Interview with the creator of the short video comedy "Pomegranate Ripe": Our video reflects the things around modern Xinjiang people

Source: Global Times

[Global Times reporter Zhang Ni] "Nagging in Xinjiang is a big Internet celebrity", in the past few days of interviews in Xinjiang, the Global Times reporter heard many local young people similar evaluations. On the day of the interview, the "big internet celebrity" wore a black casual shirt, jeans and silver sneakers, slightly shy and tired, and said that he had just returned from filming in Hengdian. White Hair, the show's lead actor, screenwriter and director, has dyed white hair and blue hair that grabs the camera, and green pants and pale pink shirts are as bold as their hair. Analhan is a typical Xinjiang beauty, who is the female number one and makeup artist of the crew in the play. In addition to their Uighur appearance, they are dressed in the same way as the young people who entered the mainland.

In 2014, several young people got together out of interest and launched a short video comedy in Uighur. In 2016, the first season of "Pomegranate Ripe" was broadcast for only 3 months, ranking first in Weibo hot search, and now it has launched its seventh season. As the largest Internet celebrity organization in northwest China, the new media platform accounts such as Douyin, Weibo, and Station B operated by "Pomegranate Cooked" have more than 140 million fans on the whole network, and the number of works played has exceeded 100 million times. Nagging that walking down the street is recognized as a thing of the past, and now it's nice to see the fans change. "At first, some mainland audiences left a message saying, 'I thought you were riding a horse to school.'" Now, there are more messages saying 'Xinjiang is really beautiful, I especially want to go to Xinjiang'. We are happy to see such a change. ”

Xinjiang fan base accounts for 16%

Global Times: What kind of fans are pomegranate ripe? What exactly attracted them?

Nagging: The show was previously made in Uighur, and when it first went viral, many mainland audiences thought we were Indians. Later, because there were more and more fans in the mainland, we switched to the national common language. Now, "Pomegranate Cooked" accounts for about 16% of the Xinjiang fan base on Douyin, and most of the other fans are from the mainland, basically young people in their 20s who are about the same age as us. We are especially grateful to the fans in Xinjiang for promoting this drama to the mainland.

Bai Maomao: The most attractive thing about this drama is that it is grounded. All of our passages come from life, and the content is more positive, from 4 years old to 80 years old can be seen, the sense of resonance is stronger.

GLOBAL TIMES: Before you became an influencer, none of you were professional actors. How did you think of making such a funny short drama that reflects the lives of young people in Xinjiang?

Nagging: The three of us used to work at the same e-commerce company. I'm a TV shopping operator, White Fur does post-production, and Analhan is a makeup artist. In our spare time, we all like to shoot short videos to play, and we also like to watch funny dramas, and slowly everyone wants to go together.

Bai Maomao: I was a fan of Teacher Dapeng (Dong Chengpeng) at the time, and I liked the funny style of "Pancake Man". At that time, there were no funny videos in Xinjiang for a long time, and there were few works that reflected the lives of young people in Xinjiang. Considering that there is a precedent for the funny style before, we will learn from the content structure of similar themes, combine our own characteristics, and make some short videos. At first, the company owner thought there would be no market, and we could only post privately online. Later, the boss accidentally found out that we were doing it secretly, and there was a very united energy when we cooperated, he was very touched, and finally agreed, and named the play "Pomegranate Ripe", symbolizing that everyone is united like a pomegranate seed.

"It turns out that there are still Internet cafes in Xinjiang"

Global Times: Since 2017, "Pomegranate Ripe" has begun to increase the promotion of the Grand Bazaar Pedestrian Street, food from all over Xinjiang, poverty alleviation, ethnic unity and other contents. Fans accept it?

Nagging: We've had more and more fans over the years. Although this drama is a funny theme, we feel that we still have some energy and influence, and we have to do it well. At that time, we just launched a micro-film on the theme of anti-drug, which was a good opportunity to start to integrate some particularly positive and official propaganda in a funny way and become its own characteristics. Particularly successful of these is the traffic police series, which is much better at promoting traffic safety than some official content. This is also our characteristic, that is, to make the particularly positive content easy to be accepted.

Bai Maomao: We were worried at first that this kind of content was not funny, but we didn't expect that the click-through rate was very high, and many comments said "great". We want to let our fans know that we're not just doing funny things, we're a team with a lot of positive energy.

Global Times: Many of the topics in this drama are similar to those in the mainland, such as ridiculing overtime in the workplace. What are the similarities and differences between the lives of young people in Xinjiang and those in the mainland?

Nagging: It's not much different. The things we like to play with are the same, and the clothes we wear are no different, and perhaps the most Xinjiang characteristics are eaten - pilaf, tintin fried noodles, and large plates of chicken.

Bai Maomao: We took a few internet café segments before, and some fans left a message: "It turns out that there are still Internet cafes in Xinjiang!" I thought to myself, what is "and internet café." Later, we went to a particularly well-decorated Internet café to shoot, and filmed the recently popular games, so that everyone could see what the real life of young people in modern Xinjiang is like. Of course, shooting Internet cafes is not to encourage young people to play games, but more to reflect the bad consequences of addicted to playing games and the jokes caused by them.

Speaking of differences, Uyghurs actually have a great sense of humor. Everyone knows that Xinjiang people can sing and dance, we young people get together to eat, and some people will play the piano, sing, and dance, but there is definitely a friend who can tell jokes. 90% of the passages in our play come from the accumulation of eating and chatting.

When "drifting", it may be the biggest difference between us and our parents

GLOBAL TIMES: What are your future plans and life ideals?

Nag: My ideal is to be a good actor, a good actor with works like Zheng'er Bajing. The future development plan is mainly to do film, and I will also study professional acting. This time I went to Hengdian to shoot a movie, and a director said to me, the best thing about you is that you have not studied professional performance, so your performance is particularly true; but the bad part is that you have not studied professional performance, and you can't find the camera position and the light position. So I will keep the good side of myself and then keep trying to improve my abilities in all aspects.

Analhan: My dream is also to be a good actor.

Bai Maomao: Before coming to Urumqi, the way of life I longed for was to do what I wanted to do, and now it has come true. At the beginning, I took 4,000 yuan a month for a salary that I cherished, and I didn't think I would be an Internet celebrity before, and I liked the current state. In the future, I want to be a good director and hope to make good movies that can be released in movie theaters.

GLOBAL TIMES: How is your generation different from your father's generation? In your eyes, what is the difference between modern culture and traditional culture in Xinjiang?

Bai Maomao: I am the only one in my family who has worked alone in Urumqi in three generations, and all the other family members are in Kashgar. At that time, it was also because of my father's support that I came to Urumqi alone, like "North Drift". After coming here, I found that there are many young "drifts" here who have the same experience and complex as me, which may be the biggest difference between us and our fathers.

Some Xinjiang actors have filmed VCD before, and they mainly spread the traditional culture of Xinjiang. The videos we make reflect the things around modern Xinjiang people, which is a different laugh. In the field of comedy, the modern culture I understand is that there are many passages that you don't find funny when you talk about them, but after you make them, they will be particularly interesting.