"Caprice Notes" II6 Art comes from life but is higher than life thinking

In daily life, once a person succeeds in becoming famous, it is often a person who ascends to heaven, a fairy and a chicken dog, and the lotus flowers in their mouths will become the beacon of lighthouses for others to sail in the middle of the night. People who believe in it often go out of their way to use famous quotes that reproduce celebrities on many occasions, citing scriptures as the basis of their claims and being proud of them. It does not matter whether the quote is logical or not, whether it is defensible or untenable.

Today I will talk about a famous quote from a famous person. This celebrity is the Russian literary and artistic theorist Chernyshevsky, who left a sentence that has been hung up by many people, that art comes from life, but it is higher than life. This sentence comes from his book "The Aesthetic Relationship of Art to Reality", which is a point of view of artistic creation put forward by him. This famous quote has been passed down for a long time, as if no one has questioned it to this day, and it still haunts the sharp teeth of high-IQ art and other fields, and is used as a perfect preparation for making good reviews of one's own or others' works.

Many people believe that works of art are the result of in-depth observation of life, and that the thinking of nature and life is integrated into the works, reflecting the artistic bits that are different from reality, so that the works have concentration, typicality and artistry. Through the description of refined language, the design of physical actions, the arrangement of storylines, rendering, exaggeration and other artistic techniques, the works are more vivid and intriguing. Therefore, this kind of daily life material from the bland Riba people is artificially forged into a high-level work of art in the style of Yangchun white snow, that is, the so-called art comes from life but is higher than life.

The Russian driver was thinking about what he had summed up, and no one knew it. But in his words, let me give my personal opinion.

Any creation, including copying and restoring, must have a source of material. Even if it is a science fiction work, it must also have original material that can stimulate the imagination. All works are inseparable from the connotation of real human society. Without the actual human life, art cannot be discussed.

As for whether the art derived from life is higher than life, the pure theoretical break with dry mouth and dry tongue may not be interesting, and a few examples may be more convincing.

The TV series "Emperor Wu of Han", based on various historical materials related to the history of the Western Han Dynasty, takes the life of Emperor Wu of han as the main line, describes the characteristics of that era, including some major events and the personalities of various characters, etc., and is a work of art that the audience reflects quite well. Grand sets, luxurious casts, colorful costumes, character personalities, and so on. I have to say that this is a rare good work. However, whether this work can truly reproduce the historical story of the past seventy years, whether it can truly reproduce the various scenes of the Western Han Dynasty, and whether it can truly reproduce the characters, including language, action, and so on. I'm afraid not! What kind of character was Liu Che, emperor of the Han Dynasty? Is there a complete record of his life, his language, his personality, his daily life? Is there a detailed record? Are those records or records reliable? If reliability cannot be guaranteed, then is the Han Wu emperor who leaves an impression on the audience the real Han Wu Emperor in history? Therefore, this work is nothing more than the author, through the historical materials that do not know the truth and falsity, selects some stories that do not know the truth and falsehood, sets up some scenes that do not know the truth and falsehood, describes the personality of the characters who do not know the truth and falsehood, and it is also fragmented content, and the final display is only the history in the author's mind of Emperor Wudi of Han and the author's mind. In this way, if neither is next to each other, how can it be said that artistry is higher than life?

If the above example is too old, it is inevitable that it will be far-fetched, then we will talk about a famous figure in modern times, Yuan Shikai. This historical figure is very close to us, and there are too many remarkable places to be recognized. Around him, many works of art have been produced, such as the film and television drama "Towards the Republic", "Xinhai Revolution" and the literary work "Yuan Shikai Trilogy". The personality of the characters and the portrayal and description of their lives or periods of time are different in different works, and there are many elements of fiction or even fabrication. I am afraid that, in addition to himself, even his family members cannot understand or describe the factors behind his personality changes and actions during his life or period. Since the works' descriptions of Yuan Shikai's life or period of content are not true or comprehensive, how can we say that the artistry of these works is higher than life?

Others will say that his works only depict the greed of Qing officials and Yan, and the purpose is to warn the world not to be greedy, otherwise there will be no good ending, and nothing else. If so, how do you show the process of the formation of wasaguism and the specific greed plot? You know, Washu's greed is not achieved overnight, but there is a gradual process. Nor is it an isolated event, but is interspersed with every aspect of life. Moreover, He Yan is also a flesh-and-blood ordinary person, and can only describe greed, can such a vivid character perfectly show the reader or the audience? If it really shows a mutilated character or event, it is not artistic, let alone the so-called higher than life.

Art is based on the bits and pieces of life, not the whole of life, it is impossible to reproduce all the characteristics of life, only through the selection of parts to as close as possible to the original face of a certain level of life or to achieve the author himself to express the appeal. However, the bits and pieces that make up life are not isolated, but interrelated. If you deliberately cut off or just select one or a few bits instead of all, then the reflected content will be biased, or even far from the same. That's what it means. Therefore, from this point of view, art based on life cannot be higher than life, but there is a situation in which art is closer to life.

Of course, some people may also say that the materials of his creation come from life, but the characters and events created are all imaginary. The personality of his characters is fuller than that of real people, the events are more vivid than the real things of reality, the process is more tortuous, and the ending is more perfect, which arouses strong resonance among the audience and readers, and fully realizes the author's appeal and purpose. Suppose there is such a work, "The Legend of the Hero of the Island", which reflects the story of the anti-enemy struggle of the people of a certain island. The author conducts in-depth fieldwork to understand real people and real things, and then through a drastic imagination process, he creates characters and events that are different from the actual situation. At this point, we can say that if the real name of the island is written out of the work, what will the people of the island think when they see the work? If you look at it from the perspective of the island people, the work certainly does not truly restore the plot of the anti-enemy struggle of the island people at that time, and if it is not good, it will make jokes. In this case, will people still think that the work is derived from the life of the real island? If the work does not specifically name the island, but entrusts it with a pseudonym, then the work reflects the story of the anti-enemy struggle of the island people designed in advance in the author's mind. Although the material is taken directly from a real island, the content has been boldly fabricated and processed, which is obviously different from the characters and events of the real island. That is to say, one is a real island, the other is an island imagined in the author's mind, and in essence, it is another real island. Although the two are intrinsically related, the real island has the artistry of the real island, and the imaginary island has the artistry of the imaginary island, and the two come from different situations, is there a comparison?

What is artistry? Through the image, the works reflect the vividness achieved by life, thoughts and feelings, and the integrity of the expression skills. According to this definition, up to now, all works have not met the conditions of the content or setting of the definition of artistry. For example, excellent works such as "Tunnel Warfare", "Mine Warfare", "Railway Guerrilla", "Bridge", "Quiet Don" and so on, through the language expressions of the characters in these works and the processing of events, it is not difficult to see that it is impossible to reproduce the content of real life itself graphically, but can only be a close and approximate. This is especially true of written works compared to video works.

Calligraphy, sculpture, painting, science fiction and other works, too, are listed here.

To tell the truth, no matter how art develops, it is the charity of life to people, and people's thinking, imagination, and design are all within the spatial scope of life, and they can never be separated from the source of life. There is no so-called work of art that is more vivid, complex, more skillful and intriguing than life itself. Life that cannot be copied is the hardest to imitate! The art of life itself, exhausting all aspects, like a brilliant starry sky, can be out of reach!

Don't forget that artistic creation itself is also a kind of life, one of the manifestations of life, how can it be higher than life?

Don't forget that life itself is the most perfect art, how can art be higher than itself?

Remember, when you hear famous quotes in the future, you must think twice!