article│Special contributor Song Hye Kyo
Edit│Nanfeng
I wonder if you have noticed that if a hit movie appears in many types of dramas, people will always use the word "rejuvenation" to describe it, because they have been silent for a period of time to a greater or lesser extent.
but only Qinggong Opera is not. From "Return of the Condor Heroes" to today's "Story of Yanxi Palace", there have been many excellent works in the past 20 years. Whether it is the serious drama "Kangxi Dynasty" or the time-travel drama "Palace Lock Heart Jade", if you count it carefully, a popular Qing palace drama is produced almost every year.
Although the talk about the four emperors Shunzhi, Kangxi , Yongzheng and Qianlong, it is sometimes new, because the protagonist of the series is not the emperor himself, but the concubine in the harem.
There are as many TV series as there are concubines, and even the same concubine can produce several different TV series. Empress Guang Xiaozhuang alone has three major heroine dramas, " Anecdotes of Concubine Zhuang ", "Xiaozhuang Secret History", " Dayuer Legend ", let alone dramas involving Empress Xiaozhuang.
However, this is a phenomenon that has only occurred in recent years. Once upon a time, historical dramas such as "Kangxi Dynasty" and " Yongzheng Dynasty " were the popular types of Qing palace dramas. Even if there are "The Secret History of Xiaozhuang" and other dramas that tell the gossip of the royal family are still in a few.
Now, The royal entertainment news of the Qing Dynasty replaced the drama and became a hot commodity for capital pursuit, and the most loyal creator of this is Yu Zheng . , whether it is "The Harem of the Qing Dynasty", "The Last Princess", "The Palace Locking Heart Jade", "The Mountains and Rivers Love Beauty Without Tears" and the recent "Story of Yanxi Palace", Yu Zheng has in-depth participation.
However, due to different periods, the market pain points of these dramas are also different. And the creative trajectory of Yu Zheng is also the development context of the Qing palace opera in the past decade. We may be able to peek at the secrets of Qing palace operas that never go out of time.
broke out of the ground in the protection of the drama
Yu Zheng's previous Qing palace drama is completely different from today.
The Qing palace dramas in the mainland can be traced back to Taiwan's "Detailed Talk about Qianlong" and " Jiaqing Jun's Travel to Taiwan ". But unlike Taiwan’s main themes, the mainland Qing palace dramas were mainly serious dramas at that time.
1997's "Yongzheng Dynasty" and 2001's "Kangxi Dynasty" are the best examples. Both are adapted from the novel of the same name of Eryuehe . They have been widely praised after the broadcast. To this day, many local satellite TV stations still replay these two dramas. The Kangxi Dynasty, episode 446 of
46, completes the writing of Kangxi's life, with a compact plot and interlocking. All major events in Kangxi's life are reflected, and in this more than 60 years of history, the relationship between men and women after the country and the world has added a touch of sadness.
plus the wonderful performances of powerful actors such as Chen Daoming, Siqin Gaowa, Li Jianqun , "Kangxi Dynasty" has now become a major symbol of the Qing palace drama.
Compared with the current series that often has seventy or eighty episodes, "Kangxi Dynasty" is not long, but the reason why it becomes a classic is that there is no place to infuse water. Behind is undoubtedly the excellent original work and profound screenwriter skills, coupled with the sophistication and restoration of history, and the perfect interpretation of outstanding actors, "The Kangxi Dynasty" has an unshakable status in the world.
Many times, the main dramas are serious and dull, and sometimes they are very brain-burning. It is better to have a gossip drama that is easy to make a living and is popular among the public. 's "Yongzheng Dynasty" and "Kangxi Dynasty" are popular, which has just given the market a huge space for the theme of "drama".
1998 "Return of the Condor Heroes" was released, breaking the situation where Qing palace dramas were mainly composed of regular dramas. Qing palace dramas began to appear in the form of interesting and ornamental coexistence such as plays and unofficial history. The popular " Kangxi's private visit to ", "Iron Teeth and Bronze Teeth and Ji Xiaolan " and " Li Wei's official " are both works from this period.
"Return of the Condor Heroes" hides the shadow of court politics, and focuses on the fictional daily life of the palace. The shackles between the common people and the emperor are broken, which wins the hearts of the audience.The same is true for "Iron Teeth and Bronze Teeth Ji Xiaolan". The emperor and his ministers played a cat and mouse game. The "Iron Triangle" Qianlong, Heshen , and Ji Xiaolan were both petty and loving. The relationship between the three people connected by different plots was even more fascinating.
At the same time, In these dramas, bad people are punished and good people are upholding justice, which also satisfy the audience's desire to see a happy ending. At this time, the Qing palace opera was relaxed and lively, and the audience also talked about it with relish.
Heart-wrenching Qing Palace dramas take over
Watching too many small court games is not a good thing for the audience. The protagonists of were clear-headed, upright, wise and knowledgeable from the beginning. The difficulties they encountered are almost harmless. They can get rid of danger every time, and they have never suffered much, let alone character growth.
Put too much sugar, it is easy to be so sweet that it is sad.
If the Qing palace drama now plays the protagonist's upgrade to fight monsters, then the Qing palace drama at that time is the protagonist's life after upgrading to fight monsters.
After seeing too many characters' finale, the audience naturally wants to see this person's life before success.
Yu Zheng shines at this time.
Whether it is "Palace Lock Heart Jade" or "Love in Mountains and Rivers Beauty Without Tears", you will know that crying scenes are indispensable when you hear the name. And the fact that "Palace Lock Heart Jade" can make a big hit is also inevitable with Yu Zheng's accumulation over the years.
As early as 2006, Yu Zheng released "The Return of the Pearl of the Qing Dynasty", which tells the story of the struggle in the harem during the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty. It is known as the "Chinese mainland version of "Golden Branches"" and the "Mainland version of "Dae Jang Geum"". Its ratings and reputation are second to none.
With this drama as the foundation, Yu Zheng released "The Last Princess", a drama about emotional history disputes in the Republic of China, which was a slap in the beginning to the end.
But these two dramas are as heartbreaking as they are, the more popular they are. "The Pearl of the Qing Dynasty" has created a record of the highest ratings of a single episode of over 7.54% and an average rating share of over 13.04% on the unknown Jiangxi TV station, winning the average ratings championship of costume TV series in Jiangxi in the first half of 2006. "The Last Princess" brought Yu Zheng himself the honor of the best screenwriter of the Southern Festival. After several dramas of
, Yu Zheng has already grasped market demand very accurately.
Today's three major video platforms may be on the eve of their establishment, and it is also at the time of rapid development of China's Internet, and the post-90s generation has become the mainstream of watching dramas. What they need is fresher and more whimsical stories.
So, "Palace Lock Heart Jade" tells the story of time travel and love became a hit, and the subsequent " Step by Step 1 " was also very popular. The Qing palace dramas such as " Lonely Empty Court Spring Is Late and Late " and " Flowers Fall in the Palace and the Miscellaneous Times " in the past two years have been this routine.
At the same time, Yu Zheng officially transformed into "Yu Ma" and killed all over the Chinese TV drama market. Until today's "Story of Yanxi Palace", the lethality remains unchanged in the past.
The audience should be "good", and the market will give "good"
Everything needs to be at a certain level, too much is not enough, and drama is no exception. If there is too much abuse, the audience will easily be physically and mentally exhausted. In addition, the routine is nothing more than that you love me and I love him, or if the two of them fall in love but misunderstand it and cannot get it, it is difficult to play any tricks.
is soon, and pure abuse dramas have also ushered in a bottleneck. The market performance of "Lonely Empty Courtyard Spring Is Late" and "Flowers Fall in the Palace" mentioned above are both average. But looking back, creators can't gather together to do serious dramas. Not to mention the market environment, even if the creation is excellent, it is difficult to surpass the "play king" like "Kangxi Dynasty".
At this critical moment, the three major video platforms of have gradually become a climate, and the Qing Palace Drama Watching Group has moved to the post-95s and post-00s. This group of people have new requirements for TV dramas, that is: cool.
They can't stand the heroine's personality as a bun, nor can they agree with the rough logic that the hero can get the male protagonist's body protection just because she is the heroine. The popularity of "Story of Yanxi Palace" is enough to show what kind of heroine the audience needs now.
However, this situation was started by " The Legend of Zhen Huan ". As the pioneer of the heroine, Zhen Huan subdued demons and demons all the way, and she also sacrificed a lot. She could become Niuhulu, Lao Fu, Zhen Huan, and under her feet, in addition to , Hua Fei , , An Lingrong , , Qipin , and the queen, there are also good sisters , Shen Meizhuang and the corpse of the Seventeenth Master who loved her for her life.
The most recognized and consistent with the normal logic of "The Legend of Zhen Huan" is: success in has to pay a price, and the greater the success you want, the greater the price you have to pay.
The earlier "Golden Branch" pushed the palace fighting scenes to a climax, and the struggle of women in the deep palace became a magic weapon to attract attention. Later, "Palace Lock Heart Jade" and "Sharp Heart" focused on the love between the princes and a woman, satisfying the girlish hearts of female audiences. "The Legend of Zhen Huan" is both.
Its great success has led to the Qing palace drama shifting towards love, palace fighting, historicization, and pseudo-right dramas. This is very similar to the major elements of modern workplace dramas. has both struggle and love, and at the same time, the major nodes of the plot coincide with real history.
"Story of Yanxi Palace" is Yu Zheng's second transformation and another iteration of Qing palace dramas. Although "The Legend of Zhen Huan" is awesome, the pace is still a bit slow for the anxious audience now. "Story of Yanxi Palace" first 10 episodes collecting five heads, the heroine's anger and refusing to swallow her personality, the handsome face of the male actor in the play, etc., are all places that hit the market pain points.
After years of experience, today's audiences need Qing Palace dramas to keep up with the times in the plot, and they also need to fit history in the production. , especially after "Yu Ma", the audience has been completely tired of candy, fluorescent outfits, and bling bling makeup.
The reason why Qing Palace Drama is so popular for so many years cannot keep pace with the times, and is very brave to "cut off one's arm". It is not difficult to find that every innovation of its innovation is overturning the routines created by predecessors. But it is worth noting that the reason why all the "speech" Qing palace dramas in are popular is that there is another unchanging thing, which is modern thinking.
Yu Zheng's two transformations were very thorough, but whether it was from "The Pearl of the Qing Dynasty" to "The Palace Locking Heart Jade", or the current "Story of Yanxi Palace", the heroine is a person with modern thinking, advocating independence and strong personality.
The root cause is that audiences in any era will only watch the play with their own thinking styles. They know that the ancient style of painting was mainly feudal superstition, but once they immerse themselves in the situation, they will think about using tricks in real life to solve the problem.
Whenever a character is confused, the barrage will always be anxious for the character like "Why doesn't he XXX"? This is modern thinking. More obvious: The most important thing about the Qing Dynasty was the Three Obediences and Four Virtues, but all the women in this way in the play were not favored by the audience, and only the heroine who did not follow the rules was deeply loved by the people.
So the Qing palace drama has been changing over the years, and has not changed. can perceive changes in public taste better than modern dramas. , and the Qing Dynasty is the most familiar dynasty for modern audiences. There are many emperors and princes. Basically, any one can be picked out and can be made into secret history and legends. materials are inexhaustible. So some Qing palace dramas are "plays" to be filmed, and the audience will always have "plays" to watch.
