Language Style (Taking Stephen Chow's Works as an Example)
The style of nonsense language is characterized by the deviation from the world of using language. The common variations are mainly phonetic variation, lexical variation and grammatical variation.
Phonetic variation
Phonetic variation is the most common and active language variation. Among them, the homophony formed by clever use of homophones and the rhyme formed by antithesis are typical phonetic deviations.
1. Homophonic pun
The phonetic variation of homophonic pun refers to the phonetic variation formed by using the same pronunciation and similar pronunciation of words. Although it is literally a word, it actually expresses a word with the same or similar pronunciation, which constitutes homophonic deviation, thus achieving the effects of "this" and "that". For example:
Gourmet: This fish is like-like being contaminated by radiation. Makes me want to throw up. Do you want me to eat? Zero point! Go home and reflect, you just have one more fish.
Chef: It's not an extra fish, it's redundant. You, you are simply redundant. ("God of Food")
The lines satirize the chef's redundancy through the homonym of "fish" and "surplus" This deviation, from concrete things to movie characters, is humorous and ironic.
Clever rhyme
"Rhyme", also called "rhyme", refers to rhyming words used at the end of some sentences in verse. In Chinese, tones are flat and even, and syllables are single and double. Clever use of this language feature can make sentences read smoothly, thus enhancing the sense of rhythm. As Cang Kejia said, "Rhyme is a means to strengthen the rhythm."
The rhymes of Stephen Chow's movie lines are not rhymes in the strict sense of language rhetoric, but mostly only rhymes at the end of sentences, creating a unique humorous effect of "nonsense". For example:
In the picture, the dragon doesn't scream and the tiger doesn't scream. The little boy is ridiculous!
There are no wheels and horses in the chessboard. Tell the general to be careful!
Yingying is bright red and harmonious everywhere.
Rain, rain, wind, wind, flowers, leaves, leaves, relative year after year.
("Tang Bohu points autumn fragrance")
In these four poems, the traditional rigid rhyme feet are covered by "nonsense" poems, which can be described as bold innovation and unique.
Lexical variation
Generally speaking, the choice of words and sentences needs to be standardized: you can't copy them mechanically and do whatever you want. But sometimes in order to express the special needs of the effect, it is often necessary to change the form and collocation of words to obtain new meanings.
1. English and Chinese * * *
When modern Chinese absorbs foreign words, it is generally not simply copied, but reformed to adapt to the structural system of modern Chinese. However, Stephen Chow's movie lines are mixed with many Cantonese idioms and Hong Kong-style English, which leads a popular language trend. For example:
Supreme treasure: Hey, blind man, aren't you dead?
Blind man: We just played dead!
Supreme treasure: I am Kao Hua! I took you there!
("A Chinese Odyssey" Moonlight Box)
A mixed sentence in Chinese and English: "I am Kao! After Stephen Chow's unique performance, "I Take You" has become an expression of people's incomprehensible people and things in the real society, and it also implies helplessness or surprise.
2. Vocabulary modification
There are a lot of impromptu neologisms in Stephen Chow's movie lines, and their creation is not simply copied, but modified in a "nonsense" way, giving them special meanings. All these reformed new words are original in form, creating a very humorous effect. In movie lines, it is mainly manifested in the conversion of well-known idioms and proverbs. For example:
Sweeping the floor is only my superficial work. My real identity is a research monk. (shaolin soccer)
According to the "graduate student", the new term "Yan Monk" is an imitation, which not only echoes the role in the film, but also is quite innovative and makes people laugh. Therefore, this transformation can be said to be "words change with things", which is novel and unique, giving people a unique effect, greatly enhancing the expressive force of language and vividly showing the characteristics of things.
Grammatical deviation
"Grammar is the structural law of words, phrases, sentences and other language units" [5] "It is the rule of abstracting the combination or type of * * * from many grammatical units and how to express semantics." [6] Grammatical rules include syntactic rules and lexical rules, which require proper collocation between sentence components and reasonable sentence word order; Lexical rules require following the norms of part of speech and correctly modifying part of speech.
1. Word order transformation
Word order is one of the grammatical means of Chinese expression, including word order and sentence order. Word order refers to the arrangement order of words or phrases in a sentence according to grammatical rules. The fixed position of a word in a sentence reflects its function in the language structure. Clever and vivid word order changes can sometimes create a humorous atmosphere. Some lines in Stephen Chow's movies are "... first", which is very popular. For example:
Give me a reason to kill me first!
It's not that easy to kill me. Ask my brothers first!
("A Chinese Odyssey" Moonlight Box)
"Xian" means in front of time or sequence, and it is an adverb indicating time. From the normal word order, it should be placed before the verb, that is, "Give me a reason to kill me first" and "It's not that easy to kill me, ask my brothers first". This form of expression breaks through people's inherent mode of thinking and is unique.
Third, the conclusion
To sum up, "deviation" is an important language expression used in Stephen Chow's movie lines. On the one hand, the unconventional language deviation used in movie lines can make the audience break away from strict language norms and give people a sense of freshness; On the other hand, nonsense language has profound social connotation in essence, revealing the essence of the world through the appearance of cynicism. [5]
subversive
The subversion of Wulitou is not only reflected in the uglification of the main characters. In fact, "Wulitou" triumphed all the way and was in an advantageous position in the field of subversion for a long time. In Hong Kong, an extremely crazy film-making environment, everything normal can be subverted.
Chow Yun Fat also appeared in many comedy films with nonsense characteristics. His main feature or advantage is that he can make a natural and easy transition between serious and stark raving mad's funny characters, without making the audience feel that this transition is unreasonable. In "God of Gambling", Chow Yun Fat's handsome appearance will instantly turn into a fool who makes people laugh. Whether he is a ruthless killer or a crazy comedian, he can make the audience agree with the role.
Among the previous performances in Hong Kong, Chow Yun Fat's performance features are unique. So after his success, the comedy Towel, which was fascinated by this feature, appeared like mushrooms after rain in Hong Kong, and even spread to those actors who are famous for their beauty. Therefore, whether it is Leslie Cheung or Andy Lau, the ordinary people they play completely offset their handsome appearance. For example, in Slimming Men and Women, Andy Lau, who is famous for her good figure, becomes a gluttonous and stingy fat man. Of course, the most famous example is Mo Zhangwei in the movie Gourmet. In the film, her image was ruined by director Stephen Chow, which can no longer be described as "horrible". This form of boldly subverting people's habits has become one of the important contents of "nonsense".
In short, Hong Kong movies are like a pot of soup with a long history. Seemingly muddleheaded, it actually contains endless content. It's refreshing to have a taste of mixed flavors, and the "nonsense" essence of Hong Kong comedy movies is the strongest and deepest flavor of this pot of old soup, which is so soft and complicated when it is transmitted to our realistic heart through movies. Taste Hong Kong in nonsense, and feel nonsense in Hong Kong. [6]
abstract
Wulitou has many characteristics. To put it simply, it is one of the important characteristics of the concept of nonsense to be maverick and unusual with the content of anti-sublime, anti-elite, anti-logic, recklessness and irony.
Hong Kong, which used to be a colonial city with a combination of Chinese and Western culture or a non-Chinese, African and Western culture, has been accelerating its development pace under the rapid economic growth and dazzling fashion shock wave.
This situation is manifested in all kinds of films in the early 1990s, all of which are shots with a shooting cycle of three weeks or less and an average speed of only 4-6 seconds. In fact, the familiar Hong Kong commercial films are the fastest-paced regional films in the world. With such a fast pace, the thinking time left by Hong Kong movies is almost equal to zero, so the audience is caught in the maze of audio-visual stimulation. Without the opportunity to make necessary logical analysis and reasoning, some ridiculous gimmicks were added. In comedy movies, the fast pace of Hong Kong movies has just become an important cause of the nonsense style. On the premise of refusing rational intervention, illogical jokes are released to the audience in a fast-paced and intensive way, forming waves of jokes. In the process of appreciation, the audience lost logic and rationality. The beating rhythm of passive followers enters the scene stipulated in the film and forgets themselves, so they feel extremely relaxed, which is also the beauty of nonsense and illogical.
In addition, influenced by western postmodernism, collage and deconstruction, two main postmodern features, are integrated into movies, which provide new expressions for nonsense from the aspects of content and form, destroy and modify what was once considered a classic, and achieve uniqueness and stand out from the crowd. This collage and deconstruction has no substantive significance or profound connotation. Some people even think that it is just for a laugh and grandstanding, but it dares to take out orthodox, serious and lofty elements and make ruthless ridicule. This alone is meaningful enough.
There is also this film mode, which is rooted in ordinary life and permeates the aesthetic hobbies and living habits of Hong Kong people. In addition to the ubiquitous slang and one-liners, many types of elements have been added. Crazy fighting scenes, desperate stunts, and various elements of fashion may all become the supporting links of a nonsense movie, so when various elements are mixed together, it can really be called nonsense. [9]