We refer to the people of China, or the Chinese world, or people who identify with Leslie Cheung more. While we live in the mainland, it was only after the incident that we suddenly discovered that Leslie Cheung, who started with the name "Cheng Dieyi" and entered the cultural life of the mainland, had unconsciously sneaked into his heart. Since April, many people have approached Leslie Cheung step by step to feel his spiritual breath and his own life. In a special case, the sincerity and enthusiasm of the media are always synchronized with our feelings-* * * in memory of a Hong Kong artist. With the help of the media, the Internet, and people who knew and cherished Leslie Cheung earlier, you can collect all kinds of information in a suddenly compressed time and space. Then, we saw Leslie Cheung who surpassed the film's brilliance, saw his singing skills and stage classics, saw his wisdom and kindness, and saw his rich personality and legendary and sincere life course. We re-recognize and discuss his artistic achievements, appreciate his personality strength, and think about his spiritual level and existence realm. It can be said that in this gloomy April, under the threat of SARS, in the reflection on the meaning of life, we began to know a Hongkong person named "Leslie Cheung".
Here is a commentary by Mr. Mathias Woo published in Asia Weekly in Hong Kong, which said: Leslie Cheung's death became a major event in China society, which was highly valued by the media in Chinese mainland, Taiwan Province and Hong Kong, and became a "national event". It is mentioned in the article that the SARS crisis is a natural disaster, but the sudden death of Leslie Cheung has dealt a greater psychological blow to Hong Kong people than a natural disaster. Because Leslie Cheung's 26-year acting career is a Hong Kong legend, and "Hong Kong's current entertainment circle can hardly accommodate artists who value personal dignity and pursue perfection like Leslie Cheung." The criticism in this article has an awe-inspiring self-reflection: "The Hong Kong media has been surprisingly restrained in the death of Leslie Cheung. ...... On TV, I also saw many reporters crying while reporting, and they all put away their frivolous faces. " And "Chinese mainland media's Leslie Cheung feature analysis is meticulous and in-depth, which is a combination of sensibility and rationality." Mathias Woo: The Power of Hong Kong Pop Culture. Another noteworthy event is that the cultural outreach project sponsored by Baptist University held a commemorative evening entitled "I can't bear to leave Leslie Cheung" on April 30th-recalling Leslie Cheung's artistic life. The title of the party expressed "Leslie Cheung who touched people's hearts with the concept of artistic performance and promoted the social consciousness of great harmony", "In the light and shadow, on the stage, in the music world, in real life, on the webpage made for the party, the following words were recorded:" It happened that an election named' Top Ten Cultural Idols in China' was held in Sina.com, and the public did not agree with my brother's social and cultural value and influence. This incident also reflected some people's opinions on his works. The creator of the webpage declared: "Thanks to many scholars who praised my brother's artistic life and led us in this direction. "In many commemorative articles of Hong Kong people, we can also find the affectionate but sharp rational words, such as Look at Zhang, Lin Peili's introduction and explanation of the concept of" actor author ",wonderful comments on" old comrades-in-arms "and Dong Qiao's" The Last Shaoguan Shaoshao ",which are gentle and gorgeous and full of cultural atmosphere.
In the months after Zhang's death, under the sinister background of SARS, Hong Kong cultural circles, including the media, artists, writers and cultural critics, paid great attention to Mr. Zhang's death and its seriousness, which left a deep impression on people.
But in the cultural circle of the mainland, we obviously feel an embarrassment and embarrassment.
Because of the fate of the movie Farewell My Concubine, Leslie Cheung entered the cultural circle of the mainland, and thus infected everyone who came into contact with him. -We got such information from many memories, which bears the author's painstaking efforts. This is the communication between heart and heart, and it is the feedback of Leslie Cheung's quality. But at the same time, perhaps not so interesting, we heard a strange "pressure", an "unspeakable" pressure. Many words are full of respect, but they are awkward. I spit and spit, secretive and reserved. "People are like this, what else can I say!" Can you really be silent? What is even more surprising is that the lively criticism of mainland culture in recent years presents an ambiguous numbness and loneliness. The only thing I can see is a short article by sociologist Li Yinhe. She discussed Leslie Cheung's "attitude towards life" and called it "the spring bird of a wonderful new world" as a response to the western queer theory she translated and introduced in China in recent years. When Sina and other media held the "cultural idol election". Some scholars call this election a meaningful "social symptom", or it is indeed a "syndrome group" of the times. When cultural critics use it to diagnose "pop culture", they can also try to examine the "questioner" himself. In the election, Leslie Cheung's short-term nomination and high-vote election became the focus of debate, while expressions such as "Lu Xun and Leslie Cheung" and "Leslie Cheung challenged Lu Xun" highlighted the hierarchy and hegemony implied in "binary separation" and conveyed a sense of ridicule. It can be said that in the "cultural idol election" incident, Leslie Cheung repeated his fate in the "Golden Award" and "Golden Horse Award": he was nominated, but he lacked real evaluation. Perhaps because of the determination of those fans, out of respect and fear of injury, they carefully looked around, full of contradictions and without hesitation, and finally pushed him to this cold "stand." But what we value more is, after April, how many people have accepted and respected Leslie Cheung in the process of being nominated and finally elected? In the debate, we can also see some learned discussions and sincere and rational criticisms. Finally, comments like this can be described as wonderful wit: "The top five idols are generally classics.
Starting from the sixth place, it is often' recommending virtuous people and not avoiding relatives'. Leslie Cheung is undoubtedly an outstanding artist today, and his recent death is also deplorable. However, more scholars are silent, including those cultural researchers and video art researchers. This silence is obviously questioning the legitimacy of the "election", but it is a continuation of the "reserved" attitude of mainland art circles towards the Leslie Cheung incident.
So we found that in the face of Leslie Cheung, the mainland's cultural criticism, and even aphasia.
Silence, because Leslie Cheung's weight is not enough, achievements, or other? Is it because he can't "compete with Lu Xun" or because "there are many artists with more cultural symbolic significance"? I think there may be more reasons. Not long ago, we only saw Jin Yong's magnificent evaluation, Stephen Chow also boarded the lecture hall of Peking University as a cultural hero, and we also saw Cui Jian's lyrics become "new poetry" classics. It seems that pop culture has been integrated into elite culture, which is no longer a trouble. But why is Leslie Cheung so stingy and reserved for a person who persistently pursued art in the most typical cultural market in China in the 20th century and reached the lofty realm with his sincere dedication and talent?
For many days, I have been asking myself: Do we really need to oppose Leslie Cheung? How should his value and the meaning of existence be positioned? Is it really that important? As far as the speaker is concerned, it may not matter whether he speaks or not. The important thing is that we can't stand this silence. What is important is that we deeply feel the ambiguity and ignorance behind the silence, and feel the rich implication in the silence.
Some people say that it is impossible to bypass Leslie Cheung to interpret Hong Kong's pop culture in any case. "Hong Kong's pop culture has become a part of China's cultural genes", and it can even be called "the industrial center of China's pop culture". It is said that he is the number 1 in Hong Kong entertainment circle and a "brand" for Hong Kong to enter the world cultural market. I want to say that Leslie Cheung, whose interpretation of contemporary China culture has become a "cultural symbol", does have considerable potential and more aspects, and will show more "can't be lost" and "can't be bypassed" with the passage of time. However, at the beginning of the new century, faced with such a "national event" with profound shocking energy, a cultural phenomenon bearing fresh vitality, and the challenge brought by Leslie Cheung with its multicultural value, what we see is the embarrassment and pallor of mainland cultural criticism: we are speechless in front of Leslie Cheung. Our criticism is characterized by "aphasia", losing the rules and ability of criticism. In other words, this is a deliberate abandonment of critical ability, critical strength and critical consciousness.
Leslie Cheung's artistic performance is "almost perfect" and he is a "great artist"-such a basic evaluation seems to have become common sense. His outstanding achievements in many fields, his creative style as an "actor writer", his unique artistic concept and endless creative ability ... are all witnessing the "legend" of Hong Kong. In-depth study of Zhang's artistic achievements is not the main purpose of this paper. Perhaps the question we are facing is: In what sense can Leslie Cheung be called a "cultural symbol"? In other words, at what level can we understand the cultural thinking and enlightenment brought to us by the word "artist Leslie Cheung"?
It should be admitted that due to the cultural barriers and his low profile, we still know very little about him. But we believe that under his drooping eyes, he has the most natural personality strength and powerful energy to challenge norms and create freedom. But his sincere expression and spiritual dialogue in his dream life have opened our reflection on survival and even death.
I remember that on April 8th, when Phoenix Satellite TV mourned Leslie Cheung, the host chose a plain and safe starting point for his evaluation: beauty, goodness and truth. This is a very simple evaluation, which is close to Zhang's life. But today, it seems to have inadvertently touched a deep structure: truth, goodness and beauty. The pursuit of truth, goodness and beauty and the realm achieved represent the essence and significance of Zhang's image in our hearts. Leslie Cheung embraced the world sincerely in his artistic career, and faced and explored the truth with amazing calmness. If there is a need to define an "honest man" in this world, it is Leslie Cheung. As a public figure, his courage and strength to face up to his heart and life are admirable and touching. At this point, he is communicating with Lu Xun. With a noble and elegant gesture, he alone resisted hegemony and pressure from any direction with a smile and gaze. He never denies his shallowness or limitations, but admits that shallowness is his wisdom and profundity. Leslie Cheung maintained and adhered to the principle of "goodness" in an almost incredible and convincing way, which brought some "sacred" significance to his personal image and even his artistic image. In life, on the stage, people lamented his humanity and warmth, and just like the performances in Erotic Men and Women and Spring Break, the artistic, moral and true sense of purity made him "turn decay into magic" and "turn dry Kun" into a "servant street boy" He Baorong who he didn't want to identify with. Leslie Cheung, who pursues aestheticism, inadvertently broke the artistic rule of "the confrontation between beauty and goodness" advocated by aestheticism: beauty does not have to destroy goodness to achieve a breakthrough, but at a deeper level, perfect beauty and perfect goodness will merge with each other.
In many reflections brought to us by Leslie Cheung, the understanding of "goodness" has become quite meaningful: an ordinary artist who does not carry the mission of "enlightenment" lives in a civilized order with private interests as the axis, and can pursue pure goodness for his own "heart" in addition to utilitarianism. You can stand at the forefront of fashion and convey the "good" message that is intimate with the soul in an avant-garde or even decadent form. He has no intention of seeking official "roll call", nor does he deliberately refute the distortion in public opinion. He just needs to "stand in a bright corner", keep the truth, pay sincerity, communicate with the "heart" and reach the soul that people yearn for goodness. What elements constitute his inner self-discipline? Is it similar to the spirit of "Protestant ethics" that Weber said? Is it a great traditional civilization that transcends the times and political barriers? Is it a deep thought and epiphany in the face of an illusory life? Leslie Cheung is the "Truman" of Hong Kong, a man who grew up in the eyes of the public, who shaped him and reshaped his eyes. How did he stick to personal freedom and adhere to and improve an ethical principle in a locked world? Some people say that he is a "stunner" given by heaven, but we prefer to believe that it is his unremitting pursuit of the realm of personality, because he rarely surpasses himself again and again, dares to take risks and leads the trend.
Leslie Cheung's energy in challenging norms is remarkable, but in fact, his appearance has rewritten and even subverted many concepts that we think are familiar with. With the death of Leslie Cheung, a number of words such as "legend", "idol", "popular culture" and even "art" and "dignity" have been deeply interpreted and discovered. In Leslie Cheung's view, the word "legend" is no longer a Hollywood-style beautiful story, but a serious inquiry into "ordinary modern life" and a tragic guardian of humanistic ideals. Leslie Cheung's personality is undoubtedly rich and profound, and he has multiple levels of interpretability. His wisdom and sincerity are doomed to his complexity and ambiguity. He is destined to occupy the contradictory poles. "Bipolarity" is his important spiritual feature. He is avant-garde and traditional, flexible and strong-willed, straightforward and restrained, melancholy and flying ... People use all kinds of specious sentences to describe the paradox in his character, the humanity and the spirit of the times in his art, and the rich and profound personality and his artistic image are integrated into one, with infinite charm. When Mr. Lin Peili put forward his concept of "actor writer", he wrote: "As a romantic symbol, a cultural symbol and a performer, Leslie Cheung is fascinating because of its vagueness and unpredictability." We can't forget his provocative and indifferent eyes in the "Concert over 1997" and a "red" performance, and his decadence contains a firm dance. It fully demonstrates Bakhtin's polyphonic art, deconstructs the audience's psychological expectation of curiosity, conveys the profound pain of life and exudes unspeakable beauty. What we can't ignore is that he challenged the mainstream and the public with an alternative and marginalized performance style, stuck to the dignity of human nature and pursued "pure art" in the complicated pop culture. One revelation given by Leslie Cheung is that the prejudice against "beauty" is often a misunderstanding of human nature, and people's self-loss in front of beautiful nature will have complex psychological meanings. We can see that "beauty" has become a reason for people to resist Leslie Cheung, just like the title of one of his songs: "Blame you for being so beautiful". However, he has always revealed our subtle avoidance and psychological demands for beauty, gender, sexiness and other human issues under the cultural mask with amazing frankness and subtle appropriate limits. Because of this, his performance has become a beautiful metaphor of health, freedom and humanity, and it has become a shelter for people to face new social anxiety.
Needless to say, Leslie Cheung's sexual orientation, his understanding and persistence in "love" is still the most difficult password to crack in The Legend of Leslie Cheung, which is also the subtext of his being labeled as "extraordinary" and "controversial". People who live in "love norms" can "understand" and "tolerate" the right to life of homosexuals in good faith, but this kind of goodwill often implies hierarchy and hegemony, and does not have the basis for dialogue with Zhang's thoughts, and it is even more difficult to figure out the survival pressure he bears. Misunderstandings are multiple, and these misunderstandings may be as ambiguous as his performance on the stage. Leslie Cheung once implicitly and cautiously declared that he was bisexual, and he also planned a film of his own to describe his understanding of love. Perhaps he wants to explain that it is precisely because of his frankness that he can finally transcend the self-limitation of human reason and reach the true love of human nature. But I prefer to speculate that Cheng Dieyi's self-proclaimed image of "men and women are in the same place" is a meaningful structure constructed by Leslie Cheung with his life. He refused to "stylize" the performance, to "copy" the art-to "get the second prize". He mobilized the resources of his life for artistic creation, and explored the meaning and possibility of life in artistic creation, which made him a rare "actor writer". He even designed the end of his personal life as a final performance. He endowed the living state of "dream life" with a brand-new cultural reflection. In his artistic thoughts, Leslie Cheung clearly conveyed a rather avant-garde cultural attitude of "postmodernism". He had a very conscious sense of "elite" and admitted that "creativity" was the eternal value of art. Just as he crossed the gender boundary, the boundary between man and drama, and the field of life and death, he also penetrated our two barriers about "the masses" and "the elite" and subverted our preconceptions about mass culture, including our view of "cultural desert". If we can recognize the concept of "cultural hero", I think he deserves it.
In a sense, it is a luxury, a realm and an ability to appreciate Leslie Cheung, understand Leslie Cheung and feel Leslie Cheung. Today, understanding Leslie Cheung may be a pressure, an extravagant hope, but it is also a responsibility.
If we carefully appreciate the shock brought by Leslie Cheung's death, we will find that it contains a very special nature, that is, it is quite "selfish", which directly hits everyone's heart. An extremely straightforward expression of "fans" is that it is different from the death of relatives, parents and even spiritual leaders, but more like the loss or sublimation of a part of our individual lives. This is a distant thing that happened around us. This is a private, touchable soul. As a public figure, Leslie Cheung started an individual spiritual dialogue with us through his performance life, among which he has a strong humanistic power. In his words, he gave his best heart, and also called on his audience to give back a sincere heart. This makes us realize that when we say "cultural symbol", it is also alive, just like ourselves, just like our ordinary life. Perhaps the most important revelation that Leslie Cheung has given us since April is that he has discovered the power of human beings, which permeates the people and fills the hearts of ordinary people. He asked us this question: Why are so many "criticisms" and "explanations" in our "cultural studies" just rewriting other people's theories? Criticism is a way for critics to explore the world and life with words and concepts as the carrier, and it is also a way of life for critics. In what sense?
Perhaps, we really shouldn't be too "rational" and only remember the process of some kind of "theoretical operation" and forget the "humanistic spirit" that humanists should stick to.
Perhaps, we can also ask ourselves: Are we really speechless in the face of Leslie Cheung?
I want to ask you this question in memory of Mr. Leslie Cheung.