The anti-black criminal investigation TV series "Crazy" has been "crazy" all the way, achieving a triple win in ratings, broadcast rates and word of mouth, and breaking the circle with heated discussions, becoming another climax of domestic anti-black dramas after "Sweeping Black Storm" in 2021. The "Black Ice", "Black Hole", "Never Let You Go", "Conquest", etc., are all unforgettable masterpieces for the audience, and in recent years, "Icebreaking Action" and "Black Storm", etc., to this year's "Crazy", domestic anti-black dramas seem to have ushered in another "spring", whether in the choice of theme, creative techniques or character shaping, they have shown a trend of overall quality improvement. What changes and evolutions have domestic anti-black dramas undergone, here I will take you to review.
Above: The "wicked" in "Crazy".
Flash at the end of the last century
The origin of domestic anti-black dramas can be traced back to the suspenseful dramas of the 8th and 90s of the last century. This type of drama mainly focuses on the detection of criminal cases, telling the story of the police fighting wits and courage with criminals, and finally punishing evil and promoting good. The suspense-related drama integrates multiple elements such as suspense, brain-burning, curiosity, conflict, and reversal, placing the characters in the crime environment to explore the truth, and even face life and death decisions, with relatively extreme dramatic expression, allowing the audience to experience the dual stimulation of perception and spirit, restore the most primitive human nature good and evil, and explore deeper social issues.
Here's a tribute to the 1987 TV series "Plainclothes Police". This TV series adapted from Haiyan's ten-year police experience was popular all over the country that year, and it also opened the prelude to the popularity of domestic dramas involved in the case. The play became popular with the starring Hu Yajie, so that Haiyan won the first prize of the first Golden Shield Literature Award, and the theme song "Young Ambition Without Worry" sung by Liu Huan has since become a golden song of the era of a generation. Zhao Baogang, who is not from a science class, has since embarked on the road of directing because he served as the assistant director of this play.
It can be said that because of the emergence of "Plainclothes Police", a golden age of domestic dramas involved in the case was created, and Hai Yan, who became a professional screenwriter, and Zhao Baogang became a pair of golden partners, and cooperated together to open a period of time in the domestic TV drama market. In the 90s of last century, Hai Yan's "A Matter of Wind and Snow", "Never Blind" and "Jade Guanyin" became phenomenal hit dramas at that time, and "Haiyan Opera" also became a new unique term in the history of Chinese TV dramas.
Intertwining the love stories of beautiful men and women with appalling crime cases is the biggest feature of "Haiyan drama", and it is also an important reason why Haiyan's ability to push the genre of drama involved to the peak. Boldly used the young actors at that time, and held Sun Li, Lu Yi, Tong Dawei and a group of young actors as first-line red stars, and became famous, Haiyan opera was also regarded as a star-making machine, becoming a drama that can compete with Qiong Yao opera and Jin Yong opera.
In particular, "Never Blind" is considered the pinnacle of Haiyan's drama. In addition to making Lu Yi and Yuan Li popular, Sun Honglei, who played the black boss thug Jianjun in the play at that time, was also impressive. Although it is only a supporting role, Sun Honglei moved from the drama stage to the TV series because of the success of "Never Blind". Three years later, Sun Honglei became the protagonist from a supporting role, playing the villain black boss Liu Huaqiang in "Conquest".
1997's "A Matter of Wind and Snow" is also a drama with this kind of case-solving + romance theme, at first glance the title of the play thought it was about love, but it actually involved the theme of sweeping black. This drama gathers Xu Jinglei, Pu Cunxin, Jiang Wu and other powerful actors, telling the story of Lu Yueyue, a Miaoling policewoman played by Xu Jinglei who left school, and is involved in a case of intricate emotional entanglements, family disputes and gangster disputes in order to carry out the task of tracking down the violin of national treasure-level cultural relics. This drama looks very tacky with love alone, and looking at the anti-black paragraphs alone, it is far less straightforward than other anti-black dramas, but it is the hazy sense and ambiguity created after the blurred boundaries, making it have a unique charm different from other dramas involved in the case.
In the 90s of last century, in addition to the Haiyan drama that brought a romantic style to the dramas involved in the case, Chinese mainland suspenseful dramas began to take from major cases in real society, using a realistic style shooting mode similar to documentary style to record the real face of the Chinese criminal police in the 90s, which looked very much like documentary programs of legal channels, such as "918 Major Case Detection Documentary" (1994), "Xi'an Chase" (1996), "12.1 Shooting Murder Case" (1998), "Crime Escalation" (1999) and other works. This style persisted even as late as 2002's The End: The Case of Criminal Investigation No. 1 in China. After the broadcast of "China Criminal Investigation No. 1 Case", due to the actors' unpolished performances and overly documentary techniques, some viewers even thought that the criminals in the play were looking for a prisoner to play.
The 22 episodes of "The True Color of Criminal Police" broadcast in 1999 finally have the taste of the anti-black drama we are familiar with today. Starring Wang Zhiwen, Li Youbin and Wang Kuirong, the play takes the struggle between the public security criminal police and criminal groups as the main line, and tells the development and changes of the public security team under the background of reform and opening up in the early 90s of the 20th century. In the play, Wang Zhiwen plays the criminal police captain Xiao Wen, Li Youbin plays the triad boss Zhou Shiwan, Wang Kuirong plays the head of the public security bureau, and the "triad umbrella" Pan Rong.
"The True Color of the Criminal Police" is adapted from the novel "The Demon and the Tao of the Kingdom of Heaven".
Above: "Black Ice" is a "black drama" for many people.
The main highlight of "The True Color of Criminal Police" is the wonderful drama of two good actors when showing Xiao Wen and Zhou Shiwan's battle between good and evil. One of the famous scenes is the debate between the two about what justice is in the parking lot, and the profound line skills are fully displayed, and Wang Zhiwen and Li Youbin also won the Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor awards respectively for this play.
It is worth mentioning that "The True Color of Criminal Police" is adapted from the novel "The Devil and the Dao of the Kingdom of Tianfu", and the author Zhang Chenggong is also the author of the famous "black trilogy": "Black Ice", "Black Hole" and "Black Fog", which he also serves as the screenwriter. Compared with the later "black trilogy", this drama is still immature, does not adopt the "villain perspective", but from the positive perspective of the criminal police Xiao Wen, the script is a little even, but on the background of a good story, it reflects the profound social content and humanistic spirit, coupled with the superb acting skills of the actors, this drama is a great success, in addition to winning the Best Actor (Wang Zhiwen) and Best Supporting Actor (Li Youbin), it also won the Long TV Series Excellence Award and the Best Editing Award, He became the big winner of the 18th Golden Eagle Award that year.
From boom to silence
Time has entered the 21st century, and the suspenseful dramas involving the Chinese mainland have gradually matured, and a large number of excellent works have emerged. In addition to documentary, anti-drug and other genres, the theme of anti-corruption and anti-gang crime has increasingly entered the audience's field of vision. In the first five years of the 21st century, anti-corruption anti-crime dramas flourished, densely clustered on the screen, and the creation of anti-black dramas entered a period of unprecedented prosperity. For example, "Black Ice" and "Black Hole" broadcast in 2001, "Never Let You Go", "Chief of Public Security", "Wings Can't Escape" broadcast in 2002, "Conquest" broadcast in 2003, "Mission" broadcast in 2005 and so on.
Generally speaking, compared with the general dramas involved in the case, anti-black and anti-corruption dramas are much more difficult to shoot because of the sensitivity and reality of the subject matter, but in those years, such dramas could mushroom and bring very good ratings, which was inseparable from the social background at that time.
On 11 December 2000, a national teleconference on the special struggle against criminal syndicates and evil forces was held in Beijing, and the central authorities decided to organize public security organs throughout the country to launch a special struggle against criminal syndicates and evil forces from December 2000 to October 2001. In April 2001, the central authorities held a public security work conference, which extended the special struggle against criminal syndicates and evil forces until April 2003 and incorporated it into a two-year "strike hard" rectification struggle.
In February 2006, the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission deployed the whole country to carry out a special struggle against criminal syndicates and evil forces, set up a coordination group for the special struggle against criminal syndicates and evil forces in the central government, and set up a national "anti-criminal syndicate office". Subsequently, large-scale special operations to crack down on criminal syndicates and eliminate evil forces were carried out in many places across the country, making the special struggle against criminal syndicates and evil forces the norm in political and legal work, and gradually establishing a long-term and effective mechanism for "cracking down on criminal syndicates and eliminating evil forces."
This storm of "fighting black and eliminating evil" undoubtedly provides an excellent creative environment for such TV series, and a large number of excellent works have emerged. While showing the work of the political and legal front to "crack down on criminal syndicates and eliminate evil", it also dares to expose some criminal and evil phenomena in society, and most of these dramas have good ratings, and some works have a phenomenal impact.
There are many anti-black and anti-corruption TV series at this stage that are adapted from real events. For example, the prototype of the story of "Conquest" comes from the Shijiazhuang Zhang Baolin brothers involved in the black case in the 90s of last century, and the two hooligan gangs fought each other; "Wings Can't Escape" is based on the "bandit of the century" Zhang Ziqiang, which describes in detail the criminal history of the great thief of this century and the detection process of the public security organs; "Never Let You Go" is based on the Ministry of Public Security's 1998 National No. 1 Gang Case, in which the seven main culprits were sentenced to death.
There was also "The Great River Goes East", broadcast in 2003, based on the Shenyang Muma case that shocked the whole country, a major corruption case involving a kidnapping case, and finally involved more than 100 people. The play is the final chapter of the famous director Lei Xianhe's "anti-corruption and anti-black trilogy", the first two are "Snow Without a Trace" and "Never Let You Go".
Another big breakthrough in the anti-black and anti-corruption TV series at this stage is to use the villain as the protagonist, which has never been seen before, and the representatives of it are the three dramas "Black Ice", "Black Hole" and "Conquest".
Above: Nie Mingyu, the actor of "Black Hole" played by Chen Daoming, has a sense of contrast.
"Black Ice" is a "black drama" for many people. Wang Zhiwen, who played the captain Xiao Wen in "The True Color of Criminal Police", played the male protagonist Guo Xiaopeng in "Black Ice". Guo is a well-known entrepreneur on the surface, but in private he is a big drug lord, belonging to the kind of high-level intellectual crime, extremely intelligent, but with a vicious appearance in his elegant appearance, and a kind smile with killing intent, he is a Chinese version of the "Breaking Bad".
And Nie Mingyu, the actor of "Black Hole" played by Chen Daoming, has a sense of contrast, on the one hand, he is the son of a personable high-ranking official, gentle on the surface, sanctimonious, "cultivated and connotated", on the other hand, he is a black hand who manipulates "strategizing and winning thousands of miles" behind the scenes, and is ruthless behind the scenes.
"Conquest" is Sun Honglei's first TV series as the protagonist, and he ran the trick in "Never Blind" that year, and became famous because he played the role of Liu Huaqiang, the boss of the gangster group in the play. Liu Huaqiang in the play is always an indifferent look, his face is full of unruly and fierce, he is thoughtful, bold and ruthless, once provoked, he is not convinced or done, he is an extremely violent outlaw.
The meticulous and vivid portrayal of the villain is an important reason why these three dramas have a good reputation so far. The villain in the play is not a face-painted tool person, but uses a large number of details to present its multifaceted and complex nature. The superb acting skills of the three actors thoroughly play the complex villains, both flesh and blood.
Guo Xiaopeng in "Black Ice" became a person with a strong vanity and a twisted personality because of his childhood misfortunes and tragic experiences, cultivated a heart that no one can warm, used drug production and trafficking to take revenge on society and finally fell into self-inflicted consequences. He is a big drug lord and a big filial son, even after being caught, he still refuses to lower his proud head and still sticks to what he believes to be the creed. For this elegant, intelligent, vicious, arrogant, and miserable black boss, Wang Zhiwen portrayed it vividly and prominently, giving the villain a complex personality. In the play, a drama-style monologue play that lasts more than 5 minutes, he vividly exposes the madness and dark side of human nature in the hearts of the characters with a highly magnetic baritone and textbook performance, which is amazing.
Nie Mingyu in "Black Hole" is actually a tragic character with flesh and blood, thinking and feelings, and full of contradictions in his heart, and it is quite difficult to fully interpret his multifaceted and ambivalent psychology. However, Chen Daoming, who is both internal and external, relies on his profound performance skills to switch between the two faces with ease, and interprets this gentle and elegant scholar image and the image of a vicious and cold black boss in a harmonious and unified manner, which makes people grit their teeth but difficult to hate.
And the black boss Liu Huaqiang played by Sun Honglei in "Conquest", without a disguised mask and identity, is born with banditry, bad enough and ruthless, but has both fierce cruelty and complex personality. Sun Honglei, who has his own ruffianism, seems to be secretly competing with himself in the play, and the performance of evil to the end presents the image of a murderous, arrogant and extremely deep black boss vividly.
Above: "Conquest" is Sun Honglei's first TV series as the protagonist.
No wonder as soon as this play came out, some viewers commented on Sun Honglei: He is not playing the underworld at all, he is the underworld. This is actually the same as the audience's evaluation of Zhang Songwen, who played Gao Qiqiang, when "Crazy" was a hit recently, "He doesn't look like he acted, and it is recommended that the Discipline Commission investigate him", for no other reason, just because the actor's acting skills are three points.
It is no exaggeration to say that "Black Ice", "Black Hole" and "Conquest" pushed the black drama to the peak of the genre at that time, and the black drama, costume drama, and family drama were once known as the "troika" of the TV drama market. The popularity of the three dramas would have made the development of the dramas involved in the case move to another golden period, but the prosperity of the market has also made some production companies driven by the interests of the market economy, and began to attract the audience to the greatest extent by strengthening the visual impact of TV dramas and satisfying the curiosity psychology, and the bloody and violent murder scenes, the excessive presentation of criminal details and criminal investigation details have brought certain negative effects to society.
In view of this, in 2004, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television issued the "Notice on Strengthening the Review and Broadcast Management of Dramas Involved in Cases", allowing the dramas involved in the case to directly withdraw from the prime time of TV stations, and the only surviving is "Six Groups of Serious Cases". Since then, the creation of the dramas involved in the case has gradually slumped, and the black drama has naturally entered a long period of silence, and there are few that the audience can remember, only the anti-black drama "Criminal Domain" broadcast in 2009 has a good response. The play is based on Lai Changxing, the main culprit of the Xiamen Yuanhua smuggling case, and tells the story of Zhao Huanghui, chairman of the brilliant group who was famous in both black and white, and finally went to the abyss of irreparable disaster because of his own crimes.
A prosperous spring again
Until 2015, the country's anti-corruption work made significant progress, and the anti-gang crime campaign was in full swing, and the Propaganda Department of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection in June of that year put forward the requirement that such themes be "at least one or two movies a year, and at least two or three TV dramas, and they must be high-quality". Marked by "The Mekong River Case", it was only then that the drama involved in the case returned to the public's vision.
In this context, a large number of excellent anti-black dramas have gradually emerged, and the anti-black theme has finally ushered in spring after more than ten years of silence. For example, "In the Name of the People", "Anti-Black", "Icebreaking Action" in 2019, "The Silent Truth" in 2020, "Tour Inspection Team", "Black Storm" in 2021, "Ice Rain and Fire" in 2022, "Showdown", and then the opening drama "Crazy" at the beginning of this year and so on. In particular, dramas such as "In the Name of the People", "The Silent Truth", and "Sweeping Black Storm" have all become annual hits.
It should be pointed out that in June 2018, Beijing held a meeting of directors of the National Anti-Crime Office, and the original "anti-crime office" was transformed into an "anti-gang crime office". Although there is only a difference between the words "sweep" and "crack down," it emphasizes that it is necessary not only to crack down on social personnel involved in criminal syndicates, but also to eliminate corrupt state officials who use their power to participate in criminal syndicates and evil crimes, provide convenient conditions for criminal syndicates and evil forces to break the law and commit crimes, and help criminal syndicates and evil forces evade punishment.
And the content reflected in these above dramas has also evolved from the past "anti-gang drama" to a veritable "anti-gang drama", the intention is very clear, through the struggle between justice and evil in the play, shaping the group portrait of anti-gang heroes in the new era, pushing up the Chinese people's attention to anti-gang crime and eliminating evil, and making more people feel the necessity of fighting criminal and evil forces. Although some dramas still have some plot and logical regrets, the overall flaws are not hidden.
Above: "In the Name of the People" truly restores official life and official psychology, which is not false at all, allowing the audience to see the sincerity of "breaking through the scale" and becoming a phenomenal high-quality work.
"In the Name of the People" tells the story of contemporary procurators upholding fairness and justice and the unity of the legal system, and investigating and handling corruption cases. This drama not only created the most clicks on the TV series network, but also set a record high in single-day TV series ratings. The reason why this drama can set off a national upsurge is that it truly restores official life and official psychology, which is not false at all, allowing the audience to see the sincerity of "breaking through the scale" and becoming a phenomenal high-quality work.
The 2021 hit "Sweeping Black Storm" tells the story of "former criminal policeman" Li Chengyang and young criminal police officer Lin Hao, working with the task force He Yong to successfully capture the criminal forces and umbrellas in Green Vine City. As a tribute to the achievements of the special struggle against gang crime and evil, the play is eye-catching with its multi-dimensional breakthrough in group portrait, scale and style.
Above: The 2021 hit "Black Storm".
The play is both hardcore and realistic, such as the plot is based on real cases such as Sun Xiaoguo's case and the playground burial case, and involves social pain points such as routine loans, industry monopolies, and violent demolition, and also pays attention to the combination of virtual and real, and the story is extremely strong. The most interesting thing about the play is the acting skills of the actors, Sun Honglei, Liu Yijun, Wang Zhifei are in the same frame, the emotional expression is delicate and expressive, and the grasp is just right.
The authenticity of the material, the suspenseful plot, the vivid three-dimensional character shaping, and the profound reality criticism and educational significance, "Sweeping Black Storm" has created a new sample for the creation of anti-black dramas, no wonder it flooded the entire network as soon as it was broadcast. The impact of the picture when the plot is presented makes everyone feel immersed, and they have a firm belief in cooperating with the country to eliminate evil forces.
Anti-gang crime is a long-term struggle, I believe that excellent anti-gang dramas of this theme will continue to emerge in the future, and we also look forward to more popular works appearing on the screen, bringing a new look and breakthrough to the audience. Written by| Ah Hui