Small fish
Editor's note: This is a nostalgic theater.
When I first watched "Eighteen-Year-Old Sky" on TV twenty years ago, the deepest impression was that Gu Yuetao, the class teacher played by Bao Jianfeng, would go out every day to throw a coin in a glass jar. Somehow, his positivity and optimism in the play always infected me in front of the screen. At that time, many people had imagined that their senior year of high school life would be as colorful and happy as Jiaying Middle School in this drama.
Eighteen-year-old sky poster
Of course, the reality is bone-chilling, and everyone knows what happened later. As a post-80s generation, most of us have not met a personality teacher like Gu Yuetao, nor are there many personality classmates such as Shi Yanfeng around, and there are no special events worth writing about in our daily study life. We all had "Eighteen-Year-Old Sky", and the sky over there is not what it looks like in the TV series.
The students in "Eighteen-Year-Old Sky"
In fact, looking back at "Eighteen-Year-Old Sky" twenty years later, it is not difficult to find that it is really a bit outrageous. What are the students in the class busy with every day? Shi Yanfeng and his good brothers Gao Jinglei and Yu Yifei's fixed program after school is to go bowling, Lan Feilin led a group of female classmates to discuss the skills of makeup, and more exaggerated is that Xu Tianxiang finds a wandering street portrait person every day to paint a portrait of herself on summer eve to help her realize her dream of traveling everywhere, just because Xu Tianxiang found the courage she did not have on summer night. Anyway, you said that they are high school seniors who are about to face the college entrance examination, which is really unconvincing.
The teachers in Eighteen-Year-Old Sky
Even more outrageous than the students are the teachers. The N-corner love in the third office of Jiaying Middle School is really complicated enough - the new Gu Yuetao admires the painting teacher Wei Lin, the math teacher Gao Ziwen has a crush on the English teacher Pei Pei, the teaching director Ling Shuang has a good feeling for Gao Ziwen, and Gu Yuetao and Pei Pei are officially designated CP, a pair of happy enemies. Oh yes, the plot reaches the second half, and there is also the turmoil of Gu Yuetao's ex-girlfriend Hu Jingjing and Pei Pei's senior Yang Peng. Anyway, you said that they are high school seniors who are about to face the college entrance examination, which is really not convincing.
Since "Eighteen-Year-Old Sky" obviously has nothing to do with our youth, why are many viewers still obsessed with it twenty years later? Because, rather than saying that this TV series is very "fake", it is better to say that its intention from the beginning was to create a dream for us, a dream that made us unwilling to wake up.
Gu Yuetao (played by Bao Jianfeng)
In that dream, the school teacher was not a serious-looking elder, but a friend who could talk to everyone and make friends. I like the relationship between Gu Yuetao and Shi Yanfeng, who is also a teacher and a friend, and loves and kills each other - the person is crazy and cool Shi Yanfeng is not spared, but secretly "forces" the students to seriously study and retain the teacher. The scene of the two people talking for a long time will always warm people's hearts.
I like Gu Yuetao's heartfelt care and love for his classmates. The CD of Lan Feilin's idol was confiscated by Gu Yuetao, because of the wrong understanding, his method of encouraging Lan Feilin made everyone laugh. Not only was he not angry, but he actually invited his idol to the school to give a concert. This is really "someone else's teacher".
I like Gu Yuetao's tolerant attitude towards the hazy emotions between classmates. Tang Song and Wang Chen got closer and closer because they sorted out the language review plan together, and the simplicity and sincerity of the former impressed the latter. Gu Yuetao did not severely criticize the two men, but instead taught the Tang and Song Dynasties to deal with the matter correctly. You should know that in that era, "early love" was still a concept that made countless parents and teachers smell discolored.
Stills from Eighteen-Year-Old Sky
I like what Gu Yuetao said to everyone in the class - "Every today is the beginning of tomorrow." What kind of tomorrow we want to have, what kind of effort we must make today." What matters is not what kind of results the students have, but whether they have the determination to work hard for their ideals.
In the final analysis, what Gu Yuetao wants to portray in the TV series is a new type of education model - both equality and respect, as well as guidance and care. Some people say that "Eighteen-Year-Old Sky" is the Chinese version of "GTO", but I don't think so, Gu Yuetao will not be as extreme and indulgent as Hideyoshi Onizuka from the "Rampage Clan". I would say that Gu Yuetao may be closer to the modern version of Confucius — emphasizing that there is no class in teaching, that teachers do not have to be virtuous to disciples, looks "cool", but is actually not so deviant.
Shi Yanfeng (played by Li Zhinan)
In that dream, the sincere emotions and innocent friendships between the classmates were also so enviable. The daily life of the eighth class of high school is not at all peaceful: Lan Feilin and Wu Dandan fight for the heroine of a stage play, Shi Yanfeng and Wu Liping have been tit-for-tat for the girl they like, Shi Yanfeng and his good brother trio have briefly "bullied" the honest Tang Song, because Du Fengyu's makeup bag was lost, Qi Jia almost became a suspect thief...
It is not surprising that the whole class is composed of "problem students" deliberately selected by the principal, but in the TV series, the background of these students is still cute, simple, kind and just after all. It's like when Shi Yanfeng encounters a small grabbing money, Wu Liping will still stand up and let them finally become good friends who "don't fight and don't know each other"; It is as if Gao Jinglei's family suddenly died in a car accident (in other words, the screenwriter of that year was really fierce), but also relied on the encouragement and support of his classmates to get out of the trough of life. Honestly, who wouldn't want to learn in such a class of solidarity and mutual help?
Stills from Eighteen-Year-Old Sky
It is also because the high school life in "Eighteen-Year Sky" is too perfect and enviable, although we have not forgotten this TV series over the years, we have never taken it too seriously. Of course, we know that it is impossible for every teacher in the world to be as funny and humorous and approachable as Gu Yuetao, and it is impossible for every classmate to be as cute and trustworthy as the eighth class of high school.
Perhaps, the end of the play itself is very meaningful. Under the leadership of Teacher Gu Yuetao, the eighth class of the third grade finally achieved good results in the mock examination, and the cute class teacher was finally able to stay. But then what? The TV series came to an abrupt end, and we don't know, did the students in the third and eighth classes of high school take the college entrance examination later? Got into your dream university? Maybe you can ask again, are they all okay today?
Whether intentional or unintentional, Eighteen-Year-Old Sky perfectly avoids these headaches. If "Sixteen-year-old Flower Season" is to tell the troubles of youth, and "Seventeen Years Old Don't Cry" is to show the youth of youth, then what is left in this drama is a beautiful and desirable dream. This dream may not be realistic, but it is worth cherishing and commemorating by each of us.
Stills from Eighteen-Year-Old Sky
The most lamentable thing is the reason why the third and eighth classes of high school in the TV series were originally established - "quality education". This term and concept is probably very unfamiliar to modern young people. Nowadays, it seems that few experts, teachers, parents or classmates care about "quality education" in the field of public opinion, and everyone tacitly acknowledges in their hearts that competition should be fierce, resources should be scarce, and elimination should be cruel. I don't know how Gu Yuetao will look at the "inner volume"? If he is still teaching in the third year of high school today, I am afraid that he will be directly complained about and laid off.
Twenty years have passed, Bao Jianfeng is no longer the handsome little student of that year, like Wu Qianlian's Ni Jingyang seems to have no particularly impressive role, the pure school flower Lan Feilin has become a sister Jinsha who rides the wind and waves, and "star" Li Zhinan has not been able to become a shining superstar in the entertainment industry after all. Isn't that the same with our senior year of high school? Who can guess what the twenty-eight-year-old sky and thirty-eight-year-old sky will become after graduation?
About ten years ago, there was a rumor that the original team of "Eighteen-year-old Sky" would gather again to shoot the second part of the TV series. For various reasons, the rumors only stay at the stage of rumors, and many fans regret it. But I'm thankful. The story of the third and eighth classes of high school is better to stay in the moment when the students say their dreams one by one. Good memories, just let it stay in time, perhaps, this is the best arrangement.
Source: The Paper