Life is full of "siege" - people in the city want to go out, people outside the city want to come in, there is a certain degree of dilemma and confusion. For wanderers who are wandering in other places, they have a deep experience: they often feel that the bustle of the city has nothing to do with them, and it is difficult to move forward when looking back at the once familiar hometown. So, where exactly is the destination?
In recent years, a large number of film and television works have focused the lens on the "urban drifters" who are running and working in big cities, or with this as the theme, focusing on writing the life conditions of young people who are trying to gain a foothold in big cities, or adding the group type of "urban drifters" to the main character settings, enriching the story line, some of them are in order to realize their dreams and pursue a better life, and some are trying to escape the troubles caused by their original families, and want to find a starting point by their skills.
Excellent characterization to bring soul to the story. Is the setting of the people in the play credible? Is the "city drift" life they show real? How to solve the double dilemma of physical and mental drifting? It is worth affirming that after several years of precipitation, in today's film and television works, the portrayal of the "urban drift" group has gradually faded into a more diversified direction.
Avoid the "reality" of life
Create a down-to-earth "city drifter"
Film and television works that show the life of the "city drifters" are most criticized for being "suspended". For example, the protagonist is set as a migrant worker struggling in the north, with an ordinary income and family situation, and emphasizes the hardships of life many times in the plot, but he lives in a large house with floor-to-ceiling windows and excellent views, wears a famous brand, drives a luxury car, and is frequently opened by the screenwriter "Goldfinger". Such a setting makes it inevitable for the audience to be in the clouds: they can't really feel how strong the character's ability to work, let alone feel the chicken feathers of the wandering life itself, and the discussion of human nature naturally floats on the surface, which is contrary to the real state of the "city drifters".
In a rental house far from the city center, the protagonist Pan Yan wears fat clothes and climbs down from the second bed. Here the light is dim, the space is tight, and things are messy, Pan Yan suddenly received an interview notice from his favorite law firm, but he couldn't find a decent formal suit, so he could only go in a sweatshirt. The many difficulties in the job search process made him not confident of "winning the battle", and his mother, who opened an online taxi, encouraged him: "Life does not stop, the battle does not stop." ”
This is the opening scene of the recent hit drama "Ordinary Road", which instantly captured the hearts of the audience. Pan Yan, a "city drifter", does not have a glamorous academic background or a family background that can provide high-quality resources, and cannot win the favor of his colleagues. For a tricky case, he began working overtime from the first day of employment, and several overnight hours were exchanged only by the dissatisfaction of his superiors with his dress.
Many crises that may arise in life are often not answered correctly. Rich life experience has allowed Pan Yan, who is not professional in business, to solve many troubles that professional lawyers cannot solve. With sincerity and practicality, he has gradually won the recognition of the people around him, and gradually improved his professional ability. As the plot progresses, the audience can perceive the cognitive and state differences of different social circles through Pan Yan's experience, and empathize with the cruel reality faced by the little people when they work hard in a foreign land.
Life flow narrative fills the character image
Write the lives of ordinary people in multiple dimensions
Telling the story of the "City Drifters", it is often easy to fall into the Mary Sue cool drama routine of the protagonist's counterattack all the way, although it will be crazy to implant hot spots in the plot and stay on the hot search topic list, but the reality is that it has not played a role in making the audience truly empathize.
"Beijing Women's Guide" is a more typical Mary Sue cool drama, although under the banner of "female independence" and "life in the north", it weakens the true profile of the heroine Chen Cong's experience of fighting as a strong woman from "Little White Rabbit", not only inexplicably opening all the way in her career, but also developing emotional lines with 11 boyfriends one by one, each boyfriend has played a key role in helping Chen Ke's survival in Beijing.
It can be seen that the work is trying to create emotional resonance for the audience, such as deliberately setting up "golden sentences" at the end of each episode to say some chicken soup-style truths, trying to make the audience who may be confused with the same kind of protagonist suddenly cheerful. However, such a didactic content output highlights the thinness of the character itself, like a weak hypocrisy, but makes the audience confused.
In fact, extracting the true nature of human nature from life and completing the narrative steadily, can be far better than deliberately set topics, golden sentences, routines and so on. As Yuan Bullet, the screenwriter of the TV series "Welcome" produced by Noon Sun, said: "Clumsy and reckless life is also an urban reality. "Instead of deliberately pursuing hot spots and contradictions, we try to show a life, both joyful and sweet, slowly unfolding, and somewhat forbidden to be touched." With a delicate life flow narrative and three-dimensional character shaping, this work captures the sadness and joy of the little characters in Beipiao. The male advocate is kind, patient, and empathetic, but intimidating and clumsy. "Patience" is his philosophy of life as Beipiao, but in the face of the girl he likes, Zhang Guangzheng will also bravely pursue love and strive to become a better person.
Life is a kaleidoscope, ordinary and wonderful. "We hope to reflect different life dilemmas and choices, while showing a diversity of life paths, values and views on love." Compared with the cool drama setting of the small people's counterattack, although the plight and growth of ordinary people are clumsy, although not glamorous enough, although there is no strong dramatic contradiction and conflict, it is more real. The play "Welcome" has created vivid portraits of the Beipiao group, who still love life after recognizing the truth of life. As the Beijing Evening News commented: "The idealism of small people who have the courage to pursue dreams and an optimistic life may be the ambition of "Welcome". ”
Where will the "City Drifters" drift?
Healing dramas have gradually become a creative trend
For a long time, in the film and television works showing the life of the "city drifters", people who come to big cities are bound to be eager to get ahead, and will do whatever it takes to realize their dreams, but they are often overwhelmed by housing prices and jobs. Representative works such as "Struggle", "Naked Marriage Era", "Beijing Love Story", etc., the tragic life of the "city drifters" is so fixed on the screen, and the people in the play are often imprisoned by invisible shackles, thus succumbing to reality.
The relaxed and positive social environment provides young people with more free choice space, and also makes the mentality of the "urban drifters" more optimistic and positive. Correspondingly, more and more realistic works focusing on the optimistic attitude of the "city drifters" have been broadcast one after another, such as in "A Year Without Work", the light rain is a portrayal of many Shanghai drifting girls, one puts his career first, the other has a dream more and more frustrated, the two live under the same roof and heal each other. What exactly is the direction of "drift"? Everyone will have their own wonderful.
Focusing on the real life of urban foreigners after the 80s and 90s, "I'm Good in Another Country" heals people's hearts with a calm and restrained narrative, and the film centers on 4 women, telling the trials of life, career, and feelings they experience in the wandering of the metropolis. In the view of screenwriter Yu Shuang, "people's lives go on forever", calm and restrained emotions are almost the norm owned by "migrant workers" in first-tier cities, rarely have strong emotional fluctuations, and more are forbearance and helplessness. "The commonality is, first of all, wandering people, and secondly, we hope that they can finally be reduced to the ordinary and brave kind of people."
In a foreign country, the most rare and longing thing is the warmth given by others. In "I'm Good in Another Country", a box of snacks, a blessing, and a candy from others are all kindness from strangers, all of which heal the hearts of the "City Drifters". Whether it is trying to take root in the city, or returning to the hometown to seek stability, whether choosing anxiety and panic, or calmly coping with the unknown, the screenwriter has given the optimal solution of "living in the moment", which can be described as "healing after depression".
Film and television works that tell the story of the "City Drifters" provide the audience with a certain emotional channel to seek resonance, or present a certain imagination space. Almost every film and television work related to Beipiao and Shanghai Drift will cause heated discussions during the broadcast. Those issues that open due to the direction of the plot and the choice of characters are actually the examination and torture of real life. The convincing images of the "city drifters" will converge into a struggle guide belonging to young people in the new era, bursting out powerful healing power.