From the "Age of Awakening" at the beginning of the year to the "Fragrant Mountain Leaf Zhenghong" at the end of the year, from the "Mountains and Seas" that tells the story of one place to the "Meritorious Service" that collects eight national meritorious figures, and the major revolutionary historical drama "Armageddon", "Crossing the Yalu River", "Glory and Dreams", "Ideal Shines on China", etc. that run through different historical years and reproduce heroic deeds, the "main theme" is the most eye-catching existence in the entire domestic drama market in 2021.
This is not simply to win by quantity, but to refresh the audience's understanding of the "main theme" with obvious quantitative and qualitative improvement. The "main melody" can also be very beautiful, young people will also like the "main theme", and the "main theme" can also be the first. This year, the "main theme" drama is seizing the main position of public opinion and becoming the new "mainstream".
The main melody improves the multi-screen resonance in quantity and quality
In October 2021, at the 29th Beijing Television Program Trade Fair (2021· Autumn), known as the "Wind Vane of China's TV Dramas", the "2021 Research Report on the Mainstream Value Dissemination of Online Audiovisual Platforms" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report") was released. In the report, the "main melody drama" has become the "new mainstream" and is the biggest market trend of the year.
The "Report" shows that the number of main theme works played has shown a rapid growth trend year by year. Taking the TV series "Mountains and Seas" as an example, among the 944 million online video users in China, the drama only has reached 97% of the online video use by viewers in the 20-29 age group on the Youku platform. The works with the highest click rate on the network and the works with the highest ratings on tv stations overlap 80% of the top 10 films, and the real quality film and television works have broken the barriers of the media and the restrictions of the circle layer, and the online and offline different screen resonance has won the recognition of the audience and the market.
Among them, there are many "main theme" THEME TV series such as "Mountains and Seas", "The Age of Awakening", "Glory and Dreams", "Sweeping Black Storm", "Armageddon" and so on, which have not only achieved a high reputation and reputation, but also "riding the dust" in TV ratings and network viewing. Among them, the average rating of "Mountains and Seas" exceeded 1.5%, "The Age of Awakening" also exceeded 1.5%, and many dramas such as "Glory and Dreams" and "Sweeping Black Storm" exceeded 2%. In the Douban network, which has always been known for being picky, the word-of-mouth evaluation of these main theme dramas has also generally refreshed the record, with a Douban score of 9.3 points for "The Age of Awakening", a Douban score of 9.2 for "Mountains and Seas", and a score of 7.7 points for "Glory and Dreams", even if the "Sweeping Black Storm" dragged down by the ending in the later period also got a final score of 7.2 points.
The "multi-screen resonance" of the main melody drama also breaks the physical isolation formed between TV dramas and online dramas in the past, expands the scope of the audience group to young audiences, and has been recognized by young groups. "Sweeping Black Storm" has been played 5.39 billion times on Tencent.com, and "Ideal Shines on China", "Great Rivers and Rivers 2", "Armageddon" and "Mountains and Seas" have also leapt to the forefront of the whole network. The data content of the aforementioned "Report" also shows that today's online platform has become the main new scene of audiovisual consumption of young users, and is becoming an important carrier of mainstream value dissemination.
Personal life is integrated into grand narratives
If in the past, the main melody drama mainly carried the mission of writing major historical revolutionary themes, and the expression style was mainly based on the heavy narrative of "tall and complete", then the main melody drama since this year is obviously innovating and trying at multiple levels such as theme, intention and expression. The "main theme" does not mean that it is necessary to tell history with a straight face, but more into the audiovisual means that are easily accepted by the audience, telling more stories and writing more people.
"Glory and Dreams" should tell the story of the great victory of the CPC to the great victory of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea and the founding of New China, with a historical span of up to 38 years, many events to be covered, and very complicated character clues. It is necessary to complete a historical narrative close to the "chronicle", but also to maintain the audience's viewing interest at all times. In the face of such a "propositional composition", Liu Jiang, the director who took over the major revolutionary historical theme for the first time, revealed, "I did not treat it as a 'nother' work, but as a story." I am a storyteller, but I just say that the carrier is the history of the Party, and I have to have a clear understanding of the nature of my craft. ”
Liu Jiang chose to enter their emotional world from the perspective of the "family members" of the great historical figures, and then enter their revolutionary years. The play starts from the family emotional drama of Mao Zedong, Yang Kaihui and Mao Anying, who are also wives and mothers of the revolutionaries, and use simple emotions to establish a sense of substitution and write about the greatness of the revolutionary martyrs.
"The Age of Awakening" is also this method, the li dazhao, Chen Duxiu, Lu Xun and other people presented in the play have both the heroic posture of generous statements, as well as the informality and discordant affairs of family members, and the vivid characters close the distance between contemporary audiences and historical figures, and also explain the historical inevitability of personal choices under the torrent of the times. Wang Xuebin, professor of the Department of Literature and History of the Central Party School (National School of Administration) and director of the Department of Chinese History, believes that the key to the popularity of "The Age of Awakening" lies in "its vivid and superb film and television art form, telling the wonderful story of the founding of the Communist Party of China, clearly explaining the historical logic, theoretical logic and practical logic behind the magnificent historical upheavals (1915-1921), and thoroughly explaining the timeless and rich Chinese spirit." ”
Attach importance to the perspective of youth to lead the trend of the times
Let the main melody drama become the mainstream, but also win the love of young people. Dramas such as "Mountains and Seas" and "The Age of Awakening" are popular, and one of the biggest indicators is the high social heat caused by these dramas among young people. Young people followed "Mountains and Seas" to learn to grow mushrooms, and after watching "The Age of Awakening", they went to Yanqiao Road in Hefei to present flowers to the martyrs. From the screen to reality, from online to offline, the power of reality has conveyed and touched contemporary young people through virtual images. The "main theme" drama truly realizes the "meaning within the problem" of leading the value orientation and reshaping the mainstream values.
Liu Jiang realized at the beginning that the main theme of the drama should not only be for the elderly, but to make more young people interested and willing to watch, "TV dramas should use the law of storytelling to shoot party history." Glory and Dreams features a large number of cinematic war scenes, which are not limited to the form of television dramas, and use the highest standards of shooting for each important battle. The flesh-and-blood battlefield, the undistructed narrative rhythm, and even the flesh-and-blood young leaders all reveal the breath of youth and restore the truth of revolutionary history.
In addition to the heroic narrative of "Fragrant Mountain Leaf Zhenghong", it is also interspersed with fictional young characters. In the play, there are not only the positive perspectives of Mao Zedong, Zhu De, Zhou Enlai, Chen Yi, Deng Xiaoping, Su Yu and other leading figures, but also the heroic battles of frontline fighters such as Jiang Laiyang, the leader of the People's Liberation Army, the personal growth of Liu Eryong, a guard of the guard regiment, and the ideological transformation of Xiao Jingxian of the southbound cadre regiment. These ordinary people in the torrent of history are the protagonists of history, and their stories are also worth writing.
Long Pingping, screenwriter of "The Age of Awakening" and former director of the Third Compilation and Research Department of the Literature Research Office of the CPC Central Committee, said that in order to tell the stories of the revolutionary ancestors, in addition to Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao, there must also be stories of young people. The play tells the tortuous experience of a group of idealistic revolutionary youths represented by Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai in their pursuit of truth and burning passion, and focuses on the great personality and brilliant demeanor of Chen Yannian, Chen Qiaonian, Zhao Shiyan, Deng Zhongxia, Cai Hesen, Yu Xiusong, He Mengxiong, and a number of revolutionary martyrs with lofty ambitions, brilliant talents, and noble character. "In doing so, it is to enable the broad masses of the audience, especially the young people, to know and understand the revolutionary pioneers from the real history of the Party, to draw strength from their deeds, and to find examples."
【Memorabilia】
1. On January 1, in order to celebrate the centenary of the founding of the Cpc, the State Administration of Radio and Television organized the "Ideal Shines on China - The State Administration of Radio and Television Celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China Theme Works Creation and Broadcasting Activity", and a number of high-quality works began to land on the screen.
2. On January 12, 2008, "Shan Hai Qing", which tells the story of poverty alleviation, was launched simultaneously on five David TV and three major video websites, with an average rating of more than 1.5%, and won the Best Chinese TV Series Award at the 27th Shanghai TV Festival Magnolia Award in June, and also won the Best Supporting Actress Award and the Best Supporting Actor Award.
3. On February 1, 2007, the TV series "The Age of Awakening" premiered, which not only received the first rating and the Score of 9.3 points on Douban, but also touched the young people's remembrance of Chen Yannian, Chen Qiaonian and other heroes and martyrs. In June, the drama won three awards at the 27th Shanghai TV Festival Magnolia Awards for Best Director, Original Screenwriter and Best Actor.
In April and May, "Glory and Dreams", which gathered more than 100 film and television stars, was launched, followed by unit dramas such as "Ideal Shines on China" and "Meritorious Service". The main theme of the TV series opened the star brushing mode, in addition to the grand theme, the real history also touched people's heartstrings with true feelings.
In May and December, the TV series "Xiangshan Ye Zhenghong" premiered on CCTV, which was one of the 2021 "Ideals Shine on China - The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television Celebrated the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China" tv drama exhibition and broadcast, and the ratings ranked first in the country.