In the movie "Zhou Chu Eliminates Three Evils", the protagonist "Chen Guilin" learned that his time was running out and planned to surrender, but found that he was only ranked third among the three most wanted criminals, which inspired him to "fight for votes". As of press time, the box office of this criminal action movie has exceeded 600 million yuan, making it the most popular topic in the March movie schedule.
This film has aroused heated discussion among the audience. For example, the title is derived from allusions such as "Jin Shu·Zhou Chu Zhuan" and "Shi Shuo Xin Yu·Zi Xin", and corresponds to Buddhist concepts such as "greed, anger, and ignorance". The moral is that the plot of the protagonist "throwing a harpoon to ask for divination"... Various narrative details that echo traditional culture and folk tales make this Taiwanese film resonate with mainland audiences, and also provide a different perspective for cross-strait cultural exchanges. In this regard, "China News" interviewed film and television industry workers and cultural scholars to explain how the cultural "Easter Eggs" in "Zhou Chu Eliminate Three Evils" moved the audience.
Zhao Lina, producer, director, and founder of Taipei City Images (CITY IMAGES). He has produced and directed documentaries such as "I Met You in Taiwan" and "I Met You in Jiangnan". Photo provided by interviewee
Chen Guilin, Lu Zhishen and Oriental Aesthetics
March is usually a relatively dull month for the domestic film market. On March 1 this year, "The Three Evils" was released on the same day as the Hollywood science fiction film "Dune 2". The latter attracted the attention of most movie fans, including the producer, director, and founder of Taipei City Images (CITY IMAGES) Zhao Lina is a person who is also a movie lover.
Two days before returning to Taiwan from the mainland, she took the time to watch "Dune 2". When she walked into the cinema, she heard two young people discussing "The Three Evils": "I didn't expect that Taiwanese people are very good at making movies. ." At that time, the movie had been released for a few days, and word-of-mouth began to ferment. Zhao Lina's curiosity was aroused after hearing constant praise from friends, netizens and passers-by.
After watching the movie, she had her own answer to "Why is this movie so popular?" "If I could sum up this movie in one sentence, I would think of the last words Lu Zhishen left before his death in "Water Margin" - 'Today you know that I am who I am'."
"Lu Zhishen admitted that he 'never cultivated good deeds in his life, but only loved killing people and setting fires'. At the last moment of his life, he gave up all the grudges and grudges. At the end of "Zhou Chu Eliminates Three Evils", the camera gave a close-up of the protagonist Chen Guilin's face , reminds me of the moment when Lu Zhishen was freed from 'greed, anger, and ignorance' - this improvement in realm is the embodiment of traditional oriental aesthetics."
Zhao Lina believes that discussing "Zhou Chu Eliminates Three Evils" from the perspective of Eastern aesthetics is more likely to resonate than interpreting the film purely from the perspective of plot narrative.
"For example, many domestic crime genre films use the narrative structure of 'punishing evil and promoting good', while "Zhou Chu Three Evils" has 'punishing evil' and does not explicitly present 'promoting good'. But the audience will not feel this The logic (of punishing evil but not promoting good) is absurd, because many ancient literary works contain stories of 'replacing violence with violence'. This kind of emotion of gratification and grudges among people in the world has been passed down to this day through traditional Chinese aesthetics and has become a part of modern people. It is also a very familiar emotion. Therefore, the audience will not be entangled in 'Why is Chen Guilin like this?'. This character reaches the end step by step in 'greed, anger, and ignorance', his pleasure and hatred, and his objective ' "Being a chivalrous person and doing justice is in line with people's imagination of the logic of the world, so the character's behavior is naturally accepted by audiences on both sides of the Taiwan Strait."
"Zhou Chu Eliminates Three Evils" relies on its high degree of completion, remarkable performances and artistic techniques of violent aesthetics to provide the audience with ample entertainment value. At the same time, it completes the "comfort" through the "advancement" of the characters on the aesthetic level. "People's Heart". Zhao Lina said that as a commercial film, the film is undoubtedly qualified. Moreover, its innovation in type is also worth learning from.
"In the 1970s, "The Heroine" directed by King Hu combined the martial arts features of Hong Kong movies with the literary and artistic style of Taiwanese movies, and incorporated oriental aesthetic elements such as 'blank space' to form a classic martial arts movie style, which influenced many directors. " "Zhou Chu Eliminates Three Evils" also embodies the fusion of Hong Kong genre films, Taiwanese literary films and traditional cultural elements. From a creative perspective, this innovation reflects the increasingly rich genres of Hong Kong and Taiwan films; from a market perspective, its success in The box office success in mainland China reflects the audience's demand for diverse genre choices."
In recent years, Zhao Lina has filmed and produced two documentaries, "I Met You in Taiwan" and "I Met You in Jiangnan", which reflect the cultural connections between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. She has now begun preparations for the next season. In her view, practitioners in the film and television industries on both sides of the Taiwan Strait should strengthen exchanges, conduct more communication and discussions at a professional level, and jointly promote the development of the film and television industries on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
"Today we know who I am." Zhao Lina said, "When we make contemporary urban documentaries, it is very important to do some 'contemporary' thinking while showing 'traditional'."
Seeing the unity of folk culture on both sides of the Taiwan Strait from "throwing a cup in front of the statue of Emperor Guan"
In the movie "Zhou Chu Eliminates Three Evils", Taiwanese actors and story background, Hong Kong screenwriters and directors, and folk tales spread across the Taiwan Strait are blended together, which is refreshing. Whether it is the allusion of "Zhou Chu eliminates three evils" or the legend of "Guan Gong appears as a saint", they are cultural elements familiar to people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
In the movie, the protagonist Chen Guilin hesitated before surrendering. He threw nine cups in front of the statue of Emperor Guan, and the results showed "agree". So he followed Guandi's will and stepped into the door of the police station.
Regarding this plot, Zhu Zhengming, former director of the Overseas Center of the United Front Work Department of the Hubei Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China and visiting professor at Hubei University, said that over thousands of years, from official sacrifices to folk worship, Guan Gong has gradually been shaped into the embodiment of "loyalty, justice, benevolence, courage and integrity" . Folks respectfully call him Guan Gong, Guan Emperor, and Guan Laoye. It is known as "We worship Confucius in literature and worship Guan Gong in military affairs." In Taiwan, many people believe in Guan Gong. In daily life, many Taiwanese residents will also visit Guandi Temple to pay homage when encountering important events such as weddings and funerals.
Guan Gong is a symbol of loyalty, justice, integrity, courage and other qualities. In "Zhou Chu Eliminates Three Evils" and many Hong Kong and Taiwan gangster-themed movies, there are scenes of "three religions and nine streams" worshiping Guan Gong. In the movie, Chen Guilin was inspired by Guan Gong's will and embarked on the path of "punishing evil". In reality, Guan Gong’s spirit also has its own educational effect. Zhu Zhengming said that in Taiwan, relevant associations have organized experts and scholars of Guan Gong culture to go into prisons, mobilize prisoners to learn Guan Gong culture, and commemorate Guan Gong by writing stories, portraits, etc.
With the widespread spread of Guan Gong culture, a large number of Guan Gong cultural relics have been preserved to this day. "Jiezhou, Yuncheng, Shanxi, is the hometown of Guan Gong and the location of Guandi's ancestral temple; Guan Gong's body is buried in Guan Ling in Dangyang, Hubei, and the nearby Yuquan Temple is regarded as the birthplace of Guan Gong's belief; Guan Lin is buried in Luoyang, Henan. Guan Gong's head, together with the above two places, are known as the three major Guan Gong temples at home and abroad." Zhu Zhengming said, "These three Guan Gong temples in the mainland are the 'roots' of Guan Gong culture."
Zhu Zhengming described that if the "roots" of Guan Gong culture are in the mainland, then the lush "branches and leaves" are in Taiwan. Today, more than 700 Guandi halls are flourishing on the island. Every year on Guandi's birthday and the golden autumn season, Guandi temple fairs across Taiwan hold celebrations to commemorate Guan Gong. During this period, Taiwan's Guan Gong cultural groups will also rush to Dongshan Island in Fujian and other places to participate in the Guan Gong Cultural Festival in mainland China and pray for prosperity on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
Today, Guan Gong culture has become the spiritual link connecting the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. In order to promote Guan Gong's culture, Zhu Zhengming went to Taiwan eight times. At a "World Guan Gong Cultural Photography Exhibition" held in Yilan, Taiwan, Zhu Zhengming's photography was warmly welcomed by the local people. The exhibition lasted for five days, and more than 100 Guandi temples organized thousands of people to visit it. "I am organizing an exhibition on behalf of the mainland, and the audience are all Taiwanese residents. We communicate cordially, and it feels like a family." Zhu Zhengming said. (End) (Reported by "China News" reporter Cheng Xiaolu and author Ren Dehui)