February 19, 2023 | Total Issue 3152
In this year's Spring Festival, the situation of film and television double popularity is exciting. The twin engines of "Manjiang Red" and "The Wandering Earth 2" have driven the film market to open high, and "Crazy" and "Three-Body Problem" have each laid a deep imprint on the depth of reality and the breadth of the future.
However, the recovery of the industry has never happened overnight, and the long-dormant market will still expose such and such problems. After the crest there will be troughs, and the top winds in industry and creation will always come uninvited.
This week's assertions start with the biggest news related to the film and television industry this week. And its protagonists are two marginal people in the industry. Yes, it is the two who graduated 5 years ago, deposited 5,000 and masters in Chinese transmission, and cleaned hot pot restaurants.
The development of the "special poverty" of the industry
When the social news looks, the frank confession of these two girls is a satire of the imagination of "post-00s rectifying the workplace", the ultimate friction between the "small-town subject-maker" and society, and the ultimate embrace of the ordinary and the ultimate resistance to materialization.
Like the "second uncle", they have cured the mental internal friction of many people, especially at this juncture when employment in colleges and universities needs to overcome difficulties. Therefore, Huazhong Normal University sent a congratulatory message to these two girls: Are they lying flat? No! Are they complaining? No! Did they give up? No! Do they have confidence? Yes!
However, the film and television industry, as another important "party" involved in this news, cannot sigh.
In recent years, there have been too many young people who have knocked hard outside the door of the film and television industry like this, and finally can only look in through the crack in the door and then leave. In recent years, there have been too many film and television people who once relied on flexible employment to survive in the circle and were flexibly "downsized".
The "special difficulties" of the film and television industry have always been shown in these most ordinary low-level practitioners. Producers go to sell insurance, theater managers go to sell liquor, prop makers go to be micro-merchants, and the bigwigs behind the movie take a taxi and meet a sound engineer who is a ride-hailing driver... These things happening around us are not at all weaker than the contrast of the master of China Chuan going to a hot pot restaurant as a cleaner.
However, in the film and television industry with gold edges, it is difficult to transmit the "special sense of poverty" to the public mood. This time, "Master of Zhongchuan, hot pot restaurant cleaning" did it in just 9 words. While we are being healed by the two girls, should we also ask for those practitioners who were forced to change careers in the cold winter of film and television, they did not lie down, did not complain, did not give up, and had confidence, when will all of them return to the team?
Conscience drama and care drama
Stepping back a little later, let's talk about the gold rim of the film and television industry.
The film and television industry has now become a special industry worthy of public supervision like government work in the minds of netizens. Artists' private morality should be of high standards and strict requirements, and the content should also have a visible and tangible "conscience".
Among the popular new dramas this week, there are really two "conscience" dramas, one is "The Silk Case of Daming under the Microscope", which created a precedent for "people's historical drama"; There is also a new Northeast Renaissance work "Ligong: Old Things in the Northeast", which was filmed as "Jilin "Ice and Blood Storm".
The former is a major innovation in the theme of chiseling gaps in historical research, creating stories in the gaps, and allowing the people to become the protagonists of history in the story. Once it can be achieved, it can create a parallel world next to the historical drama where the emperor will be the protagonist, and bring the national drama back to the glory of "Yongzheng Dynasty".
The latter is a sophisticated narrative organ, a Northeast Persona with the sorrow of the times, and a comedy performance textbook demonstrated by Fan Wei. Cha Muchun, who is also the screenwriter and director, invited Wang Da Ear out of "Blessed Ears", let him want to be a policeman, want to make meritorious contributions, want to explore alien civilizations to forget the troubles in front of him, let him connect various people in the Northeast in unexpected ways, and give the "Northeast Renaissance" a new face.
These two are genuine genre innovations, are national dramas that are comparable to international standards, and are conscientious works that do not care much about "return". But just like "Moses on the Plain", which started broadcasting last month, the popularity of these two shows is not proportional to "conscience", and audiences outside the circle are not so happy to receive the goods.
Is it that the drama market does not need to pay tribute to the master, only "strong brother" and "sister-in-law"? Definitely not. Can these experimental episodes as engines of innovation find the right size audience for sustainable production? The difficulty is not small. Can the experimental series try to borrow a little of the genes of "Crazy" to make the story more concerned by the audience? Maybe.
Sci-Fi: The Sea of Stars or ChatGPT
When it comes to conscience and concern are not proportional, the just-concluded TV series "The Three-Body Problem" is also one of them.
For sci-fi fans, the 30 episodes of The Three-Body Problem are like a grand show that satisfies all imaginations. The restoration of the Red Bank base, the narrative of the forbidden era, the grand spectacle of the three-body game, the interpretation of complex science fiction concepts, and the romance and danger of space navigation... After more than 1,300 minutes of image baptism, science fiction fans will agree that "The Three-Body Problem" has knocked on the door of science fiction for domestic dramas, just like "The Wandering Earth" is for Chinese movies.
But TV series audiences are different from movie audiences, and for non-sci-fi fans, the drama version of "The Three-Body Problem" itself is a door that is difficult to knock on. The classic slogan of "Eliminate human tyranny, the world belongs to the three-body problem" can make the three-body fans shout wildly, but in the sound of passers-by, it may be like Thanos' snapping fingers.
However, science fiction, a big business that can link derivatives, exhibitions, parks, and real estate, will not stop turning because of the data results of a drama. In recent years, not only the copyright of Liu Cixin's novels has been snapped up, but most of the sci-fi novels such as Wang Jinkang's "Ant Life", Jiang Bo's "Galaxy Heart Trilogy", and July's "Small Town Curious Tales" and "Stars" have become famous and entered the film and television program.
In October this year, the 81st World Science Fiction Convention will be held in Chengdu. This will not only increase the influence of the "Hugo Award" in China, but also bring an opportunity for the Chinese film and television industry to meet with the world's science fiction talents, and I believe it can inject another shot in the arm for science fiction film and television.
Conceptual map of the "Chengdu Science and Technology Museum" where the conference was held
It's just that the development of science fiction film and television cannot be "boosted" by the outside alone. How to "break the wall" for science fiction stories and make the audience "care" is still a difficult problem to be solved. In this regard, Liu Cixin's speech when she received the Clark Award in 2018 may have the answer.
"Information technology is developing at an unimaginable pace, covering the whole world, and in the increasingly comfortable comfort zone created by IT, people are gradually losing interest in space... Such a reality is also reflected in science fiction, people's eyes are withdrawn from the starry sky, and now science fiction is more imagining human life in online utopia or dystopia, and paying more attention to the various problems encountered in reality. The sci-fi imagination goes from the vastness and depth of Clarke (author of 2001: A Space Odyssey) to the narrowness and introversion of Cyberpunk. ”
Although Liu Cixin, who yearns for space travel, does not look at sci-fi such as "digital survival", in today's Chat GPT showing amazing "wisdom", perhaps the latter kind of sci-fi story is more suitable for dramas.
"Path dependence" of urban women's dramas
Also facing choices are not only science fiction dramas, but also urban women's dramas.
For many viewers who love to surf the Internet, the popular urban drama "Lady's Character" is like a belated answer sheet, and the exam question is a "brain hole" created by netizens five years ago.
On the eve of Women's Day in 2018, a group of "rice system" posters and supporting "plans" called "Lady's Character" were widely circulated on major social media. The two netizens put forward such a creative proposal in the way of "rice circle painting cake": shoot a story with four 40+ women as the protagonists and "unmaritalism" and "golden beauty" as the keywords. Enthusiastic netizens also selected their ideal cast for this drama: Yuan Quan, Chen Shu, Yu Feihong, Zeng Li.
After five years, Yuan Quan, Chen Shu, Yu Feihong, and Zeng Li have all played the protagonists, acting in several rounds of urban women's dramas such as "War of the Roses", "Second Embrace", "The Beginning of Love", and the plays related to "The Character of a Lady" have just met the audience.
The popular "Lady's Character" and the sister article "Lady's Law" broadcast in 2022 are not the first batch of dramas to follow the "brain hole" of netizens, but they are currently the only two urban women's dramas that meet the audience with similar titles. Unfortunately, "Lady's Character" did not put the concept of "non-marriageism" in "Lady's Character" into practice, but gave the three heroines the biggest choice question - fertility and career, how should women choose?
As independent female representatives and in the social climate of advocating fertility, the three heroines in the play can only have one answer: I want them all. Unsurprisingly, such an oppressive theme did not resonate widely.
Zooming out a little further, we'll see that the biggest problem with Lady's Character isn't the mix of workplace and fertility themes. The biggest crux of this drama is the "stuck neck" problem shared by today's female urban dramas - that is, in the shaping of "independent women", many narrative conventions and value expression inertia have been formed.
For example, independent women should be the spokespersons of professionalism and professional ability, the rhythm controller in intimate relationships, the practical model of "women helping women", and the messengers of justice who are "positive" with all social habits...
Independent women are not only one look, and urban women's dramas cannot regard routines as path dependence. If the stereotyped independent woman is always regarded as the premise of creation, the so-called real society sampling is also easy to fall into the logic of "enclosure and self-cute".
Disney "hit the brakes"
Contrary to the hot momentum of space epics in China, a news from the sci-fi giant Disney exposes the weakness of Hollywood sci-fi IP.
On February 8, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced that he would slow down the development of top series such as Marvel and Star Wars, and gave instructions to control costs. The head of Marvel Studios clearly responded in the interview that Marvel's Disney+ episodes will be reduced and the interval will be lengthened. The "Star Wars" series is facing the opposite pressure, and the "Star Wars" series, which has produced few new films in the past two years, is likely to be required to increase production and strictly adhere to financial management standards.
Disney's adjustment of the content deployment plan, from a macro level, is the financial pressure of US streaming platforms, and reflected in the medium view, it is the weakness of sci-fi IP movies.
This week, "Ant-Man 3" is being released simultaneously in North America and China. North American audiences have a poor reputation, but the box office performance of $47 million on the first day (the best in the "Ant-Man" series) is still strong, and the mainland box office is expected to exceed 150 million today (the third day of release), which is also eye-catching.
As the debut of the ultimate villain of the fifth phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe - Kang the Conqueror, "Ant-Man 3" performed well. It's just that under the pressure of financial austerity, whether the fifth phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe can still blossom in film and drama has to put a big question mark.
【Text/Tin Snare Drum】