The suspense drama "Long Season", which ended earlier this month, is the domestic drama with the highest Douban rating this year.
The highest has reached 9.5 points, and it has also reached 9.4 points so far. Regarding this drama, the biggest controversy in the follow-up is "daddy taste". Critics argue that this is a good work, but it ignores the power of women and puts too much praise on a group of frustrated, greasy and bragging male characters in reality.
From the perspective of artistic creation, "The Long Season" is a good drama worthy of careful study by most practitioners. Whether it is theatrical technique or audiovisual language, it shows a very high level.
It is a male drama, a portrait of a group of losers. Its critical perspective is not sharp at all, and it even makes people like this group of "old men".
Domestic dramas, it has been a long time since a normal man has been filmed.
Most of the time, they are in a state of "meritorious service". Either he plays the current role of splitting legs, or he eats the "sea king" in the bowl and looks at the pot, and even domestic violence, cheating marriage, and eating soft rice are all in one.
Either slag or bad, some are slag and bad.
If the audience often watches domestic dramas, they will find a phenomenon: Wang Xiang, Gong Biao, Ma Desheng in "Long Season", and Liu Neng, Zhao Si, Xie Guangkun in "Country Love", there is no essential difference.
The shortcomings of both groups of people are similar. There are machismo, there are those who only care about their sons and do not care about their daughters-in-law, there are those who work hard to start a business and not only do not help but also constantly add to the chaos, and there are also those who go out to square dance every day.
The same attribute, why was "Long Season" spit on daddy, and "Country Love" was filmed for more than a dozen seasons?
The essence of this question is: what kind of men can domestic dramas shoot so as not to be scolded?
01
To answer this question, we have to start with the evolution of male characters in domestic dramas.
The male protagonist in the domestic drama has gone through three stages for more than ten years. Initially, it was the era of "flower beauty men".
Although Zhang Han has carved greasy into his bones now, when "Let's Watch the Meteor Shower" was broadcast, he still touched the hearts of many female audiences. Similar men, and a number of male protagonists in Guo Jingming's movie "Small Times" series. I still remember the group of abs men who wore clothes without buttons.
Let's Watch the Meteor Shower
Flower beauty men do not last long. One is easy to aesthetic fatigue, and their promise is nothing more than this fish pond and Metersbonwe. Second, it is difficult for actors to maintain good condition, fat and edema, will make people's dreams shattered.
Then, it was the era of overbearing presidents. There is another mention of Zhang Han here. He has played both a beautiful man and a domineering president, and even in a drama, he can play a beautiful man first in the early stage, and then play a domineering president in the later stage. It's a talent that no one else can learn.
The most famous overlord actor is Wang Yaoqing. Li Benteng, who he played in "Entrepreneurial Era", is not only domineering to women, but also domineering to men. Hegemonic and always overbearing.
02
Another branch of the overbearing president is the workplace elite. They generally do not start businesses and only act as partners in successful businesses. For example, He Han in "My First Half of Life" and Luo Bin in "Elite Lawyer". Initially, Wang Yaoqing also played such roles, such as Yan Daoxin in "Children Are Hard to Raise", Taylor in "Little Daddy" and so on.
Overlords and elites formed the main territory of the male protagonists of domestic urban dramas in previous years. The main attribute of this type of character is the leader. In women's dramas, they are either the best assistant to the heroine's growth path, or an excellent partner on their emotional road. In the entrepreneurial drama, they strategize and instruct others to work for themselves.
The life of such characters has gradually come to an end in these two years. The audience is no longer willing to watch the rich people point fingers, they know that in reality, they can't meet the kind Jin Dong and Wang Yaoqing, and they will only meet the greasy middle-aged belly who can't move "I test you" and "you young people". In the past, the main audience group of such dramas has long been tired of the heroine's class jumping, and there is always a man pointing fingers.
03
After the beautiful man, the overlord and the elite, the era of 3.0 has arrived - the era of ordinary men.
The hit "Ordinary Road" is a prime example.
The male protagonist Pan Yan played by Guo Qilin is not good-looking, his origin is ordinary, and his school is also average. It's hard to get into a good law firm, and I almost don't want him. But Pan Yan is with a mouth that can speak well, and a kind and courageous heart that will never be discouraged, and he has killed a bloody road alive.
Similarly, there is Sun Yiqiu (played by Bai Jingting) in "Ordinary Glory" and Zhang Guangzheng (played by Huang Xuan) in "Welcome". Yu Huanshui (played by Guo Jingfei) in "I Am Yu Huanshui" can also be counted as one.
"Pu Men" did not appear suddenly. It's just that at the beginning, they were mostly supporting roles. For example, Huazi (played by Zhu Yuchen) in "Struggle" and Xiaobei (played by Article) in "Snail House". Compared with Lu Tao, who is good at cooling against a big tree, and Song Siming, who is powerful, Huazi and Xiaobei look like a "Loser".
In "Snail House", screenwriter Liuliu gave Xiaobei a lot of ink to write how he loves seaweed, even if seaweed belongs to Song Siming physically and mentally, he is willing to start from scratch with it. But it's a pity that Liuliu didn't give Xiaobei a good way out.
"Snail House"
The same fate is also Zhang Xiaobei (played by Dai Xu) in "Ideal City". Wu Hongmei (played by Gao Ye) disliked that he could not give him the life he wanted, and turned around and threw himself into the arms of chairman Zhao Xiankun (played by Yu Hewei).
04
Compared with Xiaobei, Huazi and Zhang Xiaobei, Pan Yan has a clear goal. With a goal, there is a way out. This is also the usual difference between the protagonist and the supporting role of film and television dramas. This kind of character is still in the age of recklessness. There are not many facsimiles ahead of them. It's not like playing an elite, just learn from Jin Dong. In "Ideal City", Xia Ming played by Zhao Youting is a weakened + blackened version of He Han. The aura only learned seven points from the seniors.
"Ordinary men" can provide enough sense of substitution for male audiences. Film and television works generally have projection and substitution functions, the former is mostly used in male dramas, and the latter is usually constructed by female dramas. In terms of business value, the latter is far more successful than the former. In a word: projecting the strong is more shameful than substituting the weak.
Remember "Gentlemen of the East Eighth District"? Men have a sense of substitution for games and novels, but it is difficult for them to substitute themselves into Zhang Han's face. They may be content with the opposite sex when they drink hi, but it is difficult to accept Zhang Han's judgment on the opposite sex at the next table. But if it is replaced by Guo Qilin, it is another matter.
05
Domestic dramas need "general men", but they do not need "general believers". What is Puxin male? Douban users define ordinary men who are overconfident in themselves (in some ways). In reality, everyone needs to be confident, but on a screen full of dramatic conflicts, self-confidence can easily turn greasy and become showy.
The only way to overcome greasy is to dissolve. The best way to dissolve it is funny. Funny tricks to playthrough, is self-deprecating. In short, humor is the only effective way to dissolve the greasy feeling of on-screen confidence.
Sun Yiqiu in "Ordinary Glory" is not as pleasing as Pan Yan. On the one hand, Guo Qilin has his own sense of joy, Bai Jingting is a handsome guy, and his appearance is down. On the other hand, broken mouths are not something that anyone can do.
The comedy passage in "Ordinary Glory" was contracted by Zhang Zixian. In "Ordinary Road", Zhang Zixian played a similar role, aggressive, careful but quite joyful. This kind of person must be very annoying in reality. But in the TV series, don't say, it's quite funny. Anyway, it was Pan Yan who was scolded, not me.
In the era when "The Long Season" was spit on daddy and "Jin Dong" was criticized for being greasy, "ordinary man" may be the only solution for male characters in domestic dramas. While the audience is not yet aesthetically fatigued, let's hurry up and shoot.
【Text/Ma II】