Text | Cao Jili
Fiercely competitive domestic dramas have always been without a shortage of new works, but with the passage of time, the audience's love and nostalgia for the CCTV version of the four masterpieces seems to have only increased. Probably, only these old dramas, people are reluctant to watch twice as fast.
Some people say that the sign of Chinese children saying goodbye to childhood is that they no longer look forward to the four famous works of CCTV that are rotated on TV every winter and summer vacation. Then the Chinese audience bid farewell to a tv era, probably to see those classic characters in the four famous works of the CCTV version, and go away one by one -
At the end of last month, Jin Shugui, the actor and veteran actor of Pang Tong in the 94 version of the TV series "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", died of illness at the age of 75.
In June this year, Actor An Yaping, who played The Dragon in the "Sequel to journey to the West" and Ma Chao in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", died at the age of 58.
In November last year, Li Tie, a drama actor and director and the actor of Liu Chan, a young man in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", died in Wuhan on November 18 due to stomach bleeding, at the age of 53.
A month before this, "Jia Rong" in "Dream of the Red Chamber" and "Cao Pi" Yang Junyong in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" died suddenly of heart disease at the age of 57.
To be honest, in the grand four famous TV series, these actors do not have many scenes, but the news about them will still be pushed on the hot search again and again. The audience waved away the familiar faces on and off the screen, as if they were waving goodbye to an idyllic pastoral era belonging to Chinese TV dramas.
CCTV version of the four masterpieces: domestic dramas can not go back to the past
The 86th edition of "Journey to the West", the 87th edition of "Dream of the Red Chamber", the 94th edition of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", the 98th edition of "Water Margin", according to the calculation of broadcast time, the CCTV version of the four famous works, the oldest "Journey to the West" is almost forty years ago, and the youngest "Water Margin" is also a work at the end of the last century.
The goodness of these four dramas, there is no doubt that the elaboration of the costume, the exquisite acting skills, the dedication of the creators, and the proper scoring of the soundtrack have been praised too many times by people. And if you have carefully read the original work, you should better understand the subtlety of the TV series adaptation:
For example, Sun Wukong in the novel, "sharp mouth and shrunken cheeks, golden eyes and fire eyes." The head is piled with moss, and the ear is born with a carrot", which is far from the monkey king we commonly see in film and television dramas. Many people know that director Yang Jie was originally an opera director, and the six-year-old child came from a monkey opera family, but they did not know that Ma Dehua, who played the Eight Precepts of the Pig, was also from the Kunqu opera clown. The TV series "Journey to the West" introduces a large number of opera elements, which largely dissolves the cruel and bloody nature of the original as a divine and demonic novel, and becomes more humorous and relaxed, suitable for all ages.
Sun Wukong played by a six-year-old child. Photo: Journey to the West
"The Dream of the Red Chamber is not finished" is one of the three regrets of Zhang Ailing's life, the 87th edition of "Dream of the Red Chamber" boldly abandoned the ending written by Gao Yan, and with the efforts of many experts, it made up a tragic ending of "the horn is like a building" and "the white expanse of the earth is really clean", in the hearts of many "red fans", perfectly continued the charm of the original work.
Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu. Photo: Dream of the Red Chamber
The portrayal of many characters in the TV series "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is more three-dimensional and full-bodied than the novel. For example, Zhuge Liang, who was criticized by Lu Xun as "multi-wise and close to the demon", was weakened in the TV series, adding "human nature", and the contrast between the spirit of the first half of life and the powerlessness of the second half of life was strong. For example, after the Battle of Guandu, the TV series created a line for Cao Cao: "Zhen Nai Is like an arrow!" As soon as this arrow was fired, it attracted the corpses of many heroes to chen sand field, and the souls returned to the Western Heavens. I Cao Cao is not subject to this arrow, the strong man Can summon the soul into the earth, the night pillow qingshan! Starlight Yin Yin, its brilliant as words, do not read this text, Cao An can make up for the heavens with blood! Let the adulterous male in the original work have a little more "heroic nature".
Cao Cao. Photo: Romance of the Three Kingdoms
The TV series "Water Margin" cut out the strange and chaotic part of the original work, making the sense of pathos based on reality more intense. For example, the end of the original work, "Song Gongming is full of apparitions, the people enjoy endless sacrifices at four o'clock, Liangshan Po Nei, pray for the wind to get the wind, pray for the rain to get the rain", under the adaptation of the TV series, it becomes the military master Wu holding Song Jiang's ashes with his hands, and committing suicide by hanging beams in the empty Zhongyi Hall, and the tragedy and appeal are particularly strong. The portrayal of female characters in tv dramas has also reversed the "misogynistic" tendency of the original to a certain extent.
These successful film and television adaptations are all based on a deep understanding of the work and the persistent pursuit of art, of course, not comparable to the current rush of "IP incubation". Like many legends born in the 80s and 90s, the four famous TV series do not have too many models and no references, but they also have a lot less imprisonment and harshness.
A commentary in the People's Daily once concluded: "This is the process of Chinese TV dramas moving from the era of handicrafts to the industrial age, and it is also a period when the remuneration is not high, but the spirit of craftsmanship shines everywhere." "Take the shooting time, from morning to night, "Journey to the West" was filmed for 6 years, "Dream of the Red Chamber" and "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" were filmed for 5 years, and "Water Margin", which had a more exquisite set and invited Hong Kong martial arts instructors, was filmed for less than 4 years. Behind the gradual improvement of shooting conditions and the gradual shortening of shooting time, the production of Chinese TV dramas is making great strides towards marketization.
In 1998, the same year that "Water Margin", which was the final work of the four famous works, was broadcast, and Qiong Yao's novel adaptation of "Huan Zhu Gege" was also broadcast, setting a record for The Chinese TV series after data statistics. Since then, as a "national project" almost "regardless of cost" of the four famous TV series, has become a domestic TV series can never go back to the past.
Erkang and Ziwei. Photo/"Huan Zhu Ge Ge"
The "Divine Drama" of the LateComers
Interestingly, among the followers of today's CCTV version of the four famous works, there is no shortage of new generations of viewers, many of whom were born in the era after the broadcast of these four TV series, but their familiarity and love for the series are not lost to their parents.
Two years ago, the B station where young people gathered introduced all four dramas in one go, and at present, the playback of "Water Margin" and "Dream of the Red Chamber" has reached about 100 million, the playback of "Journey to the West" is close to 200 million, and the playback of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" has reached a staggering 270 million.
The four famous TV series have contributed many "memes" to the Internet life of contemporary young people. For example, Zhuge Liang angrily rebuked Wang Lang's "I have never seen such a brazen person" became a buzzword, and the scene where Zhuge Liang hit Zhou Yu's coffin with his head was made into an emoji. Jia Zheng reprimanded Jia Baoyu for "forking out", and Song Jiang often said "go and save Qin Ming" before the battle, which can make the audience smile.
Zhuge Liang emoji original picture. Photo: Romance of the Three Kingdoms
On the eve of this year's Spring Festival, because of a line of "I let you go back, you will not worry about eating and wearing in the future", overnight, countless young people replaced the WeChat avatar with Huang Chengcheng's money leopard in the "Journey to the West Sequel", which means that the next year's wealth is widespread, and there is no worry about food and clothing.
Huang Chengcheng's golden leopard. Photo: Journey to the West Sequel
The younger generation of viewers may have more admiration for the old four famous TV series than the previous two generations who grew up with them. By the way, the remake of the four masterpieces has been more than a decade ago, when the first batch of post-70s and post-80s who opened the spray have long become the "invisible people" of the Internet, but young audiences are still repeatedly comparing, emphasizing the new version of the rough and the old version of the classic.
Is there any flaw in the CCTV version of the four masterpieces? Of course, there are, for example, the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" lost the simplicity of the play, the "Water Margin" plot is too much to delete, etc., are the regrets left by a specific era. However, since it has been "sealed", the small shortcomings can naturally be ignored, but the advantages can be infinitely magnified, and in some public opinion scenes, the four famous works are already "divine dramas" that cannot be criticized.
In the final analysis, behind the enthusiasm of young people for the old version of the four masterpieces, there is also a deep dissatisfaction with the current domestic dramas: after completely entering the era of the film and television industry, they do not want to spend time for domestic bad films and bad dramas, but also get tired of watching the lingering Korean dramas, the sentimentality of Japanese dramas, and the mysterious reasons of American dramas, and go back to taste the classical meaning of the old four masterpieces, which has become a delicacy that can no longer be eaten.
As a result, in the warm pulse of countless people looking back, the old drama exudes an artistic halo all around.
Step out of the days of the Four Masterpieces
The stories of the four masterpieces are all a collection of tragedy and comedy, fate and coincidence, which coincide with the logic of life. In front of and behind the scenes, inside and outside the play, those strange and familiar faces are greeting their own life encounters, which seems to be a portrayal of us in front of the TV.
Someone has made an important leap in their acting career with the help of roles.
In the early 1990s, many roles in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms had been finalized, and only the actor zhuge Liang, the first protagonist, had not been settled. Tang Guoqiang, a former cream boy, came to the crew as a candidate for Zhou Yu, but became the final candidate for Zhuge Liang. At that time, some people knew that Tang Guoqiang had played such an important role as Zhuge Liang, and they all felt that this "small fresh meat" could not take on a big responsibility, and the letter of complaint was written all the way to the relevant departments. General director Wang Fulin defied the public opinion and recorded a passage of Tang Guoqiang's "Longzhong Pair" to send it to prove his acting skills. Since then, no one has questioned Zhuge Liang's casting.
Tang Guoqiang plays Zhuge Liang. Photo: Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Someone fell silent after a flash of light.
Sun Yanjun, who successfully played Liu Bei, left the show business circle very early, and the last time he went to the news, it was still a battery car in his home that caught fire, and netizens ridiculed, "Lu really hindered the lord." The many leading actors in "Dream of the Red Chamber", except for Deng Jie, almost all faded out of the show business circle, Chen Xiaoxu, who played Lin Daiyu, died of illness after illness, and Li Yue, who played Ban'er, died in a car accident.
There are also many people who, after leaving the role, become "laymen" like us.
The four masters and apprentices of "Journey to the West" either go to the cave or blossom, which has long triggered several rounds of heated discussions. "Tang monk" Xu Shaohua as a high monk, surrounded by the crowd, to teach the audience live Dharma video, has long been spread on various platforms, this "Tang Elder" seems to selectively ignore himself also played Zhang Liao in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".
The four masters and apprentices of the Western Heavens and the White Dragon Horse. Photo: Journey to the West
Come to reality, fade the aura, actors also have to accept the baptism of time like everyone else, but also in the desire, and the roles they once played, but always so bright and vivid. As viewers, we are not completely unable to understand this gap, but it is still inevitable to feel stunned.
At this time, we had to comfort ourselves with a popular saying when the sixth teacher was controversial: "We miss Sun Wukong, not the six-year-old child." ”
At the beginning of last year, a small video circulated on the Internet. Lu Shuming, an actor who has created the image of Guan Yu in the 94th edition of the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", stood on a small eighteen-line stage and asked his fathers and fellow villagers in the audience: "Can you shout out loud, who is the first person in China's Guan Gong?" In exchange for a sparse answer: "Lu Shuming." ”
"Second Master Guan" was still not very satisfied, and then asked: "Can you shout out loud, Teacher Lu-" There were more chaotic "I love you" in the audience. Teacher Lu was a little disappointed: "What's the matter, there are all weak breath." ”
In the comment area, some young netizens said a sincere word in their hearts for the villagers in the audience: "Don't say it, when will you send eggs?" Some netizens also had mixed feelings and pasted the lyrics in the ending song of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms": "Gathering and scattering are all fate, clutching and always caring about love, taking on the pre-life affairs, he ji posthumous comments ..."
Just last July, Wang Jian, the female lyricist who wrote this song "The Sky of History", also drove to Hexi.
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