撰写Almost every month, some online articles are adapted into film and television dramas, and there are always a lot of right and wrong online articles. Monthly online article adaptation observation, extracting a common problem existing in the online article adaptation of the month, and seeing the essence through the phenomenon with everyone. The online article adaptation drama focusing on May is "Qingyu Nian 2", talking about the gains and losses of "Drama King" in adaptation.
"Qingyu Nian 2" was undoubtedly the "drama king" in the drama market in the second quarter of this year. The broadcast data was quite eye-catching. At the end of the plot, the market share of the single-day effective broadcast volume once exceeded an astonishing 50%.
The drama does explode, but there are also many controversies, which are intuitively reflected in the watercress rating. In the first season, more than 1 million people scored 7.9 points on watercress, and the watercress score of "Qingyu Nian 2" fell, with a score of 7 points. In the eyes of many viewers, the plot of the opening episodes of "Qingyu Nian 2" was lower than expected. But as the plot progressed, the familiar flavor of the first season returned, and the watercress rating slowly rose.
From the perspective of adaptation, the screenwriter Wang Tie’s treatment of "Qingyu Nian 2" is generally not worse than that of the first season. The adaptation of "Qingyu Nian 2" has some advantages that continue the first season, such as the prominence of "feelings"; there are some places that are inferior to the first season, such as the imbalance in the treatment of comedy in the second season, which led to a lot of criticism in the opening episodes of the second season; "Qingyu Nian 2" also has outstanding aspects in the adaptation. Its criticism of feudal imperial power is not only absent in the first season, but also rare in recent costume dramas.
The continuation of advantages: the prominence of "feelings"
In the first season, Wang Tie made important changes to Fan Xian’s character.
In the novel, Fan Xian is a good person, but he is first and foremost a very ordinary and popular person. In the original author’s catty words, Fan Xian is "greedy for life and fear of death, likes leisure and hard work, enjoys enjoyment, has a moral concept formed after education, but it is very vulgar to implement, inconsistent, ambiguous, vain, used to pretending, and beautiful", "If we tear off those clothes on Fan Xian… The naked him is just a naked you and a naked me."
After the Teng Zijing incident, Wang Tie sublimated Fan Xian’s personality, and Fan Xian quickly grew into the inheritor and executor of Ye Qingmei’s concept. Wang Tie condensed Ye Qingmei’s concept into a paragraph, which was engraved on the stone tablet at the entrance of the inspection academy: "I hope that the law of celebrating the country will be established for the people, not because of noble tolerance, not because of poverty, no injustice, no crime imposed, obey the law like a sword, break the spies and worship, and do not seek the gods… I hope that one day, all people are born equal, no longer divided between high and low, protect life, and pursue light. This is my wish. Although there are thousands of twists and turns, I am not afraid to move forward, I am born equal, and everyone is like a dragon."
This sentence is a comprehensive outline of a fair, just, civilized, and progressive society. It transcends the background of the times and touches on the deepest human yearning for equality, freedom, and dignity. It reflects Ye Qingmei’s profound thinking and beautiful vision for the ideal society.
This sentence is Fan Xian’s pursuit, and it is also the "feelings" that the TV series "Qingyu Nian" adheres to. In "Qingyu Nian 2", Ye Qingmei’s expectation is still Fan Xian’s general policy of action, which runs through the plot.
Although Fan Xian in the novel has been growing up, until the beginning of the second season (corresponding to the fifth volume of the novel and a total of 7 volumes of the novel), his base color is still an ordinary person. After returning from his mission to Northern Qi, there is a summary about Fan Xian in the novel: "Fan Xian is also an ordinary male animal who covets wealth and enjoys power and loves beautiful women, but the experience of two lives as a human being allows him to grasp what he wants more accurately, so he believes that Xiaoxiao is carefree, ruthless when he should be ruthless, soft when he should be soft, closer to beautiful women, earn more money, and see more scenery in this beautiful world. This is a brilliant life. On the premise of ensuring life and material life first, he doesn’t mind beautifying his spiritual world. "
Although there is also a spring storm in the novel (the fourth volume of the novel), Fan Xian, because of his love for talent, spares poor students who cheat in the examination room; when he knows that other dignitaries "cheat" in the spring, Fan Xian also marks the test papers of his "prote ? ge ?", which is written in the novel: "Looking at the officials of the Ministry of Rites solemnly pasting short notes on the test papers they picked, Fan Xian couldn’t help but laugh, thinking that if Guo Youzhi knew in the future that these test papers were not all invited by the senior officials of the court, but a few papers from the really talented people he likes, such as the naive man named Yang Wanli – will Guo Lao Pifu be so angry that he vomits blood?"
In the novel, Fan Xian can be flexible and "go with the flow", which is better called "go with the light".
For example, the fight between Fan Xian and the eldest princess and the second prince is the focus of the narrative in the second season. Why fight? In the novel, it is not that Fan Xian has "feelings" so he is fearless, but simply "because he and Xinyang (Xinyang is Li Yunrui’s relegation) have already had an unresolved grievance".
Why is there a grievance? Because of the dispute between the inner library. "The inner library is the most unlikely thing that Fan Xian will give up after his rebirth. The inner library is the Ye family, and the meaning carried in it is impossible for Fan Xian not to protect it.
Why is the inner warehouse important? Not only because this is Ye Qingmei’s "inheritance", he has mastered the power of money and can use it for people’s livelihood, but also because the reborn Fan Xian wants to have the power and money to live freely. In the novel, Chen Pingping warns Fan Xian, "Don’t underestimate money, this little thing can destroy the most strictly controlled organization in the world."
The audience can’t see this side of Fan Xian’s "ordinary male animal" from "Qingyu Nian 2". In the play, he is absolutely impossible to "go with the light" or protect himself. Fan Xian will not conform to injustice, he will only cry out when he is unfair. He is a more correct, more decisive, more determined, more empathetic and more sacrificial Fan Xian than in the first season.
As soon as Fan Xian’s image rises, it naturally needs many plots to set off. Therefore, the tragic situation of those little people that the audience sees from "Celebration of More Than Years 2" – such as Lao Jin Tou and his daughter, seeing Fan Xian’s perseverance in fighting for the little people – such as Chunqu fighting for fairness for the students, seeing the tragic and burning feelings of heroism – such as the death of Lai Yushi, and so on, are all original works of Wang Tie, all to strengthen Fan Xian’s motivation. In the first season, Fan Xian’s "feelings" are slightly chicken soup, and "Celebration of More Than Years 2" has enough foreshadowing, and "feelings" are much more believable.
In terms of the prominence and persistence of "feelings", the adaptation of "Qingyu Nian 2" continues the advantages of the first season. Wang Tie reflects social injustice and system defects through a large number of original scenes of the tragic experiences of small characters, such as corruption, abuse of power by the powerful, and unequal price of life (the powerful make mistakes, punishment is light, and the small people will be killed if they are right), etc., which makes Fan Xian more determined to stand up and challenge the status quo, change the unreasonable system, and fight for the rights and interests of the people at the bottom.
All of this makes Fan Xian more pleasing, allowing "Celebration of More Than Two Years" to gain more meaningful value points without superficial "feeling", and the series is more realistic and infectious.
An important breakthrough: a profound attack on feudal imperial power
The rewriting of Emperor Qing’s image is a major core of the adaptation of "Qingyu Nian 2", and it is also the most thoughtful change in this play. It is true that Emperor Qing is also the biggest villain in the novel, but his image is not the same as in the play.
When many viewers watched the first season, they had a good impression of Emperor Qing. In the play, Emperor Qing is majestic and calm, restrained and resourceful, fully demonstrating the style and authority of the emperor. In his relationship with Fan Xian, he even has a tender side. As an emperor, he is always on guard against the variables that Fan Xian’s growth may bring, but as a father, Fan Xian’s intelligence makes him like it, and he has emotional recognition or expectation for Fan Xian – Wang Tie amplified this in the first season. For example, when Fan Xian first met Emperor Qing, the newborn calf was not afraid of the tiger, Fan Xian did not kneel, and Emperor Qing did not care. In the first season, audiences regarded Emperor Qing as one of Fan Xian’s reliable "third fathers".
However, when depicting feudal emperors, I am most afraid of falling into a misunderstanding of "praising saints". For example, many ancient costume historical dramas often exaggerate the personal morality, resourcefulness and martial arts of feudal emperors. Even if the historical evaluation is not entirely positive, it will make its image more glorious through artistic processing, and become a model of saints respected by all people. This not only does not help to reflect on the feudal system, but may also subtly instill blind worship of authority and power.
Of course, there is no "Praise of Saints" in the tricky novel, but there is no too sharp criticism of Emperor Qing and the feudal imperial power he represents behind him. In the corresponding passage of the novel in the second season, the reader will intuitively feel that Emperor Qing has "ambition and confidence" in the art of Machiavellian – everything is under his control, but the art of using people is not too brutal – not too cheap for human life, and not bad for Fan Xian – he is a OK, still tender father.
In the novel, seeing that Fan Xian has made progress, Emperor Qing’s attitude is "gratified". He is willing to let Fan Xian manage the Supervision Institute and give Fan Xian the opportunity to exercise; he finds that Fan Xian has feelings, which is very much like Ye Qingmei. In the novel, Emperor Qing’s reaction is written like this, "The emperor’s thin face flashes with a gratified smile. Although that little guy is a little disrespectful to himself in his words, he can fathom the loyalty to himself under those words."
Another example is in the novel, when Lai Yushi impeached Fan Xian, there was a heated debate in the court, and when he saw Fan Xian speaking well, Emperor Qing "flashed a little joy in the eyes of the dragons". Although it was very annoying to rely on the imperial history, Emperor Qing did not kill Lai Yushi like in the play. After Lai Yushi and others knelt at the palace gate, plucked black yarn, and remonstrated Emperor Qing to be stupid, Emperor Qing made a decree in a fit of anger, "The imperial history of the Capital Inspection Institute corrupted the courtiers, did the academic affairs recklessly, abandoned the political affairs, did not think about repentance, invited the name to act recklessly, and wore the staff… thirty!"
In "Qing Yu Nian 2", the "humane" side of Emperor Qing has almost disappeared. In the play, Wang Tie vividly amplifies the authoritarian, ruthless and ruthless side of Emperor Qing – Emperor Qing becomes the typical embodiment of feudal imperial power, patriarchy/male power, father flavor, etc., which constitutes a strong driving force for the plot, contributes to many famous scenes in the play (such as giving death to Lai Yu Shi, forcing Lin Xiang to leave), and naturally elevates and sublimates the values of the series.
At the family banquet, Emperor Qing angrily scolded Fan Xian, "You dare to accuse the second prince, who are you?" Fan Xian was not the illegitimate son that Emperor Qing treated particularly kindly; Lai Yu Shi in the play was much more noble than in the novel, because he touched the reverse scale of Emperor Qing and posed a threat to Emperor Qing’s power concentration, and was killed with a rod; Emperor Qing wanted to make Fan Xian a "lone servant", which was more cruel than the "lone servant" in the novel.
The angry online entry "Emperor Qing, hurry up and die" hit the hot search. "Qingyu Nian 2" makes the audience deeply understand that Fan Xian’s disaster and the disaster of all sentient beings are not because he happened to meet a bad emperor, but because the feudal imperial power itself is a backward and rotten system. This system will inevitably lead to the high concentration of power, the solidification of classes, and the general lack of people’s rights. Real change should not be pinned on the replacement of emperors or short-term benevolent governance, but should fundamentally examine and reform the old power structure and explore a more fair and democratic political system.
Due to the severe and profound criticism of the feudal imperial power, the "feelings" of "Qingyu Nian 2" are not limited to the reform of a few righteous people, but appeal to the checks and balances of power and the reform of the system. It can be said that "Qingyu Nian 2" is a profound "anti-feudal" costume drama.
Although the creepy novel also had this level of expression, Wang Tie’s extraction of it was rich in ink and color, and it really shone. The Machiavellian play between the ministers and Emperor Qing in the play looked wonderful, but the so-called "speculating the Sacred Heart" Machiavellian trick should have been thrown into the trash can of history long ago – "Emperor Qing, die quickly"!
The remaining shortcomings: rimmed women and flying jokes
The first season of "Qingyu Nian" has attracted criticism from some audiences, and Lin Waner is about to become a "trimmed heroine". Compared with the outstanding male group portraits in the play, although women such as Li Yunrui and Begonia Duoduo in the first season also have distinct personalities, overall, the female group portraits in the first season are relatively bleak.
In the second season, Wang Tie failed to make up for this shortcoming in the adaptation, but made it even more dazzling. Although there are more female characters in the play, their overall roles are pitiful. Except for Li Yunrui, who is the focus of the last third of the story, whose mental state is impressively beautiful, other women are more "floating". In contrast, many male characters in the play, regardless of the number of scenes, have highlight moments.
It should be admitted that writing poorly about women is a common flaw in many male-frequency novels. The authors of male-frequency novels are almost all men. They create based on gender perspectives and life experiences, and it is difficult to fully understand and deeply depict the psychology and experiences of different genders, resulting in relatively single or idealized portrayals of female characters. In order to advance the plot or serve the growth and development of the male protagonist, female characters are often simplified into auxiliary tools, and their personal growth, inner world, and independent story lines are less fully developed…
Although the catty novel is widely praised, the portrayal of women is indeed its shortcoming. For example, Lin Waner in the novel is also intelligent, wise, and sometimes like Fan Xian’s "military advisor", but she is still very traditional in her thinking, and she can accept Fan Xian’s "three wives and four concubines". In the novel, Fan Xian returns from Northern Qi, and Lin Waner has long heard rumors about him and Begonia Blossom. Of course, she is jealous, but she is not dismissive, but she thinks that it is normal for Fan Xian to like women, but Fan Xian does not consider the impact of lace news on women. She is worried that Fan Xian will "start to mess and eventually abandon" them. When Fan Xian coaxed her, she said, "I’m not the kind of stingy guy who wants to monopolize you. Sisi and Si Qi always have to get started, so you don’t have to deliberately use this story to make me up." "Although that Begonia girl has no reputation in the south, now everyone knows her status in the north… I just ask Xianggong, can this Begonia girl be a concubine?"
Some viewers criticized Lin Waner’s words when she appeared in "Qingyu Nian 2" that she didn’t see Fan Xian because she was afraid of affecting Fan Xian to do great things. In fact, compared with the novel, Lin Waner in the series has "improved" a lot. Wang Tie has made improvements, but the scope of improvement is really limited. "Lin Waner, tool person" "Lin Waner’s character, thin" and other complaints have been hot searches.
The drama deserves praise for amplifying Ye Qingmei’s presence infinitely. Although Ye Qingmei is dead, her spiritual philosophy deeply affects Fan Xian, Chen Pingping, Fan Jian and others. From this perspective, it is women who provide a great plan to transform the world; Emperor Qing is alive but makes Fan Xian alienated and hated, and his dead mother makes Fan Xian close and follow. Isn’t this a subversion of paternity?
It’s a pity that this is a spiritual victory. If the series can portray more figurative and moving female images, the reputation will definitely be better.
In addition to the flat female image, all kinds of jokes flying around is another point that has been criticized for the adaptation of "Qingyu Nian 2", which also directly leads to the "bad start" of the series, because the plot of Fan Xian’s suspended animation at the beginning is completely the original of Wang Tie, and it is precisely in the opening five or six episodes that there are a lot of Wang Tie-style jokes.
The various "memes" Wang Tie added to the plot (language memes, object memes, situation memes, Internet memes, etc.) can certainly arouse the resonance and laughter of some audiences, making the rhythm relaxed; however, in the eyes of some audiences, some of the memes in the play are really vulgar, and the frequent insertion of various memes interrupts the originally tense and serious development of the plot, resulting in the occasional imbalance in the rhythm of the plot. Completely deleting them will not affect the progress of the plot at all. For example, those comedy scenes of Mrs. Wang Qinian’s daughter, and the "funny" mourning that the public mistakenly thinks Fan Xian died, is it really necessary?
In the creepy novels, there are indeed many jokes that can make the audience laugh, but they are not deliberate, and the jokes are more from the deconstruction of the sublime, with a strong irony. Fan Xian from time to time uses some catchphrases of modern society to ancient times. For example, he used catchphrases to lecture the officials of the Supervision Institute, "Don’t ask what the court has done for you, ask yourself what you have done for the court."
In the novel, an official’s reaction is written, "When I heard the words, I was stunned, chewed a little, and actually had a lot of deep meaning. I couldn’t help but feel a trace of shame and a trace of admiration in my heart. Yes, when these officials were planning, did they think about what the Imperial Court established the Supervision Institute for?" Someone’s heart was hot, and he clenched his right fist and shouted, "Everything is for the sake of the country."
The novel describes Fan Xian’s inner activities when he saw this scene: "Fan Xian looked at the scene off the court, smiled with relief, clenched his right fist lightly, and said in his heart, ‘Everything is for life.’"
Fan Xian’s words on the surface seem noble and responsible, in line with people’s positive expectations of heroes or leaders, but his inner thoughts are very practical and even selfish. He knows how to manage and motivate his subordinates, while maintaining a clear understanding of his true motives. The huge contrast between the external lofty and the internal mundane fully satirizes the "big talk" in real life; and this universal human weakness "everything for life" is subtly displayed, and it also reveals a kind of self-deprecating humor.
Most of the jokes in the novel are of this kind, which is in line with Fan Xian’s character setting, and also has the function of allegorizing reality and human nature. Wang Tie obviously has the ability to write similar high-quality jokes. Unfortunately, he may deliberately want to please and cater to the needs of the audience for comedy, but instead, the opposite is inevitable and the gain is not worth the loss.
Under the circumstance that the film and television of male-frequency novels have repeatedly hit the streets, Wang Tie’s adaptation of the "Qingyu Nian" series is generally successful, leaving behind many valuable experiences and lessons. We expect that such characteristics are not exclusive to "drama kings", but the norm of domestic dramas.