Hu Xiang
The web drama "Meng Hualu", adapted from Guan Hanqing's famous work "Zhao Pan'er Fengyue Save the Wind and Dust", is known as the hottest costume drama this year. It is no exaggeration: it is far ahead in terms of popularity, and the mode of "advance on demand" will be pulled again. Back in front of the public, it caused heated discussions in the industry.
Objectively speaking, this is a work whose aesthetics and values are above the normal level.
If we extend our horizon and examine from the dimension of costume drama creation in recent years, the success factors behind its texts are more worthy of attention.
Guan Hanqing's original novel is very simple. Zhao Paner, a woman known as "crooked and biting", rescued his girlfriend Song Yinzhang, who was trapped in the devil's den of domestic violence, with excellent resourcefulness, and made her scumbag husband Zhou She be punished in court.
The reason why this story is vivid and widely circulated is not only because of Guan Hanqing's deep concern and thorough insight into these women at the bottom, but also because of the modern concept of women contained in it.
"Menghualu" only retains the relationship between Zhao Paner, Song Yinzhang, Zhou She and other main characters. The plot after Zhao Paner rescues Song Yinzhang is a new one.
Therefore, rather than saying that "Menghualu" adapted Guan Hanqing, it is better to say that "Menghualu" extracts and amplifies the light of the awakening of female consciousness contained in the original work, and then uses carefully crafted film and television techniques to match it with male and female protagonists With a face like the moon of the Mid-Autumn Festival and the flowers of spring dawn, there is a fresh and elegant atmosphere on the aesthetic background of Song Yun, which is quite intoxicating.
From all perspectives, "Meng Hualu" is a work that returns to the common sense of costume drama creation: a return to normal appearance and the aesthetics of clothing and Taoism, which is the basis for costume dramas to attract audiences; it also returns to traditional values and The right track of the combination of modernity consciousness - escape from the values with the imprint of the times in the original work, and combine with the current mainstream social consciousness and values, eliminate the cultural barriers brought about by the long history, and empathize with the audience in front of the screen.
These two "returns" have been achieved, so the whole work makes people look at a long-lost "comfort".
In this sense, "Meng Hualu" is a modern women's drama dressed in ancient puppets.
From the perspective of character structure, the play adopts the most popular three to four women as the narrative fulcrum structure - Zhao Paner, Song Yinzhang, plus the newly added female chef Sun Sanniang, and the female "social person" Ge Zhaodi is also half of them. .
They are all facing the dilemma of their own emotions and survival, especially their stories have formed a kind of mirror image with the tragic experiences of some women in the real society in the past two years, which once again confirmed the powerful penetrating power of Guan Hanqing's realistic brushwork, and became the audience's pursuit. A major driving force for the play.
From the perspective of values, the work is about how women move from being dependent on men to becoming independent.
In particular, the three women helped each other in the process of "starting up and doing things" from opening a restaurant to opening a restaurant, fully demonstrating the unique value and strength of women, and growing into powerful individuals no less than men - this is the modern subject of women The standard steps for establishing sexuality are reminiscent of modern women's dramas such as "Ode to Joy", "I'm Good in a Foreign Land" and "Different".
It can be seen that the main creator has a good grasp of the "traffic password" created by women's dramas.
For some time, costume dramas have fallen into a low ebb in creation due to multiple factors such as policy and the decline of original ability.
Many works with the aura of "big IP, big star, and big production" have hit the streets. A large part of the reason is that many creators do not perceive the changes in the audience's aesthetic taste for costume dramas, and they still use relatively outdated thinking. , or lure audiences with seemingly innovative and actually shocking plots, but no longer work as well as they used to.
The traditional narrative routines of wit and beauties, idiots and women have long been inconsistent with the current status and consciousness of women.
The main audience of the current costume dramas is the female group with strong spending power. If there is no creative consciousness that fits with the current female consciousness, it is obviously difficult for costume dramas to explode.
One of the good things about "Menghualu" is that in the expression of the emotions of men and women, both tradition and modernity are taken into account, and it is not so outdated, nor does it dance because of magic reform.
For example, the scene where Zhao Pan'er and Gu Qianfan were looking at the top of the hot search before closing the door. One pair of eyes that looked like tears but not tears, and two of them were still at ease. I haven't seen such an emotional expression of traditional Chinese beauty on the screen for many years. already?
And when they pierced the thin layer of paper in their hearts, they became enthusiastic and unrestrained. The famous scenes such as the flower petal rain at the bridge head, and the long-sleeved dance raised up and hugged were not the usual way of throwing sugar in idol dramas?
For example, Song Yinzhang was invited to perform in the Xiao Mansion, but was humiliated in public by the frivolous yamen. She was neither humble nor arrogant. After she fought back with justice and righteousness, she strummed a piece of "Liangzhou". The word "Bone".
In this paragraph, there is no long talk that some current female dramas directly emphasize the status of women, but in a classical atmosphere, using words in line with the identity and character of the characters to express the dignity of women, break the gaze of patriarchal power, and use the piano as a sword to pick out The ugly mask of a bunch of hypocrites.
These are amazing handwritings.
Of course, the second half of "Meng Hua Lu" lost the blessing of Guan Hanqing's original work, which was a common problem in the creation of modern idol dramas.
For example, the routine of Cinderella and the domineering president is looming, and every female character must arrange emotional scenes, which overcrowding the main narrative line. These problems make the show somewhat mediocre.
Therefore, for "Meng Hualu", there is no need to overly deify, let alone follow the trend, but to clearly realize that as long as we return to common sense and respect the laws of creation, a large number of sleeping treasures can be excavated wonderfully.