Wuxia dramas have always had a certain market and audience base. At present, the new martial arts is still in the process of exploration, but if there is a very good new martial arts benchmark work in the future, the entire market will move with it, thereby promoting the further development of this drama genre, just like the palace fighting dramas and suspense dramas that were once popular. I believe that at that time, the new martial arts will finally "laugh at the top of the rivers and lakes".
Text | Lao Zhang
As an important genre of domestic dramas, martial arts dramas have always had an unshakable status, and have gone through glorious historical years and are sought after by the audience. However, around 2015, ancient puppets and fairy tales were at a high level, and martial arts dramas hovered at a crossroads, not only the output fell sharply, but also the rivers and lakes were slightly silent. Some people even assert that "martial arts are in decline, and the rivers and lakes are no more."
Until last year, with the launch of "Sword in the Snow", it aroused heated discussions, once again arousing the audience's martial arts dreams. This year, new martial arts dramas such as "Youth Song Xing", "Shadow of Mountains and Rivers" and "The Legend of Yunxiang" have been broadcast one after another, and the martial arts theme has gradually warmed up, and people have rekindled expectations. But how should the new martial arts develop now? It is still a question worth thinking about in the industry.
1
Wuxia is in decline
Speaking of martial arts films, many people's first reaction is film and television dramas adapted from Jin, Gu, Liang and Wen's novels. In the 80s of last century, Hong Kong and Taiwan martial arts literary works suitable for film and television adaptation coincided with the golden age of TVB, and TVB martial arts dramas sprung up on the screen. After 2000, mainland producer Zhang Jizhong filmed "Dragon Babu" and "Smiling Rivers and Lakes", although controversial at the time, but over time also recognized by everyone.
However, with the development of technology, martial arts dramas rely too much on slow motion, editing and stand-ins, causing the audience to complain widely, and the cool fighting scenes have changed from fancy tricks to slow-motion plus stand-ins, and actors who have no martial arts foundation in the past want to act "without showing timidity" in front of the camera, at least two or three months in advance for martial arts training.
The CCTV version of "Water Margin" was filmed for three years, and a ten-minute fight scene took more than half a month, and the appearance of Xiaolongnu in the 03 version of "The Condor Heroes" stayed up for five nights to complete. But now, adequate shooting cycle is more of a luxury for most film and television projects.
In addition, compared with artists with martial arts skills, the lack of experience and unique style of martial arts guidance reserve is more tricky, which is also an important reason for the convergence of martial arts drama styles in recent years. Exquisite movements are one of the core elements of martial arts, but as the martial arts guidance of the golden generation such as Yuan Heping, Sammo Hung, and Yuan Kui age, the development of martial arts seems to face a "generational crisis" with no successors.
An excellent martial arts finger must not only have martial arts skills, but also understand the film and television presentation of lenses, and grasp the links at all levels from conception, design, shooting, camera movement, and editing, and repeatedly deliberate and ponder, and finally present classic action scenes. In the past, Wuji basically started as a martial arts actor, and after more than ten years of study and crew experience, he could grow into a martial artist, and in recent years, many martial arts actors have transformed into martial arts actors for several years, and have no concept of the lens, let alone design different actions for different roles.
The most important thing is that the chivalrous spirit is lost, and the subsequent remake of martial arts dramas even actively avoids the "martial arts", not only has nothing achieved in "martial arts", but the characters in the play are more difficult to support the character charm of "Xia". In terms of casting, he began to idolize, and the plot also focused more on emotional drama. It gives people a sense of "dimensionality reduction", so the reputation of these works presents a cliff-like collapse.
Traditional martial arts dramas seem to have reached a dead end, and they can no longer make a wave.
2
The new style of martial arts is exposed
With the lessons of the failure of the remake, some capital began to change. Since the classic martial arts cannot be revived, and it is impossible to "play ancient puppets in the coat of martial arts", creators began to try to improve and innovate, and several small-scale new martial arts dramas came into being, which conformed to the times and evolved into a more specific chivalrous spirit of young people, and attracted attention within a certain range.
For example, the plot case of "Detective Jane Don't Know" is similar to Chu Liuxiang and Lu Xiaofeng, and you can also see the familiar feelings of the rivers and lakes. It has also built a new system of rivers and lakes: the sect Shenji Valley responsible for investigating the case, the institutional recording institute that records the history of the rivers and lakes, the first killer organization with both light and dark Ten Killing Gates, and the detective who collects the truth... It feels familiar and fresh.
"Youth Song Xing" integrates many elements such as youth, blood and martial arts, and the concept of "new martial arts" was played at the beginning of filming, and with "youthful feeling" as the core, the play uses group portraits to portray the growth process of young people, reflecting the growth issues faced by every teenager.
"The Legend of Yunxiang" is not a traditional martial arts in the typical sense, in the bloody rivers and lakes stories into the integration of complex elements such as business wars and revenge, the male protagonist does not appear as a heroic image of martial arts, but walks the rivers and lakes with a scheme, the heroine and a number of supporting roles are responsible for the "martial" part of martial arts, making martial arts genre dramas more interesting.
"Shadow of Mountains and Rivers" in addition to continuing the style of the movie "Embroidered Spring Dao", but also added multiple elements and highlights, the two male protagonists one funny and humorous, the other calm and restrained, in order to pursue the highlights, the play also increased the court, spy war scenes, the court power strategy and the martial arts of the rivers and lakes.
These dramas can also represent the direction of "new martial arts" at this stage.
First, the new rivers and lakes, the rivers and lakes are the epitome of society, the new rivers and lakes will be the symbol of contemporary society, the new style of martial arts will inject modern colorful multicultural into the martial arts world, open up territory for martial arts culture, adapt to the spiritual needs of the new era, return to the river, there is tolerance is great.
Second, the new chivalrous feelings, focusing on allowing the protagonist to fight with himself, martial arts is no longer the main line of character growth, but more respects the realization of individual values, pursues freedom in the growth of rivers and lakes, realizes oneself, and shows unique personality.
The third is that "wuxia +", traditional martial arts is not easy to break through, but the mixture of elements can make martial arts dramas produce new variations and new flavors. By exploring new possibilities, martial arts dramas have more possibilities by integrating other genres to produce wonderful chemical reactions.
3
The future of martial arts
Change is a difficult road. Although the changes made by the new martial arts have improved, it is unknown whether they can restore the former style. However, it is certain that with the changes of the times, the audience's demand for martial arts works is different, and wuxia seeks innovation and change to have a glimmer of life.
And the creators are also thinking about how to integrate more fresh elements into martial arts and find real new martial arts works. This year, there are more than ten new martial arts to be broadcast, such as "Lotus Tower" combines martial arts with suspense detective cases to make up for the creative gap of suspense detective martial arts, and the protagonist without CP is also very fresh to meet the needs of different groups; "One Thought Eternal" upgrades traditional martial arts and adds elements such as fantasy, comedy, and growth; "One Thought of Guanshan" is a story from the love of children to the righteousness of the family and country, and practicing the story of "the great hero, for the country and the people".
Everyone has martial arts dreams, and the new generation also has their martial arts dreams. In order to do a good job in the new martial arts, we must actively face the current challenges, grasp the key to cultural upgrading in the new era, but also grasp the unchanged chivalrous core, and in addition to paying attention to the unique and peculiar martial arts design, we must pay more attention to the shaping of character personality and the laying out of the drama plot. For the country and the people, independence and unruly, they are all heroes.
While affirming the knight's quick revenge, pulling the sword to help, distinguishing good from evil, opposing good and evil, and serving the country and the people, it also advocates a pluralistic and relative chivalrous value, in terms of aesthetic style, it not only retains the charm of the rivers and lakes, but also can be elevated with the technology of the new era, in order to carry out better self-innovation.
Any type of film and television work has its peaks and troughs, but martial arts dramas always have a certain market and audience base. At present, the new style of martial arts is still in the process of exploration, and it will take time to change. If there is a very good new martial arts benchmark work in the future, the entire market will move with it, thus promoting the further development of this genre, just like the palace fighting drama and suspense drama that was once popular. It is believed that at that time, the new martial arts will finally "laugh at the top of the rivers and lakes".