In addition to all the love creation routines, what kind of story can touch people's hearts?First of all, the screenwriter must still have an interest and belief in love, and even love.
Author | zzt
Title Picture |Camp with Love
Domestic TV series, whether they are "current puppets" or "ancient puppets", seem to be setting up plots around the theme of "love", but good love is rare, and good lovers are rare.
Yunhe data report "2023 Q3 Drama Webcast Performance and User Analysis" observed that the "love +" theme has occupied the head market. Although young people have a deep practical spirit in "not falling in love", they have never been cold in their appreciation of love film and television dramas.
Picture "Sauvignon Blanc").
As a representative of domestic romantic dramas in the third quarter, "Sauvignon Blanc" has set off a phenomenal social discussion. Because the male and female protagonists of the first two episodes are interesting, especially after being tortured in every way, the dying male protagonist chose the latter between food and flowers, and I paid overnight to be a noble VIP member, in order to see the true face of the male protagonist who has healed from old injuries. However, as the storyline unfolds, the audience feels that love comes inexplicably, the motive is unclear, and the behavior is full of jealousy, pulling, and longing between couples, etc., "sweet" and "abuse" are intertwined, misunderstandings and heart knots are repeated, but behind the behavior of "going deep", "love doesn't know what to do".
When I talked about this drama with a film critic friend, I lamented the labeling and infantilization of its concept of love, "orthopedics", "saving people", "feud" and "family mission", and in terms of roles, it is "one woman and many men" decades ago, "through the sense of use of blood sucking to enhance the connection between flesh and sex", like the love concept of campus youth pain**. We guess that truly mature, complex love is actually hard to write about. Compared with "whimper", "crash" and "cool text" are easier to operate, although the former is closer to the unforgettable twists and turns of the love story.
At first glance it looks like a love story, but in fact it has nothing to do with love
Many love movies and television seem to be love stories at first glance, but once you think about it, it actually has nothing to do with love.
Some practitioners "abuse" for the sake of "abuse", set up a lot of obstacles, misunderstandings, and do too much perverse in character design, and the dramatic conflicts are extraordinary, which is actually very clichéd and repetitive in script creation. For example, the popular "ancient puppets" in the past ten years are mainly born from the female frequency network** - men save women, women save men, the male protagonist has the mission of saving the common people, and the female protagonist breaks the taboo in order to break through the shackles, amnesia and feuds are not uncommon, and "double death" and widowhood and loneliness are also common. And the love of "current couples" is very vulgar, and just a few episodes of "Top" fell into disputes between mothers-in-law and mothers, the intervention of third parties, the intervention of family elders, and so on. Although there is no "car accident, terminal illness, and amnesia trio" anymore, many romantic dramas still fail to make the audience have any resonance with the love story.
Picture: "Fireworks in My World").
There are encounters, there are people, there are plots, there are obstacles, there are misunderstandings, there are reconciliations, and there are troubles or urgings of supporting characters, but where is love? The character itself should first and foremost be a person who deserves to be loved and has a reason to be appreciated and loved by others. If the script is flawed in creating a "loveable" character, then looking for traffic stars and "good-looking skins" to cover it up is just trying to cover it up. In 2023, many romantic dramas will "explode". Take "Fireworks in My World" as an example, the protagonist has a lot of identity halo blessings, such as firefighters, this profession originally has a lot of archetypal stories and a lot of imagination, but in the end, under the deliberate "cooperation" of the male protagonist's acting skills and the weak script, the audience shouted to the heroine in the face of the so-called "sugar moment" "Don't love you too much" and "Hurry up!" And so on. Under the progress of the times, the thin "domineering president" has been eliminated, and besides, this "domineering president" always treats work with amazing words, neither business maturity, nor the ability to deal with intimate relationships, and even the neat rhythm and ghost animal personality of the "crooked mouth dragon king's son-in-law".
The screenwriter does not have the ability to make the audience fall in love with the character, but forcibly arranges for the other party to love to death. The screenwriter is "forced love" to the audience - originally in the case of heavy work tasks, the urging of elders and peers already belongs to the category of "forced love".
"Love as a Camp" is a "masterpiece" that will be scolded on the hot search in 2023. Originally, the male and female protagonists were very topical, and their acting skills and appearance were not bad, but when I saw the third episode, in the words of Internet buzzwords, it was "repeatedly wound to death". The heroine is a financial reporter, cheerful, occasionally cunning, proactive in her work, and serious preparation, as a reporter, I would like to see how this profession is dramatized by idols and how to be arranged love stories. Then, something unbelievable happened: the financial reporter had an interview with the president of the company who was less than 30 years old, and out of some motives to complete the work, he inexplicably developed a good impression of the male protagonist. She didn't even have any editorial independence in her work, but went to the president's house late at night, and at the request of the other party, she changed it word by word to the manuscript that the other party wanted. Netizens concluded that the story is about an idol drama of "five beautiful reporters with a sugar daddy".
Intimacy is not a task, life is more important.
Experience the wider world.
In 2023, I watched dozens of romantic film and television dramas, and I have an observation: whether it is from the data report or the feedback from friends around me, those who are full of interest and enthusiasm for romantic dramas have to be singles. Romantic dramas are sometimes a meal replacement for intimacy and emotion, and whenever a romantic drama comes online, my single friends will spread the word of mouth and encourage each other**. The first few episodes are often "quick to get started" because of the cool characteristics of online articles and the extraordinary setting, but weakness and "pink to black" are almost the same psychological paths.
Recently, there has been a popular saying among romantic drama audiences: "Healthy love is important, but deformed love is really wonderful." From a storytelling perspective, that's true. When I searched the internet for "how to write a love story", one of the key creative ideas was to "create barriers for the protagonist and his lover". Obstacles include both external and internal. External barriers are: social barriers, distance, love triangles or rivals, disapproving friends or family, work or personal responsibilities, physical limitations or deformities, external events. Internal disorders include: emotional baggage, insecurity or self-doubt, miscommunication or misunderstanding, personal defects, conflicting ambitions, infidelity, or attraction to others. Love stories set these barriers in order to overcome them and find true intimacy and belonging.
Picture "Little Joy").
Domestic screenwriters seem to believe very much in the creative logic of "as long as there are enough hardships shared, the feelings will deepen day by day". "Protecting the Heart" is the "ancient puppet" that I liked more last year, the setting is really fun, and the film and television effects in the later stage are also very good, but in the later stage, the male and female protagonists continue to suffer, constantly misunderstand, and divide and merge, which makes people feel that the marginal effect of these obstacles on the auxiliary role of the storyline is decreasing, and it is repeated and numbing, which makes me finally abandon the drama.
Many "ancient puppets" are very precedented, and the author will make up a set of similar fairy and demon orders, such as immortals can't fall in love, immortals also have to take the exam, Xian'e can enter the palace of the gods to work through the exam, two races can't fall in love, and two races must marry. These barriers are fabricated out of thin air and are incomprehensible, so when the characters are disturbed by the obstacles and engage in forbidden love, the audience often has to convince themselves: these "Romeo" and "Juliet" variants are truly shocking and moving. This kind of love story, if it can be empathized, can fully benefit from the generosity of the audience.
When creating a character in a love story, you naturally can't use the ideal partner traits in the real world to shape it. But the protagonist who is full of flaws, in order to win the love of the audience, I am afraid there must still be something to shine. As for some character traits that are still lagging behind the aesthetics of the times, such as "straight male cancer", "tyranny", "domineering president", "difficult to communicate", "giant baby", "say the same", etc., the audience no longer has the possibility of falling in love as easily as in the past.
Picture "Yi Nian Guan Mountain").
Therefore, when "Yi Nian Guan Mountain" was broadcast, I was quite pleasantly surprised. In terms of publicity, this is not an "ancient puppet", but a "legend of the children of the rivers and lakes". However, from the encounter, knowing each other's life experience and ideals, guarding, attacking, cooperating, and then resisting dangers, solving difficulties, and experiencing growth together for the same goal, the male and female protagonists describe the logic and process of "falling in love" very specifically. The role of the male protagonist is set to be righteous, not stupid and loyal, have comradeship, have survival wisdom, empathy and compassion, kindness, respect for women, in addition to the skills of male characters in traditional love stories (strong martial arts, wide connections, outstanding work and other abilities), life experience (born in a family), appearance (rich and handsome), and so on.
Such people are attractive to the audience, and every time they solve a puzzle and move on to the next plot, the character grows, and the audience's love for the character grows. When netizens asked why the male protagonist didn't accept the female protagonist, the screenwriter wrote such a line: "She must have suffered a lot." I also want to be kind to her, let her know that in this world in addition to assassination (the heroine is an assassin), in addition to giving birth, there are many interesting things, and there are many things worth seeing her. ”
This responds to the ideal concept of love that the main audience of romantic dramas is constantly improving - intimacy is not a task, and life is more important to experience the wider world and experience the richness and thickness of life.
In "Yi Nian Guan Mountain", after the male and female protagonists enter a relationship, they find that each other's life ideals are contrary to each other's ideals, but they can't give up "together", so they experience a real tug-of-war. This is closer to real life than "sadomasochism", which is full of violent contradictions such as national hatred and family hatred. It is not amnesia, feuds, great disasters, etc., that dissolves love, but sometimes it is just very ordinary problems and disagreements. At this time, the heroine proposed: "If you want to go on for a long time, you can't skip one question after another in a daze." This is rare in "ancient puppets", and even in "current puppets" - in unqualified romantic dramas, love is always combined out of nothing, and it is very dramatic.
Whether it is the character or the lines, the characters give the audience a lot of opportunities to slowly develop the emotions of appreciation and liking, and the love is not hasty and abrupt, and every obstacle points to the problems that may arise in love - such as the wrestling between self and relationships, and the longing that may bring to life - such as supporting each other and opening up another life experience. It is convincing for this kind of person to be loved, and it is also convincing for this kind of love to be generated, continued, and grown. Even, compared to childish, ridiculous, shallow, tearing back and forth, relying on extreme events and violent contrasts to advance the development of the story, this can be regarded as good love.
If you haven't established a good concept of love, you can't imagine a good love story
Why do few love stories make people feel that the creator understands love very well, understands love very well, has a mature view of love, understands the complexity of "sneaking into the night with the wind, moisturizing things silently" in love, and understands the complexity of "having the courage to face the real other party, and having the courage to face the real self, and transforming the relationship into an opportunity to know yourself and improve yourself"? That's because the creator himself has not experienced a good lover and good love, and there are very few samples in society, and he has not yet established a good concept of love, so he naturally can't imagine a good love story.
Picture "Crane Pavilion").
Among them, "Crane Pavilion" is another work, first the door to the door, love at first sight, vows and alliances, very smoothly opened, and then the heroine fabricated her identity to avenge her father and brother, and approached the male protagonist to become a maid. In this process, the heroine suppressed her love and fell into sadomasochism, and the two of them saw each other's richer, more real, more complex, more painful and even cruel sides, and completed the cognition from "white moonlight" to "true face".
However, after all that has been experienced, love and intimacy have only come to a stage of true maturity. What exactly is good love? Is it the love in the early stage, each other worships each other as pure and clean white moonlight, or in the later stage, they have experienced joys and sorrows together, disappointed and trusted, showing a tired posture? There is no doubt that the author writes about every frown, every show and every inch of subtle ups and downs of love.
Romeo and Juliet).
In traditional love stories, there are some common models: two characters with very different personalities or backgrounds find themselves attracted to each other, despite (or because) they are different; One or two characters hide their true identities and create complexity in their romantic relationships (Shakespeare loved this); The character is mistaken for someone else, leading to unexpected romantic complications (such as a blind date in place of a friend); forbidden love or "unhappy lovers", romances that are considered unacceptable or ill-fated due to family, group, or cultural barriers (Romeo and Juliet, Spring Nights); Having the characters pretend to be in love is just a foreshadowing for each other to develop a genuine relationship (different types of contractual relationships); When the characters return to their hometowns, they either rekindle old relationships or meet new friends (such as the recent "Welcome Back to Sandari"); The characters, who start as friends, gradually develop romantic feelings for each other; From enemies to lovers, characters who are in conflict or competition at the beginning of the story but end up falling in love; a second chance at romance, where former lovers usually reunite after overcoming past problems or misunderstandings ("Confessional Couple"); Love at first sight, where the characters fall in love as soon as they meet, sets the stage for a passionate and whirlwind romance; Cinderella's story, where a character from a lower social or economic background falls in love with a person from a higher background; Catastrophic love, catastrophic events, such as a volcanic eruption in Los Angeles, or an assassin trying to ** them, or being chased by soldiers from half the kingdom, can be a catalyst for a character to fall in love.
In addition to all the love creation routines, what kind of story can touch people's hearts?First of all, the screenwriter must still have an interest and belief in love, and even love.
Operation: Ono, typesetting: Li Shuying.