Culture is related to the country's foundation and national fortune, and if culture is prosperous, the country will be prosperous, and if culture is strong, the nation will be strong. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core has always placed cultural construction in a prominent position in governing the country, and put forward a series of new ideas, new viewpoints and new assertions around the cultural construction of the new era, constituting the cultural chapter of Xi Jinping's socialist thought with Chinese characteristics in the new era and forming Xi Jinping's cultural thought. This indicates that our party's understanding of the laws governing the construction of socialist culture with Chinese characteristics has reached a new height, and that our party's historical and cultural self-confidence has reached a new height.
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the majority of TV drama and online drama workers have worked hard to go deep into life, actively grasp the pulse of the times, and created and produced a large number of excellent dramas, which have been broadcast at major nodes such as the 40th anniversary of reform and opening up, the 70th anniversary of the founding of New China, the 70th anniversary of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, and the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, and have won praise from the party and the people. Among them, there are a large number of excellent works, which are very popular and loved by the people.
However, there is no doubt that due to cultural diversification and the problems encountered in the process of market development, coupled with the continuous iteration and upgrading of scientific development, technological progress, and communication methods in recent years, as well as the abnormal development of the TV drama production and broadcasting industry itself, as well as the impact of the new crown epidemic for three consecutive years, the Chinese TV drama industry has fallen into unprecedented difficulties. This dilemma can be said to have not existed for decades, and this situation has seriously affected and restricted the healthy development of TV drama production. It can be said that the problem is obvious, and today we are discussing the topic of TV drama production, and we must face the existence of these problems and discuss the feasibility of governance solutions.
First, we must first talk about the content of TV dramas. If we talk about the aspects in which the masses have expressed their opinions over the years, I am afraid that the first thing is still content. In recent years, the market and ratings have always been the main factors restricting film and television creation, and how to create dual-effect works with good economic and social benefits has always been a problem for the creative team. Coupled with the limitations of the creators' own ideological understanding of literary and artistic works, it seems that the economic and social benefits of many creations have become a pair of contradictions that cannot be resolved. For example, many of our works have been shy to talk about ideological content. For a considerable period of time, our TV dramas always had a feeling of shame when talking about the words beliefs, isms, ideals, and revolution. Including some works that have obtained huge economic benefits, they often fail to meet the aesthetic needs of the public in terms of ideology, and often stay in the audience's sensory stimulation and appreciation. For quite a period of time, some people could not emphasize political ideas with the help of criticism of literature and art, and their works could only be interesting, not meaningful. Movies want a market, don't talk about ideology first, and launch works that blindly pay attention to ornamentality, only talk about good looks, not about social significance. This problem affects the healthy development of literature and art. It is gratifying to note that in recent times, the audience has spontaneously expressed a strong desire and need for the pursuit of the question of faith. For example, there was a recent heated debate about faith in a movie, and it was a spontaneous discussion among ordinary viewers, which became a hot topic. Regardless of the rights and wrongs of this discussion, on the issue itself, the fact that the masses take the initiative to question the ideological nature of a work and clearly revolve around the issue of belief is a good phenomenon in itself, and an important sign that the masses pay attention to the ideological nature of literary and artistic works. It also proves from another aspect that our film and television drama creation, including movies, has reached a relatively serious point of ideological backwardness. Xi Jinping's speech at the conference of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles pointed out: Literary and artistic creation must first clarify the question of who to create and for whom to speak, which is a fundamental issue. The people are the source of creation, and only by taking root in the people can creation obtain an inexhaustible source. Cultural and artistic workers should go into the depths of practice, observe the people's lives, express the people's voices, and write about the people, depict the people, and sing about the people with all their hearts, feelings, and efforts. Today's content is very pertinent to the current TV drama creation.
Second, an old saying is considered to be a cliché on the key issue, that is, how to correctly view the commodity attributes of TV dramas. TV dramas have commodity attributes, but it is first of all a cultural form that plays the role of ideological education, and secondly, it is a commodity entertainment function. We have been talking about this problem for many years, but there has been no scientific means and plan to solve it. Strictly speaking, since TV dramas put their propaganda and education functions in the first place, in a certain sense, they are partially or most consistent with mainstream media such as People's Daily and Xinhua News Agency articles. If it is completely handed over to the market, it is very easy to form capital and have the final say. This is already an unavoidable problem encountered in current TV dramas, and the relevant departments of the state should have a very reasonable management method. Comrade Xi Jinping has clearly pointed out in his speeches on many occasions that economic benefits should be subordinated to social benefits, and market values should be subordinated to social values. Literature and art should not be slaves of the market, and should not be stained with the stench of copper. It is best to have excellent literary and artistic works that are both ideologically and artistically successful and popular in the market. It is necessary to adhere to the aesthetic ideals of literature and art, maintain the independent value of literature and art, and reasonably set quantitative indicators such as circulation, ratings, click-through rates, and box office revenue that reflect market acceptance. We cannot ignore and deny these indicators, and we cannot absolutize these indicators and be led by the market. This question is still a key issue in the creation of TV dramas.
Third, there is the problem of broadcasting channels. For a long time, the mainstream channel for TV drama broadcasting, provincial and municipal TV stations across the country, due to the cliff-like decline in advertising revenue, the pressure to survive is huge, and various TV stations have basically lost the purchasing power of new dramas. However, if Taiwan has lost its purchasing power, it will be difficult to talk about development. This problem cannot be underestimated, it is the main reason for restricting the development of the TV drama industry, that is, several satellite TV stations that used to be at the top of the country are now also in the stage of development difficulties, struggling in the state of low film prices, fake ratings and arrears. Although everyone is trying to find a way in confusion, it is difficult to find a good solution at present. If this problem is not solved, it can only be an empty word to produce good works and big works. After nearly 10 years of hard work and struggle, several representative new media platforms have not necessarily won brilliance, and they have not even successfully entered the profit stage. The result of this problem is to reduce investment, lower prices, and reduce scale, which will inevitably affect the strengthening, expansion and healthy development of this new media.
Fourth, the market tends to shrink. Even if CCTV film and television channels buy more than 1,000 episodes of TV dramas to broadcast every year, due to the lack of rich repertoire, the market share is also very limited, and because the purchase price is low, the producer loses money and makes money, and a virtuous circle of the industry cannot be formed.
It is these various problems and phenomena that have caused some special phenomena in the TV drama industry: for example, it has been 45 years since our reform and opening up, and we have become an authentic TV drama producer in the world. In the past 45 years, we have cultivated hundreds of millions or even billions of Chinese TV drama online drama viewers with a large number of excellent works, but now because of the lack of good works that the audience likes to see, TV dramas are in the desire and expectation of the buyer's market. As a literary genre and form that cultivates the soil with hundreds of millions of viewers, if it is allowed to shrink, this is what we do not want to see. To save TV dramas, it is necessary to work together to come up with scientific and feasible ways to maintain and develop the development and prosperity of TV dramas and online dramas.
It is precisely because of such a problem that many excellent TV drama production institutions and a large number of excellent TV drama creation resources are idle, and there are no new dramas to be filmed; This is a huge waste of resources.
In addition, because of the above-mentioned problems, the transmission and broadcasting platforms such as television stations, financial media centers, radio and television networks, telecommunications networks, and mobile phone networks, which have been established by the state and society at great expense, are difficult to play a valuable role due to the lack of colorful and engaging fresh program content. At present, the cultural phenomenon of the whole people watching Kuaishou, Douyin, and competing to watch short videos has almost become a great spectacle of world culture. This problem cannot be blamed blindly for the low-level and simple entertainment of the masses' appreciation taste, and it proves from another aspect that our TV drama and online dramas have cede the market to short video varieties. In these circumstances, we can see such a problem, that is, if our traditional TV media cannot be combined with the Internet to deepen media integration, it will inevitably lack competition.
Therefore, from the perspective of the entire TV drama and online drama industry, although we have made some achievements in rectifying the style of the literary and artistic team, such as cracking down on unhealthy tendencies, restricting high salaries, etc., the problem of high economic remuneration and lack of innovation of fans who rely on celebrities and "little fresh meat" has not fundamentally changed. If the mechanism is not changed and improved, these problems will continue to plague the development and prosperity of the TV drama industry.
What should we do? Only by following General Secretary Xi Jinping's requirements, returning the power and responsibility of creation to the creators, handing over the needs and choices of viewing to the broad masses of audiences, and under the guidance of the correct principles of the 20 th CPC National Congress, we should vigorously carry forward the fine tradition of coming from the masses and going to the masses, and completely abandon the black sheep of severely cracking down on fake ratings and fake data. Only when accurate and real-time data, using advanced science and technology, and grasping the true status quo of the dissemination of television dramas and online dramas, can government departments take the initiative in providing precise guidance, prescribe the right medicine, and propose practical and reliable methods for dealing with the problem.
At present, strengthening management, finding scientific and feasible countermeasures, and promoting the development and prosperity of the TV drama industry may have become a common call from top to bottom of the TV drama industry. This is the only way for the industry to save itself. Under the guidance of the principle of "integrity and innovation, research and exploration" of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, the China TV Drama Production Industry Association has conducted in-depth industry research since last year and studied a new model called "sharing platform", which is actually an active exploration that is highly responsible for the cause.
In the face of all-media audiences and OTT (smart TV screens) IPTV (network television), integrated city and county financial media centers, cable TV networks and mobile 5G application scenarios, it truly deepens media integration and realizes the interactive account-sharing "sharing platform" model for all-media film broadcasting, the purpose is to provide reliable and accurate data for the TV drama industry. After passing the requirements for the filing of the project and the review of the finished film as stipulated by the state radio and television department, each production department is to create and organize investment on its own in accordance with the requirements of the party and the state, and create and produce TV drama and online drama programs with healthy and necessary investment standards, but resolutely oppose and put an end to high salaries. On the premise of obtaining the distribution license, the sharing platform will issue it to the all-media broadcast channel, which eliminates the bidding link. According to the requirements of this sharing platform, the first broadcast authorization period is one year, and the audience will pay for on-demand for the first three to four months, and it is planned to pay 0.2 to 0.3 yuan per episode (the price that can be afforded by any kind of ordinary people); Due to the adoption of blockchain bookkeeping technology and the entrustment of a third-party bank to pay and share accounts according to the agreement, fake data and pseudo traffic will no longer exist, and the real-time and accurate data enables the "sharing platform" to provide accurate data on the characteristics of cultural needs in different regions and the classification of different audiences. In my opinion, this is a good way to use modern high-tech means to achieve a relatively objective and accurate TV drama production with rules to follow.
If this method is implemented, it will have at least the following significance: First, it is conducive to the fact that the data held by the relevant state departments is true, and the proposed plan is very targeted. Especially under the banner of transparency, openness and fairness, so that creation, production, investment, broadcasting, management, and consumption can be in a state of scientific and healthy circulation, so that no financial resources will be wasted, and no one will put all their efforts into finding relationships. The second is to let all practitioners concentrate on winning reputation with quality, competing to create good works, and competing to dig good themes. In particular, let all the creative and production staff understand that telling Chinese stories well and promoting Chinese culture is not only a rigid demand of the audience, but also the highest standard for TV drama people. Third, the more important significance of this measure is that it is conducive to breaking the circle phenomenon of traffic stars and "inbreeding". For example, through the open selection of roles on the Internet, and the transparent conditions for the open selection of talents, provide a solid opportunity for those creative talents and performance talents who are from ordinary backgrounds, unable to "enter the circle", and outside the circle. Doing so will greatly facilitate the emergence of literary and artistic talents who have healthy life values, love Chinese culture, aspire to create and forge ahead, and wholeheartedly make good films for the people, and become a new era of literary and artistic teams that we will build into a cultural power in 2035.
I believe that any kind of attempt to address the problem is a useful way to forge a new path in a difficult situation. This effort of the China Producers Association also shows a high sense of responsibility and mission, and this method is also a kind of self-redemption for the TV drama industry. We should see that at present, under the new model and new mechanism of the new era, strengthening the orientation and management of literary and artistic creation is no longer just a slogan. Our country has a population of 1.4 billion people, a solid and deep cultural tradition, and is full of rich and colorful cultural soil, both in history and in reality. Over the past 40 years of reform and opening up, the management of TV dramas and online dramas has accumulated scientific and rich experience. It is recommended to grasp management from the two aspects of "review" and "evaluation", the first one should be on the premise of scientifically mastering the real data of TV dramas and online dramas, abandon metaphysics, adhere to seeking truth from facts, and integrate evaluation, in order to truly grasp the initiative, which is conducive to the rich and colorful themes and the blooming of works, only by continuously improving the aesthetic level of the whole people, can we lay a solid foundation for the establishment of a cultural power.
We can imagine that if an army relied on intelligence figures before the war were all false fabrications or made up by profits, then it was impossible for the army not to lose the war. Rectifying the authenticity of data and providing accurate decision-making from authentic data is a key part of solving the current dilemma of TV dramas. The intensity of "review" and "evaluation" is very important, and it is very necessary to be politically correct, have high professional attainments, understand the profession and have education, and stress character and morality.
We believe that difficulties and opportunities coexist, and challenges and development coexist. Over the years, the state has cultivated a creative team for TV dramas and online dramas, and has accumulated a large number of highly professional and high-quality talents. Once successful, it will form a benign mechanism in cultivating talents and launching works, which will inevitably promote the industry to form a new pattern of sustainable development and embark on a new path in accordance with Xi Jinping's cultural thinking and the overall deployment of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. The market is necessary, but the market is not omnipotent. When there is a contradiction between the cultural development of socialism with Chinese characteristics and the market mechanism, we believe that the vast number of literary and artistic workers will be able to find a new model for the development of socialist culture with Chinese characteristics, so as to promote the cultural cause of Chinese TV dramas to a new height and climb to a new peak.
[This article is the author's speech at the opening ceremony of the China (Shenzhen) International TV Drama Program Fair]
(The author is a well-known literary critic and senior researcher of the Kunlun Ce Research Institute; source: Kunlun Ce Network [original] revised draft, authorized by the author for the first time)