Continue the above "Stars, cards and blessings all have the shadow of China (1)".
Q: In recent years, English dramas have been labeled as "the rise of English dramas" and "corruption" in erotic consumption. Is the "corruption" tendency of English dramas in the past two years largely caused by public opinion, or is it catering to public opinion?
Mao Jian: "Corruption" is not a patent of English drama. In the past two years, there have been American TV dramas and Japanese TV dramas, and even domestic TV dramas have intentionally or unintentionally given the protagonist various "corruption" benefits. For example, in the case of Zhao's orphan, several times I didn't say how good it was to save my life. There was a kind of warmth that only I could understand, which made countless netizens cheer on the forum: Let Uncle Tu and Uncle Cheng be together! In fact, by browsing these forums on Baidu Tianya, you can feel the strong vitality of rotten culture. "Corruption" has become a new trend of popular culture, and it is cross-cultural. I don't think this tendency depends entirely on the imagination of the audience. Take Shylock as an example, the crew's motives for selling corruption are obvious. This is, of course, to please the public's interest to a great extent, so that the audience can feel the pleasure of "surpassing" without really touching the taboo. However, "corruption" will also be intertwined with social and cultural discourse. For example, the Japanese drama Don't Get Married a while ago used a somewhat "corrupt" form to talk about the topic of women's independence. Of course, "rot" usually describes male stories and honey brotherhood. In my opinion, corruption is quite interesting, like the first season of American TV series Detective and Sherlock, but it is just a compliment, with strong decoration, but it looks changeable. "Corruption" on TV now is nothing unusual. In the words of my friend Romon, this has become a new conservatism in the TV drama industry.
Q: Another question is, why has the adaptation of famous English dramas always had vitality? In sharp contrast, every remake of the domestic series has attracted a lot of criticism.
Mao Jian: If the adaptation of domestic dramas can be as moderate as that of English dramas, one episode of Pride and Prejudice, two episodes of Sense and Sensibility and one episode of Persuasion, then the adaptation of domestic dramas will always have vitality. But now, a short story "Love in a Fallen City" has been remake into 36 episodes, and Zhang Ailing's story has added "Shanghai Beach", "Song of Youth" and "Golden Powder Family", making Bai Liusu and Fan Liuyuan's life as magnificent as Lin Daojing and 007. Speaking of it, any country has adapted classics, but it is really rare for us to standard three or more suitors for all famous heroines and a heartbreaking emotional history for all male protagonists. Up to now, it is estimated that a national drama standard can also be created.
Q: Once upon a time, there was a chain that despised TV dramas, which probably meant watching English dramas, watching American dramas, watching Japanese dramas and watching Korean dramas. Now it seems that Japanese dramas have completely fallen. what do you think? Will you still go to see the popular Japanese drama Naoki Banzawa?
Maojian tea: I've heard of this contempt chain. I watch less English dramas, American dramas, Japanese dramas and Korean dramas. The TV plays in these countries are really stylized, so they can occupy the mainstream market. As far as my personal experience is concerned, if you want to watch political dramas or funny dramas with no lower limit, look for them in English dramas. American TV series is a good choice if you are looking for speed and technology detective dramas. However, whether it is a crime drama or a warm soap opera, American dramas are actually stable in their bones. I quite like Japanese dramas, mainly Dahe dramas. The national propaganda of Dahe Opera is really good, which is worth learning from our historical dramas. You see, when they filmed Toyotomi Hideyoshi, they never focused on his personal affair, but we always made Cao Cao miss Xiao Qiao. At the same time, Japanese pop dramas have always been attractive aesthetically. Of course, I also feel the bottleneck of this Japanese drama you mentioned. I think it may be similar to the low tide of TVB in recent years, and the actor's fault is obvious. Nowadays, it is very rare for young actors in Japanese dramas, whether male or female, to be outstanding in acting and unforgettable. From another perspective, the role of middle-aged actors is becoming more and more obvious. Masao Sakai was a green leaf for many years before starring Naoko Banzawa, and now it has finally blossomed. Actress Yuuki Armani doesn't eat youth food either. Not to mention evergreen trees like Kimura Takuya. The support of middle-aged actors may have led to the change of Japanese drama types to some extent. There seems to be a little less idol romance and more struggle films. I think it's still worth seeing.
Q: Apart from English dramas, American dramas and Korean dramas, what are the highlights of relatively small Thai dramas or other dramas?
Mao Jian: When I was a teenager, I watched some TV dramas of the Soviet Union and North Korea. What impressed me the most was Seventeen Moments in Spring, which was really beautiful and sublime. That is the textbook of our domestic drama "Latency". Later, Brazil's Slave and India's Conspiracy and Love were popular TV dramas, but now American TV dramas, English TV dramas, Japanese TV dramas and Korean TV dramas are basically the world. Therefore, as far as film and television life is concerned, our screen is "narrower and narrower". As for me personally, I can be regarded as an ordinary audience, basically watching those mainstream dramas. I saw Thai dramas when I was traveling in New Matai, and I thought the actors were very good-looking, but the plot seems to rely more on popular dramas of TV dramas from other countries, such as Korean dramas. I don't understand Thai, but I can understand it after staring at it for a while, and I found that the heroine imitates Song Hye Kyo Jing. Thailand is a very interesting place, but it seems a little regrettable that TV drama creation lacks nativity. Of course, maybe I have too little contact. The TV plays in Taiwan Province Province are good at youth nostalgia, which is also remarkable in aesthetics and more delicate and gentle. For example, The Story of Time is suitable for young artists.
Q: There is another genre that has a great influence on us, that is, Hong Kong drama. Hong Kong Opera is a school closely related to most people, and it is also the most declining school today. According to you, Hong Kong movies should be soft and poisonous. What's wrong with the Hong Kong series?
Mao Jian: I'm not that good and I don't have the courage to feel the pulse of Hong Kong TV series. However, I feel that we can't just discuss the problems of Hong Kong TV dramas in a background. It's like, before the taxi came out, we never knew what the radio station in the taxi would be replaced by. Can this reason be found in the radio station itself? Of course, there must be a reason for returning to Hong Kong Opera itself. Just like the Japanese drama mentioned earlier, the script shortage is a problem, and the actor fault is also a problem. Our generation, all in their teens, fell in love with Hong Kong opera. Chow Yun Fat's modeling in Shanghai Beach once appeared in all classes of adolescence. More than 30 years later, Chow Yun Fat is still on the screen. This is the problem. The "lack of initiative" of Hong Kong drama can also be called a major problem in the industry. In Chen Qitai's words, TVB means "focusing on the assembly line for 30 years, and making no progress in 30 years". However, it is definitely not up to the industry to make a comeback and return to Huo Yuanjia or moderns.
Q: It has been more than two years since you last talked about series in Shanghai Book Review. In the past two years, domestic movies have repeatedly disappointed the audience. It seems that there are not so many main melody series of Soldiers Assault. So, which series are responsible for presenting the complexity of life and belief? What changes do you think of the melody of domestic dramas?
Mao Jian: Yes, I haven't seen a wonderful domestic drama for a long time. In those days, when "plot against", "lurk" and "the right way on earth is vicissitudes of life" came out, they got the red palm of domestic TV series. What have you got in these two years? I really can't figure it out. However, as for the main theme, today, it is not so much in Soldiers' Assault as in Beijing Love Story. Although the latter has problems in melody, it is obviously from the standpoint of fu to examine life. This is probably the same reason. When it comes to life and politics, the examples cited on the Internet are more American dramas, English dramas and Japanese dramas. Personally, I think that in such an era of global synchronization of video playback, the presentation of your so-called complexity of life and beliefs has obviously become more complicated. When American TV series House of Cards and Lurking are regarded as cases of office politics and political corruption, and Queen of the Palace and Japanese TV series Duke Du are regarded as harem politics and office politics, it seems that it is not only domestic TV series that can decide how to separate China people's history and beliefs from them. Just like you from the stars, which we said at the beginning. This play is fully integrated into the daily life of China people. When we talk about Do Min Joon Xi, the affectionate tone is nothing like Korean drama. So sometimes, instead of looking for the life of China people in domestic dramas with low ratings, it is better to observe the thoughts of China people in overseas popular dramas. This is an era in which you have me and I have you. Just like the plane whose whereabouts are still unknown, it shows the most wandering life of an Iranian: this Iranian bought a Malaysia Airlines ticket in Thailand with an Italian passport through the website of China Southern Airlines, and was going to fly to China for a connecting flight to Germany, and finally disappeared over Vietnam. World politics is so intertwined that the world image will become more and more intertwined.
(Author: Mao Jian, teacher of the Department of Chinese as a Foreign Language, East China Normal University)