The ongoing broadcast of "Chenghuan Ji" is full of controversy, on the one hand, it is the ratings that broke a new high of 2.5, and on the other hand, it is the fact that Douban has a 6.4 rating and polarized reviews.
The controversy between the cracks has attracted a lot of attention: "The Story of Cheng Huan" has lost its "Yishu taste".
We can see from the image of the "Yishu girls" that they "have a small relationship and a big job", and no matter what they encounter, they must "look good", be financially independent, and never "never play the hand-holding card".
The adapted "Cheng Huan Ji" obviously also strives to retain the comfort - frequently and abruptly mixed golden sentences in the lines. But whether it is the character image of a kind heroine, a domineering president, a male protagonist, or a vicious female supporting role, or the plot that relies on men to open gold fingers to solve problems all the way, they are far from the original work.
Stills from "The Legend of Cheng Huan".
On top of that, the audience could have taken strength from the image of Yishu girl who was sober and self-aware and true to herself, and then gave up pleasing the world and tried to please herself. But the story of the flawless heroine and the domineering president in the drama version not only cannot be reassuring, but will make women continue to self-examine and criticize themselves in comparison.
Looking at the adaptation of Yishu's works in recent years, it seems that they can't escape the fate of "magic reform", whether it is "My First Half of Life", "Xibao" or "The Golden Years", either the flawed but vivid heroine's growth story is adapted into "The domineering president helps me", or the friendship between women who cherish each other and help each other is adapted into the female competition story of "two women fighting for one man", netizens jokingly and angrily said, "Don't try to adapt Yishu in modern times anymore - please write it into the basic law of TV dramas".
What is the difficulty in adapting Yishu's novel?
Nala has been away for a hundred years and is still waiting for answers
Many of Yishu's works are actually about the topic of "what happens to Nala after she leaves".
The discussion of "Nala Escape" began in 1923. At the end of that year, at the Beijing Women's Higher Normal School, Lu Xun borrowed Ibsen's "A Doll's House" to deliver a speech entitled "What Will Happen to Nala After She Leaves".
He said that when Nala leaves, she will either fall or come back, "She needs to be richer, and she needs to be prepared in her bag, to put it bluntly, to be rich." ”
Two years later, Lu Xun once again discussed the possibility of Nala leaving. In the novel "Sadness", the new young Zijun and Juan Sheng left the old family for love and formed a small family, limited by the limitations of the times, Zijun could only rely on Juan Sheng, but Juan Sheng was gradually crushed by the burden of life, and his love for Zijun was gradually exhausted, and finally abandoned Zijun. After being picked up by his father, Zijun died of depression.
Decades later, under the pen of Hong Kong writer Yi Shu, the coordinates of the times have moved forward, and at this time, women have had a variety of ways to escape, some like Xibao and Zhu Suosuo, who are like money-worshipping and throw themselves into the arms of money-worshippers, and some independently enter the road of professional women who play love.
Yishu even bluntly continued the story of "Sadness" in "The First Half of My Life", the female protagonist is Luo Zijun, and the male protagonist is named Shi Juansheng. As a housewife who is dependent on her husband, Luo Zijun received selfless support from her female friend Tang Jing after the divorce, and finally grew into a professional woman who is both financially and spiritually independent.
"The Story of Cheng Huan" is the story of the good girl Mai Chenghuan who ran away from her original family, Mai Chenghuan would have seamlessly entered a small family, but under various coincidences, she completely ran away and moved towards self-liberation.
Unlike Luo Zijun, Mai Chenghuan has always been financially independent, and what is more difficult for her is to quit mental attachment, give up her habit of pleasing others and the world, and learn to please herself regardless of it.
"Chenghuan Ji" Mai Chenghuan, played by Yang Zi
From this point of view, Mak Chenghuan's story is more in line with the current situation of women. Because today, women's economic independence is not difficult, but the patriarchal worship and self-examination rooted in the heart are more difficult to detect and break habits.
If adapted properly, I believe that the series can give women more practical guidance. It's a pity that although the two adapted TV series have no shortage of discussion and ratings, whether it is the drama of Luo Zijun and his friend "two women fighting for one man" in "The First Half of My Life", or Mai Chenghuan's love is not an embellishment but the tone of the main theme, it is difficult to guide the road to women's independence.
It has been more than 100 years, and Mr. Lu Xun's question of "what will happen to Nala after she leaves" should not be answered like this.
Imperfect Beauty, Genius
The market has confirmed that the current expectations of the adaptation tide of Yishu's works are unsatisfactory after the "magic reform". The gap between them may be in line with the vague reality of the answer to "what will happen to Nala after she leaves".
The most criticized point of the adaptation of "Cheng Huan Ji" is probably the 360-degree flawless and kind heroine after purification.
No matter how good a woman is, she seems to have been instilled with the habit of self-scrutiny from an early age. Dai Jinhua, a well-known scholar, once said that she struggled with some kind of inner inferiority, "or self-denial and self-loathing for decades." Therefore, just as the perfectly proportioned Barbie doll makes women feel inferior to their figure, the flawless heroine will only make women feel morally inferior.
The purification of the series is not only the heroine, but almost all the characters and stories. In terms of personality, there is a rich second-generation boyfriend who hides his identity, a domineering president with indirect relatives, and several vicious female partners.
Stills from "The Legend of Cheng Huan".
In terms of plot, Mai Chenghuan and her boyfriend's two parents met for a banquet, her boyfriend's sister disliked the poor and loved the rich, and was bitter and mean, and she quarreled with Mai Chenghuan's mother in person, and Mai Chenghuan canceled the marriage in a fit of anger; In order to inherit the inheritance smoothly, her boyfriend's sister turned to ask Mai's mother for forgiveness, and agreed to prepare Mai Chenghuan's engagement banquet in private; At the engagement banquet scene, Mai Chenghuan picked up the microphone and directly announced that the marriage had failed, and Mai's mother slapped her on the spot in a fit of anger.
All kinds of adaptations have undoubtedly exacerbated the dramatic conflict, which is enough to attract attention, but it has also lost the deep meaning of the original work. Because the most valuable thing about the original work is the "flaws".
In the novel, Mak Chenghuan's family lives in a low-rent house in Hong Kong, with a father who is a driver and a mother who is a housewife. The mother has been circling around the small family all her life, "sacrificing a lot for her children, she can do ninety points, and she will not give up eighty points." There is no doubt about her dedication, but in addition to the "love" that can be put on the table, there is also selfishness and jealousy that are not enough for outsiders.
From the beginning of learning that Mai Chenghuan was engaged, Mai's mother repeatedly made difficulties, from the diamond not shining to no new clothes, Mai Chenghuan repeatedly retreated, replacing his favorite square diamond with his mother's favorite brilliant crystal wafer diamond, and buying clothes for the whole family, but his mother was still depressed, saying that he "didn't even have a new dress when he got married, and hurriedly took a photo to count." Until the parents of both sides met for a banquet, in the face of the polite Xin family, the mother was cold-faced at every turn, and openly attacked on the grounds of not holding a wedding, and the banquet broke up unhappily.
Mai Chenghuan gradually saw clearly: "After the children get married, the manpower and material resources will be much worse than before, so my mother is terrified in her heart and inspires me to make things difficult in every way." She was shocked that it was not appropriate to get married until she paid off her family debts. Coupled with all kinds of changes, Mai Chenghuan's marriage ended without a problem.
Stills from "The Legend of Cheng Huan".
This depiction of the dark side of maternal love also appeared in Zhang Ailing's "The Golden Lock", where her mother Cao Qiqiao dragged her into the same unbearable situation as herself step by step because of her desire for control and jealousy.
In addition to revealing the flaws of family affection, Yishu also does not hesitate to show the flaws of friendship and love.
In the original book, although Mao Yongxin was Mai Chenghuan's friend and gave her a lot of support, in the face of Mai Chenghuan's engagement, she also blurted out "Haven't you heard of divorce?", Mai Chenghuan immediately said angrily and left.
In "The First Half of My Life", although Tang Jing helped Luo Zijun everywhere, she insisted on only listening to Zijun complaining for ten minutes every day, "My friend's ear endurance is limited, please forgive me."
Stills from "The First Half of My Life".
Regarding love, Yishu even more bluntly described that not long after Xin Jialiang and Mai Chenghuan broke up, he showed that he was obsessed with her and found another female companion.
This is Shitai's style, sober and rational, never having untimely expectations of human nature, and bravely debunking idealized illusions about any relationship.
It is precisely because we admit the selfishness and flaws of others that we can face our own selfishness and flaws calmly. The stories of the Yishu girls let us know that even if women are imperfect or even selfish and shrewd, they still deserve to love and be loved, so that we, as women, can also please others and the world everywhere and everywhere.
The biggest failure of Yishu's novel adaptation in recent years is that it continues to guide women's narratives of self-examination, self-loathing, and self-sacrifice.
Self-castration after figuring out the market
I believe that screenwriters, as senior cultural people, will not understand the core and brilliance of Yishu's works, but why are they all abandoned when adapting?
The chief producer of "The Legend of Cheng Huan" once said in an interview that if you create a selfish mother image in the original book in the film and television drama, it will be more harmful to the work. So the team abandoned the background color of the selfish mother and the daughter who prayed for independence in the original book, and found a reason for the mother's "imbalance" that is more suitable for the real life of mainland audiences - "I am for your good", and all control has become giving and coercion in the name of love.
As a result, Mai Mu has become a classic mother character in countless TV series, sacrificing herself for her children, but she loves the wrong way. But the mother's selfishness and control are the core of the story of "Chenghuan Ji". The concept of "mother's love is selfless" is also the reason why countless children are unable to be self-consistent in their adult psychology, and they cannot find a reasonable explanation between the harm they have suffered and the selfless mother's love. They need Yishu's phrase: "Exercising parental privileges against the will of the children for their own benefit".
As the creative team, they speculated on the audience's preferences, and then self-emasculated any characters and plots that were not "beautiful" enough, and catered to the "eyeball economy", creating one after another dramas full of conflicts and average quality.
Stills from "The Legend of Cheng Huan".
This kind of speculation and attention may not be completely unfounded, in fact, the criticized adaptation of "Cheng Huan Ji" is the most topical "famous scene", and the plot of the domineering president still makes netizens feel "throbbing".
Perhaps this is the gap between the "ideal" and the "reality" of women's consciousness. At the rational level, women know the importance of independence, but they still subconsciously base their self-worth on the basis of patriarchal worship, so when the heroine is favored and helped by the male power class represented by the rich second generation and the domineering president, it will make people feel "cool". This is a conspiracy between the lagging female sense of independence and the feeding of capital.
Wake up, you need a process. The deep-rooted concepts and cultural structures in society, with great inertia, envelop each and every one of us.
Fortunately, no matter how high the topic is, the Douban score still exposes the backwardness of the concept of the series. From "The First Half of My Life", "Golden Years" to "Chenghuan Ji", the Douban score is 6.4.
Stills from "The First Half of My Life".
We are looking forward to a more forward-looking, in-depth conscience drama.
Independence, where to go
The slogan of independent women has been shouted for countless years, but the direction has changed and changed. Some time ago, talk show actress Wang Siwen's "independent women do not mean to make money independently" sparked heated discussions. At the same time, the culture of "coquettish wives" in Europe and the United States began to prevail, and many women began to advocate the traditional model of "husband and child", which was quite a "reversal" posture.
As for the key to independent women, Lu Xun replied a hundred years ago: "So for Nala, money ,—— elegantly said, that is, the economy is the most important." "The social status that women want to pursue with men is still based on economic equality. ”
Yishu also replied in "The Story of Cheng Huan", Mai Chenghuan sighed after various experiences: "It is impossible to rely on people in life and hope to be respected by others. ”
In fact, the question of whether independent women need to be financially independent is a fact that should not be wasted too much.
Stills from "The Legend of Cheng Huan".
What needs to be addressed more is a deep level of spiritual dependence. Dai Jinhua once said that many times we imagine or internalize the scrutiny from men. When you stop imagining and paying attention to similar scrutiny, you win a moment of true self-liberation.
Mak Chenghuan has always had a job that is enough to support herself, but that doesn't mean she hasn't relied on it. For her, the marriage room given by her prospective in-laws, the olive branch of marriage, and the envy of others are all dependence, even temptation.
Temptation is what Beauvoir sees as the source of a woman's misfortune – the woman's misfortune lies in being surrounded by almost irresistible temptations, and she is not called upon to strive upwards, but only encouraged to slide down to bliss. By the time she realizes that she has been fooled by a mirage, it is already too late, and her strength has been drained in a failed adventure.
The temptation faced by women today is quite similar to that of Mak Chenghuan, and on the basis of the fact that women go out to work as the default fact, the dependence on survival is no longer the mainstream, and can be eliminated at any time.
Stills from "The Legend of Cheng Huan".
But women still have a hard time getting rid of the desire for attachment on the spiritual level. A few years ago, there was a popular saying: "All my life I want to be collected, properly stored, and carefully preserved." Save me from being frightened, from suffering, from being displaced, from having no branches to rely on.
That desire to be protected and cared for is still rooted in the hearts of many women. The challenge facing women today is how to resist the temptation of spiritual dependence.
In "The Story of Cheng Huan", Mai Chenghuan finally bought a new house for his parents and a small apartment for himself. Believing that she had paid off her family debts, she no longer blindly pleased her mother. After meeting Yao Zhiming, "the two sides tacitly understood, and their brains stopped working". Even when her mother was vehemently opposed, she ignored it.
But she didn't abandon family affection because of love. Yao Zhiming is not the so-called "true love" for her, although his secular conditions are quite good, but Mai Chenghuan "has no plans", before the end of the novel, Yao Zhiming was hung out again, and he got to know "Jian Guoming" newly.
Stills from "The Legend of Cheng Huan".
Whether it is "Yao Zhiming" or "Jian Guoming", they are just evidence of Mai Chenghuan's loyalty to himself and playing in the world, and the symbol of hurried passers represents Mai Chenghuan's complete self-liberation and self-pleaser.
This may also be the answer given by Mrs. Shi: on the basis of material surplus and spiritual freedom, overcoming the inferiority complex and being true to oneself is the mystery of an independent woman.
Author | Yichen
Editor-in-Chief on Duty | Huang Mingting
Edit | Wu Qing
Typography | promise