Under the eastern fence of the chrysanthemum, you can see the South Mountain leisurely. Looking at the green mountains and fields on the screen, the ponds, ancient trees and orchards in the villages, these scenes of rural life imagined by many people living in the reinforced jungle have become a reality through the lens, making the audience yearn for it.
"Pastoral theme" has now become one of the elements that cannot be ignored in the creation of entertainment content, and under this theme of quiet time, how far is the real agricultural planting and production from our real life?
This year, iQIYI platform launched the labor documentary interactive reality show "Let's Farm", which caused a lot of popularity, and 8 farmlands and 142 acres of land became a new "stage" for 10 young people, where they lived a different life of "facing the loess with their backs to the sky". It has to be said that such a variety show that tells the theme of agricultural life as a reality show is rare, and it can now be accepted and recognized by the public, and it is inseparable from the content of the entertainment industry based on rural themes and pastoral styles in recent years.
Plough and harvest, one vegetable and one meal
Under the slow variety show, the pastoral department came into being
In the process of social industrialization, rural development has been relatively slow for a long time compared with urban culture because it is attached to the form of traditional agriculture. It is precisely because of this that its simplicity, original ecology and slow pace make the "migrant workers" in the city yearn for it. The veteran variety show "Longing for Life", which has been updated for six seasons, is a typical example of poetizing local life. Here, three or five friends rarely get together, chatting and cooking, from Beijing Miyun, Hunan Xiangxi, Yunnan Xishuangbanna to Haiwei in Hainan Province... Different regional styles and similar family warmth work together to make this slow life variety show create an ideal "rural utopia" for the audience.
However, under the comfortable and beautiful rural life, excellent traditional culture has always been the living water source of rural cultural construction, and it is also the key point that truly links the audience's emotions. As a large-scale cultural tourism visit program jointly produced by the Central Radio and Television Station and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, "Home Between Mountains and Waters" broadcast last year used the red train in Lujia Village in the green countryside and the peach blossom source beauty of the road and chicken and dog smell in Shiyanping Village to create a world of literary and romantic poetry and painting, and made a unique Chinese field observation in the form of variety shows.
From the perspective of creative communication of variety shows, whether it is the "Longing for Life" series that focuses on the expression of life flow, or cultural tourism visiting programs such as "Home in the Mountains and Waters", it mainly relies on the relaxed and natural lens language to connect the rich historical ancient rhyme and the beauty of life details, so as to empathize with the audience in front of the screen and harvest the ideal communication effect in the massive information environment.
On the other hand, the explosion of variety shows is often a circle hit, the audience is relatively vertical and high viscosity, and the audience is often interested in a certain type of culture or fans of an artist, so as to further pay attention to the program. Relatively speaking, the scope of the rural theme is relatively large, and vertical construction is also its effective way out of the circle.
Therefore, as early as three years ago, the immersive rural humanities experience reality show "Haha Farmer" was launched, inviting guests to go to villages in the mountains and rivers and seas, and follow the rural life and farming routine. Unfortunately, this show focuses on the relationship between people, does not focus on the details of farming life, and does not inspire too much heat after broadcasting.
And the hit of "Farm" this time, the essence is to present the relationship between land, climate and people more extremely, if before, the countryside, pastoral yuan in the variety show mainly as a background to play a role in the background, then now it has become the main body of the narrative, towards a more vertical direction. This is also the reason why the show is called "crazy" and "incredible", it allows the audience to intuitively see the real appearance of cultivation life, the so-called "local life" is not only a mixture of soil and sweat, but also a way of life that competes with nature and condenses wisdom.
Escape the city and revitalize the countryside
Or an idyllic drama that heals or condenses the spirit of the main melody
In the past two years, under the popularity of the main theme dramas, some TV dramas that tell rural life stories and reproduce the style of rural development have caused a lot of waves in the drama market. We have noticed that most of these works should be in line with the trend of "big heroine", and invisibly express the simplicity and innocence of rural life by showing the perseverance and kindness of rural women.
If we say that in the context of the new era, the main theme works have a new value core for rural TV series. Then, another kind of "idyllic" drama tries to weaken the plot conflict from the narrative expression of the work, and attracts the audience's attention through the presentation of life flow.
Among them, the costume light love drama "Qing Qing Daily" tells the story of Yin Zheng, the sixth young master of Xinchuan, and Li Wei, a girl from Jichuan, whose family sits idly, and the atmosphere of the lights is relaxed and funny, which is welcomed by a large number of young audiences; The broadcast of the pastoral healing drama "Go to a Windy Place" at the beginning of the year temporarily ignited the tourism popularity of rural Dali in Yunnan, and some urbanites represented by Xu Hongdou completed each other's companionship and healing in the windy courtyard. It can be said that under the current busy rhythm of society, many people have the desire to escape the city, and the idyllic style and simple life in the TV series allow the audience to meet the fantasy of a quiet life in the process of watching the play.
Liu Wenyang, the chief producer of "Qing Qing Daily", once mentioned in an interview that "slow narrative" dramas often cannot avoid falling into the controversy of "flat dramas", so the main creative team tries to create more highlights and watchability through scripts, performances, editing, music, etc. in daily life, and shows the fireworks of life through family trivia from beginning to end. In this regard, Ding Ziguang, director of "Go to a Place with Wind", when talking about establishing a creative style, he believes that in order to achieve "scattered form and indispersion", it is necessary to pursue the truth, nature and harmony of style to the greatest extent.
A few days ago, the New York Times recommended excellent international dramas in 2023, and "Go to a Windy Place" became the only Chinese TV series selected; "Qing Qing Daily" has been broadcast in North America, Europe, Australia and other overseas regions, to some extent, pastoral slow-paced dramas, with Chinese warmth, further enrich the pattern of domestic drama culture going overseas.
Echoing the trend of anti-urbanization
Create a spiritual utopia of simplicity and simplicity
"Urban pastoral" and "healing department" have now become the key development direction of many producers in the drama market. However, when pastoral healing is popular, as a product of conforming to the trend of public life and society, its content creation method is still traceable.
First of all, in addition to idyllic rural life, the integration of elements such as food is essential. We noticed that pastoral healing variety shows often pay attention to the depiction of the details of life, so the presentation of three meals a day is essential, on the one hand, the artist guests who often appear in film and television dramas or on the stage, in the reality TV show from the preparation of dishes, cooking to the display of the details of getting along with others, create a sense of freshness, on the other hand, the people take food as the sky, the natural attraction of food elements not only effectively shortens the distance between the guests, so that they can produce "chemical reactions" through interaction to enhance the highlights, but also make the overall program atmosphere more relaxed, Friendly to the people, with pyrotechnics.
Secondly, optimism and humorous narrative tone. In "Qing Qing Daily", people from different regions, life concepts and personality differences collide, under the mixed background, there is Hao Ge's "strongest worker" mentality, Xueba Yuanying's "roll king" spirit, etc., which can make the audience smile when watching the drama and experience a little bit of the beauty of being understood; "Let's Farm" ten teenagers plough and harvest in the farmland, and even soak in muddy water on snowy days to dredge, unload trucks and carry 30 tons of fertilizer, and they condense a bloody and optimistic professionalism under the hardship, and the reality externalized by this physical practice and the hardship and fatigue of agricultural planting is irreplaceable.
Third, in rural and pastoral life, warmth and sincerity are still just needed in the work. Whether it is "Qing Qing Daily", which focuses on repairing and taking care of the family home, family gatherings and meals, etc., "Go to a Windy Place", which focuses on the warm healing of different groups of people in the windy courtyard, or the simple and simple communication between people in the slow variety show "Let's Farm" and "Home in the Landscape", it can be said that the healing and romance of Chinese warmth are presented in all aspects, which also invisibly conveys the cultural aesthetic value inherent in the countryside, encouraging the audience on the screen to do what they love and enjoy a warm life.
If you want to trace the origin of the pastoral healing spirit, you will find that it has long been engraved in the cultural gene of Chinese body thousands of years ago, from Zhuangzi's core idea of "Taoism and Nature" to the Eastern Jin Dynasty poet Tao Yuanming's lifelong pursuit of a beautiful pastoral life, these local plots that have long taken root may affect the trend of entertainment creation and the daily life of the audience in the long run.