From last year's "Menghualu" to this year's "Yi Nian Guan Mountain", Liu Yifei and Liu Shishi, the two 85-year-old actresses, have returned to their ancient puppet images, showing a similar audience evaluation pattern - surprise at the beginning, disappointment in the middle, they are successful goddess images, but they are not the best viewing experience.
Such a word-of-mouth roller coaster is directly inspired by the development direction of the plot. Screenwriter Zhang Wei is like a fairy-like godmother, not only wielding a magic wand, but also assisting the heroines in and out of the play to complete gorgeous turns and self-certification;He eagerly declares that by twelve o'clock at midnight everything will be meaningless—but not even half of the story.
Although it is not "Concubine Xi returns to the palace", Zhang Wei has a deeper understanding of the inner drive and aesthetic taste of mature women. When Liu Yifei decided to return to the world, she wrote about Zhao Paner, a migrant worker from the bottom of society. Liu Shishi chose ancient characters, so she created a female ** Ren Ruyi who has both good looks and strong martial arts.
However, when midnight passes, the wagon also turns into a pumpkin. The pre-agreed female **, her force value fluctuates, but at a critical moment, she completely relies on the male protagonist to rescueWhen netizens were hotly discussing the distribution of scenes in "Yi Nian Guan Mountain", Liu Shishi expressed the opinion that "Ruyi is not a flower, but a tree" on Weibo. Although her role is set to be quite a heroine, it is likely that she will not be able to change the image of the "weak heroine" in the play.
In the ideal, 85 flowers will bloom again, and the big heroine will show a new pattern, and the sister will become the only beauty. The return of Er Liu in real life not only likes to preach, but also easily turns into a beautiful wife. Compared to the rich storyline, the deliberate narration makes the characters seem less fluid. Rather than showing it realistically, the growth of women who can't stand is more like "just for reference".
The most crucial thing is that when you set up a heroine character full of new ideas, you will find that as the plot progresses, everything seems to return to the previous pattern, as if only in this way can the story be told. Not only did this disappoint the audience, but it also made us feel that even small changes always have a strong inertia that pulls us back to the path of the past - even in dreams, we can't achieve such beautiful dreams.
Three axes held by the Fairy Godmother.
Zhang Wei's students describe her as follows: "She often tells us that women can completely rely on no one, do not have to marry rich people, do not need to break laws and rules, do not need hidden rules, and can enjoy a good life with just a pen, live freely, and live a full and interesting life." ”
In this way, we can better understand the advice of Empress Zhaojie (played by Wang Yan) to Liu Shishi in "Yi Nian Guan Shan": "You must not be tempted by men, but you must have a child of your own." This is not the advice given by the former queen, but more like Zhang Wei sharing his life experience with Wang Yan in a different place.
However, this is also the problem. Zhang Wei gives too deep feminine values to Er Liu's characters, and if they go beyond the parts that match the plot, they will appear too dramatic, making the two look like model workers in the process of women's growth. Each episode has its golden sentences, and each one has extremely high value, and I am afraid that the audience will not notice the feminine charm exuded by them.
When Zhang Wei describes the specific plot of women's growth, his three major strategies are: career management, deep sisterhood, and love in difficult situations. In the two works that substitute Er Liu, we can observe that "Yi Nian Guan Mountain" and "Menghualu" both adopt the same creative mode.
First and foremost is her career, Liu Shishi is a woman**, she once defeated three Jiedu envoys in a month, and successfully assassinated the Empress Dowager Chu, thus rising to a management position;Zhao Paner successfully promoted the village tea house to Tokyo, which is equivalent to a fourth-tier city milk tea brand successfully entering Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, and also broke the traditional notion that women are not allowed to open restaurants.
What follows is a deep sisterhood. Compared with the much-criticized competition in traditional costume dramas, Zhang Wei places more emphasis on women's growth and helping each other. In the work "Yi Nian Guan Mountain", Empress Zhaojie is portrayed as Liu Shishi's "spiritual mother", who not only teaches Liu Shishi the wisdom of reading, writing and being a person, but also advises her not to be troubled by love through her own real experience. Liu Shishi learned the guidelines of how women can live independently from the Jin gang leader she once coached.
In "Menghualu", Zhao Paner, Sun Sanniang and Song Yinzhang are the central characters, they are not only close friends, but also partners in their careers. However, if the mutual aid relationship between the three women from the bottom of society is relatively more real, then the emotional bond between Zhao Paner and the queen is more like a fantasy that transcends social class barriers.
In the end, it is love in a difficult situation. In Zhang Wei's works, ordinary love relationships are not as intense as we think, and love is often predestined. In the battle of Tianxingxia described in "Yi Nian Guan Mountain", Liu Shishi and Liu Yuning are back to back, which represents a deep trust in entrusting one's life to others. When Liu Shishi's life was dying, Liu Yuning did not hesitate to consume half of his internal strength. In the world of martial arts, the use of internal force is far better than money, which we can explain as the fact that the boss in the current puppet directly transfers half of the equity.
In the work "Menghualu", Gu Qianfan bravely rescued Zhao Paner from the predicament many times. The ** of the confused county planned to beat Zhao Paner with a cane, but was stopped by Gu Qianfan's men. In the restaurant battle, Gu Qianfan bravely pushed away the knife-wielding bandit with a kick. Regardless of the heroine's strength and intelligence, it is absolutely necessary to be rescued by her partner often, otherwise it will not be possible to show the preciousness of love and the male protagonist.
When the relationship is over, magic ceases to exist.
But no matter what, Liu Yifei and Liu Shishi, the two ancient puppets, have experienced a counterattack under the glory of the past. Both men left many memorable images on TV screens more than a decade ago, but now they both face the enormous challenge of transformation and are almost forgotten. Although Leng Buding once again returns to his past, the audience still prefers that "déjà vu vibe".
Compared with the cold Little Dragon Girl and Wang Yuyan, Zhao Paner played by Liu Yifei takes a road close to the people, and even shows some funny femininity in the early stages of the story. Zhao Paner did not hesitate to use her wealth and appearance as ** for the sake of that scumbag Zhou She. The plot of taking the initiative to express emotions made Hard Candy feel like he was on pins and needles. The deliberate pursuit of dust and vitality, coupled with thick makeup, simply made Tianxian feel an indescribable ** charm.
However, the real problem with watching a show is that when people are truly in love, their appeal wanes. The phenomenon of "eye drawing" described in the circle can be observed in the early ambiguous relationship with Chen Xiao, but over time, it has become too widespread. Whether it is a person with explosive looks like Liu Yifei and Chen Xiao, or a person like swimming in a small boat to draw, drawing a wire for the rest of his life after the disaster, and eating a refreshment to draw a wire, it will make people feel aesthetic fatigue. Liu Yifei's unique glue-like performance skills make the heroine's performance level in emotional scenes very weak. Compared with the previous image of a cold beauty, "Wang Rong, a mother of four children", has become more virtuous and likes to work, but this does not mean that Liu Yifei has significantly improved her acting skills.
A year later, Liu Shishi's situation was the same. In the play, the ancient character of the Chosen One may only appear in Reuters, but in the plot, the role of the Chosen "Duan Concubine" still exists." Her elegant and chrysanthemum-like temperament still exists, even when acting, her gaze has not changed the old problem of her stiff neck.
In particular, the plot of Liu Shishi seducing Liu Yuning to give birth to a child in the "bed scene" is entirely possible to compete with Liu Yifei on the theme of "who is the chastity archway moving in the ancient puppet circle". When my rock-solid, unwavering heart is not shaken, I feel like I'm on a mission. Surprisingly, every character in the play needs to show Liu Shishi's attractive facial expressions, which is undoubtedly an in-depth test of acting skills.
However, it is undeniable that Liu Shishi is fully qualified to play the role of an arrogant female **, but her thinking in love is difficult to maintain. As "Yi Nian Guan Mountain" enters the 20th episode, the scenes related to love have gradually decreased, and the plot has become richer. While Liu Yuning is injured, Liu Shishi wanders outside the room, trying to play the role of a distressed, anxious and longing lover, but she reacts like a driver who caused an accident, fearing that the injured person will not wake up and may be imprisoned.
Some people say that 85 flowers have returned to the top, and Hard Candy Jun thinks it's more like a double reinforcement of the nostalgic atmosphere and the beauty filter. Although Er Liu has expressed his stance on the attitude of hard work, his actual performance is still affected by the foundation of the past. Liu Yifei focuses on her looks, and every set of her makeup and costumes is eye-catching, even surpassing many other small flowers. With her unique demeanor and atmosphere as a selling point, Liu Shishi has successfully mastered the cold character of the character and has achieved great success.
The perception of dislocation is reflected in the fact that when 85 flowers returned to the ancient puppets, the actors they worked with had already gone through two or three rounds of iterations. The performance styles of both parties bear obvious marks of the times, and if they don't blend well, they will produce a strong ** feeling. This also explains why they generally do not seem strong enough in terms of CP feeling, and when they really start a relationship, they are not so attractive compared to the mutual teasing and pulling in the first half.
The ancient puppet has undergone a process of modernization and upgrading.
In Zhang Wei's early work "Male Talent and Female Appearance", women-related issues have shown obvious marks of the times. In the play, Ruby Lin is struggling with whether she should become a full-time housewife, and Zeng Li, who used to worship money very much, finally resolutely refuses the courtship request of the gold owner. It may be inappropriate to put such a direct social issue into the puppet, but the puppet can show the sincere emotions of the creator in some cases.
The narrative of "Menghualu" attempts to continue Guan Hanqing's rebellious spirit of pursuing equality and happiness for low-level women in "Save the Wind and Dust", but the adaptation of its plot unexpectedly deviates from Guan Hanqing's original creative purpose.
In the play, Zhao Paner and the other characters are pursuing their own identity and striving for progress, a process that actually reinforces their feudal hierarchy. Zhao Paner and Song Yinzhang both think that a low-status music book is a shame, while the kabuki Zhang Haohao repeatedly emphasizes that "only Israel is a real cheap". It is not wrong for Zhao Paner to aspire to a higher status in society, but the problem is that their hearts have divided women into different levels, which makes mutual help at the bottom more like small talk and fighting at the bottom.
This work tells the story of a man who is deeply skeptical of equality, who wanders between old and new values, which creates a deep rift in Menghualu. However, when the prostitute transforms into a "double clean", the process of saving the wind and dust is also completely reduced to humiliation. What's more, in the face of real power, Zhao Paner is still a person who needs to be redeemed, which fundamentally does not get rid of the traditional concept of ancient puppets.
The work "Yi Nian Guan Shan" also holds the same view. It can be seen that the screenwriter tried to realize the value transmission and mutual growth of women through the education of Empress Zhaojie to Liu Shishi and Liu Shishi to the princess, but its presentation method is boring value propaganda and intense theoretical practice.
Empress Zhaojie suggested that Liu Shishi go to "go to the father and keep the son", which is really incomprehensible for her who has not yet experienced love. She wanted to force the action, but because of the impulse in her heart, she realized that Empress Zhaojie's advice was actually too idealistic;Liu Shishi instilled the concept of social responsibility in the princess, but the princess did not hesitate to hurt her sweetheart after being completely disappointed. Either it's too idealistic, or it's too much to be inadequate. In the description of women in "Yi Nian Guan Mountain", the rupture between theory and practice is clearly demonstrated. On the one hand, the female characters continue to emphasize the importance of independence, but no one believes their words and instead devotes themselves wholeheartedly to love.
"Yi Nian Guan Mountain" tries to use the true identity of ordinary ancient puppets to represent the growth of the big heroine, but by adjusting the "setting", it may make some viewers feel a little "fraudulent." In the early stages of the plot, Liu Shishi's character combat ability is extremely good, but in the middle and late stage of the battle, she was rescued by Liu Yuning many times.
Not only are the female characters controversial in terms of roles, but the sudden change in their hearts is also unexpected. Before that, Ren Ruyi was always self-centered, and once she fell in love with the male protagonist, she would become a beautiful wife in the same place. He not only changed his identity in order to assist the actor's team action, but also took the initiative to expose the little marquis's admiration for him in order to promote peaceful dialogue. Compared to a really good wife, Liu Shishi almost replaced the sword in her hand with a shovel in the pot so that she could easily wash her hands and prepare soup. If you're wondering what factors changed the heroine's professional passion, she was even willing to give up her life goal of avenging the queen in favor of providing blood for the male lead?The director will explain to you that this is because of deep "love".
How should women in the new age be in romantic relationships?This is indeed an age-old conundrum. While the direct teaching style in The Daily Life of Qingqing may seem overly dramatic, works like Menghualu and Yi Nian Guan Shan, which directly touch on the issue but ultimately fail to understand it deeply, are also a common phenomenon in modern works.
If the feminist views promoted in the play end up being merely a superficial decoration, without pointing in any practical direction or taking a new path, then the escalation of the ancient puppet in the modern context will become a consumer trap. The audience has a high degree of intelligence, and when they are told "what doctrine do you want to sell me", the creators have actually lost the game.