[Literary and artistic view].
Authors: Huang Wen and Xu Guowei (associate professor of University of Science and Technology of China, special researcher of Anhui Provincial Research Center for Theoretical System of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics, and special researcher of Anhui Provincial Research Center for Theoretical System of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics).
The Spring Festival has always been regarded as the vane of the film and television market throughout the year. This year's Spring Festival stalls are no exception, in just a few days, famous directors and newcomers gathered, social networks were active, and works of different themes and types met the audience's multi-level viewing needs. In the fierce competition, the sports theme stands out: the movie "Hot and Hot", which is set in boxing, has been on the hot search and led the box office because of the topic of losing 100 pounds for the starring role; The movie "Flying Life 2", which shows the charm of motorsports, uses a comedy story of a driving school coach and a rookie driver forming a bulk team to compete in a rally, which arouses laughter from the audience; The TV series "In the Blizzard", which uses billiards as the background of the story, tells the love story of two billiards players who go both ways, and has also attracted the attention of the audience. The good performance of the three works not only helped the film and television market usher in a "good start", but also won a lot for the development of sports-themed film and television works. When the theme of sports has become a hot topic of creation, how to break down professional barriers, get out of the niche circle, and release the cultural energy that matches the status of China's sports power and sports power, this issue needs to be considered by practitioners.
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Stills from the movie "Winning the Championship" information**.
Information**. The social trends of different periods and the efforts of generations of Chinese are condensed into sports stories.
Sports and film and television are both important manifestations of the country's comprehensive strength and the degree of social civilization. Sports-themed film and television works in different eras highlight the level of social development at their stage. The earliest creation of Chinese sports themes can be traced back to the film "Sports Queen" directed by Sun Yu in 1934. At that time, China was in the midst of a national crisis, and the Chinese people had a strong sense of salvation. Director Sun Yu has devoted himself to the close connection between physical fitness and salvation in "The Queen of Sports", advocating that revolutionary work should not only enlighten the minds of the masses, but also strengthen their bodies. This work has laid the foundation for the creation of sports themes, so that most of the creation of this theme emphasizes collectivism, mainly carrying the grand feelings of family and country and deep national feelings. For example, the movie "Women's Basketball No. 5" released in 1957 expressed the sentiment of the times of "developing sports and winning glory for the country" by revealing the different fates of sports athletes before and after the founding of New China. The movie "Sand Gull" released in 1981 tells the story of women's volleyball players who regain their spirits after suffering injuries and failures, and dedicate all their efforts to the volleyball cause, which is exactly what the country's development needs in the early days of reform and opening up.
In recent years, with the continuous enhancement of China's comprehensive national strength and the significant improvement of Chinese's cultural self-confidence, how to show the world the good physical quality of Chinese, as well as the spirit of being positive and enterprising, and having the courage to fight, has become the proper meaning of sports theme creation in the new era. Although the movies "The Climber", "Winning the Championship" and the TV series "Beyond" are still narratives of the family and country, the creators spend a lot of space to observe the growth of athletes, showing the psychological ups and downs and emotional waves they experience in the process of pursuing the goal of "faster, higher, stronger - more united", so that their behavior of overcoming various difficulties and sacrificing and dedicating for the honor of the country is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. There are also many works that delve into the lives of ordinary people, showing the impact of sports on their lives, and the guidance of sportsmanship on their hearts. In the movie "Warm", a teenager with a difficult life pursues his hip-hop dream while working hard to support his family; In the movie "Punch, Mom", a single mother returns to the boxing ring to defeat her opponent and win back her dignity in order to fight for the custody of her child; In the TV series "Love Only", a badminton player who is accustomed to sitting on the cold bench decides to switch to tennis and gain love in the process. The creation of sports themes, which has lasted for nearly a century, condenses the social trends of thought in different periods and the hard work of generations of Chinese into light and shadow, outlining a colorful picture of cultural life.
Some of his creations fall into a narrow alley of singular and flat thinking.
After years of hard work, the theme of sports has made great progress, but compared with the rapid development trend of China's sports and film and television industry, there is still a lot of room for improvement. The reason for this situation is mainly related to the difficulty of creating sports themes. Due to the strong professionalism of sports and the rapid change of competitive competitions, it is necessary to transform the mental journey and technical characteristics of athletes into fascinating stories, which puts forward higher requirements for script creation and on-site scheduling. For example, the movie "Amazing Dad", which shows marathon sports, invited more than ten professionals such as medical consultants and running coaches to participate in the shooting. One of the biggest difficulties in the filming of the ice sports TV series "Stewed Pears with Rock Sugar" and the movie "My Heart is Flying" was that they could not find a suitable ice photographer, so they had to train ice athletes to become photographers. Acting in sports-themed productions is also a huge challenge for actors, not only to perform the role, but also to present the minimum physical condition and technical level to engage in the sport. In order to show the huge transformation of the heroine from a decadent gnawing old man to a sturdy boxer, the actor first gained weight and then lost weight, and the filming period lasted for one year. These factors have virtually increased the difficulty and investment cost of sports themes, making some creators daunting.
The lack of high-quality sports-themed works is also due to the outdated creative concepts and narrow creative vision of some creators. Since its birth, sports-themed works have mainly focused on the themes of "burning" and "victory". Although the creators have integrated the portrayal of the characters' personalities and fate, as well as family and friendship, some of the stories are still patterned, either telling the process of ordinary people from decadence to cheering up in the face of setbacks, or showing the stories of Chinese athletes raising their eyebrows in the arena. In some works, the theme comes first, and the previous plot is not foreshadowed enough, so it is forcibly sensationalized, which makes the plot fall into an embarrassing situation. There are also some works that are sold with youth, sweet pets, and campus themes, allowing the protagonist to fall in love in the coat of an athlete, and making sports a story background. All these have made the creation enter the narrow alley of simplistic and flat thinking.
In addition to confrontation, sports also contain themes such as growth, pursuit, and emotion.
With the successful holding of the Beijing Winter Olympics, Chengdu Universiade and Hangzhou Asian Games, as well as the concept of national fitness, people's enthusiasm for sports is unprecedentedly high, and the market's call for sports themes is getting higher and higher, and a number of high-quality works have come to the fore. Unlike in the past, most of which focused on popular sports such as basketball and volleyball, or traditional Chinese advantageous sports, the current creative vision is broad, covering almost all kinds of sports. For example, "Warm", which was created with the theme of breaking dance, which made its debut at the Hangzhou Asian Games and became an official competition, "The Climber" which expressed mountaineering, and "Here Comes the Teacher!" which performed diving. "Five Teenagers Splashing in the Water" for synchronized swimming, "Isn't it a tug-of-war" for tug-of-war, "You Are My Glory" for e-sports, "In the Blizzard" for billiards, etc., these works link physical exercise with healthy life, youthful enthusiasm, and family and country feelings, not only popularizing and promoting different sports, but also showing the values of loving life, persisting in dreams, and cherishing life.
Of course, if the sports theme wants to make the audience refreshed, it is not enough to make a breakthrough in the subject matter, but also to make a fuss in many aspects such as expression and narrative mode, and create a fresh look and feel through artistic innovation. The movie "Winning the Championship" unfolds from several milestone historical nodes of the Chinese women's volleyball team, sorting out the development of the women's volleyball career, which is impressive. Creators can also use the switch between omniscient and limited perspectives to pave the reversal of characters and plots, and use flashbacks and interludes, fast forwards or slow downs to set up suspense and sell off, explain questions and reveal mysteries, so that the work presents an artistic charm that is different from conventional linear logic.
The creation of sports themes should also change the creative ideas, actively pay attention to social hotspots, take the initiative to set up social issues, and resonate with the society and the audience through sports stories or athletes' fate. After watching the movie "In the Octagon Cage", which is based on real events, many viewers discussed questions such as "what is the ideal life path for left-behind children in the mountains" and "boxing may not be the best choice, so what else can we do for them". The movie "It Doesn't Seem to Be So Enthusiastic" presents the living conditions of China's mentally handicapped groups, allowing the audience to deepen their understanding and concern for this group. The heroine in "Hot and Hot" works hard to learn boxing, not for a bonus, not for a new job, not for a boyfriend, just to get out of the trough of life and become a better version of herself. This story redefines the concept of "winning" and makes countless viewers who are struggling on their own life path feel relatable.
In addition to confrontation, sports also contain stories of growth, pursuit, and emotion. Refine and extend these themes, focus on real problems, and generate conflicts and reconciliations, search and harvest, ordinariness and transcendence, etc. Therefore, "inspirational" should not be the only theme of sports themes, in addition to overcoming difficulties, realizing dreams and transcendence, there are many things that the protagonists in sports themes can do, such as facing failure, accepting their imperfections, and exploring the meaning of life and the value of life. Therefore, creators of Chinese sports themes should have the courage to break the stereotypes of creation, jump out of the comfort zone of creation, and constantly innovate and upgrade, so that more people can appreciate the charm of sports, understand the importance of physical exercise, and understand the true meaning of sportsmanship.
Bright**, 2024-02-21, 15th edition).
*: Guangming Network - "Bright **".