The philosophy of life hidden in life - from the NOVEL TO THE TV series "Heart Residence"

Teng Xiaolan's novel "Heart Residence" was adapted into a TV series of the same name, and Teng Xiaolan himself is also a novel author and screenwriter. This is the most suitable choice for the perfection of the story and the revelation of the theme.

It is said to be directly confronted because the work takes the most prominent problems in contemporary life, the biggest anxiety housing of individuals and families as the starting point of the story, and "housing" is also the plot thread that runs through the whole process. For people living in the metropolis of Shanghai, the conditions for living and working in peace and contentment require a lot. Hukou remains a fatal prerequisite, and housing is a new condition. For a young woman like Feng Xiaoqin, who married from abroad to Shanghai, she must work hard to integrate into the city. This kind of struggle is integrated into the daily life of the flowing water, you can't see it or touch it, but the character's heart has already churned in this calm as water life with huge waves. This is precisely the role of literature and art, revealing a complex heart that is invisible to ordinary eyes.

"Heart Dwelling" shows the stress and anxiety felt by people living in reality. This is a very real problem. Society is developing, its speed is beyond the judgment of whether it is "old Shanghai" or outsiders, it is always unable to catch up with the development speed of various things, and it is always missing the opportunity that was still at hand yesterday, which has become an inevitable general anxiety of people. "Heart Dwelling" confronts these realities and does not avoid the contradictions and conflicts that arise as a result. The entanglement of a person's own heart, the entanglement between people, the entanglement in complex interpersonal relationships, all the time intersect in people's seemingly peaceful life, or emerge as a story in life, or inhibit into a certain character of a certain character.

"Heart Residence" directly faces these realities and contradictions, but the truth of life it reveals is not to make more people have more and greater anxieties, but to try to resolve, to channel, to release. "Heart Dwelling" is full of dense stories, but it does not fall into the trivialities of mother-in-law and mother-in-law, nor does it deliberately reason or even preach. The philosophy of life is integrated into the story, so that the beauty of human nature shown in the story reflects the truth of life and the philosophy of life, which is why "Heart Residence" can become a drama that transcends genre dramas.

As a work that focuses on a specific family and is extended to express contemporary urban life, "Heart Residence" may not have a core protagonist, but it has a running character that opens the radius of the story, which are the two young women of the Gu family: Feng Xiaoqin and Gu Qingyu. Daughter-in-law Feng Xiaoqin brings together the most aspects of current urban life. Trying to gain a foothold in the metropolis through their own struggles, having children is not enough to be called integration, you must have your own real estate deed as proof, carefully handle the relationship with everyone around you, and at the same time try to maintain your dignity. As a young woman born and raised in the city, Gu Qingyu's independence and innate sense of calmness have become the main body of her personality. Because of her introspection and efforts all the time, Feng Xiaoqin has become the master of life to a certain extent, she has a husband and son, and she also wants to do everything possible to become an independent family. She is not only a traditional woman who teaches her husband and children, but also a strong "enterprising spirit" that urges her husband to study and try her best to raise funds to buy a house. Her kind nature coupled with the "strategy" of dealing with the world that must be done in place has enabled her to always be a gentle caregiver in getting along with Gu Qingyu's "sister-in-law". In contrast, Gu Qingyu's willfulness and arrogance have brought her a lot of troubles in her life, but whether it is a novel or a TV series, she has given the greatest understanding and sympathy for these behaviors. Young women who are well-educated and live in the city are unlikely to choose a "strategic" life. Maintaining the independence of the personality, finding the meaning of life in the state of self and ease, demanding love, and treating marriage with caution are all due to her origin and character, and should also be regarded as a modern woman's attitude to life. All the character stories, the entanglement and entanglement between them, are actually the process of the intersection, collision, confrontation and integration of these two life attitudes and emotional situations.

"Heart Residence" sets up a sudden plot in which Feng Xiaoqin's husband, Gu Qingyu's younger brother Gu Lei, suddenly dies. And the two of them are also directly related to their sudden death. The course of the story thus takes a turn very early (episode 5 in the TV series). The other two young men, Zhan Xiang and Shi Yuan, gradually enter the center of the story. The story around the "dweller" strives to "have a house", but from then on to a deeper and deeper theme: the real settlement comes from the human heart. Solve the inner values, realize the right path that must be adhered to in life, understand the understanding and tolerance between people, that is, the right way to live and work in peace and contentment, the so-called "this peace of mind is my hometown". The works are densely woven with rich stories, showing abundant emotions, interpreting a genre drama of family sadness and joy and urban emotions into a life drama, full of youthful atmosphere, striving to realize the value of life through self-struggle, obtaining happiness in life through down-to-earth hard work, adjusting the outlook on life and values to cast a solid foundation for life, and getting along with people has both interests and more sincere emotions as the premise. All this is the truth that life itself teaches people, and it is also the philosophy of life that people have realized from the life of fireworks. Between Feng Xiaoqin and Gu Qingyu, between Feng Xiaoqin, Gu Qingyu and Zhan Xiang, between Gu Qingyu and Shi Yuan, in the intricate relationship, there are both contradictions in the process and final resolution; there is both the harshness of love, the softness of friendship, and the support of family affection. Coupled with a large number of other characters such as Gu Xin, Ge Yue, Feng Xiqian, Feng Danian and other young figures, surrounded by elders, relatives, colleagues, friends, whether men, women and children, whether locals or foreigners, their parallel interlacing, their joys and sorrows, constitute a three-dimensional landscape of contemporary urban life.

"Heart Dwelling" is a work that shows the progress of life. Even at the end of the work, even if the plot must be tightened, everyone's life seems to have just shown a new twist, heralding a longer journey. Gu Qingyu and Shi Yuan eventually divorced, but she could not come together with Zhan Xiang; Feng Xiaoqin could cooperate well with Zhan Xiang in business, but she could not harvest love from each other; Ge Yue learned tenacity from the waves of life, and could shelve contradictions and take on family responsibilities. On the occasion of the New Year, the Gu family recreates the reunion scene, and each member can build a building with the kindness of human nature, the communication of feelings, and mutual understanding, and comfortably rest in it. This practice of using goodness as a sharp weapon to resolve all contradictions, taking goodness as a force to gather emotions, and using goodness as a bridge to communicate people's hearts is a narrative strategy that Chinese literature and art have always had, and it is also a contemporary display of China's excellent traditional culture, and it is also a vivid embodiment of correct values in works of art. This "solution" is also particularly applicable to the art of television dramas, especially to the way TV dramas are viewed as a family. In this sense, it can be said that from the novel to the TV series, "Heart Residence" has achieved the maximum overall transfer. The hot discussion caused by its popularity has also provided a lot of useful inspiration for the creation of TV series with related themes. In fact, film and television creation is also constantly improving, and it is becoming more and more common for realistic subjects to look good.

Author Yan Jingming (Vice Chairman of China Writers Association, Director of Film and Television Literature Committee)