This kind of large-scale classic, there will never be again

Time Contributor | Xiao Gen

  Find more possibilities for life in the movie. 

An interesting phenomenon: many viewers who have watched "Fengshen Part 1: Song of the Dynasty" have become the spiritual shareholders of this movie.

As of the fifth day of the film's release, the mainland box office has exceeded 460 million.

Especially when they saw the Easter eggs of "Master Wen returns to the dynasty", many people became tap water, and also made up a smooth call: "You vote for me one vote, help Master Wen return to the dynasty as soon as possible."

With this craze, Time Jun wants to talk about the 1990 version of "The God List", which is very avant-garde and has a strong cult film temperament.

"List of Gods"

In the 80s of last century, there was a trend of shooting mythological dramas in China, such as "Jigong" and "Journey to the West" in Chinese mainland, and "Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea" and "Zhong Kui Catching Ghosts" in Hong Kong, China, among which "Journey to the West" achieved unprecedented and almost absolute success.

Later, the Shanghai TV TV Drama Production Center wanted to follow CCTV and launch a mythological drama similar to "Journey to the West", so it cooperated with CP Variety Co., Ltd. to shoot "Feng Shen List".

The drama premiered in 1990 and was both popular and controversial.

Avant-garde art or shoddy art?

Even if you look at the "God List" from the current perspective, its clothing and styling are still avant-garde and avant-garde.

Most of the characters in the play wear shorts and shorts, and the powerful will also wear armor, gold hoops, pearls, metal pieces, and shiny plastic pieces...

It's a bold mix of ancient Roman style and Saint Seiya wind.

And female characters, such as Daji's costume, focus on an exposed and full of tricks.

Wear "petal clothing" during the day.

There are also "silk pajamas" at night.

Looking at the entire history of Chinese dramas, the costume styling of this version is also dazzling.

And it can be presented in this way because "Fengshen List" is a co-production drama with Hong Kong capital joining.

At that time, there were still very few historical materials of Yin Shang, and the design of the mainland clothing group was extremely difficult, and a total of 7 drafts were produced, and finally there was a more suitable plan.

But later, the leaders decided to adopt Hong Kong ideas because they knew more about "business".

This has also led to great controversy, with some people saying that "The List of Gods" is fashionable and modern; Some people angrily criticized it as nondescript.

For example, Mr. Lan Tianye, the actor of Jiang Ziya in the play, has always been angry about this.

The costumes and styling of "The List of Gods" naturally lack a sense of antiquity and simplicity, but its alternative style also brings a certain sense of distance, which is also needed for mythological epics.

In addition, the various scenes of this drama are also eye-opening.

For example, Nezha stepped on the flying fire wheel, Yang Jian opened the eye of heaven, and the scene of gods and demons fighting methods, which satisfied the audience's imagination and yearning for the mythical world at that time.

For example, in order to present the arrogant and lustful desires of the king of Jun, the play will come to a charming dance from time to time, and its scale is jaw-dropping.

What is even more chilling is that it also presents in detail the torture inflicted by King Shun on the empress, courtiers, etc. at the instigation of Daji: gouging eyes, burning hands, cannon burning, pun basin...

This also makes it, for many audiences, "List of Gods" is both a mythological enlightenment and a childhood shadow.

However, if you look at it by today's standards, the technology and shooting methods at that time were very limited, and only the indigenous method of steelmaking was simple.

But why, its reputation and status are getting higher and higher?

A generation of classics

There are many factors that can make this "God Sealing List" stand, and the most important thing should be casting.

The crew used a large number of actors with drama acting skills, and invited professional actors from Hong Kong, which made this drama enhance the persuasiveness of the story from the performance dimension.

For example, Jiang Ziya, played by Lan Tianye, Xianfeng Dao Bone, and Kind Eyebrows.

His interpretation was praised: "I don't recognize that Jiang Ziya doesn't look like this!" ”

Shen Gongbao, played by Lei Changxi, is full of treachery, evil spirit, and many times has the demeanor of a cultivator.

The king of Daqi, Kong Wu is powerful, not angry and self-threatening, but he has no backbone, his will is not strong, and he only promises.

In the end, he suddenly woke up and wanted to fight against the demons, but his strength was obviously invincible, so he could only light a fire and burn the deer platform to maintain the dignity of the king.

Fu Yiwei's version of Daji is even more impressive.

When the fox demon is not possessed, she is simple and innocent, and after possession, she is vicious and vicious, and Fu Yiwei's eyes are particularly vivid, delicately showing a sense of change in layers.

Bo Yi Kao is played by Hong Kong actor Tong Zhenzong, who really has the temperament and style of "a stranger like a jade, a gentleman unparalleled in the world".

And Nuwa Niangniang is played by Chen Xiuzhu, and her more well-known role is the queen Niangniang in "Golden Bough Desire".

Other characters, such as Nezha (played by He Wei) and Yang Jian (played by Li Jianhua), are also majestic and quite youthful.

At the level of adaptation, this version of "Fengshen List" is strictly based on "Romance of Fengshen ", retaining the spirit of the original work, and at the same time has the courage to delete complexity and simplify.

A few examples.

In the original work, there are Yuchen Fei Zhong and You Hun, these two characters are similar in function, and the series combines them into one to save the length of the narrative.

Similarly, in the original work, the scene where Sanyisheng bribes Fei Zhong and You Hun, the drama places it on Bo Yikao, strengthening his anxiety to save his father, and this gray detail makes the characters richer.

For another example, the original role of Bo'an in "The List of Gods" is the third son of Xibo Hou Jichang, who is sinister and cunning but has limited abilities.

Unwilling to be unknown, he launched a battle for power and fought Ji Fa.

This story line gives Ji Fa a sense of crisis and urgency that "the outside must first settle inside".

Then, Bo'an defected to the merchant army and turned against him.

This character is very three-dimensional, he is a typical villain, which not only writes about the complexity of the composition of the revolutionary team, but also reinforces the drama of the story.

What is more noteworthy is that the original "Romance of the Gods" has a clear ironic spirit.

Looking at the beginning of the story, King Shun only inscribed an obscene poem, and Nuwa sent the three demon merchants of Xuanyuan Tomb to subvert the regime and cause the lives to be ruined.

Should this be the case for the sin?

And Daji was also very sad, and the achievement failed to retire, and Nuwa Niangniang ordered that his body be disposed of by civil law and discipline to anger the commoners, the so-called "use up and abandon".

From the overall structure, the so-called god sealing battle is a chess game arranged by the gods, and the fate of people and demons has been written, leaving only a process, with a strong sense of fate.

To this layer of expression, the "God Sealing List" also added a stroke.

Jiang Ziya was sealed as a god, and Shengong Leopards were all knighted, but Jiang Ziya, who had the highest merit, did not have a god position.

Shen Gongbao was very excited and humiliated.

And Jiang Ziya was sad, leaving a lonely shadow between heaven and earth.

This loneliness adds an aftertaste of irony and reflexivity.

Outside the "list of gods"

From the perspective of adaptation, the strategy of the 90th edition of "Feng Shen List" follows the original work, which restores the characters and scenes in that mythical world and conveys the justice and legitimacy of King Wu.

Since then, most of the film and television works derived from "Romance of the Gods" have been in the same vein, which has further consolidated its classic status.

And the more successful works often have unique characteristics.

For example, the TVB version of "Fengshen List", divided into two chapters, "Love Son Deep Love" and "Zhongyi Qiankun", it sets the hottest Nezha (fire-breathing baby), Yang Jian (three-eyed baby), and Lei Zhenzi (Feitianwa) in "Fengshen Romance "as classmates, and enters the legend of Fengshen with Nezha's growth as the main line, which undoubtedly adds attraction from the beginning of the story.

It also spent a lot of space to portray Yin Shiniang, the mother of Nezha, into flesh and blood, making countless viewers shed tears.

In "Zhongyi Qiankun", the biggest villain turned out to be Daji.

This character borrowed Wu Zetian's experience and changed from a banshee to an empress, and its growth was full of blood and tears.

In the end, she ascended the throne, looked around and saw desolation, writing all about the delusion of power.

In the play, Wen Bixia is charming and natural, and with the blessing of the script, she has contributed the thickest image of Daji so far.

Other works, such as "The Legend of Nezha", interpret the story of Fengshen from a child's perspective.

This version of King Jun and Daji has also been handled unconventionally, and there are still many Erchuang interpretation videos coming out.

In addition, there are some works that jump out of the traditional framework of "King Wu's felling" and enter the history of Yin Zhou's transformation from an alternative perspective.

His representative works include Hong Kong cartoonist Cheng Jianhe's classic fengshen comic "Wu Gengji", which tells the story of the three races of man, god and underworld fighting for survival and freedom.

The manga was adapted into an animated film.

In the film, God became a villain who sat and enjoyed his success, as the "human emperor", King Feng dared to kill God, while King Zhou became a slave of the gods and eventually became the "Son of Heaven".

The online movie "Fengshen Annihilation", which was just launched not long ago, is also a similar idea.

They seem to be "deviant", but they also give the audience a different perspective on history, which naturally has its value.

In recent years, there have been more and more works on the theme of Fengshen God, and there have also been box office blockbusters such as "Nezha: The Devil Child Descends" and "Jiang Ziya".

This is enough to show that "Romance of the Gods" is worthy of the title of "the fifth masterpiece", it has a deep mass foundation, and it also contains immeasurable adaptation materials.

And the current "Fengshen Part 1: Song of the Dynasty" may just be a new beginning.

China's mythological epic journey has just begun.