Wen | Xiaoyu
Yesterday, "Heavy Purple" opened the finale, and the sadomasochistic love between Chongzi and Luo Yinfan for three generations finally came to an end. Another fairy drama "Starfall Condensed into Sugar" that is on the air also came to the climax of the plot, Qingkui was forced to kill himself, and the night opened a big revenge on the Demon King and the Heavenly Emperor.
Since the start of these two dramas, the controversy over the routines and anti-routines of fairy tales has not stopped. The traditional master-apprentice love formula of "Heavy Purple" makes the audience who prefer it more and more enjoyable, and the strong and funny style of "Starfall into Sugar" makes the newcomer audience call it addicted. But some audiences are not satisfied with this, believing that the current fairy theme still needs innovation.
Eyes inside and outside the industry once again focused on the creation of fairy dramas, and we took this opportunity to sort out the overall development process of fairy tale dramas, and also summarized some common problems that such works were criticized by the audience.
Fairy tale drama iteration, from upgrade flow to heavy love
Split Xian Xia apart, "Xian" originated from mythology, and "Xia" was born out of martial arts.
The story models of early mythological dramas such as "The Legend of the New White Lady" (1992), "Mr. Liaozhai" (1998), "The Legend of Heaven and Earth: Fish Beauty" (2000), and "List of Gods" (2001) mainly came from folklore or strange novels unique to the mainland. Concepts such as fairy monsters, strange door escape, exotic beast magic weapons, and settings such as shemale love, god and demon confrontation, and reincarnation all originated here, and were later used in a large number of fairy dramas.
The long history of chivalrous culture is not inferior to myths and legends. The history books record the profound righteousness of Xinling Jun stealing talismans to save Zhao and Jing Ke's assassination of King Qin, and poems praise Li Bai's "Xia Kexing" and Luo Binwang's "Send Zheng Shaofu into Liao to Jointly Empower Xia Ke from Rong". In later generations, the plays represented by the adaptations of the novels of Jin Yong, Gu Long, Wen Rui'an, and Liang Yusheng led a generation of martial arts fashion. The "immortal cultivator, all living beings for the people" in the fairy drama is the same as the "great hero, for the country and the people" in the martial arts drama.
Therefore, Xian Xia drama can be defined as a film and television drama genre that absorbs and integrates mythology and martial arts characteristics, reflects traditional Chinese cultural values, and is full of magnificent and spectacular imagination.
In the development of fairy tale dramas, 2005 was the first important turning point. That year, "The Legend of Sword and Fairy", adapted from the game of the same name, premiered, and this drama around Li Xiaoyao and his friends bravely breaking into the rivers and lakes and fighting righteousness officially opened the fairy era of mainland film and television dramas.
The fairy tale drama at this stage is mainly adapted from the game, so the narrative is mainly based on the perspective of the male protagonist, the main CP is mostly a strong male and weak female or double strong setting, more popular in the situation of one man and N woman, the story focuses on fighting monsters and upgrading, Kuang supports justice, and love and friendship elements run through the main line of adventure. Subsequent fairy dramas such as "The Legend of Sword and Fairy III", "Xuanyuan Sword Traces of the Sky", "Ancient Sword and Qitan" and other fairy tale dramas have continued this style.
However, the birth of the fairy sword series did not fully open the market for fairy tale dramas, until 2015's "Flower Thousand Bones" and 2017's "Three Lives and Three Lives and Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms" successively achieved great success, and domestic dramas really ushered in the prosperity of fairy tales.
Since then, the female frequency web novel has become the blueprint for the adaptation of fairy tale dramas, and the perspective of the big heroine has basically dominated, and the producers have increasingly known how to please female audiences. Although there is still a routine of fighting monsters and upgrading, the chosen one has become the heroine, the main CP appears in the setting of female A and male O, and a female N male Asura field is very popular.
At the same time, the forbidden love between master and apprentice led by "Flower Thousand Bones", the contradictory life and love, the several lifetimes of love represented by "Three Lives and Three Lives and Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms", as well as sadomasochistic love, fate, vicious female matching and other elements began to fill the fairy tale drama, and the status of the love line also skyrocketed.
The prosperity of fairy tale dramas is first reflected in the output, and every year several S+ masterpieces will come out to grab the annual drama king. Secondly, it is reflected in the ability to make stars and drain traffic, such as 2018's "Fragrant Honey Sinks Like Frost" made Yang Zi one of the first-line flowers, the show has become one of the well-deserved fairy tales with the first rating in the same period of the national network, the only real-time rating in prime time breaking 2, and the cumulative network broadcast exceeding 11.5 billion.
In the future, the fact that "Heavy Purple" and "Starfall Condensed into Sugar" cannot please all fairy lovers is an explanation of the overall status quo, and the road of fairy dramas is getting harder and harder to grasp.
Assembly line production, stuck in the quagmire of word of mouth
After becoming the genre that the audience loves to watch, the shortcut for actors to soar and the object of capital chasing, Xian Xia drama took a shortcut. To reproduce the classic mode to produce assembly line works, traffic and money are earned, but word of mouth is also dragged into the quagmire. Whenever a new fairy tale drama is broadcast, everyone always inevitably compares it with the earlier fairy sword series, and the conclusion is mostly worse than the past.
To summarize the pain points of the creation of fairy tale dramas, the problem of homogenization is often on the list.
Against the background of the confrontation between immortals and demons, the female protagonist is often innocent and kind but has the power to destroy the world, while the male protagonist takes the protection of the world as his responsibility. The female protagonist has no heart to enter the devil, but she will definitely be forced to "Liangshan" step by step by the so-called famous and decent people, and then fall in love with the male protagonist and kill each other. In the end, either the female protagonist dies, the male protagonist chases his wife to the crematorium after resurrecting the female protagonist, or the male protagonist dies, and the female protagonist wakes up and lives happily after resurrecting the male protagonist. Such story models are common in fairy tale dramas, which inevitably cause aesthetic fatigue.
The second is that Xian Xia has no "hero", and everything serves to talk about love.
Shouting the slogan of saving the life, but unwilling to spend pen and ink to implement "chivalry" into specific events, was criticized for not being profound enough in the realization of personal ideals and self-worth. likes to fight potential dangers, mostly heroines; Only fight against the strong and do not portray the plot of "good and small"; Love is too tangled, misunderstanding the progress of the water... In the huge world view of "four seas and eight wastes", there should be a more wonderful fairy rivers and lakes. Love and chivalry coexist, in order to better shape the image of fictional characters and play the edifying role of literary and artistic works. But obviously, many fairy tale dramas do not do this.
There are also weakened side lines and supporting characters that can no longer take on the function of fleshing out the plot.
In the classic "The Legend of Sword and Fairy III", in addition to the five main characters of Sedum, Yukimi, Long Kui, Xu Changqing and Zixuan, some supporting roles with few scenes are also very outstanding. The true love of Xifeng and Shui Bi waiting for it, Maomao's dedication to cutting meat for food, and the fall of the demon building to find an opponent left a deep impression on the audience, and finally brought considerable bonuses to the series. But many later fairy tale dramas seem to be reluctant to give highlight moments to small roles.
In addition, the abuse of some conventional elements has also made the reputation of Xian Xia drama worse.
For example, the setting of several lives is basically one of the necessary elements of fairy sadomasochism. It's not that the audience doesn't like to watch it, but it has to be used reasonably. Several lives are an infinite stretch of time, thanks to the existence of Xian Xia's special world view. When an emotion crosses life and death, the stimulation brought by it must be immediate. But the first is fresh, and the latecomers will make the audience more and more insensitive if they do not innovate when they use it.
Moreover, this is also prone to some logical loopholes. In "The Legend of Sword and Fairy III", the reincarnation of the three lifetimes from Feipeng to Longyang to Sedum clearly explores that they are not the same body, and Xu Changqing's three lives are all going to enter the Dao and entangled with Zixuan shows a strong sense of fatalism. But some of the three lives and three lives are too vague, do not discuss whether he is still him after reincarnation, do not explain the cause and effect of the reunion, etc., are not deep enough, so it is not enough to be praised by the audience like "The Legend of Sword and Fairy".
Progress comes from changing with time
While being picky and inadequate, we cannot ignore the many advances made by fairy tale dramas, most of which dare to change with the times.
More creators are ahead of the audience, and they understand the consequences of not innovating. As a result, we saw the domineering demon lord and naïve fairy of "Canglan Recipe", and also saw the social fear fairy king and the social cow witch of "Starfall Condensed into Sugar".
Combined with other works in recent years, the gradual improvement of the Tao and special effects can be seen with the naked eye. The popularity of "Three Lives and Three Lives and Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms" accidentally made fairy tale dramas popular with "funeral style", and this situation has now been significantly improved. In addition to "Canglan Tips", the "Long Moon Ember Ming" and "Seven Times of Auspiciousness" to be broadcast have been out of the circle many times because of serving the Tao, and as a big drama on the platform, their special effects are also worth looking forward to.
Light comedy has always been an important element of genre dramas, but audiences now prefer it. When there are a lot of funny plots in the fairy tale drama, it happens to make an excellent "electronic squeezed vegetables", which is very popular with young audiences. In addition, the power of online marketing makes the series have a greater chance of getting out of the circle, the addition of popular elements allows the work to keep pace with the times, and the establishment of core values is expected to make chivalrous return.
But there are a large number of works in fairy tale dramas based on ancient web novel IP, which is easy to make the audience feel old-fashioned. Although there was no problem with the architecture, the adaptation still required more effort. From the more time-sensitive changes in online literature, it can be found that today's female frequency is fashionable with stronger female characters, more three-dimensional characters, more relaxed daily dramas and more extreme emotions. Film and television producers should also receive these signals appropriately to gain insight into the preferences of potential audiences.
Finally, it is worth thinking about whether the soundtrack production of fairy tale dramas can have more room for play. Music is a highlight that cannot be ignored in any type of drama, playing an important role in setting the mood and creating the atmosphere. The background of Xian Xia is most prone to touching plots or ups and downs of life, which is originally the inspiration and nourishment of music creation. And when there is an exclusive BGM for the corresponding plot and characters, the audience will also be more likely to be pulled into the situation.
Songs such as "This Life Will Not Change", "Favoritism" and "Don't Forget" of the Fairy Sword series have been sung to this day. In recent years, there is this battle in Xianxia dramas is "Chen Qingling", the characteristics of group dramas combine music and the fate of characters, and the quality of the dramas is actually excellent, and a large number of audiences are willing to pay for electronic albums and concerts. Conditional fairy tale dramas can also make some bolder attempts in terms of soundtracks to maximize the value of IP. Previously, the soundtrack team of "Hao Yi Xing" officially announced that it was Mak Zhenhong, who had scored the Xianjian series, which caused an excellent response.
Behind the iteration of Xianxia represents the change of audience tastes and the cruel choice of the market. From the early Tang Dynasty Film and Television, Huanrui Century to Jiahang Media, and then to the recent Perfect World Film and Television, Stellar Gravity, the baton of fairy tale dramas has not stopped. It is impossible for the old company to give up this piece of fat, and the new forces are also trying to rely on it to go to a higher level, to see who can put the strength in the right direction during production, and who can continue to hold the rice bowl of the fairy drama.
In the library of fairy tales to be broadcast, the fairy world IP has been restarted, with both a new version of "The Legend of Sword and Fairy" and a new story "Pray for the Present Dynasty"; Also attracting much attention are "With Phoenix Xing" and "Protecting the Heart" adapted from the novel by Jiu Lu Feixiang, the original author of "Canglan Tips". It is still the creative lineup of the heavyweight IP+ well-known team.
As far as audience feedback is concerned, the market still needs more Xian Xia works with love and chivalry coexisting and innovative routines. I hope that some of them can truly restore the audience's confidence in fairy tale dramas.