China without a party, the history of disappearance
"Ip Man 2" takes the Huayang boxing match as the climax. The British boxing champion enters the arena proudly under the rice flag, while the outrageous Chinese, no one dared to raise a flag- ―Yes, should the five-star red flag be hung, or should the sky be red? The last episode used Japan to invade China to unite as a "Chinese" who does not distinguish between the KMT and the Communist Party. It can finally justify itself. As for "Ip Man 2," official propaganda has repeatedly stated that the background of the story is in the 1950s, when the CCP established its power and the KMT had also avoided Taiwan. The confrontation between the two political identities is inevitable. What the movie carefully tries to bypass is precisely the national flag that cannot be raised.
"Ip Man" ended with the Japanese invasion of China and Ip Man was injured and fled to Hong Kong. The sequel jumped directly to the 1950s. At the beginning of the story, the protagonist just went to find a place to teach boxing, and knew nothing about the various schools in Hong Kong. He obviously arrived in Hong Kong for the first time. Between the two episodes of the story, after a few suspicious years, where is Ye Wen? (Stay in the mainland? Counterattack Japan?) What did you do? (Continue to beat the devils? Or give the devils a few more shots?) Nothing. These days have long since evaporated with the history of the KMT and the Communist regime changing hands. The nation or the market united front is currently ("Ip Man 2" has a good box office on both sides of the strait), the first strong tone of the main theme of the great powers may be temporarily eliminated-as to which regime is automatically transferred to the patriotic passion, it is easy to remember.
Symbolic resistance, daily obedience
In "Ip Man 2", Hong Zhennan [Hong Jinbao], the master of Hong Quan, cooperates with the colonial regime while forcibly resisting its invasion. It wasn't until the British boxing champion insulted Chinese martial arts that Hong Zhennan rose up and resisted: "For the sake of life, I can bear it; insulting Chinese martial arts, no!" He finally died in battle. This generous statement is exactly the film's declaration on the issue of decolonization-all confrontations are just fighting for abstract Chinese culture; as for the daily exploitation of Hong Kong residents by the colonial system, it might as well continue to endure.
In the first half of the film, Ye Hong and Ye Hong seem to represent different attitudes towards ethnic and colonial issues: Ye Wen is self-reliant and reprimands Hong Zhennan for collecting protection fees for foreigners, regardless of the bullying of the Chinese; Hong Zhennan blames Ye Wen for selfishness and does not care about Quan Er The livelihood of the hundred disciples was able to pretend to be noble. The conclusion of the film's foreshadowing is of course "They are very patriotic." My conclusion is: They have always followed the rules of the game of the colonial regime. Hong Zhen administers the order of the colonists in the southern dynasty, while Ye Wen abides by the law, and has never resisted the oppression caused by the colonial system in daily life. The protection fee is an unspoken rule outside the colonial law, and Ye Wen refused to pay it, but he actually reprimanded and confronted Hong Zhennan, the violent but kind-hearted intermediary, rather than the colonialist behind the scenes.
Ye Man’s final battle in the Western boxing ring was even more symbolic: the foreign referee deliberately delayed the ringing of the bell, so that the dominant boxing champion would give Ye Wen more punches; Ye Wen regained the disadvantage with his leg skills. , The referee immediately amended the rules to prohibit kicks. The audience clamored, but Ye Wen obediently obeyed, without even raising any questions. These unfair ring rules originated from the manipulation of the colonists, and they are the epitome of the entire colonial system. Thus, Ye Wen became a paradox: he is both a national fighter and a good citizen of the colony. In all struggles, the bottom line is not to interfere with the original colonial system.
The long struggle between the locals and the colonies has secretly replaced "Ip Man 2" with a war of symbols of national culture that rose up for a while. It even tried to convince us that the two are basically the same. Ye Man challenged the British boxing champion, and he was costless outside the ring, and even improved his life. The landlord changed from being forced to pay rent to welcome Ye Wen's wife and children to stay in his home temporarily, so that he could concentrate on preparing for the fight. After Ye Man returned from victory, his wife was waiting for him with his newborn child, and then the family walked happily. Of course, the children here represent not the pressure of life in the colony, but the sterile hope.
Global market, one family in the world
In "Ip Man 2", the most evil character is not the boxing king, but the foreigner police officer who corrupts, persecutes the reporter, and condones the boxing king's assault. He has always represented the evil colonial forces in the movie, but in the end he was arrested by another foreign police officer: "You have put the police to shame!" So, after laying the groundwork for an hour and a half of the evil colonial forces, he finally pushed them all on one person. . The ending draws a line between foreigners and a small group of bad elements. It is the same as another martial arts blockbuster "Fearless" in recent years: the Japanese poisoned Huo Yuanjia to death, and also angrily denounced the Japanese samurai who gave up in the martial arts field: "You Is it worthy to be a Japanese?" The samurai glared and forced him to the corner: "You really shame us Japanese!"
Such an arrangement is of course to show good to foreign audiences: I am not scolding you, so feel relieved to eat popcorn. ! In recent years, the Chinese government has been careful to suppress extreme xenophobic national sentiments. This result can be described as a concerted effort. No wonder "Ip Man 2" has easily broken through the 100 million box office barrier after a few days of opening in the mainland. The world is unified, the world is one family? It's certainly not just the martial arts philosophy that the protagonist is boasting about, but also an advertising dialogue aimed at the global market.
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