文 | 新博弈，作者丨林一白
After the Netflix version of "The Three-Body Problem" "came out after a long time", the whirlpool of public opinion triggered by it gushed out.
On the one hand, there is the rising heat. Relevant data shows that the global viewing time of the Netflix version of "The Three-Body Problem" reached 81.7 million hours in the first four days of the first weekend, becoming the most watched series on Netflix in the world during the week, with a cumulative viewing of 11 million. Specific to each market, the Netflix version of "Three-Body Problem" entered the TOP10 in 93 countries and regions around the world in the first weekend.
On the other side, however, the bipolar word-of-mouth controversy has persisted. Especially in the domestic market, the "magic change" of the Netflix version of "The Three-Body Problem" has touched the thunder point of a large number of original fans, in their opinion, from the "unrecognizable" characters to the spiritual core that deviates from the original work, the Netflix version of "The Three-Body Problem" has become a plate of "Zuo Zongtang Chicken" that caters to the taste of Westerners. On Douban, 93,000 people gave the show a rating of 6.9, from the content view to the conflict of values, the discussion caused by the Netflix version of "The Three-Body Problem" is still ongoing.
Water and soil complaints
From the perspective of the series, the Netflix version of "The Three-Body Problem" was questioned as a "magic change", and the most direct point is that the narrative structure of the original work is completely disrupted in the play, and it is re-spliced through the American drama-style expression that it is better at.
The advantage of this is that the Netflix version of "The Three-Body Problem" has a faster pace, although the first season currently aired is only 8 episodes, it has already finished telling the story of the first part of the original book, and the later episodes have even begun to involve the content of the second and third parts, and the plot density is very full, making it easier to substitute the audience into it. At the same time, the Netflix version of "The Three-Body Problem" weakens a large number of conceptual scientific theories in the original work, and the overall viewing threshold is lower, so that science fiction novices and audiences who have not read the original work can easily understand it.
Of course, the corresponding disadvantage is that the more entertaining Netflix version of "The Three-Body Problem" weakens the sense of heaviness of the original work itself, and making an epic masterpiece into a deeply discounted commercial assembly line cool drama is the key to causing dissatisfaction among many domestic fans of the original work. Even, in the eyes of some people, the characters and plots carry the content values, and the Netflix version of "The Three-Body Problem" has undergone "magic reform", and the values it conveys have deviated from the spiritual core of the original work.
On the one hand, based on the changes in the narrative structure and creative environment, the Netflix version of "The Three-Body Problem" re-kneaded the important characters in the original work to form a protagonist group with the "Oxford Five" as the core, and almost all the original characters were "exploded". For example, Wang Miao changed gender, and the role was also split into multiple roles; Zhang Beihai, the prototype of Raj, needs to be roughly identified through the identity of the navy; Ye Wenjie's new emotional line and intimate scenes also make it difficult for many people to accept......
On the other hand, the differentiated presentation of some plots also reflects two different values. For example, the Netflix version of "The Three-Body Problem" uses a lot of shots to show the harm caused by the "Guzheng Project" to ordinary people, the children who were originally on vacation become innocent victims, and Wang Miao's corresponding character Augie's struggle against the "Guzheng Project" also reflects a stronger personal choice. In contrast, the original "Three-Body Problem" is contradictory, and its values reflect more of the background of a great power, showing a strong collectivism and survivalism. The difference in values has also become an important reason why the Netflix version of "The Three-Body Problem" is "unadaptable" in China.
Two kinds of creation under the market orientation
However, if we look at the global market, such "adaptation" does not exist on a large scale. Up to now, the Rotten Tomatoes praise of the Netflix version of "The Three-Body Problem" has risen from 76% to 78%, and the IMDb score has also risen from 6.3 at the beginning to 7.7. Coupled with the good popularity performance, it can be seen that the Netflix version of "The Three-Body Problem" is actually quite popular in overseas markets, and this depends on two different market orientations.
Since the launch of the Netflix version of "The Three-Body Problem", many people have compared it with the Tencent version of "The Three-Body Problem". But fundamentally speaking, the reason why the two "Three-Body Problems" are so different is that the market they face is completely different.
Previously, Tencent's version of "The Three-Body Problem" was recognized out of the circle, and was even regarded as a "masterpiece" by many fans, one of the important reasons is the high degree of restoration of the original work. And this largely depends on the development characteristics of the domestic market, in contrast, the development of domestic science fiction is relatively slow, from "The Wandering Earth" to "The Three-Body Problem", the popular IP in the science fiction market is almost occupied by Liu Cixin, therefore, in the audience of the domestic science fiction market, Liu Cixin's fans and the original fans of "The Three-Body Problem" are very dense, and the Tencent version of "The Three-Body Problem" chooses the creative route of "one-to-one restoration" of the original work, which is also safer.
For the Netflix version of "The Three-Body Problem", the domestic market is not Netflix's main market, and its direct audience is more than 200 million subscribers around the world, in this group, the density of the original fans of "The Three-Body Problem" has been greatly diluted. Therefore, in the creation, the safer creative idea of the Netflix version of "The Three-Body Problem" is not to restore the original work to the greatest extent, but to consider the market demand for its own face. The main creator of "Game of Thrones" got this IP, and he also followed the verified adaptation route of "Game of Thrones" to do the adaptation of "The Three-Body Problem".
From this point of view, the adaptation of the Netflix version of "The Three-Body Problem" is easier to straighten out. For example, for the portrayal of Ye Wenjie, even though some scenes of the "Fever Era" are presented in the play, the complexity of her body is still seriously weakened, because it is difficult to understand the impact of the "Fever Era" on people in the overseas market that lacks relevant historical knowledge, and it is also difficult to understand the complex hatred of Ye Wenjie. On the contrary, the play amplifies the portrayal of Cheng Xin, filling in her life experience and orphan background, which makes it easier for people to understand her future behavior and empathize with her.
Therefore, it is actually difficult to evaluate which "Three-Body Problem" is more valuable. If the value of Tencent's version of "The Three-Body Problem" lies in restoring a "three-body world" that is infinitely close to the original work, then the value of the Netflix version of "The Three-Body Problem" lies in giving Chinese IP a chance to go global.
IP globalization is the only way to go
At least for now, the Netflix version of "The Three-Body Problem" hits a larger market and puts this Chinese IP in a global discussion context. Whether it is for "The Three-Body Problem" or the international development of Chinese IP, such a result is not a bad thing.
Looking back, in fact, when Netflix first announced that it was going to shoot "The Three-Body Problem", the domestic market was very much looking forward to it. First, the official creators of the show are David Benioff, the core creator of "Game of Thrones", and D· B. Weiss. Second, according to foreign media reports, the average investment in a single episode of the Netflix version of "The Three-Body Problem" is about 20 million US dollars, and the total investment in the first season is about 160 million US dollars. ”
Obviously, Netflix's investment in "The Three-Body Problem" is almost at the level of the ceiling of American dramas, and Peter Friedlander, director of script content at Netflix, once said of the project: "For me, for the company, it's a huge bet." But what needs to be recognized is that the reason why Netflix was able to invite the team of "Game of Thrones" and give a huge investment is that it values the commercial value that "The Three-Body Problem" may bring, rather than a certain culture. Cultural output is just an additional thing, which needs to be taken step by step, perhaps, when we look at the Netflix version of "The Three-Body Problem" now, we need to pay more attention to what kind of situation this drama has opened up for Chinese IP to go abroad.
It is true that fierce controversy brought about by the strict scrutiny of the market is inevitable, and this is also the inevitable process of the development of IP globalization. The original "Three-Body Problem" is already attached to the historical background, cultural background, and corresponding values of its own environment under the pen of Liu Cixin, and IP will inevitably face a strong collision when it goes out and enters a more diverse cultural space, but the good side is that driven by the Netflix version of "The Three-Body Problem", the global popularity of this IP is greatly improved, and the global development of domestic IP is also opening up a new situation.
According to Variety, the Netflix version of "The Three-Body Problem" drove the sales of the original book and the two books mentioned in the play, "Silent Spring", skyrocketed. Up to now, the "Three-Body Problem" novel has ranked first on Amazon's best-selling literature list, and the Japanese version has also rushed to the top of Amazon's sales list in Japan, both of which are the best results of the "Three-Body Problem" novel overseas. On the other hand, based on the good popularity, Netflix has now renewed the second season of "The Three-Body Problem", and according to the series creation plan, it is expected to shoot a total of three seasons, and the second season will be launched in 2026.