From Feng Xiaogang Jackie Chan to Dapeng Baike: The history of the change of the "dragon head" of domestic comedy

Text/Xu Yuan

1.

Looking back on this year's domestic comedy films, it is not difficult to see that a new power map is taking shape - "The Annual Meeting Can't Stop" and "Unfamiliar with Life" both have box office of more than 1.1 billion, and "Warm" and "Keep You Safe" are 900 million and 700 million respectively.

In contrast, the new "Twist" series "Super Family", Jackie Chan's humorous kung fu film "Dragon Horse Spirit", and Feng Xiaogang's Beijing-style comedy "If You Are Honest, Do Not Disturb 3" are tired, with box office figures of only 3, 2, and 100 million.

Dapeng, Yi Xiaoxing and Bai Ke, who originated on the Internet and are very good at adding "network sense" to their works, finally sat on the throne of the king of domestic comedy.

And the former king has stepped into the exit channel.

2.

The most beautiful person in the Chinese film industry this year is Dapeng.

The two films he directed, "Warm" and "Keep You Safe", are both good reputations and good box office, and the two starring films, first "The Eighth Suspect" won the Best Actor trophy at the Shanghai Film Festival, and "Annual Meeting" at the end of the year was popular and applauded, which seems to have become a new ceiling for Chinese comedy films.

As for Yi Xiaoxing and Bai Ke, who were born in "never expected", the light is certainly not as good as Dapeng, but the former's "Unfamiliar with Life" squeezed into the top ten of the annual box office list with a lot of money, while the latter was "More than Endless" and "The Annual Meeting Can't Stop", two works that can be called career masterpieces, came out, and these two also ushered in a bumper harvest year.

However, from another point of view, the success of Dapeng, Yi Xiaoxing and Bai Ke can be regarded as late.

After all, long ago ten years ago, "Dick Silk Man" and "Never Expected" were both smash hits, these two sets of short film series are dedicated to dissolving authority for young people, rebelling against successology, and satirizing workplace culture, flashing from head to toe with the nonsensical wisdom of postmodern deconstruction, which is a good comedy with good ideology, fun, and timeliness.

So, now we look back at 2015 and it's very intriguing. This year, Dapeng's "Pancake Man" and Yi Xiaoxing and Bai Ke's "Never Expected" movie versions were released in the middle of the year and at the end of the year respectively, and before they were released, they all attracted much attention.

Because just a year before, Feng Xiaogang, the former king of comedy, found his iron partners Wang Shuo and Ge You and filmed "Private Custom", but no one expected that this remastered version of "Party A and Party B" encountered unprecedented bad reviews.

Therefore, in 2015, the four big-budget comedies of "Hong Kong Embarrassment", "Monster Hunt", "Pancake Man" and "Never Expected" were pinned on high expectations by all parties, especially "Fried" and "Wan", which were born from online short dramas, representing the "advanced" youth subculture and Internet thinking, and are the new blood that the industry and the market have been waiting for for a long time.

Obviously, the leading stick of "domestic comedy" is ready to be handed over to the next speaker.

3.

But it's a pity that Yi Xiaoxing and Dapeng couldn't catch it. Switching from Internet short dramas to big-screen feature films, they encountered exactly the same problem, that is, the pain of genre and subject matter - they understand short films but not feature films, and they understand Internet audiences but do not understand movie theater audiences.

Although in terms of ROI, especially by the standards of a rookie's directorial debut, "Never Expected" and "Pancake Man" are both projects that make money. Especially "Frying", in a head-to-head showdown with the annual champion "Monster Hunt", also grabbed a box office of more than 1 billion, but the poor success of the film quickly attracted a lot of criticism from the market. "Never Expected", which was released later, was even more sluggish in terms of word-of-mouth and box office. For a while, the cross-border expectations for Internet comedians were basically disappointed.

As for "Monster Hunt" and "Hong Kong", the absolute results are quite proud. However, the former inherited from the "kung fu magic comedy special effects blockbuster" genre of old Hong Kong films, and the Chinese film industry has almost disappeared since then, and the latter represents Xu Zheng, Huang Boninghao, and the "road movie comedy", which has also ended up because these core characters have turned to the main drama.

Therefore, the real big winner in 2015, that is, the one who really grabbed the leading stick of domestic comedy movies, was a small film that no one knew before: "Charlotte's Troubles".

4.

Another cross-border contestant, the stage drama troupe Happy Twist, ran a record number of good results as a dark horse in this Chinese comedy relay race.

After "Charlotte", they successively concocted a series of comedy movies such as "The Iron Fist of Shame", "The Richest Man in Xihong City", "Li Cha's Aunt", "This Killer Is Not Calm", "Walking on the Moon Alone" and so on. Among them, except for "Plum Tea", all the others were great successes. "Happy Twist" has become a well-known comedy brand for women and children, and its influence is far greater than that of Feng Xiaogang and Xu Zheng in the early years, and even pushed Shen Teng to the position of the first brother of the Chinese film box office in one fell swoop.

However, the rotation of feng shui and the replacement of old people by a new generation are the laws of the industry that cannot be avoided. In 2023, after continuous postponements, "Super Family" has finally become the Waterloo of Happy Twist, the film is not only sluggish at the box office, but the key is that it has almost worn out the audience's trust in Twist.

5.

Looking back at the ebb and flow of comedy rivers and lakes now, it doesn't hurt to say that, whether it is the decline of Beijing-style comedy, or the rise of twist, and today's Dapeng Xiaoxing's return to the gun, of course, it is inseparable from the individual struggle of the creator first, but more importantly, it depends on the process of history.

"The Story of the Editorial Department", "I Love My Family", "Family with Children" and Feng Xiaogang's films are the new mainstream of Chinese comedy after Chen Qiang and Chen Peisi's "Two Sons" series in the 80s, that is, "Beijing-style comedy".

"Beijing Flavor Comedy" masterpiece "Party A and Party B"

Although the texture is the flow of life, the essence of "Beijing-style comedy" is the embodiment of the taste of Beijing writers and intellectuals such as Wang Shuo and Liang Zuo. In short, not only is it not friendly enough for the vast number of audiences in the southern region, but it also naturally has a certain threshold of intellectuality.

Therefore, as the cleverness becomes greasy, the satire becomes soft, and especially the creator group gradually becomes the superior who once speared the spearhead, Beijing-style comedy can only give way.

At one time, Ning Hao, Xu Zheng and Huang Bo created a new genre of "crime + highway + comedy", but for various reasons, this faction is too loose, and the output is extremely unstable, and in addition to "Thai Embarrassment" to conquer the market completely, the rest of the other films are not enough for the public. In recent years, Ning, Xu and Huang have all transformed into the field of traditional dramas, and have largely left the comedy track.

Therefore, the burden was unexpectedly but fatefully handed over to Happy Twist. The advantage of twist is that it highly follows the characteristics of Zhao Benshan and Guo Degang, and has both the excellent skills of northern language comedies such as cross talk sketches, as well as the strong temperament of "fighting from the local to the central" folk, wild, and "counterattack".

What is particularly critical is that in this period of rapid national prosperity, the twist comedy has constructed a wonderful value system of "dick silk obscenity" and "prodigal son" that worships money and hates the rich, flies and dogs, and "the prodigal son turns back", which can let the audience experience the "ups and downs of life" with high efficiency, high intensity and high frequency.

The super sense of rhythm that the Twist team trained when facing the audience in the small theater, as well as the high concept of adopting well-known comedies in Europe, America and Japan through copyright purchase in the story setting, coupled with the skillful appropriation of film genre routines such as time-traveling, boxing, gangsters, and science fiction, have all made their creation achieve an upgrade and iteration in the field of domestic comedy.

In other words, the twist comedy in the highlight period is just like the Double 11 shopping festival that caused a national frenzy at that time, and has a carnival and noisy temperament that overflows with more weight. They are a mirror image of the national mentality, a portrayal of the boiling moment.

6.

However, with the changes of the current situation and the resurgence of the corresponding realism in the film and television industry, the twist comedy of "eating the setting" gradually seems embarrassing.

In particular, the mixed riding wall in values, although it was once the advantage of twist comedy, today it is staggering. It doesn't hurt to say that even if the quality of "Super Family" is better, it is basically difficult to reproduce the success of "Charlotte" and "Xihong City".

If "Hello, Li Huanying" is still the middle section of domestic comedy from "Charlotte's Troubles" to "The Annual Meeting Can't Stop", then "Annual Meeting" shows several characteristics of the new generation of domestic comedy more obviously: one is no longer "hilarious", the second is to pay more attention to the integrity of the film narrative, and the third is to point to the more specific and subtle emotional needs of the audience.

These three are actually the same thing. That is to say, the new domestic comedy pays more attention to the composition rules of "film" rather than "comedy", not relying on settings, lines, foolishness, and jokes to make it as "funny" as possible, but to let the story and characters enter a more dramatic logic situation, so as to achieve misplaced irony and humor.

In terms of a more traditional concept, twist comedy is closer to farce, while "Li Huanying", "Unfamiliar with Life" and "Annual Meeting Can't Stop" are more like "light comedy", the density of comedy is reduced, but the concentration of "realism" has increased.

7.

Of course, it goes without saying that the three films "Li", "People" and "Nian" are not the best comedy films, even the now widely acclaimed "Annual Meeting", the workplace satirical encyclopedia will eventually turn into a routine to defeat the big villain, "only against corrupt officials, not against the emperor" The theme is actually clear and lazy and timid.

And the most successful in the market, but obviously the most immature "Li Huanying", clearly still retains many twist characteristics, such as the theme of time and space, strange supporting roles, sudden ball games, etc., but the film is a big sale, in addition to taking advantage of the timing of the Spring Festival in 2021, it also means that it does convey the sincere mother-daughter relationship and the creator's strong regret and regret, coupled with the female consciousness that is obviously different from the "greasy man" that is everywhere in the Chinese film industry, so it is in " The end of comedy is tragedy", surpassing a number of twist works, and scored high in the exam.

As for the rather mediocre "Life" and the relatively excellent "Annual Meeting", their essence is an old-school comedy movie genre, but the contrast between them and twist works is very stark, that is, there are no longer all kinds of forms, words and deeds of "superb" characters, and there is no longer an obvious sense of patchwork and sketches between the bridges, and the plot is generally laid out along a standardized dramatic conflict - especially "Annual Meeting", its director and screenwriter Dong Runnian is from a drama film, and there have been many excellent realism stream choreographers and directors before.

In short, the funny passages of "Life" and "Annual Meeting" are no longer twisted exaggerated noise, but come from the plot tension and character personalities, so they are more appropriate and more restrained.

8.

Taking "Annual Meeting" as an example, the film actually expresses the resentment of migrant workers, and its high degree of restoration of the working environment and workplace details is not to mention that in the field of comedy, even in many dramas that advertise realism, it is also outstanding. Its "funny" comes from reality and is based on the situation, rather than relying mainly on misunderstanding and ugliness like twist.

"The Annual Meeting Can't Be Stopped" hits the realistic theme of "layoffs".

What the "Annual Meeting" satirizes and criticizes is not the general "unkind to the rich" and "underworld forces", but the reality that everyone is accustomed to and can do nothing. Therefore, compared with the "down-to-earth" that is actually overhead, "Annual Meeting" is more truly grounded and more truly fulfills the "realism".

In the meantime, the subtlety also lies in the fact that the characters such as Charlotte, Wang Duoyu, and Addison of Twist, although they always do not take off their rude and philistine side, are also full of remarkable optimism and vigorous vitality, and the films with them as the protagonists are also full of spirit and excitement.

However, in "Unfamiliar with Life" and "The Annual Meeting Can't Stop", the tiredness, grievances, and bitterness of the "social animal" are clear and helpless at a glance. And we also know that if it weren't for the fact that the ending of the movie must be positive and clear rewards and punishments, the protagonists of these two dramas will actually go from failure to more failure. In a word, the deep emotions of the film are sinking and mournful - that is, it fits a collective consensus of quite a few people at present.

Another important place is that "Life" and "Annual Meeting" fully present the current Chinese people are inseparable from mobile phones, short videos, and social networks all the time, which are all kinds of online chats, videos, and live broadcasts, which are indispensably embedded in the narrative of the film. However, if we look back at the many twist comedies, we will find that since the story is an overseas comedy movie in the eighties and nineties, in fact, their stories can be established in any other era or even overseas.

In other words, the theme of twist comedy is a more timeless spirit and desire, upper and lower, poor and rich, humble and great...... On the other hand, "Annual Meeting" or "Li Huanying" directly refers to the specific temporal and spatial background and the specific Chinese dilemma.

9.

Film is always a mirror of social emotions, and the interesting thing is that because it is a literary and artistic form with the widest reach, the largest number of audiences, and the highest investment cost, it is also the most closely supervised by all forces, especially in the mainland, film is not only difficult to undertake the discussion of the most cutting-edge social issues, but is a literary and artistic category with the most correct and conservative values.

Therefore, Yi Xiaoxing and Dapeng flourished on the Chinese Internet ten years ago, because they not only promoted narrowness, but more importantly, they deviated from the norm and dared to tear the new clothes of the emperor of Wei Guangzheng. As a result, they were warmly sought after by highly educated and high-quality netizens (i.e., young people) on the eve of the outbreak of the mobile Internet, when the cognitive level of Chinese netizens had not yet been "leveled".

It's just a pity that their strengths have no place to use after the transition to the film industry (after all, the Internet audiovisual field at that time was still in a state of savage growth), and the feature film technique has not yet been mastered, so they can only lie dormant quietly, smooth the edge, and slowly wait for the opportunity to come again.

Obviously, in 2023, Dapeng and Yi Xiaoxing have finally waited for a new window period, and their familiar stories of migrant workers and the "network sense" they are good at have helped them succeed in the second revolution. But we probably have to say that ten years ago, "Dick Silk Man" and "Never Expected" are still spicy fragrant pots, and ten years later, "The Annual Meeting Can't Stop" and "Unfamiliar with Life" are just boiled cabbage.