Author / Zhou Yi
When there is a major publicity node, the relevant departments will deploy the corresponding film list to "present", designate a team or unit with relatively mature production experience and relatively strong production strength to complete the creation, commonly known as "task drama".
A bunch of "mission dramas" except for a few that have become fine works, most of them have fallen into the dilemma of "wei guangzheng and false big space". Especially in the theme of major historical revolutions, the creation of characters is limited by rules and regulations, and the faces of the characters that come out are flattened and flattened.
Once the character shaping is restricted, the perspective is unique, the plot is woven wonderfully, the form is fancy, and the director's audiovisual techniques are clever, the final product is not good after all.
Many people want to shoot Mao Zedong, Jiang Wen wants to shoot Mao Zedong, Oliver Stone also wants to shoot Mao Zedong, when the relevant leaders looked for Liu Heping to write the TV series "Mao Zedong", Liu Heping put forward his own ideas, from the perspective of Liu Heping's creative style, it is obvious that his ideas are "impossible to pass".
Stay away from "singing praises", which is the insistence of many novelists and dramatists.
The most common crux of the current domestic drama is that the characters are dry and one-sided. As for the large number of plot collisions and bridge section repetition, it is secondary. After all, Western dramatists have long counted that all dramas in the world are nothing more than 36 plot modes. Flaubert once boasted that "there will be no more novels after the nineteenth century". Flaubert felt that all the storylines and emotional changes had been exhausted by the great writers of the nineteenth century. (Presumably this is why the focus of modern Western novels is no longer on the plot, but on the portrayal of the complex inner hearts of the characters.)
In fact, the conflict of human nature is always attractive.
Everyone has a hazy area in their hearts that is difficult to accurately characterize right and wrong, and this area is the vast world where creators can display their talents. As long as the works that accurately and vividly depict this ambiguous area full of contradictions, they will inevitably transcend politics and have the quality of excellent works.
Starting from domestic dramas in recent years
Sergio Leone's "The Golden Three", also translated as "Good, Bad, Ugly", the three protagonists correspond to the "good", "bad" and "ugly" in human nature. Of course, the "bad guys" in "The Golden Three Darts" are not the bad guys in the model drama, and the "good guys" in "The Golden Three Darts" are not the kind of good people with faces, not the "living Lei Feng".
"Game of Thrones" not only challenges the narrative of previous American dramas (more than 14 character story lines), but also challenges the values of traditional American dramas. In Game of Thrones, "good guys don't get good rewards", Ned Stark was beheaded in the first season, and many of the people who hung up later were not "bad guys" in the traditional sense. Game of Thrones doesn't use the line between "good" and "bad" to distinguish characters.
In recent years, a word has arisen called "evil trafficking." It is naturally wrong to guide the audience to the wrong outlook on life and values, but from the perspective of artistic creation, the "evil" in human nature cannot be avoided.
"Su Daqiang" in "All Is Good" has greatly subverted the "father image" in past films and television, before "All Is Good", the audience's cognition of "father image" mostly stayed in the image of "strict father" or "loving father", such as the "old father" image in the fourth generation of traditional Chinese society, such as the father image in Ang Lee's "Father" trilogy.
"Langya List" is often compared with "The Count of Monte Cristo", Mei Changsu's sense of "revenge" ignites the audience (although the victory of justice over evil is natural), and in "Yanxi Raiders", Wei Yongluo is even more debauched, never showing weakness, never bowing his head, having revenge, and being evil against evil.
"Ode to Joy" is not afraid of controversy, facing the shortcomings of the "five beauty" and facing the true desires of urban women. Wen Jiajia in "Beijing Meets Seattle" is obviously a "bad" girl in the first half of the film. "Snail Dwelling" is actually a bit like "Color Ring", exploring under what circumstances a woman will "fall"?
Li Yunlong in "Bright Sword", Jiang Daya in "The Sky of History", and Shi Guangrong in "The Years of Burning Passion" all have many shortcomings in their personalities, but such a "grassy hero" has a strong sense of affinity for the people.
The author's personal feelings, so far in 2021, the three best scripts that appear on the screen are "The Age of Awakening", "Great Rivers 2", and "Ideal City".
"The Age of Awakening" is a major revolutionary historical theme, the theme of "The Age of Awakening" is very large, but it is written "not false" and "not empty", especially Long Pingping's lines, which are very literary and beautiful, and some passages are as refreshing as listening to prose recitations, and as inspiring as listening to speeches.
"Ideal City" is a power plot drama of the workplace coat, which is closer to the "essence of the power plot" than many costume plots, and the story structure, characters, and lines have been praised by peers.
The script of "Dajiang Dahe 2" is naturally better than that of "Dajiang Dahe", "Dajiang Dahe 2" put forward "contradictions" at the beginning, the "factory fight" of the second part continues to upgrade, the story structure is more compact and rigorous, it is more rare that the role of "Song Yunhui" has also undergone some changes in the struggle and in the struggle, and the image of Song Yunhui in the second part is more sleek, more accidentous, more knows how to fight back, and knows how to release the "evil" in his heart. The role of "Song Yunhui" is enough to enter the classic character genealogy of Chinese TV drama history.
"Human nature" from the drama involved in the case
Excellent dramas involved in the case can often dig into the depths of human nature, and it is often difficult to pass the trial.
"The Hidden Corner" and "The Silent Truth" these two dramas, some viewers like "The Silent Truth" a little more, "The Silent Truth" theme is relatively large, telling the story of exposing the truth and safeguarding justice, the author likes "The Hidden Corner" a little more, "The Hidden Corner" Characters and the portrayal of human nature, relative to "The Silent Truth" is a little more complicated. The original name of "The Hidden Corner" is "Bad Boy", from the perspective of a child to see the world, and "The Hidden Corner" is actually a group portrait, Zhang Dongsheng, Zhu Chaoyang, Zhu Yongping, Zhou Chunhong and other characters, all have to face dilemma decision-making and human struggles.
"The Hidden Corner" slowly unfolds the process of Anfen's math teacher Zhang Dongsheng embarking on the road of crime: he himself faces pressure from his family, fate tricks him, and his killing process is accidentally filmed by several children in the camera, he has no way back, so he sinks deeper and deeper into the abyss of sin.
Usually the first episode in the American drama is very important, to set the "pressure" on the characters. How did Walter White, a high school chemistry teacher in Breaking Bad, become a "Breaking Bad"? First, the family environment puts pressure on him (rebellious son, pregnant wife, and his introverted personality); then, he finds out that he has lung cancer and has two years to live in the world; in addition, he accidentally encounters a drug dealer, and his fate is entangled with the drug dealer.
The same is true of the American drama "Ice Storm". In episode 1, Leicester is a middle-aged insurance salesman who has achieved nothing, is looked down upon by his wife at home, is bullied by old classmates outside, and then has various unexpected coincidences, especially the death of the town police chief who makes his fate involuntari.
The focus of the drama involved in the case is to film the "mental journey" of the criminals before embarking on the road of crime.
In the crime genre, the image of the policeman is written no more differently, and it will not be more charming than the criminal. Liu Ye, the "pursuer" in "The Pursuer", is not a policeman, not a plot advancement tool, and has the highlights of his own characters, but the brilliance is still completely overshadowed by Zhang Yi's "fierce".
In the era when censorship was still very relaxed, many police dramas wrote criminals as male number one, such as Liu Huaqiang in "Conquest", Nie Mingyu in "Black Hole", Guo Xiaopeng in "Black Ice", Bai Baoshan in "China Criminal Investigation Case No. 1" and so on. Since 2004, after the strict control of police dramas, the portrayal of villains cannot be as "good and evil" as before, but many flesh-and-blood villains are still loved by the audience, such as Li Toyota in "Undocumented Crimes" in recent years, Lin Yaodong in "Icebreaker Action" and so on.
The desires of the characters in Hong Kong dramas
Hong Kong's film and television works are less influenced by the political and ideological factors of the mainland. At the peak of Hong Kong drama, the portrayal of human nature in several classics was relatively profound.
The screenwriter of the TV series "Shanghai Beach" was influenced by the movie "The Godfather". Whether it is the theme or the characters, "On the Beach" has reached a certain height.
"Big Time" portrays a deep human nature through the fight of the stock market, excavates the characteristics of the coexistence of good and evil in human nature, and finds a balance point from it. The character of "Ding Crab" can be described as a classic, there is a saying that the really bad person is that he himself does not feel bad, and "Ding Crab" is such a person.
Ye Rongtian, Xu Wenbiao, Ma Zhiqiang, and Zhang Zili in "Genesis" are all classic characters, who rise and fall in the commercial sea, and their personalities are also fissioning in encounters.
"Golden Branch Desire" is one notch higher than "The Biography of Zhen Huan" in terms of theme and depth of human nature. Although the plot of "Golden Branches" is tortuous, its focus is on writing people. The distinction between "good guys" and "bad guys" is broken in "The Desire of the Golden Branch", everyone is playing tricks for their own interests, playing conspiracies and lies, although the concubines use all kinds of sinister means to compete for favors, but they also have a good side of human nature. "Desire for The Golden Branch" is a tragedy in which women are trapped in the "siege of desire".
The "Thousand Faces" of Historical Figures
Official novels were once all the rage.
Liu Heping uses historical themes to write about officialdom, and Zhou Meisen uses modern political objects to write about officialdom, which can be classified as official dramas.
Official dramas are generally written about the political struggles of a group of officials, and the images of the characters are usually: high emotional intelligence and high intelligence. During the hit "In the Name of the People", the wisdom and city government of gao Yuliang, Qi Tongwei, Sha Ruijin, and Li Dakang caused heated discussions.
TV series such as "The Fission of the Great Qin Empire", "The Vertical and Horizontal of the Great Qin Empire", "The Kangxi Dynasty" and other TV series have more character biographies, "The Fission of the Great Qin Empire" Shang Martin is an important figure, and Zhang Yi is an important figure in "The Vertical and Horizontal of the Great Qin Empire". Of course, these historical figures have also been artistically processed.
Through artistic processing, the historical drama "Towards the Republic" has shaped Li Hongzhang, Cixi and Yuan Shikai, who are "different from the teaching books", which has aroused a high degree of "vigilance" of relevant departments.
Many art creators like to write About Cao Cao and photograph Cao Cao. Cao Cao is a "thousand-faced tyrant", the so-called thousand readers have a thousand Hamlets in their hearts, and a thousand viewers have a thousand Cao Cao in their hearts.
In Luo Guanzhong's "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", the character of Cao Cao is also well written, and Guan Yu is also very well written. Lu Xun commented on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms: "As for writing people, they are also quite wrong, so that they want to show Liu Bei's length and thickness and seem to be false, like Zhuge Zhizhi's wisdom and close to the demon; but Guan Yu, especially many good words, and the generalization of righteousness and courage, always see it." ”
The Qing Emperor, played by Chen Daoming in "Qing Yu Nian", is generous on the surface, but in fact he kills people first; Chen Pingping, played by Wu Gang, is fierce and ruthless on the surface, but in fact she is still warm. These two roles can be called the surprises in costume dramas in recent years.
Kyo-style "Leper"
Wang Shuo's work is somewhat similar to Woody Allen's.
Woody Allen criticized pseudo-intellectuals, and Wang Shuo criticized the urban middle class.
The biggest feature of the characters in Wang Shuo's works is that they are not hypocritical. Wang Shuo pioneered the "literature of lepers", and "lepers" are naturally not hypocritical.
Of course, this "Beijing-style" style is not unique to Wang Shuo, and many of Ye Jing's works also have this kind of "leper", such as the TV series "Laughing generously", "Days Related to Youth", and "Where Dreams Begin".
The works of Jiang Wen, Feng Xiaogang and Wang Shuo, which intersect, more or less bear the characteristics of Wang Shuo. "Blood Romance" has similar characteristics.
The "Yu Sin" played by Zhang Yishan in "Residual Sin" attaches "Li Li Qi" to the identity of a policeman.
Jin Yong's thousand-state character
On character shaping, it is impossible to avoid Jin Yong.
Jin Yong said: In the later stage of my writing, I have made some progress in skills, but skills are not the most important, and I pay more attention to people's personality and emotions.
Jin Yong said of Shakespeare: The storyline of Shakespeare's plays is all based on others, but this does not hinder his greatness in the slightest. Shakespeare became a century-old master of literature not because of the bizarre twists and turns of the plot of his works, but because of his profound understanding and portrayal of human nature.
Jin Yong said when talking about the play "Taming": Shakespeare's works are generally divided into three periods, "Taming" is one of his earliest works, which is full of energetic characters, at that time it is still far from the creation of his several tragedies, his talent has not yet developed to the peak, but in "Taming" has fully demonstrated the traces of his genius, in the earlier "Wrong Drama", the main point is still in the intricacies of the plot.
The recognized best-written character in "Smiling Proud of the Jianghu" is "Yue Buqun". When it comes to the image of a "hypocrite", the first thing that many people think of is "Yue Buqun". When "Smiling Pride of Jianghu" was serialized in Ming Pao, there were twenty-one newspapers in Saigon's Chinese, Yue and French newspapers at the same time, and when debated in the South Vietnamese Parliament, some members often accused the other side of being "Yue Buqun" (hypocrites).
The best character written in "Deer Ding" is naturally "Wei Xiaobao". "Deer Ding" is Jin Yong's most avant-garde novel. Wei Xiaobao's character is contrary to traditional values. Jin Yong said: The protagonist of the novel is not necessarily a "good person". One of the main tasks of the novel is to create characters; good people, bad people, good people with flaws, bad people with strengths, and so on, can be written. The author writes about a character, and his intention is not necessarily to affirm such a typical example. Hamlet is indecisive, Rotting can't say he can't, the priest in The Scarlet Letter commits adultery, and Anna Karenina betrays her husband. Readers of "Water Margin" are best not to be like Li Kui, who robs money when he loses a bet, nor does he want to kill his mistress who is constantly extorting like Song Jiang. Lin Daiyu is clearly not an object of imitation by modern women readers. The women with whom Wei Xiaobao had sex were not as many as Jia Baoyu, at least, Wei Xiaobao was not as homosexual as Jia Baoyu, and there were both Qin Zhong and Jiang Yuhan. Lu Xun's writing of A Q was not advocating spiritual victory.
The author's own favorite characters in "The Legend of the Eagle Hero" are Huang Yaoshi and Yang Kang. Huang Yaoshi acts eclectically, regards the world as nothing, and has a deep affection for his wife, and loves female demons. Yang Kang is clever and alert, scheming, and unscrupulous to achieve his goals.
The author's favorite characters in "Condor Heroes" are Yang Guo and Xiaolongnü. The little dragon girl is indifferent by nature, and Yang is extremely affectionate, and the two break through the restraints of the world's ritual laws and customs on people's hearts and behaviors.
Zhao Min, the author's favorite character in "Yitian Slaughtering Dragon". Zhao Min is shrewd and capable, straightforward and bold, heroic, determined, and has initiative in career and love.
The Duan Yu in "Eight Parts of heavenly dragons" is a bit like Jia Baoyu, and "Eight Parts of heavenly dragons" exudes Buddhist ideas everywhere. Some red scholars say that Jia Baoyu is the embodiment of Shakyamuni, like the Buddha's compassion and tolerance, and regards all beings as equal.