"Model Opera" was the forerunner of the Cultural Revolution. By the end of the smashing of the Gang of Four in 1976, it can be said that it was consistent with the Cultural Revolution, and the time was about 10.
However, the lessons of "model opera" are still worth learning, and the phenomenon of "model opera" is worth reflecting. The ghost of "model opera" still roams the land of China from time to time. Jiang Qing created a "trinity" creative method. "Three combinations" is the combination of leaders, the masses and the author. Leaders produce ideas, people produce life, and authors produce skills. Creation is a seamless whole, how can it be mechanically separated? "Leadership" is actually Jiang Qing. She thinks, which means that the author doesn't need to think. When people leave their lives, they will interview and discuss with them, record a little "life material" and come back to sort it out. At that time, the creation was collective creation, and every sentence had to be raised by hand. In this way, what "subjective consciousness" can a playwright have and what creative personality can he have? Now it seems that this is simply ridiculous. But that's what was done at that time, 10 year. A screenwriter in our theater said, "We are just creative secretaries". He didn't feel dissatisfied when he said such a thing. Unexpectedly, this sentence reached Yu Huiyong's ears (there were many people who liked to snitch at that time). Yu Huiyong was very angry and ordered criticism. It has been approved several times, but there is no result, so it will go away, because it is a fact.
"Three Highlights" and "Theme First"
The theoretical basis of the creation of "model opera" is "three highlights" and "theme first". "Three highlights" is to highlight the positive characters among all characters, the heroes among positive characters and the main heroes among heroes. "Three Prominence" is Yu Huiyong's creation, which can be found in the summary of "Taking Tiger Mountain Outward". It is a great invention to divide characters into three steps, which is unprecedented in literary theory all over the world. Even Jiang Qing feels that this model is a bit reluctant. She said: "I didn't say' three outstanding', I only said' one outstanding'." Jiang Qing's "outstanding" is to highlight the protagonist, that is, she constantly emphasizes "first" to line up people and make up numbers, which is also a great invention. The leading role of Shajiabang was originally A Qing's sister-in-law, and Jiang Qing must let Guo Jianguang be number one. Ballet is the "absolute heroine", and the protagonist in Red women soldiers is originally Wu Qinghua, so Hong Changqing has to be the number one. Why are you doing this? Jiang Qing has Jiang Qing's "principles". Why is Guo Jianguang the first? Because the armed struggle leads the secret work, or the secret work leads the armed struggle? Why is Hong Changqing the first? Because Hong Changqing represents the Party, and Wu Qinghua is just a slave awakened by Hong Changqing's education. This division is related to her thematic determinism. As a result, the first person can't get up, and the second person is impressed, because the second person still has some character and has a future. Strictly speaking, the characters of "model operas" are not characters or living people, but the embodiment of ideas, socialist morality and "party spirit". They are not flesh and blood, they have no family burden, and their love for their children is full of rhetoric. Wang Meng once quipped in an article: It seems that all the characters in the model operas are dealing with the sky,' rushing to the sky' and' rushing to smile at Han'. "
"Theme first" is also summed up by Yu Huiyong. Jiang Qing has this idea, but it is not as concise as Yu Huiyong's summary. Most of Jiang Qing's plays focus on themes. When adapting Du Fu Mountain, she instructed: "The theme is to transform the spontaneous troops, which cannot be ignored." She said: "The theme is to be reflected through characters." On the other hand, character setting is to express the theme. These words don't sound like a big mistake at first glance, but in fact they are based on concepts and violate the law of creation. Jiang Qing not only set the theme and theme, but also stipulated the general outline of the story. The synopsis of such stories is subjective, fictional and unfounded. She used to catch Hongyan for a long time, but later thought that the Sichuan Party was rotten on the eve of liberation. "I never thought that the Sichuan Party at that time still had the route of Wang Ming!" If she says anything, Sichuan Party will be miserable! She decided to give up Red Rock and rewrite another script. In the script, she wrote: A female political cadre from the army was sent to Chongqing, and through social relations, she entered the arsenal and mobilized the masses to protect the factory to meet liberation. Does the party's secret work play a role through a social relationship rather than a local party? Neither I nor another screenwriter, Yan Su, had such a life (it is impossible to have such a life), so we had to compile an outline according to her wishes and report to her, and she was very satisfied. The person who took us to Shanghai (Jiang Qing was in Shanghai at that time) was Li Qi, the propaganda minister of Beijing Municipal Committee. We read the outline to Li Qi, and Li Qi sneered, "It seems that you can create without life?" The play was later named "Rising Sun in Mountain City", which was rehearsed but not performed. She wanted to adapt Ulan Bagan's Prairie Fire, but she didn't do it later. She asked us to write another script about sending a political cadre of the Eighth Route Army (she always likes to send military cadres) into the grassland to launch slaves against the Japanese aggressors and rebellious princes.
Several of our screenwriters went to all parts of Inner Mongolia to collect living materials, but none of them could. We visited Ulanhu and Li Jingquan, and neither of them approved of writing such a play. At that time, the party's policy towards Inner Mongolia was: Mongolian nobles and herdsmen joined forces to resist Japan. Ulanhu said that herders would not agree to write a bad report. Li Jingquan said, "I understand your intention to write this play, but we have never done that. I don't do this. " He also told us a story: the Long March of the Red Army passed through the Yi area, and Chairman Mao asked him to stay and opened up a small base here. The next day, Chairman Mao sent a telegram telling them to come back as soon as possible. This area does not have the conditions to create jobs. Li Jingquan and others left in a hurry, and the Yi people stripped them of their clothes. Writing such a drama not only violates the truth of life, but also violates the party's ethnic policy. We came back to report to Yu Huiyong that there is no such life. Yu Huiyong once said a wonderful sentence: "Life is better without it, which can broaden your horizons." After the downfall of the Gang of Four, the Ministry of Culture held a symposium on literary and artistic creation, which was presided over by Feng Mu. I introduced this famous saying of Yu Huiyong at the meeting. Feng Mu said: "What do you mean by' broad sky'? It's just a fabrication!" To be exact, what else can I do besides making it up? There is a scene in this play: the Japanese control several salt ponds, and the herdsmen have no salt to eat. One day, a man was raped in a hut. He took a bag of salt to the herdsmen. The salt was poisoned. At a critical juncture, the Eighth Route Army political cadre Pegasus arrived and shouted, "You can't eat this salt!" "He grabbed a handful of salt, poured some water into the bowl, melted the salt and let a dog drink it. The dog drank it, landed on all fours and died. When reading this scene to an actor, an actor said, you can make it up. Besides, where can I find such a dog actor? This example can fully illustrate how meaningless the writer will be suppressed by "theme first" Model group
Under the direct leadership of Jiang Qing, the troupe that created and performed "model operas" became a "model troupe". Soldiers of "model groups" receive special treatment. They eat "model rice": crispy chicken, tomato and beef, fried yellow croaker, fried oil cake … every day. Wear "model clothes", one in summer, one in spring, silver gray and one military coat in winter. The style, material and color of the model clothes are all decided by Jiang Qing herself. She really has free time! The model group called the model rice "board rice" and the model clothes "board clothes". Some actors and cadres who have been downsized to the May 7th Cadre School call themselves "Banel Brush".
Every row of model operas should go on and experience life in a formalistic way, which is really "changing customs and changing customs, shaking the earth."
I went to Suzhou and Changshu to arrange Shajiabang. In fact, Shajiabang has been performed in Shanghai at this time, just making up lessons. I took a look at the reeds in Yangcheng Lake, that's all. The troupe rehearsed and tutored, and I had nothing to do. I secretly ate bad geese and drank Baihua wine every day. I have been to Hongyan in Chongqing. I have been in prison in Zhazidong (this is Jiang Qing's instruction: I want to go to jail) and held a memorial service for the martyr Long Guanghua. The fake play is really done, and the atmosphere is tragic. When I went to Huaying Mountain, I had a "red" exercise, which was an uprising. It was raining heavily that day, and the mountain road was very difficult to walk at night, and it was in danger of falling into the mountain stream at any time. The "political commissar" is Zhao Yanxia. She drove her up the hill and waited at a farmer's house. There are cats in this family, and Zhao Yanxia is afraid of cats. He kept poking at the ground with a bamboo pole. When it was her turn to issue a mobilization order to declare the uprising, she was speechless. Is this "experiencing life"? At best, it can be said to be a drama sketch, but this "sketch" is really wonderful and costly.
In order to arrange "Du Fu Mountain", I have been to Anyuan. Anyuan dumped mines, beat gongs and drums, and lined the streets to welcome these literary warriors sent by Chairman Mao. The red flag didn't show that day and my head was wet-because of the heavy rain.
The director of the "model group" then learned about the situation and collected materials, just like a "special envoy", and leaders from all over the country warmly received and arranged it personally. Afraid of being a little thoughtless is the attitude towards "model operas". Is there any experience that "model opera" can learn from? I thought there was one. First, pay attention to quality. Jiang Qing summed up the lessons of performance failure in the 1950s, and thought that the quality was not enough to compete with the old operas. That's right. She proposed "grinding a play every ten years". A drama grinds 10 years, which is to grind people to death. But the drama always needs to be "ground", and "the radish is too fast to wash the mud", so there is no good drama. One is singing, music, innovative breakthroughs, and the development of Beijing opera music. Yu Huiyong successfully blended Quyi and the musical language of local operas into Beijing Opera. The two Huang Kuan boards in the harbor and the two six-slow xipi in Dufu Mountain where Anyuan lives are all boards not found in old operas, which are very beautiful.