Core reading
This sense of realism of life comes from real life itself, but also from the creator's understanding and cognition of real life with a sense of truth, and it is also an artistic and aesthetic creation on top of the reality of life.
Creators should view and reflect reality from the standpoint and vision of the great historical view, and convey to the audience the eternal themes of beauty and kindness, tenacity and perseverance, sympathy and care, confidence and hope in human nature.
In recent years, the number of reality-themed TV series creations has reached a new high, and the popularity of broadcasts, social attention, and popular topics have exceeded other theme works. Taking the recently broadcast "The World of Man" (pictured) as an example, the drama has triggered a boom in watching the drama and has become a phenomenon-level work that is hotly discussed by the media, commented by experts, and praised by the audience.
The quality and reputation of reality-themed TV dramas have been continuously improved, triggering a series of in-depth thinking in the creative and critical circles. How to further integrate literary creation and film and television creation? How can realistic theme works obtain richer themes and nutrients in deep life, and further recognize and understand the essence of life among the rooted people? In the face of social hotspots, how to express more positive humanistic care? In the process of depicting historical development and changes in the times, how to view history and look at reality with a big history? How to refine life and shape characters with artistic and aesthetic standards higher than life? These reflections undoubtedly play an important role in promoting the creation of reality-themed TV series.
Both have the texture of real life
There is also a refinement that is higher than life
A large number of realistic dramas broadcast in recent years, such as "Mountains and Seas", "Loading Stage", "Together", "I Am Very Good in Other Places", etc., have been loved by the majority of audiences. If there's one word to sum up the reason, it's "real." The characters in the play, whether they are farmers in the Xihaigu area who are eager to get out of poverty, or young people who are struggling for their lives in other places; whether they are a group of stage stevedores living in the corners of big cities, or Wuhan express delivery brothers who are running around... Their real life scenes, real emotional states, real sweat and tears, real gains and joys, are all truly presented in the play.
The reality of life, the key element of the creation of this reality-themed TV series, is vivid, vivid, concrete and vivid in front of the audience. This sense of realism of life comes from real life itself, but also from the creator's understanding and cognition of real life with a sense of truth, and it is also an artistic and aesthetic creation on top of the reality of life. Therefore, the audience not only saw the real living state and emotional state of the characters in the play, but also was touched by the consistency of this true connotation with social progress and the spirit of the times, and was concerned by the belief, hope and the turning point of the fate of the characters, and was deeply encouraged by the ordinary simple and kind background of these ordinary people. The real charm of reality TV series stems from its "original ecology" reproduction of real life and characters, and it also pins on the people's yearning for a better life, showing the determination and perseverance to change the fate of the characters through struggle.
Refining life with a standard higher than life is the basic ability of artistic creation, refining and summarizing the relationship between real life and artistic aesthetics. Some reality-themed TV series do not distort the true presentation of real life, but they lack artistic authenticity and aesthetic expression, and they are still not successful works. Refining the truth of art from the truth of life cannot simply flow or become an "artistic whitewash" of life, otherwise it is a departure from the relationship between reality and artistic creation.
In the face of social hot spots and people's livelihood pain points, choosing angles, establishing themes and obtaining materials are the significant characteristics of the creation of reality-themed TV dramas in recent years. Education, medical care, housing, fertility, pension and other hot spots in people's livelihood, mid-life crisis, emotional entanglement, workplace pressure and other life confusion, have successively entered the creative field of vision. "Heart Residence" (pictured), "Settle Home", "Ideal City", "Thirty Only", as well as "Little Parting", "Little Shedding", "Little Joy", etc., which directly hit the hot spots of family education, have received widespread attention and hot discussion.
Topical creations face the current social life and respond to the concerns of the people. Popular topics from the real life level and the emotional and psychological level can enhance the connection between literary and artistic works and social reality, which is a vivid and concrete thing that is happening, and is closely related to the new occupations, new formats, new groups and new concepts that appear in the process of the development of the times and social progress, so that the audience has a strong sense of substitution. The attention to "topicality" is a positive response of the realist creative spirit to real life, and it also allows TV dramas to intervene in current life artistically, reflecting the public, ornamental and popular characteristics of TV series.
Topical creation should not stop at the topic. Creators timely and accurately capture the hot spots and difficulties in social life and the pain points of people's livelihood, and from the creative perspective of care, understanding and guidance, while transforming the reality of the audience's attention into dramatic contradictions, they must also realize the role of literary and artistic works in channeling social emotions, relieving anxiety and soothing the soul through characters and stories.
Do not shy away from the contradictions and dilemmas of life
More upward and good power
Whether from the perspective of reflecting the real life of the people, or from the perspective of structural drama contradictions, enhancing dramatic tension and shaping distinct characters, it is impossible for reality-themed TV dramas to avoid the hardships in life, the twists and turns of the fate of the characters, the hardships and difficulties of life, and so on.
Through the ups and downs of the fate of the characters, the joys and sorrows, witnessing the development and changes of the era and society have always been the characteristics of the creation of realistic themes. "Big Rivers" and "Chicken Feathers Fly to the Sky", which are loved by the audience, are all told in this way. In particular, "Human World" takes the 50-year time span as the narrative space, takes the fate of the residents in the civilian community and the three generations of the Zhou family as the main plot line, and depicts the real life at many levels, from family to society, from rural to urban, from the ordinary street life of porridge and rice to the undulating China's reform and opening up, from political China to folk China, etc., thus constituting a 50-year "human world" picture and writing the inevitability of historical progress. Many plots in the play write about the ups and downs of life and life tribulations encountered by ordinary people, and truly present the process of China's reform and opening up. But in these slightly difficult plots, there are always three immortal beams of light that illuminate the plot direction and the hearts of the characters, that is: the warmth of family affection and home, the simple kindness of people's hearts and the unstoppable power of social development and progress, and the confidence and efforts of a better life in the future. The heat emitted by these three rays of light fills the whole play, warming and touching the audience. This is the hope of life and the trend of history, the positive force of upward goodness that literature and art should convey, and it is also the artistic charm of the sense of history, history and reality that should be contained in the creation of realistic themes, and it is also the successful practice of the creative method of "using the spirit of realism and romantic feelings to observe real life".
"I'm Good in Other Places" and "Loading Stage" in the pursuit of the reality of life at the same time, but also in the story and characters through the three parallel lines: do not avoid the roughness of reality, do not question the beauty of human nature, do not give up the struggle and hope of life. Ordinary people in these works still love life after recognizing the truth of life. This is the same as the three rays of light that "The World of Man" always illuminates life, forming an artistic and aesthetic feature that reflects the reality of life.
The creation of realistic themes cannot avoid the contradictions and life dilemmas in real society, but it cannot slide into the "grayscale space" that is keen to lay out and render real life. Creators should view and reflect reality from the standpoint and vision of the great historical view, and convey to the audience the eternal themes of beauty and kindness, tenacity and perseverance, sympathy and care, confidence and hope in human nature.
Focus on everyday life and human life
Look at the magnificent weather of the world
In recent years, many reality-themed TV dramas have been created to explore the themes of the daily life of the public, and genre dramas such as urban, family, marriage, workplace, business war, youth growth, and emotional relationships occupy the vast majority of content.
These creations often intervene in real life, depict the human world, and express the taste of life with the creative perspective and techniques of daily life, life, present, familiar and "grounded". These works have a strong breath of life and strong immediacy, so that the audience has a strong sense of substitution, and when the characters and stories in the play overlap with the audience's life feelings, they can make the audience have a strong resonance. This is the strength of this type of work, and it is also one of the characteristics of popular culture.
However, the main excitement and concern of the creation of realistic themes are only locked in the time and space of "life drama", which has to be said to be a kind of "narrowness in abundance". The "realism" in the creation of realistic themes is not only reflected in the "immediacy" and "life" of the works; the depth and breadth of realist creation should not be submerged in the "present" and "ordinary" life scenes; the vividness of realistic theme works is not only reflected in the realistic restoration of trivial life forms.
The weather and scenery of the world, the mind and embrace above life, the strangeness beyond the familiar, the novelty beyond the ordinary... These vast and rich social realities and new changes that are constantly emerging are not only the distinctive characteristics of the new era, but also the rich minerals of themes that the creation of realistic themes should enthusiastically embrace. In this sense, there is still a lot of room for improvement in the creation of current reality-themed TV dramas in terms of the richness of its themes, the breadth of its vision, the diversification of its techniques, and the depth and breadth of its intervention in current real life.
(The author is Vice President of China Federation of Radio and Television Social Organizations)
People's Daily ( 2022-05-05 20th edition)