On The Aesthetic Characteristics Of Shadow Play In North China

Shadow puppetry,also known as "shadow play" or "lantern play",is a kind of folk drama in which figures made of animal skins or cardboard are silhouetted to perform stories.China's shadow puppetry spread widely,mainly distributed in Hebei,Beijing,Shanxi,Gansu,Henan,Shandong and other provinces,and gradually divided into the northern shadow puppetry,western shadow puppetry and south-central shadow puppetry,which belongs to the northern shadow puppetry is particularly prosperous.Shadow puppetry in north China has a long history of repertoire,exquisite carving techniques,skillful manipulation and lyrical singing music,and has a large number of audiences in towns and villages.In terms of dramas,the themes mainly include history,family marriage,mythical monster,modern dramas,etc.Among them,historical dramas account for the largest proportion,and the number of ancient dramas is far more than that of modern dramas.There is a sense of “Happy Reunion”,a sense of common people and Heavy martial arts in the script,the theme is to carry forward the traditional ethics,and the story is legendary.In modeling,the shadow puppet props in this area are mainly donkey skin,which can be completed through seven steps,including leather selection,leather making,painting,carving,color application,sweating,ironing and binding.Due to the principle of scatter perspective,the original two-dimensional shadow will show a three-dimensional effect.On the whole,the shadow puppet props show the aesthetic characteristics of planarity,dramatization and regionalism.In singing,divided into male roles,female roles,painted face,clown and other roles,using the unique "singing with pinch throat" in North China,the main structure of the lyrics can be roughly divided into three words,five words,seven words,ten words,three catch seven and so on.During the performance,the singers sing in dialect,can randomly add rural slang according to the specific situation,so it is very local,showing the characteristics of freehand,local and comprehensive.With the acceleration of urbanization,the shadow play which once flourished in the countryside has become difficult.In order to better inherit and develop shadow play,the renewal of the repertoire needs two legs,On the one hand,on the basis of keeping excellent serialized theatrical performance,traditional plays extract more modern aesthetic foldout plays,on the other hand,create new plays,especially the wonderful,short single play is more suitable for the viewing needs of modern people.Break through the original style in modeling,and integrate more popular elements.Of course,the development of shadow play is inseparable from the support of the state and the efforts of artists themselves.At present,all-round digital preservation of shadow play art is the best way to protect this intangible cultural heritage with a long history.The unique aesthetic characteristics and extensive and profound mass foundation are the important reasons why the ancient art of North China shadow play can exist up to now.With the overall decline of shadow play art,starting from the protection of the aesthetic characteristics and performance ecology of shadow play,respect for its local,folk,grassroots,flexible characteristics should be the development direction of shadow play art.