Author: Tian Guang, Institute of Drama, Film and Television Literature, Lanzhou University
" Parental Love " is a 44-episode family ethics drama written by Liu Jing, directed by Kong Sheng, starring Guo Tao and Mei Ting , since its premiere on CCTV in 2014, its popularity has continued to rise, its reputation has continued to rise, and it has been loved by more and more audiences. At present, the Douban score is as high as 9.5, ranking among the best in domestic dramas. The play is not only one of the TV dramas with the highest replay rate in my country in recent years, but also went abroad and played in 68 countries and regions around the world, making an important contribution to the dissemination of my country's foreign culture. "Parents Love" has undoubtedly become a phenomenal work, so it is necessary to further explore the unique charm of this drama in terms of aesthetic connotation and emotional expression.
The right distance
In art appreciation activities, aesthetic distance is a key factor, and many Chinese and foreign scholars have made incisive discussions on this. In short, the aesthetic subject must maintain an appropriate space-time and psychological distance from the aesthetic object, in order to surpass the real utility, observe the aesthetic object with a purely objective attitude, and obtain pure aesthetic enjoyment, while the distance is too close or too far to achieve the desired effect. . The time span of
"Parents Love" is from the early 1950s to the early 21st century. The life of the hero and heroine has witnessed the vicissitudes of New China from the establishment of the system to the reform and opening up to the vicissitudes of society in the early 21st century. A certain distance; the story takes place on a border defense island called Songshan Island, showing the life in the island barracks, and for most audiences, there will be a sense of freshness and distance in space; the hero and heroine in the play are the The husband of the commander of the island garrison and the wife of a capitalist family have a certain distance between them and the ordinary people who are the audience because of their special status.
The play's setting of narrative time and space, plot background and character identity creates a more appropriate aesthetic distance, so that the audience will neither feel alienated because it is too far away, nor will it be rejected because it is too close. Therefore, it is possible to view the people, things and situations in the play with a calm and peaceful mind mixed with a little surprise and excitement, thus forming a good aesthetic effect.
Dislocation and Reversal One of the important reasons why the story of
"Parents Love" can attract so many audiences is the strong dramatic effect caused by the dislocation and reversal between the two protagonists Jiang Defu and An Jie.
Jiang Defu grew up in a rural area, his family was poor, his appearance was average, and his education level was not high. After joining the army, he became a first-class combat hero because of his bravery in combat. He became a regiment commander at a young age. The living habits of many "country people" are the most disliked of the style of the bourgeoisie. An Jie is a beautiful bourgeois lady who lives in a villa, eats Western food, drinks coffee, tastes foreign wine, and attends church. School, reading western classics, enjoying an affluent life full of petty bourgeoisie, and longing to marry a rich and suave Prince Charming. Judging by common sense, such two people who are dislocated from each other will not have any intersection in their life trajectories, but they miraculously come together and live happily for a lifetime.
The precondition for Jiang Defu and Anjie to go from opposite to each other is the reversal of their identities and positions. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Jiang Defu turned from a poor boy and a rude to the master of the country and the hero of the people, while An Jie changed from a arrogant capitalist eldest lady to a low-brow dictatorship object, which is exactly the kind of social status. Great changes made their union possible. In the subsequent love, marriage and family life, the positions of the two reversed again. Jiang Defu, who had a strong position, was courting and accommodating An Jie almost all the time. He originally threatened to reform the capitalist lady but was reformed by An Jie. She became a "three-wash husband", and her lifestyle became more and more like the bourgeoisie, while An Jie, the arrogant and squeamish daughter of a capitalist, gradually transformed into an old lady next door who mingled with ordinary people. The lives of these two people always seem to be going in opposite directions, thus always in a state of dislocation and reversal.
From an artistic point of view, this dislocation and reversal make the whole plot full of tension, interesting, dramatic and watchable; from an emotional point of view, it seems that Jiang Defu and Anjie are both changing each other , the result is "you become me and I become you", while in essence they have been walking each otherTo each other, I finally reached the state of "you have me, I have you", "you are me, I am you", and this is exactly what a good love should look like.
Multiple meanings
If "Parents Love" is just a love story and some parental short stories, then although it is still a good drama, it may not have as much charm as it is today. Excellent literary and artistic works are generally ambiguous, the social life they reflect is often three-dimensional and complex, and their thematic ideas are often multiple or even contradictory. The vast imagination space is also attractive. From the author's point of view, "Parents' Love" is a work full of ambiguousness, and here we only briefly discuss it from three aspects.
is first the image of Jiang Defu. Jiang Defu is a good man who values family, is considerate, has strong ability, high emotional intelligence, is loyal, responsible and has a good sense of humor. I believe this is also the basic impression that most audiences have of this character. Indeed, Jiang Defu is almost impeccable when it comes to treating his family, relatives and friends. He has done everything he can, and even if it affects his career advancement, he accepts it without complaint. People are moved. But if we look at it from another angle, from his pursuit of An Jie's "strategic tactics", considering the situation and giving up the opportunity to stay in school and choosing to go to the island, the unprincipled protection of his wife during the "Cultural Revolution", and the use of tactics to promote the relationship between his sister Dehua and his comrade-in-arms Laoding Marriage, etc., we can see some of his cunning and selfishness; from his jealousy, envy and imitation of his brother-in-law Ouyang Yi, we can see that he is greedy for enjoyment and pursuit of vanity; especially, he takes advantage of his position to help himself and his relatives. His children have arranged enviable good jobs one by one. Although they are praised as "the nobles who settle down", they cannot escape the suspicion of using power for personal gain. In this way, Jiang Defu's character is not so simple?
followed by socio-political background. If the above interpretation of Jiang Defu's image is not necessarily in line with the author's original intention of creation, but more of a "creative acceptance" of the author, then the "hidden" and "revealing" of the social and political background in the play is obviously the author's intentional. The play mainly focuses on the emotional experience of Jiang Defu and An Jie and the description of their families' daily life, and adopts a strategy of downplaying the background of the times, social environment, political atmosphere, etc. "The tip of the iceberg" has revealed enough intriguing news. For example, Lao Ding went from staying at the school to teach happily until he came to the island with a sad expression and became Jiang Defu's subordinate. What happened in the middle? The sincere and forthright Principal Cong turned into a demented old man in a wheelchair, saying "don't shave your head, don't shave your head", what is the secret behind it? Wang Zhenbiao, who has a bad personality and a lot of opinions from the masses, has been promoted all the way, and his official career has been prosperous. Who should he turn to? And so on, although most of the dramas do not make any positive explanations, but only point to the point or give vague hints, but if it is connected with the political movements of the 1950s and 1960s, the audience can feel the cruel reality and experience complex taste.
is finally the aesthetic implication of the whole play. Judging from the main plot and the way it is presented, "Parents' Love" is a comedy work, and it is precisely because of this basic understanding that some viewers expressed confusion about the style of the play's theme song "Love Story": It's obviously a comedy, why should there be a sad theme song? Obviously, this part of the audience did not appreciate the tragic side of the play. "The core of comedy is tragedy", whether this statement is appropriate or not, but at least one thing is certain, that is, the blending of sadness and joy can often achieve a better aesthetic effect, while pure comedy and tragedy are easy to be superficial Or indulge in indulgence. In terms of aesthetic type, "Parents Love" does belong to the category of comedy, but it is a comedy work that incorporates tragic elements, in which not only bright sunshine, happy life and beautiful love, but also hidden behind The haze, bitterness and vicissitudes of life also imply review and reflection on history, thus forming multiple aesthetic and theme connotations. The success of
's "Parents' Love" is the result of a combination of many factors. This article only analyzes three issues that were rarely discussed in previous studies, and does not make a comprehensive evaluation of the play, which needs to be explained. Although the opinions in the article are one-sided, I still hope to help the audience's in-depth understanding and understanding of the unique charm of "Parents' Love", and to provide some useful lessons for drama film and television creators. (Tian Guang)
Source: Guangming.com - Literature and Art Review Channel
