Cultural variety shows provide "calcium supplements" to the screen: hire well-known scholars to enhance cultural character

In an era when TV programs are generally entertaining, while many variety shows have achieved high ratings, they are inevitably "interesting and meaningless" ridicule. Most variety shows attract popularity by setting up interesting links and inviting big-name stars to make it "interesting". However, problems such as low cultural character and frequent hard injuries have also become the weaknesses of many variety shows nowadays. In this environment, the sudden emergence of cultural variety shows is both unexpected and reasonable.

Original title: Cultural variety shows "calcium supplements" on the screen

In an era when TV programs are generally entertaining, many variety shows have achieved high ratings, but they are inevitably "interesting and meaningless" ridicule. Most variety shows attract popularity by setting up interesting links and inviting big-name stars to make it "interesting". However, problems such as low cultural character and frequent hard injuries have also become the weaknesses of many variety shows nowadays.

In this environment, the sudden emergence of cultural variety shows is both unexpected and reasonable. The Shanghai TV Festival Magnolia Award variety show category awards were awarded to cultural variety shows for two consecutive years (2015 "China Character Dictation Conference", 2016 "China Poetry Conference"), which shows that the public and experts have unanimously praised cultural variety shows.

Since the launch of the "China Character Dictation Conference" jointly launched by CCTV and the State Language Commission in 2013, there has been strong responses from all walks of life, and even set off a wave of public viewing. Of course, not every cultural variety show can attract audiences and achieve success. The author believes that excellent cultural variety shows have the following characteristics: hiring well-known scholars, selecting representative players, setting innovative and warm topics, and appropriately incorporating entertainment factors.

Hire well-known scholars to improve cultural character

According to my incomplete statistics, there are more than 30 cultural variety shows broadcast on CCTV and various local TV stations. It is no easy task to stand out from the crowd. Recruiting nationally renowned experts and scholars to participate in the program is an important way to enhance the cultural character of the program and attract audiences.

Mao Peiqi, a professor at Renmin University of China, has joined cultural variety shows such as "China Character Dictation Conference" and "My Favorite Is China" many times. He said in an interview that participating in cultural variety shows is also the responsibility of researchers."When we do historical research, we must not only thoroughly study the knowledge, but also convey this knowledge to the public through appropriate channels. If knowledge and thoughts only stay in books or within a certain small scope, they cannot play their greatest role." The author deeply agrees. By artificially building a gap between the ivory tower and society, the significance of academic research will be greatly reduced.

In the third season of "My Favorite China" created by Guizhou Satellite TV in 2016, the author was deeply impressed by the wonderful interaction between Professor Kang Zhen of Beijing Normal University and the contestants. In the "Bo Le Xiangma" session, the players were not familiar with the famous Song Dynasty sentence "This hatred has nothing to do with the wind and the moon". The instructor guided it word by word, and finally the players "got" the entire sentence right at the last moment. This process is not only tense and exciting, but the constant retelling also makes the audience in front of the TV deeply remember the famous line from Ouyang Xiu's "Jade Tower Spring". Mentors no longer sit down and ask questions, and players will not be uneasy and boring. This form also makes the program more relaxed and beautiful.

Selecting grassroots and young people, and focusing on public participation

In recent years, there are not a few players who have stood out in cultural variety shows and are well known to the public. For example, in the "China Idiom Conference" that was broadcast on CCTV in 2015, the names of several groups of contestants were familiar to the audience and still fresh in their memories, such as the writer group "PM2.5"(Peng Min and Li Jianzhang),"Vernacular Confusion"(Zhang Yuhua and Bai Juan), etc. The "Vernacular Lingxi" group also became popular on the Internet due to its wonderful performance on the program and was awarded the title of "Idiom Goddess". In another CCTV cultural variety show, several junior high school students from Nanjing Foreign Languages School quickly set off a craze of popularity on the Internet due to their excellent performance. The author also found that there are post bars named after them in Baidu Post Bar, and there are still top post replies to this day, and the popularity remains undiminished. This all shows that the quality of players plays an important role in the effectiveness and dissemination of cultural variety shows.

Grassroots and youth are two prominent characteristics in the selection of successful program players. There are several contestants in Hebei Satellite TV's "Good Chinese Poetry" and Guizhou Satellite TV's "My Favorite China" who have not received systematic education in literature and history, let alone background in prestigious schools. Their knowledge of Chinese studies almost comes from interest and self-study. The program's intention in selecting such players is very obvious: heroes should not ask where they came from, but they have the responsibility to inherit culture.

Young people are chosen as players because they represent youthful vitality and vitality. Dictation of Chinese characters was originally an important teaching method in basic education in national Chinese. The "China Character Dictation Conference" moved it to the basic model of the program. It also invited junior high school students from all over the country to participate in the program in groups based on the school, which not only enhanced the sense of teamwork, but also opened up a second classroom for the development of Chinese character writing ability in the basic education stage, which was a great contribution.

The topics cover a wide range of topics, with equal emphasis on knowledge and thoughts

. When it comes to topic setting, excellent cultural variety shows also have their own advantages. Most of them can rely on the characteristics of their own program instructors and players to form a unique style, and their topics will also be adjusted according to feedback such as broadcast effects and ratings. Each season of "Chinese Good Poetry" has a unique theme. General director Yang Baokun introduced that the theme of the first season is to enjoy good Chinese poetry, the second season develops to appreciate the beauty of poetry, and the third season is to feel the power of poetry. The fourth season has become a return to the original intention. The title setting for each season is closely launched around the theme of the season. Coincidentally, the third season of "My Favorite China" will also expand the scope of questions from Chinese knowledge to Chinese food, beautiful scenery, folk customs and art, making the topic content of the entire program more full and the thinking clearer.

The "China Character Dictation Conference" officially issued a notice this year to collect topics from the whole society. The requirements for topics are clearly divided into four categories of "good words": interesting, difficult, wise, and alive. The program team explained that interesting representatives are close to life, and they feel "very interesting" when they listen to it; the difficulty is not to deliberately pursue partiality, difficulty, and weirdness, but to find words that have them in their hearts but not in their writing, and clearly think they can write, but are easy to "stuck"; wisdom means that words contain rich China wisdom, which Chinese people should know and understand; while life means words that although they are old, they can last forever, travel through history and reflect on the current dilemma. Mu Jinming, director of the "China Character Dictation Conference", said that the purpose of collecting questions from the whole society is to "hope that fans, audiences and children can participate and transmit positive energy through Chinese characters." This idea reflects the program group's open mind and deep social feelings.

Integrating entertainment elements into a win-win situation for viewing and reputation

cannot be ignored. Today's cultural variety shows have also become overheated. Some programs are monotonous in form and single in content, and there is a risk of imitating each other and rigid in type. For example, when "Chinese Character Hero" and "Idiom Hero" were first launched, they created a miracle of ratings. The ratings once surpassed the popularity of the popular talent variety show. However, since the second season, the ratings of these two programs have dropped to top ten at the same time period.

How should we introduce the new and better balance the proportion of entertainment and knowledge in cultural variety shows? Guan Zhengwen, director-general of "China Idiom Conference", gave his answer: "We have strengthened the entertainment design, released the host's ability to be active on the scene, organized a variety of interesting topics, encouraged players to interact with the host, mobilized the status of guests, and in the later stage, we emphasized retaining the true happiness of the scene, and strengthened the knowledge and interest through 'flower words', transforming the inner cultural responsibility into a more relaxed external form, allowing everyone to Get nutrition in happiness." Carrying a deep inner responsibility in a relaxed external form is the fundamental guarantee for the success of such programs.

After just three to four years of development, cultural variety shows have achieved such huge impact and achievements today. The reason why it is worth analyzing. Although some programs are not satisfactory, the survival of the fittest, the audience's judgment and choice will inspire cultural variety shows to seek innovation and change and go further.

Editor: yvette