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Source: State Administration of Radio and Television, China Federation of Literature and Literature
Reality has always been an important area of TV drama creation. In order to further prosper the creation and production and improve the quality of works, we have launched a series of articles on "Focusing on the Creation of Reality-themed TV Dramas", combing the experience and enlightenment of the creation and production of reality-themed TV dramas since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, decoding the common laws of high-quality works, and providing suggestions and suggestions for promoting the emergence of more excellent TV series with profound thinking, exquisite art and excellent production.
- Editor
Since the Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, a large number of high-quality realistic themes with profound thinking, exquisite art and excellent production have shone on the screen, and with a high sense of historical mission, cultural consciousness and cultural self-confidence, they have praised the times, praised the people, and sung the main melody.
Especially in recent years, the overall tv drama industry has reduced the amount and improved the quality, and the proportion of realistic theme works has continued to rise, from 54.88% of the annual output in 2013 to 74.2% in 2021. According to the "14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of Chinese Television Dramas" formulated and promulgated by the State Administration of Radio and Television, the topics of the "14th Five-Year Plan" key TV dramas are mainly major realities, major revolutions, and major historical themes, highlighting the new atmosphere of the times and praising the new creations of the people. In order to welcome the victory of the 20th National Congress of the Party, a number of reality-themed TV drama projects are being intensively promoted, and will soon meet with the audience.
Focus on the historic achievements and historic changes in mainland society
The century-long struggle of the party and the people, especially the great practice since the reform and opening up, has written the most magnificent epic in the history of the Chinese nation for thousands of years, and has also provided an inexhaustible source for the creation of TELEVISION dramas. Based on a new historical orientation, TV drama workers firmly grasp the theme of the era of national rejuvenation, and strive to keep up with the times, understand the times, and show the times. Especially since the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, many thematic realistic works have been well received by the audience around major themes such as celebrating the 40th anniversary of reform and opening up, celebrating the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, and fighting poverty alleviation, winning the battle to build a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way, and fighting the new crown pneumonia epidemic. Through a group of three-dimensional and vivid group portraits of poverty alleviation figures, "Mountains and Seas" shows the "Minning Practice" of East-West cooperation and common prosperity, and highlights the Chinese wisdom and Chinese solutions contributed by the people to eliminate absolute poverty under the leadership of the party. The realism of "like being pulled out of the soil" in the play has made many viewers have a strong empathic resonance. Based on real people and events from all walks of life during the anti-epidemic period, "Together" praises the great anti-epidemic spirit through touching stories, highlighting the depth, sharpness and temperature that realism should have. "Great Rivers and Great Rivers" depicts the unremitting struggle and fate of several representative ordinary people in the tide of the times in the early days of reform and opening up. These works are full of strong feelings of home and country, exude a strong and upward force, and become the epitome of the style and spiritual atmosphere of the times.
Heroes are the shining coordinates of a nation. Recording heroes and praising heroes is an important theme in the creation of realistic TV dramas in the new era, and many TV drama works will focus the lens on heroic models and vividly interpret the characteristics of the times of the spirit of heroic models. "Meritorious Service" (pictured) tells the story of 8 recipients of the "Order of the Republic", interpreting the personality charm and social value of contemporary heroes. In the play, there are fighting heroes who are not afraid of sacrifice and defend the country, there are scientists who have made great contributions to the strength and prosperity of the motherland, and there are also national labor models who actively fight for the labor rights of women in New China. What is valuable is that the play not only shows the ordinaryness of these heroic characters as children, parents, and couples, but also integrates their ordinariness and transcendence, showing the spiritual texture of casting the highlight moments of life, so that the noble faith of the hero has a stronger appeal and appeal. Works such as "Jiao Yulu", "Yang Shanzhou", "Eternal Loyalty" and so on, through real and perceptible character images and vivid and moving storylines, carry forward the noble character of heroic model characters who are "loyal, persistent and simple". "The Most Beautiful Youth" artistically interprets the spirit of Saihanba, and "Beyond" (pictured) vividly explains the Olympic spirit, so that the audience can enhance the ambition, backbone and confidence of being a Chinese from the bottom of their hearts, and also let the spirit of the times spread to all corners of society in a wonderful story.
Reality-themed TV dramas strive to stand on a higher base point and tell the all-round social changes brought about by the unremitting struggle of the Chinese led by the Communist Party of China with a broader vision, so that more viewers can relive the history of the party, the history of new China, the history of reform and opening up, and the history of socialist development through TV series, feel the great power of history, and stimulate the will to struggle. "Wenzhou Family" and "Chicken Feathers Fly to the Sky" tell the story of the struggle of several generations of Zhejiang businessmen under the tide of reform and opening up, and deeply praise the spirit of the times of reform and innovation. "Ordinary World" puts classic literary works on the screen, delicately depicts the humanity light and will to life of ordinary people, and reveals the internal logic of the development of the times in the display of the magnificent era. The popularity of "The World of Man" has become a striking cultural phenomenon, and its popularity has continued since the beginning of this year, and the drama has vividly written the life of an era, written about the spirit of the Chinese people, and written the qi and soul of the development and progress of the country and the nation.
Only by bearing in mind the "two overall situations" and the "great power of the country", focusing on the historic achievements and historic changes in the mainland society, and carrying forward the national spirit with patriotism as the core and the spirit of the times with reform and innovation as the core, can the screen story truly write history for the country, cast the soul for the national statue, and cast the soul for the times.
Portray the ordinary individuals who build dreams and realize their dreams in the tide of the times
Adhere to the people's position, from different angles to cut into the changes of the times, depict the social vientiane, from the ordinary people's concern about the chai rice oil and salt, the joy and sorrow of the perception to find creative topics, reality theme TV series focus on portraying the ordinary individuals who build dreams and realize their dreams in the tide of the times, and show the extraordinary spiritual character of ordinary people. By creating a group portrait of the civilian characters in the Beijing Courtyard, "Love Full of Courtyard" highlights the beautiful character and emotional responsibility of the little people. "Loading the Stage" portrays the simple authenticity and self-reliance of ordinary laborers, so that the little people "exude vitality from the inside out", and shows the spiritual connotation of "installing the stage for each other" between people on the social stage. "Mai Xiang" creates the image of "the most beautiful military genus" who is indifferent to fame and fortune, not afraid of hardships, and full of military feelings.
It is worth noting that many reality-themed TV dramas dare to face the pain points, difficulties and blockages in the lives of the people, show the enterprising consciousness and personality brilliance of the strivers with their hearts, play a guiding role in the world view, outlook on life, and values, and emit full of positive energy. "Itinerant Procuratorial Group", "In the Name of the People", "Sweeping The Storm of Organized Crime", etc., keenly grasp the pulse of the times, do not avoid social contradictions, and present the vivid practice of comprehensively ruling the country according to law from different perspectives, so that fairness and justice can be carried forward in the whole society. "Emergency Department Doctor", "Hey, Old Man! (Pictured) "Little Joy", "I am very good in other places" (pictured), etc., not only truly reflect the social topics that the people are generally concerned about, such as medical care, employment, education, and pensions, but also show the people's continuous improvement of the sense of gain, happiness and security, while producing a higher degree of topic, let the audience see the beauty, see the hope, and see the dream is ahead.
Practice has proved that excellent reality TV dramas highlight the characteristics of the times, reflect the reality of society, and truly reproduce "typical characters in typical environments", so they are truly loved and welcomed by the majority of audiences. Only when the creator goes deep into the people, understands the hard work of the people, perceives the joys and sorrows of the people, infects people through delicate content, moves people through sincere emotions, and guides people through positive values, the works can have deep strength and eternal charm.
Present the spiritual connotation with artistic expression full of ingenuity
There is no shortage of vivid stories in China, and the key is to have the ability to tell good stories. This requires us to further internalize and externalize the principle of "finding the right topic, telling a good story, and shooting a fine product" in our hearts and deeds, climb the "peak" based on the "plateau", and show the power of thought, the creation of the people, and the great cause of the times through vivid and vivid audiovisual language, so that the spirit of innovation runs through the whole process of creation and production, respect and follow the laws of creation, and highlight the Chinese spirit, Chinese style, and Chinese style through attractive and infectious characters and stories. From "Old Farmer" to "Parental Love", these works that have won a double harvest of word of mouth and ratings let us see that the creators uphold the concept of history and the concept of the times, find topics, find ideas, tell stories from the general trend of the times and the lives of the people, present the spiritual connotation with ingenious artistic expression, and create fine products with a creative attitude of excellence, which is the fundamental place where the continuous charm of reality TV dramas is constantly glowing.
At present, media integration continues to go deeper, and TV drama workers in the era of media integration actively explore, conspire according to the situation, move in response to the situation, and follow the trend. "Together" tries the expressive method of unit narrative, and is more suitable for the current new communication environment in a "short and fast" way. "Diplomatic Storm" earlier tried the integration and dissemination of the main theme works, and took the initiative to set topics on Weibo, WeChat, etc., to adapt to the law of new media communication. How to further establish the thinking of integrating media, create and disseminate excellent works through new forms and new means and new media, and transform positive energy into large flows is the issue of the times before us. How to better stimulate creators to use innovative artistic expression, vividly reflect the core values of socialism in their works, and create works with bones, morality and temperature? How to better unify ideological, artistic, social reflection, market recognition, etc. in the evaluation standards of works, and guide creators to continue to exert efforts in a healthy direction? There is still a lot of room for improvement in the future, which needs to be further explored.
(The author is Secretary-General of China Television Arts Committee)
Draft: Zhao Kairu
People's Daily ( April 21, 2022, 20th edition)