On August 18, 2020, the well-known actor Xie Yuan suddenly suffered a heart attack and died at the age of 61 after ineffective rescue.
Born in Beijing on June 17, 1959, Xie Yuan was admitted to the Beijing Film Academy in 1975 and stayed on to teach after graduation. In 1981, he debuted with "New Soldiers and Horses", and after that, he won many awards such as the Golden Rooster Award, the Golden Eagle Award, the Feitian Award, the Hundred Flowers Award and many other awards for films such as "The King of Chess", "Shanghai Family" and "Born Timid".
After learning the news of Xie Yuan's death, Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, Huang Lei, Liu Xiaoqing, Liu Yifei, Wang Lihong and other entertainment stars, as well as many students he brought, sent tributes.
The fame of the "Comedy Three Musketeers" benefited from the rise of "civic comedy"
The peak of Xie Yuan's acting career was in the 1980s and 1990s. He has starred in many comedies, which have won him a lot of national popularity.
In the 1990s, together with Ge You and Liang Tian, he was known as the "Three Musketeers of Comedy" in Chinese mainland, and they collaborated on many comedy works.
The fame of the "Comedy Three Musketeers" also began with the rise of "civic comedy" in the 1980s.
Group photo of "Comedy Three Musketeers". Image from the web.
In the 1980s and 1990s, with the advancement of reform and opening up, literary and artistic creation also ushered in unprecedented freedom and prosperity.
Chen Peisi's sketch is one of the most distinctive comedy symbols of the 1980s. In the 1984 CCTV Spring Festival Gala, Chen Peisi and Zhu Shimao cooperated in performing "Eating Noodles", which not only brought laughter to the national audience, but also made the sketches the most popular fixed program type on Spring Evenings ever since.
In the 1984 CCTV Spring Festival Gala, Chen Peisi and Zhu Shimao cooperated in the performance of "Eating Noodles". Image from the web.
Chen Peisi makes small people and small citizens become the protagonists of comedy, and his works always show the sadness and helplessness of small people and small citizens from a heads-up perspective. In 1990, Zhao Benshan appeared on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala for the first time with the sketch "Blind Date", which opened the era of Zhao Benshan's sketches.
In 1993, the TV series "I Love My Home" came out, which was directed by Yingda, written by Liang Zuo, and brought together Many comedy stars such as Song Dandan, Liang Tian, Ge You and many other comedy stars, and the achievements have not been surpassed so far.
Xie Yuan also played the role of "Brother Baocai" in it, although it was only a cameo, but "Brother Baocai" was also like Ji Chunsheng, who later became popular on the Internet because of the spoof meme "Ge Youliang", becoming a classic role and spread widely.
"Brother Treasure" in "I Love My Home"
In the nineties, comedy films rose to prominence. In addition to the "Three Musketeers of Comedy", the compelling comedy style at this stage is Feng Xiaogang's "Feng Comedy". Together with film and television works such as "Seahorse Song and Dance Hall" and "The Story of the Editorial Department", some people in the industry have summarized the comedy expression of this period as "citizen comedy".
The so-called "citizen comedy", from the perspective of the object of performance, the protagonist is of course a citizen (almost all of whom are Beijing citizens), and the focus is also on the life of the citizens.
In terms of expression, the comedy creation of this period "does not win with exaggerated body movements or funny facial expressions, but relies on exquisite plot arrangements or internal conflict of ideas to create laughter."
The 1980s and 1990s were an era of intense collision between modern and traditional, new and old, and "civic comedy" keenly grasped the pulse of change; the various problems and ideological confusion encountered by the urban people in real life at that time can be found in comedy film and television works, which use humor to dispel the confusion and panic of the transition era, and express the most basic good and moral positions.
After entering the new century, in addition to Ge You's long-term active in the frontline, not only Xie Yuan, but also many comedians of the same period have gradually withdrawn from the audience's sight, such as Liang Tian, Chen Peisi, Ma Xiaoqing, Ma Ling, etc.
Behind this phenomenon, the nature shown is the normal change of comedy development, but we can also say without regret that this also represents the "era of civic comedy" represented by the "Three Musketeers of Comedy" has stopped peaking and is gradually gone.
Xie Yuan and Liang Tian. The picture is from the Beijing News news report.
An era has an era of comedy creation
Entering the new century, Ning Hao and Xu Zheng took over the baton from the hands of the "Three Musketeers of Comedy" and "Feng's Comedy".
In 2006, Ning Hao's "Crazy Stone" created the first wave of comedy creation fever in Chinese films in the 21st century.
▲ Stills from "Crazy Stone". Image from the web.
Ning Hao comedy and "citizen comedy" have a heritage and development. Ning-style comedy uses more black humor and irony in the comedic approach, although it also has a distinct underlying consciousness, but the metaphor is heavier.
It can be said that since then, the comedy has entered the "showmanship" stage, and the audience is eager for laughter more than to gain recognition in the comedy.
Xu Zheng promoted "civic comedy" to "middle-class comedy".
With the take-off of China's economy, the middle class rises and grows, and the middle class has become the backbone of society and has more right to speak. More and more films are potentially pandering to the emotional needs of the off-screen middle class.
The protagonists of Xu Zheng's "囧 Trilogy" are all troubled middle-class people, and the theme of the film is also to gain self-consolation through a journey.
▲ Stills of "Tai 囧"
In 2015, the era of comedy of happy twists arrived.
The comedy of happy twist still has a distinct civilian background, but unlike the plain and down-to-earth style of "citizen comedy", happy twist comedy has a strong "daydream" color, and the counterattack of small characters is its commonly used comedy routine.
Behind the rise of Happy Twist is the rise of "small town youth". The Continuous penetration and sinking of the Chinese film market into third- and fourth-tier cities, especially the vast number of county-level cities, has made small-town youth an important subject of movie-watching, and "pleasing them" has become a major mainstream of comedy creation.
▲ Stills from "Charlotte Troubles"
Behind the ups and downs of Xie Yuan's acting career, there are also several changes in the form of Chinese comedy. It is difficult to say which stage of comedy is more clever, only that an era has an era of comedy creation, they are not mutually substitution or progressive relationship, but like a rolling mountain, with different peaks.
As Ge You said, "Audiences will always remember Xie Yuan's efforts and contributions to Chinese films and TV series." In a sense, the era of "civic comedy" seems to be gone, but in fact, its core has never been abandoned, and the audience will always miss the laughter brought to us by the filmmakers.
□ Congyi (Media Person)
Editor: Chen Jing Intern: Lai Yangmin Proofreader: Lu Qian