February 20, 2023 | Total Issue 3153
Last night, the historical suspense drama "Daming under the Microscope" ushered in the finale, this drama pulled a big net from the bottom case in an old pile of paper, looked at the world with a microscope, and only used 14 episodes, so that Daming's glamorous rays under the brocade robe appeared one by one. In the end, about 38,000 people gave the drama a Douban score of 7.8 points.
Telling historical stories in 14 episodes is hard to imagine before. For a long time, the audience seems to be accustomed to equating historical dramas with "big vision, long length, and heavy smashing of books", but with the shift of the focus of popular cultural value orientation, the perspective, tonality and form of historical dramas are constantly being redefined.
From the hegemonic curve of the ups and downs of the emperors to their "lamenting how difficult the people's livelihood" is; From the emperor also having the troubles of the original family of "I am above ten thousand people", to injecting daily life narratives and life dramas; From the import of genre elements, small characters becoming civilian heroes, to seeing the little things and looking for the source of the collapse of the dynasty, the evolution of historical dramas has never stopped.
Every kind of story has a suitable container, and the broadcast of "Daming under the Microscope" is a temptation to tell the little people in a short drama. Adhering to the same production ideas, there are also 12 episodes of "Under the City" and "Persona of the Apocalypse" waiting to be broadcast.
The source of all the big rivers and seas is just a thin stream, and it is often the silent little people who stir the situation. This kind of lens focus transmission announces the ambition of the producers to try to get rid of the old ideas of historical dramas and open a new cycle.
Historical suspense drama dehydrated
The birth of a new species requires evolutionary accumulation, as does the combination of historical stories and skits.
In 2019, "Chang'an Twelve Hours" adapted by Ma Boyong's IP was broadcast, and this "anti-terrorism" story placed in the gap of history became colorful through the hands of Cao Dun. The audience followed the tour guide Zhang Xiaojing (played by Lei Jiayin) to experience the floating day of the people of Chang'an on the Shangyuan Festival, and also felt the embarrassment of buying and returning the beads and the separation of rhythm.
The story that happened in 24 hours, filmed in 48 episodes, aired for more than a month, the audience lost focus in the slowdown narrative, "too long". Later, "Fengqi Luoyang", which was also set by the two male protagonists, had a total of 39 episodes, and "Fengqi Longxi" was reduced to 24 episodes, although it was simplified, it was generally a historical type drama with long drama thinking.
On the other hand, in 2020, 12 episodes of high-quality short dramas blossomed in the field of suspense dramas in the form of theaters, with frequent explosions, iQiyi debuted, and major video platforms followed, and the experimental field of short dramas began to expand to various types of works. Soon, different producers aimed at a combination of historical suspense and short dramas.
In September 2021, iQiyi's "Daming under the Microscope" was launched in Hengdian, adapted from the "silk case" in the six cases of Ma Boyong's "Daming under the Microscope". In the same month, following "Feng Qi Longxi", film director Lu Yang and iQiyi continued to cooperate, and the short drama "Persona of the Apocalypse" passed the record. Three months later, "Under the City" led by Tencent Video and produced by Wannian Film was successfully filed.
The "dehydration" journey of historical suspense dramas begins.
Although the sparrow is small and well-equipped, unlike the two male protagonists in the previous wave of historical suspense dramas who work together to do tasks, this wave of historical short dramas are all stories of small people carrying weight to solve puzzles, and the historical background is in the Ming Dynasty. The edifice will fall, full of apocalyptic feeling.
From the perspective of story setting, "Persona of the Apocalypse" is like a copy opened by Lu Yang under the main story of "Embroidered Spring Dao", telling the story of a mysterious epidemic outbreak in the late Ming Dynasty and the adventure and breakthrough of Jinyi Wei Chu Sijing (played by Huang Xuan).
The title of "Under the City" highlights its intention, the same as "Daming under the Microscope", its protagonist is a small county town in the Wanli year of Jiangnan Capture Qu Sangen (played by Bai Yufan), he and Shuai Jiamo (played by Zhang Ruoyun) are the same small-town youth, from the main task of solving the murder case, leading to the three teachings and nine streams of various characters.
Little people are trapped in the system
The silk case in "Daming under the Microscope" is a financial case rather than a criminal case, looking at the handsome Jiamo with high IQ and low EQ all the way to the lawsuit, the perception is more similar to the "Qiu Ju lawsuit", and the officialdom ecology of the Ming Dynasty is the focus of the show.
Wu Si once wrote in Unspoken Rules: The Real Game in Chinese History: "Behind all the explicit rules in Chinese society, there is actually an unwritten and widely recognized rule. It is precisely this kind of thing, not high-sounding formal regulations, that governs the operation of real life. ”
From the county to the prefecture and back to the county, the red tape and ripping techniques of the officials are pervasive, and the dull handsome family is subject to people everywhere. Without the help of Feng Baoyu (played by Fei Qiming) and Feng Biyu (played by Qi Wei) and the transformed Cheng Renqing (played by Wang Yang), he would not be able to move.
"Who we pay attention to, in fact, is to find a place for ourselves in the world", "Daming under the Microscope" is intended to be a small understanding, but it reflects such a modern motif - the little people trapped in the system. The handsome family meditates on the subjective initiative of being a normal person, but there is no room for flashing and moving, if you can't be a normal person, how can you change the rules of the game.
Creators are inseparable from their own living environment, Lu Yang once said frankly in an interview: "The motif of my creation in the next 10 years is still the relationship between people and fate and the system." Indeed, the system that suppresses people is the object of confrontation for its protagonist.
The movie "Embroidered Spring Dao" series shows that under the bad world, Shen Lian (played by Zhang Zhen), a grassroots civil servant in the Ming Dynasty, struggles to survive between career and conscience, and Chen Gong (played by Chen Kun), a double-faced spy in "Feng Qi Longxi", is under the pressure of restoring the Han Dynasty, and just wants to quickly complete the task and return to the countryside with his wife.
This coincides with a series of "historical possibility" novels written by Ma Boyong. In Ma Boyong's novel, the historical background is real, the micro details are real, the characters and stories are fictional, and the historical ending cannot be changed. This can't help but ask: Is the ultimate meaning of the protagonist coming up to toss and toss to accompany the main creator to play a big chess game, just to do useless work?
Everyone has their own way of rebelling against the system, such as the protagonist of "Chang'an Twelve Hours", who was originally the defender of the two systems, and finally became step by step away from the system. Faced with a grayscale overlapping system, these little people can only rebel in order to defend their daily lives.
Therefore, the story of microhistory with small people is mostly devoted to criticizing the misplaced power institutions and condensed social systems. However, the insight into deep contradictions to give the whole society a small incision to complete the insight of deep contradictions undoubtedly brings difficulties to creation.
What are the chances of winning in historical dramas?
The 12-episode boutique short series can be released in 2020, to some extent assume the function of some movie replacement, but now, not only are theaters resuming, but the film market is also interested in historical stories.
For example, the movie "Manjiang Hong" released in the Spring Festival file is a story about the resistance of small people who survive in the cracks and use their arms as cars in time-limited tasks. Compared with dramas of the same theme, the rhythm and rich genre elements of the film have more advantages.
It is worth mentioning that the casting of director Ning Hao's first costume film "The Two Heroes of the Great Han" is eye-catching, and the film tells the story of Wei Qing and Huo Qubing, the "imperial double", which is a double male protagonist setting. Jia Zhangke's "In the Qing Dynasty" plans to tell the story of the collapse of the fate of intellectuals after the abolition of the imperial examination. After "Feng Shen", the adventure element historical film "Zheng He Under the West 1: The Netherworld of the Sea" directed by Wu Ershan is also on the way.
In addition, "Heroes of Dunhuang" written by Ma Boyong, directed by Cao Dun, starring Lei Jiayin, Zhu Yawen, Li Guangjie and Zhang Yu recently released a finale special, this director and cast have the feeling that "Zhang Xiaojing finished counter-terrorism in Chang'an and went to Dunhuang to continue his mission."
"Litchi of Chang'an" is a project developed simultaneously by TV series and movies, although a form of popularity can amplify the IP effect, but it is necessary to be wary of repeated stories that consume the audience's patience.
【Text/Flying Fish】