Jinyang.com reporter Hu Guangxin
“Let us roar up the boat, pushing the waves away…” The classic nursery rhyme “Let us roar up the oars” nourishes the hearts of generations of Chinese people. This song is the theme song of the first campus children’s feature film in New China, “The Flowers of the Motherland”. “The Flowers of the Motherland” was filmed in 1955. It is the first film in New China that reflects campus life. Since then, the student group of New China has officially appeared on the big screen. From the wandering children who never continued to eat for three meals in the old society to the successor of socialism in the early days of the founding of New China, from college students full of idealism in the 1980s to boys and girls with full personality and comprehensive development in the new century, in the 70 years since the founding of New China, the vast number of literary and artistic workers have used their lens to record the growth of every Chinese student.
“Sanmao Wandering”
“Flowers of the Motherland”
A. From “Sanmao Wandering” to “Flowers of the Motherland”BabaylanDo”:
We are the successors of socialism
At the beginning of the founding of New China, director Yan Gong directed two children’s films: “Sanmao Wandering” in 1949 and “Flowers of the Motherland” in 1955. These two films just reflect the huge changes in the situation of children in the old and new China.
“Sanmao” was barefoot, thin, uncovered, and had a poor Sanmaohai on her big head. Although he is a fictional character, he is also a microcosm of millions of wandering children in the old society: he was supposed to study and go to school, but he was left on the streets and could not continue his life. Yan Gong recalled in his autobiography that he and screenwriter Yang Hansheng disguised themselves as they collected information, and saw with their own eyes that the frozen child was thrown into the car by the “corpse collection team”. When casting, Yan Gong insisted on choosing a child actor with similar life experiences to the role. Therefore, except for Wang Longji, who plays the protagonist “Sanmao”, the other three young actors are really wandering children.
The Story of Sanmao Wandering was already planned to start filming before the founding of New China. At the end of May 1949, Shanghai was liberated, Yan Gong and Zhao Ming continued to complete the filming, and added a filming: the People’s Liberation Army entered the city, Sanmao and his wandering children joined the yangko dance team for the celebration parade, and the film ended on their smiling faces. Yan Gong commented on this ending: “This ending is real and in the situation where the whole country is just liberated and the whole country is jubilant.Wish. “
Sanmao Wandering” is the first children’s film officially released in New China, written on the homepage of the Republic: At the end of September 1949, on the eve of the “Famous State Founding Ceremony”, “Sanmao Wandering” was first released in several theaters in Shanghai and was released nationwide in October, causing a great sensation.
Six years later, “The Flowers of the Motherland” directed by Yan Gong created a completely different image of children from Sanmao. The protagonist of the film is students from Class 3, Class 5, Beijing Primary School. They studied on the clean campus, with kind teachers and friendly classmates. The most memorable thing in the film is the scene where the children rowed and sang in Beihai Park: the lake is sparkling, the scenery is beautiful around them; the children are energetic, and the red scarf on their chests welcomes them. href=”https://comicmov.com/”>CinemaThe wind flutters, and the youth and innocence are bathed in the sunshine of New China, with vitality and innocence spilling out of the screen.
The Flowers of the Motherland is a pioneering film. Since then, “The Flowers of the Motherland” has become synonymous with childrenKomiks, and laid the tone for campus-themed works in the next twenty years. This metaphor also aptly reflects the relationship between the collective and the individual: the motherland is the “soil”, href=”https://comicmov.com/”>BabaylanChildren are “flowers”, and no flower can leave the soil. Just as in “The Flowers of the Motherland”, Jiang Lin (played by Li Xixiang) is naughty and Yang Yongli (played by Zhang Yunying) is willful and willful. With the help of squadron leader Liang Huiming (played by Zhao Weiqin), they finally correct their character shortcomings and become qualified successors of socialism.
The campus movies of this period are full of collectivism, as Yan Gong said: “The film reflects the yearning and praise of ordinary people for beauty, harmony and friendship… This is the mentality, ideals and wishes of the society at that time. ”
The vibrant female college students in “Female College Student Dormitory”
Long Live Youth”
B. From “Long Live Youth” to “Female College Student Dormitory”: The light of idealism will never die
With the resumption of the college entrance examination in 1977, the door of higher education has once again opened to the whole society. Among the “New Three” (Note: After the resumption of the college entrance examination, there are many people who have been changed by the college entrance examination: Zhang Yimou, an employee of Xianyang Cotton Textile Factory, was admitted to the Photography Department of Beijing Film Academy; his classmate Gu Changwei, who worked as an unemployed vagrant for two years before the college entrance examination; Yi Zhongtian, who had been on the “Rich Chinese Writers List” several times, was just a Komiks Ordinary middle school teachers…
The 1980s was a reconstructive era. Everything revived, and intellectuals were full of hope for the future. Idealism became one of the themes repeatedly expressed by campus movies at that time.
In 1983, Wang Meng’s novel “Long Live Youth” was brought to the screen, triggering a nostalgic heat. The novel was created in the 1950s and told the story of progressive students helping students with poor backgrounds to correctly understand themselves and return to the collective embrace. The idealistic temperament revealed by the story resonates with the times, just as the December 1983 issue of “Literary Review” commented: “Youths in the 1980s were against When thinking about history and exploring life, it is really a great thing that is dominated by the internal laws of historical development of history and the internal laws of the young people in the 1950s. ”
Cinema was also released in 1983. The film “Female College Student Dormitory”, which describes university life in the 1980s. The film was filmed at Wuhan University and Zhejiang University, telling the story of five girls with different personalities and backgrounds in the university dormitory. Director Shi Shujun lived in Wuhan University for more than a month. Every time the script was revised, she handed over to students and teachers of Wuhan University to discuss and revise. Because of this, she successfully condensed the spirit of college students of the times in “Female College Student Dormitory”: “I was based on the passion of Wuhan University students at that time and the question of her own responsibilities, href=”https://comicmov.com/”>Cinema‘s criticism of outdated educational ideas and all aspects of their campus life have rewritten the script, and 80% of the plays have been rewritten. ”
The campus life described in the movie still seems to be very friendly: the school starts and welcomes the new year, visits the library, New Year’s Day party… In these seemingly sparse and ordinary daily life, the light of idealism shines. Shi Shujun filmed “The Dormitory of Female College Students” as a youth film. She has been trying to capture the true state of young people in the era: their relationship with their teachers and parents, their friendship and contradictions, their own ideals and pursuits…
In her opinion, the energy that intellectuals have been suppressed for a long time was released in the 1980s. “They talk about national affairs with their ideals and feel that they have a great responsibility… This kind of thing is very precious, and I have to keep immersing them Babaylan is revealed throughout the work.” In the film, Shi Shujun expressed his expectations for the college student group through a scene of a university club discussion with the help of the male protagonist Lan Wei: “Some people say that contemporary college students are a question mark; while we contemporary college students say that we should look at society with question marks and think with our own minds. We must not only think, but also strive and create.”
“Female College Student Dormitory”
“Missing Female Middle School Student”
“Down C at the age of Seventeen”
C. From “Missing Female Middle School Student” to “Don’t Cry at the Age of Seventeen”:
Love is the only way to grow up
In the 1980s and 1990s, female directors with fresh and delicate directing style became the main force in the creation of campus film and television works. BabaylanShi Shujun, Huang Shuqin, Peng Xiaolian, Lu Xiaoya and other female directors tell stories from a unique female perspective. “Love” was once a secret topic, and it also surfaced in campus film and television works at this time.
Shi Shujun’s “The Missing Female Middle School Student” is one of the best. The movie tells the story of Wang Jia, a female middle school student who was in adolescence, who had a crush on Lan Bo, a college student at the Conservatory of Music. Shi Shujun delicately expresses the freshness, anxiety and pleasure of a girl when she first met love, and the slight deviance of her behavior. She still seems avant-garde.
From this movie, we can clearly see the contradictory attitudes of people towards early love in that era: secret love caused Wang Jia’s grades to drop significantly. When the mother learned that her daughter was thinking, she was furious, which led to Wang Jia running away from home. But this relationship is just a small episode in life: the passionate secret love comes and goes quickly. After a summer vacation, Wang Jia has put Rampo behind her and her life is back on track.
Although there are various limitations of the times, the valuable thing about “The Missing Girl Middle School Student” is to face the emotions of teenagers and regard love as a part of growth. As Liu Yu, the actor who plays Wang Jia, said in an interview Babaylan: “Middle school students should understand love and should also withstand the challenge of early love. Don’t you want to be a strong person? Strongness in this aspect is also very important.” With the openness and confidence of social atmosphere, the image of students in campus movies is no longer stereotyped. The girl in “The Missing Female Middle School Student” is vivid and lively: she is playing by the beach in a swimsuit, stealing her mother’s cosmetics and high heels,Begin to think about the future and life and death…
From this, a group of campus youth group dramas came into being: the TV series “The Flower Season of Sixteen” in 1989, the movie “The Flower Season of Sixteen” in 1997, and the TV series “Don’t Cry at the Seventeen”, and the TV series “The Sky of Eighteen” in 2002…
At this time, campus film and television works abandoned the perspective of adults and began to restore the original appearance of youth. “Early Love” naturally became an indispensable part of these works. The 1989 TV series “The Sixteen-Year-Old Flower Season” seemed quite bold at the time: “The Missing Female Middle School Student” only showed a one-way secret love that ended without success; the class leader Bai Xue and the top student Ouyang Yanyan, the “young boy killer” Chen Feier and Xinjiang boy Yuanye have a mutual affection. The drama was very popular after it was broadcast. The letters from fans received by the crew were calculated in sacks.
In 1997, “Don’t Cry at the Age of Seventeen” became the youth enlightenment of many post-80s generations. At that time, Hao Lei had not made art films, and Li Chen was not a “big black bull”. They were just the innocent Jian Ning and Yang Yuling in “Seventeen-year-old Don’t Cry”. The two “school masters” appreciate each other and gradually developed feelings for each other; but for the sake of the future, they chose to restrain themselves. This fresh and natural TV series is not just love, the diligent and self-encouraging Jian Ning, the smart and capable Yang Yuling, the rebellious Raymond, the quiet and introverted Xiaodan… The audience and this group of high school students with different personalities experience their studies, their feelings, the ups and downs of the future, and grow up in injuries.
“The Missing Female Middle School Student”
“Hello Old Time”
“To Our Youth”
D. From “To Youth” to “The Best Us”: The campus complex that touched generations
The film and television market in the new century is booming, and the forms of campus topics are more diverse. In 2001, the whirlwind of the Taiwanese idol drama “Meteor Garden” swept across Asia, subverting the audience’s inherent impression of campus film and television works: the characters in the play are fashionable, prosperous, and have a bold personality, and the landscape of the adult world is transplanted to students.ef=”https://comicmov.com/”>Cinema. Commercial youth idol dramas such as “Red Apple Paradise” and “Looking at Meteor Shower Together” have also begun to appear in mainland China, becoming an important part of popular culture in the new century.
These works have strong imitation traces, but it is precisely because of the exploration of the first decade of the new century that the prosperity of the second decade of youth films has been created. The commercial era of mainland youth films began in 2013. This year, films such as “To Our Youth That Will Be Away”, “Chinese Partners”, “Tiny Times”, “Youth”, and “City College Entrance Examination” were released one after another. The number of youth films has exploded, and the box office has achieved great success: “To Us Youth That Will Fare”, “Chinese Partners” and “Tiny Times” have squeezed into the top ten of the annual box office list; “To Us That Will Fare Fare” has a box office of 719 million yuan, surpassing high-cost blockbusters such as “Pacific Rim” and “Di Renjie’s God Capital Dragon King” and ranked third, setting an example of “making big with small profits”.
After 2013, mainland youth films gradually formed their own unique style. Movies such as “To Youth”, “Chinese Partners”, and “Soon of the Year” have a “nostalgic style”. These works can be regarded as a response to former campus movies: most of the stories start from campus in the 1980s and 1990s, telling the changes that young people have experienced from campus to society. The world outside the “ivory tower” is far more complicated than imagined. The realization of ideals and the perfection of love are not easy to obtain. In these works, the once energetic students experience disillusionment, cheering up, and starting again, waving goodbye to their youthful self. This narrative full of youthful sentimental touched the hearts of the “post-70s” and “post-80s”.
After 2015, campus works targeting the audience of “post-90s” and “post-00s” began to appear. Unlike previous youth films, most of these works take a fresh and natural route, without the exaggeration of idol dramas at the beginning of the century, nor the cruelty of nostalgic films. This batch of works is like an evolutionary version of campus group dramas: a large number of newcomers in the film and television industry who are similar to their age are used to restore campus life.
The difference is that the vague love elements back then have now become the main plot. Geng Geng and Yu Huai from “The Best of Us”, Chen Xiaoxi and Jiang Chen from “To Our Simple Little Beauty”, Yu Zhouzhou and Lin Yang from “Hello, Old Times”… These works have spent a lot of writing to describe the youthful and sweetness of campus romance, leading the audience back to the beautiful youth.
According to statistics from the China Film Distribution and Screening Association, the average age of movie audiences has dropped from 25.7 years old in 2009 to 21.5 years old in 2012. The younger audience of the film and television audience and the relatively relaxed scale of youth themes have led to the popularity of youth films. A post on the 2013 People’s Daily’s overseas version of CinemaDuring the interview, Yin Hong, a professor at Tsinghua University and director of the China Film Association, predicted: “Youth films will definitely become an important creative type in movies.”
This year, the movie version of “The Best of Us” achieved a box office record of over 400 million yuan. The series “To Us Warm Hour” scored as high as 8.0 on Douban. Campus youth works are in full swing. What surprises will they bring in the future? Let’s wait and see.
“The Best Us”
[The Secret of the Times]
Students in each period have their own “password of the Times”. Which of the following objects will evoke your youthful memory?
●Red Scarf
Red Scarf and Young Pioneers were common symbols of campus movies in the 1950s and 1960s. This is a symbol of progress. It represents that the protagonist of the film is already a qualified successor of socialism: Xiaohua, the protagonist in “Flowers” witted the red scarf to avoid major traffic accidents; in “Blessings for Children”, the poor child Zhang Huaguo href=”https://comicmov.com/”>Komiks became cheerful and brave due to the infection of the Young Pioneers; the ending of “Flowers of the Motherland” is that primary school students complete the enrollment ceremony in Beihai Park…
“Flowers of Flowers”
Guitar Singing
A “folk style” emerged on campus in the 1980s and 1990s, and swiping chords with the guitar, becoming the most representative scenery of this era. Many film and television works describing the lives of students back then have guitar singing scenes: In “The Missing Girl Middle School Student”, Wang Jia’s father met a group of college students singing on the train with a guitar; in “The Year of the Year”, Chen Xun, played by Peng Yuyan, sang with a guitar at a campus party, fascinating a group of girls; in the comedy “Charlotte’s Troubles”, Charlotte, a high school student in the 1990s played by Shen Teng, became a campus celebrity with guitar singing…
“You, the deskmate”
●Chinese school uniforms
Lose and fat, single styles, magical color matching, smoothing out the difference between men and women… Chinese school uniforms have been criticized for being “too ugly”, and some even say that “school uniforms ruin the youth of Chinese people.” However, Chinese-style school uniforms have now become the youthful memory of the “post-80s” and “post-90s”. Campus film and television works such as “Soon of the Year”, “The Best of Us”, “Hello, Old Times”, and “You, Deskmates”, all have allowed actors to wear school uniforms. Netizens who once thought that school uniforms were too ugly finally discovered: the ugly ones may not be the school uniforms, but us.