First, the glorious beginning of a bright pearl
Back in 1987, more than 30 years ago, when the 87th version of the TV series "Dream of Red Mansions" made a stunning appearance on CCTV Channel, it was like a bright pearl illuminating the colorful stage of TV art.
The actors in the play can be called a vivid display of talent, director Wang Fulin's thoughtful and carefully constructed script, as well as the vivid image drawn by the Fuhuadao team, which vividly reflects the artist's supreme pursuit and rigorous attitude towards art, which is undoubtedly a shocking visual and auditory aesthetic feast! This masterpiece created by many artists has won enthusiastic praise from a wide range of audiences and has become a timeless classic.
However, time flies. When the new version of the "Dream of Red Mansions" TV series was directed by director Li Shaohong in 2010 and came into being driven by the concept of commercialization, it left a faint doubt in the hearts of the audience.
It was found that the director's understanding of the original book in this new version of the work was slightly superficial, the casting process was full of controversy, the actors' acting skills were also unremarkable, and the design quality of costumes, makeup and props was not satisfactory, which made the originally expectant audience have deep doubts about whether it can recreate the classic of the Red Chamber.
The two "Dream of Red Mansions" TV series are in stark contrast. The classic work 30 years ago brings together the artists' highest pursuit of art; However, the artistic value of the new version of the work is greatly reduced under the guidance of commercial concepts.
In comparison, the former is hailed as a classic, while the latter is questioned.
2. Explore the stories behind the classics
To delve into why the 87 version of "Dream of Red Mansions" can become a classic, we must start with the careful preparation of director Wang Fulin. As early as the autumn of 1982, Wang Fulin was determined to put China's four famous novels on the screen.
After deciding to shoot "Dream of Red Mansions", he immediately threw himself into intense preliminary preparations.
In order to find an ideal screenwriter team, Wang Fulin did not hesitate to wade through mountains and rivers, invited many experts in red studies, and formed an advisory committee composed of Cao Yu and other literary giants. In the following year, Wang Fulin closed his doors, devoted himself to studying the original work of "Dream of Red Mansions" and related research literature, and personally wrote a detailed "Director's Explanation", which conducted an in-depth analysis of the personality characteristics of each character in the play.
In order to carefully create a unique and beautiful costume that fits the character's personality, our fashion designer Shi Yanqin can be said to have exhausted all her wisdom and hard work! She draws inspiration from the costumes of the past dynasties in the long history, and boldly and innovatively incorporates the unique charm of opera costumes.
Over the past three years, she has created more than 2,000 stunning outfits, subtly bringing each character's distinct personality to life. For example, for Jia Baoyu, who is kind, innocent and full of love, she cleverly uses warm red elements in her clothing design; For the sentimental and talented Lin Daiyu, she chose elegant cold colors, and delicately embroidered the poetic plum orchid bamboo chrysanthemum pattern on her underwear.
Similarly, our makeup artist, Yang Shuyun, has also put a lot of energy and passion into it. He stepped into the dressing room at 2 a.m. every day, and went all out to ensure that each actor's makeup and hairstyle showed the character's unique temperament just right.
It is precisely because of the careful planning and hard work of the entire crew and all departments that many characters in the 87 version of "Dream of Red Mansions" can be vividly presented in front of the audience and become an eternal classic.
However, when we look back today, the attitude of Li Shaohong, the director of the new version of "Dream of Red Mansions", towards this classic masterpiece is far from being comparable to that of Mr. Wang Fulin. Li Shaohong once left a comment in the book that "this is a bad book, it's better not to read it", and this kind of contemptuous attitude towards "Dream of Red Mansions", the pinnacle of world literature, is really unacceptable.
More seriously, she held an unprecedented press conference early in the shoot, trying to attract more investors, overemphasizing commercial interests and ignoring artistic value.
The director's irresponsible behavior undoubtedly indicates that this TV series will over-pursue the form and ignore the inner spiritual connotation. As expected, as soon as the new version of "Dream of Red Mansions" was broadcast, it was strongly questioned by the audience.
And in the casting process, there are also many controversies. Although the crew conducted a large-scale audition, it seems that the investors have already decided on the main roles.
In the end, the selection of many roles is far from the results of the audition, which is quite a hint of the investor's hand.
For example, the competition for the role of Baochai was originally fierce, but Yao Di, who ranked first in the audition, was asked to play Wang Xifeng, and Bai Bing, who was originally ranked second, unexpectedly got the opportunity to play Baochai.
The reason is that Yao Di and Bai Bing are signed artists under the two investment companies respectively, which shows that the influence of investors in the casting process should not be underestimated.
For example, the selection of female actors in the role of Lin Daiyu in the 87 version of "Dream of Red Mansions" has undoubtedly attracted people's warm attention. Originally, in the preliminary stage, Li Xudan became the leader of the Daiyu group with her outstanding performance, however, to the deep regret of the audience, she did not succeed in starring in this TV series in the end.
It wasn't until before the start of the film that we learned that Jiang Mengjie, an artist signed by Rongxinda Company, was fortunate to become Lin Daiyu's image spokesperson.
It is worth noting that Jiang Mengjie, as the only actor who has participated in the performance since she was a child, has many doubts and speculations about whether she can play such an important role.
4. Looking back on the wonderful performances of the leading actors in the 87 version of "Dream of Red Mansions", it is really amazing! Among them, the image of Jia Baoyu created by Ouyang Fenqiang can be described as lifelike, showing the temperament and demeanor of the children of rich and noble families between his gestures.
In order to understand and interpret this role more deeply, Ouyang Fenqiang once studied the script without sleep or food, repeatedly discussed the subtleties of the characters with the director, and finally succeeded in portraying Jia Baoyu, a gentleman who "grew up in a pile of women", vividly and vividly.
Especially when he played against Lin Daiyu played by Chen Xiaoxu, the affectionate "Sister Lin" seemed to touch the softest part of everyone's heart. Ouyang Fenqiang's round face revealed a faint fragrance of fat powder, and his bright eyes were as clear as water, showing Jia Baoyu's pampered, sensitive and delicate character characteristics just right.
And Lin Daiyu played by Chen Xiaoxu portrays the image of this sentimental woman vividly, which can be called a classic. In the scene where Lin Daiyu is sick in bed, her hair is scattered, her eyes are eclipsed, her voice is weak and weak, and she covers her mouth with a handkerchief from time to time and coughs gently, all revealing her natural frail and sickly characteristics, which is almost exactly the same as the image of Lin Daiyu described in the original book.
In addition, Wang Xifeng, played by Deng Jie, is a hostess of Jiafu who is not angry and self-assured. She only needs one look and one action in the play, which is enough to make her subordinates feel awe.
As a young grandmother in charge of the entire Jiafu, Wang Xifeng must do everything herself and be in order everywhere, Deng Jie interprets her strong, smart and controllable character characteristics vividly.
Similarly, Qingwen played by An Wen is also impressive. In the scene of facing Mrs. Wang's interrogation, she vividly expressed the two emotions of joy and sadness, and portrayed Qingwen's panicked, obedient and complaining psychological state in front of Mrs. Wang, which won high praise from the audience.
There is no doubt that in the 87 version of the TV drama masterpiece "Dream of Red Mansions", each character is played by the director team carefully selected and underwent serious and comprehensive professional training before they can show the classic image in their hearts on the film and television screen.
However, it is a pity that in the new version of "Dream of Red Mansions", the acting skills of some of the main actors seem to have failed to meet the expected level, and even attracted heated discussions from the audience. It is particularly worth mentioning that Lin Daiyu played by Jiang Mengjie is a stark negative teaching material.
Although, Jiang Mengjie is the only actor in this series who has been learning acting since she was a child until now. Before filming started, she had professional training for half a year, but in the scene where Lin Daiyu was sick, her performance was like a pool of stagnant water, lifeless.
Although she covered her mouth with her hands and looked like she was about to cough, her eyes were bright, her clothes were neat, and her makeup was exquisite, which was far from the image of Lin Daiyu who was weak and disease-ridden as depicted in the original book.
The audience expressed their dissatisfaction with this, believing that Jiang Mengjie did not succeed in interpreting Lin Daiyu's naturally weak, melancholy and sensitive character traits.
And Wang Xifeng, played by Yao Di, portrayed this young grandmother from Jiafu into a pungent and brutal image. In the plot, she did not show the majesty and calmness that the hostess of Jiafu should have, but was like the old bustard of a brothel, full of sharpness and vulgarity.
The audience felt extremely uncomfortable with this and could not be touched by her performance, which was in stark contrast to the wonderful performance of Deng Jie's predecessors in the 87 version.
Qingwen, played by Yang Mi, also encountered Waterloo in the scene where she faced Mrs. Wang's interrogation. Her performance in this scene is obviously deliberately imitating An Wen's predecessors' acting skills, but it seems too pretentious, stiff and dull, which completely fails to reflect Qingwen's panicked, obedient and complaining psychological state in front of Mrs. Wang in the original book, but as if she was going to rush up to fight to the death with Mrs. Wang.
As for Jia Baoyu played by Yang Yang, it is even more surprising. Although he is still handsome in appearance, he is extremely immature in terms of acting skills. Whenever he laughed and played with the sisters of Jiafu, there was always a blank look on his face, his eyes were empty, and he couldn't feel Jia Baoyu's smart breath of a gentleman who grew up in a greenhouse.
In contrast, Jia Baoyu portrayed by Ouyang Fenqiang in the 87 version has an elegant and noble temperament and a graceful demeanor, which can be called a world of difference.
As we all know, the new version of "Dream of Red Mansions" is not outstanding in terms of the performances of the main actors, and even the accurate presentation of the characters in the original work is relatively insufficient, not to mention the far-reaching grasp of various emotions and the presentation of delicate expression changes.
Going back more than 30 years ago, the brilliant achievements created by the 87 version of "Dream of Red Mansions" are undoubtedly an eternal classic created by the director's in-depth research, strict selection of characters, meticulous costumes, makeup and props design, coupled with the excellent acting skills of the actors, which has won warm praise from countless audiences.
However, time flies, and when we revisit the new version of "Dream of Red Mansions" 30 years later, we find a stark contrast between the two works. The new director's understanding of this classic masterpiece is obviously too superficial, and overemphasizes commercial operation; The casting process was fraught with controversy, and the selection of many of the main characters was far from the results of the audition, which was clearly influenced by the investors; The performance level of the main actors also failed to meet expectations, and there was a big gap with the original characters.
It is especially worth mentioning that the performances of Jiang Mengjie, Yao Di, Yang Yang and others in the new version are extremely bad. In many scenes, whether it is the precise control of emotions or the fine processing of subtle expression changes, they are all inadequate, so that the audience can't help but sigh at their pretentiousness and lack of charm when watching.
In stark contrast, the wonderful performances of the leading actors in the 87 version dwarf the leading actors in the new version.
Through an in-depth comparison of the two editions of the works, we can clearly understand that the former embodies the artists' unremitting pursuit of the highest level of art, while the latter is dominated by commercial concepts and has a serious lack of artistry.
As a film and television embodiment of a cultural treasure, Dream of Red Chambers deserves to be highly valued by artists, rather than being overwhelmed by excessive commercialization, which weakens the intrinsic value of the work.
We eagerly look forward to the emergence of more excellent literary and artistic film and television works in the future, which can not only ensure the realization of commercial value, but also do not forget the noble pursuit of art itself, and carve more amazing classics with heart.