Original title: An implantation of the web-text "sweetness" into the narrative of realistic themes-a comment on the 12-episode short drama "I Am Yu Huanshui" that just ended
"Realism" has always been the value orientation advocated by domestic dramas, but, Many of the works on the screen are mostly flashy and divisive "realistic themes", and few works really cut into the texture of the life of the times. "I am Yu Huanshui" (hereinafter referred to as "Yu Huanshui"), which has just concluded, is a special work that attempts to wrap the profound spirit of reality with absurd stories, not only to make the audience sigh "I can see myself from Yu Huanshui", but also Try to show a miniature social section.
Judging from the final results, the show only partially realized the creator's ambition. The depiction of reality in the play is realistic, but the solution to the problem is pseudo-realistic; the characters are typical, but the characters’ counterattack against fate has no universality in reality, but with a sense of "coolness." The implantation of the Internet presents a fantasy with the characteristics of the Internet. Nevertheless, the emergence of "Yu Huan Shui" is valuable at the moment when screen elites gather. Whether it is advantages or disadvantages, it is of positive significance to how today's domestic dramas create vivid little characters.
When a large number of typical elements are stacked together, they also lose their universality.
Many viewers expressed the sympathy and pain that "Yu Huan Shui" brought them. The website recommendation page of "Yu Huanshui" reads: "The counterattack life of soft counseling social animals", which is probably the most eye-catching summary of the story. Yu Huanshui is a middle-aged man, a middle-aged man defeated by life. At home, he has no status, and his wife despises him and always scolds him; in the company, he is the laughingstock of his colleagues, and the boss tells him to never show mercy.
Yu Huanshui is lonely and painful, as in the play: "When I am uncomfortable, when I can’t sleep, only darkness will sympathize with me; when I fall down when I walk, only Ma Lu will sympathize with me; after I die, there is only a grave Will sympathize with me. No one will really sympathize with me.” At the same time, Yu Huanshui’s "soft counseling" also distanced him from the audience, allowing the audience to find a "comfort zone" while resonating: at least I am not like him. Same wimpy.
was born in Yu Huanshui in 1980, and represents the first generation of post-80s born into middle age. In the first scene in the play, 29-year-old Yu Huanshui is speeding on a motorcycle, which seems to symbolize the rising period of his career and believes that ability is paramount. Cyclonus Express encountered a car accident, life was like the big truck that crashed into him, and Yu Huanshui never recovered. Not only that, the traumatic stress reaction after the car accident made him a liar. He did not want to face the fact that he killed his friend, he did not want to face life, and he could only deceive himself and others. It's not so much a "lie" as it is a "dreaming", weaving dreams for oneself, so that life doesn't look so bad.
Ten years later, 39-year-old Yu Huanshui encountered a middle-aged crisis head-on. There was no way out in front, no way out behind him, neither the ability to challenge nor the courage to give up. "Middle-aged crisis" is a common theme in narrative works. The aging of physiological functions, the degradation of work ability and the decline of social status are the problems faced by middle-aged people. And Yu Huanshui's crisis and soft counsel all come from one point: no money. And this is developed around the car, the car has become a meaningful symbol in the play. Because there was no car, Yu Huanshui sent her children to be late for work and was scolded by the boss, and being late to pick up the children caused her to get scolded by his wife, who also cheated on someone else’s car. After that, Yu Huanshui asked friends to buy a car and was tricked, which became a guide to detonate the marriage crisis Fuse.
can see that here, the middle-aged crisis has been quietly replaced. The root cause of the crisis is not worrying about your own physical condition, butAnxiety about your own economic situation. The creator not only portrays Yu Huanshui as a typical new middle-class figure, but also portrays a series of typical characters around him to build a typical environment in which he lives. For example, his father, dressed in shabby clothes, described sloppyly, and behaved rudely. He only reached out for money, implying that Yu Huanshui's bad roots were inseparable from his family. For example, his wife, who doesn’t have the slightest affection for him, said in his words, “I know you don’t love me. I know you have someone else in your heart. Marrying me is just because of my money. Then you got married and got rich. If you don’t, then you look down on me.” Yu Huanshui’s family has no affection and love, and is only supported by money. When money can’t keep up, it naturally tends to collapse.
In addition, Yu Huanshui's series of social relations are also typical: the upper class of the company is embarrassed; the relationship between neighbors is bad; hospice care organizations use public welfare as the banner and covet the dying people's inheritance. There are almost no positive characters in the whole play, and everyone has a dark side. The hospice volunteer Luan Bingran seems to be pure, but there are also inherent ambiguities in the characters, such as paying attention to the decoration price of Yu Huanshui.
This is the unsatisfactory part of the play: the typicality of realism should include universality, but here, when a large number of typical elements are stacked together, the universality is also lost.
In order to deepen the coldness and pain of reality in the play, "Yu Huanshui" adopts the most unsuitable but also the most suitable way of expression: comedy. Laughter is certainly a sign of the entertainment of TV shows, but it also contains complex meanings. For the people in the play, when reality is inevitable, laughter is the last fortress. Yu Huanshui fits the fundamental attributes of a comedy character-lower than us in reality, so we can't help but laugh at him. But he made us agree in some ways, so the ridicule turned into a bitter smile. The show often uses contrast to create comedic effects. For example, Liang Anni makes a beauty plan to seduce Yu Huanshui. She (and the audience) thought that Yu Huanshui would reject it, but Yu Huanshui took off her clothes as soon as the scene turned.
The real environment established in the early stage, the "sweetness" implanted in the later stage is taken away from
Like all stories, the downward plot curve always rises. At the time when the problem of water injection is rampant in the drama, "Yu Huan Shui" rarely has 12 episodes. The editor very patiently used the first episode to establish the character of Yu Huanshui, let him sink to the bottom a little bit, and then threw out a motivational event in the second episode: Yu Huanshui had cancer. A common part of the middle-aged crisis narrative is the rediscovery of vitality. For example, in "American Beauty", female high school students ignite their hearts, and "Breaking Bad" is diagnosed with cancer. The process of a person's middle age is also a process of being socialized and losing his authenticity. As the greatest threat to life, disease is also a reawakening of vitality. Yu Huanshui’s cancer temporarily gave him the strength to resist: I am not afraid of death anymore, what else is he afraid of?
So Yu Huanshui started the "counterattack". Counterattack is a representative narrative of online literature. The protagonist has been promoted in various ways from a terrible situation, and "walks to the pinnacle of life". The counterattack narrative has long been accepted and recognized by the audience, and the audience is waiting for Yu Huanshui's counterattack in the first episode. With the development of the plot, Yu Huanshui no longer swallowed his voice, and even became courageous. Those who bullied and humiliated him were defeated by him, and he also gained the long-lost respect and social status. Director
once said: "This is a story from realism to romanticism, from one pole to the other." One pole is extremely realistic and the other is extremely absurd. The text establishes a true and credible character and a realistic environment, and it breaks away from this reality after the counterattack begins. Counterattack routines often accompany the "golden finger" pattern commonly found in online articles. After all, the protagonist turns from nothing to a winner in life. It is logically inevitable that there is always inconsistency. Where does the change of the protagonist come from? Although "Yu Huan Shui" has character change and ability improvement as an explanation, the "lost USB flash drive" is the golden finger of the author. Letting him grasp the handle of the boss is the starting point of all counterattacks.
This is also a controversial point in the second half of the play: Although the theme of the story is to face life positively, Yu Huanshui's counterattack is more based on coincidence.
is just under the counterattack narrative, "Yu Huanshui" implants the "coolness" of net text in the realistic narrative. Shuangwen in online literature has always been controversial. The core of Shuang is that it provides users with a lot of pleasure, but it does not provide corresponding meaning. It points to floating daydreams and takes away the meaning of reality. "Yu Huan Shui" is adapted from the web text IP, with an indelible web text background. In the story, the sense of coolness is generated by Yu Huan Shui's bad initial state. The more painful the reality, the more painful the counterattack. How strong. It is in this sense that realism and network creation have found a connection. However, "Yu Huan Shui" is restrained in constructing a sense of coolness. Yu Huanshui's character has not completely deviated from the initial setting. Although he has elevated his social status, he still has not crossed his own class. Also because of the volume of the 12 episodes, the plot was not muddled and conflicts broke out in a concentrated manner.
The final scene of the play is Yu Huanshui’s monologue. He looks directly at the camera, jumps out of the story, and begins to question the authenticity. Is everything his fantasy? The audience can't help but start to wonder: Has Yu Huanshui really counterattacked? Maybe everything was a dream Yu Huanshui had, or a lie he weaved for himself. The development of the plot seems to corroborate this point. From the beginning of daily life to the suspenseful wind of police and bandits at the end, it is becoming more and more magical and absurd, and more and more like a dream.
Scholar Shao Yanjun once proposed that online literature is a kind of "heterotopia", an alternative space living outside of daily life, and a dream space beyond reality. In this sense, "Yu Huanshui" is a double dream. It is not only a heterotopia as a text, but also Yu Huanshui's own fantasy within the text. It is the dream of Yu Huanshui and the dream of the people who consume "Yu Huanshui".
are both works that express the lives of citizens. Twenty years ago, "The Happy Life of Poor Zhang Damin" and "Yu Huanshui" produced a meaningful contrast: No matter the living situation or the character of the characters, Zhang Damin and Yu Huanshui have many things in common. The difference is that Zhang Damin relies on a simple philosophy of life, while Yu Huanshui relies on the dream of indulging in the counterattack of virtual space. (The author is a doctor of art, a young teacher at Communication University of China)
