Text/Yan Jingming
At the beginning of 2022, the TV series "The World of Man", adapted from Liang Xiaosheng's novel of the same name, caused a warm response among the audience and became the opening drama of the New Year. This three-volume long-form masterpiece is the latest award-winning work of the Mao Dun Literature Award, and has long been widely recognized among readers. The successful adaptation of "The World" has raised the topic of the relationship between literature and film and television.
What kind of literary works are favored by film and television screenwriters?
The chances of Liang Xiaosheng's novel being adapted into a TV series are very high, and the age span is very long. From "There is a Blizzard Tonight", "This is a Magical Land", "Snow City" in the 1980s, to "Zhiqing" a few years ago, and then to the current "Human World", his novels are not only loved by film and television producers and screenwriters, but also attracted the enthusiasm of the audience. Why? Because the realistic character and realist spirit of Liang Xiaosheng's novels can always arouse the attention of the audience. There is history in his novels, which is the contemporary history that contemporary people have experienced and is still in the end, and it is a history that is closely related to today's life; there is life in his novel, and this life is in harmony with the great trend of the times, and the social trend is reproduced through the depiction of life; his novel has a personal destiny, and this personal destiny is a portrayal of the fate of people of a generation. As a writer who pays close attention to, thinks deeply about, and always has his own unique voice in China's social development, he has a natural advantage in grasping the stories of novel characters. He is the author of the book "Analysis of All Levels of Chinese Society", as a scholar-type writer, his works have a sense of proportion in height and depth, tepid, not urgent, clear and not rigid, vivid and not vain, the imprint of the times, social evolution, character fate, human thinking, various elements are properly glued into one, so it is particularly easy to attract the attention of the film and television industry. If movies have formed "categories" such as commercial films, literary films, and drama blockbusters, TV drama art has a clear mainstream: real life + social change + trend of the times + personal fate (sometimes family fate) + life philosophy + moral goodness.
In recent years, tv dramas have often come out on top among works that have achieved extensive and far-reaching social repercussions at important historical junctures. The 40th anniversary of reform and opening up is "Great Rivers and Great Rivers", the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Party is "The Age of Awakening", the theme of poverty alleviation is "Mountains and Seas", and the commemoration of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea is "Crossing the Yalu River"... This also reflects that the efforts of Chinese TV dramas over the years are being richly rewarded. From telling a good story clearly, to having the right values, a moderate model suitable for family viewing, and then to the feelings of home and country, Chinese TV dramas have embarked on a path suitable for national conditions and people's feelings. In this process, how well the literary work matches the TV series depends first on whether it matches these requirements. Liang Xiaosheng's works have been paid attention to, tracked and adapted because of their "high matching degree".
What does it mean that a literary work has been adapted into a film?
The relationship between literature and film and television has always had different views, and it can be adapted into film and television dramas, which is of course a favorable way for works to expand their social impact.
There is also a theory that novels that have reached the ultimate in art cannot be adapted into other art forms. Milan Kundera has pointed out that the smooth adaptation of a novel into other art forms is a sign that the work is not artistically pure enough. After pure novels are adapted into visual arts such as films, their ideological connotations and artistic ingenuity will inevitably be discarded. Some examples of this can indeed be given. As far as China is concerned, even if the adaptation of the four masterpieces is repeated several times, it cannot replace the rich connotation of the original work and cannot fully display the artistic charm of the original work. When Lu Xun was alive, he advised people not to adapt "The True Biography of Ah Q" because he was worried that it would only be funny. His works have been adapted, and the most successful is undoubtedly "Blessing", however, although the movie "Blessing" also shows the tragic fate of Xiang Lin's sister-in-law, it still fails to show the human coolness brought by the tragic encounter.
This view is also debatable. Film and television works may not be able to show the rich connotations and complex meanings of first-class novels, but they may also become an excellent work. Many classic modern novels have multiple levels of value in their own right. Dynamic stories, twists and turns, deep ideas, and precise literary language are all likely to merge and coexist in the same work. It is entirely possible for film and television art to make appropriate choices according to its own needs and thus reconstruct a superior work. Liu Wenfei, a well-known Translator of Russian Literature, believes that Dostoevsky's novel is the pinnacle of "thought fiction", and it is both popular and popular among readers because his works, even at the story level, are full of tension, suspense, strong readability, and even have the elements of popular novels. The film "Crime and Punishment" and the TV series "The Brothers Karamazov" based on Toshi's novel are also highly sought after works by audiences.
It can be said that film and television art may not fully express the connotation of novel works, but as an independent art, it will also exhibit new and own artistic characteristics, which although it comes from novels and starts from novels, it also has its new connotations.
Who "completed" literature and film and television?
In the new media era, writers should also broaden their horizons, learn from other arts with an open mind, and draw nourishment from creation. Literature is the foundation of all art, is the first process of film and television art, the meaning of a drama is that the quality of literary works to a large extent determines the success or failure of film and television works. These views are still valuable to this day, but they must be said to be incomplete.
First, film and television art has increasingly become the most popular art, and the number of works created is beyond people's expectations. In the large number of production productions, original scripts account for the vast majority. Moreover, after decades of hard work and accumulation, the field of television dramas has formed a fairly large and mature team of screenwriters. These screenwriters have a relatively mature understanding and grasp of the laws of TV drama art, and gradually form a set of "creative methods" in creative practice.
Second, the film and television art's reliance on literary works is no longer rigidly executed "faithful to the original". The requirements for second-degree creation are very strong and high. For example, the TV series "Latent" is based on Ryuichi's novel, but between a short story and a TV series of dozens of episodes, the amount of creation of the screenwriter is conceivable, although the novel provides a considerable amount of ideas and synopsis. Ryuichi's work does have the potential to adapt TV series, and the TV series "Borrowing a Gun", which is adapted from his novel, is also a superior work. In the years when spy dramas were popular, literary artists fully demonstrated their ability to create stories, interpret history, and combine legendary stories with historical dramas in the film and television drama industry. Moreover, they are also involved in film and television creation and production to varying degrees. Mai Jia, Hai Fei, Quan Yongxian, etc. are examples.
The third is to polish important literary brands through film and television. The TV series "The World of Man" is specially marked as based on Liang Xiaosheng's winning novel of the Mao Dun Literature Award of the same name, which reflects the respect that film and television must have for literature. At the same time, through film and television art, important literary brands show their brilliance. It can be said that the vast majority of Mao Award-winning writers have their works adapted into film and television dramas, and Mao Award works have also been adapted into film and television dramas in large quantities. In the past ten years, novels such as "Ordinary World", "White Deer Plain", "Loading Stage", and "The Wandering Earth" have been adapted into film and television dramas. The rise of online literature also provides high-quality resources for film and television art. The China Writers Association will implement the "New Era Mountain and Countryside Great Change Creation Plan" and the "New Era Literature Climbing Plan", which can also expand their influence through film and television.
Of course, once a TV series is successful, the script may also be adapted into a novel. For example, at the beginning of 2021, the TV series "The Age of Awakening" written by Long Pingping was a great success, and by the end of the year, the long historical novel "The Age of Awakening" adapted from the script was officially published, from party history experts to famous screenwriters to novel "rookies", Long Pingping's gorgeous turnaround is also quite representative.
In short, in today's situation, under the situation that science and technology have been highly integrated with art and communication, the traditional pattern of literature and art has long been broken, and how to understand and define these concepts and their connotations in pure literature, serious literature and mainstream literature needs to be reconsidered. (For more news, please pay attention to Yangcheng Pie pai.ycwb.com)
For details, see the A6 edition of Yangcheng Evening News on March 13, 2022
Source | Yangcheng Evening News Yangcheng Pie
Editor-in-charge | Wu Xiaopan