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Politics, Art and Commerce: Conceptual Misunderstanding of Chinese mainland Film and Television Industry

Pan Jian

Politics, artistry and commerciality are the three essential attributes of film and television art, and the "three natures" complement each other and are inseparable. However, the popular "three-way division" in Chinese mainland's film and television creation has separated the organic connection of "three natures". This paper holds that this misunderstanding directly leads to the difficult situation of the mainland film and television industry.

[Keywords:] Chinese mainland film and television industry, conceptual misunderstanding.

Although a large number of theme films are released every year, and many fine arts films have won international awards-almost all of them have won international awards except Oscar, in fact, China's films are in a depression, and the situation of China's film industry is extremely difficult: a large number of cinemas have closed down or jumped ship, and some film studios cannot pay wages and rent fixed assets such as houses, studios and photographic equipment to survive. Many film actors and directors make a living by advertising ... all this is only because most domestic films in Chinese mainland are unpopular with the audience, with extremely low attendance and no box office value, whether they are films with "great social benefits" or works of art that have won international awards. Even many so-called "commercial films" which are called "completely market-oriented" are no exception. According to statistics, the total box office of national movies has dropped by 65% from 1994 to 1999-the box office of1994 is not high. It is said that at the provincial cultural work conference held in a province, a major leader of the province also publicly declared that he didn't like watching domestic films. After the meeting, two films were released: one is an American blockbuster that does not represent the highest level, and there is no audience left; Then there is the excellent latest domestic film in recent years (it really won the prize), but just after the factory name, a group of viewers got up and walked away. Later, the audience left one after another. By the end of the film, there were only twenty or thirty people left in the huge venue-relatively good, because it was a conference film after all, and the audience was insiders, at least. If it is a normal cinema screening, the scene will be even worse, and there may not be ten people left. Domestic movies are like this, but domestic TV dramas are not much better: according to statistics, only 10% of the tens of thousands of TV dramas created in China are profitable, 30% barely break even, and the remaining 60% are wiped out by the whole army. In order to protect the economic interests of these domestic TV drama creators, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) has had to issue several notices, stipulating that TV stations should not broadcast Hong Kong and Taiwan court and martial arts films/dramas that can always maintain high ratings during prime time!

Can the administrative measures of the state change the present situation of domestic film and television creation? I don't think it's possible. I remember that the import of American blockbusters was once regarded as "wolf coming" and was strongly resisted by some people. At one time, cinemas at all levels were required to show the ratio of American films to domestic films. As a result, cinemas can't afford huge losses. In some remote areas, small and unobtrusive cinemas privately show videos, discs and even pirated discs to make up for the losses! It is estimated that TV stations are also likely to face the dilemma of cinemas-if the Regulations are faithfully implemented (in fact, many local TV stations do not seriously implement the Regulations, but only pause for a period of time at a time, and then quietly resume broadcasting Hong Kong and Taiwan court and martial arts films/dramas in prime time)-because the era of unit booking movies has passed, and viewers in front of TV stations have more freedom to choose channels or choose not to watch TV:

Since administrative protection is useless, how can the depression of the mainland film and television industry change? This requires first figuring out how depression is caused. Although it is generally believed that the reason for the sluggish domestic film and television industry is the poor quality of works, which stems from the generally low quality of employees and the impetuous psychology of pursuing fame and fortune, this is not the fundamental reason. Because some domestic film and television works are unpopular with the audience, not necessarily because of poor quality, or just because of poor quality-although poor quality is indeed a common problem of domestic film and television works in Chinese mainland. The author believes that the fundamental reason of domestic film and television industry lies in the error of creative concept, that is, film and television works and their creation are artificially divided into three categories: main melody movies/dramas, art movies/dramas and commercial movies/dramas. This dichotomy is the most fundamental reason for the depression of domestic film and television industry. Why do you say that? We might as well make a brief analysis.

As we know, movies and TV plays are modern emerging arts. As arts, they undoubtedly have the basic aesthetic attributes or artistry that are indispensable to all arts, and they also belong to the ideological category like all traditional arts. They can and inevitably express specific ideology (including political consciousness). In particular, film and television art is a by-product of modern media, which has great public opinion-oriented function. On the other hand, as modern art, they are different from traditional art: they have obvious commercial attributes-in traditional art, artistry and commerciality are irreconcilable; However, in modern film and television art, artistry and commerciality are interdependent and complementary, because film and television art is the product of industrial culture and enterprises, and its existence premise is science and technology that requires huge capital investment. It can be seen that ideology, artistry and commerciality are the essential attributes of film and television art, and the "three natures" are an inseparable and unified whole: ideology needs artistic expression, and commerciality must also be realized through artistry. Of course, art also depends on the support of business-without money, film and television art creation will be in trouble; If you can't recover your investment, you can't create it again. Our "trichotomy" obviously completely separates the "three natures" of film and television art, which is undoubtedly a major theoretical mistake.

Errors in theory bring errors in ideas, which will inevitably lead to greater errors in practice. Due to the popularity of the "three-point method", our film and television creation presents a strange state: the main melody film/drama only emphasizes the expression of ideology or political thought, and often ignores artistic aesthetics, let alone commercial entertainment effects. To make matters worse, these projects are all invested by the government. Therefore, although the audience doesn't like them, the creators won't lose anything without box office and ratings. On the contrary, they may be rewarded by the government and gain both fame and fortune. Because of this, some creators simply put forward the slogan that "the government is also the market", and many creators who are eager for quick success and instant benefit are even more eager to enjoy it, so that the creation of such films is quite "prosperous". Of course, there are also some creators who disdain political speculation and devote themselves to the creation of art films/dramas, but only pursue the profound and complicated "author's text" that can only be accepted by a few people, while denying another art form-"reader's text", which is easy to understand and more popular with the public, so they also despise commercial entertainment. Their works are only appreciated by themselves, and they are narcissistic and complacent. Some so-called film critics just agree, as if such works are really valuable, but in fact they only provide an excuse for creators who have lost box office or ratings to shirk their responsibilities-they can say without blushing: "I am engaged in art films (dramas)!" This is true of both the main melody film/drama and the art film/drama. What about the commercial film/drama? It stands to reason that commercial films/dramas should always have good box office or ratings, right? Unfortunately, many of our so-called "commercial films/dramas" are not ideal in box office or ratings, and some of them are even terrible. Because art movies/dramas are artificially separated, which is opposite to commercial entertainment, most creators of commercial movies/dramas think that commercial movies/dramas are non-artistic, or they don't care about art when creating commercial movies/dramas. In most people's minds, "commercial film/drama" is synonymous with "shoddy", which is fabricated to deceive the audience. Directors or actors with a little artistic self-esteem are generally afraid or unwilling to admit that they are making a commercial film/drama, and they often blush when they have to mention it. It can be seen that although domestic commercial films/dramas are openly under the banner of profit, they are trying their best to pocket the audience. This is the present situation of domestic film and television industry: the main melody film/drama, art film/drama and commercial film/drama divide the essential attributes of film and television art into three parts, each of which may have its own emphasis, but in fact it goes to extremes uncontrollably, which leads to an extremely abnormal relationship with the audience while separating the organic connection of "three natures"-the main melody film/drama will only teach the audience with a straight face, while the art film/drama will teach itself. Although the three are different, the result is exactly the same, that is, losing the audience, losing the box office or ratings, leading to an increasingly depressed domestic film and television industry!

In fact, whether for political propaganda, artistic aesthetics or commercial profit, we could have achieved our goal without this "dichotomy" and it was easier. Theoretically, it has been expounded in the last article. Here are some examples to further demonstrate it. People often refer to those American blockbusters whose box office has swept the world as commercial films. Indeed, the commercial profits of these American blockbusters are beyond the reach of many multinational companies, not to mention the film and television industry in China. While the box office of Chinese movies keeps declining, the box office of American movies keeps increasing from $4.8 billion of 199 1 to $6.9 billion of 1998. The 1999 edition of the Human Development Report published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) clearly shows that the products with the largest annual export share in the United States today are not airplanes, computers or cars, but movies and TV programs. According to statistics, the share of American films in the foreign film market is 70% in Europe, 80% in Central and South America and 50% in Japan. The export revenue of Hollywood movies accounts for 50% of the total export revenue of the United States. Therefore, the American film industry has naturally become the most important pillar industry in the United States. However, it is a big mistake to think that American blockbusters can only make huge profits! I once showed independence day to college students in my teaching. After reading it, I asked my classmates to talk about their feelings. Most students lamented: "America is really great!" "The president of the United States is really amazing!" "Americans are so brave!" Why would they say that? Because the film fully explains the "American spirit" as its mainstream ideology in the thrilling narrative, the director regards the United States as the leading country to lead the earth's human beings to resist alien invasion, regards the president of the United States as the commander-in-chief of the earth's human beings to resist alien invasion, and sets the date of saving the earth as the National Day of the United States. All this has pushed Americans, American presidents and the United States to the position of "the boss" in the world and "the savior" of mankind! Saving Private Ryan is no exception: because two people in a family died for their country, the country will take the martyr's younger brother Ryan off the battlefield at all costs to comfort his family-you see, how humane and caring the American government is! After Ryan was found, the director arranged for him not to leave immediately, but to fight the last battle, "stick to the last post"-you see, how brave Americans are and how much they love their motherland! From the above analysis, we can see that many American blockbusters that we call "commercial films" are actually real American "main melody movies"! These American "main melody movies" obviously have greater political propaganda function than our "main melody movies". The reason for this is that they are not only entertaining and beautiful, but also well-made, and their artistic level is not low-of course, they are not lofty and indifferent "author's texts", but "reader's texts" that fully embody the characteristics of popular culture and fully meet the needs of contemporary mass entertainment, so that the audience can unconsciously accept the ideology instilled by them in a strong aesthetic pleasure; Unlike our "main melody movie", it is boring and can only make people feel rebellious. In fact, in addition to American movies, as early as 1930s, in China, under the specific political environment at that time, left-wing literature and art were also combined with commercial culture, which successfully created a left-wing movie with the organic integration of politics, art and commerce, which not only publicized the revolution, but also prospered China's film industry, making it not far from American movies at that time under the condition of social and political turmoil and extremely unstable economic situation. In China,

Therefore, it is very unwise to divide film and television works and their creative sketches into three types: theme films/dramas, art films/dramas and commercial films/dramas, and artificially cut off the interdependent unity of opposites among the three essential attributes of film and television art, which is also not in line with the laws of film and television art. The only result is that theme films/dramas cannot play a real political propaganda role. Art film/drama can't create real film and television art (from its commercial essence and realistic existence-the continuous development of American film and television industry which advocates "reader-oriented text" and the gradual decline of European film and television industry which advocates "author-oriented text"-obviously film and television art is more suitable as "reader-oriented text", or the real film and television art should be a kind of "reader-oriented text"), and commercial film/drama is also suitable. On the contrary, if we don't engage in this dichotomy, but learn more from the "fusion" strategy of American films, or go back and summarize and seriously learn from the experience of left-wing films in the 1930 s, the situation may be completely different. Of course, the problem will not be so simple, because the emergence and popularity of the "three-point method" also involves many complicated reasons. It is for these reasons that the "trisection" is not only a concrete practice in creation, but also a concept in people's minds. As an idea, it is deeply rooted and difficult to change; The idea remains the same, even if the "three-way method" is not mentioned, the result will not be any different. Only in this way, the "dichotomy" is not a superficial "disease" such as "shoddy" and "inferior quality", but a "root cause" that needs time to be cured slowly. But obviously, if this "root cause" is not removed and this misunderstanding is not removed, the revitalization of the domestic film and television industry is definitely hopeless!