Three major negative trends in costume dramas: hollow, idolization, and convergence

Costume dramas in recent years have one thing in common: almost all choose popular idol actors to take the lead, striving to make the male and female protagonists shine in a dazzling aura of popularity and appearance. This move may have the upper hand in the viewing competition, but there are many points worth discussing in terms of artistic and aesthetic laws.

Original title: Several bad trends in costume dramas

Recently, several costume dramas such as "The Glorious World","The Glory of the Tang Dynasty" and "The Peach Blossom of Three Lives" have formed a trend of brushing the screen, which not only attracted the media's attention on stage and behind the scenes. Reports also generated endless discussions among the audience. In recent years, costume dramas have quietly developed into a unique and established type. They are different from historical dramas and martial arts dramas in the traditional sense. They often use legends, fantasy, Xianxia, etc. as story themes, and use popular idols, gorgeous scenes, Dazzling special effects, IP adaptations, etc. as external symbols. Such dramas are highly sought after by young people, especially "online generation". It is said that many such works are still being produced intensively or are eager to be launched. Through such a popular trend of production and broadcasting, we should make some rational reflections on current costume dramas.

Hollow: "Ancient costumes" are a basket. Everything can be filled with

text based on meaning. The meaning is still handsome. A soldier without a commander is called Wuhe. The same is true for TV dramas. Their intentions are unclear and not positive, and they will definitely not be called good works. In recent years, there have been a large number of costume dramas, different styles, and exquisitely produced. Some costumes and props cost sky-high prices, some strive to make every frame beautiful and eye-catching in photography and composition, and others present the shock of blockbusters in martial arts design and special effects. The focus and effort of the main creative team on these hardware levels are indeed remarkable. However, when the audience enjoys audio-visual pleasure, is it accompanied by emotional resonance and spiritual cleansing? I'm afraid there are very few or even empty.

Observing the content reveals that most of the contemporary costume dramas have evolved into a virtual story field that is neither historical nor realistic. Here, romantic scenes of modern love can be staged in ancient costumes, the viciousness of people's hearts can be displayed wantonly under the guise of history, and absurd fantasies and "cross-border" interactions can be carried out regardless of rationality and logic. Costume dramas have become a grocery basket that accepts all orders. Of course, the vast majority of works will also boast inspiration, innocence, justice, persuasion, etc. as themes, but in fact these spiritual factors are either far-fetched and weak, or are dissolved in false scenes full of transcendence, playfulness, and sensational; In order to enhance the sense of historical significance, there are also works that deliberately implant certain real historical figures and events into the plot. However, because they cannot properly handle the dialectical relationship between historical facts and legends, the effect is counterproductive and destroys the sense of history. All of these have caused the hollow phenomenon of the play being strong on the outside but weak on the inside, and the soul's soul's soul is exhausted.

If you lose your muscles and bones, you cannot stand up. TV dramas should become a silent mass culture, rather than a fast food culture that does not seek connotation. Although the narrative background of costume dramas is far from modern times in time and space, the core of the drama, as the spirit of the drama, can connect ancient and modern times and mirror the present, because morality, emotion, humanity, philosophy, etc. have an eternal inner unity. It should be the soul of costume dramas to uphold beauty and good and disparage ugliness in storytelling that ensures artistic authenticity. The ups and downs of strong dramatic conflicts, reasonable and bizarre imagination, and unique art settings can all be used as artistic means in the creativity and creative process. However, this must not weaken or even shield the upward and good theme of the work. The connotation, making it reduced to rootless duckweed and soulless shell, let alone using an abrupt positive energy ending as a shield to occupy a lot of space in the play to amplify the darkness of human nature, the ruthlessness of political power, and the cruelty of struggle. Get the values of the work off track.

Idolization: Fan effect counteracts artistic value

. There is one thing in common in costume dramas in recent years: almost all choose popular idol actors to take the lead, striving to make the male and female protagonists shine with a dazzling aura of popularity and appearance. This move may have the upper hand in the viewing competition, but there are many points worth discussing in terms of artistic and aesthetic laws.

The industry and the audience have long been dissatisfied with this phenomenon of "idols taking the lead". As actors, there is nothing wrong with high appearance and high personality. Young actors should not be labeled as "good-looking but not acting" based on stereotypes, because age is not directly related to acting skills, and everything depends on the quality of the work. Speak. For example, the male protagonist in "Glory of the Tang Dynasty" is quite similar to the temperament of the archetypes recorded in historical records, who are "smart and generous, and do not show their joy or anger on the face." But at the same time, it cannot be ignored that there are indeed some young actors, although they are placed in the leading role, but their heritage and skills are far apart, and they do not have sufficient grasp of the character's form and spirit, especially compared with the surrounding "drama bone" supporting roles, their overstretched role creation ability often makes the performance extremely embarrassing.

In addition, it is common to see examples of excessive idolization of ideas lowering the quality of works. Last year, a certain drama singled "Idol Card", but was suspended halfway on the broadcast platform due to poor ratings and reputation. This year, a certain drama focused on star effect and made rough and frequent loopholes in its special effects presentation. In the end, it was both in terms of acting and production. It was strongly criticized by the audience. It can be said that idols are a double-edged sword. If used well, they will increase the popularity of plays and expand the audience. If they are not used well, they will become the black sheep that will affect the entire community.

Artistic attributes are ultimately the essential attributes of TV dramas, and creations that violate this are tantamount to abandoning the original and pursuing the last, and will inevitably not be far away. The creators of costume dramas cannot just be merchants, but also craftsmen. They should avoid letting the audience see stars but not characters, skin but not hearts, coolness but souls, and ancient costumes but not ancients. The character is the inner drive of the plot's personality, and the plot is the externalization of the character's temperament. Ensuring that the most basic "people" and "things" can be self-consistent and deeply mixed without trace is a necessary prerequisite for a qualified TV series.

Convergence: Following the trend and copying reflect the lack of originality,

various costume dramas appear in turn like a passing lantern. Although their respective eras and environments are different, they often give people a sense of déjà vu in terms of character design, plot outline, even detail processing, and scene construction. Over time, the audience has guessed the direction and ending of the story as soon as they read the beginning. Naturally, it is difficult to suppress the boredom and aesthetic fatigue.

What has led to the increasing lack of originality? First, in order to win audience share, most of the current costume dramas are adapted to large Internet IPs with previous audience bases. This is already a "second viewing" for the majority of "original fans" and has no plot suspense at all. The essence of this approach is market-oriented considerations at the expense of the freshness of the work, which to some extent exposes the creator's speculative thoughts and unconfidence in the fierce competition. Second, blind imitation and serious follow-up of successful works. A few years ago, the popularity of "Legend of Zhen Huan" attracted the popularity of legendary female dramas in ancient costume to be popular today. In fact, many works use similar story structures to undermine and overdraw the audience's enthusiasm for viewing. Third, costume dramas are still the "hardest hit" of classic remakes. The creators use this "safe" method to cater to the audience's habitual appreciation tastes, and are not afraid of being scolded in order to attract attention.

Some netizens who are good at teasing have summed up many tried and tested "magic routines" for costume dramas, such as "sad snow","wrestling and kissing","brain knocking and amnesia","immortal love", etc. After watching it, the audience can cover their faces and smile. However, people in the industry should be surprised. These routine plot scenes, which seem to be pointed out in a jokingly manner, are actually significant evidence of following suit and copying in creative practice. Needless to say, many costume drama producers have regarded creative artistic work as mechanical repetitive labor, or just used it as a means of making a living to create economic benefits. They are gradually drifting away from their literary and artistic aspirations and innovative ideals. In the long run, they will not only block their own artistic path, but will also bring a devastating blow to the TV drama industry.

What's more, the problem of plagiarism of original works in the field of costume dramas has been endless recently. According to reports, the author of the original work of "The Glorious Windy", which was popular at the end of last year, was suspected of plagiarizing more than 200 novels. A few days ago, 11 writers jointly sued him and a formal case has been filed. Recently, a costume drama being broadcast by a certain department once again criticized the original work. The issue of plagiarism has aroused many doubts. Of course, the ultimate right and wrong will be fairly determined by the law, but the creator of the play must keep his eyes open and his head clear during the early planning and creative stage, and refuse to be a promoter of any infringement.

Editor: yvette