Telling Chinese sports stories vividly with light and shadow (light and film industry)

　　Zhang Huiyu

　　"People's Daily" (20th edition on January 20, 2022)

　　The Winter Olympics are about to open in Beijing, and the new Olympic spirit of "faster, higher, stronger - more united" is once again ignited in China.

　　From the first Chinese sports movie "Sports Queen" shot by Sun Yu in 1934 to today, sports have always meant a healthy personality and vitality.

Sports culture not only represents the modern spirit of pursuing higher, faster, stronger, and constantly breaking the limits of human beings, but also a national spirit of never giving up, persevering, changing from the weak to the strong, and developing and progressing.

　　In 1957, the third-generation director Xie Jin filmed "Women's Basketball No. 5", borrowing the stark contrast between the two generations of basketball players in the new and old China, showing that the new society makes athletes no longer discriminated against by team owners and foreigners, becoming The process of having a career with personal dignity.

Through the young generation of athletes overcoming their personal thoughts, the film combines sports training with winning glory for the country, giving sports-themed movies a patriotic undertone.

A number of excellent sports-themed films such as "Sisters on Ice" in 1959, "Female Divers" in 1964, and "Swallows Fly" in 1979 not only reflected the liberation of women after the founding of New China, but also presented individual sports. Integration with collective culture.

In 1981, the fourth-generation director Zhang Nuanxin filmed "Shagu", which tells the story of the main women's volleyball player, Shagu, who overcame pain and persisted in training, but did not win the championship in the end. the spirit of.

　　In the 1980s, the "five consecutive championships" spirit of the women's volleyball team inspired generations of Chinese people to catch up in the era of reform and opening up. Chinese sports athletes actively participated in international events such as the Asian Games and the Olympic Games. Every major sports event inspires patriotism and patriotism. Opportunity for fighting spirit.

China successfully hosted the Summer Olympics in 2008 and will host the Winter Olympics this year. China has made significant contributions to the development of world sports.

　　Many sports films shot in recent years have become cultural carriers for telling the stories of China in the new era.

Among them, the more representative ones include "The Climber", which showed the Chinese mountaineering team climbing Mount Everest in 2019, and "Win the Championship" in 2020, which showed the re-emergence of the Chinese women's volleyball team.

Both films reflect the struggle stories and patriotism of athletes from different eras.

　　The film "The Climber" is based on the real history of the Chinese mountaineering team's two successful summits of Mount Everest in the 1960s and 1970s. Show China's feat of climbing the world's highest peak with its national strength in a special era.

For the veteran mountaineers Fang Wuzhou, Qu Songlin and Jeb who climbed Mount Everest in 1960, the first time they climbed Mount Everest because they failed to leave video data, they could not be recognized by the international mountaineering community, which made them unable to let go. heart knot.

Since then, no matter how much the times and personal circumstances have changed, they have always believed that they can still climb Mount Everest. This is from Fang Wuzhou's more than ten years of maintaining physical training and Qu Songlin guarding the foot of Mount Everest and collecting meteorological data day and night. see.

This unyielding will not only comes from their personal beliefs, but more importantly, it relies on scientific organization and strict training, which is backed by national strength.

Climbing Mount Qomolangma is not only a competitive sense of unyielding and unwilling to admit defeat, but also a defense of national honor and national sovereignty.

The film combines personal emotion with collectivism, showing the spirit of tenacious struggle for the motherland.

　　"Winning the Championship" takes the Chinese women's volleyball team as the protagonist, showing the glorious history of the women's volleyball team from the 1980s, when the women's volleyball team rushed out of Asia and went to the world to win five consecutive championships, to the continuous downturn of the 1990s, and then to the new century. story.

Volleyball is a collective sport, which requires both individual qualities and teamwork. It is the spirit of the old women's volleyball team to train hard and win glory for the country.

The women's volleyball training ground in the 1980s condensed the history of the old women's volleyball team's hard work, blood and sweat; and Coach Lang Ping's scientific training, personalized motivation, and pre-war mobilization to let go of the burden showed the spirit of the old women's volleyball team and the quality of the new women's volleyball team. fusion.

It can be seen from this that Chinese sports stories in the new era not only defend national honor, but also respect the development of individual differences, which is a more inclusive and diverse patriotism.

At the end of 2021, a documentary "Endless Climbing" will be released, which tells the story of Xia Boyu, the first Chinese mountaineer who successfully climbed Mount Everest with a prosthetic limb.

After experiencing the unbearable amputation of his legs and the torture of cancer, Xia Boyu finally realized his dream of reaching the top of Mount Everest at the age of 69, and created the miracle of reaching the top of Mount Everest.

　　In recent years, China has achieved innovative development of sports culture.

Combining competitive sports, commercial sports and mass fitness, a variety of modern sports have been introduced into China, such as marathon, mountaineering, racing and other extreme sports are also very popular among Chinese people. Campus sports attach great importance to "complete personality, first in sports". Spirit.

In the progress and development of human society, we need a tenacious and hard-working sportsmanship.

Sports competitions have an end, success or failure, and the sportsmanship of pursuing dreams and breaking the limit has no end.

This kind of fighting spirit that is not afraid of difficulties, risks, and bravely climbs the peak is the charm of sports and sports-themed movies.

　　(The author is a researcher at the School of Journalism and Communication, Peking University)