The literary era since 1979

Since 1984, it was stipulated that some enterprises and institutions must operate independently and be responsible for their own profits and losses. Literary publishing houses like Science Fiction World have been forced to establish some popular literature magazines to make up for the cancelled allowances and subsidies. The situation of film studios across the country is similar and is not optimistic.

In the two years since the rise of the fifth generation of directors, the number of Chinese moviegoers has decreased by almost 52 billion.

Many studios released films that sold only a dozen copies, or even just a few, resulting in huge losses.

However, the money for making these films is no longer allocated from higher authorities and financed by the government as before. Most of it is borrowed from banks. The profit and loss problems and debt crisis of the studios are becoming more and more serious, endangering their survival and development, and the entire film industry is in chaos.

The question of whether to support entertainment films or encourage art films has been clearly laid out on the table.

Faced with such a multiple-choice question, Fangyan did not immediately choose a side, but seemed to be evasive and said:

"Last year, a movie came out of nowhere called Yellow Earth. I wonder if you have seen it?"

After these words were spoken, Shi Fangyu, Teng Jinxian, Zhong Dianfei, Xie Fei and others nodded repeatedly.

“What do you think of this movie?”

Fangyan smiled and looked around.

The people in the "literary aesthetic" camp took the lead and clearly praised "Yellow Earth":
"The impact this movie brought to us can only be described in two words: 'shocking'!"

"Yes, Zhang Yimou's photography and art in Yellow Earth continue the narrative style of 'images and colors' in That Mountain, That Man, That Dog, and once again subverts the traditional relationship between narrative and image in Chinese films, placing 'image' above 'narrative'."

“This is undoubtedly one of the representative works of the fifth generation of young directors!”

"........."

The words of praise are overflowing. In the dialect, one can even hear many film critics enthusiastically praising Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou's anti-traditional film model of "downplaying plot", "downplaying characters" and "downplaying theme", and even dubbing it as "modern film".

“Does modern film have to downplay plot, characters, and themes?”

Xia Yan raised an objection with a stern face, "I don't think so."

Zhong Dianfei nodded and agreed, "If we follow your argument, then wouldn't 'That Mountain, That Man, That Dog' not be a modern film?"

“Of course, That Mountain, That Man, That Dog is a modern film!”

People in the "literary aesthetics" camp responded almost in unison.

After all, if even the fifth generation's pioneering work "That Mountain, That Man, That Dog" is not considered a modern film, then what are "Yellow Earth" and others?
"Then, here comes the problem."

Zhong Dianfei and Xia Yan smiled at each other. "'That Mountain, That Man, That Dog' has clear character relationships, a clear plot, and profound themes, but I can't find any commonality in 'Yellow Earth', and there are even some parts that I can't understand at all."

Fang Yan was very surprised, "Mr. Zhong really can't understand it?"

Zhong Dianfei admitted openly that even after reading "Yellow Earth" three times, he still couldn't understand it.

Veteran film festival veterans such as Xia Yan also agreed, criticizing "Yellow Earth" for not telling a good story at all.

Seeing the tension between the two camps, Fangyan, like a jokester, wanted to add fuel to the fire:

"I see a representative from the Xi'an Film Studio is here too. Can you tell me about the copying situation of Yellow Earth so far?"

"To be honest, the copies of Yellow Earth didn't sell very well."

Under the gaze of the crowd, the representative of the Xi'an Film Studio told the truth, that they had only sold about 30 films in the past year, barely breaking even.

"It's clearly received rave reviews, so why is the audience market responding like this?"

Fangyan asked whether any seminar had been held within the Xi'an Film Studio to analyze and study where the problem lay.

The representative of the Xi'an Film Studio said bluntly: "Director Wu and his team felt that Yellow Earth is essentially an art film, not an entertainment film. Whether in terms of content, form, narrative rhythm or aesthetics, it is not friendly to ordinary audiences and is not that popular."

"It seems that Yellow Earth attracts more filmmakers than moviegoers."

Dialect looks left and right.

“There must be a threshold for appreciating a work of art. If you can’t reach that threshold, your understanding of the work will not be very profound.”

Someone retorted: "Art films have always been like this. The audience should reflect on their own aesthetic standards. Has it improved over the years?"

Fangyan frowned, "Art films can have a threshold, but this threshold must not prevent the general audience from going to the movies."

"But that's how art films are. Audiences just need to watch them, but we filmmakers have to consider a lot more."

"If Chinese films want to develop and keep pace with the international community, they cannot do without these art films and avant-garde films to explore."

"Our entertainment films cannot compete with Hollywood and Hong Kong films. If Chinese films want to overtake others, art films are the only way out!"

Others have stepped forward to resolutely defend the "literary and artistic aesthetic" line.

"But you have overlooked the most important point. This will do more harm than good to both the studio and the audience."

Fangyan bluntly pointed out the problems of the Chinese film industry in the 80s.

Nowadays, the pursuit and creation of art films far outweighs the attention paid to the market and the audience.

It is completely contrary to the demands of film studios, the film market and moviegoers, which is equivalent to "two cars running on two different roads". The reason for this is purely that today's art films, especially the fifth generation films, are invested in and backed by state-owned film studios.

It is precisely because they don’t have to worry about box office and profits that this group of fifth-generation directors and pioneers have the soil and space to explore the survival of movies.

It can be said that fifth-generation directors like Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige are the beneficiaries of the planned film system, while the later sixth-generation directors such as Jia Zhangke, Zhang Yang, Wang Xiaoshuai, and Lu Chuan were not so lucky. They were facing an increasingly commercialized film market, where box office was the top priority!

Therefore, the decline of domestic films in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s was not only due to the impact of TV dramas, Hong Kong films, Hollywood films, and pirated discs, but also because these filmmakers who did not understand commercial films gradually alienated themselves from the audience and the market in pursuit of art films and international awards.

For example, "The Promise", "Red River", "Turandot: The Origin of the Curse"...

The most exaggerated one is "Investigation 749", which is known as the "Crouching Dragon and Phoenix" in domestic science fiction films together with "Shanghai Fortress"!

As "exploration" moves towards the "extreme" and even the "extreme", the films made by these spoiled directors are often "zero copies".

From film studios to cinemas, they often spend more than they earn, lose all their money, and eventually go bankrupt or reduce production.

After all, what can truly win over audiences and the market are not those "art films" and "avant-garde films", but entertainment films that are now spurned, despised and rejected by the film and media circles. This discussion about "entertainment films" will determine the future direction of Chinese films.

…………Faced with the fact that art films are losing money, everyone was arguing with each other and the atmosphere was becoming increasingly tense.

Looking at Fangyan who was caught in the center of the vortex, Gong Xing's face was full of worry and his palms were full of sweat.

Zhu Lin was not in a much better condition. His anxious heart was beating faster and faster, especially when the representative of Xi'an Film Studio Huo Di stood up.

"As for how to make a profit, our director Wu gradually explored and summed up a set of ideas from movies such as Saving Private Ryan and River Without a Beacon, which is to take movies like Yellow Earth abroad and register them for foreign film festivals."

"Hawaii Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, Berlin Film Festival, Venice Film Festival, even at the Oscars."

"Any film that wins an important award at an overseas film festival can sell its film rights to international film distributors right there."

"Then bring this award-winning work back to China for screening. With the added bonus of the award, it will naturally attract more audiences to the cinema."

"Just like 'The Mountain, the Man, the Dog', the copies didn't sell well in China at first, but it caused a sensation in Japan and won the Japan Academy's Best Foreign Language Film Award. It immediately attracted huge attention and discussion in China, and the sales of copies and overseas copyrights increased significantly!"

"........."

In an instant, the whole room was in an uproar.

Everyone was whispering to each other, discussing the feasibility of Wu Tianming's idea.

Fangyan was very surprised. The model of "winning awards abroad and releasing films domestically" was the usual practice of the fifth and sixth generation directors such as Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, Lou Ye, and Jia Zhangke. No one expected that this approach, which received both praise and criticism, was actually thought up by Wu Tianming.

Zhong Dianfei firmly objected: "Winning an award is certainly a good thing, but there are only so many international film festivals every year. It is rare for a work to be shortlisted for an important award, and even fewer to win an award."

Then he looked at the people in the literary and artistic aesthetic camp, "Do we expect one or two works to offset the losses caused by literary and artistic films to the studios?"

There was silence for a moment. You looked at me and I looked at you, but no one could answer the question.

In the end, we had to go back to the old tune and once again bring out "Saving Private Ryan" and "That Mountain, That Man, That Dog" to express our support.

"I want to clarify here that, strictly speaking, 'That Mountain, That Man, That Dog' is indeed an art film."

Fang Yan laughed and said, "But Saving Private Ryan is not like that, it's a commercial film!"

Hearing this, everyone, including Zhong Dianfei, was shocked, with looks of disbelief on their faces.

"To be more precise, it is a mainstream war film that combines commerce and art."

Fangyan said seriously.

"The main theme!?"

Shi Fangyu, Teng Jinxian and other people from the Film Bureau suddenly became excited and felt that this new word had a great appeal.

Xia Yan said with great interest: "Xiao Fang, please tell us about this 'main theme'."

The dialect gave a concise explanation, using words such as "promoting patriotism", "reflecting the spirit of the times", "highlighting mainstream values", and "achieving commercial success", which made the "main melody commercial films" highly valued by the leaders of the cultural, propaganda, radio, film and television and other departments present.

"How can a commercial film be linked to the main theme?"

"Yes, commercial films are entertainment films. Movies that are meant for entertainment don't seem to fit in with the main theme!"

"Teacher Fang, I wonder if you have any basis for saying this is a 'main melody commercial film'?"

"........."

Amid the doubts, Fangyan responded calmly, "From the perspective of film theory, entertainment films cannot be simply equated with commercial films."

"The concept of entertainment film is too all-encompassing. I think it is superficial and empty. Besides, there is no such thing as 'entertainment film' abroad. It is better to use the term 'genre film' to distinguish them. This can not only keep pace with the international trend, but also be beneficial to the development of Chinese films in the future."

"Can we associate entertainment films with the mainstream theme by changing their names to genre films?"

The editor of Contemporary Film raised his own questions.

"There are many types of films, including narrative films, war films, science fiction films, kung fu films, horror films, comedies, romance films, etc."

Fang Yan said: "Among them, there are films that are suitable for 'spreading truth, goodness and beauty, and highlighting the main theme', and there are also films that are not suitable."

He then gave many examples, such as "Lush Mountain Love" is just a pure love movie, while "The Shepherd" is a mainstream love movie.

Another example is "The Garland under the Mountain", which, like "Saving Private Ryan", is also a main-theme war film, but the former shows Chinese values, while the latter shows American values, but it has also achieved huge commercial success.

"Shhhhh."

At this moment, more and more people are no longer satisfied with just listening, and simply take out paper and pen to write it down as if they had found a treasure.

Especially journalists, screenwriters and critics for film-related newspapers and magazines such as "Film Pictorial", "Popular Cinema" and "Contemporary Cinema".

"But horror films like The Ring are naturally not suitable for mainstream integration."

Fang Yan said: "In addition to these, there are also comedies, supernatural films, literary films, etc. If you force the 'main theme' into them, I'm afraid it's like putting a bull's head on a donkey's head, and you end up with a 'strange thing'. Therefore, distinguishing the types of entertainment films is the premise for whether you can make a main theme movie."

"Well said!"

Xia Yan's eyes lit up and he clapped his hands in approval.

All of a sudden, people responded and applauded one after another. The loud applause gradually drowned out the sound of controversy.

Gong Xing was surprised to find in the crowd that the people clapping the loudest were actually the representatives sent by the major film studios to attend the conference.

After all, in the huge film industry, the people who criticize the commercialization and entertainment of movies the most are actually film critics, theorists, and magazine editors. Of course, many film studios also hold the same attitude, but the feedback from the market and audiences is obvious.

Since 1980, the films with the highest attendance rates for many consecutive years have been the so-called "entertainment films" and "genre films".

Up to now, the output of entertainment films has actually exceeded 50% of the annual output of Chinese films at that time.

The choice between money and reputation is a dilemma for all the film studios in China. However, at this crossroads, the guiding light of the literary and art circles, Fangyan, once again brings them hope and points out a new way to both save face and make money.

That is a mainstream genre film!
Teacher Fang, you are so talented! (End of this chapter)