"Our Shining Days"
Traditional Chinese Music vs Classical Music; A Fight Was Never So Entertained
By: Emily Guerrero
“Our Shining Days” is a coming of age musical film released on July 20, 2017, in which traditional Chinese music and classical music are portrayed as an example of forgetting the old traditions by the influence of the western culture in the actual generations. This is a Chinese film directed by Wang Ran and produced by William Kang. Moreover, it was written by Bao Jingjing. Xu Lu and Peng Yuchan were the main actors in this original and entertained movie.
The movie starts in a music school located in China, this school is divided into traditional Chinese music and classical music, and the students of different groups do not get along well with each other. Chen Jing (Xu Lu), who is a talented traditional musician is in love with a piano prodigy, but when she gets to know his ignorance towards traditional music instruments, she decided to form an ensemble to show what traditional music was. Furthermore, this ensemble consisted of her best friend Li You (Peng Yuchan) that secretly loves her and the otaku (it is a Japanese word used to classified a person that is obsessed with a hobby, in this case, Japanese culture and anime.) girls of the school. With this, they showed people around how important traditional instruments are, and that not only classic music is good to learn.
This film, has had some awards and nominations. In 2017 it won the “Best Film of the Year” in the 14th China Movie Channel Media Awards. Furthermore, some important aspects of the movie were the acting and the influence of music in the film. However, the most important aspect between these two were the role of music, because it show how people is forgetting about traditional music in China and teach their children to play classical music. Moreover, with their acting, they showed that to play an instrument it is not only to be talented but to love what you are doing. I truly recommend this movie, it is well written and produced, as well as directed. The cast did an excellent role and while watching the movie, you can learn a lot about the traditional Chinese music and, at the same, time enjoy their innovated music.