"The Rebel": highlights the lofty and tragic faith
Hu Xiang
Recently, the hit spy war drama "The Rebel" has come to an end. Since its launch, the show has been among the best in ratings and has gained a good reputation.
In recent years, spy war dramas have repeatedly hit the streets, why this drama can stand out and arouse heated discussion?
The key is that it returns to the typified creation law of spy war dramas in its dramas.
Its plot structure, era background, and character relationships are all within the framework of traditional spy war dramas, and even some parts are familiar to people. However, it uses a down-to-earth artistic attitude, a meticulous depiction of ideals and beliefs, and anti-spyware. The anti-type innovation of the typical characters in the war drama has compiled the password for successful creation.
Innovative perspective, shooting the lofty sense of ideals and beliefs
The spy war drama is a relatively mature type of domestic TV dramas. It is essentially a TV drama with the main theme and an exposition of historical logic.
No matter how the plot is designed, no matter how innovative the technique is, its primary task is to complete the thematic narrative, that is, to make it clear why the Chinese Communist Party can defeat its opponents and lead the people to win the final victory.
The loyal, witty and tenacious agents in the spy war drama are the best artistic images to carry this thematic narrative. Through the process of enduring humiliation and even sacrificing their lives, and insisting on their ideals and beliefs, they reproduce the turbulent historical years. Complete the narration and expression of mainstream values.
"The Rebel" is named "rebellious", which actually has two meanings: the first layer is the former Kuomintang camp represented by the male protagonists Lin Nansheng and Gu Shenyan, who have switched to communism; the second layer is Chen Moqun The betrayal of the country and the people by the vested interests of the Kuomintang represented by Wang Shian.
These two kinds of "rebellion", one running toward a bright future, and one falling into the dark abyss, are actually a metaphor for the historical development trend of the time.
In terms of narrative techniques, the perspective that the protagonist is the Kuomintang at the beginning is not new. Yu Zecheng in "Latent" and Gu Yaodong in "Secret and Great" are both typical examples.
"The Rebel" selects Lin Nansheng, a young cadre of the Kuomintang Fuxing Society, as the protagonist. It is the first time to reflect the entire process of the Kuomintang ruler from betrayal to madness to destruction from the perspective of the growth of young elites. This is an innovation.
At the same time, the work also deeply demonstrated the lofty belief of the Communists in that era that they did not regret the death of the Communists through the change of the identities of the new and old postmen.
The old postman in the play is lurking in the heart of the enemy-Gu Shenyan of the Shanghai Station of the Fuxing Agency Special Service. As a graduate of the Whampoa Military Academy, he also threw his head and blood during the Great Revolution, and participated in the Northern Expedition in order to defeat the warlords and achieve national unity.
He served as the head guard of the Kuomintang member He Yingqin. It stands to reason that with such qualifications and ability, he should have a promising future in the Kuomintang. His classmate Chen Moqun has become a major general-level stationmaster.
However, he chose the Communist Party. On the surface, he is the director of the archives office, but he is actually an outstanding agent of our party who has played an important role many times.
Wang Zhiwen's vivid interpretation of the drama bones vividly portrays his wit, calmness and boldness.
He faced Chen Moqun’s suspicion from the beginning of the series. Later, because of the radio incident triggered an exposure crisis, in order to paralyze the five Kuomintang agents in Yan'an, and for the safety of the entire Shanghai intelligence network, the postman decided to expose himself-he escaped from prison. I met with Lin Nansheng and completed the handover of the old and new postmen. Many netizens said that this scene was "very teary."
The postman means a revolutionary belief that gives up one's life and forgets to die, dares to bear the burden, and goes on and on.
In the subsequent plot, Lin Nansheng took on a more difficult psychological pressure than Gu Shenyan, became a veritable postman, and completed his spiritual Nirvana.
Compared with other works of the same type, "The Rebel" describes the transformation of this belief in a more nuanced and convincing description, and it also highlights the nobleness and tragic of the belief.
Respect the laws of art and make a sense of suspense in spy drama
The spy war drama is a special type that has both the main theme and the commercial attributes. On the one hand, its most important task is to clarify the historical choice and clarify that justice must defeat evil; on the other hand, its core part ——The sense of suspense and tension brought by the fighting of wits and courage of the agents of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party is very suitable for commercialized visual presentation.
At present, most spy war dramas can well complete the theme narrative, but there are problems in the suspense narrative-there is no fierce conflict and suspense that spy war dramas should have, because they do not respect this type of creative law. The themes come first, and the artistic techniques are rigid and rigid. This is also the fundamental reason for the creation of thunder dramas and magic dramas in many spy war dramas.
But "The Rebel" has done a better job in suspense narrative, which is mainly reflected in the following two aspects.
The first is full of tension in the drama structure.
"The Traitor" shows the complex forces of various parties: there are the early Fuxing Society and the military regime that evolved from it, the Communist underground intelligence network with fishermen at the core, and Japanese spies, young progressive students... The narrative spaces of the Second Civil Revolutionary War, Anti-Japanese War, and Liberation War included Shanghai, Nanjing, Chongqing, and Hong Kong. Basically, the most classic time and space elements of spy war dramas were highlighted, which conformed to the historical background and the psychological expectations of the audience.
This complex relationship between characters and the constantly changing background of time and space have strengthened the contradictions of drama conflicts and provided a solid artistic stage for the subsequent brilliant multi-party fighting of wits and courage.
Secondly, the contradiction between characters is also an important point of conflict in drama.
For example, the protagonist Lin Nansheng was originally brought to Shanghai by Chen Moqun, the head of the Shanghai district of the Fuxing Agency's Special Affairs Department, to become an agent. The two were both teachers and friends. Lin Nansheng was still Chen Moqun’s key training target. Different but break.
Lin Nansheng had a good impression of the heroine Zhu Yizhen, but Zhu Yizhen is a progressive student who believes in communism. Lin Nansheng deliberately approached her and betrayed her by Chen Moqun’s order, which became another major conflict point in the whole show. The two people’s grievances and feuds Continue to the end of the episode.
The drama also shows the process of the KMT and the Communist Party from confrontation to cooperation and then confrontation. During the War of Resistance, in the face of Japanese spies sent to China to paint the coastline, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party suspended the confrontation, and the Shanghai station planned a traffic accident to eradicate Japanese spies. .
Lin Nansheng and Zhu Yizhen joined forces for the first time when assassinating the blood-stained executioner, Major General Jo Uemura of the Japanese Army.
In the Shanghai station, internal fighting was fierce because it had not caught the lurking postman.
This kind of narrative with multiple clues and factions makes everyone move the whole body, and everyone's ideals and beliefs are constantly changing, and the filming of spy war dramas should have a sense of suspense and a sense of impermanence of fate.
Break the stereotypes and create new characters
After all, TV drama is the art of writing people. The soul of spy war drama lies in the deeply rooted characters, such as Yu Zecheng in "Latent", Zheng Yaoxian in "Kite", and Liu Xinjie in "Before Dawn".
Compared with other major revolutionary historical theme dramas, the advantage of spy war dramas is that they can be more flexible in character shaping, and have greater imagination and shaping space.
The characterization in "The Rebel" not only writes new ideas for the positive characters, but even the villain characters are also impressive. As a result, it has been frequently searched, showing its unique ingenuity in characterization.
In addition to the aforementioned Lin Nansheng and Gu Shenyan, there is also a character in the play that deserves to be analyzed carefully-the dance club Hua Lan Xinjie, which is a brand new civilian image in the spy war drama character gallery. She was originally a calculating and striving to protect herself in the turbulent times. She initially participated in Lin Nansheng's actions for money, but as the situation developed, her thinking began to change. During the Anti-Japanese War, she married a soldier, and later her husband died in the Nanjing Defense War. She became the widow of a martyr. When they met Lin Nansheng again in Chongqing, the accompanying capital, they were forced to hide in air-raid shelters when they encountered Japanese airstrikes on the street. The work uses a realistic approach to show the tragic situation of broken mountains and rivers at the time and the people’s livelihood. Her only son was shot to death by the army on the street. Her national consciousness began to awaken, and her patriotic enthusiasm was ignited for her to carry at the end of the series. With a sniper rifle, he laid the groundwork for carrying out the mission entrusted by Lin Nansheng on the roof. Unfortunately, she was discovered by the spies after completing the mission. Although she was very scared, she resolutely fired a grenade to sacrifice herself. This is a rare heroic image in spy war dramas. The work presents for the first time the life of an ordinary woman in the era of war, which gives the spy war drama the smoke of family life; in the cruel facts of the times and destiny, the work has historical thickness and critical strength . The character Lan Xinjie will definitely leave a brilliant mark in the pedigree of the spy war drama characters.
The villains in the works are also unique and impressive.
They are no longer the scheming "old foxes" in traditional spy war dramas, nor are they the "stupid bears" who have been tricked all the time, but are younger, disguised, and complicated, with distinctive personalities.
For example, the appearance of "The King of Drag" Chen Moqun is very fashionable and capable in terms of words, deeds and clothes. He also discovered and packaged Lin Nansheng. At the beginning, the audience did not have any special bad impressions of him, but as the story progressed Pushing forward, he gradually revealed his cold-blooded, suspicious, and cruel.
For example, for the first time he showed Lin Nansheng the brutality of the interrogation and torture of a young revolutionary. For example, he suddenly appeared like a fox in the house of the postman Gu Shenyan. He also planted an agent Meng Annan in our party, and finally gave him almost the whole The Shanghai underground party organization brought about the disaster, which shows the viciousness of its people.
Another important villain Wang Shian's shaping is also in the woods.
When he appeared on the stage, he appeared in the image of a deputy stationmaster. What the audience saw was his utilitarian and vanity. However, in the subsequent plots, his greedy, cruel, and hypocritical character were all exposed for the sake of the stationmaster. Position, he did not hesitate to betray his superior Chen Moqun, and eventually even shot and killed Chen Moqun himself.
At the end, he transported his property to Taiwan ahead of time, and even ten trucks could not fit them... The creation of these two characters broke through the original image of the KMT secret agent, and achieved a new splendor.
On the whole, "The Rebel" is a relatively solid production in the recent spy war TV series, especially the main characters are more brilliant, the drama is full of tension, and people have the motivation to follow the drama.
But there are also shortcomings-it always makes people feel short of breath.
Mainly because of three problems: the first is the logical problem. For example, it is not reasonable for Chen Moqun to arrange Lin Nansheng to approach Zhu Yizhen, because it is easy to be seen through; the second is that the drama is a little top-heavy, the ending is too hasty, and some details are missing. The explanation is clear; the third is that the heroine is not very successful, the characters are flat and lack ups and downs.
In fact, these problems are also common problems in current spy war dramas. If the drama can be more rigorous and compact, the effect may be more real and exciting.