Stills Storm of Slippers and Roses

On the back cover of the fifth issue of Popular Film magazine, the photo of the hero and heroine kissing was adopted, which was the first time that the kissing photo appeared in the public publication of People's Republic of China (PRC) (PRC). This led to a big discussion about whether kissing belongs to the "bourgeois" degeneration.

1979 stills of the British film Glass Shoes and Roses were published on the back cover of the fifth issue of popular movies. What seems normal now really caused an uproar in those days. A reader named Wen Yingjie wrote a letter to the editorial department, expressing his anger!

The first letter is from Yingjie.

Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Comrade of Mass Film Editorial Department:

I am indignant to see the back cover photo of the fifth issue of 1979 edited and published by you! I can't be calm for a long time. I never thought that such a thing would happen in the socialist country created by Chairman Mao after the baptism of the Cultural Revolution. It's a pity that you have degenerated into a bourgeois magazine! I can't help asking: What are you doing?

I haven't seen the English music fairy tale "Crystal Shoes and Roses", so I can't judge whether it is fragrant flowers or poisonous weeds. But I think, since this film can be so advocated by you, it must have some kind of "progress" significance. It can be inferred from this that there must be many scenes in this film that are instructive to 900 million people and beneficial to the realization of the four modernizations. However, you have no choice but to choose the scene of Cinderella and the prince hugging and kissing and put it in a prominent position on the back cover. Why is this?

Chairman Mao taught us many times before his death: "Foreign things serve China." Is it true that what our socialist China needs most now is hugs and kisses? What is your motivation for publishing this photo in a prominent way? What are you preaching? Do you need to publicize the tasks of the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee, the Party's political line and socialist modernization? Do 900 million people need your encouragement on the new Long March? You eat grain and oil grown by people's commune members and farm workers, wear cloth woven by workers and live in houses built by workers. Our soldiers will keep you safe. Do they need you to give such mental stimulation? In my opinion, you are doing this with ulterior motives, and you are simply poisoning our younger generation. Where do you want to lead the teenagers in our country? Do you still have some China conscience? Does it smell like the Chinese nation? Comrades! Don't think that the fart of foreign adults is sweet!

Comrade editor-in-chief, editor! What I said was a little sharp. I heard the masses of workers, peasants and soldiers scold you for being shameless! I think good medicine tastes bitter and is good for illness, but advice when most unpleasant is good for action. You are all knowledgeable people and learned people. You should think it over. Don't go with the flow and poison people in the name of "letting a hundred flowers blossom". In that case, 900 million people will not agree! No matter who supports your crime, I believe that one day he will be condemned or tried by 900 million people. Chairman Mao just died more than two years ago. Some of us forgot all about Chairman Mao's teachings, stopped talking about classes and class struggles, just wanted to tamper with the socialist direction, stopped adhering to Chairman Mao's revolutionary literary line, stopped serving the masses of the people, workers, peasants and soldiers for proletarian literature and art, and were keen on foreigners, the ancients and even decadent capitalism that was useless to China and today. Foreign poisonous weeds, ancient poisonous weeds and modern poisonous weeds that attacked the Party and Chairman Mao have also appeared on our socialist stage, which is full of our party newspapers and periodicals. How shocking and unbearable it is! I will never object to learning advanced foreign science and technology and advanced ideas of people of all countries (including culture and art), and I will never object to learning China's ancient advanced cultural heritage that is useful today, but I am opposed to learning those foreign and ancient capitalist decadent things. For example, the decadent lifestyle of capitalism, I firmly oppose learning. Because of hugs and kisses, what kind of foreign heads men and women left, what kind of bell bottoms, miniskirts, dresses and high heels they put on, and what kind of "belly grinding" dance they performed. These are useless for accomplishing the combat tasks put forward by the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of our Party. Our 900 million people have been educated by the Party and Chairman Mao for decades, and they should have the integrity of China people. Our newspapers and magazines should not preach these filthy things. Whoever advocates these things will be condemned and judged by 900 million people!

I'm not against love either. We should advocate proletarian love, Chinese love, decadent love of foreign adults, cuddling and kissing love. I think it's better not to publicize it. Because the disadvantages outweigh the advantages. You may think that this is art, and it is indispensable. I think this art that is inferior to xxxx is not suitable for the modern national conditions of China and should be stopped! I think your old habit is broken again. You should treat it in time, otherwise it will be very dangerous!

I wrote this letter angrily. Of course, swearing will stimulate you a little, or you may find it funny, or scold the "ultra-left trend of thought" and the "Gang of Four", and so on. Anyway, the hat factory and the bonzi shop are not completely closed. I have never been afraid of any hat or stick. I dare to do it, stick to it when it is right, and change it when it is wrong. If you have the courage, please post my letter in the letter column of popular movie readers for 900 million people in the country to identify. That's "a hundred flowers blossom" and it smells like "democracy". Otherwise, I can only think that you have a guilty conscience. The debt owed to the people must be repaid. Good is rewarded with good, and evil with evil. It's not that we don't report. Not yet!

China, Political Department of Xinjiang Kuitun Agricultural Reclamation Bureau129th regiment asked Yingjie.

1June, 979 10

-

Now let's see what the back cover stills are that can cause such great indignation. At first, this letter was sent to People's Daily and distributed in a prominent page. Many newspapers and periodicals across the country condemn what the back cover of popular movies looks like.

Such fierce words, such harsh attitudes and such angry emotions make some young people who don't understand this case curious: What kind of photos angered the propaganda officer in Xinjiang to ask Yingjie and made him want to vent his emotions in this letter?

However, when we dig out the film "Glass Shoes and Roses" adapted from Grimm's fairy tale "Cinderella", it will inevitably make everyone laugh and look at the picture. ......

The influence of this film has spread to the whole China film industry. Under such a "public opinion atmosphere", the new film "The Romance of Lushan Mountain" which started shooting at this time finally "dared" to aim the camera at the kissing scene between men and women, although only one side gently put its mouth on the other side's face. In China, although kissing scenes were common in movies in 1930s and 1940s, kissing scenes almost disappeared from the screen after 1949 until the Romance of Lushan Mountain. After the release, the audience flooded in, and the "letters from readers" in newspapers and periodicals basically stopped accusing and kissing. Later, some critics said that the magazine's confrontation about "kissing" and the kiss on the screen, although only a "small bite", promoted the "big step" of China's films, and the forbidden area was broken bit by bit and the mind was liberated step by step.