Urban life dramas mainly refer to those TV dramas that take the modern city as the background, take the family as the narrative unit, and reflect certain life dilemmas, ethical themes and characteristics of the times with the help of the development, changes and conflicts of one or several families in a certain period of time. Compared with other TV drama genres, it has the characteristics of civilianization, life, closeness, and grounding, which is easy to resonate with the audience and form social topics. Once upon a time, urban life dramas can be described as the most popular tv drama genres, before there was "Longing", which once set a super high rating record, and then there were "Holding Hands", "Empty Mirror", "Chinese-style Divorce", "Golden Marriage", "Snail Residence", "The Beautiful Age of Daughter-in-Law", "Naked Marriage Era", "Home, Nth Power" and other word-of-mouth win-win works.
But in general, these five or six years are a low tide period of urban life dramas, and there are very few urban life dramas with national popularity and influence. The downturn in urban life dramas stems from two reasons. First, in the past few years, the rise of IP and traffic, costume dramas, fantasy dramas, idol dramas, youth campus dramas, etc. have become popular themes, and the short urban life dramas in parents have gradually been alienated by young audiences; second, in the context of the impetuousness of the entire film and television industry, few excellent urban life drama scripts have been born. I have always believed that the life drama with contemporary themes is the most difficult to write, because it is closest to the audience's life, and it is not allowed for the screenwriter to be a little virtual, and any plot that is divorced from life cannot escape the harsh criticism of the audience. Thankless, good urban life dramas are naturally less.
However, the low tide of urban life drama does not mean that there are fewer works of this type. Compared with other types of TV series, the cost of urban life dramas is very low, shooting is urban, the location is ready-made, find a few model houses, call a few actors, and you can shoot it noisily. It's just that at this time, urban life dramas have become "narrow", and it has either become a middle-aged and elderly exclusive TV series, turning over and over are all things that are trivial and rotten; or it is constantly narrowed into urban emotional dramas, and life is only left with the protagonist's love and love.
In this context, "You Against the Current" was not optimistic. If it is not starred by Pan Yueming and Ma Li, nor is it broadcast by "Knowing or Not", and it is promoted in the form of a set broadcast at the key point of the finale of "Knowing or Not", it is estimated that few young viewers will notice this drama.
Stills from "You Against the Current"
Yang Guang (Pan Yueming) and Liu Ai (Ma Li) are a loving young newlywed couple. Liu Ai is a typical working woman, capable, free and independent; Yang Guang is the technical backbone of the company, honest and responsible, only his wife is obedient. They wanted to work hard to make money, change to a bigger house and have a baby. But Liu Ai accidentally "lost", Yang Guang is also facing the risk of unemployment, want to replace the house to pay the final payment of the deposit has not landed... At this time, Liu Ai accidentally became pregnant. Faced with the pressure that ensues, can the young couple swim against the current?
In addition to the "bankrupt couple" composed of Yang Guang and Liu Ai, in the later stages of "You Against the Current", there are also the "flash marriage couple" of Zou Kai (played by Sun Jian) and Gao Mi (played by Huang Mengying), the "halfway couple" of Wang Daquan (played by Li Naiwen) and Gao Hongqi (played by Liu Weiwei), and the three couples represent the post-80s, post-90s and post-70s respectively to show their different attitudes towards feelings, marriage and fertility.
The three couples in the play represent the post-80s, post-90s and post-70s respectively
As some scholars have pointed out, Chinese TV dramas have entered the "topic era"; therefore, when screenwriters write urban life dramas, they actually write about some topics that cause public discussion, such as pregnancy, childbirth, buying a house, education, mother-in-law contradictions, intergenerational conflicts, etc. The clear awareness of the topic is conducive to causing public discussion; but the topic awareness is too clear, and it is easy to commit the problem of "theme first", and the details of life will appear "suspended", lack of realism, and the reflection on the problem is also cliché.
Although it has only just started broadcasting, the problem of "theme first" of "You Against the Current" is very obvious. Just look at the beginning, but also can guess what Liu Ai will encounter next - because the screenwriter wants to highlight the pressure of women in the workplace, marriage, family, life and other aspects through her, so she will encounter some very formulaic and routine drama conflicts, rather than making these dilemmas detailed, life-oriented, and artistic.
In other words, "You Against the Current" has a topic, a lack of realism in life, and a slight "suspension" of the plot. For example, at the beginning of the plot, at the wedding of Yang Guang and Liu Ai, Yang Guang's mother chased the balloon and fell into the pool, Liu Ai also fell, Yang Guang jumped off the pool to "save" the two people, but everyone watched the hilarity on the side, because they wanted to see whether Yang Guang saved his daughter-in-law first or his mother first - although it can be understood that the screenwriter wrote this to create a comedic effect, but this is actually a closed-door construction that lacks life experience. The portrayal of Liu Ai and Yang Guang's professional life is also very natural, Liu Ai won a million large orders with a 500 yuan lace skirt, probably copied from "Reader", and a company's ace sales supervisor, with the leader is not big or small, even if it is not big, at every turn with the leader "if it is not good, I will resign" - this is really not the "strong" of the strong woman; Yang Guang was "fired" by the leader in disguise because of Geng Zhi, but it is very doubtful how he did not know how to stay in the design company for 10 years and get the leadership weight. Yang Guang, who was afraid of his wife, did not tell Liu Ai at all about such a big thing as buying a house, and directly signed the contract... In addition, the progress of the series mainly relies on various dramatic accidents (such as Liu Ai's father, who disappeared for 30 years, suddenly appears and suddenly runs away), rather than the natural accumulation of contradictions within life.
Age-old problem: the wife and the mother are falling into the water, save the wife first or save the mother first
But frankly speaking, even if "You Against the Current" is not a good drama, the author still watched it at twice the speed of "relish", and a few good actors are a play. An important reason for the cold response of urban life dramas in recent years is that most actresses with traffic are reluctant to take such scripts, because this damages their "girlish feeling", and most of the resources in the show business circle are inclined to actresses with "girlish feeling". Therefore, the actresses on the market who can carry the topics and ratings of urban life dramas, except for a few such as Song Dandan, Haiqing, Yan Ni, Ma Yili, etc., there are no new faces. Ma Li, who played the heroine of an urban life drama for the first time, was expected to be appropriate. Her sharp, capable, lifelike and comedic image and acting style complement the temperament of urban life dramas.
Ma Li and Pan Yueming's acting skills deserve praise and are very lifelike
Although middle-aged male actors do not have the age troubles of middle-aged actresses, they have tirelessly devoted themselves to urban life dramas over the years, and the audience has been impressed by Zhang Jiayi and Zhang Guoguo; other middle-aged uncles are more willing to devote themselves to urban emotional dramas, playing the roles of successful people like He Han and Xiao Bao. Pan Yueming played Yang Guang this time, is a very pleasing role, he is afraid of his wife, in front of his wife is a big bag, occasionally shouting a word at his wife is scared of himself, but at the critical moment can protect his wife, shoulder responsibility - Pan Yueming's life-oriented acting skills and role fit is extremely high, this drama can help Teacher Pan circle a lot of fans. In addition to the two powerful protagonists, the supporting roles of the drama, Ni Dahong, Zhang Kaili, Liu Weiwei, etc. are also powerful. Although the plot is slightly "suspended", the old drama bones can still play the play "real"; therefore, although the play is not solid enough, it will not drift.
You can't expect "You Against the Current" to return to the golden age of urban life dramas, but if you are bored, this life drama with a relaxed tone can still be used to eat.