When it comes to children's movies, which ones come to mind?
Chinese children's films have gone through nearly a hundred years of journey, from the social and cultural context and characteristics of the times of the occurrence and development of Chinese children's films, with reference to history, the development of children's films can be divided into six periods:
First period (1922-1949)
Children's films in the Republic of China are the period of occurrence of Chinese children's films. In a full 27 years, 23 children's films have been made, reflecting mostly street children's themes, based on folk tales, or classical Chinese novels, children's films in this period have accumulated considerable artistic experience, and also paved the way for future children's films to make talents and audiences.
Second period (1949-1966)
This period was the embryonic period of socialist children's cinema. 39 children's films were filmed, an average of two per year, the number is still not much, but the influence is very large, in this period, children's films are influenced by political ideology and educationalism, with distinct characteristics of the times, most of them are red themes, small heroes and other children's images, and are designed according to the needs of adults, the theme of the film is the spirit of collectivism and patriotism.
The Third Period (1966-1978)
That is, the ten years of the Cultural Revolution and the two years after the Cultural Revolution, which was the depression period of children's films. The output of children's films in this period is even smaller, a total of 14 films, I feel that the children's films of this period are also deeply affected by the times, the political meaning is very strong, and the films produced are more formulaic and conceptual, just like the continuation of the basic style of socialist films, but the "Shining Red Star" born in this period is a different one, and the image of Pan Dongzi created by this film is impressive.
The Fourth Period (1979-1989)
The period of children's cinema at the beginning of the new century can also be called the eighties. This period entered the track of reform and opening up, also known as "the period of China's children's film creation taking off". There has been a qualitative leap in both quality and quantity, and in the past decade, more than seventy children's films have been made, an average of 7 per year. This period is also a new beginning for Chinese literature and art, with themes covering: campus, countryside, left-behind, social, science fiction and so on.
The Fifth Period (1990-2000)
This period is called children's film in the 1990s, which is a period of transition in Chinese literature and art, and it is also a period of transition in Chinese children's films. At this stage, the influence of film and television is also increasing, people are getting used to TV programs, and the Internet is gradually entering people's daily lives, but it is also people's broad vision, the choice of film types is also diversified, and children's movies are gradually unpopular. It is gratifying that with the transformation of society, children's films are also involved in more and more life, began to focus on daily life, and gradually moved to the international stage.
The Sixth Period (2000-present)
Children's films in the new century should be the most special existence, the government began to give subsidies, this period, with the help of the government, filmed a lot of children's films, but still in the trough, there is no big breakthrough in art, some directors and screenwriters are too utilitarian, do not pursue artistic quality, just to obtain government support funds, so the quality of children's films has dropped significantly...
Of course, there are some good works here, and this time to give an example - "My Partner and Me" was released in 2012
The film is the film debut of the famous TV series director Kong Sheng, director Kong Sheng is also a photographer, so there is no need to pick in terms of picture, wetlands, swans, reeds, ripples across the water, all show us a beautiful natural landscape. The film is very literary, telling the story of an autistic girl and a swan, with the girl's father as the main line, and then telling everyone the importance of harmony between people and the environment in the search for swans.
Little girl Lu Xiaohe because of her mother accidentally died in a car accident and suffered from autism, the father took his daughter to the place where he worked for many years, hoping to treat his daughter by changing the environment, the wind power survey station where his father worked was located in the Yellow River Delta, which was a transit station for the migration of the giant swan, Xiaohe also met the injured giant swan "Xiaoxue" there, and the swan slowly recovered under the care of Xiaohe, and Xiaohe gradually became cheerful. Unexpectedly, the swan was abducted, and Xiaohe and his father began a journey of "looking for geese"...
Compared with children's films in recent years, films are very outstanding in terms of cinematography, music, and editing, after all, directors are professional.
In the film, Xiaohe's care of the giant swan is the core clue of the film, animals have always been children's natural friends, the relationship between children and animals has always been an important theme of children's literature and children's films, however, the giant swan is a national second-level protected animal, which is prohibited by law, so there is an objective conflict between jurisprudence and human feelings in the film, after all, the children's world is not a paradise, and the rules of the adult world directly limit children's behavior.
An excellent children's film not only needs a touching storyline to attract children's interest in watching movies, but more importantly, it is more important to instill the correct outlook on life and values in children in watching movies. The biggest taboo in children's film creation is preaching, because preaching not only lacks persuasion and ornamentation, but also conflicts with the spirit of children's play, naughtiness and resistance.
It has been 8 years since the film was released, and it is gratifying that wild animals are getting more and more protection, but the development of children's films in china is worrying.
The famous educator Cai Yuanpei gave a speech on the current situation of the development of Chinese films, in which Cai Yuanpei said: "Those who win the film win the hearts of the people, those who win the hearts of the people win the world, and those who win the children get the future." "It can be seen that the educational function of the film is powerful, especially among primary and secondary school students, which will have a great impact."
Compared with the early excellent children's films in China, "My Partner and Me" has no fundamental transcendence, which can only be said to be a reproduction of the classic model, but this return is exactly what we are looking forward to, starting from the child-oriented position, we cannot only pay attention to the benefits of the theater, only in this way can Chinese children's films occupy an important place in the world film market.
Original text, figure network