The 10th edition is known as an "upgraded version" of the TV series adapted from the chinese classical literary masterpiece "Dream of the Red Chamber", which has advantages and disadvantages compared with the 87 "popular version". Since its premiere, the 10th edition has been criticized by 87 fans, and I personally believe that there are the following reasons.
First of all, the original work of "Dream of the Red Chamber" is a classical Chinese "magic realism" vernacular novel, and this "magic realism" style of the original work is a certain distance from the aesthetic habits of many ordinary readers and tv audiences in modern times.
When many ordinary readers read this long original work, they often skip all the plots of the original work like the "innovative" adaptation of the 87 TV series and directly skip the plot of the original work and do not watch it, and it is difficult for modern readers and the vast number of TV viewers to be interested in the traditional Chinese feudal superstitious content of these "gods, ghosts, immortals, and Buddhas".
However, the 10th edition is based on faithfully approaching the original work, and the first episode of the first episode, like the original book, is entirely about the leprosy monk of the "too illusory realm" and the lame Daoist to open the story of this classical Chinese "magic realism". For this mysterious story operation of the "God, Ghost Immortal Dao Buddha" that follows the original work, the audience is drowsy and confused.
Many TV viewers have long been accustomed to the first episode of the 87 version opening with Jia Yucun's words and directly cutting into the story of Xiao Rongkui Zhen Shiyin and Xiangling as the main body. For the endless opening of the 10th edition where such a monk and two bad old men are rambling, many viewers who simply do not feel it at all directly abandon the drama in the first episode of the 10th edition.
The opening of the 10th edition of the god-like Nagging is completely unexpected by many viewers, coupled with the background of the Kunqu opera music that has been extremely niche in modern times and the background of the prologue and the ending picture of the classical style of Sun Wen's Red Chamber painting, the first impression of the entire 10th edition to the audience is that the clouds are swirling, and the audience can see the clouds in the fog.
The 10th edition only opened with a ratings loss, alas...
The 89 film version of that year also opened with "too illusory", and the attendance rate was dismal and could not grasp the audience at the beginning of the film and attract the audience's interest.
In fact, compared with the "popular version" of the 87 TV series that director Wang Fulin said about the "simplified popular villain book version", the 10th edition is indeed an elaborately planned and produced "upgraded version" of ancient style, aesthetic picture, and poetic and romantic atmosphere.
The majority of TV viewers have an understandable side to the 10th edition, which absorbs the shape and musical elements of Kunqu opera, and the "600-year-old Kunqu opera and the mother of Chinese opera" is now weak. Kunqu opera is so niche in modern times, the 10th edition of Kunqu character creation and Kunqu music background, as well as the famous Qing Dynasty Sun Wen Red Chamber painting background opening and closing subtitle design, are completely beyond the aesthetic habits of most modern audiences, and it is also normal for the majority of audiences to have low acceptance.
Director Wang Fulin said, "The 87 version is a simplified, popular, villain book version, Wang Fulin is not a classic, and Cao Xueqin is a classic." As the first work of the Chinese mainland "Dream of the Red Chamber" TV series, the 87th edition has made great contributions to the promotion and popularization of the masterpiece of Classical Chinese literature "Dream of the Red Chamber".
The 87th edition, as an adaptation of the original work and adding an "original" plot and an "original" ending, has indeed played a role similar to advertising indoctrination for some audience readers who have not seriously read the original book after thirty years of replays, resulting in many preconceived "stereotypes".
However, it is a misconception that the 87th edition of the "innovative" adaptation is considered "the most faithful to the original".
The 87 version of Fu Hua Dao is the most popular "Huxian Peasant Painting" style in the late 1970s, and composer Wang Liping uses the "Qingwen Song" adapted from the popular Cantonese folk music of the late 1970s and early 1980s as the background music of the whole play. The 87th edition of this modern "innovative" application in costume design and background music is indeed more popular and closer to the clothing colors and music appreciation habits of the majority of post-60s, 70s and 80s audiences, so it is more popular with the majority of TV audiences.
The 87 version of the generation of leading actors all grew up in the "ten years", the generation that lacks traditional Chinese cultural education, and the 87 crew has too many "ordinary people", so the crew must give all the actors up to six months of collective training in culture and acting skills. However, due to the limitations of the acting skills and equipment conditions of the 87 crew actors that year, the shooting cycle dragged on for a long time, and the training for half a year plus the dubbing and post-production of the broadcast actors for nearly two years and several months, a total of three years, there were still many important scenes such as costume props, lighting photography, actor acting skills and other irreparable hard injuries.
The 89 film version and the 10 version of the crew have cultivated a number of star actors, which can be described as star-studded. The "old drama bones" in the 89 film version and the 10th version are even more exquisite in acting, and their performances in the play are wonderful.
Due to the popularity and dominance of television media in mass communication in the mid-to-late 1980s and the entire 1990s, adding the objective reality of the 87 version of "preconceptions", the 87 version of the TV series occupies a natural advantage, which is also one of the important factors in the ratings and popularity of the 87 version of the TV series far exceeding the 89 film version and the 10 version of the TV series.
In addition, the "innovative" adaptation of the 87th edition of the script to the first eighty times of the original work has indeed greatly improved the watchability of the TV series and the wonderful degree of plot contradictions and conflicts. The 87th edition of the storyline of the "simplified, popular, and villain book version" is much more "simple, easy to understand" and easier to understand than the original novel of the complicated classical Chinese "magic realism" vernacular novel "Dream of the Red Chamber".
The "innovative" plot of the 87 TV series of "Villain Book Edition" makes the audience feel that the "good guys" mainly composed of Jia Mu Bao Dai Qingwen and other "bad guys" are clear. The fierce struggle between "Dai Pai" and "Bao Pai" for the big position of "Bao Er Grandma" made the audience more clear-cut and firm when watching TV series.
Therefore, the "simplified, popular, villain book version" of the 87 TV series is widely loved and praised by the audience, and the 87 version of the "innovative" plot is more like "Qiong Yao drama", "Korean drama", "palace fight drama", which looks far more enjoyable than the original work of the classical novel "Dream of the Red Chamber" with a blurred boundary between "reality and illusion" "good guys" and "bad guys"!
The "innovative" adaptation of the 87th edition of the TV drama script adds an "original" plot, and the modernization, popularization and entertainment are more in place, so it is loved by the majority of modern TV audiences.
The 10th edition of the ancient style respects the original and is closer to the meaning of the traditional Chinese cultural classics, but the aesthetic habits of the modern TV audience produce a sense of distance, which is the most important factor that the 10th edition is far less popular than the 87th edition in terms of ratings.