Why is "Westward Journey" said to be a postmodernist work?

1

If "Westward Journey" is to be classified as postmodern, then this concept needs to be sorted out and defined first.

After the 1960s, Western society experienced an era of crisis and turmoil. The spread of hippies, counterculture and sexual liberation trends reflected the young generation’s resentment, resistance and spiritual resistance to capitalist society. of confusion. Postmodernism is a product of this era. Subverting the in-depth thinking of traditional art films from a counter-cultural standpoint, collaging a variety of artistic techniques and methods with a consumerist attitude, and shifting from montage to collage film language are the hallmarks of postmodernist films.

However, it is worth noting that there is currently no unified and authoritative definition of the concept of "Postmodernism" in the academic community. Its main characteristics are summarized in comparison with modernism. For example:

The philosophical basis of modernism is Foucault's "discourse" and "right", Sartre's "existentialism", Freud's sexual psychology and subconscious theory, literature Theoretically, it is mainly based on the structuralism of the Swiss linguist Saussure, and later on Roland Barthes and others.

The philosophical foundation of postmodernity is deconstruction represented by Derrida. Originated in France in the 1960s. It is mainly a critique of structuralist text-centrism and the dissolution of traditional logocentrism (Logos);

There are three main methodologies, parody, collage and black humor.

II

Although there is currently no unified conceptual definition of postmodernism in the academic community, I personally feel that if we have to determine a year for the official rise of postmodernist films, I should choose 1994.

Films are divided into business and art. In the art films of the second half of the 20th century, modernist ideas have always occupied a mainstream position. The main representatives are Italian Fellini and Soviet Tarkovs. Key, Swedish Bergman. The three of them have been hailed by critics as the "Holy Trinity of Modern Film".

In the year 1994, it can be said that the transition from modernity to postmodernism was completed. The landmark event was that Quentin Quentin's "Pulp Fiction" defeated the gay film at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival in France. Jeslowski's "Red" won the Palme d'Or at Cannes. Its significance is roughly equivalent to that of Italian Neorealism in 1945, the French New Wave in 1959, and the American New Hollywood in 1967. At the same time, Oliver Stone's "Natural Born Killers", Manchefsky's "Here Comes the Rain", Hong Kong's Wong Kar-Wai's "Ashes of Time", and Liu Zhenwei's "A Chinese Journey to the West" have all been released in the past two years. Emerging at the same time, these films basically adopt non-linear narrative structure, collage film language and other typical postmodernist techniques. After this, postmodernism gradually occupied a mainstream position in art films.

Before Cannes, Kieslowski had won the 50th Venice Golden Lion Award in 1993 for "Blue"; and his second film "White" also won the 44th Berlin Film Festival in 1994. Silver Bear Award (Best Director); and when Kieslowski came to Cannes with "Red" and was about to achieve the Grand Slam of the three major European film festivals with "Blue, White, Red Trilogy", Kun Ting's "Pulp Fiction" appeared.

This may not be understood by ordinary movie fans at the time, who thought Cannes was "degenerate". Although "Pulp Fiction" is also one of the representatives of American independent films, its "vulgar" connotation has nothing to do with it. How can a "meaningless" upside-down narrative be compared with Kieslowski's "Red", which has a very high ideological depth?

Looking back decades later, I have to lament the vision of the Cannes judges at that time. They correctly foresaw the arrival of a new film era, and promoted and encouraged the development and growth of this new film trend.

Three

Now let’s look back at the work “Westward Journey”.

In Hong Kong in early 1995, Liu Chunwei made "Westward Journey" which was a box office failure at the time but now seems to have become a post-modern classic. If every movie has an author, then in addition to Liu Zhenwei, Stephen Chow will also be regarded as one of the authors.

Before starring in "Westward Journey", Stephen Chow had already participated in many comedy classics, and his funny and exaggerated nonsensical comedy style has become the unique feature of Zhou's comedies.

There are two movies worth noting in 1990, "The Gambler" and "The Gambler", especially the former. The exaggerated and funny "Gambler" image created by Stephen Chow realized the impact of "The Gambler". Deconstruction of the status of classics (postmodernity is the deconstruction of classics). The slow motion of the appearance of the God of Gamblers was used by Stephen Chow in "The Gambler", but it existed in a deconstructed way - Xingye learned from the slow motion of the appearance of the God of Gamblers in the movie, and walked in step by step in an extremely exaggerated way room. This is parody. The reuse of the classic soundtrack in "God of Gamblers" in this case essentially forms part of the deconstruction.

Then to 1991's "Play Back to School", "The Gambler 2: The Gambling Saint on the Beach", 1992's "Play Back to School 2" and "The Deer and the Cauldron", until 1993's "Tang Bo Hu Spots Autumn Fragrance", Zhou's comedy Finally reached a very mature level.

Taking the mature work "Tang Bohu Spots Autumn Fragrance" in 1993 as follows:

(1) Firstly, it realized the deconstruction of traditional classics

For example, "Tang Bohu Spots Autumn Fragrance" was originally a folk novel The legend attached to Tang Yin is a "misreading", or it can be regarded as a deconstruction. In the movie version, Stephen Chow and Gong Li once again re-deconstructed the image of Tang Bohu and the classic text of Tang Bohu Pointing out the Fragrance of Autumn.

"Journey to the West" is obviously a deconstruction of the most typical classic text "Journey to the West", which has the status of one of the four great classics.

(2) Disintegration of characters

While deconstructing classic texts, it also disintegrates many classic characters. As a real historical figure, Tang Yin has become farther and farther away from people. Similarly, Sun Wukong, as a classic character (on TV, the 86 version of Journey to the West is the classic text) is also far from people's impression.

(3) The use of alienation effect

This point is concentrated in the advertising lines of Mrs. Hua and Tang Bohu:

What this line contains Modern consciousness, as well as typical modern advertising language such as "truly traveling at home, killing people, and indispensable medicine" would never have appeared in ancient times. It’s a linguistic collage of past and present. In addition, in this scene, the plot is essentially put on hold. In Kundera's words, it is an "Exkurs". Instead, he looks directly at the screen and speaks to the audience, breaking the binary opposition between the actor and the audience. In fact, it has Achieving the "defamiliarization effect" in Brecht's sense.

Verfremdungseffekt is also translated as "alienation effect". To put it simply, it is to break the audience's investment and excitement, highlight the assumption of the drama/movie, and let the audience know that this is not reality.

Four

Then the time came to 1995. After the hard preparation and filming of the previous year, "Westward Journey" was released in Hong Kong in early February. In this movie, Zhou's nonsensical comedy style reaches its peak.

During the development and improvement of Zhou's comedy, its essence has been retained to a considerable extent, which was finally reflected in his masterpiece "Westward Journey", which parodies classic texts and discourses. The deconstruction of traditional fixed characters and the collage of language make it a classic film text of postmodernism. Mainly reflected in:

(1) Deconstruction of the classic text "Journey to the West"

Generally speaking, the classic "Journey to the West" is not only Wu Chengen's text, but also It should also include the 1986 version of the TV series "Journey to the West" starring Liu Xiaolingtong. For example, in the original version, Sun Wukong always beats goblins when he sees them, but in "Westward Journey", Sun Wukong and goblins fall in love. In the original version, Tang Seng was not as verbose as he is now, and the characters such as Bai Jingjing and Bull Demon King have all been disintegrated to varying degrees.

(2) Parody of Wong Kar-Wai's films

Liu Zhenwei later admitted in an interview that the famous line "Love you for ten thousand years" was "just a simple thought." I laugh at Wong Kar-Wai because he is really boring. The men and women in his movies have been in love for a long time and refuse to say a word about love."

Specifically, there are three points:

1. First, take a look at the famous "Ten Thousand Years" line:

Then compare it with "Ten Thousand Years" in "Chungking Express":

2. In addition, anyone who has watched Wong Kar-wai's movies will be deeply impressed by the lines in his works that are accurate to centimeters and minutes.

For example, Leslie Cheung meets Maggie Cheung in "Days of Being Wild":

Similarly, there is "Chungking Express":

Let's look at "Westward Journey" again. When Zixia's sword is pressed against Zhizunbao's throat, the inner monologue of Zhizunbao we hear is:

3. A parody of "Ashes of Time"

At the end of "Westward Journey", Sun Wukong saw Zixia and Zhizunbao on the tower, and the two said this:

This is Liu Zhenwei's parody of Wong Kar-wai. The method of parody is a typical embodiment of postmodernism.

(3) Collage-style film language

In the movie "Westward Journey", the film language can be used arbitrarily, regardless of time and space, and is completely used as entertainment game. For example, when Zhizunbao discovered that the blind man's death for him was a pretense, he sincerely uttered the praise of "I surrendered to U" that later became popular, and the song "Only You" sung by Tang Monk in the cell. The fusion of China and foreign countries has an obvious post-modern flavor. These words that could not exist at that time undoubtedly strengthen the nonsensical charm of the film.

In addition, Guanyin Bodhisattva asked Tang Monk why he didn’t use a diamond ring for Wukong. Look at Tang Monk’s answer: "The workmanship is exquisite, the price is fair, and the child is innocent. Let me introduce you to customize another one!"

(4) The disintegration of the "sublime solemnity"

When the Supreme Treasure decided to accept the curse, meet its own destiny, and came to rescue Zixia, the sky was filled with dark clouds , thunder and lightning, this environment and atmosphere setting perfectly set off the ultimate battle between Sun Wukong and the Bull Demon King.

At this critical moment, Tang Seng actually said very nonsensically, "Be careful! It's thundering! It's raining and you have to put your clothes away!"

This kind of game gestures have made all the efforts to build the original final battle. The "noble and solemn" atmosphere has completely disintegrated.

(5) Application of Brechtian alienation effect

The application of Brechtian alienation effect in movies can be mainly divided into the following categories:

1) Flashback: inform the audience of the ending in advance and break the audience’s expectations of watching the movie. Such as "Human Nature", "American Beauty";

2) The existence of the narrator: such as "The Big Short", "The Golden Age", "Small Town Spring";

3) Digression: interrupting the normal development of the plot, such as the explanation of economic terms in "The Big Short";

4) Performance: Brecht advocated that actors should control the role rather than becoming one with the role. It is necessary to have a double self, which is reflected in movies such as Westward Journey; there are also actors who can look directly at the screen and speak to the audience, thus breaking the actor-audience binary opposition, such as "Memories of Murder" and "The Big Short" , "The Golden Age", "Annie Hall";

5) Narrative structure: non-linear theme-juxtaposed narrative structure, such as "Party Together" and "Cloud Atlas", this type of film The non-linear structure itself acts as a distance and prevents the audience from investing;

6) Open ending: such as Kim Ki-duk's "Bad Boy", leaving room for the audience to think;

7) Photography: Push and pull the lens to make the audience aware of the existence of the camera and that this is a story, virtual rather than reality, breaking the audience's sense of involvement. A series of typical films such as Hong Sang-soo's use of push-through lenses that create a sense of alienation for the audience;

8) Composition: Extreme formalism such as asymmetrical and tilted compositions make people feel the world beyond the image. The existence of the producer;

9) Editing: Jump cuts are contrary to the continuity editing of classic Hollywood. Continuity editing aims to make the audience immersed in it, and strives to make the editing without leaving any trace, making it more Close to life itself. Jump cuts are completely opposite to this, and its abrupt editing method breaks the audience's recognition and expectations of the movie;

10) Collage, such as Lai Shengchuan's "Secret Love in Peach Blossom Spring", the rehearsal plot makes the plot on the stage more obvious. There is a reasonable premise for being interrupted, but just when the audience is immersed in the plot and characters of the drama on stage, they are interrupted again and again by the director. Not only the onstage and offstage, but also the confusion and interference between the two dramas on the stage. As Lai Shengchuan said: "There are many gorgeous things in "Peach Blossom Spring" that keep falling, falling, and falling in "Secret Love". "

Looking back at "Westward Journey", when the Supreme Treasure traveled through the Moonlight Box several times to try to save people, Wu Mengda always lay at the door and saw the Supreme Treasure traveling through it. It is assumed that he should only have memories of the timeline he is in, so his reaction to seeing time travel should be similar each time.

But in the play, Wu Mengda's lines changed after a few times, and appeared - "Ah ~ ascended to heaven again!

Why do you say 'again'?" If here If he is just a story character, he will only act according to the story. The word "and" highlights the actor's dual self. Brecht advocated that actors should express their dual selves in performance. Taking "The Life of Galileo" performed by Lawton as an example, he said that on this stage, Lawton must be both Galileo and himself. In other words, the actor should control the character and not become one with the character. The word "again" shouted by Wu Mengda here is the embodiment of the actor's dual self. He is not only a character in the play, but also Ng Mang-tat - he knows the plot of "Westward Journey" and realizes that this is "another" time travel.

[Reference materials]

[1]. Xu Nanming et al. Dictionary of Film Art [M]. China Film Publishing House. 1996

[2] . Cui Li. On the use of "estrangement" in "Secret Love at the Flower Source" [J]. Drama Creation. 2002.3

[3]. Liu Ya. Analysis of the postmodern implications of the movie "Journey to the West" [ J]. Hubei Today. 2014.7

[4]. Hou Qian. Looking at deconstruction from the movie "Westward Journey" [J]. Jintian. 2014.2