From March of the Volunteers to Amazing Grace : the death of the main melody movie in the 21st century

摘要

Numerous Main Melody movies released in China since the millennium fall far short of achieving their original purpose as promoted by Deng Xiaoping. His idea of “the true, the good and the beautiful” has turned into a “golden goose” and “ecstasy pill” targeted for criticism by Xi Jinping in his 2014 Talk on Literature and Art. This paper discusses some of the most well-known Main Melody movies produced since 2000 and audience reception of these films, demonstrating how “party-state ideology” in them has either become the target of laughter and criticism or has been replaced or drowned out by commercial elements. Such elements have sometimes even transformed them into “anti-Main Melody” works, effectively signifying the death of the Main Melody as an ideal in the 21st century.