The author | Maureena
Editor| Li Chunhui
There are two people in the headlines, one is called Vladimir and the other is also called Vladimir.
Two Vladimirs, one from a working-class family, ruled the country with an iron fist, and was nicknamed "Emperor Pu" by the netizens of the Heavenly Dynasty; the other Jewish scholar Xiang Mendi, who abandoned the law and followed the entertainment, entered the political stage because of a comedy, and some people scorned him as "actor president".
It is not uncommon for actors to engage in politics, nor is it a matter of talking. Reagan, who kissed Xiulan Temple on the screen, reversed the situation in the United States and the Soviet Union in eight years after becoming president of the United States; the muscular macho Schwarzenegger ran for governor of California, and his seven years of political achievements were praised and degraded, but the people of California praised "he is a good man."
However, war and politicians have their own more professional people to comment, and hard candy jun only wants to play the hot spot of his strengths - Zelenskiy and the Ukrainian drama he represents.
After all, many of the Slavic dramas that are considered Russian dramas in China are actually Ukrainian dramas. Without this war, Ukrainian opera may catch up with or even surpass the pace of Russian drama and become another source of content for our small language.
Comedy out of the president
Speaking of Ukrainian dramas, we still have to start with the "Servant of the People" that was discussed again because of Zelenskiy.
Since the Time of Kievan Rus' of the Rus' dynasty of the Rus' Dynasty, there has been a delicate state of trade-off between Moscow and Kiev. Although Ukraine and Russia are compatriots, they are constantly at odds. In 2013-2015, the Ukraine crisis erupted, crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk (the latter two were recognized as republics by Putin in February 2022) declared independence from Ukraine, and the skirmishes between Uzbekistan and Ussi have hardly stopped.
At that time, Ukraine was staring at Russia on the outside, there were frequent frictions on the border, and there were oligarchs on the inside who controlled the political arena and divided up the country's resources. The Chocolate King and the Gas Princess took turns in power, the once-rich Ukraine became poorer and poorer, and popular discontent with politicians reached its peak. The drama "Servant of the People" appeared in front of ukrainians at such a touching point in time.
The story takes place in contemporary Ukraine. Vashya, a history teacher, dissatisfied with the Ukrainian government, gave an impassioned account of his views on the political situation in class, saying that "if I were to be president, I would be much better than these politicians." This scene was recorded by students and posted to social platforms, and Vasha became famous overnight.
Learning that the video of his big speech caused phenomenal attention, Vasha's first reaction was not excitement but whether the job bowl could be saved. Ukrainian netizens and citizens who have watched this video feel that politicians are already terrible anyway, what if this history teacher can? Even if you don't do a good job, you won't be worse than a politician. With this in mind, the history teacher Vashya became the president of Ukraine.
Vasha, who had a lot of enthusiasm and theoretical knowledge, actually sat in the position of president and found that every move he took would be interfered with by oligarchs and oligarchic agents. The seemingly mild-mannered prime minister has actually been trying to overthrow this grassroots president through means such as forming parties. Vasha, who had suffered several losses, decided to abandon the prime minister and the existing cabinet and go it alone.
Vasha, who was born a civilian, found his classmates and friends and formed a grassroots cabinet to confront the prime minister. The grass-based team occasionally quarreled and split, and in the process of foreign affairs and overturning, it pushed Ukraine to develop in a better direction. The show lasted for three seasons until Zelenskiy was elected the sixth president of Ukraine (the series could not be renewed due to the lead actor becoming president, and this should be the only one in the season).
It is said that it is because of the popular fans of "Servant of the People" that Zelenskiy has the opportunity to win the presidency of Ukraine under the influence of oligarchs and become a strange flower in the fan betting circle. In fact, looking back at the broadcast time of "Servant of the People" and the trajectory of Zelenskiy's life, this TV series is more like a presidential propaganda film tailored for him.
In the play, Vasha is passionate and persistent, and at the same time has a sense of justice and will play a little clever. The show received a 10.4 percent rating in Ukraine, with 26 percent of those in the 18-54 age group, who are also an important part of the vote bank. Zelenskiy took advantage of the heat and formed the "Servant of the People's Party" to participate in the presidential election and ascended to the top with absolute superiority.
As mentioned earlier, in 2015, Ukraine had a little respite from the crisis, and the dissatisfaction of ordinary people with the government reached the extreme, but they did not know who else to choose except the oligarchs.
The broadcast of "Servant of the People" has an invisible guiding effect on Ukrainians. Zelenskiy's presidency is not too surprising, not to mention that behind him stands kolomoiski, the former Dnipro governor oligarch. The oligarch's media company is one of the producers of "Servant of the People".
Ukrainian opera Russian drama, silly and unclear
In 2017, the anti-corruption drama "In the Name of the People" was a hit, and at that time, a subtitle group played the "Russian version of "The Name of the People" to promote the "Servant of the People" that had already turned a fire in Ukraine. Later, Zelenskiy was really elected president, and the play was once again out of the circle because of "God prophecy", and there was no shortage of doubtful statements in the comment area at that time, "Isn't this a Russian drama?" Why elect a Ukrainian president".
In the Slavic language, Russia is called "Great Rus" and Ukraine is "Little Rus", which shows the close relationship between the two. The difference between Ukrainian and Russian is similar to the difference between Mandarin and dialect. Therefore, there are not a few people who confuse Ukrainian opera with Russian opera.
With the increase in Chinese audiences' attention to small language dramas, there have been many small language subtitle groups in recent years. Among them, there are many dramas that are quite discussed in China, and many of them are actually Ukrainian dramas, such as "Servant of the People". Although the dialogue between the characters in the play uses Ukrainian, many people still classify it as a Russian drama according to inertial thinking.
The similarity between Ukrainian and Russian is high, coupled with the relationship between Russia and Ukraine, many actors belong to the state of "transnational work", and the appearance of Russian actors in Ukrainian operas, or Ukrainian actors in Russian dramas, is not a new thing, so it further enhances the sense of confusion that Ukrainian opera is mistaken for Russian drama.
In addition to the similarity of language and the occasional interaction of actors, the story background of Wu opera is also deepening this sense of confusion. Probably in the hearts of Ukrainians, there is Kievan Rus' first, then there is Imperial Russia and contemporary Russia, so they naturally regard themselves as the right shuo of this land, and the place where the screenwriter's story takes place is always in Russia.
In 2013, Ukraine produced a detective drama called "Smell Detective", the male protagonist relied on smell to solve the case, dragged 2580,000, the case setting and plot advancement have a sense of American drama ringing. The drama has a good reputation in the domestic small circle, but the audience often misappropriates the laurels of the small language drama on the head of Russia, because the place where the play takes place is Russia rather than Ukraine. In addition, the main actor Кирилл Кяро has been performing in the Moscow Theater and is one of the male protagonists of the well-known Russian drama "Betrayal".
In 2019, "Sugar Daddy", which became popular in China, the protagonist LaoZi often hangs on his lips "how to do in the Soviet Union", in fact, this is also a full-fledged Ukrainian drama. It is worth noting that the producer of "Sugar Daddy", "95 and a quarter", is the comedy performance group founded by Zelenskiy.
Even the Russians themselves sometimes confuse which country the show's producer is. Speaking of the first russian drama boom in China, it must be "Как я стал русским "Fighting National cultivation").
How popular was this show back then? At that time, the hot discussion of the media and netizens needless to say, even attracted domestic capital and the Russian side to jointly make a "sequel" movie. Unfortunately, although this movie is not a small gimmick, there are also many fans to contribute to the movie tickets, but the reputation is not very good.
Interestingly, several Russian friends talked about the show with Hard Candy Jun, and their disgust overflowed, and told Hard Candy Jun that "this is a garbage drama made by Ukrainians to cater to the West." The hard candy jun verified through official micro-media, Russian media interviews and other channels, basically determined that this is a Russian drama, but the "Ukrainian flavor" is too heavy, resulting in the Russians themselves can not distinguish whether it is surnamed Russia or surnamed Wu.
What does the U-pop out of the circle rely on
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia and Ukraine inherited most of the Soviet Union's legacy, the economy and debts belonged to Russia, and the military industry was given to Ukraine. After the dissolution, the economy of Eastern Europe was devastated for a long time due to shock therapy, and the literature and art of Russia and Ukraine were basically in a state of stagnation.
Compared with Ukraine, Russia's foundation is thicker, and the recovery of literature and art is faster, and around the turn of the millennium, Витас (Vitas), "Love Petersburg" and so on have been exported to the mainland. But into the next decade, starting in 2010, Ukraine began to catch up.
The easiest way to distinguish Ukrainian opera from Russian opera is, of course, by language. Especially after the Ukrainian government vigorously promoted de-Russification, dramas using Ukrainian dialogue dominated the market. In addition, the narrative style, picture, etc., is not only the standard for distinguishing The Dramas of Russia and Ukraine, but also the key to prompting the Rapid Emergence of Ukrainian Dramas in just ten years, and even catching up with Russian Dramas.
In 2013, the Russian flavor was still very strong
The most obvious thing is the picture, the Russian drama is somber and bright. In "Servant of the People", Vasha pedals his bicycle through the streets every day and goes to work at the presidential palace, and each frame can be directly screenshotted as wallpaper. Although the Russian drama also adheres to the anti-heavenly aesthetic of the Slavic people, it is always a little mournful, especially after 2015, this difference is more obvious.
The difference in narrative style is also one of the important reasons for the out-of-circle of Ukrainian opera. If you want to get the discussion and attention in other countries, pandering to stereotypes is actually a good choice, and Turkish dramas are popular around the world because Turkish dramas satisfy all the imaginations of the world for the rich.
Although the economy has been severely damaged, contemporary Russia has long been unable to reproduce the glory of the imperial Russian period, but russians are still proud in their bones, and this pride is also directly reflected in the creation of Russian dramas. Watching Russian dramas gives people the most intuitive feeling of "tired", even comedy will look at it to make people feel heavy, can't help but reflect on life.
The Russian drama "Forbidden Zone Chernobyl" is quite brain-draining
This is not the case with Wu opera. Ukrainian opera in the period of just disintegration, like today's Russian drama, is either based on the classic literary works of the Tsarist period or asks about such a major proposition as the meaning of life. But now, perhaps the creators of Ukraine have finally accepted the reality of the bad luck, and since the public likes stereotypes, why not just create it like this.
So in "Sugar Daddy", we will see self-blackening plots such as remembering an old soviet elderly person from time to time, and an Eastern European beautiful woman who can sell her body for money. A Russian-style bearded father, blonde-breasted heroine, the appearance of these two people is very in line with the public stereotype of Eastern Europeans.
For the discussion of in-depth social issues, there are also Ukrainian operas, but more points to the end, at least let people look not tired. And compared with Russian dramas, Ukrainian dramas prefer to give the protagonist a series of "slogan-style lines" as highlight moments. This is like Mimon's golden sentence Dafa and the big heroine who frequently searched on our side, this kind of slogan-style line is not important to the plot, but it can give the audience a feeling of blood boiling, and the audience is naturally willing to discuss and share.
In addition, in recent years, Ukrainian opera has also focused on exploring rejuvenation and being close to Western European aesthetics. "Шккла" ("School Non-Sensitive Game"), which aired in 2018, clearly has the shadow of campus-themed American dramas such as "Gossip Girls" and "American Pie", and even in the makeup of the actors in the play, it is closer to the taste of Western Europeans.
Originally, with the good momentum of Ukrainian opera in recent years, it is really not a dream that the dissemination power surpasses That Of Russian Drama. However, with the outbreak of war, the situation between Russia and Ukraine falling into tension, and the people's livelihood being displaced by hardship, the renaissance process of the two countries will once again enter a long stagnation, and the glory of the past will eventually be difficult to reappear.
мирвсего мира，невойны。 (May there be peace in the world and no more war)