The most important discussion around "China Strange Story" actually still falls on the word "China". People marvel, praise and nostalgia for the so-called traditional Chinese aesthetics and animation style, and as a work of Shanghai Film Studio, this A layer of meaning becomes more prominent.
Anyone who knows a little bit about the history of modern Chinese animation knows that in the 1950s and 1960s, Shanghai Fine Arts Studio produced "The Proud General", "Little Tadpoles Looking for Mom", "Havoc in the Sky", "Nezha Trouble the Sea" and " Long and short films such as "Three Monks" have pushed Chinese animation to the pinnacle, and it has also shown its style internationally.
The famous Japanese animation director Hayao Miyazaki once admitted that he was influenced by the animations of Shanghai Film Studio.
However, with the development of the times and the passage of time, Chinese animation seems to have entered a lost road after its peak, walking in people's helplessness, expectation and disappointment.
It is precisely against this background that we can understand why "China Strange Story" has aroused people's strong interest and attention.
First of all, it explains and shows the audience what it is doing in advance through various PV promotions, and the core point is actually precisely the "exploration" proposed by the first director of Shanghai Film Studio, Te Wei, more than 60 years ago. The Road to National Style".
Therefore, on the one hand, they chose "Qi Tan", a story type with a strong traditional meaning, on the other hand, they also returned to the so-called Chinese elements in its form of expression, and inherited their own traditions, combining paper-cutting, shadow play, Chinese painting, puppets, Origami and other art forms to create a unique "art film".
Some critics refer to the works of Shanghai Film Studio as the "Chinese school" in animation films. Its perfect integration of traditional art forms and modern technology, as well as the content of old bottles of new wine, make this kind of works exude their own unique characteristics. Temperament and charm.
The first two episodes of "China Strange Story" ("Little Monster's Summer" and "Goose Goose") were well received by audiences and critics for having the above elements.
Especially "Little Monster's Summer", its traditional ink-and-wash images with appropriate shades combined with wonderful and simple stories make this short film a perfect harmony and is very popular; while "Goose Goose Goose" is more director Hu Rui's own temperament and thoughts, in his behind-the-scenes footage, Hu Rui also explained his own work, whether it is the traditional Chinese ghosts in his stories, or in the form of expression and expression, he is also exploring a kind of "Chinese style" style.
Perhaps it is precisely because of this that "Goose Goose Goose" has brought rich thinking and interpretation space to the audience. The support of a "less is more" modernist design concept itself has endowed "empty/nothing" with a strong Complexity.
But even so, if we pay a little attention to Hu Rui's explanation of why his characters have distinct dark circles, he mentioned that he was influenced by Gothic art, and dark circles would make the characters appear more gloomy and sad.
The reference of this form of artistic expression not only did not destroy the so-called "Chinese style" form and style of the whole, but also perfectly improved the spirit and state of mind of the characters that the director hoped to express.
Therefore, we will find a problem that has been neglected when talking about "China Strange Story", that is, the so-called "Chinese style" or "ethnic style" itself is not so much a modern application, transformation and transformation of tradition, but rather a A fusion of "gathering the strengths of a hundred schools of thought".
The "Hundred Schools" here are not only traditional ghost stories, novels and the system of gods and ghosts, or art forms such as Chinese painting, shadow puppetry, and paper-cutting, but must also be combined with modern animation technology and excellent stories.
Otherwise, we can only build a car behind closed doors in the end, and it is difficult to make new breakthroughs.
With the popularity of CG, three-rendering and second-level technologies in modern animation production, many traditional animation production methods have begun to be marginalized.
As Hayao Miyazaki expressed in an interview, although he is still adhering to the traditional hand-drawn animation production mode, the convenience of modern technology and its strong richness will eventually make the former a niche.
And it is precisely because of this that we have an intimacy with Hayao Miyazaki's animation in a modern CG animation.
The disappearance of paintbrush traces in animation and the anthropomorphism of animation form have brought about earth-shaking changes in this type of film and television art, and the audience's aesthetic taste and emotional experience have also changed along with it.
"China Strange Story" just captures people's nostalgia for the past glory, as well as the longing for "new things" when CG animation is all the rage.
This point is preceded by Netflix's "Love Dead" series.
To a large extent, we can see that "Chinese Strange Tan" and "Love Dead Machine" are comparable. First of all, they both belong to the collection of works. You will see rich stories and interesting artistic expressions in the collection.
And many works in "Love Dead Machine" are also breaking through or exploring new animation possibilities. They are very distinctive in many aspects such as production technology, expression form and story, such as "Witness" and "Hunting" in the first season. Pleasure" and "Zima's Works", "Gibaro" in the third season, etc.
Although we have only seen the first three episodes of "Chinese Strange Tan" at the moment, they all have their own characteristics in terms of the form of expression chosen and the content of the story. Based on the posters revealed in the next few episodes, we can also guess that it must be There will be richer forms of expression.
In the discussion about the third episode "Lin Lin", many opinions focused on the story and concept itself on the one hand, and on the other hand, more discussions focused on whether the story was "Chinese style".
Because compared to the previous two short films, "Lin Lin" uses CG technology and uses a lot of modern instruments and music types in the soundtrack, so the overall feeling of this short film seems to be less "Chinese + strange".
In this kind of discussion, we will find some typical prejudices, that is, "Chinese Tales" can only be "Chinese", and what is "Chinese" in terms of expression, style, and even story types are all essentialized. , leading to a very narrow understanding of national style.
In the discussion about "Lin Lin", we will find that such concepts appear frequently, and even aroused the resonance and echo of many people in the discussion on Douban about this episode.
Such views are obviously problematic.
In the view of Ma Jiuyue, the soundtrack director of "Lin Lin", musical instruments serve specific stories, emotions and intentions. They are first of all tools.
Therefore, when composing the soundtrack of "Lin Lin", Ma Jiuyue used different musical instruments according to different characters, stories and scenes. At the same time, he also used Western instruments, such as orchestral music, electronics and synthesizers, etc. to express the fighting scenes and the feeling of psychedelic dizziness after Lin Lin accidentally ate... From here we can see A perfect work does not focus on the independent characteristics of a certain part, but more importantly, how to perfectly integrate different tools, forms and types to create a unique work of art.
From the exploration of "Love Dead Machine" to the current exploration of Shanghai Film Studio, what they are facing are all about creativity, rather than something that is likely to be essentially reduced to a superficial symbol or image.
Chen Liaoyu, the chief director of "Chinese Strange Tan", has expressed his views on what is traditional, what is a "strange tale" and what is a "monster". In his opinion, traditional is not just some specific symbols or appearances , it is more a form of expression, temperament and spirit; and "demons" are not just the mountain goblins in traditional ghost stories, like aliens in science fiction, little monsters in alleys, and all "human beings". Unknown imagination" can be included.
Here, both "tradition" and "Fantastic Tan" have been re-deconstructed, shaped and inherited through the modern prism, so we can really see the colorful "Chinese Strange Tan".
The short film "Happy Hunting" in the first season of "Love Dead Machine" is regarded as a work with Dongfeng charm, whether it is from the story - vixen, or the form of expression - the fusion of hand-painted and CG styles, both show A kind of "Oriental temperament" that people are familiar with or imagined.
The complexity of this story not only involves East/West, colonized/colonized, nature/industry, and woman/male, it also offers us an Orientalist perspective.
And when we look back at "Chinese Strange Story" under this reminder, whether there is also a hidden self-Orientalism in it is a question worth thinking about.
Just like the ideology behind many discussions about "Lin Lin" not being "Chinese" enough, this kind of self-Orientalism not only fails to truly solve the power operation from the eyes of others, but further sinks into it, becoming the An important element of the Orientalist gaze.
In this regard, we may be able to compare Hayao Miyazaki's animation works. Although the old man has always followed the traditional animation production methods and told those strange and meaningful stories, his works are no matter in the form of expression. In terms of content, they are not limited to "Japan", but often have a strong universality.
Perhaps it is precisely because of this that his story can be accepted by more people. Even though the Oscar-winning "Spirited Away" is full of so-called "Japanese-style" monsters and scenes, its attractiveness is still The universal emotion and intention shown in its story.
Stories like "Porco Rosso" and "Howl's Moving Castle" are completely "foreign" in Miyazaki's works, but they still perfectly make everyone emotional for the anti-war and friendship in them .
The reason why people have such empathy for "The Summer of Little Monsters" is not only because of its painting style, but also is closely related to the emotion and meaning expressed in the story itself.
On the other hand, the 15-minute "Little Tadpole Looking for Mother" in 1960 made this short film itself a beautiful work with its ink expression, and people will be infected and attracted by such beauty, not because of the region. or cultural differences.
Because aesthetics is the basic perceptual ability of human beings, it is aimless, so it transcends all categories and can be self-satisfied.
"Chinese Strange Story" itself is an ambitious name, but it uses different directors and different forms to tell and express different aspects and corners of "Chinese Strange Story", but it is also carefully designed.
And it is precisely in this emphasis on difference, free creation and imagination that we may truly appreciate the most unique charm of animation/art films.
And if you are too limited to a certain typical symbol, form and style, and if you are trapped in self-Orientalism and cannot extricate yourself, it will only lead to the death of Chinese animation in the end, and it will be difficult to open the situation again.
In recent years, people have lamented the decline of Chinese animation, and now people can also see those moments of inspiration in sporadic animation works. "China Strange Story" appears in the present with the glorious history of Shanghai Film Studio, hoping to stir up the Chinese animation industry. A pool of stagnant water, reborn.
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