June is quietly coming, and costume drama lovers are full of expectations, hoping to see a masterpiece that continues the afterglow of "Celebrating More Than Years 2". The national drama market in May has set off a boom due to the broadcast of "Celebrating More Than Years 2", and the audience naturally hopes that this popularity can continue.
In such anticipation, "Picking Stars in Willow Leaves" arrived as scheduled, as if to bring a touch of coolness to the hot summer. However, when the audience clicked on the play button with apprehension, they were greeted by waves of disappointment.
The world in the play should be gorgeous and colorful, but what can be presented in front of the audience is a monotonous and boring picture. Those scenes that should be dazzling have become dull under the mediocre interpretation.
The surprises and novelties that the audience was looking forward to were consumed by the clichéd plots. As the plot progresses, the audience's disappointment grows stronger. They began to involuntarily recall the surprises brought by "Celebrating More Than Years 2" in May, and they couldn't help but compare with last year's wonderful costume drama market.
Once upon a time, popular ancient puppet dramas sprung up one after another, but this year, it seems that only "Walking with the Phoenix" barely supported everyone's expectations. Compared with last year's costume drama market, this year's popular ancient puppet dramas have decreased significantly, and there are not many works that have satisfied the audience so far.
After counting it carefully, it seems that only "Walking with the Phoenix" has brought a certain amount of attention. This gap made the audience feel a little lost, and they couldn't help but wonder: Is this year's costume drama market going to be so uneventful? The broadcast of "Picking Stars in Willow Leaves" was supposed to be a bright spot in the costume drama market in June, and the audience originally thought that they had finally waited for a good drama worth watching.
It's a pity that it backfired, and this drama did not bring surprises as scheduled, but became synonymous with "disappointment" in the audience's mouth. Still, there was a glimmer of hope among the audience.
They are looking forward to the fact that perhaps in the near future, there will be a real masterpiece to breathe new life into this slightly weak market. After all, the unique beauty and cultural heritage that excellent costume dramas can bring are irreplaceable by other types of dramas.
The plot setting of "Picking the Stars in the Willow Leaves" should have been refreshing. This is a romantic drama that combines light comedy, suspense and sweet pet elements, telling the story of a couple of heroes and heroines who get married by mistake, and gradually become a fairy couple who work side by side and support justice.
Such an idea should have been fascinating, but unfortunately it was not able to be presented in practice. The development of the plot still follows the cliché "marriage first and love later" model.
The process of the hero and heroine going from-for-tat enemies to gradually getting acquainted with each other, knowing and loving each other, seems to have been directly copied and pasted from countless other costume dramas. This kind of costume plot of marriage first and love after love has been common among the audience, and almost every year there will be such a few developments of "changing the soup but not changing the medicine".
When such a scene appears frequently, it seems that the final direction is clear without guessing, and there is no suspense at all. In order to add some novelty, the screenwriter tried to add suspense and spy war elements to the play.
However, these elements are like a gorgeous coat worn outside the clichéd plot, and the hollowness in them is difficult to hide. Those suspenseful plots that should have been gripping have become boring and even far-fetched in the eyes of the audience.
And this kind of suspenseful ancient puppet plot has similar highlights in many other dramas, but it has failed to stir up too many sparks. There are also some clichés in the play, such as the unexpected "mouth-to-mouth" encounter between the hero and heroine at the beginning.
At the moment of intense fighting, the male and female protagonists accidentally mouth-to-mouth through the veil, such a coincidence seems deliberate and abrupt. What's even more unreasonable is that after kissing, the male protagonist stopped, but instead of thinking about unveiling the female protagonist for the first time and looking at the appearance under the mask, he focused on the pendant on the female protagonist.
In addition, there are episodes such as the embarrassment of sleeping in separate beds, and the mistaken entry while taking a bath. For example, when the female protagonist took a bath, she thought it was a maid who walked in to serve her, but it happened to be the embarrassing plot where the male protagonist strayed in, and finally the two looked at each other.
These scenes, which once made the audience's heart beat faster, can now only cause bursts of helpless sighs. The audience couldn't help but feel a trace of bitterness in their hearts as they watched these familiar plots.
They crave a story that is truly innovative and deep, not this cookie-cutter replica. It's a pity that "Picking the Stars in the Willow Leaves" did not meet the audience's expectations, but made people sigh: When will these old-fashioned episodes make a breakthrough? In "Picking the Stars in the Willow Leaves", the heroine played by Zhuang Dafei should be the first beauty in the play, and she is the focus of all eyes.
However, when she appeared in front of the camera, the audience couldn't help but frown. The heroine who should be radiant gives people a feeling of being out of place, as if she is a maid who strayed into a wealthy family, rather than a beauty who has fallen into the country.
The huge gap between Zhuang Dafei's appearance and the character setting made the audience feel very confused. Her heroine did not show the temperament and appearance of the first heroine as soon as she appeared, and her appearance was mediocre and looked like an inconspicuous maid next to the heroine.
In any case, it is very dramatic, and standing with the male protagonist Tang Xiaotian has no sense of CP, just like the young master and the maid beside him. Even if you are wearing beautiful clothes, you still look very ordinary, without the slightest extravagance.
What is even more unacceptable is Zhuang Dafei's acting performance. As a spy with a heavy responsibility, she was supposed to show a cold, wise side, with a shrewd and sharp glint in her eyes.
However, what is presented in front of the audience is a woman with a resentful face, always blindly staring and yelling, and there is no depth in her eyes. The most impressive (or uncomfortable) thing is Zhuang Duffy's seemingly unstoppable white eyes.
In almost every scene, she kept rolling her eyes, as if that was the only expression she would have. After an episode, the audience saw countless white eyes, which made people wonder if this was the "cold" performance she understood.
In addition to the problem of expression management, Zhuang Dafei's body language control also seems quite jerky. Those movements that should have been elegant and calm became stiff and unnatural under her interpretation.
When he spoke, he always shook his head, and he didn't show his due aura and temperament at all. Even the most basic lines are problematic, sometimes giving a slurred feeling, forcing viewers to turn on subtitles to understand what she's saying.
Zhuang Dafei's performance not only did not add color to the plot, but became a major failure of the whole drama. The audience watched her performance, filled with confusion and disappointment. They can't help but ask, "Why did you choose her to play such an important role?" Isn't there a more suitable actor? "What's even more worrying is that Zhuang Duffy's resources seem to be good.
Although there are not many works since her debut, the resources of the heroine are good. Although there are no masterpieces, and her strength and appearance are not outstanding, she actually got the opportunity to cooperate with Xiao Zhan on a new work, which shows that the resources behind it should not be underestimated.
However, according to the strength shown by Zhuang Dafei in "Picking Stars in the Willow Leaves", the audience can't help but worry about her upcoming "Legend of the Condor Heroes" with Xiao Zhan. After all, the last costume drama just lost the opportunity to bring a hit because of the heroine's appearance, and the heroine of this partner is so strong, which is really worrying.
Compared with the performance of the heroine Zhuang Dafei, the situation of the actor Tang Xiaotian seems to be slightly better, but it is difficult to say that it is ideal. As an actor who has accumulated a lot of experience in costume dramas, Tang Xiaotian's appearance conditions are indeed quite outstanding, and he has a high fit with costume roles.
He has starred in many costume dramas, with superior appearance and a moderate match with costume roles, and these advantages have been fully demonstrated in "Willow Leaves Picking Stars". However, limited by the shackles of the script and the drag of the heroine, Tang Xiaotian's performance never seemed to be able to really move people's hearts.
In the rivalry with Zhuang Dafei, there is an obvious lack of due sparks and tacit understanding between the two. Those rival scenes that should be full of tension have become dry under the interpretation of the two, which makes people feel boring.
The audience looked at the screen and couldn't help sighing: "Why don't you feel any sense of CP?" Is this really a couple? Despite this, compared with Zhuang Dafei's performance, Tang Xiaotian's acting skills have been recognized by some audiences.
They believe that in such an environment, Tang Xiaotian has tried his best to perform. An audience commented: "It can be seen that he is working hard, but it's a pity that the script and partners are not good."
With the broadcast of "Picking Stars in the Willow Leaves", Zhuang Dafei's performance has aroused strong concerns from the audience about her future works, especially the upcoming "Legend of the Condor Heroes" with Xiao Zhan.
As a widely anticipated classic IP adaptation, "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" carries the expectations of many audiences. However, Zhuang Dafei's performance in "Picking Stars in Willow Leaves" makes people have to sweat for the quality of this new work.
The audience expressed their concerns. Someone said: "After watching Zhuang Dafei's performance in "Picking Stars in Willow Leaves", I am really worried about "The Legend of the Condor Heroes". Someone else said more bluntly: "I hope she can make progress in "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", otherwise it may drag down the whole show."
"Such fears are not unfounded. In "Picking the Stars in the Willow Leaves", Zhuang Dafei's performance exposed many problems, including expression management, body language control, and line expression.
Her frequent eye rolls, stiff movements, and unclear lines all make the audience feel uncomfortable. If these problems cannot be effectively improved, they are likely to reappear in "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", affecting the quality of the entire show.
What's even more worrying is that "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", as a martial arts drama, has higher requirements for actors. Not only does the actor need to have solid basic skills, but also be able to accurately grasp the inner world of the character and show the unique charm of the character.
Considering Zhuang Dafei's current performance, the audience can't help but worry about whether she can handle such an important role. Some viewers recalled that the last costume drama lost the opportunity to become a hit because of the heroine's appearance.
Now, Zhuang's performance has once again raised similar concerns. Many people began to worry about Xiao Zhan, after all, an excellent work requires the joint efforts of the leading actors. Still, there are some viewers who are cautiously optimistic.
They hope that Zhuang Dafei can seriously summarize the shortcomings in "Willow Leaves Picking Stars", and make breakthroughs and grow in "The Legend of the Condor Heroes". After all, every actor has room for improvement, and the key is to be able to identify problems in time and improve them.
The failure of "Willow Leaves Picking the Stars" is not only the failure of a drama, but also reflects the overall predicament of the current costume drama market. The broadcast of this drama was supposed to bring a touch of vitality to the costume drama market in June, but it eventually became synonymous with "disappointment" in the audience's mouth.
This situation can't help but make people reflect: why are recent costume dramas always difficult to meet expectations? Is it the exhaustion of ideas, or the crudeness of production? Looking back on this year's costume drama market, there are very few works that can really move the audience.
Compared with last year, there are significantly fewer popular ancient puppet dramas this year, and there are not many works that have satisfied the audience so far. After counting it carefully, it seems that only "Walking with the Phoenix" has brought a certain amount of attention, barely supporting a piece of the sky, but it is far from enough.
This gap makes the audience feel a sense of loss, and they are eager to see more high-quality works, and they are eager for stories that can make people's hearts flutter and be endlessly memorable. The audience is looking forward to the fact that perhaps in the near future, there will be a real masterpiece that will inject new life into this slightly weak market.
In the face of such a market situation, industry insiders and audiences are calling for change. They want to see more innovative scripts, more superb acting, and more careful production.
Only in this way can we truly revitalize the costume drama market and bring high-quality audio-visual enjoyment to the audience. Despite the unsatisfactory situation, there is hope.
They believe that the unique beauty and cultural heritage that excellent costume dramas can bring is irreplaceable by other types of dramas. The future of the costume drama market is still worth looking forward to.