The background and creation of "Desire".
In the early 90s of the 20th century, China's TV drama industry was in the stage of experimentation and exploration.
Choreographers and directors are eager to show the atmosphere of the times through their works, and at the same time, they also want to tell a good story and resonate with the audience.
One day, several directors accidentally saw a news story in the newspaper that was only 300 words: a kind woman adopted a baby girl, and although her family was poor, she still insisted on raising the girl.
The writers and directors felt that the news was gripping and could be expanded into a touching TV series.
As a result, the directors decisively decided to use this news as a blueprint to create together. They repeatedly discussed creative ideas, and you enriched the storyline and sketched more vivid characters.
After months of brainstorming, an 800,000-word script took shape, and the play was titled "Desire". The directors feel a great responsibility, and they look forward to presenting a high-quality TV series through their own efforts to meet the spiritual needs of the audience.
Build a soundstage and hire star actors
In order to create China's first chamber drama, the Beijing Television Art Center found a venue at the foot of the scenic mountain in western Beijing and raised more than 2 million yuan to build a huge studio.
The studio consisted of two buildings the size of basketball courts, with a total area of 1,300 square meters, which was unprecedented at the time.
The studio is decorated with quaint courtyard houses, narrow old Beijing hutongs, and various housing buildings. It's hard to believe that these scenes were built indoors without knowing it beforehand, and they are almost indistinguishable from the real thing.
Matched with advanced equipment, there is also a sophisticated team of actors. Including popular movie stars Li Xuejian, Zhang Kaili, as well as Sun Song, Huang Meiying and other cutting-edge actors. They are not paid, but they are honored to be part of this landmark series.
For this common dream, they are willing to endure all kinds of hardships during the filming and go all out to present their characters.
The filming process was difficult, and many people had physical problems
As the first chamber drama in the mainland, "Desire" has extremely high requirements for the basic skills of actors. They had to shoot intensively in the studio during the day, and they had to stay up late at night to memorize their lines.
What's even more bitter is that in order to save costs, there is no heating equipment inside the studio, and there is no heating even in the cold winter in Beijing, and the actors can only rely on the hot water bottles on their bodies to keep warm.
Working in such difficult conditions, various problems arose with the physical condition of the actors. The heroine Zhang Kaili suffers from premature heart beats and relies on medication every day to maintain it.
Huang Meiying was suspected of having cancer during a physical examination, which was later confirmed to be a misdiagnosis. Li Xuejian was even more involved in the play too deeply, and the hot water bottle burned his skin.
But none of the actors shirked their work because of this, they silently suffered and even concealed their illness, just to complete the filming task as soon as possible. The director and producer are very understanding and concerned about this, and try to help the actors as much as possible.
It was with the full cooperation and mutual support of the team members that the filming of "Desire" was successfully completed. These efforts demonstrate the spirit of self-improvement and perseverance of Chinese artists.
Shooting while creating is extremely efficient
In order to complete the production of "Desire" within the limited filming cycle, the crew adopted an efficient mode of writing the script and shooting at the same time. Screenwriter Li Xiaoming has to output a large number of scripts at an extraordinary speed every day, with a maximum of 100,000 words in a single day.
After the actors got the script, they couldn't know the complete setting of their roles in advance, so they could only shoot one by one.
The whole crew is groping forward, but everyone is full of enthusiasm and dedication to work. Due to the tight schedule, every scene was a first-time success, otherwise the entire workflow would have to be repeated.
But all understand the importance of the task, give it their all, and react quickly. Under high pressure, the tacit understanding and cooperation of the team have reached a high degree of unity.
"Desire" was a huge success
In 1991, "Desire" premiered and was an unprecedented success. It has an average rating of 98%, surpassing many well-known TV series. The audience expressed their love for it, and the fate of the characters in the play deeply engaged and resonated with everyone.
The reason why "Desire" can achieve such a huge success is that it is closely related to the fate of ordinary people, and has a sense of realism and substitution. What the audience sees is not only the storyline, but also the portrayal of the lives of ordinary people in that era.
The subtle portrayal of the characters' personalities also allows the audience to see the shadow of themselves.
At the same time, the theme song "A Good Man's Life is Safe" is very popular and has become a cultural phenomenon. The audience saw the core values of the Chinese nation through "Desire", which sublimated people's spirit.
It has created a precedent for Chinese TV dramas and promoted the development of TV drama creation in the direction of truth and reflection of the times. "Desire" became part of the collective memory of a generation, and its influence went far beyond a TV series itself.
The core values of "Desire".
The reason why "Desire" can have a long-term influence is that it embodies the core moral values of the Chinese nation. In particular, the image of the heroine Liu Huifang, she represents the quality of Chinese women's self-improvement.
Although Liu Huifang lived a difficult life, she still had a kind heart and adopted an orphan who had no relatives and no reason with her, and regarded it as her own. In the process of raising this daughter, Liu Huifang paid great love and patience to finally raise her to adulthood.
This spirit of great love and selfless dedication represents the great feelings of the older generation.
The virtues and values presented in "Desire" are exactly in line with the psychological needs of the audience at that time. In that era of scarcity of material conditions, people were more eager for spiritual sustenance.
"Desire" has become the collective spiritual sustenance of an era, arousing people's expectations for good things in their hearts. It is not only retained in the camera lens, but also engraved in the hearts of countless audiences.
The historical influence of "Desire".
Time flies, "Desire" has been on the air for 30 years, but its influence has not diminished at all. On major video websites, the cumulative number of views of "Desire" is as high as billions, becoming the most popular classic drama after "Dream of Red Mansions" and "Journey to the West".
This family ethics drama successfully touched the hearts and minds of ordinary people, showing the living conditions of the people at the bottom in that era, and has precious documentary value. The moral values contained in it also make future generations introspect themselves and reflect on the changes of the times.
Generations of viewers have felt the atmosphere of the old times and missed those old times through "Desire". Maybe Liu Huifang was no longer a human being, but her great love will always remain in the world and infect every soul.
"Desire" has become a monument in the history of the development of Chinese TV dramas, and its influence continues to continue.