Speaking of watching TV, there is usually a big difference in the preferences of young viewers and middle-aged and older viewers in the types of works they watch. However, the urban life light comedy "Xiaoman Life", which was broadcast on CCTV 8 some time ago, has been loved by audiences of different age groups, old, middle-aged and young. During the broadcast, the peak ratings of the show "broke 2"; after the broadcast, some young people continued to watch it again. This phenomenon of
is not an isolated case. From "Secretly Having Fun", which depicts the happy life of the talkative Zhang Damin, to "Parental Love", which portrays the image of a model couple, to "The Myth of Love", which tells the story of love, friendship and family affection with laughter and tears, these works are showing While addressing the problems and dilemmas of various eras, it also uses light comedy to soften the edges of life, making it very easy for audiences of all ages to watch.
This way of writing about life with light comedy has already appeared in Zhang Ailing's "Blockade" and "Long Live the Wife" and other works. The writer patiently describes the true face of urban life in a relaxed and humorous mood, presenting the citizens' interests in it, fully demonstrating her emphasis on daily life and empathy with ordinary people. This creative style of light comedy was later inherited by many creators, creating one unforgettable masterpiece after another.
Light comedy makes people laugh, the key lies in the word "light". It often uses vivid lines, slightly exaggerated facial expressions of actors, and light-hearted music as a means to weaken the tragic mood. The protagonists in light comedies are close to ordinary people in serious dramas. Their characters are ridiculous and exaggerated, but they are essentially kind. Light comedies also mildly satirize social issues and character flaws, and the endings are often warm and satisfying. Compared with the large-scale exaggeration and deformation of traditional comedies, light comedies are more down-to-earth and more life-oriented.
At present, reality-themed dramas have become the mainstream of the industry. Since it is a realistic subject, we cannot avoid the contradictions and life dilemmas in real society. However, if it slips into a "grayscale space" where problems and contradictions are overly laid out and exaggerated, the tone of the work will be too low. This is a dilemma faced by many creators.
Light comedy has found a breakthrough for the creation of realistic themes. Presenting realistic themes in the form of light comedy can easily resolve heaviness, and present various social contradictions and life dilemmas involved in realistic themes in a relaxed and humorous way, which not only shows contradictions and conflicts without amplifying them, The exaggeration of anxiety and, more importantly, the actor's humorous performance style reflect the attitude of reconciliation with life. Just like "Little Man's Life", Ye Yifan and He Jiaru are a harmonious couple but they also have constant troubles. Tian Tian and her husband are facing a marital crisis due to differences in their life attitudes. Chen Li's daughter has to go back to her hometown to go to school because she does not have a local registered permanent residence... The play is about family, The conflicts between career, marriage, emotions, and raising children across generations are both close to reality and thought-provoking. However, in the face of various contradictions, the work chooses to let the pressure dissipate in the support of family members, the understanding of lovers, and the care of friends, injecting the warmth of life into the hearts of the audience, and lightly outputting the outlook on life that "a small amount of money is better than a perfect thing".
Grassroots narrative focusing on the image creation of "little people" has always been a fine tradition in Chinese literary and artistic creation. Light comedies are very helpful in shaping the image of "little people". Different from the common clowns in traditional comedies, the characters in light comedies are similar to those in real life. They are often good people with certain flaws. The funnyness shown in the works is only a certain aspect of the characters' personalities. For example, in "The Long Season", the three detectives are all "little people". The work not only creates a lot of comedy around them, but also surrounds them with rich relationships between father and son, husband and wife, lovers, siblings, and workers. Wait for it to be described in detail. There are also the laid-off workers in "Crazy Stone", the farmers in "Sherlock on the Plains", the young people who go to the big cities to work hard in "I'm Good in a Foreign Country", these "little people" with various flaws. The images are all created through light comedy. It is through these flawed and imperfect characters that we can successfully interpret the stories between ordinary people in real life and arouse the resonance and empathy of the audience.
In short, modern people who are under great pressure in work and life need relaxing entertainment content as a "relaxant" for their nerves. As an art form that satisfies the audience's need for stress relief and caters to the aesthetic tastes of the general public, light comedy relieves anxiety through comedy, soothes the audience with warmth and kindness, and purifies and enhances the audience's understanding of the situation through narrated situational stories. The cognition and aesthetic taste of life bring a healing power to society. No matter how the times change, what can inspire the audience must be optimism and courage, and what can move the audience must be warmth and goodwill. Therefore, high-quality light comedies full of warmth will always have strong vitality.
(Author: Guilin, professor at the School of Liberal Arts, University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)
[Source: Guangming Daily]
