The literary era since 1979

Noon, Lama Temple Street.

After lunch, Wang Shuo picked his teeth with a toothpick and took a leisurely walk in the yard to digest the food.

I saw Yu Hua sitting under a tree with a pile of books on the stone table. He was staring at the novel in his hand.

"Hey, what are you looking at so intently?"

"Liang Yusheng's Seven Swordsmen from Tianshan Mountain."

"Martial arts novel?!"

Wang Shuo's eyes flashed with disdain, "Why are you looking at this thing? It smells so rancid."

Yu Hua was stunned. "What's that smell?"

"It smells like drool, the most typical example is Jin Yong's novels. Anyone who reads it has no taste. I look down on them."

Wang Shuo curled his lips.

"Where did you get that from?"

Yu Hua was very curious.

Wang Shuo said that because the TV series "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" was so popular a few years ago, he bought the "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" series to watch.

The result was that I finished the first book with great difficulty, but I couldn't finish the second book no matter how hard I tried, and I had even less interest in the following books.

"You don't even swallow it whole."

Yu Hua rolled her eyes. "How can you make such an evaluation after just reading the beginning?"

"Why not? It's just like eating vegetables."

Wang Shuo disagreed, saying that one doesn't have to finish eating the whole dish before judging whether it's good or not. So, just because he finished reading a book with his nose pinched as if he was taking a shit, he was fully qualified to evaluate Jin Yong's novels. Then he pinched his nose and pointed at The Legend of the Condor Heroes and said, "To my taste, the rice cooked by Master Jin is not cooked well, and the ingredients are not fresh. Everything has a rancid smell."

"Your mouth can never spit out ivory."

Yu Hua said: "You dislike martial arts novels so much, but don't forget that Teacher Fang also wrote martial arts novels."

"Can Teacher Fang's martial arts novel be compared with ordinary martial arts novels?"

Wang Shuo said, "The Huang Feihong series not only combines the advantages of serious literature and popular literature, but also integrates martial arts into official history. Other martial arts novels may be able to deal with foreign guns and cannons with the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms and the Nine Yin Manual, but in Mr. Fang's novels, it just doesn't work. No martial arts master can withstand guns and cannons. This idea is much higher than the martial arts world that only talks about fighting and killing."

Yu Hua teased, "Look at how you flatter me. Teacher Ren Fang hasn't even come to Yanjing yet."

Wang Shuo stiffened his neck and said, "What flattery? This is what I really think! I will say this no matter if Teacher Fang is in front of me or not!"

Yu Hua raised his hands and said, “Ding ding ding.”

"If you want to read martial arts novels, shouldn't you read Jin Yong and Gu Long? Why do you like to read the unpopular Liang Yusheng?"

Wang Shuo was puzzled.

"This is what Teacher Fang told me."

Yu Hua answered truthfully.

"What? Teacher Fang asked you to read martial arts novels?"

Wang Shuo was greatly shocked.

Yu Hua said, "Teacher Fang has received a business in Shanghai. The Shanghai Mei Film Studio wants us to write a long-form animated series about martial arts."

"We are not short of business. Why did Mr. Fang suddenly think of cooperating with the American company, and it's an animation script?"

Wang Shuoda felt that he had used a butcher knife to kill a chicken. "It's a coincidence that Mr. Fang originally wanted to cooperate with the American studio on "Spirited Away"..."

Yu Hua explained the whole story.

"So that's why Teacher Fang asked you to read Seven Swordsmen to catch up on your martial arts novels."

Wang Shuo suddenly understood.

"That's just one of the reasons. The second reason is that Mr. Fang is going to write a script for Shanghai Animation Studio, which seems to draw on "Seven Swordsmen"."

Yu Hua flipped through the pile of books and found "There is also Gu Long's Seven Weapons."

Although Wang Shuo rejected martial arts novels, he was also very interested. “What kind of story would it be?”

"We'll know when Teacher Fang comes."

Yu Hua said, "But before that, you should also read these martial arts novels. Don't forget that you are the head of the film and television department."

Wang Shuo said: "Come on, come on, come on. Even if you don't consider it for Teacher Fang's sake, you have to consider it for the money. I think that's fine!"

Yu Hua joked, "That's more like you, a person who has lost touch with high tastes."

"Fuck you!" Wang Shuo said unhappily, "By the way, when will Teacher Fang come to Beijing?"

"The phone call said it was the day after tomorrow."

"The day after tomorrow! How can I finish reading so many martial arts novels in two days?"

"So, hurry up and read it, don't miss Teacher Fang's important event."

………………

"The Legend of the Seven Heroes of Rainbow Cat and Blue Rabbit" can be said to be China's first record animation with martial arts themes.

Of course, the story was not written out of thin air. In fact, the structure of the main storyline and the relationship between the characters are somewhat similar to Liang Yusheng's martial arts novel "Seven Swordsmen Under Tianshan", which also tells the story of seven swords and the stories of seven sword masters.

It’s just that the seven swords in “Seven Swordsmen Under Tianshan” are Mo Wen, Youlong, Qinggan, Jingxing, Sheshen, Tianpu and Riyue.

And in “The Legend of the Seven Heroes of Rainbow Cat and Blue Rabbit”, there are Changhong, Bingpo, Ziyun, Yuhua, Benlei, Qingguang and Xuanfeng.

In addition to the different names and settings of the sword and the sword master, the plot framework is also different.

The seven swordsmen in "Seven Swordsmen" rebelled against the Qing Dynasty, while the villain in "Legend of the Seven Heroes of Rainbow Cat and Blue Rabbit" was the Demon Cult.

But compared to "Seven Swordsmen", although "Legend of the Seven Heroes" is a cartoon, its characterization is much better than "Seven Swordsmen". It does not make the supporting roles overshadow the main characters, nor does it let the main characters dominate. The images of several main villains are also very outstanding. Each character has his own unique characteristics, such as Sally's strength, Niu Xuanfeng's loyalty, Hei Xiaohu's infatuation...

The most remarkable thing about this cartoon is that it depicts all kinds of people rather than superficial and simplistic personal heroism.

When Fang Yan brought Yu Dajin to the company and told Wang Shuo and others about the overall idea of ​​"Legend of the Seven Heroes of Rainbow Cat and Blue Rabbit", Yu Hua's eyes lit up immediately and he couldn't help but slap his thigh, "No wonder Teacher Fang asked us to cram for "Seven Swordsmen", it turns out this is the reason!"

"It's indeed a good story, but Mr. Fang, I don't understand one thing."

Wang Shuo wondered, "Why are the protagonists named after animals?"

"You don't understand this."

Zheng Yuanjie explained that Austrian zoologist Konrad Lorenz once proposed the theory of "larval retention", which emphasizes that humans naturally follow things with cute attributes, and animal images can arouse the audience's love more than real people.

Yu Dajin said: "What Teacher Zheng said is absolutely correct. Therefore, when we watch cartoons produced by American companies, such as "Shuke and Beta" and "Black Cat Sheriff", the characters are basically designed as animals. This will be more friendly and approachable to children."

"Don't think that using animals in cartoons is childish."

Fang Yan said that in "The Legend of the Seven Heroes of Rainbow Cat and Blue Rabbit", the animals have chivalrous hearts under their skins. The martial arts stories with animals as the protagonists also contain the joys and sorrows of the human world, as well as the evil intentions of human nature. Even for adults, it is more than enough. (End of this chapter)