Author: Li Guoyi
"Dreaming" is a treatise on the creation of military writer Zhou Zhentian by literary critic Wang Shoude. After reading this 380,000-word monograph, I added another sense of admiration to these two long-familiar artists and critics! Zhou Zhentian is a famous playwright who entered his creative career starting from a long novel, he has continuously climbed the peak of art in many creative fields such as literature, drama, film, tv series, etc., and his fine works have been produced one after another, and "a wide range of categories, many quantities, high quality, heavy weight, and great influence" (see Li Zhun's "Dream · Preface I"), which has become a unique landscape in the literary world, so the industry has the saying of "Zhou Zhentian phenomenon". After graduating from the Department of Chinese of Peking University in the early 1980s, Wang Shoude has been engaged in the organization and management of literary and artistic creation in the General Political Department of the People's Liberation Army for a long time, and is an expert leader who has a good reputation in the field of literary and art criticism. He was familiar with Zhou Zhentian, and with the accumulation of years of attention and criticism of Zhou Zhentian's creations, he devoted himself to completing this treatise.
"Dreaming" allows people to have a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of Zhou Zhentian's creative achievements, understand Zhou Zhentian's character and literary works, and perceive his cultural stance and artistic conscience. "Dreaming" is not just written for Zhou Zhentian, and its significance is not only that it dedicates a heavy book of artists' works to literary and artistic research. This is the reason for the critic Wang Shoude's success in grasping zhou Zhentian's rare example, analyzing and studying many of his creative examples, and exploring the reasons for his success in constantly climbing the peak and dedicating masterpieces. This is the meaning and value of how to improve the quality of works as a lifeline for the literary and art circles, further prosper literary and artistic creation, and give birth to more fine works, which has the significance and value of the dream creation paradigm! This is the main contribution of Dreaming! This also shows the original intention and responsibility of a senior literary and art worker in the army and a famous literary and art critic!
The exploration of the creative trajectory - detailed and inspiring
"Dreaming" pursues and sorts out Zhou Zhentian's creative process, starting from tracing his adolescence.
"The Cultural Journey of Youth Time" and "Azure Military Journey", these reminiscence chapters in the book are not lacking in poetic brushstrokes. What attracts people's attention and deep thought is the life situation and life story of Zhou Zhentian, which is difficult for ordinary people to experience. This is the seed that lives in Zhou Zhentian's young heart!
When Zhou Zhentian was eighteen, he was assigned to work on a labor reform farm under the Tianjin Municipal Public Security Bureau. The leader could not bear to let a young man who was not deeply involved in the world face those re-education through labor personnel with complicated backgrounds directly, so he arranged for him to go to the archives to sort out the files of these people. Archives are piling up. For more than two years, Zhou Zhentian read carefully page by page there, sorting it out and then binding it into a book. These interrogation records, confessions, testimonies, and other case files are a record of a criminal life, as well as a pathological report on the human nature of the living human heart. This opened a special window for Zhou Zhentian to understand society, understand life, and gain insight into human nature. For Zhou Zhentian, who will continue to engage in a lifelong career as a screenwriter, this experience is like the "human university" that Gorky attended in his childhood.
In 1978, Zhou Zhentian was specially recruited to join the Haizheng Repertory Theatre as a creative member, and after experiencing the life experience of the destroyers of the South China Sea Fleet and the minesweepers of the North Sea Boat Team, he was appointed as the acting deputy political commissar of the No. 276 submarine of the East China Sea Boat Team for the creation of submarine-themed works. This experience is even more unforgettable. He lives and fights with his warriors in a cramped space of steel plates, steel beams, cables and pipes. Together with the soldiers, he dived deep into the sea with the submarine, and from time to time endured the terrifying sound of the hull being deformed by the high pressure of the deep sea, and constantly endured various frightening tests such as oil leakage, water leakage, and deformation of the door after the submarine was pressed. Of course, he also experienced the most intimate interpersonal relationship between comrades in arms in the narrowest space in the world, which was an unforgettable life and death love for a lifetime! All the audiences who have watched the drama "Deep Sea" are all shocked by this drama that takes "the limit of three hundred meters under the deep diving sea" as the "core of the play" and focuses on portraying the lofty spiritual realm of the chief designer of the submarine! The spark of inspiration came from the days and nights when Zhou Zhentian and the warriors were shoulder to shoulder in the bunks that overlapped like sardine cans!
The outline and expression of Zhou Zhentian's creative trajectory in "Dreaming" is meticulous and informative and inspiring.
Zhou Zhentian is multi-specialized and versatile, and his creations involve six categories, including literature, stage drama, film, television series, TV special features and TV variety planning, involving various themes and a variety of aesthetic expression styles. "Dreaming" discusses the creation of six categories one by one. Considering that Zhou Zhentian was the first artist in the mainland to use the style of a television series to put the theme of the navy on the screen; he can also be called a leafy evergreen tree in the entire TV drama creation team, quite influential and representative, so the category of his TV drama creation is specially discussed in four chapters according to different themes. For these nine chapters and six categories, Wang Shoude collected fifty-three works as individual cases for in-depth and meticulous evaluation, most of which revolved around the three aspects of ideological content, artistic presentation and character shaping, but chose different perspectives and dimensions for different works.
His exploration and analysis has a very obvious feature: not only pay attention to horizontal comparison, often placing his case in the same period of similar works in the same period of creation situation to measure the length of gains and losses; but also pay attention to vertical penetration, especially pay attention to the development and deepening of the theme intention and the exploration and innovation of artistic presentation, point out its contribution to the promotion of similar theme creation and the promotion of business development, and then reveal some laws to improve the quality of creation. This shows his profound aesthetic literacy, broad artistic vision and insight into artistic development!
In particular, it is worth mentioning that "DreamIng" pays attention to drawing on the research results of Zhou Zhentian's works from all sides, and absorbs the high views and philosophies of many critics. The drama "Deep Sea" premiered in Guangzhou in June 2020, which is a drama featuring Huang Xuhua, a surviving meritorious figure of the Republic and known as the "father of China's nuclear submarines", as the protagonist, bringing a great scientist with a real name and real name on the stage to artistically show his spiritual outlook, wisdom and talent and personality charm. The success of "The Deep Sea" was a powerful reversal of the homogenization of the creation of some heroic models at that time! It jumps out of the thinking of news reports, not because of the list of deeds and the pale praise of the concept of the old routine, nor does it avoid the shadows of history and the pain points of fate, let alone the perfunctory work of "warm swallowing water" that gives the audience a cup of lukewarm, neither salty nor light, and "coping with the difference"! After the premiere of "The Deep Sea", it caused a strong response in the industry and the audience, and was invited to tour Shanghai and Beijing successively, and held in-depth discussions. In this creation case, Wang Shoude successively recorded the comments of more than ten experts and scholars in the seminars of the two places as mutual verification and reference, and profoundly expounded the valuable demonstration made by "Deep Sea" to create a heroic model with a full personality in the new era on the stage, especially the brilliant image of the outstanding intellectuals of the new Chinese generation!
The core of the reason for success - the heart and feelings
"Mirror image of the times, national conscience", "classic style, everyone's style". This is Wang Shoude's high summary of the ideological and artistic characteristics of Zhou Zhentian's works and their creative achievements and contributions. Wang Shoude has participated in the evaluation of a series of major national awards, and in the face of the situation that literary and artistic creation has a "plateau" and less "peaks" needs to be continued to change, and the people's desire for more fine works needs to be satisfied, he knows very well that zhou Zhentian is rare and precious, and such an artist is an important support and hope for prosperous literary and artistic creation! As a critic, he naturally understands that the reason why Zhou Zhentian has become an artist with outstanding achievements and is determined by a variety of factors, deciphering and interpreting these "codes", exploring the reasons for his success, and providing a paradigm and reference for cultivating more such artists, which is Wang Shoude's original intention of writing "Dream", which is his original intention of not forgetting the critic's responsibility!
Wang Shoude believes that the important factors that make Zhou Zhentian successful are at least the following aspects:
Attaching importance to and practicing in-depth life is Zhou Zhentian's consistent adherence to his in-depth life for decades, which regards in-depth life as the most important precursor to creation, and is the "homework" that he must do before creating each work. He uses the eyes of discovery and the ear of listening to observe, capture and feel wholeheartedly, to understand a large number of valuable truths, details, interests and meanings contained in life, and to feel the spirit of the times and the background of the characters' lives that the works want to show. Zhou Zhentian himself has deep feelings: "The rich accumulation of life is the fundamental guarantee for my creative success, if there is no personal experience and understanding, how can there be different inspiration and ideas?" ”
The spirit of diligence and studiousness, the humble attitude of absorbing the strengths of all and the unremitting artistic pursuit, coupled with the accumulation of time and the eclecticism of the knowledgeable view, have accumulated and consolidated its rich cultural heritage and solid screenwriting skills. He reads classic masterpieces extensively, pays attention to the literary and artistic trends, creative trends and various representative works at home and abroad, and is always a studious seeker, eagerly absorbing beneficial ideological and cultural and artistic qualities into his creation, so that his creations continue to keep pace with the times, showing the youthful state of the times and the sense of the present, so that the art tree is full of evergreen vitality.
Diligent and good at thinking, paying attention to the insight into history and the observation of reality, and paying great attention to the strategy and angle of narrative. This makes his works both deeply speculative, highly artistic and attractive. Zhou Zhentian's works often express or contain grand themes of the times, but they often show the big vision with small views, small incisions to show the big vision, and small people to refract the big history, so that the audience can appreciate the turbulent times from this small window displayed on the stage, feel the texture of the times and the sadness and joy of the nation, and thus think about the historical context and the direction of reality!
Actively explore the typical shaping of the character image, pay attention to the character portrayal of various characters, and constantly surpass their personalized pursuit of creation, thus shaping many typical characters with unique personalities and creativity. The group of soldiers in the drama "There are a group of men in the sky", Lu Mingkuan and Jian Xiaohe in the TV series "The Rising and Falling Tide", the protagonists in the TV series "Divine Doctor Xi Laile" and "Zhang Boling", as well as Huang Xuhua in the drama "Deep Sea", and Xu Danian in the drama "Crisis Public Relations", all come from historical or contemporary life. With his profound cultural feelings and unremitting artistic pursuit, Zhou Zhentian pays attention to depicting the typical environment of the history or reality in which they are located, portrays their typical life details and character performances, presents a profound artistic reality, makes it a typical image, and gives the audience a deep impression and enlightenment.
Throughout the book of "Dreaming", Wang Shoude's analysis of the reasons for Zhou Zhentian's success is most concerned with the interpretation of his mind and feelings. Ancient Chinese literature advocated "knowing people and discussing the world". Lu Xun elaborated on this: "I always think that if you want a paper, it is better to take into account the whole article, and take into account the whole person of the author, as well as the social state in which he is located, which is more conclusive. "The writing of "Dreaming" follows exactly this methodology. Wang Shoude's analysis of Zhou Zhentian's works and his exploration of the reasons for his success have always been linked to the background and social environment of the times in which his works were created, and he pays special attention to the "whole person of the author". And this "whole person", in Wang Shoude's view, the core is to focus on the dimension and depth of "the artist's embrace and knowledge, the integration of morality and talent, and the unity of character and art", only in this way can we more deeply and comprehensively understand his people and his works!
The case analysis of the drama "Crisis Public Relations" is a good example! It's a drama that strikes straight to the heart. It was staged twice in Beijing in five years, and both venues were full. "Crisis Public Relations" has been praised by critics as "a spiritual torture of the contemporary soul's deep percussion and value dissection" and "a good work that deeply concerns about people's livelihood, society, and voice for the people". Wang Shoude specifically related to and analyzed the social environment and business conditions at the time of the creation of the play, and pointed out that this play is a warning to people: do not lose people's nature while obtaining wealth in the market economy! Zhou Zhentian was deeply anxious and uneasy in the face of some phenomena on the stage and screen at that time that exchanged vulgarity and shallowness for box office and ratings, and he shouted loudly: We must maintain due sensitivity and sharpness to the joys and sufferings of the people! "Crisis Public Relations" was written in Zhou Zhentian's state of mind of not spitting out unhappiness. Wang Shoude recorded such feelings of the artist affectionately and gave him high praise and praise. A playwright's heart for the people and never forget the people's cries jumped on the paper!
In order to let people more fully and concretely understand and feel Zhou Zhentian's feelings, understand his cultural stance and artistic conscience, and deeply understand the causal relationship between all this and creative achievements, Wang Shoude compiled the final chapter "Mirror Jian - Artistic View as a Creator" for "Dream". This chapter, Wang Shoude, is unique in his ingenuity, and includes many of Zhou Zhentian's insights in participating in various conferences, forums, or interviews, combined with his own creative practice, and directly expressing his heart. This was originally Zhou Zhentian's inch of heart, and it was not easy to show people. But Wang Shoude took the trouble to gather and collect, and slightly commented on it for everyone to share. Chapters of such content are rare in the current monographs on creative art. There is a candid passage of how Zhou Zhentian views the screenwriting profession: "More than twenty years ago, I wrote the TV series "Li Dazhao", and I saw a couplet of Li Dazhao in the home of Li Dazhao's eldest son, Li Baohua, and I still remember it vividly: 'Iron shoulders bear morality, and clever hands write articles'. I think that's a good fit as the motto of those who do our profession. What is our 'morality'? It is to serve the entertainment of millions of TV viewers while inheriting the excellent historical and cultural traditions of the Chinese nation and even all the essence of human civilization. There is also a true reflection of the people's urgent pursuit of social justice, for the feelings of a better life..." This spiritual monologue reminds people of the ancient poem quoted by General Secretary Xi Jinping in his speech at the Eleventh National Congress of the China Federation of Literary and Literary Circles and the Tenth National Congress of the China Writers Association: "Zhigao is pure in speech, Zhida is in words, and Zhiyuan is eternal." It can really be said: "The foundation of poetry, its human mind is also!" "Poetry, so. Drama, isn't that also true?! Zhou Zhentian's creative process and his achievements are proof of this! (Li Guoyi)
Source: Wen Wei Po