The popularity of the popular micro-short drama has finally made it worthy of becoming a certain "New Year custom", and it has entered people's New Year entertainment list like the Spring Festival Gala and New Year movies. Chinese people always like to save the best for the New Year. Douyin’s 2024 Spring Festival premium micro-short drama list is also full of the sense of reunion dinner. 10 wonderful works will be online during the Spring Festival, including "Beyond!" A Juan", "Tianya Little Nyonya" and many other micro-short dramas derived from popular "film and television IP".
It’s qualified to become a New Year’s custom! It must be "vulgar" and top-notch, and "vulgar" just right: it must have a broad enough public base, be able to become a common topic among family and friends and facilitate online interaction and sharing, and be entertaining, relaxing and positive enough, just like People are looking forward to the Spring Festival Gala and New Year films. Judging from this standard, micro-short dramas seem to have a natural "conventional" advantage. Speaking of New Year customs, many people like to regard Zhao Benshan's sketch in the Spring Festival Gala as a symbol of New Year customs. After the family reunion dinner, they would sit in front of the TV and wait for Zhao Benshan to appear. Nowadays, people love micro-short dramas, which is very similar to chasing Zhao Benshan in the Spring Festival Gala.
The essence of Zhao Benshan's sketches is that they are short and concise micro dramas, which can reveal the reality of life with intensive conflicts, reversals, burdens, and laughter in a short period of time, bring hearty joy to the audience, and let people gain from laughter or tears. A kind of relaxation. His sketches are down-to-earth and close to daily reality. His gestures and gestures often bring a sense of intimacy to life that makes people think of those around him. Not only is it a laugh, but it's also memorable.
Back then, I was chasing Zhao Benshan during the Spring Festival Gala, and today I am chasing micro-short dramas on the Internet. What has changed is the form of expression, but what remains unchanged is the pursuit of good stories. This is the nature of life. In the past, Zhao Benshan was rarely seen, because the threshold and stage for achieving Zhao Benshan's success were too high, and few people could reach it, so Benshan's sketches became scarce. Things are different today. In the era of small mobile phone screens, everyone has a microphone and has the opportunity to express their life and talents. Creators can turn inspiration into works anytime, anywhere through a mobile phone. As long as it has a good subject matter, a good story, and a good book, it will receive platform traffic and funding and appear on countless people's mobile phones. Back then, Uncle Benshan was responsible for providing the audience with laughter for a whole year, but now it is even more integrated into the plots of countless short dramas. Every holiday, I think about lying down, three to five minutes of immersion, three to five minutes of laughter, and three to five minutes of healing. Life is not easy, and people need easy and simple happiness so much.
Looking at Uncle Benshan's interviews back then, what he cared about most was finding a "good book." Without a good book, he wouldn't be able to attend the Spring Festival Gala, and he would be just as funny as a fruit, and he wouldn't be able to pass the test. "Good book" means "good story". You see, until the end, what you fight for is actually the story - a good story will shine wherever it is. It may be a good sketch, a good feature, a good news, a good movie, or a good novel. , in the short video era, it will also be a high-quality micro-short drama. Regardless of whether it is a long play or a short play, it is a bad play without a good story.
Cao Lin, Beijing current affairs commentator and university professor
(Yangcheng Evening News)