Author: Zhou Liming
Website: http://dajia.qq.com/original/24persecond/zhlm170206.html
"City of Philharmonic" leads the 89th Oscar with a flat record of 14 nominations. This is not a surprise, as all previous weather vanes made it the number one seed ("Manchester by the Sea" and "Moonlight Boy" are the second and third seeds). Seeing my favorite movie running wildly to win the prize and get soft, I should be happy, but I want to say "It's good, but do I really need to raise it so high?" I watched this song and dance on December 18th last year. Film, some feel that it will be adjusted after a month of precipitation. However, as the voice of the film became louder and louder, my sense of untimeliness became stronger and stronger, so I didn't vomit.
If "Shakespeare in Love" defeated "Saving Private Ryan" in 1999 is jaw-dropping and solid, then the victory of "City of Philharmonic" more thoroughly demonstrated Oscar's disdain for grand themes and his attitude towards minor sentiments. Keen. When we scrambled to praise this inspirational film with singing and dancing, in fact, we slapped ourselves in the face unconsciously, because, in our stereotyped aesthetics, grand narratives are superior to the short stories of you and me.
When I say this, I don't mean to belittle "City of Philharmonic". It is no exaggeration to say that I should be regarded as one of the domestic favorites of Hollywood musicals, and this new work is definitely a brilliant work. However, when I put it in the coordinates of American musicals, I found that even in the outstanding films of this century, it does not have the heart-stirring and thoughtfulness of "Les Miserables", and the expressiveness of the song is not at the same level; from the technical point of view From a perspective, it also did not have a bold attempt to synchronize recording of "Les Miserables". Compared with "Chicago", its artistic technique is not as eye-catching as it uses very staged imaging methods. You can say that this is also an innovation. The problem is that in recent years, several major television networks in the United States have successively launched year-end song and dance films, especially the 2015 Christmas FOX television network's "Grease" (Grease), which uses lens language. Extreme. You marvel at the long shots in "City of Philharmonic" and the scene switching using lights. All of them have been played in "The Prodigal Son" a year earlier. Moreover, "The Prodigal Son" is a live broadcast in one go, in other words, it is more difficult. But I admit that "City of Philharmonic" is more sincere and more brilliant than "Moulin Rouge" which also loves to play with the lens. Putting "City of Philharmonic" as the third top spot in American musicals of this century is naturally my personal ranking, and others don't need to approve it.
Why is Hollywood so obsessed with "City of Philharmonic"? In addition to its beautiful songs and cool shots, there is a key factor: this is an anthem dedicated to Hollywood. Most people tend to be more or less narcissistic. This is especially true for literary and artistic workers. Hollywood's narcissism is well-known. When it comes to the realm of legend, so is the legendary.
Take the best Oscar film of the past ten years as an example. On the surface, "The King's Speech" in 2010 has nothing to do with Hollywood, but through a political figure overcoming the language barrier, it indirectly affirmed the value of performance, such as the language training in the film. The teacher plays a role similar to a film director; 2011's "The Artist" is a pure Hollywood nostalgia, but it was filmed by the French, which has a bit of tribute from the vassal state; 2012's "Escape from Tehran", Hollywood is regarded as fake Acting ability, cleverly used in the international turmoil, self-deprecating mixed with boasting, very useful; 2014 "Birdman" tells the story of an expired Hollywood star trying to make a comeback, although the reality is slightly skinny, the tragic and majestic will surely resonate After all, it is not easy to maintain a certain high rank in Hollywood for a long time. "City of Philharmonic" talks about a pair of young men and women going to Hollywood, which is really super old-fashioned, but the old-fashioned perspective is to pay tribute, it is feelings, it is to sit on a tall haystack and listen to the same old but often Acting often new stories.
To fully appreciate "City of Philharmonic", one must understand Hollywood in the 1950s. That was the golden age of musicals, and great works such as "Song in the Rain" and "An American in Paris" were produced. "City of Philharmonic" is the direct undertaking of these two films. Some scenes are tribute to the nature. People who come by will see tears in their eyes. If those who are familiar with that film history, they will laugh very knowingly and tacitly.
It is true that "City of Philharmonic" is also up to the present. It does not provide a happy ending, but uses "what if..." to create a contrast between reality and ideals, allowing different audiences to see optimistic or pessimistic results. This is undoubtedly smart. In addition, even if they don't understand the past in Hollywood at all, the emotional entanglement between the two protagonists has a broad mass basis, that is, as an ordinary romantic film, it is not lacking in moving. I even have a hunch that most people who like the film will regard it as an ordinary but touching romantic story. As for the song and dance part, it is just a condiment. If you don't like it, you can just ignore it.
Musical films (also known as "musical films", movie musical) are a special genre, which mostly flourished in the era of innocence after a great upheaval. Throughout the ages, singing and dancing have never been outdated, but musicals became mainstream only after World War I and World War II. This is true not only in Britain and the United States, but also in our country. The Huangmei tune, which was popular in Hong Kong and Taiwan in the 1950s and 1960s, was a Chinese-style song and dance film. At that time, the political situation in the mainland was different, and many types could not survive, but the popularity of opera films was not only because it had no competition, but also because it catered to the inner needs of the public.
Here’s one thing to add: Musical films can be roughly divided into two types, one is that the plot itself is accompanied by singing and dancing, such as Whitney Houston’s "Bodyguard", the protagonist is a singer, her singing is originally a part of the plot, I don’t like it. The audience of the musical film will not feel that it is against the peace. The other is virtual and exaggerated, turning the original plot into song and dance. This is the reason for the popularity of musicals, and the root cause of its later loneliness. Generally speaking, people in the age of innocence are more able to accept this kind of hypothesis and exaggeration, because it is idealistic in its bones, the darkness has passed, and the future is bright. Walking on the road seems to dance, and is pushed higher by the screen singing and dancing. Sublimation is just a matter of course.
However, no matter what country or culture, the age of innocence is short. Hong Kong and Taiwan’s Huang Mei was transferred to the mid-1960s and was replaced by tough guy martial arts films, and Hollywood’s music and dance films of the late sixties were tragic fortunes and were eliminated by hippie culture. But if you leave that context, many of these works have a very high artistic standard, you can only say that they were born out of time, and they were born ten years late. After that, the song and dance film did not completely disappear, but it became an occasional niche Yahao, and the really popular works are drifting away from the innocence and romance. Cabaret (1972) uses the Berlin story between the two wars to play with decadence as a good wine; “All That Jazz” (1979) is full of world-weariness; “Chicago” (Chicago) , 2002) is even more black to cynical. These films are nominated or award-winning films that have hit the Oscars since 1970. Even if most musicals have long-lasting stage versions, they will die on the screen.
Of course, the cynic era also needs to dream, but those dreams no longer rely on the form of singing and dancing. These superhero movies that have been tried and tested in the past 20 years are actually the dream platform found by the innocence of the public. The characters can fly and become invisible, which is more divorced from reality than singing and dancing. However, everyone not only accepted it, but also became obsessed with it. Perhaps after forty to fifty years, our descendants will find this chivalrous man and that chivalrous man who can't be killed in these ten or eight films, and they will find it ridiculous, just like many of us sing the simple "good morning" as Crazy behavior (see "Song in the Rain"). The screen and the stage are always hypothetical, but the assumptions that are acceptable to different periods or different people are different.
"City of Philharmonic" was born in the vertical and horizontal fields of film history and public aesthetics. It looks backwards while taking into account the present; perhaps we will be indifferent to the feelings of people in the British and American circles. If any domestic romance movie dared to make the protagonist wear those clothes that resemble the colors and styles of Hailan House, it is estimated that it will not be sold as an online movie. "City of Philharmonic" is simple, but we have long regarded it as purely mentally retarded. Our idol is Wendi Deng. Can you imagine what Wendi Deng will do in this story? I don't need to point it out. In contrast, the two protagonists are simply weak! From the perspective of social psychology, we describe that if the entertainment industry produces a masterpiece, it should be the routine of "Comet Beauty", which is the film and television version of Gong Dou. With all due respect, most of our admiration for "City of Philharmonic" is not the childlike innocence, but the good dragon of Ye Gong. We can worship this dragon from a distance, but we must not get too close.
From the perspective of Hollywood, "City of Philharmonic" is a novelty, a narcissistic and an escape. The admission of Trump to the White House was unexpected by Hollywood. It will definitely release a batch of critical realism works that revenge and hate, but that requires a production process, and the criticism of previous films such as "Snowden" has not reached the standard. However, traditional stories like "Captain Sally" and "Blood Battle on Hacksaw Ridge" are in the hands of the "big right" and do not conform to its ideology. Demonstrations and chanting slogans are very appropriate, but they can’t be eaten, nor are they art, unless you are Godard. At this perhaps short-lived node, there appeared a petty bourgeois film that could allow Hollywood to "hide into small buildings and become unified"-in fact, there are a batch of such films, but this one is really eye-catching-accidental healing. The effect allows them to temporarily forget the unbearableness in front of them, and use the beautiful past to heal their wounds. This is what Aunt Mei said in her Golden Globe award acceptance speech, "put away your hurting heart and turn it into art". (Take your broken heart, make it into art.)
Writing and writing, it seems to have become a critical article. Well, the last two sentences summarize: "City of Philharmonic" is a good movie, and it is worth going to the cinema to watch, especially if you like musicals, this one is not to be missed. But if you hold it so high, unless you really approve it in your heart, there is really no need to follow suit. In my mind, its artistic achievements are not as good as the previous "Shakespeare in Love", but it is not a narrow victory this year but may be invincible. There are indeed reasons other than art.
(The original title of this article: "Why should I be intoxicated by the narcissism of others")
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