But we can all see the arc of humanity, and these hot movies have different styles
In the first part of "Fengshen: Chaoge Fengyun", King Yin Shou of Shang was extremely eager for power in his heart, but he pretended to worship heaven and earth, be diligent and courteous in his appearance; In Oppenheimer, the protagonist combines the arrogance and narcissism of genius with the leftist and introspective spirit of intellectuals; In "All for One", the character's "all for one" can be portrayed as either the bravery of being trapped in prison and fighting for survival, or the despair and unwillingness of the gambler in their final battle; In the Yong'an Town Story Collection, the landlady and the female celebrity each have their own lives of disappointment. The screenwriter and director can be teammates in the same trench, or they can immediately turn against each other; In "A Fair Journey", the eulogy writer Wen Shan is persistent in his pursuit of inner self, which is not only a fortress of his uniqueness, but also a barrier that he cannot escape
The recent films that have been popular in major theaters across the country have different styles and genres. After leaving theaters, they bring to the audience the different aspects of human nature - human arrogance, human emptiness, human addiction, human self reflection and redemption. This is the multi-dimensional unity of human beings, and literary works such as movies have become a prism that reminds us to constantly reflect on these aspects.
Self and power
Upon careful analysis of these films, in "Fengshen Part 1: Chaoge Fengyun", the second prince Yin Shou designs to kill the old king and his brother, and ascends to the throne himself; When the wizard informed him that the Yin Shang Society was being punished by heaven, he pretended to be preparing to self immolate and offer sacrifices to the heavens, saving the people of the world from suffering, but showed no sincerity in implementing it; His "self" is completely enveloped by ambition and desire for power, which are inseparable and ultimately lead to the tragedy of killing feudal lords and poisoning the world.
Oppenheimer has no thirst for power, what he longs for is to master the truth; When the power to lead the team of scientists and build the "atomic bomb town" fell on his shoulders, he was full of energy, like the sun surrounded by people in a dazzling array of stars. However, his scientific rationality spirit helped him avoid falling into the quagmire of power, but instead maintained an objective examination of the contradictions between scientific development and public interest, and was ultimately hailed as the "Prometheus of America".
Programmer Pan Sheng in "All for One" hopes to be promoted but is snatched away from his position by a related party. In a fit of anger, he resigns on the spot and accepts high paying overseas employment. Unexpectedly, he falls into the dark trap of overseas fraudulent factories; Pan Sheng regards promotion as a form of recognition, which is understandable, but he does not realize that there are many other forms of recognition for a person, and life may not always be as desired; His arrogance and talent made him easily give up everything he already had.
Despite the varying degrees of power pursued by the aforementioned characters, the relationship between power and self is thought-provoking. When the self is occupied by the desire for power, it is a tragedy for both oneself and others, because it means that people are likely to seize public resources for their own use. Power represents the control and distribution of resources, and its core is the understanding of the essence of resources: behind the power of Yin Shou's "king of the world" was the responsibility to the common people; As the leader of the Manhattan Project, Oppenheimer bears the moral responsibility of a scientist as to where humanity will go after the successful development of the powerful atomic bomb; Pan Sheng possesses superb computer technology and programming abilities. When he uses these technologies to serve fraud groups, he is not only an accomplice, but also an embodiment and practitioner of evil; The creative autonomy of screenwriters and directors cannot be denied, but when they prioritize their own interests, the result of cooperation can only be disastrous; For Wen Shan, when his inner self persistence and imagination become a barrier, what he needs to do is to break down the barrier and bravely change himself, because refusing to change is actually refusing to acknowledge reality, because the real world we live in is constantly changing and developing... It can be said that having power means an achievement, whether it is the power to others or the power to choose for oneself; But indulging in power is a form of self corruption, which will inevitably harm oneself.
From politics, science, technology, literary and artistic creation to individual development, these films demonstrate to us that the relationship between power and self at each level is worthy of careful treatment, and the core lies in our understanding of the essence of resources.
True and False
"Fengshen Part 1: Chaoge Fengyun" is a magical masterpiece full of twists and turns and climaxes. The film is full of Chinese style humor and emotions, aesthetics and imagery. Along with "Journey to the West" and the animated series "The Great Sage", it has made commendable explorations for the film and television adaptation of mythological themes in China. This story is set in the ancient era of "Fengshen", with rich colors and a wild atmosphere. Yin Shou's ambition and tyranny do not appear false, but rather give the audience a sense of "fortunately, that era has already passed".
And "Oppenheimer" is a rich and three-dimensional biographical work, with director Christopher Nolan trying his best to showcase various aspects of the protagonist's personality: the spiritual crisis during his school years, the arrogance and self indulgence of a genius, the curiosity and moral conscience of intellectuals... At the end of the film, he portrays Oppenheimer's tragic life as a human sacrifice hated by petty people: Strauss, who was publicly ridiculed by Oppenheimer and suspected of speaking ill of himself in front of Einstein, organized the crime of Oppenheimer and held an unfair hearing, depriving him of his safety permit - in fact, he deprived Oppenheimer of his safety permit. Heimer subsequently obtained a pass to participate in major scientific research in the United States. The ending of the movie showcases the tragedy caused by the darkness of human nature, making it a moral fable. Many Nolan fans are dissatisfied with this, but conveying a moral fable through the tragic fate of genius is still worth it, I believe. Just as the court musician Salieri, who was jealous of Mozart in the movie "The Biography of Mozart," was ultimately sent to a madhouse, and Strauss, who was arrogant and narrow-minded, did not receive the position he longed for. This kind of warning and inspiration for good and evil is always necessary for us, who are easy to forget, right? This is the reason why literary works will never disappear from human society.
It is said to be based on tens of thousands of real fraud cases, and the story of the vicious and tightly organized fraud group is heart wrenching. However, there are several plot points in the story that have been criticized by netizens, including Ah Cai's release of Liang Anna at a critical moment, allowing her to escape and report to the police; When the head of the fraud group, Manager Lu, learned that it was Ah Cai who released Anna and exposed the base, he found a way to help him conceal it from his superiors. In the end, he entrusted his daughter to Pan Sheng. This sudden "human nature explosion" of the villain is comforting, but it clearly lacks necessary explanation and preparation before, which is a deficiency in the integrity of film art.
Compared to the indulgent portrayal of good and evil in commercial films, literary films lack some clear latitude and longitude in their depiction of good and evil and human nature, and add some hazy areas. However, not all hazy areas represent truth and credibility. In this regard, the fable technique of "The Story Collection of Yong'an Town" is actually more credible than "The Journey of the Introverted", which tells the story of the "Introverted". There are three stories in the "Yong'an Town Story Collection": the landlady who "waits alone", the female celebrity who "looks very beautiful", and the director and screenwriter who is in the "Pluto moment". Although there are many memes, tricks, and intertextualities that are truly understood by professionals in the film industry in the film - which makes the slogan on the poster "so funny that it doesn't look like a literary film" almost a mockery to ordinary audiences - this does not prevent us from understanding the thoughts of the beautiful and bored boss lady in the small town who was young and beautiful last year after the arrival of the film crew, as well as the changes and helplessness in interpersonal relationships that the female protagonist feels when she returns home as a big star; Directors and screenwriters who respectively enjoy rap and rock, their defense of their own musical taste reflects the trend of the younger generation to establish individuality in the circle of cultural products. From the landlady of a small town and a female celebrity to two screenwriters and directors trying to survive in the literary and artistic circles, this movie's description of the ecology inside and outside the film industry is somewhat humorous and humorous, as well as sincere, kind, and well wishes.
The opposite is true in "A Fair Journey". Hu Ge convincingly portrays an introverted and reserved male protagonist who relies on writing for a living. This image echoes the increasing trend of writing and freelance work in today's society, which is quite different from other male characters already on the screen: in his thirties, he achieved nothing as a screenwriter, but instead relied on writing eulogy to support himself. However, the identity of "eulogy writer" is questionable. The five people in the film who hired Wen Shan to write a eulogy are the business manager whose father passed away, the restaurant owner whose elder brother passed away, the parents of a internet celebrity who committed suicide, the artist Aunt Fang who was diagnosed with cancer and reserved a eulogy for herself three years in advance, and the entrepreneur who wrote a eulogy for colleagues who started their business together. From a rational perspective, it seems unnecessary for them to have someone write a eulogy, unless their eulogy is actually a biography. This makes their contact with Wen Shan based on a false context, which is difficult to convince - although the actors' performances can be described as relaxed and natural, commendable.
"A Fair Trip" also turns its gaze to itself, to the difficulties and reality of the artistic circle where the director is located. As the education level of the younger generation in China continues to improve and they enjoy an increasingly rich cultural life, such films are likely to increase in number to meet the needs of everyone to express their inner confusion and enhance communication with each other. From this perspective, the efforts of "Yong'an Town Story Collection" and "This Journey" to narrate the life of the literary and artistic circle in a more down-to-earth way are worthy of encouragement; And their respective problems also require each to bravely face them.
