The Great Dad: A sincere but unspoiled ethical writing

Author: Wang Zuoyu

The movie "Great Dad" is based on real people and real events, tells the inspirational story of the disabled people running the marathon, truly presents the emotional world of fathers and sons, and creates a typical Chinese father image. Zhang Youhao, who plays his son Xiao Erdong, performs real and natural, showing the character's fearful and longing, sad and sunny heart. Xiao Daming, the father played by Wang Yanhui, refused to remarry, saved money, and worked hard in order to cultivate his son into a talent. The moving interpretation of father and son by the two leading actors has repeated the father-son relationship in films such as "That Mountain That Dog", "Bath", "Ocean Paradise", "A Thousand Miles to Ride Alone", etc., allowing people to turn from mirror image to reality, and then be able to understand their father.

Poster for the movie "The Amazing Dad"

In view of the ontology of art, the British aesthetician Clive Bell put forward the famous idea of "meaningful form". He believes that forms such as lines, colors and other forms and their relationships should stimulate people's aesthetic feelings and touch the ultimate reality of the artistic spirit, which requires the form to give "meaning" to the content. Japanese film director Yasujiro Ozu also believes that "movies win or lose with aftertaste". Based on this, "The Great Dad" actually lost in the "dull taste" brought about by the "meaningless form".

In terms of lens language, the conventional and single mirror language makes the film slightly dull and unattractive. Despite the high-quality film configuration, the film does not explore the language in depth, and the repeated use of conventional mirror languages such as voice-over, slow motion, and flashback gives people a sense of repetition. For example, the film is full of voiceovers from Sholdon, doctors, broadcasters, etc., which is both dense and tends to break the plot line, and the use of slow motion also destroys the beauty of the shot.

In terms of plot laying out and arrangement, the non-advanced setting does not play a role in assisting the narrative and promoting the development of the plot. For example, the opening credits of the 4-minute movie explain the fact that the son is ill through a voiceover, paving the way for the subsequent conflict. However, this form of voiceover alternative to action conflict is too simple and crude, can not produce a strong conflict effect, and it is difficult to mobilize the audience's emotions. For another example, the film repeatedly presents plots such as his father's solicitation and car wash by the river, but these are only show plots, and do not dig deep into the story behind his father's identity as a "driver". The audience cannot deeply perceive the hardships of the protagonist and cannot empathize with him. For another example, the plot of the neighbor's old woman and father's repeated fights highlights the character's immorality and selfishness.

The movie is called "The Amazing Dad," but the content has deviated. The author believes that whether the father is "great" or not should be realized through the son's identification with the father. However, the film repeatedly presents the son's identification with the mother rather than the father, such as the mother's words in the voiceover at the beginning of the film, the narration of the mother's deeds in the middle, and the son's fantasy of running with the mother at the end, all of which point to the absent but always present mother. Therefore, the logic of the whole movie is not self-consistent and biased towards off-topic. In fact, the father image presented in the film cannot be called "remarkable", because the father in the film only has the self-touch of hard work, and lacks the true spirit of reflection, that is, it is impossible to confirm his own problems.

In addition, the value orientation of some plots in the film is also debatable. For example, if the son unintentionally pushes down the bicycle and the father and son intentionally escape, the friend is chased by the security guard for the father and son to open the electric gate privately, the father and son falsify the registration qualifications and participate in the competition, etc., although the film presents these scenes in the form of comedy, adding "laughing fruit", there is no meaning of criticism, so it is impossible to face up to this is a violation of the rules and morality. In the post-pandemic era, family ethics feature films have been produced and consumed more. However, no matter what the demand, only when the film is truly emotional and innovative, it is possible to obtain the ideal box office and word of mouth, and achieve endless aesthetic implications.

(The author is a lecturer at the School of Literature and Journalism and Communication, Jishou University)

Source: Guangming Network - Literary And Art Review Channel