It seems that I heard this word in Hong Kong and Taiwan movies a long time ago: miserable green youth. Later, I learned that there is a TV series called "Blood Romance". Similar meanings, opposite colors, bright red and green, very interesting and lively. But I have only watched a few episodes of this smash hit TV series, so I can't comment at all; in order to save time, I still read the original novel, so I can only talk about this.
It must be noted that before, during and after reading the novel, I held an expectation and a standard, which is Wang Shuo's novel "Ferocious Animals" (or Jiang Wen's film "Sunny Days"). Regarding the words "Cultural Revolution", "Tragic Green Youth", "Organization Compound" and "Children of High-level Officials" that are quite eye-catching at the moment, "Animal Ferocious" is all the foreshadowing of my reading experience, so it also As an other, a comparative sample, throughout the reading process. I don't like "Ferocious Animals" very much, so I am looking forward to seeing different things in "Blood Romance" with the same theme, and seeing things that can more arouse my thinking and move my feelings. It's a pity that I guessed the beginning, but I couldn't guess the ending. I saw the freshness, but I couldn't see the shock.
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privileges.
The whole reason I hate "Animal Ferocious" is because of these two words, maybe a little extreme. Rationally speaking, this novel is regarded by me as a delicate portrayal of the obscure sexual psychology of teenagers in a repressed era. As for setting the protagonist as a child of a large courtyard, it cannot be the primary charge to criticize it. Emotionally, however, the privileged sense of superiority that the author reveals between the lines cannot but arouse a feeling of rejection in me. Think about it, such a group of children, on the one hand, relied on their parents' power status to enjoy the best material resources and spiritual wealth at that time, on the other hand, they squandered hormones in a turbulent era; While most of their peers were still wiping the wounds left by their suffering, they turned their backs on their hearts and immediately became a new privileged class with their original privileges. Why do good things take them up?
To be honest, I don't believe in Wang Shuo's fairy tales. It's not the sour grape mentality, privilege, especially in China, is the truth that you can't accept, and sour is useless. It is true that many talented and practical social elites, such as Wang Shuo, Chen Kaige, and Li Shaohong, did indeed start from the privileged class. But in Wang Shuo's novels, there is no unique suffering of this special group of people in a special era, nor their struggles, confusions and personal efforts. What we finally see is the lucky ones in the family of princes and generals, and children who squander their youth. , the successful people who have been sheltered by luck and privilege until old age. I don't know if Wang Shuo omitted a lot or covered up a lot. Perhaps this is a fairy tale made up by himself, which also guides the passions of generations of young people who have nowhere to vent, and also satisfies the nostalgic spring dreams of some people in a certain era. But is even a privileged foundation so "casually successful"? Is every once privileged child all smooth sailing without exception? Take a step back and say that it is not a problem to succeed by virtue of privilege, but to show off this kind of success, isn't it a bit cheap to sell well? This is my doubt and the reason why I can't believe this fairy tale.
"Blood Romance" is also a story of a group of privileged people, a group of people who don't worry about food and clothing, pick up girls with a ballast frame, and finally return to mainstream society with their privileges. The 50-step deserters in "Blood" can still laugh at the 100-step "Movement", that is, it also writes about the special psychology of "children who can be educated well", and writes about some of them being washed and abandoned at that time. Feelings, they wrote about their own sufferings and struggles, so they lost the disgusting sense of superiority and pride that Wang Shuo couldn't hide. But, in the final analysis, both are stories of privileged people, and there are similar values in both, that is, the glorification, fantasy, and romanticization of that era and those experiences. Why is it called "Blood Romance"? Because the protagonist Zhong Yuemin can describe music and literature with great artistic sensibility (romantic), and on the other hand, he can fight and fight with a rogue spirit (blood), and is known as "the poet with a kitchen knife". And if this spirit is extended, the Cultural Revolution has become a bloody storm driven by romantic passion - it is so "bloody romance".
However, I also do not believe in Duliang's fairy tales. Although I know very little about that history, the only impressions that show me are wounds and blood, tears and suffering. Behind the blood is religious fanaticism and irrational atrocities, no matter what aesthetic distance is separated, I can't see any "romantic" at all. Without the courage to face the dripping blood, nor to put on a romantic coat for it, this kind of "art processing" is nothing but weak self-deception.
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write to you, I have to admit I was demanding "Romantic" and "ferocious animals" because not fully reflect on the Cultural Revolution, nor in revealing the fate of a generation of focus two works. I am just complaining about the disappointment in my understanding, and I use two successful works to attack the blind spot of the creation of similar themes. In fact, "Scarlet Romance" still has something to attract me, but the romance is not bloody, but -
Zhong Yuemin.
It's an absolutely romantic outlier. He does not represent the generation that grew up during the Cultural Revolution, the children of the common people who are opposed to the "veterans", or the class of "veterans" to which he belongs, and even he is not something that can be cultivated in traditional Chinese culture and the context of the times at that time. type!
From the beginning of the novel, in 1968, only two years after the Cultural Revolution, Zhong Yuemin had already reflected on his performance in the movement with a self-deprecating attitude. This was not only a political foresight, but also a keen and sober attitude towards life. . In other words, he is not one of those blindly fanatical youths who have lost their self-awareness. On the contrary, he is a rationalist with too much self-awareness. That's why he can appreciate literature and art like a literary youth and an artist, and can become a complete hooligan to fight, cut in line, beg for food, be a soldier, spread pancakes, do business, and open restaurants. He can fully devote himself to and enjoy every A role and process can be withdrawn in a timely manner, and can be freely turned between various roles, various experiences and various women, always choose, always create, never fix, what is needed is a kind of "on the road". Feel. What a wonderful performative structure, what a wonderful performance life!
Then, can you still say that shaping such a character represents a generation or a class of people in the Cultural Revolution? can not. As mentioned many times in the novel, Kerouac's "On the Road" (My first reaction after reading "Blood" was to read "Being", but unfortunately the library cannot borrow it temporarily, otherwise I will comment after reading "Being" Zhong Yuemin will be more in place), Zhong Yuemin is not so much a youth of the Cultural Revolution, but more like a "beat generation", even more brilliant than the beat Holden ("The Catcher in the Rye") that I know: the latter Just confronting the established order with destructive rebellion, Zhong Yuemin is directing his own life completely autonomously. In this sense, Zhong Yuemin is indeed a romantic and idealist - romance is his whole life, not the madness of an era, and ideals are the guidance of self-design, not "ideals" fabricated by ideology. Reading this character, I often think of several post-70s idealists I know. In fact, Zhong Yuemin can be a comrade-in-arms of Paul Korchagin, a revolutionary youth of the May 4th Movement, a beat generation in the United States, a French student in the May storm, or even a post-70s and post-80s generation— - As long as the core is the feeling of "on the road", the above era backgrounds can provide corresponding supplementary seasonings.
Therefore, it is not difficult to come to the conclusion that the background of the Cultural Revolution is just a condiment of the novel, or the author chooses to write this kind of familiar life, and this background is not closely related to the shaping of the protagonist, but the core characteristics of the protagonist are to break free. The background has reached universality, and there is a great potential to emerge.
All in all, "Scarlet Romance" is definitely not a work that depicts the fate of a generation - it only depicts one person, a person who is different from the "generation", or even different from China, but has reached a higher universality. Nor is it a "growth-education" novel - Zhong Yuemin's ostensibly rich life experience does not change the core part of his character, but rather the continuous unfolding of this core. It is also different from "Animal Ferocious" - "Dong" chooses the Cultural Revolution as the background, which means that the era of repression is somewhat related to the sexual psychology of teenagers; while the background of "Blood" can be separated from the characters, in fact, it is farther from the Cultural Revolution. . In the end, "Blood" is not an excellent work - although it has created a wonderful Zhong Yuemin, the deliberate incorporation of nostalgic colors, as well as the hodgepodge of drama writing that integrates love, military, action and suspense, make it in Literally reduced to mediocrity; my favorite "Bright Sword" was changed to a TV series and deleted 1/3, and "Blood", I doubt it was written for TV series at all.
By the way, I'm not optimistic about its prospects at the Mao Dun Literature Award this year.
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Although I admit that I am unreasonably demanding, and although I have abandoned this persistent foresight and commented on the novel itself, I still can’t help but want to ask the value orientation and creative blind spot of the Cultural Revolution theme, despite my powerlessness—like The teacher complained about the absence to the classmates who were present.
It's a little strange that there are not many people who doubt the value orientation of this fairy tale with unjust privileged thoughts. It's not surprising that empathy is an important psychological function of people in aesthetic activities. It is easy for us to project our emotions onto the main characters and positive characters in the works and become one with them, so when Jackie Jet Li beats his opponent, no one will take the position of the beaten. So in "Blood Romance", not too many people think about the class of Li Kuiyong and the little bastards. What's more, in the novel "Ferocious Animals", the class that opposes Ma Xiaojun and his group is simply absent, so the children of ordinary people, educated youth, and today's laid-off workers-a generation that has been killed by the times has been completely forgotten. Even more frightening, I suspect that there are many such forgotten people among the vast audience of novels and films. The disillusionment of ideals did not prompt them to reflect and repent, but the unsatisfactory reality made them continue to immerse themselves in self-deception. The outcasts of the era spared no effort to empathize with the lucky ones of the era. For them, it may not be absurd and peaceful at all. The cruel past is instead their unfinished old dream and unattainable "ideal".
As for our generation, there is no so-called "traumatic memory" at all. Everything about the Cultural Revolution is nothing but abstract symbols and historical existence. And knowing that it is a catastrophe of ten years, but with inexplicable curiosity and yearning for it, the era of hormonal flying in the past echoes our current situation today, and stimulates a desire to pursue excitement. In this sense, such works also have functions similar to "Young and Dangerous" and youth idol dramas.
However, shouldn't that be an inexorable nightmare? Shouldn't it be a hard lesson? Shouldn't it be a sore wound? If so, if the trauma is so deep, why is empathy so light? If not, then we are a nation that has healed its scars and forgot its pain, a nation that is naive and immature, and a nation that lacks self-awareness, reflection and repentance.
Maybe my reading is limited, and I am willing to believe in works that are reflective and in-depth, but the fact is that the works that have become popular in recent years always use the Cultural Revolution as a condiment and a side ball. In this sense, the Cultural Revolution is like old Shanghai. All become elements of nostalgia and blur the original appearance. The recipients, on the other hand, selectively drove the real suffering to the depths of the unconscious, empathized with the only beauty, and then looked back, the pain and joy of the past were covered with a layer of rose color, well, harmonious.
The lucky ones are still complacent in their empathy, the outcasts are still deceiving themselves in their empathy, and the latecomers are still fantasizing in their empathy. Let’s tamper with a friend’s sentence to end: When will we be able to produce a true narrative about the Cultural Revolution from a positive perspective?
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