with online appearance and figure.

At this point, I also want to mention the story structure of the "Fengsheng" trilogy.

Director Wu Ershan, who is familiar with the original work, divided the original work of "Romance of the Gods" 100 times into three parts: "Flying Tiger Returns to Zhou", "Thirty-Six Roads Fa Xiqi" and "King Wu Fa Ling".

And this trilogy film is based on these three parts of the story.

In the past, the failure cases of large-scale mainland China were "one step at a time, one step at a time", and there was a lack of long-term planning.

For example, Tsui Hark originally wanted to create the "Seven Swords" trilogy, but his "Seven Swords" that he exhausted his human and financial resources to create suffered a box office failure, and the trilogy plan was directly aborted.

In contrast, Urshan appears more visionary.

This trilogy mode was pioneered by Hollywood's "Lord of the Rings" series, but because it burns money and consumes extremely long shooting time, ordinary film companies and directors dare not try it easily.

Such a bold film project is a sign of the gradual maturity and commercialization of our mainland blockbusters.

In this regard, Urshan is ahead of many.

Regardless of the final success or failure, his spirit of daring to walk ahead is worthy of recognition.

From the trailer that has been exposed, we can also feel the level of special effects of the "Fengsheng" movie.

With the ambition of creating the oriental "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, Wuershan found Douglas Hans Smith, the gold medal special effects artist of "Star Wars", "Star Trek", "True Lies" and "Independence Day", to be responsible for visual effects, striving to make Hollywood-level special effects.

At a time when Hollywood movies are going downhill, our domestic films are catching up.

As viewers, we have no reason to denigrate it, but should look forward to it with a tolerant heart.

I believe that "The First Part of Fengshen " can shine after its release.

Text/Pippi Film Editorial Department: Blood Dan Xin

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