In 2023, why did the idol drama change from a love of 10,000 people to a 10,000 hatred?
Serious homogenization and detachment from reality are the two main culprits of idol dramas.
In February 2023, Yan Chengxu wore the classic sleeveless vest of the Daoming Temple to sweep the building for the new drama "Summer Flower". Under the lens of the birth picture, the 46-year-old is still as delicate and handsome as 20 years ago, and many netizens left messages saying that "I can watch Yan Chengxu perform idol dramas for a lifetime."
However, in an interview, Yan Chengxu mentioned that he was afraid of being stereotyped by the audience in his past roles, and seemed to want to distance himself from idol dramas. "Summer Flower" director Zhao Xiaolei even clarified in the topic of #Yan Chengxu idol drama#, he was not shooting an idol drama this time.
Coincidentally, the main creators of many dramas such as "I Heard You Like Me" have spoken out one after another, saying that they are not making idol dramas. Chen Qiaoen, Ma Tianyu and many other actors who became famous for idol dramas have also publicly mentioned that they do not want to act in idol dramas again.
"I heard you like me", Wang Churan, Peng Guanying
On the film lists of major platforms, the words "idol drama" have long ceased to appear, replaced by subdivided themes such as youth and blood. For example, Tencent Video classifies "Twilight Heart Appointment" and "I Want to Miss You Very Much" as "youthful and upward", iQiyi classifies "Mobai" and "My Villain Boyfriend" as "growth power", and Youku classifies pampered theater dramas such as "Ignite Me, Warm You" as "romantic popular emotions".
The three words "idol drama" that were once in the sky have now become a label that everyone avoids.
So, how should idol dramas be defined? What is the market's attitude towards idol dramas today? From prosperity to the bottom of the chain of contempt, what have idol dramas experienced in the past 20 years? After talking to fans, art publicists, screenwriters and other people, Entertainment Studio tried to find an answer for the "10,000 suspects" of idol dramas.
"Summer Flower", Yan Chengxu, Xu Ruohan
What is an idol drama?
The idol drama first came from Japan.
At the end of the 80s of the 20th century, Fuji TV launched "trend dramas", that is, TV dramas aimed at young people shot with young staff, screenwriters and actors. In 1991, a "Tokyo Love Story" swept across Asia, marking the beginning of the trend drama hit. At the beginning of 1990, Japanese "trend dramas" were introduced in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and in order to attract more young audiences, they were renamed "idol dramas".
The definition of idol drama in the New Word Dictionary is "drama, film, television, etc. in which young people play the role of young actors who worship idols." This definition contains the two core elements of idol dramas: first, the protagonist is a high-value idol that young people like; Second, the plot is mainly based on love.
"Tokyo Love Story", Honami Suzuki, Yuji Oda
Artist Publicity Xiao Yang told Entertainment Studio that when they get a book or project book, they can basically judge whether the drama is an "idol drama".
One is the theme and subject matter. If the storyline of a project is simple, there is no sense of age and plot ups and downs, there are no realistic issues or deep expressions, and the keywords are sweet pets, hot blood, youth, dreams, etc., it will basically be regarded as an idol drama by the artist team.
The second is the team and lineup. If the director's and screenwriter's past works are mainly idol dramas, and the artists to be invited are basically from traffic idols, they will also be judged to be idol dramas.
In 1990, "Sixteen-Year-Old Flower Season" first put several high school students and boys and girls as the protagonists, which was regarded as the prototype of domestic idol dramas. Chinese mainland first idol drama in the standard sense was broadcast in 1998, starring Li Yapeng and Xu Jinglei "Carry Love to the End", which tells the tortuous love story between young people such as Yang Zheng and Wen Hui, and the TV soundtrack of the same name also opened a precedent for Chinese mainland idol drama soundtrack.
Top: "Sixteen-year-old Flower Season", He Wei, Chi Huaqiong Next: "Carry Love to the End", Li Yapeng, Xu Jinglei
The idol drama boom in the Chinese-speaking circle began with "Meteor Garden" in 2001. This Taiwanese drama adapted from Japanese comics and starring newcomers Yan Chengxu, Zhou Yumin, Zhu Xiaotian and Wu Jianhao has opened up the classic idol drama mode of "many men competing for one woman". This model was subsequently used in ancient dolls, modern dolls, and even urban dramas, and is still sought after by many creators.
Subsequently, idol dramas from Taiwan and South Korea were introduced in large quantities. Among the idols represented by "Full House" and "Prank Kiss", the male protagonist is domineering and handsome, the female protagonist is sweet and kind, the two do not fight and do not know each other, and the plot direction is mostly sweet first and then abused. At this time Chinese mainland although idol dramas such as "It's All Angels' Trouble" and "Eighteen-Year-Old Sky" also appeared, they were far inferior to the former in number and scale.
In 2009, the remake of "Let's Watch the Meteor Shower" from "Meteor Garden" was broadcast. Although it is inferior to the former in terms of styling and acting skills, it has broken a number of ratings records in one fell swoop, once again verifying the power of idol dramas. Subsequently, a number of idol dramas adapted from well-known romance novels appeared in the domestic drama market, such as "Shanshan is coming", "Bubble Summer", "Why Sheng Xiao Mo" and so on, especially "Shanshan is coming" starring Zhao Liying, which has opened up the domineering president model in idol dramas.
"Meteor Garden", Yan Chengxu, Zhou Yumin, Da S, Wu Jianhao, Zhu Xiaotian
At the same time, idol dramas with low thresholds and easy to copy have gradually become the hardest hit area of homogenization and shoddy manufacturing. After a fire "Shanshan is coming", dozens of "overbearing president x silly white sweet" dramas appeared, almost all of which are filled with a large number of similar wall knocks, earthy love words and other Mary Sue bridges, making the plot illogical.
With the rise of realistic themes, these idol dramas that are divorced from reality and can only create sweet fantasies for the audience have begun to slowly degenerate into synonymous with "low-quality and brainless". In the mainstream context, the term "idol drama" mostly appears in a negative image, and the mainstream media has repeatedly criticized low-quality works with "idol dramas in XX shells".
Influenced by public opinion, in the past five years, creators have also become more and more secretive about this theme.
In public cognition, "idol drama = idol actor + love theme", but in the view of the main creator, as long as it is not a drama shot with traditional idol drama techniques, it cannot be called an idol drama.
"Shanshan is Coming", Zhao Liying, Zhang Han
In the relevant reports of interface news, the creator of "Please Call Me Director" mentioned that the positioning of this drama is not an idol drama, but a realistic method to describe life and refine emotional relationships. Wang Zhi, the director of "You Are My Glory", also mentioned in an interview with Phoenix Network Entertainment that he was not shooting an idol drama, but using "romantic realism" to define the drama. The difference is that although the actor is an idol drama type, the plot is life-oriented.
Yixuan Xiaoyang said that artists and drama publicity will unify the caliber, highlight the labels of works outside of idol dramas, such as urban emotions, blood inspiration, etc., and ferment topics in scripts, story lines, acting highlights, resonance points, and social issues.
In the past 20 years, the idol drama that grew up with a generation has evolved from a day to a disgust of thousands of people.
"You Are My Glory", Yang Yang, Di Li Gerba
Why have idol dramas become "10,000 suspects"?
Serious homogenization and detachment from reality are the two main culprits of idol dramas.
Screenwriter Xiao Lei revealed that although the characters and routines of today's idol dramas have evolved many tricks, the core idea is "change the soup without changing the medicine".
The usual routine of idol dramas is that the emotional connection between the male and female protagonists is gradually drawn closer, and then they will be pulled away due to some misplaced memes or misunderstandings, and then they will be closer again after the misunderstanding is lifted. Screenwriters need to complete the control of users' emotions through this emotional pull setting.
"In the past, ancient idol dramas especially liked to let the male and female protagonists chat across the server, or hold everything in their hearts. But now the audience doesn't like this routine, so the screenwriter will turn out new tricks, such as female A and male O, self-strategy, but the core idea of 'getting closer - pulling away - getting closer' has never changed. ”
"Female A Male O" set "Si Ten", Jing Tian, Zhang Binbin
Since the core audience of idol dramas is women, screenwriters need to create female protagonists who can be substituted by women, and male protagonists who can be loved by women.
Xiao Lei remembers that when he first wrote the idol drama project, he once consulted a female screenwriter. The female screenwriter said that the key to the success of an idol drama is whether the male protagonist has personality charm. Whether it is a domineering president, a little wolf dog, or a little milk dog, he must satisfy women's fantasies about the perfect man.
However, when the heroine of the domestic idol drama continues to upgrade from "silly white sweet" to "independent, strong and confident", the evolution of the male protagonist's character is extremely slow.
In the netizens' selection of the top 30 domestic drama male protagonists set ceilings by FUNJI, the first place is still the male protagonist Tong Bo in "Shuiyue Dongtian" 20 years ago, he is a perfect man who integrates high appearance, high IQ and high emotional intelligence, and is a walking idol drama male protagonist template.
In the TOP30, the content of costume characters is as high as two-thirds, and the top 10 are also costume characters. This is because the costume background can have more room for imagination, so that the male protagonist has the feelings of home and country, and the blessing of righteousness, but in the real background, it is difficult for the screenwriter to break through the male protagonist setting in Korean puppets and Taiwan puppets. Or in other words, idol drama screenwriters are extremely timid and lacking in their imagination of modern male charm.
Secondly, the essence of idol dramas is to satisfy the longing and fantasy of young girls for love. When creating, the screenwriter can take the emotional development of the male and female protagonists as the main line, and the professional and social backgrounds of the characters are often reduced to background plates. Even if the screenwriter is not deeply involved in the world and does not understand the logic of career, life, and times, he can write a set of standard idol scripts. In order to rush work, many screenwriting studios even hire a group of college students who have not graduated from low salaries to mass-produce idol drama scripts, which eventually leads to the birth of all kinds of illogical and unrealistic shocking plots and lines.
In recent years, realistic themes that are absent in the era of idol dramas have become more and more favored by the market. According to China Entrepreneur Magazine, "Crazy" has become the drama with the largest traffic, the highest income and the greatest influence since iQiyi's establishment 13 years ago.
And idol dramas are going downhill. The "2020 Drama Chasing Girls Report" shows that idol dramas have the highest proportion of loved among the post-00s group. The proportion of love of the post-80s and 90s generation who grew up watching idol dramas is lower, even less than comedy and suspense themes. This group of audiences who have been baptized by idol drama routines grew up in the Internet era, have more channels to pay attention to social development, and think and speak more actively, which makes many viewers hate the "brainless sweetness" who does not respect the audience's IQ. Classic idol dramas such as "Xia Family Three Thousand Gold" and "Heaven's Wedding Dress" are often turned over by the current audience and criticized for "three incorrect views".
At the same time, relevant policies, funds and awards are also tilted towards realistic themes. Xiaolei revealed that some film and television companies even survive on support policies and funds. In the case of similar script quality, realistic themes are relatively easier to meet on the platform than idol dramas, which makes creators "abandon puppets and throw in". Idol dramas have become "outcasts" from top to bottom in the industry.
However, although the audience will scold idol dramas as "dirt and vulgar", they will also honestly contribute clicks. Xiaolei observed that the demand for idol dramas on major platforms has not decreased significantly in the past two years, but with the beginning of cost reduction and efficiency increase, the platform will concentrate the budget of the past wide net into key head IP projects, and cooperate with experienced screenwriters, directors and artists, which not only knows the bottom line, but also facilitates budget control, so that the quality of idol dramas remains in a stable range.
At the same time, there are also a group of creators who are trying new creative ideas. For example, "My Babylon Lover" added comedy elements to the middle two, and "Twinkle and Twinkle Star" and "Want to See You" added sci-fi suspense elements. These explorations are broadening the market and audience's perception of idol dramas.
Xiao Lei believes that today's idol dramas may have reached a point of bottoming out. "In the past, only 10% of idol dramas may have been of high quality. But if you can change this number, 90% of idol dramas are of high quality, then I believe that the industry and the audience will no longer be ashamed to mention the three words 'idol drama'. Xiao Lei said.
"Twinkle and Twinkle Star", Zhang Jianing, Qu Chuxiao
How do artists and fans watch idol dramas?
For artists, idol dramas are a "double-edged sword".
A well-made idol drama can quickly bring large traffic and high exposure to artists, and greatly improve the business and data of artists, commonly known as "raising coffee". According to Yien statistics, in the three years from 2019 to 2021, sweet dramas starring the new generation of idols have become an important channel for newcomers to "get out of the circle", and Zhao Lusi, Ding Yuxi, Cheng Yi, Su Xiaotong, and Zhang Linghe have all quickly become popular.
Yixuan Xiaoyang does not object to artists receiving idol dramas, but she has been acting in idol dramas after opposing artists "raising coffee", because idol dramas are difficult to do positive publicity in acting skills. In particular, the harm of an inferior idol drama to an artist may require multiple high-scoring works to be redeemed. For example, Huang Xiaoming, who already has classic works, some audiences' impression of him is still stuck on the greasy of "Bubble Summer".
"Especially when the artist is accustomed to the acting method of idol drama, or the market is accustomed to your set of appearance, there will be restrictions on the future drama path. Good actors can be put away freely, the key is that there are very few who can really be called 'good actors' now. Xiao Yang said.
If the artist decides to transform from an idol to an actor, the artist team will directly reject the script of the idol drama, focusing on the main drama with themes such as realism, criminal investigation, and era, even if it starts from a supporting role, but the role must be wonderful and bright. For example, Cheng Yi, who established a position in ancient puppet dramas, is willing to play the second male in the political and legal drama "The Bottom Line".
If the artist still has room for growth in the idol drama market, the artist team will give priority to high-quality scripts, reject industrial saccharin and nonsense, and preferably have some social issues, among which the first choice is a campus drama close to life, or a S+ level of the platform, a well-resourced and well-made head drama.
Zhao Lusi, who exploded with "The Rumored Chen Qianqian", almost never took over the small production of sweet pet online dramas, but moved closer to the platform S-level big IP dramas, such as "And Try the World", "Star Han Splendid, Moon Rising into the Sea", "Secretly Can't Hide" and so on. At the same time, Zhao Lusi is also actively experimenting with formal drama roles, such as the period drama "Hutong" and the Chinese medicine drama "Houlang".
"The Rumored Chen Qianqian", Zhao Lusi
The attitude of fans is more realistic. When artists are not popular, they hope that artists can act in big IP idol dramas to quickly attract fans and hone their acting skills. The opponent actor should preferably be a well-known little flower, which is convenient for "bringing coffee and lifting coffee".
When an artist succeeds in "raising coffee" due to an idol drama, the attitude of fans has been reversed. Xiao You, the head of a well-known actor's data station, told Entertainment Studio that five years is a watershed. If an artist has been acting in an idol drama for five years, he must start thinking about transformation, and seven years is the bottom line of transformation. Even if you can't receive a good book and a good role at the beginning, you can start acting in small roles and unit dramas, and the most important thing is to prove that you have acting skills other than idol dramas.
"Generally, the age at which idols or young actors start acting in idol dramas is basically 20-22, and it is basically three years to act in 5-7 years, and it is a little unsmart if you still focus on acting idol dramas."
At this time, fans will also have higher requirements for the lineup and rival actors. They can't accept artists and low-ranking teams and actors with poor reputation.
In 2021, when Yang Zi was exposed to Huanrui's self-made drama "Agarwood Like Crumbs", his fans set off a huge protest. One is because Yang Zi is tepid in the three Huanrui self-made fairy dramas "Qingyunzhi", "Dragon Ball Legend: Infernal Affairs" and "The Legend of the White Snake", but shines in "Ode to Joy", "Honey Sinks Like Frost" and "Dear, Love" produced by external companies, and fans are greatly worried about the quality of "Agarwood Like Crumbs", a series in which many female artists resigned. Secondly, Yang Zi already has a masterpiece of Xian Xia drama, and fans think that her continued performance has not made much breakthrough, and doubts that she will raise coffee for rival actors.
"Agarwood like crumbs", Yang Zi
After the artist has an idol drama masterpiece, fans hope that the artist and the high-reputation team such as the noon sun can play with the old drama bones, on the one hand, they can contact more formal drama resources, on the other hand, there is more publicity space.
"Our propaganda will not emphasize the idol drama part, but will bring out the elements in the play that are side to the main drama, such as the workplace, suspense and so on. Secondly, we will highlight the main creative team and emphasize the participation of old drama bones. After all, everyone knows that idol dramas have a bad reputation in recent years. Xiaoyou said.
Although the team and fans tried their best to avoid idol dramas, the real feedback from the market could not be avoided.
The reason why many young actors are bound to the term "idol drama" is not because of the script and publicity, but because they do not show convincing acting skills, and their appearance becomes the only impression left in the audience's heart.
For them, the priority is not to avoid idol dramas and gather up for formal dramas, but to concentrate on honing acting skills worthy of formal dramas. Without qualified acting skills, no matter how solid the script is and how many old drama bones are matched, they will be the most "idol drama" existence.
Noon Sunshine word-of-mouth drama "The Beginning", starring Bai Jingting and Zhao Jinmai
(Xiao Yang, Xiao Lei, Xiao You are pseudonyms)
References: "Flying Between Imagination and Reality: A Study of Chinese Youth Idol Dramas", Zhou Yong, Feng Xin, Television Studies