What were the "eight model operas" during the Cultural Revolution?

1, model operas refer to more than 20 stage art works that were established as "revolutionary model operas" during the Cultural Revolution. His representative works include Nine Excellent Model Operas of Peking Opera, The Story of the Red Lantern, Overriding the Tiger Mountain, Shajiabang, Harbor, Scared White Tiger, Long Yin, Rhododendron Mountain, ballet Red women soldiers, White-haired Girl and so on.

2. Origin

The names of "model" and "model opera" first appeared on1March, 96516th respectively. Shanghai Liberation Daily published an article by a commentator of this newspaper, praising the Beijing opera The Story of the Red Lantern and People's Daily 1966 on June 24th. From then on to the end of 1966, titles such as "revolutionary model opera", "revolutionary art model" and "revolutionary modern model works" appeared in newspapers and periodicals.

3. Artistic features

Model operas have indeed accumulated some experience in using traditional and foreign art forms to express modern life in China. For example, drawing lessons from the stage art form of drama, using realistic scenery, props and costumes of western paintings has changed the assumed characteristics of traditional Beijing opera that emphasize freehand brushwork and symbolism; A complete set of layered vocals should properly handle the relationship between voice and emotion, genre and characters, charm and image; As an accompaniment of Peking Opera, the symphony orchestra is refined in art and meticulously carved, which has some merits. However, there are also some problems, which violate the inherent characteristics of artistic style. Realistic scenery weakens the imagination space, performance overemphasizes the character experience and closeness to life, symphonic accompaniment turns the programmed singing into a "Beijing song", and the conductor replaces the drum board to integrate the military and civilian fields, lacking conceptualization. However, judging from their creations, the fundamental task of shaping typical proletarian heroes and the three excellent creative principles summarized are rigidly established as the classic norms that all creations must follow. Some scholars have pointed out that the personality cult created by the three highlights in Gao Daquan contains the spiritual genes of the Cultural Revolution. However, some people have questioned this: Isn't this the popular heroic creation technique in Hollywood? Is Hollywood also the gene of the spirit of the Cultural Revolution? This technique of highlighting the main characters and heroes is actually the aesthetic psychological demand of most ethnic groups in the world. All epic works are like this, which shows that Jiang Qing's understanding of literary and artistic creation is profound.