interface news reporter | Lin Ziren
interface news editor | Huang Yue
"Flowers" has become the first "explosion" TV series in the beginning of 2024. It is not surprising. As early as 2014 (Jin Yucheng's novel "Flowers" The year before he won the 9th Mao Dun Literature Award), news broke that Wong Kar-wai intends to purchase the copyright of "Flowers" and film a "Shanghai-language American drama". How will the Shanghai-born director from Hong Kong, China, film the first film of his career? One TV series has triggered all kinds of speculation. In 2017, Wong Kar-wai began the film and television work of "Flowers". In August 2020, the official announcement of the TV series "Flowers" was launched. At the end of December 2023, "Flowers" will be officially broadcast.
Since the first trailer of "Flowers" leaked in 2021, the show has faced controversy over "whether it respects the original work." The shot of Abao, played by Hu Ge, who is well-dressed, holding up a wine glass and smiling evilly, is hard not to think of the 2013 movie "The Great Gatsby"; the well-dressed, shadowy, and intertwined wealth scene also makes people wonder. Is this Shanghai in the 1920s and 1930s or Shanghai in the 1990s? The
TV series is now coming to an end, and the criticism of "deviating from the original work" at the beginning of the broadcast has gradually subsided. Many viewers were attracted by the plot while complaining, and gradually discovered the unique narrative charm of the drama version of "Flowers". If we put aside the original novel and regard the drama version of "Flowers" as a "fan work" or "extra", we may be able to see the meaningfulness in the "original plot". "Flowers" continues the "90s nostalgia" produced by highly acclaimed film and television works such as "Moses on the Plains" and "The Long Season" in 2023. The difference is that "Flowers" tells the story of the 1990s with Shanghai as the background. , as the overflowing golden halo in the play suggests, what it presents is another golden aspect of this complicated decade.
Reshaping Shanghai's urban narrative
As the narrator of the drama version of "Flowers", Abao reveals the dual identity of the male protagonist and an eyewitness of reform and opening up: Deng Xiaoping's speech on his southern tour accelerated the pace of China's joint-stock reform. Starting from 100 points, the Shanghai Stock Exchange The index approaches 1,000 points in less than a year. Abao seized the opportunity and made his first pot of gold in the stock market, becoming "Mr. Bao" a frequent visitor to the Peace Hotel. A Bao left the "1993 Shanghai Peace Night" party and was hit by a taxi in front of the Peace Hotel, which kicked off the story.
The Peace Hotel has little presence in the original novel, but it is a recurring location in the drama version of "Flowers". To a certain extent, the creators of the series understood the Peace Hotel's status in the hearts of Shanghainese at that time. It was in 1992 that the Peace Hotel, built in 1929, won the title of China's first world-famous hotel and once again became a fashionable place for young people in Shanghai. Writer Chen Danyan wrote in "The Romance of Shanghai": "It is also a mood that only Shanghai children can have: a deep fascination with Europeanized and wealthy life." In addition to the Peace Hotel, the lens of "Flowers" also repeatedly passed by the sparkling waves. The Huangpu River, the majestic and gorgeous Western-style office buildings on the Bund and Nanjing Road lined with department stores.
Peace Hotel, 2019
These locations have long been regarded as symbols of Shanghai. Historian Lian Lingling pointed out that during the 100 years from the opening of the port in 1843 to the abolition of the concession, the Bund was originally the starting point of Shanghai's shipping. Along the road, there were mainly functional buildings such as docks, warehouses, and foreign banks, and later became banks and insurance companies. , high-end hotels and office buildings; Nanjing Road was originally just a passage connecting the Bund and the racecourse. Later, it attracted many shops and entertainment venues to settle in, the most famous of which are Xianshi, Yongan, Dah Hsin and Xin Sing. Company" and evolved into "Shanghai's No. 1 Commercial Street". According to Lu Hanchao, a Chinese-American historian, "Shanghai became the first big city in Chinese history to use towering commercial buildings as its main symbol." As early as the 1930s, Shanghai was already the fifth largest city in the world. , China's largest port and trading port, known as the "Paris of the East".
In the photography collection "Shanghai 1842-2010, Portraits of a Great City", editors Liu Xiangcheng and Karen Smith pointed out that although Shanghai was submerged in the overall development of the Republic from the 1950s to the 1980s, character, but in recent decades many of the city's pre-1949 image characteristics have resurfaced, such as hedonism and ubiquitous opportunity and wealth. Scholar Li Oufan noticed that as the government made the strategic decision to develop Pudong and build Shanghai into a global international metropolis in the 1990s, the prosperity of "old Shanghai" also became a cultural resource serving this goal. In 1996, Wang Anyi's novel "Song of Everlasting Sorrow" was published, setting off a nostalgic trend in the literary world. Cheng Naishan, Chen Danyan, Sun Shufen, Chen Zishan and others have all published works telling the story of "Old Shanghai".
"Shanghai 1842-2010, Portrait of a Great City"
[US] Liu Xiangcheng [UK] Editor-in-Chief Karen Smith
World Book Publishing Company 2010-05
The reminiscence of "Old Shanghai" is a trend in the literary and art circles, and it is also the transformation of the city The people's aspirations. Lu Hanchao noticed in Shanghai in the 1990s that many old Shanghainese tended to regard Shanghai’s ongoing frenetic economic reforms and enthusiastic construction as a restoration of tradition. One Shanghainese interviewed by him even lamented, “Forget about the past 60 years. Years - the 1990s are in line with the 1930s."
If we understand this, we will find how intriguing the role of the uncle played by You Benchang in the drama version of "Flowers" is. Uncle Ye is the old man who guides A Bao in business. A Bao, who came to look for an apprentice, gained his trust and the two went into business together. My uncle's first request for starting a company was to rent a long-term rental house in the Peace Hotel. Walking into the room that he had chosen, his uncle knew the layout of the room well without being introduced. Abao was curious, so he calmly replied, "This used to be my private room." After renting the room, my uncle Uncle also taught A Bao how to dress, and asked a tailor to come to his home to customize a suit. The first requirement was that "it must be English-spun and pure wool." , Gabieding." When Abao was fully dressed and appeared in front of his uncle for the first time, his uncle couldn't help but burst into tears, as if he saw his younger self. It is not difficult to imagine that he belonged to the wealthy class of Shanghai before liberation, but was later classified as a "comprador capitalist" and became the target of revolutionary attacks. This character symbolizes the return of Shanghai's tradition in the 1990s - Uncle Ye's strategizing in the business world and his extensive knowledge of luxury consumption are just a repetition of everything he was once familiar with.
Stills from "Flowers", You Benchang plays the role of uncle
Also returning is Shanghai's unique urban character. "In modern Shanghai, urbanization, modernization and Westernization are intertwined," Lu Hanchao wrote in "Under the Neon Light". "As the main origin of China's new ideas and reforms, Shanghai itself is a product of modernization. Finally, because of its It is China's most important trading port and has inextricable ties with the West. Therefore, Shanghai's urbanization and modernization include a certain degree of Westernization." Lu Hanchao pointed out that Shanghai is a city stimulated by the Western business spirit and vitality. This business spirit and vitality are novel to China as a city that has developed under the driving force of society; the essence of the temperament of "Shanghai people" is also created by business - "smart" has almost become a synonym for "Shanghai people", but it It doesn’t just mean “stingy” or “philistine.” “On the contrary, it means a style or a brave and decisive vision of life. To use a Chinese idiom to describe it, it means daring to throw money for long-term interests.” Like earth'."
However, it is precisely because of the sophisticated stance adopted by Shanghainese between blind xenophobia and admiration for foreigners that Shanghai has always been labeled as a "bridgehead of Westernization". At the same time, traditional Confucian concepts have transformed the city's business Culture is regarded as a kind of decadence, and the "land of moral decay" has become the dark side of Shanghai's urban image. To some extent, this doubt about urban commercial culture has always affected Chinese writers’ urban writing.The much-talked-about pyrotechnics of the original work "Flowers" actually have obvious chronological divisions: although the 1960s and 1970s were cruel and cold, they were softened by the author's detailed description of the times; the paintings of the 1990s The wind becomes sensual, sensual and strange. The novel "Nanhuodian" published in 2020 also tells the story of decades of changes in a Jiangnan town. The author Zhang Ji also adopts a similar approach to the division of eras, especially using female characters to reflect the differences of the times-in material scarcity In the revolutionary era, women were sacrifices to fate; in the era of commodity economy reform, women (who entered the city) were "femme fatales" full of desire.
's drama version of "Flowers" omits most of the trivial matters and love affairs of the original novel, focusing the main story on A Bao's entrepreneurship and growth, especially by reshaping A Bao's character to "justify" Shanghai's name. In the play, Abao presents an image of a businessman who is affectionate and loyal and never forgets his roots. His relationship with the three female characters (Li Li, Miss Wang, and Lingzi) is not so much a reflection of the male protagonist's suaveness as it is a foil for him. His benevolence and compassion for the weak; he is a guest at various luxury hotels on Huanghe Road, but the most unappetizing thing is still a bowl of rice. Interestingly, the character of Miss Wang (played by Tang Yan) has also changed her appearance. In the original work, she was transformed from a strange character who got pregnant secretly and faked a marriage to give birth to a child. In the play, she was transformed into a "shrewd, naive, and upright little girl from a government agency" in the play., China Representative of the first generation of female white-collar workers.
Stills of "Flowers", Hu Ge plays Abao
As a city writing text, the drama version of "Flowers" emphasizes that "the city is a symbol of seizing economic opportunities", which coincides with our pursuit of modernization and the city that keeps pace with it in the era of reform and opening up. high hopes. Anthropologist Aihwa Ong pointed out in the book "Becoming Global Cities: Asian Experiments and the Art of Being Global" that cities in emerging countries have already carried wealth and power. , prestige and other national ambitions, it has become an important place for the country to intervene in solving problems of modern life and national interests. As the narrator of the drama version of "Flowers"/A Bao's spirited words said, the desire for social development is condensed in Shanghai, the Chinese city with the most international potential:
"Shanghai in 1988, invested The waves on the Huangpu River are surging forward. Ten years of reform have confirmed that development is the last word. The market economy has changed everyone's way of life, and diligence is the background of this land. Everyone is contributing to the progress of society , becoming a paving stone in the market."
Shanghai version of "Look forward, don't look back"
The drama version of "Flowers" uses a large number of Shanghai actors and launches a Shanghai-language version, which has made many viewers talk about it. At the language level, the TV series strives to restore Shanghai The authenticity of Shanghai dialect is the most important identity indicator of "Shanghai people". Lu Hanchao pointed out that Shanghainese dialect was formed at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, and gradually took shape in the early Republic of China. Shanghainese dialect may be the youngest dialect in China. During the Republic of China, the original Shanghai dialect with Songjiang or Pudong accent gradually became "country dialect", and "city dwellers"-residents in central urban areas living in foreign concessions and surrounding areas-spoke another "Shanghai dialect". talk". After 1949, the strict household registration system greatly reduced the number of non-residents in Shanghai, but it also produced at least two generations of people born in Shanghai who speak pure Shanghainese. To a certain extent, it is precisely because this city, which attracted and accommodated immigrants from all over the country in modern times, once cut off its immigrant roots that the "Shanghainess" at the linguistic level was established.
"Beyond the Neon Lights: Daily Life in Shanghai in the Early 20th Century"
[US] Written by Lu Hanchao and translated by Duan Lian and others
Shanxi People's Publishing House 2018-9
Perhaps inadvertently, Shanghainese dialect became a metaphor for the drama version of "Flowers" - —People and things that fit the city’s specific narrative are the result of screening. Of the three male protagonists in the original novel, only Po was retained, and this line of the 1960s and 1970s was removed from the intersecting narrative between the two eras.In the drama version, Po's capitalist family background is omitted, and the description of his green past only goes back to 1978, when Po, a factory worker, had his first love with bus conductor Xuezhi (played by Du Juan). The late 1970s was a time when politics gradually receded from the daily life of Chinese people and people began to enjoy more and more autonomy in their private lives. People began to "fall in love" in public. For example, in 1978, Liu Heung-cheng A couple sitting on a bench chatting under the solemn gaze of an old man were photographed in Shanghai People's Park. Therefore, Abao and Xuezhi eating hot pot and taking the bus together are "pure love" scenes that fit the context of the times and are suitable to be described in camera language.
A few other random touches touch upon Po's history. Reiko returned to Shanghai from Japan, and Abao went to visit Reiko at her home. When he went upstairs, he saw a male teacher teaching the children how to play piano, and he couldn't help but stop and think deeply. Before this scene, the subtitles have reminded the audience of the clues about the piano in the original work: "Betty's piano, dark in color, a sensible tall dark horse, steady, vicissitudes of life, with a dark light like old satin." Abao helped Reiko. Dealing with ceiling leaks and climbing up to the ridge to replace tiles. Lingzi asked, half teasingly and half tentatively, if she and her girlfriend had seen the scenery on the roof, and if she was in Shanghai. Abao smiled and replied, "He turned into a goldfish and swam away."
A still from "Flowers", Ma Yili plays Lingzi
The setting sun gilded the roof of the Shikumen and Abao's back with gold. At this time, the narration told the audience, When Abao was a child, he liked to climb the roof with Betty. He saw half of Luwan District. Betty was his neighbor and liked to play the piano. Those afternoons were his eternal childhood memories. "Time is like water, taking away people and things, and Betty is not the only one who has been taken away over the years." The TV series uses this line to explain the history of Abao. It has been separated from the pain of the times, leaving only an individual. Feeling helpless about the separation of friends while growing up.
According to life-course theory, major historical events that occur in a generation's late adolescence and personality formation period will shape the consciousness of a generation. So it should be said that we cannot clearly see the major events that Po experienced in the drama version. How historical events shaped his values. He jumped into the tide of reform and opening up without hesitation, and accepted the logic of the new era very smoothly - for an enterprising person, the past is not only unimportant, but also needs to be abandoned.
In the play, what is also abandoned is the civilian perspective of the original novel. Jin Yucheng said in an interview in 2014 that an important reason why "Flowers" has received widespread attention from readers is that "it has chosen a 'non-mainstream perspective' in its content to rediscover the 'blurred areas of civilian urban life'". This is exactly what the drama is about This version of "Flowers" is the most significant departure from the original novel.
"Flowers"
Written by Jin Yucheng
Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House 2023-7
From the big spender A Bao, Tao Tao, a big seafood merchant, to Lingzi, whose hands are full of gold rings, "yellow goods suppress evil", and the luxury hotel proprietress Li Li, the main characters in the play are They are not ordinary people from the market (even Mr. Ge and Ling Hong, who are frequent guests in "Night Tokyo", are people who have no worries about food and clothing), and the presentation of the urban landscape in the play completely excludes "lower corners". In view of the fact that the two protagonists Husheng (from a military cadre family) and Xiaomao (from a working-class family) were deleted from the TV series, the more multi-dimensional picture of life in Shanghai spread from their story lines is therefore difficult to show in the TV series. Present. According to research by Weibo user @文物院, "Xinmin Evening News" announced Shanghai's per capita monthly income in December 1990 - more than 168 yuan. This is in sharp contrast to the presentation of wealth in the drama version of "Flowers": the characters in the drama frequently take out wads of hundred yuan in cash, and even the consumers who go to Nanjing Road to snap up "Sanyang Brand" T-shirts look like cartoon characters waving banknotes.
The "little bourgeois" character who plays the most roles in the play may be the cigarette paper shop owner on Yellow River Road, but he is a pure tool character - providing intelligence to the main characters in the play and explaining the plot to the audience outside the play - we do not See the story arc of this original character himself.In a story about the great era of Shanghai, are ordinary people just spectators and admirers of the elite? In the period of rapid economic growth, are the lives of small people who are left behind by the times and struggling to catch up with increasingly distant dreams or resisting adversity, obscured by the shadow of skyscrapers and the halo of urban elites, worthy of the same attention?
"Flowers" stills
Therefore, "Flowers" and "The Long Season" are also depicting popular TV series in the 1990s, forming an interesting contrast: As a typical Northeast story, "The Long Season" tells The story of the frustrated and small people who experienced collectivism, the end of the planned economy and the decline of heavy industry resonates with the audience, because we are now facing the same confusion and loss as the people in the game; Shanghai in "Flowers" is described as a trap Living in the reform bonus zone of opportunities arouses the audience's nostalgia for the bright side of the 1990s. As the narration in the play said:
"Walking on Nanjing Road in 1993, you will feel that it was an era that could take off. We are grateful to be born At the right time, we are closely connected with the times. Nothing has been defined yet, everything is possible."
This is Shanghai's version of "Look forward, don't look back." In "The Long Season", the train driver Wang Xiang shouted "Look forward, don't look back" after the truth was revealed, reminding us that since the trauma of the past is a foregone conclusion, it is better to seize the present. In "Flowers", Abao is always "looking forward". He has no trauma and he never looks back.
(The pictures in this article are all from Douban)
Reference:
[US] Lu Hanchao. "Beyond the Neon Lights: Shanghai in Daily Life in the Early 20th Century". Shanxi People's Publishing House. 2018.
Lian Lingling. "Creating a Consumer Paradise: Department Stores" and Modern Shanghai Urban Culture". Social Science Literature Press. 2018.
Li Oufan. "Shanghai Modernity-A New Urban Culture in China (1930-1945)". Zhejiang University Press. 2017.
Jin Yucheng. "Flowers" ". Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House. 2013.
[US] Liu Xiangcheng [UK] Karen Smith. "Shanghai 1842-2010, Portrait of a Great City". World Book Publishing Company. 2010.
Chen Danyan. "The Romance of Shanghai" .Writers Press.2008.
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