As a popular literary form in the Ming and Qing dynasties, novels have a very huge influence both then and now, and with the development and progress of the times, people's requirements for novels are no longer limited to the form of words.
In recent years, with the blessing of the Internet, more online novels have also been remade into TV series because of their classicity, many of which are fascinating and rich in nature, and have gained super popularity once they are broadcast, such as "Do You Know If You Should Be Green, Fat, Red and Thin" in the background of the Song Dynasty to portray the growth of the girl in the official family, which reflects the changes of the family and the struggle of women under the feudal etiquette system.
Judging from the presentation in the play, not only the layout of the scene is very in place and elegant, but the selection of each character is also very good, we can not only remember Sheng Minglan and other protagonists, but some small characters can also leave a deep impression, such as Gu Tingyu, who has become an uneasy character in the novel with his beautiful face and unusual fate.
Aesthetic issues in knowing
Judging from the plot structure of "Know" itself, its plot development is somewhat similar to "Dream of Red Mansions" in the four famous novels, its original work is called "The Legend of Minglan", which mainly describes the growth process of "Sheng Minglan" in the family, which is naturally accompanied by a large number of female characters.
This is very similar to the Dream of Red Mansions, except that Dream of Red Mansions shows the group portraits of Jiafu dominated by Lin Daiyu and other twelve hairpins of Jinling, showing the rise and fall of big families in the feudal background through these vivid women, but do you know whether it shows the gradual control of the family by women in the feudal background.
There is no doubt that Dream of Red Mansions is still a very influential work in the field of fiction, and it has also achieved unprecedented success at that time, not only surpassing the previously popular costume TV series such as "The Legend of Zhen Huan" in terms of broadcasts, but also maintaining the first popularity within a month.
There are two main reasons why "Know" can achieve such unprecedented success, the first is the closeness of the subject matter and life, whether it is the previous Dream of Red Mansions or other costume dramas, most of the themes are deceitful in aristocratic families or palaces, and the audience is very enjoyable to watch, but it is too flashy, and it can even be said to be empty.
Because many viewers are very ordinary, they are not famous families, and they do not have a lot of power and high status, and the feeling of dramas such as Gong Dou is like peeping into other people's lives, but "Know" is different, it is set in the Song Dynasty, and the things presented are closer to the lives of ordinary people, and the life of women growing up in it is more resonant.
In addition to the structure of the plot, the important factor in the success of "Know" is the aesthetic connotation, the aesthetics mentioned here include but are not limited to the setting of the scene, the display of ethical relationships and cultural elements, etc., the most typical of which is the masculine and feminine performance of the characters, which is not only an important category in classical aesthetics, but also an important way to show the characters of "Know".
These two aesthetic standards are like the Taoist saying about "yin and yang", which pays attention to a yin and yang harmony in terms of aesthetic tension, so "Know" has a certain focus when shaping a character, but it cannot completely abandon one end.
If you only focus on one end and give up the other, then the original masculine will go radical and the extreme feminine will continue to go to decadence, which is not desirable, so no matter which side of the male and female is shaped, it will be carried out from the perspective of the coexistence of feminine and masculine, and then finalized according to the specific external performance required by the role.
The Gu family and Gu Tingyu
Judging from the development of the story, Gu Tingyu, who was born in the Gu family, should have a good growth environment and development prospects, because the Gu family is a typical martial arts family, and even canonized the marquis because of his great contributions to the emperor, such a background is destined to be higher than other families.
During the Song Dynasty, many families represented by the Sheng family were strong, but they all made their fortunes by commercial transactions, even in a relatively open social environment and under Beijing, commerce is still at the end of all industries, Sheng Minglan and Gu Tingye, the second eldest of the Gu family, are destined to be very tortuous, but the Gu family has encountered more troubles than this.
Judging from the character creation mentioned above, Gu Tingyu is the eldest son of the Gu family, but he is frail and sickly, which is seriously inconsistent with the style of the military general's family, coupled with some unpleasant encounters in his childhood, which made Gu Tingyu a person who is very deep in the city.
The hierarchical system of ancient Chinese feudal society was very strict, and there was a big gap and estrangement between the farmers and businessmen, so the upper class like the Gu family naturally looked down on the business-oriented Sheng family, but the irony is that the status of the merchant was very low, but he mastered a lot of social wealth.
What everyone didn't expect was that the Gu family in "Know" was like the Jia Mansion in "Red Mansion", which caused family turnover difficulties due to insolvency, and the same solution as the subsequent Dream of Red Mansions, if you want to change the status quo of the Gu family's economic crisis, you must marry another wealthy family with a noble identity.
Just like Jia Baoyu was forced to marry Xue Baochai, the Marquis of the Gu family could only choose to marry the only daughter of the wealthy merchant family, Bai, this marriage seems to be a union of officials and businessmen, but in fact, it is a helpless move by the declining official family, in order to ensure the status of the Bai family, Gu Houye divorced his first wife Daqin before the marriage.
She is Gu Tingyu's biological mother, and her mother's unjust experience is also a source of Gu Tingyu's hatred, at that time, Gu Houye just wanted to use the rich dowry brought by the Bai family to survive the family crisis, although he was afraid of the feelings of the Great Qin family and Gu Tingyu, but in the face of the interests of the family, he had to give up this relationship.
Although Gu Houye thought so, the Qin family, who was responsible for raising Gu Tingyu, didn't think so, they were full of hatred for the Gu family, and they brainwashed Gu Tingyu when he was very young, emphasizing that his father abandoned his mother, and even attributed the cause of Da Qin's death to the Bai family, so Gu Tingyu grew up under the nourishment of hatred, and his psychology has become distorted.
Not only is he frail and sickly, but he also regards the Bai family and the child Gu Tingye she gave birth to as his enemies, vowing to eradicate all these cadres and others, and occupy the Gu family alone.
even did some extreme things himself, and then made Gu Tingye bear serious consequences.
Especially later, Gu Tingyu almost became his aunt's tool to vent his hatred, Xiao Qin's family originally wanted to marry Gu Houye to enjoy glory and love after the death of his sister Da Qin, but Gu Houye, who never thought that he loved Da Qin's family, only regarded her as a substitute for her sister, which made her vicious and dark, and began to take revenge on the Gu family.
On the one hand, he showed Gu Houye an illusion of loving his son, and on the other hand, he made the entire Gu family into a miasma, first using the eldest son Gu Tingyu's hatred for the Gu family to constantly target the second son Gu Tingye, and then acting in front of the master, begging her to forgive Gu Tingye's mistakes many times.
This is a trajectory that can kill multiple birds with one stone, the first can strengthen the control of Gu Tingyu, make him hate the Gu family more to achieve his revenge on the Gu family, the second is to make Gu Houye more indulgent to Gu Tingye by interceding, and he may make bigger mistakes in the future, and the third point is to strengthen Gu Houye's trust in himself and open the way for him to take power in the future.
The biggest thing is that it's hard to settle
Among them, the most tragic and tragic is Gu Tingyu, because he embarked on the tragedy of his life without knowing it, and was instilled with wrong ideas by Xiao Qin's family since he was a child.
These ideological changes that existed at an early age were not something that he could influence, and what was even more tragic was that he was not only a pawn in the eyes of Xiao Qin's family, but also because of Gu Houye's hatred, Gu Tingyu was not only a tool of Xiao Qin's family, but also became her enemy because of the Gu family's bloodline.
Even so, Xiao Qin's family still had no intention of letting go, and even Gu Tingyu's frailty and illness may have been secretly caused by Xiao Qin's family, and later, under the joint operation of the two, Gu Tingye, the second eldest of the Gu family, was kicked out of the house, which made Xiao Qin's family think that he had achieved his initial goal, and at the same time caused Gu Tingyu's speculation.
Although he is sick, he is also a person who is quite deep in the city, including the consideration and judgment of his own situation, seeing his father drive the second child out of the house, and he knows that his physical condition cannot inherit the Gu family, which is famous for martial arts, on the whole, the biggest beneficiary is Xiao Qin's family, from this time on, Gu Tingyu's heart has changed.
So he began to try to save the situation he had created, such as no longer embarrassing Gu Tingye, but he did not declare it on the surface, but he just took a break to watch the struggle between Xiao Qin's family and Gu Tingye, because of his body, Gu Tingye knew that his life was short, and in the end, considering the continuation of the family, he naturally couldn't hand over the Gu family to Xiao Qin's family.
In the end, his half-brothers Gu Tingye and Sheng Minglan mastered the Gu family, of course, this does not mean that he let go of his hatred for many years, that is to say, Gu Tingyu, who has been burdened with hatred for many years, finally chose the family to be big, and died in illness, which is really uneasy.
This tragedy that lasted for a lifetime was actually caused by Xiao Qin's family, but it was a pity that Gu Tingyu, who had been eroded by revenge since he was a child, realized it too late, and it became difficult in the hearts of most people.
bibliography
[1] Wen Lan, Zhou Xiaotao. An Analysis of Traditional Cultural Elements in the Film and Television Drama "Do You Know If You Should Be Green, Fat, Red and Thin"[J]. (null),2024,No.351(02):175-176+214.
[2] Zheng Xiaonan. From the perspective of violating the principle of cooperation, the meaning of conversation in "Know Whether You Should Be Green, Fat, Red and Thin"[J].Famous Masterpieces,2023,No.104(24):88-90.)
[3] Yuan Tingting. Pragmatic Analysis of Verb-Object Acronyms in Film and Television Dramas: A Case Study of "Know Whether You Should Be Green, Fat, Red and Thin"[J].Famous Masterpieces,2023,No.104(24):91-93.)