Are there any movies that are similar to rejuvenation?

If we want to select the "most national and cosmopolitan" things in the world, American movies will not fall out of the top three even if they miss the championship. On this planet, Hollywood products play two roles at the same time. It is not only an entertainment object for people of different colors, races and beliefs, but also a huge carrier of American spirit and values. Therefore, when choosing these 30 "American movies that China people have to watch", our eyes first focus on "America" and then focus on "movies".

American movies and American spirit

Earlier this year, in the "Top Ten Heroes of American Movies" selected by the Motion Picture Association of America (A FI), Atticus, a lawyer in 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird? Finch topped the list. As you can imagine, ordinary Americans can find some of the most common and noble ideals and life standards in their minds in this role, which is a father, a good citizen, a fighter against racial discrimination and so on: courage, optimism, integrity and frankness ... However, there is also a unique thing in the American spirit, that is, clinging to almost stubborn independence.

It is probably the characteristic of immigrant countries-maintaining a kind of self-sufficiency and self-esteem in personality besides political power and religion has always been regarded as the core of national spirit by Americans. There are all kinds of "lonely heroes" represented by the retired police chief in Noon and the iron commander in General Barton. In these films, they often bear the pressure from enemies, bosses and colleagues at the same time, and finally fight their way out in adversity with their personal wisdom and courage. In western films such as Flying over the Mountain and Killing Without Forgiveness, this kind of personal heroism has been perfectly embodied. Especially at the end of the latter, the hero, with his murderous look, shocked a whole group of armed police and left calmly, which was really cool to the extreme.

But in reality, after all, there are not bullets flying around every day. Pursuing independence, manifested in the field of daily life, is an affirmation of personal struggle and economic success. This is what Americans call "entrepreneurship". Of course, there are rich people in American movies, such as gangsters in Chaplin's City Lights, but there are also many people like Frank? Capra's "One Night" and "Rich Clouds" are kind and open-minded, full of social responsibility and sense of justice. This is often difficult for Europeans who are skeptical about money and markets. Like George? Sadoul once commented in his "World Film History":

"They prove that billionaires are innocent and lovely lunatics, and their dissolute lives do not prevent them from doing good deeds or doing things beneficial to mankind. Capra's comedies show respect for the Rockefeller family or the Morgan family, the boss of Hollywood, which is actually no different from the respect of the court jesters for the monarch in the past ... "

These almost scolding sentences actually prove from the opposite side that Frank? Capra's accurate grasp of the audience's taste. His films can be said to be the best interpretation of the traditional American spirit. In "Mr. Smith to Washington", capra aimed at the Capitol Hill, Lincoln Memorial and the stone tablet engraved with the Gettysburg Address, and compared these things, which symbolize the noblest part of American values, with the filth and corruption in real politics, and then set things right again through the strength of honest and simple young congressman Smith and a group of children. In World War II, in the documentary "What Are We Fighting for" filmed by capra for the US War Department, he described the war as "the decisive battle between the bright world and the dark world", taking the American system and lifestyle as the representative of the "bright world", the Capitol Hill, stone tablets and other shots reappeared, and sang carols for the "American spirit". The film later won the Oscar for Best Documentary.

This rural self-confidence has been shaken since the Vietnam War. The supreme belief of "the country on the top of the mountain" has been beaten back to dust in the era of "wild row" and "all-metal jacket" In American society in the 1960s and 1970s, the suspicion of traditional values was unprecedented. Deep Throat sweeps away the puritanical precepts that have ruled the film industry since the implementation of the Hans Code, and puts naked sex scenes on the screen. For a time, watching Deep Throat almost became a fashion. On weekends, college students call friends and go to the cinema in droves. This is not so much the desire for sexual scenes as the pleasure of breaking the rules and rebelling against society. Similarly, "Grease" and "Hair" tear off the veil of "elegance" of traditional musical films, and face real life with a lot of slang, swearing and hippie costumes. Loki, on the other hand, questioned the traditional creed of "individual struggle" through the story that young boxers failed to challenge the champion. Only in the sequel to this series of movies, Sylvester? Stallone returned to the embrace of tradition. As for "Once upon a time in America", it is the first tombstone buried for the "brotherhood" that has been eulogizing in Hollywood movies. Until many years later, Martin? Scorsese's Goodfellas finally threw the last shovel of dirt on the coffin.

Deconstruction is accompanied by rebirth. Marked by The Godfather, Jaws and Star Wars, "Movie Boy" took over the devastation left by the bursting of the epic film bubble in the early 1970s, and the Hollywood big studio system was injected with new vitality. The values in the film also pay more attention to the civilian society and the lives of ordinary people. For example, Kramer vs Kramer, which shows the contradiction between family, affection and career, and Midnight Cowboy, which tells the tragic fate of the urban poor. At the same time, the Star Wars series created a new world for American society, but also for George W.? Lucas cultivated a group of fanatical fans. From luke skywalker, Americans saw the kind of life and pursuit their ancestors had: a young man left home alone and went to a distant place to realize his career and dream. ...

After more than ten years of elutriation, 1994 Robert? Ze Mikis's Forrest Gump wrote a New Testament for the American spirit at the end of the century. Although capra's idealism has faded, people can still find their spiritual home by virtue of innocence, persistence and kindness in the farce-like historical events. Americans seem to be satisfied with this answer, because since then, the mainstream movies in Hollywood have begun to develop in the direction of big investment, high technology and pure visual stimulation, and the American spirit has been expressed in a simple and symbolic way. The most typical example is the Stars and Stripes flying high in Saving Private Ryan and Spider-Man. The film The Shawshank Redemption embodies the foundation of the United States, that is, the Protestant spirit centered on "self-salvation".

Alternative voice in American movies

The prosperity of the American film industry is not only manifested in the online production of a large number of A-rated films with large investment and excellent production by large studios, but also in the flooding of the market with countless low-cost entertainment films, that is, so-called "B-rated films". Most of these films take the form of independent production, and screenwriters often act as directors. Most of the poor funds they got from running around were used up before the film was finished. In order to save money, many movies are even shot with tape cameras, and then wait for which producer to pay for the conversion of tapes into movie copies. I can't wait, so I have to enter the rental retail market in the form of video to recover the cost little by little. ...

Hollywood freak Tim? Burton's movie Ed? Wood, his protagonist is such a real B-class film director in history. He was born in poverty and unknown, but like the star in king of comedy, he always dreamed of seeing his name appear on the screen. Different from countless legends, he is not a genius, and sometimes even stupid enough to turn a blind eye to the most obvious mistakes in the shooting process (such as shooting the same scene for one day and one night). Almost everyone looks down on him, except his wife and an old and sick horror movie star. Dreams and enthusiasm are his only spiritual pillars-this person really made a lot of movies later, which brought him the evaluation of "the worst director ever". But what does it matter? His dream has come true. The most meaningful passage in the film is Ed? Wood and Orson? Wells met in a bar. The greatest directors and the worst directors of all time sat together and talked about their troubles and struggles like brothers. Perhaps, as far as the mind is concerned, the distance between these two people is actually very small.

In a sense, to understand American movies, we should start with B-rated movies. They are the bottom of the film market and the base of the pyramid, but their contribution far exceeds their income. In order to increase circulation, most B-rated movies contain a lot of thriller, murder and pornography. On the one hand, this has deepened people's prejudice against its "low taste", but on the other hand, the exploration of countless B-class film directors has also enriched the content and expression of genre films and become the source of nutrition for filmmakers. Many famous directors worked hard in the B-class film market before they became famous. Sam, the director of Spider-Man? Lamy, with his small production of Corpse Change, not only became an outstanding film in Cult, but also showed his extraordinary ability in model making and rhythm control. By the end of last century, Quentin, an "alternative genius" who explored the meaning of B-class films to the extreme, finally appeared. Talentino.

Quentin? Talentino used to be a clerk in a video store. As we all know, this is the "base camp" of countless B-movies. This nourishment is reflected in his works after his debut. Let's hang Quentin in Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. Director Talentino saw a strong B color in the film. After countless swearing, violence and exaggerated murders, what we see is a black allegory of impermanent life and surly society, a bold subversion of traditional narrative methods, and Hollywood behind hundreds of mainstream movies every year. Not long ago, Quentin? Talentino released his new film Kill Bill. It is said that before making this film, he spent four years watching a large number of B-rated films unknown in history, and absorbed them into the exaggerated, twisted and playful style in Kill Bill. Maybe in a few years, when we rearrange this list, we will include this film.

Another famous "alternative" director in Hollywood is David, who deconstructs and reorganizes traditional genre films and creates a unique sense of confusion and fantasy. Lynch (masterpiece: blue velvet, my heart is wild). Like everything else, the audience's attitude towards these directors' works is often seriously polarized: lovers flock to them, those who don't like them are dismissive and rarely restrained. A typical example is the absurd musical Loki Horror Movie from 65438 to 0975. The film tells the story of a young man and a young woman who were stopped by a thunderstorm and had to stay in a castle. They witnessed many bizarre scenes such as murder, space navigation and laboratory building overnight. Soon after the film was released, fans went to watch it every night 100 and enjoyed it again and again. Other than that, no one came. So every night, the ticket office can only sell this 100 "hard-core ticket", one is not much, one is not little.

The world in American movies

Many American movies, especially epic movies, are based on stories outside the United States and even outside the European and American worlds. This not only enriches the story sources of American movies, but also provides strong support for the "globalization" of Hollywood movies. However, the historical facts and figures of all other countries and nationalities in the world, whether Greek, Roman, Thai or China, have lost their original colors after being "processed" by Hollywood and have been deeply branded with an "American-style" eagle emblem.

In the attached film list, including 1956 by Dick? Director Powell, John? The film Genghis Khan starring Wayne. We chose this film not because we think it is a great masterpiece, on the contrary. This film is one of the worst examples of the indiscriminate history of Hollywood and the so-called American "epic". Its content is roughly:

Baltus, the Tatar princess, was kidnapped by Temujin on her way to get married (he and his brothers rushed down a Gobi mountain, much like Indians in westerns). In order to escape the revenge of the Tatars, Temujin turned to Wang Han (Mongolian nomadic leader lives in a city much like Baghdad, with huge palaces and marble floors). Wang Han and the Tatars planned to frame Temujin, but the latter killed the enemy, inherited their huge army, and began to conquer the world with the warning and help of Kyle Polo.

If the descendants of Genghis Khan saw such a story, it would be strange not to be angry!

In fact, this horror film is very telling, because it gives full play to Hollywood's "routine" of transforming the history of other nations. In these movies, all the characters just wear the clothes of other nationalities and use the names of other nationalities. They not only speak authentic English, but also have American thinking and soul endowed by mainstream American movies. The common characteristics of these films are: Emotion plays a decisive role in characters and events, and characters often act on sensibility rather than rationality, emphasizing the contingency and coincidence of historical events. In terms of film style, it tries to put the history and reality of different nationalities into the framework of Hollywood "genre films". Genghis Khan in the past was just the product of the development of this routine to the degree of "extremes meet". Even Americans can't stand such fabrication. Some film critics hit the nail on the head and said, "I thought all the characters in this movie were aliens." Did the director forget to explain at the end of the film ... "

But under this "routine", many excellent films have been produced. Xixi, who is famous for shooting the Bible? Demir once claimed, "Give me two pages of the Bible and I will give you a movie." In the meantime, the mystery is nothing more than taking the holy book as the bone, and adding the content of the drama according to the routine mentioned above. Among his many works, Samson and Delilah are works of the doctrine of the mean, and there are many well-made, profound and well-defined classics such as the Ten Commandments. The stunt of "separating the Red Sea" in the film was a rock-breaking event at that time. Generally speaking, when Hollywood makes epic films of other nationalities, the older it is, the more blurred the records are, and the closer it is to Europe, the better the films will be, such as Ben Hur, Brave Heart and Schindler's List. Greta. The Hate History of Gong Qiong, starring Garbo, caused protests in Sweden, but it was an artistic success. In particular, Jiabao's famous "deadpan" performance at the end of the film has become a model for many performance tutorials. But if we look at the above three items upside down, movies are often unbearable, and Anna and the King is one of them.

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