Text | New Sound Pro, Author | Wang Shanshan
Human beings naturally crave intimacy, which makes urban emotional dramas an indispensable core theme in domestic TV dramas. In recent years, many dramas seem to have fallen into two extreme narrative modes: one is sweet pet dramas, where the protagonists seem to live in a sweet world of isolation and enjoy unconditional love; The other is a satire on the idea of the supremacy of love, in which the female characters often abandon their unreliable partners in favor of careers, as if this becomes the only right choice.
Essentially, the logic of the creation of the series is to cater to the different needs of the audience for love. These black-and-white ideas of love may seem dramatic, but they are actually simple and straightforward, and can quickly resonate with the audience's emotions.
In today's rapidly changing society, young audiences expect to see more modern aesthetics and diverse gender relationships in pop culture. In recent years, avant-garde works such as The Myth of Love have emerged in the film industry, depicting the process of middle-aged men and women seeking self-awareness in a variety of relationships.
The pace of innovation in the field of drama is also accelerating. This year, from the summer file "The Story of Rose" heroine Huang Yimei has experienced several separate and combined emotional stories, although "imperfect", she still loves life and is true to herself, to the recent hit "Half-mature Men and Women", the heroine in the play He Zhinan is an ordinary girl who "longs to fall in love". She pursues the presence of love, but experiences loneliness, betrayal, disappointment, and ugliness, and finally completes the calibration of life's coordinates.
As the production and production company behind "Half-mature Men and Women", Ningmeng Film and Television has always been good at female themes with a realistic tone. From "Thirty Only" to "Half-mature Men and Women", we can clearly feel the changes in the order of life value of women in the "thirties" and "twenties": Gu Jia in the "thirties" is first of all a wife, a mother and the new middle class in the city, and has been given a lot of collective identity labels; As for He Zhinan of the "Twentieth Generation", what she needs to pay attention to most is her inner desires, whether it is love, friendship or work, her eyes are always focused on her complex feelings. This emotional experience is undoubtedly a true portrayal of many young people today.
At the end of the series, we had a conversation with Qi Shuai, the chief producer of the show, the partner of Ningmeng Film and Television, and the CEO of Lime Meng. She believes that if love is compared to an elephant, then for a long time, the creation of dramas may still stay in the stage of "blind man touching the elephant". This means that creators cannot stop at a single narrative of "romantic love", but need to present the different faces of love in a more comprehensive way, as well as the multi-dimensionality and complexity of female characters. "Of course, this is a new exploration for both creation and audience acceptance." Qi Shuai concluded.
What kind of female image does domestic dramas need?
In the drama stage, Ning Meng discussed whether to "replace" the heroine, believing that compared with He Zhinan, who is obsessed with love, Han Su, who has a better performance in the workplace, is more in line with the current trend of big heroines. However, after careful consideration, the team decided to stick to the original creative idea in order to present a diverse screen character.
After it was launched, He Zhinan's character design really sparked polarized discussions. Some viewers expressed dissatisfaction with her "love brain", thinking that she was not an "independent woman" enough; Other commentators praised the "female-oriented" creative perspective, believing that the creation of real female characters is the biggest breakthrough of "Half-Mature Men and Women".
These public opinions not only reflect the audience's perception of the characters, but also reveal everyone's perception of self-image in reality and the projection of imagination of the "ideal woman". Popular works are essentially interpretations and reflections of reality, and with the changes in the social environment, the female characters in fictional works have also gained more diverse display space.
Qi Shuai observed that society is developing rapidly, and it is also a process of "half-ripe" to "fully cooked", and each person's specific experience in life has become more individualized and differentiated. "It's a positive step forward, because people used to see themselves more from a collective perspective, but now they can feel themselves from an individual perspective."
Ningmeng's creation of women's dramas is constantly exploring new things along with the changes in social values. In previous works, such as Thirty Only, female characters are often given distinctly collective identities, such as wife, mother, or northward drifter, which are closely linked to family, workplace, and social class. In the case of Gu Jia, she must constantly fight against her husband, the mistress, and the noble women's group, showing the courage to break the boundaries and pursue a stronger and independent status symbol.
However, in Half-Mature Men and Women, these elements of family and social identity are stripped away, and the narrative focuses on the inner experience of individual women. He Zhinan, Han Su and Sun Hanhan each have their own unique personalities and pursuits, and their courage is reflected in facing their own desires more purely, bravely exploring, and finally understanding themselves more deeply, and learning to appreciate and love themselves.
He Zhinan appeared as an ordinary girl who longed for love nourishment, and her goal was not to become a sea king, but to fill the black hole of inner sense of worth by establishing an intimate relationship; Han Su is a hard-working and diligent heroine in the workplace on the surface, but the reason why her "volume" has reached the level of alienation is because of the suppressed emotional needs behind it, especially the pursuit of Mu Qiang caused by the lack of father figure; Sun Hanhan is beautiful, smart, ambitious, and naively delusional to be able to "have both and want" in the workplace and love, but he didn't expect to almost usher in a "lose-lose" situation.
Although the portrayal of each character has grayscale, especially Tian Xiwei's role as "Punu" He Zhinan, which sparked discussions at the beginning of the broadcast, but for idol actors in the rising period, it is worth affirming that they can challenge such a role. The fact that this series is able to present three distinct female characters is a significant step forward in the portrayal of female characters in urban dramas. Such a diverse display not only allows the audience to enjoy the play, but also gives people a deeper understanding of the complexity of women in reality.
It is worth mentioning that the proportion of female employees in Ningmeng is very high, and they naturally have a keen insight into female themes. Qi Shuai told us that Ningmeng organizes and discusses hot news events every week, which will pay attention to the individual situation of women in reality. And many of the stories in the play can remind her of the personal experiences of the female friends around her.
In the current social stage, true "female-oriented" creation means that women are regarded as subjects. Every woman should be encouraged to confront her desires and explore herself, rather than following any established model. As Li Yinhe said, "In this era of pluralistic values, we need to fully explore the various possibilities of women's lives, and the ultimate answer lies in the diversity and tolerance between individuals."
Human growth is more important than love
In the creation of domestic dramas, love is often regarded as the ideal sustenance of romantic dreams. Who is Mr. Right？ What kind of setbacks will true love face? These are almost the eternal themes of most urban romance dramas. In the past, many viewers were keen to watch such works precisely because they provided emotional comfort that would be difficult to obtain in real life.
However, as the supply of entertainment products increases, the aesthetics and needs of young audiences are also rising, and they want to see new perspectives and expressions. This is also reflected in the discussion in the film market: audiences are less interested in romance films, not because they are not interested in love per se, but because they are tired of the traditional pure love genre films, and people are looking for a more fashionable and contemporary concept of love. Movies like "The Myth of Love", which tells the story of middle-aged divorced men and women with babies, have unexpectedly become box office dark horses because of their novel perspective and realistic style.
The reason why "Half-mature Men and Women" has sparked heated discussions at the moment is also because it presents a concept that is completely different from pure love. As Qi Shuai said, this drama involves many emotional topics, but the relationship between the characters in the play does not follow the traditional narrative mode of "romantic love".
Some netizens jokingly called the play a "walking electronic wind oil spirit", because many lines in the play directly hit the fantasy of romantic love, revealing a more real and unbearable side of the relationship. "The more dreamy it is at the beginning, the more embarrassing it is at the end." "You know I love you, but I'm sober and I can't give you what you want."
If you look at the second half, you can find that girls are more concerned about self-development than whether the love result is sweet. After experiencing emotional setbacks, the three heroines become more and more aware of their own life issues. Although they have labels such as love brains, big heroines and little threes, the series is not sharp for the sake of sharpness, but gives the characters room to reinvent themselves and grow.
As Wu Nan, the screenwriter of the play, said in an interview, the whole story essentially explores the growth of women. The "half-ripe" in the title of the play does not specifically refer to the age group of the characters in the play between 25 and 35 years old, but to express that "half-ripe" is best a lifelong attitude: we are always in a state of life in exploration, full of enthusiasm, keeping freshness, and maintaining a youthful spirit. We need to mature, but never "mature to rot."
As in many real-life situations, the friendship between women in the play is more nourishing than the love of men and women at some moments. Han Su and He Zhinan were identified and screened, and they saw what they didn't have from each other, and then they recognized and understood in their hearts. This friendship supports the two to go down, to dig themselves, and they jump out of the part that is entangled with men.
At the end of the story, the three heroines have become better versions of themselves: when He Zhinan found his writing talent, experienced happiness in story creation, and finally found the direction to rebuild the coordinates of his life; When Han Su becomes disillusioned with her father figure, her life plan unfolds; And Sun Hanhan only realized the complexity of people's hearts and their own limitations after suffering a heavy blow.
Some fans of the original book expressed regret over the adaptation of the series, believing that the series has softened compared to the spicy satire of the original novel "There Are No Good Men and Believe Women Here". The reason for this is that the show shifts its focus from emotional mysteries to coming-of-age issues, adding brighter and more positive emotions to the tone. Although this leads to the weakening of the sense of curiosity, it makes the psychological motivation and growth of each character clearer and fuller.
How did Ningmeng make "Half-Mature Men and Women" reach the audience
Ningmeng Film and Television purchased the copyright of the original IP "There Are No Good Men and Women Here" as early as 2019, but how to make this story truly film and television has become a major challenge for the main creative team. As Qi Shuai said, emotional realism is probably the most challenging genre in realist creation, and the series needs to reach the market safely while maintaining a sharp perspective, and maintain the empathy of mainstream audiences as much as possible.
Qi Shuai told us that the success of this challenging work was due to the close collaboration between screenwriter Wu Nan and director Zhang Xiaobo, two established creators. "Both of them have reached a high level of professional accumulation, and the advantage is that they don't have to explain too much when communicating, and they can get each other's points at once."
Wu Nan, the screenwriter of "Half-Mature Men and Women", is working with Ning Meng for the first time, but Qi Shuai and the team have long been paying close attention to her creation and have studied many of her other works. She has rich creative experience, and her representative works include "October Siege", "Dragon City", "City in the City" and other types of film and television dramas, bringing practical drama plans to the team.
It is extremely difficult to retain the sharpness of the original work and the grayscale of the characters as much as possible in the adaptation of film and television dramas. Wu Nan uses solid screenwriting skills to land a sharp and emotionally filled story around the value of women's growth. As the episode ends, the audience discovers that each character has mirror mirrors at the beginning and end, forming a closed loop of the story's "fable".
On the other hand, compared with novel texts that can directly depict psychological activities, video narrative needs to present the inner world of the characters in a specific audiovisual language.
Director Zhang Xiaobo set the filming location in Wuhan, a city with both the loneliness of steel and concrete and the smell of fireworks in the world, through his unique lens aesthetics, the high-rise buildings and citizen food stalls are organically integrated, depicting the real youth ecology.
At the same time, the director also injected avant-garde forms of expression into the play. The self-dialogue between the two He Zhinan in the play, one represents sensibility and the other represents rationality, presenting the inner contradictions of the characters in a debatical way; The "Small Theater" interspersed in the play invited the original author Liu Cuihu to co-create, and the contents of "A Good Hand", "Food and Water", "Love Brain" and other contents frequently appeared on the hot search...... The director's subtle grasp of the relationship between the sexes, without blindly criticizing and crudely labeling, gives the audience unlimited aftertaste space by leaving blank space.
From last year's costume legend "Yi Nian Guan Mountain" to this year's urban fable "Half-mature Men and Women", the "Lime Meng" label led by Qi Shuai has demonstrated its grasp of diverse content, and initially realized the category expansion and innovative positioning in the Ningmeng film and television map.
As an innovative work with the expression of advanced values, the creative process of "Half-Mature Men and Women" is inseparable from the two-way cooperation between Ningmeng and the creators, and it also tests the company's judgment and determination for good content.
Qi Shuai emphasized that Ningmeng's internal judging criteria will not only consider utilitarian results, but also attach great importance to expanding the potential of innovative vertical categories to break through the circle. Just as domestic suspense dramas have experienced a process of audience cultivation, the rich expression of urban emotional themes also needs to gradually expand market acceptance.
What is rare is that "Half-mature Men and Women" does not go high and low or stay in the gimmick, but solidly creates a female individual arc with growth. It does not just stop at the emotional comfort of romantic nothingness, but expands the creative perspective of domestic dramas through dystopian narratives, allowing the audience to get real inspiration in various difficulties similar to reality.