"Avenue Fire" starts broadcasting on CCTV tonight, Hou Jingjian plays Chairman Mao again, and the three supporting roles can be expected
Which type of CCTV is the best at and the most unique type of Chinese drama?
There is only one answer - revolutionary historical drama.
This kind of "genre drama" with the most Chinese characteristics and the most loved by the older generation of audiences can be divided into two types according to the content.
One is to focus on the life course of important historical figures, mainly literary drama. For example, "The Age of Awakening", "Our French Years", "Just a Classmate Youth".
The advantages of these 9-point revolutionary historical dramas often lie in the character style, life scenes, and detailed foreshadowing.
Another is to focus on important battles and large-scale wars, and "martial arts" account for a heavier proportion, such as "Long March", "Crossing the Yalu River", "Armageddon" and so on.
The war scenes in these CCTV dramas, including positional battles, siege battles, night raid battles, etc., include various types of battles. The explosions were deafening and the charging scenes were earth-shattering, giving the audience an immersive viewing experience.
Whether it is literary opera or martial arts, every revolutionary historical drama preserved by time is not only for the current audience, but also for future generations, it is also a spiritual wealth.
But the last revolutionary historical drama that impressed the audience was "The Age of Awakening" two years ago. In the past two years, various types of Chinese dramas have blossomed, and revolutionary historical dramas, should new classics also emerge?
CCTV struck.
On September 15, that is, tonight, the 33-episode revolutionary historical drama "Avenue Fire" starring Hou Jingjian, Zhang Bo, Wang Weizhi, Wang Jinsong, etc. will officially land on CCTV, and various platforms will also be broadcast simultaneously.
The appearance of this drama also officially unveiled the prologue of the next wave of revolutionary historical dramas, Huang Xuan, Wang Lei's "Shangganling", Wang Renjun starring "Kunpeng Hitting the Wave" and other big dramas are coming one after another.
Compared with the broadcast platform, I am more concerned about the 3 core highlights of this drama, and these 3 major highlights also determine whether this new drama can burn the torch of revolutionary historical dramas again, and the road will move forward.
1. Story: These two words said by Hou Jingjian on CCTV prove that the show has won at the starting line
The biggest quality assurance of "Avenue Fire" is CCTV.
The play has been selected as a key drama of CCTV's 2023 "Grand Drama Watch", and in the past, it has also been selected for major dramas such as "The Age of Awakening" and "The World".
Every revolutionary historical drama has a corresponding year and historical event, and the corresponding year of "The Great Avenue Fire" is hidden in the poster of the series -
See the time gears in the poster? 1931-1936。
The play is precisely based on this period as the focus of the story, with the identity and ideological changes of Chairman Mao and other great figures as the main axis, and follows the historical context to present us with the turbulence of the Chinese revolution in that era.
It is not difficult to see that the two highlights of the play:
First, major historical events.
The play truly restores a series of major events such as the Nanchang Uprising, the establishment of the Jinggangshan Base Area, the Zunyi Conference, and the 25,000-mile Long March.
During this period, Chairman Mao first went deep into the countryside to conduct investigations and conducted in-depth research and exploration on the road of the Chinese revolution in the Soviet region.
Subsequently, he led the Red Army to win four counter-encirclement and suppression, and after the failure of the fifth counter-encirclement and suppression, he began the Long March with the Red Army.
The Zunyi Conference in 1935 and the end of the Long March in 1936 marked not only the return of the Red Army to the right track, but also the establishment of Chairman Mao's leadership within the Party.
In the trailer, Premier Zhou Enlai, played by Zhang Bo, also uttered a key line, "I fully support Comrade Mao Zedong in leading the Red Army." ”
Undoubtedly, the play will have many historical details that we did not know or understand in the past, and the core of all stories is a vast historical road of the Chinese revolution.
The second is to "fill in the blanks" of history.
In the current revolutionary historical drama, a major creative problem is that pearl jade is ahead.
Many historical stories have already been seen by the audience, how to shoot new ideas?
A paragraph of the starring Hou Jingjian in an interview with CCTV revealed the mystery - two words, economy.
Where is the economy? The Soviet zone, of course.
Hou Jingjian also posted that the play "specializes in telling the story of 5 years in the Soviet region."
Which stories the audience has not seen yet -
For example, "At that time, the Supreme People's Court, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Labor, Education, banks, hospitals, and even post offices, publishing and printing bureaus, etc., were established. ”
For example, "How to overcome the epidemic." Our party's red economy, how minerals operate. ”
Also, "Chairman Mao had several ups and downs in politics and the military, and some comrades did not understand what the most important reason was." ”
Even, "what was the first printing of RMB Su banknotes".
Xu Enzeng, the director of the Central Statistics Bureau played by Wang Jinsong in the play, also said another important battlefield from the opposite direction - in addition to military encirclement and suppression, from which field did the Kuomintang vainly try to block the burgeoning Soviet region?
"Economy!"
With this special angle, is it different from the revolutionary historical dramas I have seen in the past?
What is the firefire? The development of the Soviet region and the establishment and growth of the red economy in those years were the torch.
Power came out of the barrel of a gun, and in the Liberation War more than 10 years later, the Kuomintang naturally lost to us in the frontal battlefield.
However, those who are familiar with the Liberation War know that there is another key reason why the Kuomintang army collapsed so quickly and could not be formed, that is, it was already in the battlefield of economic warfare, and it was completely defeated ahead of schedule.
And the flame of the coming day is precisely from the spark of the Su region at this time.
You say, this story, can't you enjoy it? Fine is not wonderful!
2. The main creator: the screenwriter of "Deng Xiaoping in the Turning Point of History" + the director of "Diplomacy", too stable
"Avenue Fire" attracted me, in addition to the theme and CCTV, there was also the main creative lineup.
But let's not talk about the actors, because all major historical themes test the skills of screenwriters and directors, and it is not an easy task to tell a historical revolution "story" spanning several years in just 33 episodes.
What's more, this period covers too many revolutionary predecessors, martyrs, historical figures, and various major events.
How to shoot clearly and clearly without losing a strong sense of history is the key.
Take a closer look behind the scenes, focusing on a "hard".
Screenwriter Zhang Qiang, is the screenwriter of "Deng Xiaoping in the Turning Point of History", Douban 8.4, which is the best illustration of the screenwriter's strength.
Director Song Yeming, holding "38 Degrees North Latitude" with 8.9 points, "Diplomatic Storm" with 8 points, as well as TV series such as "Blood Siping", "Peng Dehuai Iron Blood Xiang, Hubei and Gan" and other TV series.
In terms of film, he also served as the executive director of "Armageddon - Liaoshen Campaign" and "The Great March: Sweeping the Great Southwest".
This director is not only good at directing revolutionary historical works, but also has both cultural relics, can shoot large-scale war scenes, and is also good at shooting literary dramas and shaping characters.
With these two powerful people at the helm, it is stable.
3, actors: Hou Jingjian plays Chairman Mao again, Zhang Bo premieres Premier Zhou, and the actors have too many highlights
Another feature of "Avenue Fire" is that because the protagonist was relatively young when the story took place, a large number of special actors familiar to the audience did not participate, and the new generation of successor actors have provoked the beams in the play.
The most important thing is, of course, Hou Jingjian.
From a dramatic point of view, Mao Zedong, played by him, is the protagonist of the entire drama and the most important role in the entire play.
This role is the soul of this drama and is related to the success or failure of the entire show.
And Hou Jingjian is undoubtedly the most widely recognized actor who plays Chairman Mao after Gu Yue and Tang Guoqiang.
In "Mao Zedong" in 2013, he cooperated with Tang Guoqiang to restore the magnificent life of the great leader.
With the successive broadcasts of dramas such as "Glory and Dreams", "Red Boat" and "Xiang Jingyu" in which he has participated in these years, Hou Jingjian has become a "chairman professional".
But from the performance point of view, Hou Jingjian's real performance breakthrough is "The Great Turn", in this drama, Hou Jingjian proves that he has the strength to perform the beauty and style of a great man.
And "Age of Awakening" allowed him to complete the circle at the level of ordinary audiences.
Over the years, Hou Jingjian has become closer and closer to the role of Chairman Mao, a person who never eats chili peppers, specially found ruthless chili peppers to cultivate his own spicy habits, and finally became "no spicy", when filming, real chili peppers are used.
During the filming of this play, Hou Jingjian also noticed a detail, that is, Chairman Mao's costume.
The prop teacher originally gave him a standard costume, but Hou Jingjian proposed that he hoped to make a grinding mark on the cuffs, why? Because this was the period when Chairman Mao focused on writing social surveys, every night he wrote on the desk, and of course the cuffs would wear out.
When an actor is no longer passively speaking lines according to the script, but actively integrating into the character world, allowing the performance to penetrate into every detail, he has a certain strong empathy, allowing him to travel through a hundred years of time and capture the charm of his ancestors.
The times are far away, for most people, great people just stay in textbooks, stay in historical documents, but good performances can let the audience see a real and vivid person living in a special period.
The greatest performance is precisely to portray great people as mortals.
The mortals mentioned here do not refer to their status or ordinary contributions.
Rather, they are also like you and me, with seven emotions and six desires, joy, anger and sorrow.
For example, the Mao Zedong, who was once misunderstood during the Long March and walked alone in heavy rain.
This scene in the trailer has already moved me very much, I boldly rehearsed, Hou Jingjian's performance this time is very likely to become another breakthrough in his actor career as Chairman Mao.
We'll see.
The second actor worth looking forward to is Zhang Bo, who plays Premier Zhou.
Zhang Bo played Premier Zhou for the first time.
Zhang Bo is certainly a good actor and good at historical dramas, but this is a huge challenge.
Previously, Zhang Bo played Sun Quan in "Three Kingdoms" and played Huan Ji in "The Great Qin Empire", and his acting skills were well known.
In "Ice and Snow Sharp Knife Company", his role as Mei Sheng, that is, the role of Zhu Yawen in "Changjin Lake", was once again affirmed.
But playing Premier Zhou is more difficult than these roles. Because the audience is more familiar with this character, there is no need to say more about their love for Premier Zhou.
Among the new generation of actors who challenge this role, there are Zhu Yawen, Huang Xiaoming, Jin Dong, Chen Kun, etc., and only Zhu Yawen is really the most recognized.
In particular, his role as Premier Zhou in "My French Years" reveals perseverance and majesty in his elegance, which is a performance with both form and spirit.
The success of this performance also proves that the audience does not reject the new actor playing this classic character, the key is whether the actor can grasp the essence of the character.
Good luck to Zhang Bo.
The third place is Wang Weizhi.
It's a casting that you can hardly go wrong with.
Wang Weizhi completed the acting breakthrough of playing Mr. Zhu, also in "The Great Turn".
In "Founding Father Zhu De", he and Wang Wufu played the young and old Zhu De successively.
In recent years, Wang Weizhi has played Mr. Zhu, which not only shows the military temperament of the character who is not angry but powerful, but also brings out the personality charm that is as strong as steel.
Wang Weizhi's performance will definitely not disappoint the audience, and I am more concerned about whether he can complete another performance breakthrough with this play.
The fourth place, Wang Jinsong.
This has successively played Wang Puchen of the Beiping Station Station of the Ministry of National Defense Secrets Bureau in "No War in Beiping", and the old drama bone of Guan Yongshan, the head of the Military Intelligence Section of the Military Command Intelligence Section, in "Thin Ice", this time playing another real figure in history - Xu Enzeng, director of the Kuomintang Central Statistics Bureau.
So far, Wang Jinsong has completed the grand slam of his role as a personal actor, the Kuomintang Central Unification, the Military Unification, and the Secret Security Bureau.
In recent years, Wang Jinsong is undoubtedly the golden supporting role of the national drama, and all kinds of big dramas are constant, and the positive and negative angles can be performed.
In "Armageddon", he played Chiang Kai-shek, and the back of his head was full of drama.
This time, he played Xu Enzeng, in the trailer, a glimpse of the sky, a line has full weight - "Economy!" ”
I can't help but wonder how he fights us in the play.
4. Fireburn: Revolutionary historical drama, it's time to walk out of a new avenue
Undoubtedly, "Avenue Fire" will be a blockbuster in the Chinese drama market in the near future.
But even the great drama of revolutionary history must face the test of the market.
The previous "Ice and Snow Sharp Knife Company" experienced a slow and hot process, and it was only in the middle and later stages of the episode that it was truly recognized by the audience.
To put it bluntly, this audience is not good to serve.
In the past, there have been many main theme film and television works, with a lot of investment and excellent production, but they just can't catch fire.
The reason is that the story is superficial and has become a historical account.
To break through in today's market environment, revolutionary historical dramas must walk a new avenue.
"Avenue Fire" is undoubtedly a well-intentioned crew.
The entire crew has more than 700 cast and crew, traveling to more than 13 groups of revolutionary historical sites, such as Jinggangshan, Zunyi, Gansu Huining, etc., and the field shooting is only to restore the real history.
The production period coincided with the epidemic, and the crew experienced flooding again, and filming was difficult.
Even so, the main creator did not reduce the requirements for creation, Hou Jingjian told a detail on CCTV, all the main actors, enter the shooting site in advance to familiarize themselves with the environment.
Because the actor suddenly enters an environment will have a strange feeling, and the main character in the play has been living in the Su District for a long time. The actors enter the scene in advance in order to enter the familiarity of the environment of the performance when filming.
Today, there are not many crews who can do this.
Many people say that the main audience of revolutionary historical themes is middle-aged and elderly audiences.
But this is not absolute, "Age of Awakening" was able to break the circle that year, relying on the tap water of young audiences.
On the contrary, I think that revolutionary historical dramas are the most suitable dramas for young people to watch at present.
Because young audiences watch "The Great Torch" and watch the stories of those great people, they can also put themselves in it and feel the same way.
Before that, "Chinese revolution" may have been just a few words in a textbook.
But in front of this scene, these words have a real texture.
For the first time, they may also realize that they can have so much resonance with historical figures from nearly a hundred years ago.
Although this generation of young people was born in an era of peace, those spirits can never and should not be forgotten.
Imperialism's will not die, and today's international environment is not so peaceful.
At this time, it is more necessary for the new generation to relive the spirit of the story era and generation in "The Great Avenue Fire".
What is the theme of revolutionary history?
Some people believe that the major theme of telling the feelings of home and country is called the theme of revolutionary history.
Historical figures who tell the story of revolutionary martyrs and heroes are called revolutionary historical themes.
All right.
But I think that the real theme of revolutionary history must first make the broad masses of the people like to hear and move, so that the new generation of audiences can feel the torch of the revolution of that year.
"The avenue is the direction, and the torch is the spirit; Events belong to history, and spirit is left to the present. ”
Along the avenue of that year, China today is already picturesque.
And the real drama of revolutionary history should be passed on from generation to generation.