[How to observe reality in reality-themed works 1] "Pyrotechnic gas" becomes the password for out of the circle
Editor's note
For realist works to allow audiences of different generations to "follow dramas on the same screen", it is necessary to dig new stories in the new social reality
In recent years, literary and artistic works with real life as the source of creation continue to emerge.
"Little Farewell", "Mountains and Seas", "Set Up a Stage", "The World", etc., from children's education to working mothers, from market life to rural fields, the topics involve all aspects of social phenomena.
From being obsessed with traffic to focusing on small people, big feelings, and positive energy, and from hoarding IP to absorbing nutrients in reality.
A series of literary and artistic works with realistic themes have become popular, which proves that ordinary people with real life and ordinary people with fireworks can directly touch people's hearts. The real "top trend" is the voice of the people.
For this reason, starting from this issue, the Cultural News Edition has specially launched a series of "How Reality-themed Works Observe Reality" to discuss the creation, innovation, achievements and problems of realistic-themed literary and artistic works with readers and audiences. Feel the glory of the times and appreciate the power of warmth in the works of realistic themes.
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The popular broadcast of "Happiness to Ten Thousand Homes" has once again attracted people's attention to the branch of the rural drama, a reality-themed drama.
How to make audiences of different generations willing to "chasing dramas on the same screen" while truly reflecting the current rural life style is the direct thinking of this drama; and from a larger and longer-term perspective, reality-themed film and television dramas want Continuing the momentum of vigorous development, breaking the predicament that remains on the surface of life, and continuing to explore and break through on the basis of reality is an inescapable road.
Recently, the reality TV series "Happiness to Ten Thousand Homes" has been on the air.
As a work with the theme of rural revitalization, the show not only topped the ratings on the night of its premiere, but also appeared on the hot search list on social platforms many times with the development of the plot.
The hit of the play shows that no matter what the subject matter is, in order for realist works to gain word-of-mouth and ratings while satisfying the guidance of value, they must use fireworks to lead the audience from the drama into reality.
Stories must "stand up"
"Happiness to Ten Thousand Homes" is adapted from Chen Yuanbin's novel "The Legend of Qiu Ju". It tells the story of a rural girl He Xingfu growing up after multiple tests of career, marriage, love and kinship around 2010. The story of returning from the city to the countryside and finally leading Wanjiazhuang to realize material civilization, spiritual civilization, legal civilization and ecological civilization.
On the eve of the broadcast, there was a lot of discussion on the Internet, mainly due to the strong cast of the show.
The film is directed by Zheng Xiaolong, who has directed dramas such as "The Legend of Zhen Huan" and "Honours". He Xingfu is played by Zhao Liying, who has successfully shaped many costume images in recent years.
What kind of works the two "top-notch" main creators can present is curious in itself. In addition, there are also a number of powerful actors in the show, which raises the expectations.
However, after the series was officially broadcast, it was not the actors themselves that caused heated discussions first, but the plots of marriage troubles and land acquisition disputes that appeared one after another in the series.
Especially the former, in the face of the unreasonable marriage, should we think it is "playing a hooligan" or "our village is like this", which became the first conflict between He Xingfu and Wanjia Village, and also caused many netizens to appear on social platforms. He Xingfu firmly supported and resonated with anti-marriage troubles.
In this regard, director Zheng Xiaolong said in an interview with the "Workers Daily" that the audience's reaction was exactly the question to be answered in the creation process of "Happiness to Ten Thousand Homes": "There have been a lot of works before that told the story of the countryside from poor to rich, but How will the countryside develop after becoming rich?"
Judging from the parts that have been broadcast, the main driving force for the development of the plot and characters is the conflict and contradiction between "old" customs and "new" concepts in rural life and the final solution of these problems.
Since the setting of this pair of contradictions comes from real life, and it does reflect the lack of spirituality and the rule of law in some rural areas that have achieved a well-off materially, this drama is a standout for audiences of all ages. living.
And this is also the first point of whether reality-themed dramas can move people.
Realistic themes must be truly rooted in reality
As an artistic carrier for insight into rural reality, from the "Rural Trilogy" in the late 1980s and early 1990s, to "Da Shuai Ma" and "Liu Laogen" in the early 2000s, to "White Deer Plain" and "Ordinary World" in recent years ", there is no shortage of high-level representative works of rural dramas in our country.
However, just a few years ago, the depression of rural dramas also attracted widespread media attention.
Statistics show that in 2015, there were only 15 contemporary rural TV dramas with 490 episodes, and the number of episodes and episodes accounted for 3.81% and 2.96% of the total annual production and distribution of TV dramas, and very few of them left an impression on the audience.
For a period of time, when it comes to rural dramas, many viewers can subconsciously guess the relevant plots: it is not a bitter drama full of natural disasters and man-made disasters, or it is a love story and a funny light comedy covered in rural clothes. The main drama is also a "routine" "Manchu: Good cadres lead the villagers on the road to prosperity.
The stereotype of creation not only fails to attract young urban audiences who are already far from the countryside, but even people who have memories of the countryside are reluctant to watch more.
The dilemma of rural dramas also exists in larger-scale reality dramas.
In recent years, hot scenes of "themes are full of screen and reality get together" have appeared frequently. From rookies entering the workplace to urban men and women experiencing mid-life crisis, they can find "tailor-made" episodes for themselves.
It's just that some realistic dramas become more unrealistic as you watch them. Either the protagonist has his own "gold finger" hanging all the way, or the characters are "suspended", while earning a monthly salary of 5,000 yuan, while constantly changing brand-name bags, or In order to create conflict, the plot is illogical and makes the audience feel extremely twisted.
According to Ouyang Youquan, a professor at the School of Literature at Central South University, there is no problem with realistic themes, but how to write and create realistic themes.
He believes that if reality is only used as a "punch place" and "message board" for creation, the work will easily stay on the surface of writing and life, and its inner spirit and real reality are separated and separated, and naturally it is difficult to have artistic appeal. .
The life of realistic themes is constantly excavating new realities
"Happiness to Ten Thousand Homes" inevitably reminds people of last year's "phenomenal" rural drama "Shan Hai Qing".
In fact, from last year to this year, there have been many good reality dramas on the TV screen.
In the first half of this year alone, dramas such as "The World", "Police Glory", and "Spring Breeze and the South Bank of the Green River" have been broadcast. The play is also a manifestation of the different social realities of the moment.
Reality-themed TV dramas occupy an increasingly important position in the creation of Chinese TV dramas.
In June, at the recent meeting held by the State Administration of Radio and Television to welcome the party's 20 key TV drama creations and the promotion of reality TV drama creation work, the relevant person in charge also emphasized that the creation of TV dramas must adhere to the realistic creation methods, with real, plain, and The simple artistic style depicts the wisdom and creation of the people, and truly sings the new style and new struggle of the people in the new era.
How to dig out new stories in the new social reality and tell them well with the joint efforts of directors, actors, and service workers is the key to whether reality-themed TV dramas can get out of the circle.
It was mentioned in the "2021 China TV Drama Development Report" that "fireworks" is becoming one of the keywords of high-quality domestic dramas in the eyes of young audiences.
The so-called "fireworks" can be the flowing water seats at He Xingfu's wedding that let the audience return to their hometown in one second, or the performances of the new generation of actors such as Huang Xuan and Reyizha in "Shan Hai Qing" without any sense of disobedience. It can be the daily life of the police station in "Police Glory".
Luo Xiaoxiao