Before analyzing the characteristics of the revolutionary narrative of "Let the Bullets Fly", in order to explain why I am so sensitive to the revolutionary plot in the film, I would like to review what I have learned about the relationship between literature, art and revolution in the past sixty years.
1. Literature, Art and Revolution
In China in the thirty years after 1949, revolution represented an absolutely positive value. According to Mao Zedong's "Speech at the Yan'an Symposium on Literature and Art", literature and art are of a class nature, because there is no human nature and love that transcend classes, so there is no literature and art that transcends classes; literature and art that serve the proletariat are revolutionary literature and art, and are all The direction that all literary and art workers must pursue. Judging from the interpretation and implementation of the speech by Mao Zedong and other ideological leaders in the future, an author or work belongs to either revolutionary literature and art or counter-revolutionary literature and art, and there is almost no intermediate state. Criticisms of the films "The Biography of Wu Xun", "The Secret History of the Qing Palace" and many traditional operas, as well as the labelling of the literary theorist Hu Feng as the leader of the counter-revolutionary group, are all the results of the above logic.
In the unprecedented Cultural Revolution period, as Mao Zedong put forward the theory of "continuing revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat", the concept of revolution was closely connected with the current reality, and revolutionary literature and art could be used as a direct and effective mobilization tool for political movements. The play is all about revolutionary historical themes.
However, after the 1980s, because the theory of "continuing revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat" was rejected and the so-called focus of work shifted, the status of revolution in official ideology declined. Under the slogan of "promoting the main theme and advocating diversification", although the government still supports some literary and artistic creations with revolutionary historical themes, because "stability prevails" and "harmonious society" has become the official goal of work, the official ideology emphasizes The social contradictions and class struggle quickly faded, and the revolutionary orientation in the main theme works was also weakened accordingly. At the same time, "promoting diversification" means that the official regulation of literary and artistic creation has changed, only what is not allowed, and no longer what should be done.
More importantly, among the people, due to the destructive consequences of previous political movements and the setbacks of civilian political activities in the 1980s, people gradually came to realize that the revolution could not really solve the problem. In the 1990s, some scholars put forward the slogan of "farewell to the revolution". In this social atmosphere, it is difficult for revolution to become the favorite theme of literary and artistic creators.
Especially since the late 1990s, with the rise of the market economy and consumer society, popular popular literary and artistic works have increasingly pursued entertainment, and traditional revolutionary literary and artistic works that emphasize struggle are no longer popular.
However, with the support of the official policy of "promoting the main theme", some commercial film and television works also retain some works of revolutionary history, but these works are completely different from traditional revolutionary literature and art. These works generally include the following types. One is the war movie, which mainly seeks to arouse and stimulate the audience's male hormones. The other is a spy film, which attracts audiences with suspense and thrills. In recent years, there has been another type represented by "The Founding of the People's Republic of China", which can be called a star movie, because its plays lack entertainment effects, but relying on a large number of stars to participate in the performance can also get a higher box office. It can be seen that for the above-mentioned main theme works that still have vitality, the theme of revolutionary history is only their shell, and the core is the long-standing genre film tradition in the entertainment industry.
The above-mentioned main theme works have another common feature, that is, they only show the activities of soldiers and professional revolutionaries, but lack the expression of mass movements. Although this is in line with the true logic of the Chinese revolution to a certain extent, it is in conflict with the traditional ideology of the Chinese Communist Party. In the theory of the Communist Party, it is precisely the revolutionary line of letting go of the masses that is most emphasized.
And in "Let the Bullets Fly", it shows a revolution that achieved victory by mobilizing the masses.
2. The original novel and the movie
In order to analyze the difference between the revolutionary narrative of "Let the Bullets Fly" and traditional revolutionary literary and artistic works, a very convenient way is to analyze what changes have taken place in the adaptation process from the original novel to the movie script.
The play "Let the Bullets Fly" is adapted from the novel "Ten Stories of Nightfalls • The Story of Robbers" by Mr. Ma Shitu, a Sichuan writer. The creation of "Night Tales" began in 1942, when the author was a member of the Communist Party; the novel was completed in 1982, when the author was a senior cadre. The traditional ideology of the Communist Party inevitably leaves many traces in the works.
The novel was adapted into a film nearly 30 years after its publication, and the plot has changed a lot. From novels to movies, it just reflects that people in different eras have different imaginations about revolution.
The first is that the main character Zhang Muzhi's background is different. Zhang Muzhi in "Night Tales" was originally a long-term worker in the landlord's family. Because his sister committed suicide after being raped by the landlord, and went to the government to fight a lawsuit and lost, he went up the mountain to become a green forest hero who robbed the rich and helped the poor. Zhang Muzhi here obviously belongs to the peasant class, and his family was brutally oppressed by the landlords before going up the mountain. This arrangement obviously comes from the Communist Party’s belief that Chinese society before 1949 was a “semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, and the contradiction between the peasant class and the landlord class was a domestic problem. the main contradiction of society". The stratum of poor peasants to which Zhang Muzhi belonged was the stratum with the strongest revolutionary will in the traditional concept of the Communist Party.
Zhang Muzhi in "Let the Bullets Fly" has no clear family background, and his experience is completely different from the novel. Zhang Muzhi in the film once studied at the Yunnan Lecture Martial Arts Hall founded by Cai E (ie General Songpo). Judging from Zhang Muzhi's actions after entering Goose City, he was deeply influenced by revolutionary ideas. At the same time, because of his close relationship with Cai E, he should be an early participant in the National Revolution. It was only because he was tired of the bad atmosphere of officialdom in the early Republic of China that he went up the mountain to become a bandit. Zhang Muzhi here appears to be a bandit, but is actually a professional soldier and a veteran revolutionary. The film does not explain Zhang's family background, which shows that in today's era, the concept of being poorer, nobler, and more revolutionary no longer exists. At the same time, Zhang Muzhi has the experience of studying, joining the army, and participating in the revolutionary party, which shows that in today's people's imagination, successful revolutionaries should have more basic conditions. The typical image of the hero has undergone a marked shift. I think this change shows that people need different idols in an agricultural society and a business society.
The identities of the villains are also different. The villain in "Night Tales" is called Huang Tianbang, and the novel repeatedly emphasizes that he is the largest landlord in Echeng County. The first case sentenced after Zhang Mu took office was the conflict between the landlord and the tenants. Zhang made a judgment in favor of the tenants. When this matter came to Huang Tianbang's ears, Huang was obviously unhappy. The decisive battle between Zhang Muzhi and Huang Tianbang was triggered by Zhang’s insistence on implementing the “25th Rent Reduction” in Echeng County and sending the war tax demanded by his superiors to the landlords, which angered the landlord class represented by Huang . It can be seen that in this novel, the contradiction between Zhang and Huang is strictly set as the contradiction between the landlord class and the peasant class, or the so-called contradiction of tenancy, which is the main contradiction in the semi-colonial and semi-feudal society in the Communist Party theory.
The villain of "Let the Bullets Fly" is Huang Shilang. The film does not say how much land Huang owns, only that his wealth mainly comes from the opium trade (selling tobacco soil) and the slave labor trade. During the Republic of China, although the crackdown on the opium trade and the slave labor trade was unsuccessful, both were illegal in name. Huang Shilang actually controlled the administrative power of Echeng County by virtue of his influence in Echeng County for many years and the private armed forces he raised, so that he could engage in these two businesses. It can be seen that Huang Shilang in the movie is an unscrupulous businessman who makes huge profits from the franchise. This character is a unique role in the extremely unfair pseudo-market economy, which is in line with our experience of government-business collusion and rampant evil. Huang Tianbang in the novel is a bully in an agricultural society, and Huang Shilang in the movie is a bully in a business society.
Zhang Muzhi had a different ending. Although Zhang Muzhi in "Night Tales" killed Huang Tianbang to avenge his family's revenge, he was finally arrested and killed by the combined armed forces of the landlords. Such a plot setting is also in line with the traditional ideology of the Communist Party. According to the analysis of the traditional theory of the Communist Party, the uprising launched by Zhang Muzhi in the novel did not have any theoretical guidance. Although he won the support of the peasants, he did not mobilize the masses to participate. He only relied on the brothers he brought from the mountains, so it can only be regarded as a peasant class.” spontaneous resistance". It is said that this kind of spontaneous resistance is doomed to failure. It can destroy a certain landlord, but it will inevitably be counterattacked by the entire landlord class. Only a revolution led by the Communist Party and guided by Marxism can succeed.
But in Let the Bullets Fly, Zhang Muzhi's uprising was clearly a conscious revolution. Zhang Muzhi in the movie declared to his master that the purpose of becoming the county magistrate was to "stand and earn money", but he did not take any money with him after the successful revolution, which shows that making money is not his. real purpose. His conflict with Huang Shilang did not originate from personal or family grievances like in the novel, nor did it come from class hatred, but to regain the power of the county government controlled by the bully Huang Shilang, and then become a "fair" county magistrate Determination. This demand for fairness may have something to do with his experience in following Cai E to participate in the National Revolution in his early years.
Zhang Muzhi's uprising in the novel finally failed, because this uprising was only used as an example to demonstrate the necessity of the revolution and to contrast the "scientific nature" of the communist revolution; only if this spontaneous uprising failed, can there be Zhang's one-eyed dragon, etc. People join the Communist Party and become conscious revolutionaries. Zhang Muzhi's uprising in the movie was successful, on the one hand, because a comedy film needs a happy ending to meet the audience's expectations for the type of film; on the other hand, it is also because the uprising itself is the focus of the story, it does not need To provide a basis for something outside the story, it must be idealized in order to take on the role of pushing the story to its climax.
The image of the master is different. The advisor beside Zhang Muzhi in "Night Tales" is Master Chen, who was originally an unknown junior staff member of the county government. about. Master Chen is resourceful and at the same time an honest and kind person with no flaws in his moral character.
The advisor beside Zhang Muzhi in "Let the Bullets Fly" is Ma Bonde played by Ge You, who was originally the designated county magistrate. After being robbed, he followed Zhang Muzhi as Master Tang in order to survive. This master is well versed in the operation of power between politics and business, and is dedicated to manipulating power for his own benefit. He is a typical speculator, but he also sincerely helped Zhang Muzhi a lot. Such an image of the master makes the character setting of the film richer and more three-dimensional, and also breaks the myth about the "purity of the revolutionary team", and restores the truth that revolution, as a mass carnival, is bound to be full of robbers.
The most interesting thing is that the story takes place at a different time. "Ten Notes on Nights", when describing the power of Liu Zongruo in the provincial capital, said "Jiang Jieshi has nothing to do with him." After the counter-revolutionary coup"), Chiang Kai-shek was already in power, probably in the 1930s. Judging from the traditional view of history of the Communist Party, the Nationalist government at this time had degenerated from a revolutionary government to a reactionary government representing the big landlords and the big bourgeoisie, and was very suitable as a critique.
The timing of the story of "Let the Bullets Fly" is revealed from two places. One is Ma Bond's appointment letter for the county magistrate, which was signed in "August, the eighth year of the Republic of China", that is, 1919 AD. The other is that after entering the city, Ma Bond said, "We are late. The former county magistrate has already pre-levied taxes to 90 years later, and it will be 2010." It can be seen that it was 1920. The time of the story is changed from the 1930s to the early 1920s, and a direct effect is that Zhang Muzhi's age as an early participant in the National Revolution is justified. But I can't help but wonder, what time was 1919 or 1920? At that time, the Revolution of 1911 had long since passed, but most of the country was ruled by warlords, the May 4th Movement had just happened, the Communist Party of China had not yet been established, the Kuomintang’s Northern Expedition had not yet begun, and Chiang Kai-shek had not yet become the new leader of the Kuomintang. It was a transitional period in which the old revolutionary climax had passed, the new revolutionary climax had not yet arrived, a new social trend of thought had arisen, the entire country was in chaos, and the future trend was still unclear. Is telling a story of a micro-revolution in the gap of the macro-revolution a metaphor for another possibility of the development direction of China's history? There is a lot of room for imagination here.
3. Story and reality
From the comparison of novels and movies, we can see that the narratives of revolution in literary and artistic works have been very different in the past few decades. These differences must be related to the social background and ideological atmosphere of the two eras. Then, the phenomenon of the return of the revolutionary narrative in the film should also have some connection with today's era.
Over the years, under the influence of various factors such as the trend of "farewell to the revolution", the general political indifference in the consumer society, and the official control of literary and artistic creations, the revolutionary plots in film and television works are only used as packaging for entertainment genre films, and are rarely taken seriously. Express. "Let the Bullets Fly" spends a lot of ink and ink to describe the initiation and development of a revolution, representing a transformation. This transformation happened at a time when China's gradual reform, which lasted for more than 30 years, has achieved world-renowned achievements, but the further deepening of the reform has been constrained by vested interests and faced unprecedented resistance. At the same time, the interest distribution pattern formed by reforms that attach importance to efficiency but lack fairness is causing more and more serious social conflicts. From time to time, various voices of reflection and reform are heard in the ideological circle. If these problems will eventually be resolved in the future, then today's era will also be a transitional period. At the juncture of various paths of competition and choice, in the face of a situation in which contradictions need to be resolved urgently and reforms are severely hindered, it is natural that revolution will once again become an option to solve the problem. I think this is an important background for the return of revolutionary narratives in literary and artistic works.
The revolutionary narrative of "Let the Bullets Fly" has the distinctive characteristics of the present era. In addition to the various elements that have been analyzed above, it is also an interesting angle to observe the attitude of the masses. Compared with the scenes in the traditional revolutionary literature and art where the leader calls the masses to respond, the revolutionary launching process in "Let the Bullets Fly" has many twists and turns, and the attitude of the masses is very realistic. Zhang Muzhi in the film clearly pointed out that the masses will not participate in the action just because of their moral approval. They will only join in with confidence when the outcome of the revolution is clear, otherwise they will only hide their anger in fear. . This description dismantles the traditional myth that people's backsliding determines the success or failure of a revolution (the "Founding of the Nation" was still trying to shape such a myth a year ago), and to a certain extent restores the truth of history-for the success or failure of a revolution, the revolution The elite's strategic operation and mobilization skills are more important than the moral sublime. The reason why such a description appears in the movie is that on the one hand, people have discussed and reflected on the relationship between the elite and the masses in the revolutionary movement from various perspectives, such as history, politics and even psychology; on the other hand, On the one hand, due to the increasingly advanced technology of modern repression, under the pressure of the rulers, the masses have to be more cautious about the revolution, and this reality is also reflected in the film.
Compared with the magnificent revolutionary process, the establishment of social order after the success of the revolution is a more important but boring work, so this stage is often missing in revolutionary literary and artistic works. "Let the Bullets Fly" still lightly skims over the question of how the post-revolutionary new order will be established. After the success of the revolution, Zhang Muzhi retired indifferently. We do not know how the people of Echeng County built a new life on the ruins of the overthrow of the Huangsilang Dynasty. We know that a successful revolution does not necessarily benefit the people if a new and fairer order cannot be formed. Not to mention the consequences of anarchy after the collapse of the old order, a revolutionary leader like Zhang Muzhi who is not greedy for money and power is too idealistic. Although there are American founding fathers represented by Washington who have been looking forward to returning to their rural life since the success of the revolution, and natural revolutionists like Guevara who are unwilling to enjoy the results of the revolution and devote themselves to a new revolution in a foreign country; What we see more often is that the wartime forced mobilization system in the revolutionary period continues, and the revolutionary leaders quickly degenerate into new autocratic rulers. Tragedy or farce like Orwell's "Animal Farm" will inevitably occur. . It is unreliable to rely on the noble morality of leaders to ensure that the revolution will not deteriorate after a successful revolution. This is the question we have to face when discussing revolution.
All in all, what we see is the fact that, years after serious revolutionary themes left the screen, at the moment of resistance to reform, a positive depiction of the revolution reappeared in the film, and was widely recognized and welcomed by the audience. Compared with the traditional revolutionary literature and art, the new revolutionary narrative has distinct characteristics of the times, but the problem of how to establish order after the success of the revolution has not been resolved. If this does represent a shift in social thought, or even just an outpouring of the subconscious, what direction will this change lead our times? This is a question worthy of our continued observation and reflection.
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