''After School'' ( zh, 放学以后) is a 1972 Chinese animated short film.
Background
The film was produced and released under the term of chairman
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...
when the
cultural revolution
The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...
was still ongoing. As with other animated films of the era, it had a
class struggle
Class conflict, also referred to as class struggle and class warfare, is the political tension and economic antagonism that exists in society because of socio-economic competition among the social classes or between rich and poor.
The forms ...
theme.
[Ye, T., & Zhu, Y. (2012). Historical Dictionary of Chinese Cinema. Lanham: The Scarecrow Press, Inc.] The plot backdrop is an elementary school. A story book was also released as a companion to the film.
Story
While "Little
Red Guard
Red Guards () were a mass student-led paramilitary social movement mobilized and guided by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 through 1967, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a Red Guard le ...
" elementary student Li Guohua is leading a group of students putting up Cultural Revolution posters, fellow student Shen Xiaogang runs in to say that some young girls were outside skipping rope and singing a song about eating candy and the uselessness of reading revolutionary books. After talking to the girls, Li Guohua discovers that they were taught the song by a candy seller (Huang Yilang). This is a serious matter, so they all decide to report it to their teacher. The teacher and students then talk to a revolutionary leader named Zhou Dabo. Zhou lectures the children on the history of
class struggle
Class conflict, also referred to as class struggle and class warfare, is the political tension and economic antagonism that exists in society because of socio-economic competition among the social classes or between rich and poor.
The forms ...
in China. The girls promise not to listen to such songs again and to follow
Mao Zedong's teachings.
A little later, another student reports that the candy seller has been telling
fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...
and
ghost tales to other students. Yet another student reports that the candy seller is saying life in the countryside is miserable and they should not go out there to learn. The students eventually surround and denounce Huang Yilang when he returns to the school to sell candy and teach songs.
References
Sources
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External links
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Chinese animated short films
Chinese propaganda films
Maoist China propaganda films
1972 films
1972 animated films
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