Domestic drama accelerates sailing (Huanyin Huanyang)

　　At the beginning of 2022, the TV series "The World", adapted from Liang Xiaosheng's novel of the same name and showing the Chinese people's continuous struggle in the great era, was pre-ordered by the American Walt Disney Company for the exclusive overseas distribution rights.

At the same time, the military-themed TV series "Ace Troop", which tells the story of the growth of Chinese soldiers, was announced to be broadcast on Japanese TV on June 29.

On April 1, the suspense drama "The Beginning", which skillfully combines "time-space cycle" and local narrative, was launched on Netflix. The countries and regions where it was launched are Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.

In addition, the Korean entertainment video platform has also purchased the broadcast rights of the idol drama "You Are My Fortress", which shows the professionalism of Chinese special police officers and doctors.

From the beginning of the year to the present, domestic reality TV dramas have increasingly attracted the attention of overseas markets with their diverse types, high-quality production and expression in line with the spirit of the times, showing a new trend of overseas dissemination of domestic TV dramas.

　　Express the common needs of human emotions

　　As one of the most influential and disseminated popular cultures, TV dramas are an important carrier of contemporary social values, cultural appeal and civilized image.

TV dramas represent both popular culture and national narratives, and through their accessible aesthetic forms and the convenience of everyday mass media, TV dramas have an important place in global cross-cultural communication and dialogue.

　　Due to the differences in cultural backgrounds, costume dramas and historical themes have become the first domestic TV drama types to enter the international dissemination with distinct aesthetic recognition.

In recent years, with the upgrading of the industry and the improvement of the industrialization level of China's film and television, especially the development of warm realism aesthetics in the creation of TV dramas, it reflects the spiritual outlook of contemporary Chinese society, people's lives, and forms a variety of TV dramas with realistic themes, which gradually become an international TV drama. hotspots of spread.

　　China is a big country in the production and consumption of TV dramas. In 2021, the number of domestic TV dramas recorded will be 498, and 194 will be produced and distributed, with a total of 6,736 episodes.

Among them, 4777 episodes of reality themes were released, accounting for about 71.92%; 1508 episodes of historical themes, accounting for about 22.39%; 437 episodes of major themes, accounting for about 6.49%.

It can be seen that reality themes have become the mainstream of domestic TV drama creation, so the overseas dissemination of reality TV dramas is based on the maturity of the genre and the development of the industry.

　　In 2021, the reality TV series "Shan Hai Qing", which will be broadcast in more than 50 countries around the world and launched on the overseas video platform YouTube's popular theater channel, shows that ordinary workers can change the Northwest with their high-spirited and optimistic spirit. A history of the face of poverty.

Similarly, "The World" shows the social changes in China spanning half a century through the life experiences of an ordinary working family in the north and a group of people around it.

The contemporary military-themed TV series "Ace Troop" tells the ambition of a strong army over a 40-year time span by shaping the image of the Chinese military.

Under the shell of surreal narrative, "Beginning" is wrapped with strong humanistic care, depicting the cowardice and bravery, kindness and warmth of ordinary people, and showing the light of humanity.

"You Are My Fortress" integrates the bloody story of the special police and doctors with their duties to protect life, and integrates sweet love, which is real and moving.

　　People in any cultural context will yearn for a better life, and hope to feel the emotional warmth from the works of art, obtain life inspiration, and stimulate spiritual strength.

These TV dramas that have attracted attention overseas all adopt the perspective of ordinary people without exception, focus on exploring the kindness of human nature and the beauty of life, express people's pursuit of a bright future, and demonstrate the aesthetic style of warm realism.

To express the common needs of human emotions and to integrate emotion and imagination is the key to eliminating cultural barriers in the process of overseas dissemination of domestic TV dramas.

These works take several families or a group as the era section, or focus on the topic of poverty alleviation, or focus on the progress of the times, or show the growth of characters, or show the light of human nature, so that audiences with different cultural backgrounds can immerse themselves in the richness of real life The complex life state and living state, including sadness, joy, and emotion, synergize cognition and emotion to make everything in the world feel emotional, and feel a deep resonance from the depths of the heart.

　　Multiple breakthroughs in overseas communication

　　The creation of realistic themed works must adhere to the principle of diversification, expand the dimensions of theme selection, and explore diverse narrative techniques, so as to bring forth the new and continue to emerge high-quality masterpieces.

Since the beginning of this year, the creation of various types of reality-themed TV dramas has gained attention and spread overseas, achieving a new breakthrough in the overseas spread of domestic TV dramas.

　　The first is a breakthrough in genre and subject matter. TV dramas showing the history of ordinary people's struggles are broadcast on large Hollywood film and television companies, and realistic military-themed TV dramas are broadcast on mainstream Japanese TV stations for the first time. The creation of "Infinite Stream" narrative TV dramas has been listed on Netflix. It is also the first time in the country.

The second is the further expansion of the dissemination scope. These works are not only broadcast on TV stations and video platforms in Asia, but also enter the mainstream media in the United States.

Once again, it is the collaborative expression of warm realist aesthetics, cognition and emotion, which realizes the output of the values ​​of domestic TV dramas, and is generally recognized and disseminated.

　　In the process of overseas dissemination of domestic TV dramas, it was once subject to the constraints of technical conditions, the limitations of creative thinking and the lack of industrial chain. However, with the active promotion of national policies and the continuous efforts of creators, the overseas dissemination of domestic TV dramas has taken shape. Multi-dimensional, three-dimensional form of communication.

At present, in addition to relying on the official cooperation between China International Television Corporation and TV stations of various countries, the overseas dissemination of domestic TV dramas is also broadcast on international streaming media platforms.

At the same time, due to the excellent production of works and the recognition of values ​​and emotional cognition, overseas commercial media have also continued to strengthen cooperation with Chinese film and television companies, so that domestic TV dramas have established a more complete distribution channel.

In addition, domestic powerful video platforms and streaming media platforms are also establishing broadcast channels around the world.

Platforms such as Tencent Video WeTV, iQiyi International Edition, and Mango TV International Edition are gradually expanding their overseas influence.

　　In addition, the large-scale international communication event "Audio-Visual China" implemented by the State Administration of Radio and Television since 2019 has established 58 TV China theaters overseas, promoting nearly 100 excellent programs such as "Beyond" and "Meritorious Merit" in more than 100 countries. and regional television and online media broadcast.

The "China Joint Booth", jointly supported by the External Promotion Bureau of the State Council Information Office and the International Cooperation Department of the State Administration of Radio and Television, has promoted the appearance of many popular domestic TV dramas overseas, such as "Together", "Glory and Dreams" and "Shan Hai Qing". Other works will be promoted at the online events of the Cannes TV Festival and Singapore TV Festival in spring 2021.

Key projects such as "Chinese Contemporary Works Translation Project" and "China-Africa Audiovisual Sharing" provide translation support to help the dissemination of domestic dramas break through language barriers and cultural barriers.

Domestic TV dramas with diverse genres, excellent quality, and realistic themes showing contemporary Chinese style are reaching more overseas audiences with a brand-new attitude.

　　(The author is an associate researcher at the Film and Television Research Institute of the China Academy of Arts)