The New Year drama "The World of Man", which is being broadcast on a set of golden files on CCTV and iQiyi, takes the life trajectory of the three brothers and sisters of the Zhou family as the context, leading the audience to relive the life history of the Chinese people in the past 50 years, triggering a wave of "memory killing" and discussions on life problems large and small. Beijing Youth Daily interviewed the screenwriter of the play, Wang Haiyu, to find out about the plot and characters in the play that the audience was talking about.
"Human World" is a realistic contemporary drama jointly launched by Tencent Pictures, Xinli Media and Yuwen Film and Television "Troika", in the early stage of the publication of the novel, Tencent Pictures and director Li Lu jointly chose to shoot, and obtained the film and television adaptation rights of "Human World" for 8 years. When director and chief producer Li Lu decided to put the novel "The World" on the screen, the screenwriters recommended by Chen Daoming and Zhou Meisen all pointed to the same person: Wang Haiyu, who had not appeared for a long time. Screenwriter Wang Haiyu used to concentrate on the field of emotion, and TV series such as "Chinese Divorce", "Holding Hands", "New Marriage Era", "The Colonel's Daughter" won him the reputation of "China's First Writer of Marriage"; and the original novel "Human World" by Liang Xiaosheng won the Mao Dun Literature Award with high votes that year, and the main purpose of the work was to shout for the people at the bottom. In the face of such a work with the background of "steel lead gray" and the life of ordinary people in the northeast in the face of the unfamiliar torrent of the times, Wang Haiyu's strongest feeling is: "These little people, even in turbulent times, have always been consistent and maintain a good background - what kind of spiritual attributes have the Chinese nation and Chinese for thousands of years?" So, she, who has always been reluctant to adapt the work, said: "I want to try." ”
A true fusion of serious literature and drama is a good script
Beiqing Daily: What prompted you to take over the creation of "The World of Man"?
Wang Haiyu: The main purpose of the original novel is to shout and speak for people living at the bottom, and I agree with this theme. At the same time, the age of Liang Xiaosheng's writing is my own experience, and I am the same age as Zhou Bingkun.
Of course, when I interviewed each other with the director team, I also had an opinion on the novel: shouting is right, but just shouting is not right. I expressed my thoughts to the director, and the tone of the novel is steel, which gives people a tough, tenacious feeling, and at the same time it is heavy; and my personal attitude to life wants to see bright and warm. In any period of life, there will be two sides, and living in the same whole will have different feelings. In this regard, the director team hit it off, and they also hoped that the whole play would give people a feeling of hope and warmth. After reaching a consensus, it was decided to sign the contract.
Beiqing Daily: In addition to brightening the tone of the novel in the process of adaptation, what is the biggest difficulty?
Wang Haiyu: The novel "The World of Man" is pure serious literature, and the biggest feature of serious literature is to write people, without too many stories and dramas; and in addition to externalizing all psychological activities and descriptions, the most important thing is drama and story, and there must be coincidences, ups and downs, and twists and turns. My belief is that a real fusion of drama and fiction is a good script. Only drama has only bones, and only literature has only flesh and blood.
In addition, the novel is a personal and unforgettable description of life, and the real "human world" must also have elites, officials, entrepreneurs, intellectuals, the shadow of the government, etc., so it is necessary to add or subtract.
Beiqing Daily: The original work mainly describes the life of a family of workers in Northeast China, do you know such a group before?
Wang Haiyu: I don't understand, this is the first time I have seen the life of this group of people so truly. Just because I don't understand, the shock to me is also very big, these people are so poor, so bitter, still able to survive, what is the reason? This part of the novel is very solid and vivid.
Beiqing Daily: What plots or characters have been subversively adjusted in the adaptation?
Wang Haiyu: There is a character named Luo Shibin in the novel, that character is not a good person, he made some money in the south, he is a character with a lot of money, and I used this character to change him into an entrepreneur.
Everyone loves to see heroes, but civilians will be recognized if they write well
Beiqing Daily: Zhou Bingkun, played by Lei Jiayin, has been rooted in the bottom of his life, but TV drama audiences may be more looking forward to a male protagonist who will eventually "counterattack". What do you think is the unique value or cuteness of having a "difficult" character lead a huge production of nearly 60 episodes?
Wang Haiyu: Zhou Bingkun's ultimate goal in life is to do a good job in his small family, and he pays the most for his parents, wife and children. Although he also has a large section of grievances and cries, "as far as I am the least"--now the mainstream values only recognize the people on the spire, not the mortals, he is also affected by this concept, thinking that the big brother is a person who will plan for the people, the big brother is concerned about everyone, and the care of the small family can not do big things, ashamed of himself. But in fact, it is his character that determines fate.
I think a healthy lifestyle is to care for yourself, care for others, care for the small family, care for everyone, or you don't care about everyone, but you have to have a certain moral standard, this is the Confucian culture, a kind of inheritance of Chinese moral civilization, in the past we were a bit biased.
Personally, I believe that with the current degree of openness of our country, Zhou Bingkun's values should be accepted by everyone, and all ordinary people who live a very moist life should be comforted from it. Not all life has to be opened, after all, it is a minority, and we are all one of the majority. What is the meaning of ordinary people's lives? It is not necessarily how much contribution has been made to mankind, I have contributed to my small family, which is equivalent to contributing to everyone, without which there is no everyone.
Lei Jiayin acted very well, and I believe that his simplicity and cuteness will make the audience who watch this drama pleased. Everyone is willing to see heroes, but I think that people are connected, and civilians write well, write things that are profound in human nature, and connect with the attention of the audience, and they will also be recognized.
Writing Zhou Rong is not difficult, the most difficult to write Zheng Juan and Yin Tao "co-creation"
Beiqing Daily: One is a free and independent woman, the other is a traditional virtuous wife and mother, how do you evaluate the two female roles played by Song Jia and Yin Tao? Was it written as a cross-reference?
Wang Haiyu: There is no comparison, the two characters Song Jia played by Zhou Rong belong to the larger adaptation, but there is no subversion. In the novel, she has been in France for more than ten years, and describes her in France alone in the dramatic structure, which is technically unspeakable, and I do not agree with any behavior. Or adjust the background color, as a normal intellectual to write, a little willful, arrogant. There is a plot because she wants to divide the house, Zhou Rong gives gifts to others, and as a result, people receive gifts and do not share the house for her, she runs back to get the gifts back. There are many such characters in reality, and my sister is also this kind of person, she also gave gifts for her son, and later she came back, she said that she could not "help and abetted abuse". This kind of person is very easy to write, and it is not difficult to write Zhou Rong.
But Zheng Juan, played by Yin Tao, is more difficult to write. This character is too far away from me. There are many outstanding careers around me, but there are very few Zhou Rong like that. She has not had a formal job in her life, she does not care about life and death for love, and her personality is soft and rigid.
During the filming process, Yin Tao constantly sent me WeChat messages, telling me her views and suggestions on this role, and I think she was right. An actor has a strength: he pays full attention to the character line of the character he plays. And after a good actor is fully engaged, he will feel empathy for the character. It's her talent as an actress. The character of Zheng Juan is the most difficult in script creation, and in the end, this character can write very well, and we are also co-creating.
The era of double-speed drama chasing puts forward higher requirements for creators
Beiqing Daily: Many of your past works have been broadcast on TV stations with very high ratings, and now more young people are accustomed to chasing dramas at double speed on Internet platforms, and works that rely on details to catch people will "suffer losses". How do you see this phenomenon?
Wang Haiyu: I also watch dramas at double speed, and the fastest speed is 3.0 times. Some plot sections are good, the details are not good, people want to know the ending, just like popular novels, I will go straight to the end. This phenomenon requires more creators, and there is no choice, only the quality of the work.
If the audience looks at my work twice as fast, it must be badly written, I admit. Because you don't write for self-amusement, or you want to communicate with people. Failure to communicate, first of all, is the failure of the expressor, do not complain about the low level of the audience. The next time I try harder, I'm also growing.
Text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Yang Wenjie
Editor/Bow Lifang