preface
"What you see is what others want you to see." This classic line is from the movie "Fengshen".
Directed by director Wu Ershan and released in the summer of 2023, this is a film in the style of "mythological epic". It shows a new world view in the world of "Fengshen", which can be called the "ceiling" of domestic mythological films in terms of narrative mode and audio-visual performance.
With the fine portrayal of industrial films and the gorgeous imagination of mythological epic genre films, it interprets a period of fantasy history of ancient China and reproduces the ancient aesthetic characteristics of the Yin Shang era. The heroes in "Fengshen" are no longer illusory gods, but more humane gods, they no longer emphasize the power of gods, but focus on the growth and struggle of human beings, and the growth process of this kind of hero is easier for the audience to resonate.
1. A different "business king"
And the other characters in "Fengshen" are also innovative. Compared with the simple and face-painted character settings in traditional stories, this film combines modern people's general understanding of human beings, excavates the complexity of the characters themselves, and creates a more modern three-dimensional image.
For example, for the king of the ring, the film magnifies its heroic side. At the beginning of the movie, the battle of Jizhou, the rebels of Jizhou set fire to the fire with fire oil, and the king of Ji took the lead and rushed into the city of Jizhou, showing the personality charm of the king of Jizhou, which is breathtaking. The king in "Fengshen" is different from the absurd and unscrupulous king in previous film and television works, and this time the king is more vividly and vividly brave.
Force, ambition, and brutality made the audience jump out of the inherent aesthetic mode and have a new understanding of the king. The "Proton Brigade" is not mentioned in the novel "Romance of the Gods" and the script "The Tale of King Wu and the Peace", while the "Proton Brigade" is a powerful force fictional in the movie "The First Part of the Gods".
The commander of this powerful army is none other than Yin Shou. Yin Shou put on a handsome posture and led a team of young athletes to charge. At the beginning of the movie's attack on Jizhou, a visually striking picture was used to depict the wild beauty of Yin Shou and his athletes.
The hideous beauty of the ancient Yin Shang is integrated with the youthful and vigorous beauty of the athletes, and the symbols such as gluttony and animal face patterns of the Yin Shang era shine brightly on the helmets and armor of the athletes. Rather than simply giving these athletes an ancient and modern aesthetic form, the film injects a more contemporary worldview and values into their inner temperament.
Director Wu Ershan has a clear positioning of the worldview of young actors in the film. In "Fengshen Part 1", there are two characters with very different personalities. At the beginning of the movie, in the Battle of Jizhou, Yin Shou, as a hero who was not afraid of death, was placed in the center of the picture, although his psychology has begun to be distorted, but he still relied on a positive image to obtain the aura of a hero.
The soldiers of the Proton Brigade are all warriors trained by Yin Shou, and Yin Shou's bravery and wit have been integrated into the body and soul of this proton. Only by abandoning and filtering out the poison of Yin Shou's soul can we get rid of the role of follower and imitator. Longde Hall forced his son to kill his father, so that Yin Shou turned from a god of war to a demon god. This devil divides people, seduces people, and persecutes people even more. This demon put the hostages to the absolute test.
The test of Longde Hall was even more difficult and confusing, and even a smart person like Ji Fa only understood it under the guidance of his father. Ji Chang inspired Ji Fa and said, "It doesn't matter who gave birth to you. What matters is who you are. His father's words woke Ji Fa up, and he changed from a follower of Yin Shou to an opponent of him, and embarked on the growth process of a hero.
2. Daji: The former "red face and troubled water"
In "Romance of the Gods", Nuwa sent a fox demon to confuse the king. This is called karma, and it is used to explain what the king did. "Fengshen Part 1" abandons this interpretation, but takes Yin Shou's contribution to the Shang Dynasty as the main line, and outlines the psychological process of Yin Shou's desire for power from the perspective of the gradually expanding desire for power.
With such an astonishing record, coupled with the help of the demon fox, Yin Shou believes that with his strength, he is fully capable of fighting for royal power and becoming an all-powerful king. Su Daji has always been a "fox spirit" who demagogues and aids abuse, and it was Su Daji's demagogy that led to the demise of the Shang Dynasty.
In "Fengshen", Su Daji's image and setting have changed, although he is still a "fox spirit", he was rescued by King Su after being sealed, and at the end of the movie, Su Daji resurrected him in order to repay Yin Shou, the Shang King killed by Ji Fa. King Su and King Su are more of a cooperative relationship, wanting to use the power of the fox fairy to maintain the Shang Dynasty and realize his ambitions.
"Fengshen" gives Su Daji greater autonomy and autonomy in the plot, she is no longer a passive "supporting role", but has independent wisdom and courage, and dares to take the initiative to change her fate. This departure from the traditional stylized image breaks the audience's original expectation horizon, allowing the audience to understand the character more deeply, thus inspiring stronger aesthetic expectations.
Before Su Daji was possessed by the demon fox, she was the daughter of Su Hu of Jizhou, a little princess, and she was possessed by the demon fox, which was a tragedy. Neither the original book nor the movie extracted the elements of human nature from Daji, a mortal, and Su Daji became a "scourge water", which harmed Yin Shou and the entire Shang Dynasty. However, the film still rewrites the "red face and troubled water" to some extent.
Daji took a drop of Yin Shou's blood at the cost of "tasting blood and reading the heart", which shows that Yin Shou's own desires have taken on a trace of demonism and demonic nature. In the movie, you can see the scene where Yin Shou takes the initiative to release his evil nature everywhere, so that the ladyboy relationship between Yin Shou and Daji has also changed from a one-way charm to a two-way alliance.
Such a relationship is not enough to describe it with "red face and trouble". Such an adaptation, the spiritual fusion between people and demons, has obtained a deeper interpretation than the original work.
3. The shaping of young heroes
"Fengshen Part 1" first describes the ability of teenagers to distinguish between right and wrong, and then tells the story of the victory of good over evil. In a clip of the battle in Jizhou in the film, Ji Fa led the proton brigade into the sea of fire, and the camera always followed Ji Fa.
Ji Fa fell off his horse, fell into the sea of fire, stumbled, looked at the fight in all directions, the sound of horses' hooves buzzing in his ears, the heat wave brought by the sea of fire made him dizzy, the camera turned to his face, at this moment, he was full of fear of war. Subsequently, Ji Fa threw away his cloak and helmet and prepared for battle.
The camera follows Ji Fa as he rushes into the sea of fire, trying to save his teammates, but his teammates are killed by an arrow. Here, the audience can see Ji Fa's various reactions, truly experience Ji Fa's joys, sorrows, and sorrows, and experience the cruelty and cruelty of war. "The Battle of the Four Marquis of Longde Palace" is the most exciting scene of "Fengshen Part 1", although there are no gorgeous fight scenes, but it is full of emotions and interprets human nature to the fullest.
In "Fengshen Part 1", Yin Shou changed his image of a faint monarch in the past and became a "PUA master". King Su was brutal, his plan to kill his father was discovered, Ji Chang predicted that he would die at the hands of his relatives, so King Su ordered someone to kill his father. The king kept saying the words "seek justice", and made a tempting condition, "Those who kill their fathers can be replaced." ”
Bo Yi Kao rushed to Chaoge City to seek treasure for Ji Chang, and feasted with King Su and Daji on the deer platform. The drizzle on the deer platform was particularly cool, Yin Shou played the drum and danced for Daji, and Bo Yi Kao was for the two of them. Although this play has no lines, only singing and dancing, it is full of lingering sympathy between Yin Shou and Daji.
As soon as the camera turned, Yin Shou and Daji appeared on the screen, unabashedly trying to hide the success of their plot. Unlike Bo Yi Kao, when he whistled, he never looked up at Yin Shou and Daji. Until Daji stretched his legs, gasped for breath, and listened to the heavy wheezing sound of the King of Xu, Bo Yikao still lowered his head, immersed in the rhythm.
At the end of the story, Daji is bathed in the rain, and Bo Yikao kneels in the rain and gives his life. In the end, the picture freezes on the body of Bo Yi Kao playing the flute, indicating his end. The portrayal of Ji Fa in the movie is based on his identity as a hostage in the history of the Shang Dynasty.
From the very beginning, he was a follower of the King of the Rings and was full of adoration and adoration for the King, but as the true nature of the King of the Rings was revealed, his heart began to waver. In the movie, the King of the Rings orders the proton to kill his own father, an order that causes the hostages to be dissatisfied.
Ji Fa's father was imprisoned by the king of Zhou, and his brother was killed, and the king of Zhou rose up to resist, assassinated the king of Shang, escaped from the country of Qi, and prepared to overthrow the Shang Dynasty. Ji Fa is a kind and simple person, but reality forces him to change himself and set him on the path of a hero.
Epilogue:
"Fengshen Part 1" brings the audience a new world of "Fengshen", with magnificent visual and auditory feelings, as well as unique oriental aesthetics, bringing Chinese into an epic world.