First of all, the key word of "Female Mulan" is "it's hard to tell the difference between male and female".
The work itself is the author's real business card. The theme of Mulan should be mainly excavated from the play. There are only two plays, in fact, the key word is "male and female are difficult to distinguish". The first is about Mulan's difficulty in pretending to be a man and preparing to join the army instead of her father. The rebellion of thieves in Montenegro, the leopard skin is king, Khan recruits soldiers, "the name of grandfather is registered", and the reality of father's elderly siblings constitutes a specific environment for women to pretend to be men, highlighting the necessity and urgency of their women pretending to be men; A little strength, a little cleverness, reading some books and learning some martial arts are all possibilities for her to join the army instead of her father. She stepped up her feet, changed her military uniform, practiced swords, spears and arrows, and rode a donkey across a horse, which proved the possibility of her father joining the army, not only by increasing the movements of drama, although drama is an action art, which the author wrote very succinctly and clearly. In a few words, there is no exaggeration or beautification. Unlike the vernacular novels of the Ming Dynasty or the dramas of the same theme in later generations, a woman disguised as a man like Hua Mulan should be written as a superhero. For example, she is proficient in all kinds of martial arts, but her strength is "small" and her intelligence is "small". She has only "read" books and only "learned" martial arts, because the author's intention is not this, but emphasizes the difficulty of Hua Mulan disguised as a man. His father's name "Flower Arc" is in response to the ancient habit of hanging a bow in front of the door when giving birth to a boy, which has revealed the meaning of attaching importance to men; After he had a female Mulan, he gave birth to a female name "Mu Nan", which was not without disaster. So his son's name is "Bite", which is either homophonic or "Bite is not relaxed". Needless to say, he prefers boys to girls. So Mulan can only hide the above preparations from her parents, which is also difficult to pretend to be a woman. His father was "anxious to hang himself", but he never thought of letting his daughter play the role of a man, which is a strong proof of the difficulty. Moreover, even though her parents were surprised and happy when they saw Mulan's women's clothes and men's clothes, they barely said "Go and get them", but there was still greater difficulty: "Go, you are a girl again. Wan Li, a thousand townships, is a companion of peers. Do you want to hide your penis? What kind of business is this! " Here, Mulan's parents are not worried about their daughter's imminent danger and life and death, nor are they full of sadness for their own flesh and blood to be reunited in different parts of the world. Instead, I take the fear of exposing women as my biggest concern and guide the audience to focus on it, because this is an excellent drama suspense deliberately set by the author, and the first "play" was born. Although Mulan has "Niang! Don't worry! The comfort and encouragement of "returning my daughter to you" seems calm, confident and emboldened. However, after all, this is a "future tense" thing, and readers and audiences can't help worrying about Mulan, because at first sight, the two male soldiers accompanying them whispered, "What a beautiful flower arc!" Even on the way to join the army, Mulan's heart could not help showing: "I am not afraid that he will go against her and ask her in-laws. I am only worried about this fire and water. "Mulan can't live without water! This is the biggest difficulty for Mulan to play a male role. This is not vulgar, but an insurmountable objective reality of life. First, the author only highlights the word "difficult" of "beating men with women".
In the second play, Mulan was played as a woman, which was a great success. She went home in gold. Reasonably speaking, if the author intends to praise Mulan's patriotic spirit or national thoughts closely related to it, he should describe the heinous crimes of black mountain thieves' rebellion, rebellion and hegemony, thus harming the country and people, burning and looting, and perhaps interweave it with the loyal and treacherous struggle of the main battle leader of the imperial court, highlighting Mulan's indomitable and resourceful brave qualities of bravely killing the enemy, faithfully serving the country, being loyal to the monarch and loving the people; In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, Xu Wei, a former secretary of the shogunate of Hu Zongxian, also took part in the struggle against the Japanese pirates along the southeast coast. The harassment and looting of Anda in the northwest was once sent to the front by Xu Wei, and there are many poems and records. Why doesn't he describe it like this? Even when writing about Mulan's martial arts, Xin Ping Yuan Shuai only recited a few words: "There are 3,000 brave men in Japan, and I want to test his martial arts in name. There is a flower arc, which seems useful. " No exaggeration, no doubt. None of the stories of the Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties were boasted by storytellers that heroes were superior in martial arts, fighting and killing, and cutting flags to seize the vanguard. Even if the confrontation with the thief leopard skin is opposite, it should be a heavy scene that deliberately describes Mulan's bravery, unyielding loyalty, wisdom and courage. If the author intends to praise Mulan's patriotic spirit or national thought, he will never let this typical scene go. However, after the marshal ordered the army to shoot, there were only the following words:
(The first three Battle. Nets disguised as thieves) (Wood rushes out of the trap) (Outside) Fall back!
This is an earth-shattering, bloody, tense and life-and-death battle. Why is it so concise and fleeting? Judging from the whole drama and real life, the story of Mulan joining the army instead of her father should be divided into three stages: before joining the army and after joining the army. If we intend to show Mulan's patriotism and heroine spirit, we should focus on the second stage. But because the author doesn't intend to do this, even if we write the second stage, we want to explain that Mulan plays the role of a man with a woman, and marshals, soldiers and even the court are all men with women. As soon as Mulan arrived at the military camp, the marshal regarded her as one of the "three thousand heroes" who were all men; He said in the "Good News of the Imperial Court" that "a thief has a leopard skin and a soldier spends an arc to catch the enemy"; When Mulan was ordered to take a break back to China, he came to say goodbye, saying, "I can't say goodbye in a hurry", which proved that the marshal has always been a man outside and a woman inside. The imperial edict says that "flower arcs can be rewarded to merchants", which also shows that the emperor is male or female. After Mulan joined the army, she wrote not only these things, but also quite concrete and vivid details. In other words, the author intentionally narrates two non-commissioned officers who lived with Mulan for twelve years on the battlefield. On the way back to their hometown with Mulan, they suddenly said, "It's rare to think of Brother Hua! I don't teach people to watch drowning, but I am smart enough to answer "this is your stage." Even if Mulan couldn't help hinting at her gender, the two sergeants still didn't understand:
(Singing) "What's so rare about my arc? There is also a rare one! (White) In the temple next to my house, a clay sculpture of King Kong suddenly turned into the face of Chang 'e (Second Army). Is this the case? (MuSheng) When you don't believe me, I'll show you.
It is intended to show that even comrades-in-arms can hardly distinguish between men and women. It is said that Mulan joined the army on behalf of her father 12 years, and returned home in triumph. After a long separation, her parents, brothers and sisters should have mixed feelings. However, the first thing Mulan explained to her parents after changing back to women's clothes was: "I tied the bolt tightly, and it took several rainy nights to return your cardamom letter." How can I humiliate my parents? " This is exactly what other families say when they leave, "Mom! Don't worry! The concern of "returning a girl to you" is another highlight of her great success as a woman.
The only two plays, the first, describe the difficulty of women playing the leading role; Second, all the recitations from the imperial court to the chief sergeant can't distinguish between men and women. Why on earth is this? The author asked Mulan, the heroine, to sum up with the last song "Ending": "I am a daughter at seventeen and a man at twelve. After watching it a thousand times, which one can see the difference between men and women. Fang does not believe in the Tao and does not distinguish between men and women by eyes. " Thousands of people, including marshals and soldiers who have been in trouble for more than ten years, still can't tell the difference between men and women, because it depends on the heart, not just the eyes. This is Mulan's conclusion. It seems easy to distinguish between men and women, but it's not that simple. Things in the world are certainly more complicated than distinguishing between men and women, and the difficulty can be imagined. So the author said at the end of the whole play: "Things in the world are somewhat chaotic, and schools can't tell men from women." This is the author's conclusion, which makes the finishing point of the play. This means that my drama Mulan by Xu Wei is a story that men and women can't tell apart, and this confusing thing can be seen everywhere in the world. This is actually the reason why the title of the play puts the word "female" at the head of "Mulan". Chinese opera lies in innovation, novel plot and easy innovation. Commenting on Pipa Xing, Li Zhi said: "The topic of haircut is really out of thin air and will always be wonderful. So how many good words have been made. There are good topics and good words. " It is not necessarily novel to join the army instead of my father; The "female" Mulan generation is novel and can be passed down. It is common to distinguish between men and women; It is difficult to tell the difference between male and female, so the freshness can be passed on.
Moreover, Mulan's skill is "An can tell whether I am a man or a woman".
Xu Wei is really a strange man, and his four-tone ape is really a strange drama. And what is the wonder of female Mulan? It's hard to tell a man from a woman. In fact, the skill of female Mulan comes from the widely circulated story that Mulan joined the army instead of her father, and what was written in the folk song Mulan Ci written by Yuefu in the Northern Dynasty. Hua Mulan's Ci describes in detail the process of Hua Mulan preparing to join the army instead of her father, and the battle of joining the army only uses "new Qi Chuan Jin, cold light ironing." The general died in many battles, and a strong man returned in ten years. The joy of changing women's clothes after returning, as well as the confusion of the partners who "walked with each other for 0/2 years and didn't know Mulan was a woman", are all vividly and concretely written, and at the end of the poem, it is particularly emphasized that "the male rabbit's feet are confused and the female rabbit's eyes are blurred." When two rabbits walk beside the ground, Ann can tell whether I am a male or a female, which is very clear. The most outstanding thing is that Ann can tell whether I am a man or a woman. Xu Wei was deeply impressed by the word "indistinguishable between male and female", and the theme of "Female Mulan" is also here.
At the same time, Xu Wei also heard and witnessed a lot of confused things between men and women.
The story of Mulan disguised as a man instead of her father to join the army has profound implications, which can show a variety of different themes, such as singing the spirit of patriotism, the virtue of loyalty and filial piety, the overwhelming heroine and so on. Why does Xu Wei have to find another way, but tell the audience and readers that there are many confused things in the world that can't tell men from women? Because before he wrote this play, there were many confusing things he experienced, heard and witnessed. Mulan is also a summary of Xu Wei's life experience and tragic life.
For example, the evaluation of Yan Song. This is the reason why Yan Song was promoted by scholars, editors-in-chief, history lecturers, wine-offering and other humble civil servants. During Jiajing years, he successively served as right assistant minister of the Ministry of Justice, left assistant minister, minister of justice, university student of Wuyingdian, prince Taifu, university student of Shenmiao, prince Shaofu and university student of Huagaidian. Conspiracy to frame and crowd out ministers, snare cronies and become girlfriends; Those who kill dissidents and impeach Yan Song and his son Yan Shifan are either demoted or killed. Later, Yan Shifan was executed and Yan Song was dismissed for the people. He stole the government for 20 years and poisoned the world. The world called him a traitor, and Ming history also included him in the biography of traitors.
Hu Zongxian, the governor of Zhejiang Province, who made great contributions in the struggle against Japanese invaders, also catered to Jiajing and traitor Yan Song and maintained a high official position. Xu Wei, then secretary of the Hu Zongxian shogunate, once wrote articles to flatter and praise Yan Song instead of Hu Zongxian. For example, in Yan Gong's birthday celebration, he praised Yan Song, saying that "all nations are constitutional from afar", "I am also a sage" and "Bi Liang IV", and compared it with the sages Jiang Shang and Yi Yin in history, repeatedly expressing gratitude and gratitude, which was extremely disgusting. Moreover, this handwriting is not just one or two. Although this is a ghostwriter, it is inevitable that it will be against one's will, but it was written by Xu Wei after all. However, in Xu Wei's Four Sounds Apes and Yu Yang Lane, critics admit that Mi Fei's growling at Cao Cao is an allusion to Yan Song. The story of the author cursing Cao with gongs and drums reveals the vicious hypocrisy, cunning and treachery of feudal powerful traitors, the heinous crimes of harming the country and the people, and the disregard for human life, and is full of resentment, which really gives the "traitor" courage. Compared with Yan Song's eulogy in Qi Huangong's Birthday, he is totally different. Moreover, even in Yu Yang Lane, when Mi Fei and the judge who saw him off were to be separated, Mi Fei, who was extremely angry with the traitor, even offered to "forgive Cao", but his hatred for the traitor was greatly reduced. During Xu Wei's life, and before and after the agricultural drama, his attitude towards traitors changed, which only showed that his understanding of Yan Song had changed, and he had a sober evaluation, but also had a period of confusion.
Another example is Xu Wei's understanding of Hu Zongxian as the shogunate minister. Hu Zongxian became the military and political minister in the southeast of Megatron, not only because he wrote several letters to the above table to cater to Jiajing's long-lived wish, but also because he surrendered the right to please Yan Song Group. However, during this period, he did make achievements in the struggle against the enemy in Fujian, Zhejiang and other southeast coastal areas. It was during Hu Zongxian's tenure as governor of Zhejiang that Xu Wei, who had been repeatedly defeated, was recruited by Hu Zongxian as the secretary of the shogunate and received great courtesy. So Hu Zongxian was arrested and finally died in prison, which was an extremely heavy blow to Xu Wei, and he even committed suicide. Xu Wei's poems also show remorse. In other words, Xu Wei has a feeling of knowing what he has encountered, a feeling of regret, and a time when right and wrong are indistinguishable and confused.
Another example is the son-in-law of the deceived king. According to his abnormal spectrum, Xu Wei moved to Crossroads when he was thirty-nine. Xia, the adopted king of Hangzhou, is very powerful. I made a mistake at first, but I lost it in autumn, and I still hate it. "That is to say, in matters such as marriage, Xu Wei also has a time when it is difficult to distinguish between true and false and confusion.
Another example is the death of Shen Lian. Shen Lian was killed by the Yan Party in the thirty-sixth year of Jiajing (1557). However, the excuse for killing Shen Lian is to frame him as the leader of Ambry. Why didn't Quan Gan kill Shen Lian, but falsely accused him of being the leader of the Ambry Sect? Does the world have ulterior motives for power rape? Does the world still have a confused understanding of Shen Lian's indomitable loyalty and hatred of evil? Xu Wei's Poem of Mourning for Four Sons (III) and Shen's saying: "You cut down the head of the East Market, who cares if you are famous or dead!" "A Brief Answer to Qian Junde's Mansion in the Golden Chamber" said, "Since ancient times, scholars have looked forward to it, but no one can talk about right and wrong today ... If you don't see me, Shen Jinyi!" "Short Brown Articles Send Shen Zishu to the Fort" says: "If you don't kill people, you will be dizzy." Why did Shen Lian seem to become a celebrity after being severely punished for abandoning the city? Why does the author cry out in pain "Who cares if he dies"? Why did Xu Wei earnestly warn Shen Lian's son not to be naive? At that time, your father didn't kill anyone, but someone tried to kill him. Now, if you don't kill anyone, someone will try to kill you, because this is an era when the sky is silent and the sun is weak. The tragic death of Shen Jinyi proves that this is a period of "no one can discuss right and wrong today". Now is an age when men and women are indistinguishable, right and wrong are unclear and confused. How can Wei keep moaning!
However, Xu Wei is really a strange person, and Mulan is a strange drama. Because it is normal to write sadness with sadness and see sadness with sadness; And write sadness with happiness, happiness contains sadness, and sadness is particularly profound. The Japanese film Farewell tells the story of a wedding with a dead lover. Although all etiquette is a festive wedding ceremony, the more the wedding goes on, the stronger the tragic atmosphere becomes. Mulan is indeed a comedy for the audience and readers, but for the author, when he saw that all the emperors, marshals and soldiers were indistinguishable from each other, he felt even more sad about the social reality he had experienced, heard and witnessed, which was indistinguishable from each other. In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, Jiajing ignored state affairs for a long time, eunuchs were in power, traitors were autocratic, bureaucrats were corrupt, order was chaotic, right and wrong were reversed, and yin and yang were difficult to distinguish. Even if the drama does not pay attention to patriotism and women, its ideological value cannot be underestimated.
(Author: College of Literature, Qufu Normal University)