Not long ago, the touching scene of Zhou's father and mother hand in hand in the popular drama "The World of Man" rushed to the Weibo hot search, triggering the collective defense of the majority of the audience chasing the drama. This kind of bland is true, warm pulse of the person, in the film and television drama "Chinese parents" have been about to be "demonized" at the moment, it seems very "clear stream".
So, today let's take stock of what impressive "parent" images are in domestic dramas in recent years? What aesthetic changes have these two types of images undergone?
Patriarchal preference, only "sucking blood", "mother" is no longer perfect
Throughout the history of the development of mainland TV dramas, the iconic image of "mother" has undergone several changes with the changes in social thought.
In the early film and television works, most of the "mothers" have a strong traditional color, and the public's solidified imagination of them, "hard-working" and "selfless dedication" are synonymous with them.
For example, Liu Huifang in "Longing" still adopted the abandoned baby Xiaofang in the case of difficult life, and regarded the child as her own and did not abandon it. This ultimate "Virgin" left a deep impression on the audience. After "Chinese Mother", "Mother is a River", "My Ugly Lady" in all kinds of loving and stoic mothers, they also continued this routine.
Through observation, it is not difficult for us to find that most of the classic mother images in this period come from rural themes, which is because the level of productivity on the mainland was still in the stage of development, and the rural themes that show the real life of the people are the mainstream in the market, with a strong mark of the times. The story of the blue wisp of the road and overcoming all kinds of difficulties to pull the children to grow up is very in line with the aesthetics of the audience at that time, and the sensational place can always earn people tears.
However, with the development of economy and society, most of the post-90s and post-95s have received higher education and have begun to converge in big cities, while mothers are still "in place" due to the limitations of the times. The separation of lifestyles and ideological concepts between generations has made parent-child family issues such as "son preference, family affection or uneven distribution of actual benefits" a hot topic repeatedly discussed by the public on social networks. Therefore, after the post-90s and post-95s became the mainstream drama-watching group, correspondingly, the perspective of family dramas shifted from the countryside to the city, and the domestic dramas depicting the protagonist's gray and dark native families also began to be particularly popular, and on the screen, a group of "poisonous mothers" who were no longer perfect and selfless, but preferred sons to daughters, crazy "blood sucking", and snarky "poisonous mothers" entered the audience's field of vision.
Fan Shengmei's mother in "Ode to Joy" opened the precedent of this type of role, creating a mother who not only did not sympathize with the daughter who worked hard outside, but also squeezed the daughter's hard-earned money for her son, and instantly became a "top stream" after the episode was broadcast.
Zhao Meilan in "All Is Good" not only involuntarily sold her daughter's room, but also asked her to give up Tsinghua Peking University to study free teacher training, and her strong and indifferent attitude brought a lifelong scar to Su Mingyu.
Pan Guiyu in "An Jia" is the culmination of the first two shortcomings, Zhang Kou managed her daughter to pay off the mortgage for 1 million yuan to her brother, after Fang Xiangjin refused, she also directly ran to the place where Fang Xiangjin worked and lived, making a big fuss, so as to coerce her to give money.
In addition to the impact of content themes and audience aesthetic changes, the mother image from "bitter feelings" to "strange", but also from the transformation from the protagonist to the supporting role, in the video platform booming, the mainstream drama viewing group under the general trend of rejuvenation, the post-60s, post-70s mothers as the protagonist of the opportunity is less and less, the plot function undertaken is also different, the role of the supporting role is limited, want to leave a deep impression on the audience, successfully harvest the degree of discussion, you must be able to cause contradictions every time you appear, with its own extreme characteristics to promote the plot forward.
Selfish and shirking responsibility, "scumbag" can also be joyful
Like the mother, the father figure in the early film and television dramas is also solidified and traditional, hard-working, authoritative and loving, and there is a kind of "mountain-like greatness", such as Song Dacheng in "Longing", Tong Zhi in "Golden Marriage", Wang Gui in "Wang Gui and Anna"... Wait a minute.
With the change of the times, the development of the Internet for the deconstruction of patriarchy, the image of "Chinese father" has gradually changed, although there is a certain gap in the number compared with the strange "poisonous mother", but there are still two selfish top "scum daddies".
Among them, the first thing that the audience thinks of must be Su Daqiang in "All Is Good", and we can believe that for a long time to come, no one can replace his position in the "scum daddy world".
Su Daqiang is selfish, timid, and has no opinion, when his wife was alive, he allowed him to discriminate and suppress his daughter, and after his wife's death, he let go of himself, provoked the contradiction between brothers and sisters, only cared about his own interests and the house, and showed his "fine" side. This "strange" quality, which originates from life and is higher than life, has made Su Daqiang's popularity soar, becoming a landmark role in the history of domestic dramas.
There is also Qiao Zuwang in "Children of the Qiao Family", who is also a veritable "scumbag", his wife is playing cards in the pot, and the sister-in-law lifts the card table before rushing to the hospital; the wife dies and leaves five young children, he not only does not take care of the children but also deducts the children's living expenses; in order to rely on the hospitalization fees, he takes the children to the health center to make trouble, and leaves the newborn son in the hospital... The degree of selfishness and Su Daqiang have a fight.
Interestingly, these two "scumbags" have a significant common point, that is, their "comedic attributes", and the "poisonous mothers" to implement the angry people to the end is different, "scumbags" in addition to attracting people to constantly complain, but also the funny responsibility in the play, Su Daqiang "I want to drink hand-ground coffee" emoji spread throughout the network, Qiao Zuwang is often "pinched" by the eldest son, mocked to the point of speechlessness, can only admit it, thus diluting the villain's bad feelings.
This treatment also shows that the role of mother and father should be different in character shaping. For a long time, under the influence of the patriarchal social environment, the mother's deeper involvement in family life is also more likely to become the focus of various contradictions, and the father is more likely to avoid contradictions with a "and thin mud" attitude due to the "absence" of inertia in family life.
Reflected in film and television dramas, the image of "poisonous mothers" is more nervous and anxious and aggressive, and fathers are mostly selfish and unwilling to take responsibility. And supplemented by the balance of joy, it is also because the role of the mother naturally has a sense of softness, not strong aggression, can dig out the "evil" side to the extreme. If the father is allowed to "be evil to the end", it is easy to make the tone of the series too dark, so that the audience cannot accept it.
With "Strange Parents", the popularity of the series is not worrying
From the ultimate "good" to the ultimate "bad", why are creators keen to set up "strange parents" in domestic dramas in recent years? What is their role?
First of all, as an entertainment product, film and television dramas cannot lack contradictions and conflicts, and it is inevitable to stimulate the audience's sensory nerves with a tense plot, otherwise it will only be trivial and boring. At the same time, "parent-child relationship problems" and "native family problems" as a universal social pain point, almost no audience can not empathize, "poisonous mother" and "scumbag" can easily become the "fuse" that ignites the explosion, these images bring out the topic not only around the plot, but also because of its rich practical significance, can be extended to life outside the play, the enthusiasm of netizens to discuss is bound to wave after wave, boosting the popularity of the series.
Secondly, an excellent film and television drama work is indispensable to complement each other and enrich the group portrait shaping, just like a multi-prism, each section reflects a completely different character arc, these characters in the process of interaction, produce a fierce collision of values, the complexity and breadth of the content is only focused on portraying the male and female protagonists of the series can not be compared.
The emergence of these "strange parents" is not only an indispensable part of the group portrait, but also promotes the three-dimensional display of other characters in the human setting, taking "All Is Good" as an example, it is precisely because of Su Daqiang's work that the three brothers and sisters of the Su family have exposed the most authentic side of human nature, and this "flesh and blood" has left a very deep impression on the audience.
However, it is worth mentioning that as "poisonous mothers" and "scumbags" become the "traffic code" created by domestic dramas, similar extreme "routines" have begun to be abused, and homogenized dog blood contradictions have made the audience feel numb and tired. In such a big environment, creators have also begun to reflect that roles such as parents do not have to be "bad to the end" to be true and profound, but should be liberated from "labeling" and move towards richness.
In this year's drama market, there are many characters who get rid of the "routine" and still gain everyone's attention and favorite, such as Wang Yutian and Yang Defu in "The World of Big Mama" starring Li Lingyu and Mu Liyan, who are both the mothers of children and the vivid and interesting retired mothers, who know how to surf on the Internet more than young people, are familiar with various emerging words, and will also tactfully use pyramid schemers to serve themselves.
The mother in "Old Girlfriend" starring Pan Hong and Wang Fuli is also fashionable, loves her children very restrained, is unwilling to control the other party's Irene, is spoiled by her daughter as a princess, and is deeply addicted to the Internet and cannot extricate herself from the "old girl" Song Lina... These characters completely overturn the stereotypical understanding of the image of "mother" by the public.
In addition to these "new parents", "The World of Man" tells us that if the shaping of old-style parents can be vivid and not levitating, it can also poke the emotional pain points of the majority of netizens.
Zhou Zhigang, the father of the Zhou family, has both an old-fashioned and temperamental side, as well as a side that can empathize with others and know how to be flexible, he loves Zhou Rong, does not value sons over daughters, even if he has many concerns about the identity of Zheng Juan's widow, he still gladly accepts this daughter-in-law. Although the mother Li Suhua is kind and caring for the children, she is not bitter and patient, and still has a relaxed and cute side in the hard life, and many interactions with her younger son Zhou Bingkun can't help but see the audience.
Neither perfect as "creating gods" nor attracting the attention of the audience with strange behaviors, Zhou Father and Zhou Mu show the real choices in Chai Mi Oil and Salt, and the multi-faceted nature of ordinary people with seven passions and six desires.
All in all, parents in real life are very different, each is unique, parents in TV dramas should also be non-flat and complex, in film and television dramas more focus on the middle class perspective, various types, small cost boutique content frequently out of the moment, less "mainstream", more vertical, more diversified parent image will inevitably emerge in an endless stream, bringing the audience a rich and colorful viewing experience.