Entering the summer, new domestic screen dramas have emerged, the most eye-catching of which is "The Story of Rose" starring Liu Yifei. Since its launch on June 8, "The Story of Rose" has not only set a new high in ratings for many consecutive days, but also maintained a high level of popularity on the Internet.
"The Story of Rose" is adapted from the novel of the same name by the famous writer Yi Shu, and today's film and television adaptation retains the spiritual core of "the growth of women's love concept", while treating many background details and expressions in the story closer to the real life of the present.
In recent years, boosted by the new trend of literary IP film and television, "her-theme" film and television works have emerged in an endless stream, and the highlight part of women's growth - tenacity, self-confidence, and bravery, supplemented by a bright rhythm and tense emotional expression, has become a "drainage" password. And Huang Yimei's choice of feelings and pursuit of self-worth in "The Story of Rose" also set off heated discussions among the audience.
The adaptation breaks through the limitations of the original work and shows the style of contemporary women
In 1981, Yishu's novel "The Story of the Rose" was officially published. This novel focuses on Huang Rose, who was born in a wealthy businessman's family, and tells the story of her emotional entanglements with many men in her life, aiming to emphasize that women should maintain an independent spiritual space in love.
"The Story of Roses" was adapted into a film by director Yang Fan in 1986, starring Chow Yun-fat and Maggie Cheung. Limited by space, the film version has greatly reduced the plot and characters, focusing only on the youth of Yellow Rose, and the film has received nearly 10 million Hong Kong dollars at the box office after its release.
The hit "The Story of the Rose" is its first mainland film and television adaptation, written by Li Xiao and Wang Si, directed by Wang Jun, and Liu Yifei, known as the "Heavenly Immortal", plays the heroine Huang Yimei, who was rated as "Fairy Casting" by the audience. Peng Guanying, Lin Gengxin, Huo Jianhua, and Lin Yi respectively played the four male protagonists that Huang Yimei met on the emotional road, and the lineup with both appearance and acting skills made the audience full of expectations.
Director Wang Jun once questioned after reading Yishu's novel, "What kind of person is the real Huang Yimei?" He believes that Huang Yimei in the TV series needs to be fleshed out and implement the description in the book into a specific image.
Therefore, compared with the original work that shows the image and emotional life of Rose through the perspective of others, the drama version takes Huang Yimei's growth experience as the axis, and delicately depicts the details of her life in family, marriage, workplace, dating, etc., and is committed to creating a work that explores personal growth and life, rather than a simple love drama.
When creating the drama version, it first eliminated some criticized settings in the original book. In the original book, Rose describes herself as "free and loose, unlearned, unable to do anything but dress up and spend money, and even unable to support herself". In addition, she intervened in the relationship between Zhou Shihui and Guan Zhizhi just because of the sentence "I am lonely, and he is good to me"; When she met her first love, Zhuang Guodong, Rose was still underage, and the man had a fiancée.
The drama version allows Huang Yimei to be born in a scholarly family with high artistic talent, and adds a career line for her, showing how she has worked hard to make a world of her own in the field of art curation.
In addition to beauty, Huang Yimei also has many advantages in the play: although she is surrounded by the pursuit of the opposite sex, she knows how to soberly refuse; is full of appreciation and care for excellent women, and does not easily fall into "female competition"; Dare to love and hate, never drag mud and water. Huang Yimei, who is "sober in the world", coincides with the image of an independent woman favored by the public, and also reflects the adaptation consciousness of the drama version that is actively close to the mainstream values of the current society.
In terms of relationships, Huang Yimei goes all out for every relationship, with innate confidence and bravery, and strives to live a more wonderful self. When she was frustrated in her relationship, she did not feel sorry for herself, but faced the problem squarely and let go freely, this mentality of "talking about a relationship is a lesson" also made many viewers applaud.
There is no standard answer in life, only by daring to face failure, can we temper and grow in different ages and emotional relationships, and explore self-worth. Such an adaptation makes the spiritual core of the entire story of the drama version break through the limitations of the original work, and shows the inspirational expression of contemporary women's self-reliance and self-confidence, which encourages and empathizes with many audiences.
"Her Story" has been popular many times, which meets the emotional appeal of the audience
In addition to "The Story of Rose", Yishu's works have become "fragrant and sweet" in film and television adaptations in recent years. According to statistics, many TV series such as "The First Half of My Life", "Golden Years" and "Chenghuan Ji" have been broadcast, and the movie "Xibao", adapted from the novel of the same name, will also be released in 2020. Looking at these film and television works, although the reputation is mixed, they have aroused a high degree of discussion during the broadcast.
Shen Xiayan, professor and doctoral supervisor of the Department of Chinese at the School of Arts and Humanities of Jinan University, believes that the key to Yishu's novel being favored by the film and television industry lies in the "spirit" and "emotional field" that Yishu himself gives to the story script.
"In a sense, all of Yishu's works can be said to tell the same story: how did the little girl cultivate and grow into a big heroine?" And this kind of "her story", which emphasizes the pursuit of self-reliance, autonomy, and freedom, just fits the spiritual and emotional demands of the current audience.
In fact, since the 70s of the last century, "her theme" has always been a genre that the Chinese film and television industry is keen to create. The love stories of Zhang Ailing and Qiong Yao from a female perspective have been frequently put on the screen, setting off the first wave of "her story" craze, and also making "Half Life", "Love in a Fallen City", "A Curtain of Dreams", "Deep Love and Rain" and other film and television classics.
With the rise of online literature, the new generation of female writers such as Tonghua, Bandit Sicun, Gu Man, and August Chang'an have also contributed a number of "Her Stories" IP to the film and television industry, and dramas such as "Step by Step", "East Palace", "Why Sheng Xiaomo", "Hello, Old Times" and other dramas have also made many unknown young actors among the ranks of popular actors.
In May this year, the TV series "My Altay", adapted from the essay collection of the same name by writer Li Juan, became popular immediately, with 8 episodes short and concise, but it can vividly present the magnificent scenery of the northern Xinjiang of the mainland and the simple life of the nomads, giving the audience a different kind of "healing" drama viewing experience.
The protagonist's humorous and open-minded attitude towards life, and the heroine's return to nature to find a way out of life, are highly in line with the "sense of relaxation" pursued by contemporary young people. After the show was broadcast, the highest single-day sales of the essay collection of the same name reached 50,000 copies.
Some commentators have pointed out that the writing of female writers is delicate and moving, and when describing the emotional or psychological growth, transformation and development of characters, expression can often bring more resonance and create character arcs. In the eyes of industry insiders, novels with obvious character arcs are more suitable for adaptation into film and television works, and the plump and vivid group portraits of characters in the story will also attract a more diverse audience.
However, the adaptation of classic literary works often faces the dilemma of "difficult to reconcile". Taking Yishu's works as an example, the plots of some works do not conform to the mainstream values of today's society, but the scale of adaptation is difficult to grasp, and it is easy to be criticized by fans of the original work.
It is true that every writer has a unique literary charm, but as the times develop, the interpretation of literary works should also evolve with the times. For creators and producers, balancing the literary, artistic and social aspects of the work has become the top priority of creation when adapting literary IP into film and television.
As Shen Xiayan said: "Film and television are industrial products of collective cooperation; The creation of novels is the lonely sowing of the seeds of language in the spring. "Classic literary IP can do a good job of telling the story of a film and television work, but in order for the final effect to be widely recognized by the audience, the creator also needs to conduct in-depth research on the literary work itself and the emotional appeal of the audience.
Only with heart and affection can you create a good story that can touch people's hearts for a long time.
Southern + reporter Zhang Siyi
【Author】 Zhang Siyi
[Source] Southern Press Media Group Southern + client