Text/Yangcheng Evening News all-media reporter Hu Guangxin
The documentary "But There Are Books 2" ended on February 24. Since its broadcast for more than a month, the six-group documentary has been played more than 16.5 million times, and the Douban score has steadily ranked 9.5 points.
Although the cultural field has become more and more favored by the film and television market in recent years, compared with the food and humanities documentaries and historical and cultural variety shows that have blossomed everywhere, book-themed programs and documentaries are still a minority. In 2019, when the first season of "But There Are Books" was first launched, the biggest selling point was "Hu Ge Friendship Voice". But this documentary finally received a rating of 9.0 and more than 70,000 reviews on Douban, which also made more people pay attention to the matter of reading again.
"But There is still a book 2" that returned after three years, its word-of-mouth and broadcast data are even better than the first season. Why is this documentary so loved by so many audiences? As a set of documentaries about books, "But There Are Books 2" emphasizes "spiritual companionship" more than "increased knowledge": by digging up the stories of all kinds of book lovers, they convey the focus and pure power of them to the audience.
【A】
Books are a weapon against an impetuous world
The six episodes of But There Are Books 2 feature librarians, cartoonists, translators, publishers, writers, travels, and writing, and each episode tells the story of three or four book lovers. The people who appear in But There Are Books 2 vary in age, gender, and professional experience, but they all have one thing in common – they have a rich spiritual world. Books bring them not only knowledge, but also weapons against an impetuous world.
For example, Shen Xieyuan, a version bibliographer who appeared in the first episode of "Our Library". Shen Xieyuan participated in the compilation project of the "Bibliography of Ancient Chinese Books" and made outstanding contributions in the collation, appraisal and protection of ancient books. Today, Shen Xieyuan is 98 years old, but his life is still burning for ancient books. In the documentary, shen Xieyuan took the bus back to his old unit, the Nanjing Library, every day, and began to sort out the inscriptions of the Qing Dynasty bibliophile Huang Pilie. His famous quote is "I don't want to live to be 100 years old, but I want to live every day". Today, Shen Xieyuan has completed more than 800,000 words of "Shi Li Ju Inscription", and will continue to sort out Huang Pilie's poetry collection and Huang Pilie's annals.
Shen Xieyuan
Gu Xiaojun, the national librarian who also appeared in the first episode, is very much in line with the image of the "sweeping monk". Ostensibly, he was an ordinary worker answering questions for readers who came and went; in fact, he was fluent in more than a dozen languages, including French, Italian, Persian, Greek, Latin, Hindi, etc., which he had taught himself during his 12 years at the National Library. Gu Xiaojun did different jobs, but because of his love for classical literature, he chose to become a librarian. Here he was able to do some research that was not utilitarian and was carried out purely out of love. In "But There Are Books 2", Gu Xiaojun shows his notebook, and the notes in foreign languages are densely written.
Gu Xiaojun
Bao Huiyi, the translator who appeared in the third episode of "Word Ferryman", found spiritual peace through translation. Bao Huiyi is a university teacher who translates poems in her spare time. In the show, Bao Huiyi told the origin of her translation road. While experiencing a huge spiritual crisis, she accidentally read the poetry collection "Ariel" by the American poetess Sylvia Plas, which resonated greatly. She began to try to translate it as Chinese, and did it for seven years. The concentration required to work as a translator gave her a sense of "happiness that cannot be taken away at all."
Huiyi Bao
Discover new stories of "niche celebrities"
But there are still books 2, among the interviewees are everyone, there are ordinary people, and there are also celebrities in the niche circle. For example, Ma Ainong, the translator of the Chinese edition of "Harry Potter" who is unknown to Chinese Harry Potter fans, Zhang Chenliang, the popular science blogger "Infinite Little Liang", and Zhao Jia, the author of the domestic science fiction comic "Black Blood"... "But There is Still a Book 2" not only allows them hidden behind the books to come to the camera, but also discovers another side of them that is not known.
In this documentary, Ma Ainong shows a girlish side, she is not only the translator of the Chinese version of Harry Potter, but also a "Ha fan". The film records the details of a Ma ainon's express delivery: the courier is the 20th anniversary of Harry Potter, and when she sees the Ravenclaw Academy booklet, she can't help but shout "so happy", and then proudly picks it up to show the camera the Ravenclaw badge. In addition, this documentary also introduces Ma Ainong's other translations, such as "Anne of Green Gables" and "I Grew Up in Iran", so that more people know about Ma Ainong outside of the "Harry Potter translator".
Ma Ainong
Zhang Chenliang, director of the China National Geographic Media Center, is an out-and-out "Internet celebrity". He is a "naturalist" who answers popular science questions for the majority of netizens in a witty and interesting style on Weibo; then he is active on video websites under the name of "Infinite Small Brightness", specializing in identifying popular network creatures; because of his similarity to the Tibetan fox, he has won the nickname of "Fox Director" and has become a popular meme. But Zhang Chenliang is actually a popular science author, spending six years to compile a set of "Notes on Sea Mistake Maps" to analyze and examine the "Sea Fault Maps" drawn by the Qing Dynasty painter Nie Huang. Zhang Chenliang often appears on social networks as a humorous and memetic figure, but in "But There Are Books 2", he faces the camera to tell the story of his sympathy with Nie Huang and his joys and worries about the marine environment. This documentary restores a more three-dimensional Zhang Chenliang.
Zhang Chenliang
And Zhao Jia, a cartoonist who rarely appears in the public eye, has made many comic fans both excited and moved. Zhao Jia began to create the science fiction comic "Black Blood" in 1997 at the age of 16, and after a blockbuster, "Black Blood" has undergone several breaks and has not yet finished. In "But There Are Books 2", Zhao Jia talked about the reasons for several suspensions: her father was seriously ill, making it difficult for Zhao Jia to take time to create; the magazine was suspended and lost the platform for publication. The film also shows Zhao Jia's creative manuscripts for more than 20 years, which are full of several large boxes. These are the stories behind the comics that are not known.
【B】
Golden sentences are frequent, and copywriting has become a highlight
Before the "But There Are Books" series, one of the most book-related programs in the circle was the reading program "One Thousand and One Nights". Host Liang Wendao shares a book per episode to introduce and interpret the book. In the field of documentaries, book documentaries such as "Book Watching Machine", "Book Fans", and "Resurrection of Ancient Books" have achieved good reputation, but due to the professional angle, they have not been able to get the attention of the public. "But There Are Books" has not only maintained the texture of literature and art, but also not high and low.
The documentary shatters the documentary's serious image, and the fast-paced narrative, interesting animations and special effects all make the film younger and more personal. Narration and copywriting are one of the highlights of the film – in this book-themed documentary, the romance of words is truly revealed. The narration copy is either full of fun or philosophical ideas, and it has also been praised by many viewers. For example, in the first episode, when describing the daily work of Gu Xiaojun, the administrator of the National Library, the narrator compares it to a video game: "Today, Gu Xiaojun answered questions for a total of 38 readers, which is Gu Xiaojun's 4380th day as an NPC at the National Library." In the second episode, the narrator introduces the profession of cartoonist this way: "There are chivalrous people in comics, there are monsters, there are futuristic worlds. Outside the comic there was only one person, a pen, a table and chairs. People who create the whole world with a square-inch-sized grid are called cartoonists. For example, Bao Huiyi described the translation as "the labor of tragic heroism", Shen Xieyuan said that "a person living in the world can not always play", and Gu Xiaojun said "What is poetry and far away?" Isn't that a library?"
It is worth mentioning that the narration is voiced by actor Hu Ge, and the general director Luo Yingluan once said in an interview that there is a trend in domestic documentary dubbing - more pursuit of more personalized sounds than broadcast voices. Hu Ge's voice is warm and natural, which is quite compatible with the style of "But There Are Books".
Act as a bridge and promote unpopular good books
As a book-themed documentary, what does "But There Are Books" do except make the audience realize the beauty of reading again?
It is certain that "But There Are Books" does act as a bridge, making more unpopular but excellent books and authors known. For example, more people now know who the Polish poet Chesław Milosz is – the title "But There Are Books" comes from a short poem by Milosz. The first season popularized the works of Malaysian writer Huang Kamshu and Taiwanese writer Yuan Zhesheng, and in "But There Are Books 2", the novel "Autumn Garden", which appeared in the fourth episode, became a popular book: the author of the book, Yang Benfen, was not a professional writer, she began to write in the year of Hua Jia, wrote her mother's story into a novel, and was published after she reached the age of 80. Today, "Autumn Garden" has more than 20,000 reviews on Douban, with a rating of 8.9 points.
《Autumn Garden》
In addition, the first episode introduces the Nalangma Library in Ganzi, Sichuan. Built by the monk Jigme, the library provides a place for children on the prairie to read and books. For these children, books are the key to the outside world. The story of the Naranma Library has touched many people, and the broadcast platform has also launched a book donation campaign to call on the audience to donate books to the Naranma Library. After the event, many netizens still consulted online and expressed their hope that they could continue to donate books to the library.
【Audience Comments】
Mr. Dust: Knowledge is the spiritual backbone, paper is the material basis, but there are books, so it is both.
Buckwheat Pillow: This peace of mind is my hometown. Catalogue scholar, national map librarian, Jigme, Little Girl in Tibetan Areas... They all found their homes through books and realized self-transit and ferry people. Reading to change one's destiny should not be used as a simple interpretation of utilitarianism, but a deep awakening that leads to a change of vision, thus moving towards a larger world. In this impetuous era, immersing yourself in reading is a kind of persistence, keeping innocence and simplicity. Behind closed doors is the deep mountain, and reading is everywhere in the pure land.
When there is a sea: still have to do more things you like, love brings concentration, focus brings achievement, even if it is only a very niche point.
Ah Xiaogu: From the creator to the reader, almost all the workers in the book publishing industry have been filmed, and the various behind-the-scenes stories are also very moving. Photographing many people's love for books, but not the shrinking market for paper books, the plight of independent bookstores, at least not enough. Thanks, there are books, but there is no market for books. (For more news, please pay attention to Yangcheng Pie pai.ycwb.com)
Source | Yangcheng Evening News Yangcheng Pie
Editor-in-charge | Shao Ziheng