Published on February 26, 2022| No. 2795
Recently, the realistic contemporary drama "The World of Man" landed on the screen, which made countless viewers laugh and cry in the story of the Zhou family in the "light character film", and even took everyone on a journey of fifty years to see the social changes and people's lives in China from 1969 to 2016.
The narrative construction of the chronicle coupled with the social vision of the group portrait makes this work reveal the historical depth and emotional penetration of the unconventional drama. Different ages, different experiences, different personalities, different circumstances, the first thing you see in the "kaleidoscope" of this life must be a different landscape.
More and more audiences will add this top work of 2022 to the list of "classics worth watching repeatedly for a lifetime", and they hope to read fresh empathy every time through this "big book" of life, society and times.
From February 24, every night at 19:30, "The World of Man" kicked off at the Jiangsu Satellite TV Happiness Theater. Family affection is full of fireworks in the noisy, friends support each other in the stumbling, lovers are happy and bitter in the division and integration... The pace of the times with your head held high brings people's wishes, struggles and growth, and accompanies you into this world full of emotions and hopes.
A picture of the era in which Chinese society has risen in the past fifty years
Liang Xiaosheng Mao Dun Literature Award-winning adaptation + "In the Name of the People" director Li Lu + "Chinese Divorce" screenwriter Wang Haiyu, powerful actors Lei Jiayin, Xin Baiqing, Song Jia, Yin Tao starring, gathering Ding Yongdai, Cheng Taishen, Sarina, Song Chunli, Zhang Kaili, Feng Lei and other senior drama bones. The solid foundation of the work, the fantastic creative team, and the strong cast make the aura of the "Human World" quality drama come to the fore.
How dazzling is it? Just one month after the start of filming, Disney pre-purchased the exclusive overseas distribution rights.
Director Li Lu said that this drama is ultimately to tell a touching story, "there must be a furry texture of life, the love and hate of the whole world are the same, so what we want to pursue is authenticity." ”
From the perspective of three generations of a family surnamed Zhou living in the old industrial base in northeast China, "The World of Man" depicts the ups and downs of life experienced by more than a dozen civilian children in the past half century. In the symphony of pots and pans, in the flow from winter to spring, the works run through the glory and dream of China's social development, as well as the struggle and pursuit of the vast number of ordinary people in China.
At the level of vertical historical changes, starting from the Spring Festival in 1969, the drama has successively involved various social hot phenomena such as going up to the mountains and going to the countryside, the construction of the third line, the return of young people to the city, the restoration of the college entrance examination, the going to the sea to do business, the tide of going abroad, enterprise reform, self-employment, shantytown transformation and other social hot phenomena, profoundly showing the tortuous road and complex changes of contemporary Chinese society.
At the horizontal level of social structure, "The World of Man" takes the three generations of the Zhou family as the center, which not only extensively radiates the ecology of ordinary people in the streets and factories, but also expands the horizon to the living field of intellectuals, merchants and other groups of people through the interpersonal circle of the Zhou family, and richly reveals the human feelings of the people in different circles Chinese in the tide of social transformation and change.
Screenwriter Wang Haiyu called it the most difficult creation she had ever created in her career, and she also broke the example of not adapting other people's works for this drama, because she was impressed by the length, thickness and width of the original work.
This is equivalent to a relatively precious historical material. Looking at it from a higher perspective and looking at it in the long river of history, you can see how the masses of the people in the first thirty years of New China followed a new political party in its exploration, trial and error correction, toward reform, and toward today. ”
"The World of Man" is a profound enough work, because whether it is the depiction and portrayal of ordinary people, or the discussion and reflection on the current situation of society, it can make the audience have a strong spiritual resonance and emotional resonance. This perspective of looking at reality and overlooking the times makes it an epic temperament in its own right, vividly reflecting the development map of the rise of Chinese society in the past fifty years.
Stand up with blandness and triviality to erect a priceless spiritual aesthetic
What is the zeitgeist that "The World" most wants to show?
The answer given by director Li Lu is a "love" word: "I think family, friendship, and love may be the most shining in that era, and love is priceless." ”
In this drama, everyone has a different trajectory under the great changes of the times, each has its own weaknesses, and its fate has its own twists and turns, but they always adhere to the ethics of hard work and perseverance, self-esteem and self-improvement, integrity and kindness, cherish friendship, and helpfulness, and "being a good person" is their most simple principle.
Zhou's father and mother, who have kept each other in their hearts for a lifetime, have laid the warm background of this family. In that era when the carriage and horse were very slow, the letters were far away, there was only enough to do one thing in a lifetime, and only enough to love one person in a lifetime, people were not good at confessing, and they were better at using actions to fulfill the vow of love and keeping each other. The "parental love" that is full of bubbles has made the audience break through the defense again and again.
The two brothers, Zhou Bingyi and Zhou Bingkun, are representatives of Typical Good Boys in China, one is an outstanding cadre who wants to do practical things for the people, and the other is an ordinary laborer who has worked hard all the way down to the ground. In their respective marriages, they are warm and responsible, and they are united in the face of difficulties and never abandon.
The female characters in the play have their own advantages: Zhou Rong, the second eldest of the Zhou family, dares to love and hate, independent and free; Zhou Bingyi's wife Hao Dongmei dares to break through the world; Zhou Bingkun's wife Zheng Juan is a typical virtuous wife and good mother; Zhou Bingkun's little Qiao Chunyan is free and bold... As women who grew up in the black land, they are all tough and brave. In particular, Zheng Juan, who is soft on the outside and strong in the inside, in her body, almost concentrates all the virtues of traditional Chinese women.
"Six Little Gentlemen" interprets the love between friends than Jinjian, the days pass year by year, the lively gathering of the three thunderstorms at the beginning of the New Year, and the laughter in the home of the secretary of the "Forgetting the New Year" Qu, which is the best proof of the friendship of this group of brothers and sisters. They are humble and bumpy on their respective life tracks, and their steps are also fast and slow, you pull me, I take you for a ride, and accompany them through the ups and downs of life.
"There are relatives and friends often accompany the side, experience this fireworks world, presumably it is the greatest warmth and comfort", in the process of watching "The World of People", some viewers want to go home, some viewers want to take family portraits, and some viewers understand the deep affection under the hard appearance of their fathers and the cuteness in their mother's nagging, and a large number of viewers miss the strong human touch in the streets and alleys of the city...
Compared with the blockbuster works that use strong plots to promote the narrative rhythm, "The World of Man" shows the profound ability of the creative team to "simmer slowly". Scenes connected with mundane life and trivial details are the most difficult to shoot, but in this play, every look, every dialogue, and every party contributes to the extremely rich details of life. The work is like simmering a pot of fragrant soup, allowing the audience to plunge into the swirling fireworks in countless "memory killings", in the depths of the ordinary, to perceive the warmth of life and the mellowness of human nature.
A life book that "everyone can read themselves"
"The World of Man" tells the story of the older generation, which is relatively far away from the life of the post-90s and post-00s, and many concepts inevitably exist in the generation gap, but to the surprise of many people, this work has won the love of a large number of young audiences.
For such positive feedback, director Li Lu is very happy: "We do TV series, it seems that there is no special way to attract which group to do what work, we believe that excellent content can break the age limit, the other day I said 'don't underestimate young people', as long as the film is sincere enough, good enough, they will like it." ”
In addition to looking at the social memories of the past fifty years, what do young audiences who like "The World of Man" like about this work?
Screenwriter Wang Haiyu noted that many viewers believe that it can bring comfort and hope to ordinary people who struggle, "The audience does not have to look up to anyone, nor do they have to envy anyone, they can take what they need and get comfort." In life, no matter what your occupation and identity, you have your own difficulties. For example, some viewers said that I am currently facing a difficult situation, and I want to face it with the attitude of Zhou Bingkun. In the creation, we did not highlight and plug-in the characters, or dig deeply, hoping that everyone could read themselves and feel empathy. ”
A generation has a generation's encounters, and a generation has a generation's struggle. As a work with a chronicle temperament, "The World of Man" connects a thought-provoking picture book through a wealth of group portraits, which can not only allow young audiences to see the hard-won good life from the vicissitudes of the past, but also see how different choices, different mentalities, and different efforts will affect a person's growth at the fork in the road of the times. Many times, faith, courage and perseverance are more precious than gold.
In the magnificent torrent, the individual's thoughts and thoughts are all vivid history. How to turn the ordinary into an epic? Do you have your own answers after "The World of Man"?