◎ Zeng Yuli
In the current somewhat dull drama market, "The Wind Chaser" directed by Yao Xiaofeng, written by Weng Liangping, and starring Wang Yibo, Li Qin, and Wang Yang is a highlight. The drama is iQIYI's first popular drama in 2024, and it is also one of the most influential spy war dramas in recent years. "Wind Chaser" is an "alternative" spy war drama, which does not focus too much on intelligence warfare, but focuses more on the establishment of the protagonist's beliefs, trying to strengthen the appeal of the "faith narrative".
As a fairly mature type of TV series, spy war dramas have a relatively stable audience, and they are constantly innovating with the changes of the times. However, compared with other types of dramas, excellent spy war dramas have greater difficulty in breaking the circle. This stems from the "faith narrative" constructed by spy war dramas based on past historical eras, and it is not easy to hit and convince the audience in the present. In addition, some "cracks" in spy war dramas are sometimes deconstructing the "narrative of faith".
The context of spy war dramas: dilemmas and new changes
Spy war drama is a genre of film and television drama with espionage as the core event or main plot, focusing on themes such as spies, undercover, intelligence collection and transmission, and counter-espionage struggle, integrating various elements such as suspense, reasoning, adventure, action, emotion, and political struggle.
In terms of background setting, most spy war dramas take modern history, especially the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation, as the historical background; in terms of storyline, spy war dramas show the wits and courage on the secret front through carefully woven plots and complex character relationships, highlighting intellectual contests and psychological games; in terms of character building, the protagonists usually have multiple identities and need to have superb camouflage skills and psychological quality; in terms of character settings, there are both underground workers with firm beliefs and hidden enemy spies; in terms of narrative themes, they mainly revolve around faith, Loyalty, sacrifice, etc., highlight the wit and courage of our party's underground workers, the wisdom of defeating the enemy, and the heroic spirit of abiding by the lofty mission and adhering to the revolutionary faith.
After "Secret Calculation" (2005) and "Latent" (2008), spy war dramas became a creative boom. "Latent" has made spy war dramas one of the most popular genre dramas with its huge influence, and basically stabilized the paradigm of spy war dramas. Over the years, spy war dramas have remained a popular genre, and there have also been a few word-of-mouth works, such as "Before Dawn" (2010), "Cliff" (2012), "Red" (2014), "The Pretender" (2015), "Kite" (2017), "Mask" (2017), "The Wind" (2019), "Hidden and Great" (2020), "Rebel" (2021), and so on.
At one time, while "catching spies everywhere on the screen", spy war dramas were also in trouble. For a period of time, a large number of spy war dramas with similar story frameworks, character settings, and narrative techniques have emerged, making the audience aesthetically fatigued; many spy war dramas have obvious loopholes in their logic in order to pursue plot twists and turns......
Especially after the success of "The Pretender", the trend of "spy war + youth idol" was blown - the original intention was to expand the boundaries of the genre and attract young audiences, but it took care of one or the other, making the spy war drama lose its inherent characteristics and artistic quality. For example, idol actors are selected to star in spy war dramas, they are relatively lacking in performance experience and acting skills, and it is difficult to accurately grasp the psychological changes and subtle emotional expressions of complex characters, which affects the audience's sense of substitution......
There are also some new twists in the troubled spy war drama: or the rediscovery of the ancient profession of "spy". For example, "Feng Qi Longxi" places the spy war story in the historical background of the Three Kingdoms, breaking the convention that traditional spy war dramas mostly use modern history as the stage, and with the help of the complex political pattern and war background of the Three Kingdoms period, it provides a grand narrative framework and profound cultural heritage for the spy war plot.
Or innovate from a narrative point of view. For example, "Opponent" uses the villain as the first protagonist, breaking the narrative mode of traditional spy war dramas that usually focus on the national security personnel or intelligence personnel on the righteous side, and takes the modern society of the 21st century as the background, incorporating a large number of details of daily life, which is close to the life experience of contemporary audiences.
Or let the spy war drama enter contemporary life and arouse the audience's attention to national security. For example, national security-themed TV series such as "Eye of the Storm" and "Agent Mission" focus on national security and counter-espionage work in the modern context, and involve more security threats in real life, such as technology theft, hacker incursion, cybercrime, etc., and assume the social responsibility of popularizing national security awareness and publicizing anti-espionage knowledge.
This time, "The Wind Chaser" is a "new change" in the traditional paradigm of spy war dramas - there are both traditional spy war elements and financial elements that are rare in Republic of China dramas. The spy war element is mainly undertaken by the heroine Shen Jinzhen (played by Li Qin), and the financial element highlights the growth of the protagonist Wei Ruolai (played by Wang Yibo), especially the establishment of his beliefs. A 38-episode TV series, it wasn't until episode 36 that Wei Ruolai really established his beliefs, which is difficult to find a precedent in previous spy war dramas. Although it is not a conventional spy war drama, "The Wind Chaser" strictly fits the core "faith narrative" of spy war dramas.
The charm of spy war dramas: both grand and entertaining
Although the background of spy war dramas has crossed from ancient times to the future, the mainstream form of spy war dramas is still "Latent": with the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation as the background, with the anti-Japanese resistance or the confrontation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party as the main axis, and the protagonist's faith as the theme. Nine times out of ten spy war dramas on the market are like this, and so is "The Wind Chaser".
Why does the audience prefer this kind of spy war drama? Cultural scholar Mao Jian has a wonderful discussion on this: "Spy war dramas are truly all-inclusive. To have faith, to have faith, to be humane and humane. If you like the main theme, you can take out a handkerchief, and if you like commercial entertainment, you can prepare a little wine...... The petty bourgeois audience took this opportunity to confirm their middle-class tastes, there are criminal laws, there are cheongsams here, and one spy war after another is unfolding in major coastal cities, with both sound and light and electricity in the modern era, and a deep hatred for drunken gold fans......"
Spy war dramas have faith, grand theme expressions, and touching human brilliance. The protagonists of spy war dramas are between rival camps and need to carry out secret missions, infiltrate enemy agencies, pass on critical intelligence, or conduct counter-espionage operations. In complex situations, a strong belief in the organization becomes the internal motivation that drives the characters to act, withstand pressure, keep secrets, and sacrifice personal interests, allowing the protagonist to make great choices in an environment full of risks and uncertainties. For example, at the end of "Latent", out of revolutionary needs and security considerations, Yu Zecheng and Wang Cuiping chose to separate, one stayed in the mainland, and the other was sent to Taiwan to continue to work in the latent, or it was difficult to see each other for the rest of their lives, leaving endless regrets and thoughts, so that many viewers "took out their handkerchiefs";
A spy war drama that contains elements such as suspense, crime, and action, and has a strong "commercial entertainment" attribute. For example, the protagonist of a spy war drama is usually given the identity of at least two opposing camps, traveling between different camps, carrying out secret missions, and indispensable crisis plots where identities are exposed, such as interrogation, tracking, surveillance, polygraphs, etc.; Every tiny detail is endowed with the power to determine fate, and the slightest negligence can lead to the loss of the whole game. The audience experiences the smooth audio-visual enjoyment in the thrilling adventure, and the suspense and desire to stop at all times.
The spy war dramas in the context of the Republic of China often reveal "middle-class taste" in the setting of the service, including "cheongsam" and "sound, light, and electricity in the modern era". Most of the spy war dramas of the Republic of China prefer the Shanghai background, not without reason. Although the political situation of the Republic of China is turbulent, socially unfair, and people's livelihood is difficult, Shanghai has "exceptions". At that time, Shanghai was already a financial center and a trading port, with developed industry and commerce, financial industry, and foreign trade; the Shanghai Concession became the "Paris of the East", with many public buildings and dwellings that integrated Chinese and Western characteristics, constituting a unique urban landscape; Chinese-style cheongsam and Western-style skirts became the standard for elite women in the Republic of China; elite men were popular in suits and leather shoes, with top hats, ties, and other accessories; modern entertainment venues such as cafes, dance halls, and cinemas rose, and Western-style catering and social etiquette also became popular...... Since the 1990s, the so-called "Republic of China style" has been very popular in the field of consumer culture.
"The Wind Chaser" is set in Shanghai in the 1930s. There are two Shanghaines in the play: on one side is the high-class life of the glamorous and drunken money, and on the other side is the huge gap between the rich and the poor, with a large number of workers, small traders, and cart pullers living below the poverty line, with poor living conditions, high labor intensity, and meager wages. However, because the protagonist is engaged in the financial industry, most of the scenes in the series are still showing the "Republic of China style". Wang Yang and Wang Yibo are almost all in suits and leather shoes, and they are very handsome; Li Qin is mainly dressed in high-end, finely cut skirts and trousers, which are very beautiful.
The spy war drama "crack": the challenge of "faith narrative".
Professor Dai Jinhua reminded when talking about the popularity of spy films, "Relatively speaking, I feel that the pleasure of watching movies beyond personal daily life experience and enjoying daydreams is secondary. Because after all, this is the common appeal and effect of commercial films, and in terms of this specific pleasure, there are more prominent genres such as science fiction and fantasy", and the mystery of spy films lies more in its "politics". Dai Jinhua talked about spy films from an international perspective, but it also enlightened us to observe domestic spy war dramas.
Almost all domestic spy war dramas are "political" - through the protagonist's unswerving adherence to faith, it embodies values such as patriotism and collectivism, and plays a role in guiding public opinion and shaping public consciousness.
The subtlety is that Dai Jinhua said that on the one hand, spy films are open and powerful political propaganda and education, and on the other hand, they happen to be a "crack" in ideology, "because the image type of spy reproduces the ambiguity of identity - appearance and truth are separated and contradictory to each other", comparing how to be true, what is false, what is right, what is wrong, and the conversion between true and false.
Ten years ago, scholars such as Mao Jian and Wang Dake also discovered the dilemma of spy war dramas in a roundtable discussion on spy war dramas. Wang Dake said: "Even in "Latent", which emphasizes faith the most in recent years, don't many people understand it as an office story?" Mao Jian said that the faith in the spy war drama can certainly move many people, "Of course, at the same time, there are a larger number of viewers who will understand the heroes and heroines who fight for faith as masters of office politics, such as the spy war duo Yu Zecheng and Liu Xinjie are worshiped by netizens as 'life teaching materials'." In spy war dramas, the belief in the special historical context is true, but today's young audiences may not be able to understand the protagonist's choice. Young audiences have grown up in a more open and inclusive social environment, are exposed to a variety of sources of information, and are more sensitive to excessive publicity or forced indoctrination. They tend to focus on individual choice, freedom, and well-being, rather than being subordinated to the collective or grand narrative.
Some new spy war dramas over the years have not really solved this problem. For example, in "The Wind Rises in Longxi", "Recovering the Han Dynasty" has become the belief of several protagonists, but as the plot progresses, this belief leaks everywhere, and its cruelty and inhumanity are fully exposed. The most typical are Feng Ying and Yang Yi, who believe that for the sake of faith and righteousness, everything can be used and sacrificed. Do they care about human life? They don't care, they just care about empty ideas. This is the cruelty of the big shots, and it is also the flaw in the faith of the characters in the play.
In "Rivals", the protagonist does not engage in espionage out of noble beliefs or ideals, but out of necessity, for the sake of livelihood and family stability. Although this secularization of motivation is deconstructed of the enemy's "faith", deconstruction is always a double-edged sword.
Difficulty of spy war dramas: How can "faith" be credible
Mao Jian had an "optimistic" expectation ten years ago, and the cracks in spy war dramas "can also be regarded as an intermediate state in the evolution history of spy war dramas, an intermediate state that can introduce various narratives into the memories of all parties." Because only by opening up more space can we have a fuller understanding of the past and the future, of revolution and espionage." Ten years have passed, and as far as domestic spy war dramas are concerned, this situation has not appeared. In Dai Jinhua's observation, in the post-Cold War era, the main purpose of Western spy films is to "recreate the social value system or ideology". Although domestic spy war dramas are very different from Western spy films, the core task is still to undertake far-reaching social and cultural functions such as inheriting historical memory, promoting mainstream values, and enhancing national cohesion through "faith narrative".
The question is, how to achieve it? The "faith narrative" of "Latent" has become so moving, and some people still pay more attention to its "office politics" and lament the cruelty of the times because of the ending of Yu Zecheng and Wang Cuiping. The quality of today's spy war dramas is far inferior to "Latent", how can it form a stronger appeal than it?
Frankly speaking, the spy war part of "Wind Chaser" is decent and does not stand up to scrutiny, and its core focus is Wei Ruolai's belief building process. Wei Ruolai first loyally followed Shen Tunan (played by Wang Yang), so he had a good impression of the Three People's Principles. But after repeatedly seeing the corruption of the Kuomintang, he broke with Shen Tunan. At this time, he did not immediately "abandon the darkness and turn to the light", but said, "I don't know much about your party." Later, Wei Ruolai followed Shen Jinzhen to the Soviet area, and gradually established his communist beliefs.
This portrayal of Wei Ruolai's beliefs makes it easier for young audiences to get close. Every challenge, every choice, and every reflection of Wei Ruolai has become the cornerstone of his belief system, so that the final belief position does not come out of thin air, but is the result of testing and deliberation. Such a rigorous construction convinces the audience that Wei Ruolai's beliefs are not impulsive or blindly followed, but a solid belief based on personal experience and rational judgment.
"The Wind Chaser" avoids the false problem of "belief narrative", and also answers that faith is not fully mature and correct from the beginning, and often needs to go through exploration, reflection and revision—it is a process, a process that allows trial and error, a process from "wrong" to "right".
However, "The Wind Chaser" does not completely solve the rift of the "faith narrative". At present, young audiences do not doubt the choice of Yu Zecheng or Wei Ruolai in the historical context, and the real difficulty of "faith narrative" is not only to make faith credible in the past, but also to make faith reach the present.
(Beijing Youth Daily)