Refine warm stories in hot life, and realistic masterpieces shine on the screen.
In the new era, TV drama creation closely follows the changes of the times, pays attention to real life, insists on artistic innovation, expresses China’s aesthetics with China stories, and excellent works are constantly emerging.
Source: People’s Daily Literature and Art
Author: Fan Zongchai (Party Secretary and Resident Vice Chairman of China Television Artists Association)
It is an important task for literary and artistic creation in the new era and an important duty for literary and artistic workers to tell the story of China well and describe the weather of the times with realistic TV dramas that the people love. Whether there are more excellent works and peak works that can stand the people’s evaluation and the test of the times is an important criterion for measuring literary and artistic creation in the new era.
Stick to the main theme, refine the theme and extract the theme from the changes of the times, the progress of China and the call of the people.
Excellent realistic TV series must be the fruits of being deeply rooted in the fertile soil of the times and drawing nutrition from people’s practice. Looking back at history, the creation of realistic TV series has been growing and maturing with the process of China’s reform and opening up and the development of TV art. With vivid screen image, vivid audio-visual language and continuous narrative ability, it has become a light and shadow witness of ordinary people’s daily life and spiritual feelings, reflecting the historical changes and social development of contemporary China.
A new era and a new journey is the historical orientation of contemporary China literature and art. The theme of the times to realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, the great practice of the party leading a new era and a new journey, and the story of the people’s struggle for a better life are rich topics for the creation of realistic TV dramas. The achievements in poverty alleviation, Belt and Road construction, ecological civilization construction, rural revitalization, high-tech development, national defense and military modernization, national integration development, social and people’s livelihood security, and people’s better life have provided a broad space for TV art creation. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, TV drama creators have paid more attention to extracting themes from the changes of the times, the advance of China and the call of the people. They regard the frontier of the development and progress of the times as the frontier of TV drama creation, the main battlefield of economic and social development as the main battlefield of fine creation, and the major issues of concern to the people as the important source of topic selection planning, showing the magnificent atmosphere of the new era and new journey in an all-round and panoramic way.
Realistic TV plays closely follow the main theme and hold high the main theme, vividly telling the story of people’s longing for a better life and their struggle to realize the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. For example, around the celebration of the centenary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC), in the TV series "Ideal Shines on China", many 40 groups of characters and flash stories are taken from the contemporary era. The creator tells the story of the party’s century-long struggle with young narrative voice and beautiful images, and composes a song of praise intertwined with youth and faith. The TV series "Meritorious Service" links the colorful life chapters of the first batch of eight winners of "Republic Medal" with the struggle history of New China, and explains their "loyal, persistent and simple" life character and the lofty realm of dedicating themselves to the motherland and serving the people. Focusing on the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the founding of People’s Republic of China (PRC), a number of TV dramas, such as Years of Passion, Land of Hope, Melody of Endeavour, In the Distance, Pentium Age, etc., focus on the fields of industry, rural areas, transportation services and cutting-edge scientific research, deeply depict the development and changes of the industry, and reveal the great leap and development logic of China from rich to strong. Around the 40th anniversary of the reform and opening up, works such as "Great Rivers" and "The Most Beautiful Youth" show the development and change of social economy and the entrepreneurial spirit of officials in difficulties and hardships with the struggle stories of representative figures in different periods and fields, and arouse the audience’s resonance.
Around the decisive battle to get rid of poverty and build a well-off society in an all-round way, there are many works by Minning Town, such as The Stone Blossoms, There are so many beautiful mountains and seas, which combine the great practice of eradicating poverty with the touching struggle stories of ordinary Chinese, highlighting the value of China and the spirit of China. Around the fight against the COVID-19 epidemic, works such as Together and The Most Beautiful Retrograde spread the great anti-epidemic spirit to the whole world in a timely and effective manner with documentary aesthetics. These TV dramas keep up with the pace of the times, feel the artistic pulse from the pulse of the times, and realize the artistic value in the era of recording, writing and eulogizing.
Focus on fiery life, improve the life quality and realistic perspective of works.
The essence of socialist literature and art is people’s literature and art. The needs of the people are the fundamental value of literature and art. Excellent realistic works should be applauded and sold, giving consideration to both social and economic benefits, and stand up to people’s evaluation, expert evaluation and market test.
The TV series "Dressing Taiwan" shows the significance of ordinary people’s efforts to pursue a better life by "dressing Taiwan", so that people can see the value of life in ordinary life. The TV series "In the World" arouses the audience’s resonance with real life and becomes a precious cultural phenomenon. This drama returns to real life, and chooses to explore the aesthetics of daily life from the perspective of historical depth. With a narrative span of several decades, it provides enough space for the characters to unfold the ups and downs of their fate and then reflect the social transformation and change. It tells the story of China, which is "plain truth, goodness of human nature and beauty of harmony" with realistic images of the times, and perfectly combines people’s nature and artistry. Another example is the TV series Minning Town, which can be regarded as a phenomenal work in realistic TV series in recent years. With a simple and grounded narrative style and a tender and delicate perspective, it depicts vivid stories and characters on the road to poverty alleviation, which makes the audience have a strong empathy. The secret of its success lies in that the transcendental power and the sincere feelings of ordinary people who persist in their struggle have conquered the audience.
It can be seen that the audience expects that the TV drama creation can truly and comprehensively aim at the hot spots and difficulties of people’s livelihood, what people think and expect, and promote the truth, goodness and beauty in human nature. This requires literary and artistic creators to go to the grass-roots front line and related industries to feel the fiery life and struggle practice in the new era, constantly improve their ability to read life in the in-depth life, and constantly improve the life texture and realistic perspective of their works.
As a vivid epitome of the important achievements of the national anti-vice campaign, the TV series Anti-vice Storm boldly and delicately depicts the real picture of the anti-vice struggle and responds to the people’s expectations and voices for fairness and justice. The TV series "I’m fine in a foreign land" directly hits the hot topics in the society and writes about the self-improvement and struggle, love and warmth of contemporary urban young women.
As Wang Sanmao, a screenwriter in Minning Town, said with emotion: "Only by diving into the fiery life, plunging into the crowd of ordinary people, seeing clearly the thinness of their rice bowls and reading the joys and sorrows of their brow can we write high-quality plays that are hot, lively, close to the people and reflect the true meaning of the times." The popularity of these realistic TV series shows that the creators can only get sincere feedback from the audience if they truly understand the people’s joys and sorrows, immerse their poetry into the fiery life of the times, have awe of art and sincere heart for professionalism, and work hard and practice their real skills.
Adhere to integrity and innovation, and open up a new realm of art with masterpieces that keep up with the times.
Innovation is the life of literature and art, and improving quality is the lifeline of literary works. For the creation of realistic themes, we should be strict in content selection, deep in ideological exploration and refined in artistic creation, and constantly improve the spiritual energy, cultural connotation and artistic value of works, so as to meet the aesthetic and cultural needs of the masses today.
Based on the unit structure, TV series "Meritorious Work" and "Together" collect many characters and typical events from the perspective of horizontal reality, and run through them with a unified theme, which has become a masterpiece showing the magnificent atmosphere of the new era in a panoramic way. The spy war drama "Opponent" gets rid of the inherent mode of such works in the past, and focuses on real life with the expression of fireworks and human feelings. Through the tense and compact plot and plump three-dimensional characters, it leads the audience to vividly perceive the true features of the national security personnel, and also subtly enhances our national security awareness. With the novel setting of time cycle and infinite suspense of multiple reversals, the suspense drama "The Beginning" closely follows social hot topics such as life choices and intergenerational communication, and explores the secrets of people’s hearts with the help of a confusing case, which has become a new exploration of realistic theme creation. Of course, there is no fixed method in writing. Calling for epic masterpieces, we are also happy to see the masterpieces of "small but beautiful" in the Acura era, advocating realistic creative methods that promote positive energy, and also need a realistic creative spirit that is speculative, warm and enlightening.
A series of excellent TV dramas with realistic themes, connecting the extraordinary journey of the Chinese nation towards great rejuvenation, constitute the China story that most easily resonates with the audience. The creation of realistic themes especially tests the creator’s profound understanding and accurate expression of the new era. Only those who care about the country’s greatness, with a higher political stance and creative consciousness, with a deeper vision and broad mind, insist on being upright and innovative, and choose the theme that best represents the changes of the times and the spirit of China for artistic expression, can we create more screen images that are liked by the audience and recognized by the world, and create China stories that are more contemporary in China and reflect on the community of human destiny.
There are many vivid stories in China. The key is to have the ability to tell the story of China well. The creation of realistic themes must keep pace with the rapid development of the new era. Literary and artistic creators are confined in the room and rely on imagination to conceive, which will only bring about weak creation and superficial thinking, and it is impossible to produce good works with flesh and blood, temperature, responsibility and feelings.
Only by strengthening cultural self-confidence can the creation of realistic TV series vigorously carry forward the unique value and charm of Chinese civilization, express China’s aesthetics with China stories and show Chinese’s spiritual temperament; Only by adhering to the direction of serving the people and socialism, the policy of letting a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend, creative transformation and innovative development can realistic theme creation better meet the diverse needs of the audience. It is expected that TV dramas with realistic themes will continue to expand into new realms, and masterpieces will continue to emerge.
&&The General Administration of the People’s Republic of China dispatches and promotes the broadcast arrangement of TV series in 2022 and the topic selection planning in the next few years.
Pay attention to
& & Gather internal forces and make external contributions, and promote the development of radio and television audio-visual industry base.
What industry
& & Looking back at "Ten Years in China", I feel the real world in the image.
Three images
&&Pay tribute to the workers, and these broadcasters and collectives are commended.
Miyixian