Preface
Although the love story of Cao Bingwan and Liu Xilie is bland, the emotions expressed are warm, and many people can't envy them. Under the camera, they look like young people in love, but after learning about their stories, the audience is worried, why is this?
Narrative themes and characterization in the novel "Dear".
As a non-fiction narrative method, how to tell a true story well and make it engaging is the biggest challenge it faces. Among them, the theme and character setting of the story are the core of this work. The reason why "Darling" can be successful is in large part because it chooses a theme that is close to life and at the same time most touches the hearts of modern people. In this era of rapid development, everyone is bound by the trend of the times and cannot help but move forward. In the hearts of many, love has become ethereal and elusive.
It is in this context that the birth of the song "Dear" makes people believe once again that there is really such a beautiful love in the world. As the psychologist Fromm said, love is an art that requires knowledge and hard work. Love is not a finite energy, if you give it to someone else, there is infinite energy with love in your heart. It is the two who care for each other and continue to give that makes this beautiful love and awakens the thirst, faith and expectation of modern people for love.
With the advent of the global "silver hair boom", countries around the world have launched documentaries focusing on the elderly and focusing on the aging society. This kind of character documentary takes the life experience of the elderly as the starting point and enlightens people from a unique perspective, which has high artistic value and social benefits. But on the other hand, due to the unique characteristics of the elderly, their pace is slow, their mobility is poor, and they cannot meet the audio-visual needs of most audiences, which is also the reason why documentaries and film and television works pursue economic benefits. Overall, there are not many documentaries on elderly people at present, and they are still a niche and unpopular genre.
These documentaries also have certain limitations on the image of the elderly, and most of them appear in negative images such as "lonely and widowed elderly", "left-behind elderly", "disabled elderly", etc., which makes the public have a negative aging sentiment towards the elderly, and deepens people's worries and anxieties about aging, so that the audience has a certain degree of prejudice against the elderly.
"Dear" has changed the image of the old man in the previous documentaries, Cao Bingwan and Liu Xilie have shown a positive attitude towards life and love each other, such a living state and attitude are difficult for young people to achieve today.
"Dear" presents an exemplary outlook on love and life attitude to the public, which makes people no longer feel pessimistic and fearful about old age, regain confidence in love, and be full of hope for the future.
Narrative features of the novel "Dear".
"Dear" is a documentary about ordinary people, and its narrative characteristics are significantly different from other documentaries. "Darling" is a very simple documentary.
In film and television works, the storyline is the foundation that supports the whole work. The plot of a documentary is different from that of feature films and TV dramas, which is subjectively created by the director or screenwriter, but on the basis of true records and respect for objective facts, according to the subject matter of shooting, the plot is appropriately selected, and the materials that have been sorted out and selected are reasonably arranged and combined, so that the theme and content to be expressed are more intuitively expressed.
Most of the daily life dialogues of old husbands and wives in "Darling" are not even scenes. The elderly rarely go out, either to the hospital or to the mountains to collect firewood. However, it is precisely because of such a simple plot that people can feel the author's intentions. The husband and wife play in their daily lives, joke with each other, and care for each other, all of which makes the documentary interesting and makes people feel warm in the ordinary.
The documentary takes a step-by-step narrative approach, which unfolds basically chronologically, and connects the content with specific thematic symbolism as the main thread. At first, it was a happy life for grandparents, but with the death of the old couple's pet dog, grandpa's illness became more and more serious, and grandma took the children to prepare for grandpa's departure. As the plot develops, the storyline is fully revealed.
Rhythm is the rhythm of regular changes in nature and human society. The rhythm of a documentary can be divided into two aspects: external rhythm and internal rhythm. Internal rhyme and external rhyme interact with each other, and internal rhyme is the basis of external rhyme, and there is an inseparable connection between the two. Only by being coordinated and unified can it be like a symphony, catch the audience's attention and promote the development of the plot.
Its intrinsic narrative rhythm is reflected through the plot development of the documentary itself. "Dear" is a slower documentary, the first half tells the love story of grandparents, giving people a bland and warm feeling, which also makes the grief generated after the death of grandpa even stronger.
The rhythm of the screen is reflected in the editing and sound effects on the screen. When the grandparents' children quarreled, the camera switched relatively quickly, and the grandparents' facial expressions and movements were filmed from multiple angles and multiple cameras, showing the tension of the plot.
This film combines the internal rhythm with the external rhythm to grasp the overall rhythm of the documentary just right, and the tension is moderate. When it is slow, it gives people a soothing but not dull feeling, and when it is fast, it does not give people a strong and abrupt feeling.
At the beginning, grandpa and grandma were sweeping the floor, and grandma was too tired from sweeping, so grandpa said, "Then I'll sweep, you have a good rest." Grandma patted him on the back gratefully. After that, the two went into the mountain, cut some firewood, and then roasted it by the fire, and the grandmother put a warm hand on the old man's head to warm the old man. Wherever they went, their hands were clasped tightly.
Grandma fell asleep, and Grandpa looked at her face, reached out and gently stroked her hair. These details run through the whole documentary, fully showing the love and love between the husband and wife, and also allowing the audience to better appreciate the deep affection of the two from these subtleties.
Use of symbolism
From a semiotic point of view, documentary is an all-encompassing system of symbols. It conveys a deeper message through basic elements such as language, images, colors, musical notes, scenes, and people's costumes, and is a unique cultural existence.
Documentary is an art that uses images and sound as the media, and it requires a series of image symbols in order to achieve the narrative intention of expressing emotions. Some symbols in the documentary "Dear" run throughout, which can be said to be thematic symbols, and are also an important clue to the film's narrative, which has a non-negligible role in promoting the development of the film.
River. The river is arguably the most obvious and important thematic symbol in this documentary. The name of the documentary is "Honey, Don't Cross That River", and the grandparents often sit by the river in a daze, and whenever two elderly people want to leave the village to go to the market or the hospital, they will hold hands and walk across the bridge across the river.
Grandpa was hospitalized, and his life was coming to an end, so Grandma went home and sorted out Grandpa's clothes and sat alone by the river. From two to one, it's sad. Life is like a river flowing, flowing endlessly, and no one can stop it.
Clothings. In this documentary, the costumes also play a role throughout the documentary. At the beginning of the documentary, the grandparents often appear in front of the camera wearing brightly colored hanbok, showing that although the two have been married for many years, they still love each other like their first love.
As the plot progresses, the grandparents begin to face death, they go to the market to buy a few clothes, and agree that whoever leaves first will send the clothes to the children. In the end, grandma burned grandpa's clothes one by one, and told him that when the weather was cold, he must wear a few more clothes, and he never wore bright clothes since then, but wore a dark dress to show grandma's reluctance.
Snow. Snow is an important symbol of documentary, and it plays an important role in moving the story forward. At first, the old lady sat in the snow and cried, and there was a desolate atmosphere in the snow. In the following story, my grandparents and grandmothers shoveled snow together, and my grandmother heard that eating the first snow would enhance her hearing, so she fed each other snow. Although it was icy and snowy, it was full of warmth. When Grandpa left, Grandma was also walking alone in the snow. Although the same thing is the same, the feelings expressed are very different.
Fire is an indispensable symbol throughout the documentary. At the beginning of the documentary, after a heavy snowfall, grandparents gather around a fire, and small dried fish and corn are placed on the bonfire. We sat by the fire, ate and talked, and from their conversations, we learned about the life stories of our grandparents and how they met.
The second time, it was the grandmother who told the story of their marriage, the two of them were married since childhood, and it was not until many years later that the grandmother knew what a husband and wife were and how the two of them should live. During this time, Grandpa was very gentle with her. Later, as Grandpa's health became worse and worse, Grandma burned Grandpa's clothes one by one, and that fire became a sign of their parting. Finally, when Grandma cried in the snow, the winter flames no longer warmed her.
"Darling" is a documentary with a strong Korean cultural flavor that contains many symbols of Korean culture.
Both hanok and hanbok are representatives of Korean culture. No matter what country you are in, it is difficult to see traditional clothing and architecture in modern cities, and even in South Korea, there are only some remote villages where the elderly living in hanok wear hanbok. Hanok hanbok is a symbol of traditional culture, but in the body of this old couple, it is so harmonious, which is the embodiment of the two of them being together for a lifetime.
Dialect. If you listen carefully, you will find that the pronunciation and intonation of the Korean spoken by these two old men are different from those in Korean TV dramas. In fact, there are two kinds of Korean, one is the standard language and the other is the dialect. In China, some elderly people live Xi dialect, and South Korea is no exception. The grandparents spoke a much more cordial dialect than Mandarin.
River. The river is the theme symbol of the documentary, and it also contains profound cultural connotations. This is a documentary called "Honey, Don't Cross That River", in fact, its other alias is "Gong Wu Crossing the River". The title comes from the Korean folk song "Song of Gong Wu Crossing the River", to the effect that the husband had to cross the river by himself in order to protect his wife from crossing the river, and accidentally fell into the river.
Therefore, Korean culture such as "crossing the river" and "crossing the river" all contain the meaning of "death". There are also many descriptions of words such as "Gong Wu crossed the river", "Gong actually crossed the river", and "fell into the river and died" in Yuefu poems, with similar meanings. Therefore, the title of this documentary also implies the meaning of "don't leave me", expressing the grandmother's attachment and longing for her grandfather.
Blocks. In the last scene of the documentary, there are several small stones made of stones. In Korea, these small stones are very common, such as by rivers, rivers, lakes, and seas. When Koreans play near the water, they almost always pile a small pile of rocks here. There are two theories about these stones, one is that if you pile them together, you can fulfill your wishes. The second is that the pile of stones can reincarnate the deceased so that they can be happy in the next life. The author believes that the appearance of these stone piles on the last page of the documentary is to express the nostalgia of the late grandfather Cao Bingwan and wish him a happy future in the next life.
Audiovisual language is made
Film and television narrative is inseparable from audiovisual language. "Dear" is a charismatic documentary with a unique charm in its audiovisual language. Due to the fact that there is little commentary in the documentary, in order to ensure the fluency, many explanations of time and space, the transformation of scenes, and unfinished emotions are conveyed through empty shots.
In documentaries, a large number of blank scenes are used to show the scene and timeline. The snow is on the eaves, the river is frozen, the wood in the furnace is burning, the cold winter is coming, the birds singing on the branches symbolize that the cold winter is gone, spring is coming, the flowers are blooming, and spring is coming. Judging from the rearview mirror of the bus, it should be my grandparents coming out.
Cohesion of the plot. When the old woman recounts her past with her grandfather, the first scene is that the grandparents are asleep. To make the story seem less obtrusive, a pile of firewood was used in the documentary, and then the camera focused on his grandmother sitting by the fire, looking at him. If the previous scene is sleeping and the next scene is the grandmother sitting on the bed, the picture becomes very strange. A piece of burning wood is added in the middle, which makes the picture more natural and gives the story more room for thinking and imagination.
Express your emotions. Many of the emotional expressions in the documentary are not directly presented in the footage, but in the empty scene to achieve unfinished emotions. In order to implicitly express the departure of the old man, the chair where the old man often sits is placed in the courtyard and on the snow-covered ground conveys a feeling of sadness and confusion.
Long focal length lens method. In "Darling", long shots are often used. For example, before the children visited, the grandfather would pin a brooch to the grandmother's hanbok jacket. This long and short shot faithfully records the grandfather's love for grandma. Due to his poor eyesight, Grandpa wore reading glasses, squinted, and struggled to pin the brooch neatly to the placket. Grandma raised her head from time to time and looked at Grandpa affectionately. At the beginning of the documentary, for a minute, grandma sat in the snow crying, and people couldn't help but ask: what is going on that makes grandma so sad?
At the same time, it also made people worry about their grandmother's future. At the end of the documentary, the same scene reappears. After the death of the grandfather, the grandmother burned all the grandfather's clothes, and then walked back while crying, and finally sat in the snow, looking at the grandfather's grave and crying, this scene lasted two and a half minutes, and the documentary ended with the crying sound, which solved the mystery at the beginning of the documentary, but it was more about the grandmother's future life worries, and the grief of losing relatives.
Close-ups, in "Darling", can be roughly divided into two types: one is a close-up of the faces of grandparents, showing their inner world through close-ups, and the other is a close-up of body parts, usually two elderly people holding hands, or some small movements, to show their love for each other.
In the documentary, there is a scene where the grandfather blows on the grandmother's knee, and then the two go to the hospital together, letting the audience know that the grandmother's knee is uncomfortable and needs to go to the hospital regularly for injections. After the injection, it was the grandfather who put his hand on the grandmother's knee and gently massaged it. Although neither of them spoke, and Grandpa did not look at her, the hand he placed on his knee clearly conveyed his concern for her.
When the grandmother recounted her six deceased children, the director first filmed the couple holding hands tightly, followed by a close-up of the grandfather's face and a close-up of the grandmother's face. Grandpa closed his eyes and lowered his head, and grandma looked ahead, there was no sadness on her face, no pain, only longing.
Fixed lens. Fixed footage is widely used in some documentaries. "Dear" also has a lot of fixed shots, which are often used to shoot couples sitting together, chatting, and fighting. The two old men sat at the door, chatting and singing at the same time, and the atmosphere was very harmonious. At this time, the angle and distance of the camera did not change, but after editing, the picture of grandparents sitting at the door singing and chatting was edited, and time passed quietly.
Long shots. From a distance, the audience seems to be in the role of a spectator, watching the life of grandparents from a distance, and can see their every movement in full, and experience their stories and experiences. Finally, when the grandfather is leaving, the helplessness of the grandfather, the sadness and crying of the grandmother and the children appear in the distant shots, and the audience is already aware of what is coming, but because of the distance, they cannot be as immersive as the close-up, which increases their sense of powerlessness.
Commentary. In a documentary, the narration and the picture interact and complement each other, delivering a complete message to the audience. The author believes that the biggest feature of this documentary is the narration.
In the past, documentaries were generally narrated by professionals, explaining the meaning or background of the picture. But in the documentary "Dear", there are very few explanations, and no one else speaks, and even the interviewer does not ask. Very few reviews are written by grandmothers. Through the grandmother's narration, the audience can understand how they met and how they went through what kind of tribulations.
The grandmother's voice is much more attractive and immersive than those professional actors. But again, when they finish watching the film, they also have an inexplicable feeling, what's going on? But it's not a disadvantage. Although the first time you watch it, sometimes you can't understand it, but it can make people watch it with relish.
Simultaneous sound. There is not much music in the documentary, and many times, it is dubbed to set the mood, and sometimes it acts as a narrator to explain the meaning of the picture to the audience. In the couple's daily life, they can often hear the sound of cicadas chirping and dogs barking, and when combined with the hanok, loess, and fields in the picture, a quiet and comfortable small mountain village is formed.
Compared to the metropolis full of high-rise buildings, this small mountain village seems to be more suitable for this loving old couple. If this were not the case, music alone would not have been able to convey the tranquility of the village, but would have affected the atmosphere of the entire documentary.
In addition to the sounds around you, you can also hear the voices of people. When Grandpa appears, it is often accompanied by wheezing, even heavy breathing. This sends a message to the audience that the old man is old, and it is a difficult task for him to bend down to pick flowers, but he is willing to do it to make his grandmother happy.
Background music. In order to objectively and truthfully convey the content of the picture, "Darling" has reduced the use of soundtrack, and the only piece of music is simple. The soundtrack is soft and peaceful, it doesn't need too many harmonies, it doesn't need too many strings, and it doesn't need too complicated tunes. When two elderly people are alone together, or when they are chatting, music is rarely played, only the voices of two people, or the sounds around them, so that the audience can concentrate better. When the feelings reach a certain level, the background music will appear.
For example, the children of grandparents get together and greet each other. At this time, music appeared, mainly piano and strings, with brighter voices and higher pitches, adding a cheerful, festive, and warm atmosphere to the whole picture. Another example is that my grandfather was so sick that he couldn't even speak, and when he was lying on the hospital bed, his grandmother cried.
This time, the music was played differently than before, using a four-quarter arpeggiation scale, with the middle and low segments predominantly and the piano sound dominantly, creating a deep and mournful atmosphere.
In film and television works, the colors presented by the picture can directly give the audience a visual first impression and lay the emotional tone. The first half of this documentary is relatively bright. Grandparents always wear colorful hanbok, talking and laughing, and the atmosphere is very warm.
In the second half of the documentary, the grandfather's physical condition is getting worse and worse, and the atmosphere is becoming more and more solemn, the bright hanbok disappears and is replaced by withered yellow dead leaves, grandma's dark dress, and snow all over the ground.
Animation techniques. With the passage of time, animation technology has become more and more mature, and its application in documentaries has become more and more extensive. With its unique function, animation can vividly express information that cannot be expressed in pictures and commentary. In order to implicitly show the grandfather's departure, the figure of the grandfather sitting on the chair in the documentary gradually became transparent, and finally disappeared, leaving only a chair lying alone in the yard.
epilogue
The Korean documentary "Darling" uses narrative strategies such as stepped narrative structure, Korean small national symbolization, and appropriate audio-visual language to perfectly interpret the elderly couple's later life and its touching love story, and with its positive attitude towards life, it has changed the negative image of the elderly in previous documentaries.