Wang Yichuan: The Rise of the Governance Protagonist - The Character Image in the Web Drama "The Wind Rises in Luoyang"

After watching 39 episodes of the online costume drama "Wind Rises luoyang", I thought of the TV series that I had seen before, such as "Qing Yu Nian" and "Son-in-law", which were also adapted from online novels, and a new feeling was generated: here is a new type of protagonist who can replace the growth protagonist in the previous Jin Yong martial arts novels, that is, the governance protagonist. This should be seen as an important shift in the characterization of TV dramas.

The story in "The Wind Rises in Luoyang" is set in the capital city of Luoyang. According to relevant records, after the death of Emperor Gaozong of Tang, Wu Zetian, as the empress dowager of Emperor Zhongzong of Tang and Emperor Ruizong of Tang, was proclaimed emperor in the first year of Tianzhi (690), changed the name of the country to Zhou, and set the capital Luoyang, which was the capital of Shendu, and changed to Chang'an as the capital. During his reign, Wu Zetian was resourceful and judgmental, attached importance to the selection of Talents of the Shu Ethnic Group and suppressed the Tang Dynasty clan and clan system, vigorously promoted the imperial examination system, and at the same time rewarded Nongsang, reformed the administration of officials, and also vigorously promoted the "cool official politics", and gradually gave birth to maladministration in his later years. In this fictional story, due to the large number of Wu sages promoting the sons of the Shu clan, the contradictions between the clan and the Shou clan intensified. Disgruntled clans secretly established the Chunqiu Dao, an underground organization, to destabilize and overthrow the rule of the saints and replace it. At the beginning of the story, Gao Bingzhan, who is bad from the bottom, is involved in a case, eager to prove his innocence, he joins Lianfang as his executioner, and on the way to solve the case, he happens to meet Baili Hongyi, a new son of the family who wants to find out the truth because his father Shangshu Bailiyan was poisoned, and also meets Wu Siyue, the inner guard of the family who was ordered to investigate the case. These three young people from different backgrounds had to work together to investigate, and finally discovered a terrifying conspiracy that was enough to stain luoshui shendu with blood. As a result, in the successful detection of the Spring and Autumn Road conspiracy and the completion of the task of defending the Shendu, Wu Siyue dedicated himself, baili Hongyi traveled in all directions after his achievements, and Gao Bingzhan continued to stick to the post of gongwei shendu and fulfill the instructions of the inner wei government to "keep order in the heavens and protect the shendu".

The three protagonists here, two men and one woman, are different from the growth protagonists represented in the modern Chinese literary and artistic tradition, especially the characters of Jin Yong's martial arts novels, but a kind of governance protagonist who highlights his outstanding social governance talents. Here are a few differences:

First of all, unlike the growth protagonists, although they are original and enterprising, but most of them are young and weak at first, need the guidance of divine helpers, and go through a tortuous process to grow into historical subjects, the new governance protagonist group has the advantages of being wise and wise, and can assume the heavy responsibility of social governance without going through the growth process, and its action focus is no longer from weak to strong growth process, but focuses on the specific way and process of defeating the enemy. Jin Yong's martial arts heroes such as Guo Jing, Duan Yu, Xiao Feng, Ling Huchong, etc. all have their own long and tortuous growth process, but here Gao Bingzhan, Baili Hongyi and Wu Siyue are superior from the beginning, as if they do not need to grow up to play a social role in saving the people of Li Min and Kuang Fu Sheji like a real historical subject.

Secondly, the social situation faced by this kind of governing historical subject no longer makes the hostile forces always in the bright place and strong as in the past, and our forces oppose the bright and the weak against the strong, but let our main body carry the wisdom, super wisdom and outstanding ability as soon as they appear, and at the same time make the situation hidden and very dangerous: the hostile forces are strong and hidden in the shadows, and our forces have to fight with the light and the dark, mobilizing all their energy to fight the enemy. Although Jin Yong's martial arts heroes have times to face hidden enemies, such as the cruel blows of anonymous letters from hidden enemies when Qiao Feng is about to take over the gang leader, but more is to face the tortuous growth and continuous struggle of the powerful enemies in the face of the open, "Wind Rises Luoyang" is the secret destruction of the hidden and strong enemies from beginning to end, and even among the friends, there are also strong enemies, often in the danger of the enemy and me, the strange clouds and the traps that are difficult to identify, and it is necessary to pay extraordinary courage, wisdom and sacrifice.

Third, the growth protagonist has a lofty spiritual cultivation goal, and his growth process means the transcendent development of the individual personality from the low level to the high level, and the social background is that the individual at that time was in a naïve and weak situation, and he urgently needed cultivation to grow and grow. In contrast, although the governing protagonist also has its lofty goals, this goal does not lie in the higher spiritual content of the individual (although it is also necessary), but in the responsibility, obligation or morality of the individual for social governance or social development. The social context has changed: the individual personality has become mature and complete, and what is needed is to fulfill social responsibilities or obligations. Unlike Guo Jing, Xiao Feng, Yang Guo, Ling Huchong and other individuals in Jin Yong's martial arts novels, who are always the first to pursue their own identity and transcend themselves, the goals of the three protagonists in "The Wind Rises in Luoyang" are to defeat the powerful enemy Chunqiu Dao and maintain the stability of the gods.

Finally, unlike the growth protagonist personality, which emphasizes willpower and emotion, the governance protagonist personality emphasizes the role of calm reason, reason, or strategy. Here, The Wisdom Structure of Baili Hongyi and his personality is particularly representative. Compared with the martial arts character series in Jin Yong's martial arts novels, Baili Hongyi, a wise and skilled character, is novel, and his body has a certain scientific thinking and intellectual characteristics similar to that of modern scientific and technological talents, such as liking the art of hundreds of crafts since childhood, being able to use a way of thinking similar to scientific and technological thinking to calmly analyze and strategize, being well versed in the production principle and explosive power of ambush thunder, being familiar with the shendu architecture, understanding the shendu street system, etc., which all reflect the editors' ideals and imaginations for modern science and technology to save the country.

In this process of social unrest and governance, both positive and negative sides have shown their extraordinary skills. The three young protagonists who are positive characters have significant personality characteristics: Gao Bingzhan highlights the loyal and courageous personality, Baili Hongyi is good at wisdom, and Wu Siyue is in the middle of them with a soft and rigid personality. Also belonging to the side of the positive characters are chu, the prince of Dongchuan, the leader of the Lianfang, showing a hidden and forbearing personality, Liu Ran, the wife of Baili Hongyi, Liu Ran," Liu Ran's father, Liu Shi, who is wise and foolish, and Gao Bingcang's mother, who sacrificed herself to save her son. The opposing figures on their opposite side appear even more invincible: The Inner Guard Feng Yu Lang Wu You Is gloomy and sinister, and his true identity is the hidden last piece of the Spring and Autumn Dao, Gui Zang Feng ("Gui Zang Feng Out of the World"),the Inner Guard Li Beiqi was forced by Wu You to do things for the Spring and Autumn Dao; the Spring and Autumn Road killer Bo Shan Ji Fang Boss Lady Sixteen Nights (i.e., Miao Niang) was charming and fierce; the Xunshan Gong Liu Xiang was extravagant and sinister; Baili Kuanren was arrogant and arrogant, and became the powerful and powerful Spring Envoy of the Spring and Autumn Dao after his false death After being imprisoned, the founder of the Spring and Autumn Road, Xiao Yaozi was ostensibly crazy but actually grasped the overall situation. The saint who is placed between the two opposing sides of the king's landing in the world, the beauty and power are all in one, and in the face of the underground social turmoil in the shendu, they are not alarmed, the command is determined, and the overall situation of the government is calmly controlled. Under her command and inspiration, Gongzi Chu, Gao Bingzhan, Baili Hongyi, Wu Siyue and others joined forces to save the enemy and turn the tide and win the victory.

It is inevitable that such a story will be contagious to the audience, but on closer examination, the elements of the new social ideal flashed in the hearts of the three young guardians of the gods as the protagonists of the governance type should also be more sufficient. In episode 29, Gao Bingzhan and Wu Siyue indulged in imagining and talking about the future when they were trapped in the cave, but they still found their sister Ah Tan, let all the bad wells go to the surface to live, go to Nanshi to see the Shendu lanterns, and jointly undertake the responsibility of guarding the Shendu. And Baili Hongyi's ideal is to travel the rivers and lakes with his wife Liu Ran. As for the sages who embody all the social ideals of the square figures, it is reasonable to contain more elements of contemporary future social imagination. It should be noted that "Wind Rises in Luoyang" is one of the "Luoyang" IP creative series in the "Huaxia Ancient City Universe" structure carefully created by iQIYI's website, and the art works in the IP series can pay attention to a new aesthetic imagination of the new era's social governance strategy and social development ideals through its vivid artistic image system, and its overall effect should be better.

(The author is a professor at the Research Center for Literature and Art of Beijing Normal University and vice chairman of the China Literary and Art Critics Association)