"Hello everyone, I am Su Peisheng. Sometimes I really don't understand. I just want to retire safely with our Jinxi, why are there so many obstacles?"
"Hello everyone, I am Duan Fei, a concubine. After clearing all the scripts, there is no new plot for me to explain. I can only watch others struggling in the harem to fight for the elderly."
...
A short video explaining the story of the supporting characters in "The Legend of Zhen Huan"
The above lines are from The short video blogger "Daxi Laocaijia" breaks down the opening remarks of the characters in the "The Legend of Zhen Huan" series. This novel and interesting interpretation video provides another key to unlocking "The Legend of Zhen Huan".
For those viewers who are tired of watching the protagonist's plot line, this is undoubtedly a way to relive classic dramas, discover plot Easter eggs, verify certain conjectures, and experience the joy or joy of the little characters.
This method of watching a film and television drama from the perspective of a supporting character - supporting character narrative has become a trend. It is not only the "second creation" enthusiasm derived from individual high-quality film and television dramas, but also hints at an undercurrent: allowing those supporting characters to enjoy their complete lives and present them in front of the audience.
一
It has been 13 years since the premiere of "The Legend of Zhen Huan". The early ways of watching dramas were basically watching in sequence, reviewing highlights, and interacting with barrages. Fans of the drama sometimes have to endure the lengthy and depressing plot of Zhen Huan's fall into Ganlu Temple.
As short video platforms and long video platforms cooperate to resolve copyright disputes, short video platform creators have re-edited and published original dramas, which not only changed the traditional way of watching dramas, but also created a new way of creating a direct sense of coolness and direct hits to famous scenes. , a short video viewing method that directly combs through the plot. Famous scenes such as "Blood Recognition" and "Emperor's Death" can be found with just a quick search, accurately feeding drama fans.
Search for "bloody recognition scene", there are a large number of short videos, and the number of likes is amazing
In the past two years, short video creators have turned their attention away from Zhen Huan and focused on the supporting characters who are shrouded in the protagonist's light.
For example, from An Lingrong's perspective, looking at her life, she was not a poor sacrifice for the harem's machinations. Once upon a time, she also longed for love, friendship and power, and wanted to change her and her mother's fate. As a result, a poor and beautiful girl from a small place could only swallow her helplessness, grievance, unwillingness and resentment. Her ambition consumed her.
The Biography of An Lingrong is a profile of "The Biography of Zhen Huan". Zhen Huan's road to success is buried with An Lingrong's withered bones.
Another example is from the perspective of a more marginal character - the queen's personal maid Jianqiu. She witnessed the prosperity and decline, worries and struggles of the queen's life with her own eyes. The queen was deprived of her honor and favor by her own sister, and suffered a miscarriage as a result. Pain extinguished her youthful aspirations. The love and laughter next door cut away all her kindness and innocence like a knife. She began to hate, and there was love in the hatred. If she couldn't get love, she would turn into a tolerant madness. It's really hateful and really pathetic.
Jianqiu understood her grievances and resentments, and risked his life to be by her side. It's just that the emperor is so ruthless, and all the debts and debts are just to make Zhen Huan's wedding dress.
It is no exaggeration to say that each supporting character can cut out a biography about the joys and sorrows of himself or others. Like Xiao Yunzi, who "has a bit of talent", imperial physician Wei Lin, various concubines, princes, maids, etc., these supporting characters who were originally attached to or opposed to the protagonist are slowly taking back their own selves through the "Second Creation" short video narrative rights.
"Daxi Laojia" has established the "Zhen·Character Biography" column, which specializes in interpreting the supporting characters
In addition to "The Legend of Zhen Huan", other high-quality dramas have also been dismantled by many short video creators. For example, "Nirvana in Fire", when viewed from Fei Liu's perspective, is the story of a "loyal dog" who shares life and death and is devoted to death; if viewed from Lin Chen's perspective, it shows how a romantic and unruly banished immortal was betrayed by a man who suffered great consequences. The story of a young general who was wronged and moved by him and spared no effort to help his brother. From the perspectives of King Yu's wife and his confidant Qin Banruo, it is another silent tragedy.
More than 10 dramas such as "Knowing or Not", "Bubu Jingxin", "Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace", " Journey to the West " can all be interpreted similarly.
Open the interpretation video of "Know or Not" from the perspective of a supporting role
In fact, this kind of "subversion" of the supporting role to the protagonist is not limited to the "second creation" of netizens' self-entertainment in the field of short videos. More and more people of professional creators are also inspired by this shift in perspective. The most typical representative of
is the evolution of the IP works of "Journey to the West".
Starting from the 1986 version of "Journey to the West" to the 1995 comedy film "Journey to the West" by Stephen Chow, although the latter deconstructed the former's classic image, it still created on the traditional protagonist.
Comedians selected in the Internet era, faced with the same theme, went one step further, simply avoiding the protagonist and letting the neglected supporting roles step onto the stage.
In 2015, Wanhe Tianyi's team produced the movie "Unexpectedly: Journey to the West", where the main cast and the cast were swapped, making an unknown little demon become the savior hero, and Sun Wukong was the foil.
Last year, the Monkey King in "Summer of the Little Monsters" didn't even show his face and was completely reduced to a drama tool. Comedians who came out of the "Comedy Competition", the two groups "Young Master and Me" and "Potato Lu Yan" followed the ideas of "The Summer of Little Monsters" in two mini-short plays. At this point, the main cast has been completely overturned.
The image of Sun Wukong in "Summer of the Little Monsters"
二
The main reason why supporting character narratives have become a trend is of course the gravity of traffic.
The mobile Internet has developed rapidly for ten years, and information has exploded. Even the short video platform, which has continued to grow in recent years, has entered the involution stage. Content explosion is becoming increasingly difficult to achieve, and content marketing costs are also increasing. The selected classic IPs, with their own popularity and user stickiness, form a huge traffic attraction. As long as the creators can come up with an effective and interesting point, they can get a share of the pie, so they will naturally attract many creatives. The person "ruminates" it.
still takes "The Legend of Zhen Huan" as an example. Even though more than ten years have passed since its first broadcast, its popularity has not declined with the passage of time. It can still climb the hot search list with the slightest disturbance. This is A pool of traffic that is always boiling.
However, no matter how thick the wool is, you can’t help but keep picking it up. The protagonist Zhen Huan’s growth, love, friendship, ambition, intrigue, return of the king, darkness and counterattack have been chewed all over, and her ways of opening up have almost been exhausted. In this case, the perspective of "second creation" turned to the supporting role, which was helpless and even more surprising: it discovered a large and fertile wasteland of traffic.
Of course, not all dramas can create a large number of supporting character narratives like "The Legend of Zhen Huan". We will not unconditionally empathize with every supporting character in a work. Only those film and television dramas that are long-lasting, of high quality, and full of life experience can have enough fertile soil to provide the materials needed for the narrative of supporting characters - group characters full of dramatic tension and ups and downs of fate.
In other words, film and television dramas must be as popular as "Journey to the West" and "The Legend of Zhen Huan", forming a traffic pool like the moon, which can be seen as long as you "raise your head"; then the supporting characters must be able to withstand being touched, so that when After people look at the moon for a long time, they may be willing to glance at the stars nearby.
三
No matter what the motivation is, the narrative of the supporting character is essentially the breakthrough and victory of the supporting character. But on a subjective level, we still need to look deeper. Why do the supporting characters, who always act as tool men, stepping stones and background boards, attract the attention of drama fans?
secretly believes that the narrative of supporting characters can, on the one hand, allow drama fans to re-examine the plot and feel the joy and resourcefulness of the protagonist, just like watching a new drama; at the same time, it can also provide a kind of perspective that is completely different from the protagonist, relatively marginal but indispensable. Little people story experience.
This kind of small character story experience is the psychological basis for the narrative of supporting characters. Because it is the same as the protagonist's narrative, full of ups and downs, and in terms of spiritual distance, it is closer to most people outside the play.
Like Zhen Huan, she has the blessing of "Wanwan Leiqing" appearance when she appears, and she is also proficient in poetry, piano art, and dance. She is skilled in people, has unparalleled strategies, has a high background, and is born to be an absolute protagonist. How similar is she to all living beings? high?
Zhen Huan's advancement and glory are beyond our reach; but An Lingrong's helplessness and humbleness make us feel sad for her.
Douyin hot search entry "Everyone is An Lingrong, everyone is worse than An Lingrong"
Switching to the TV series "Hurry", Gao Qiqiang started his career as an ordinary fishmonger, but he took advantage of his situation, scheming, How can vision, judgment and courage be "copied" by ordinary people? If we were to travel to the world in the play, most people would be more like group employees, fishmongers at the market, restaurant owners, passing diners, and the motorcycle youth racing with Gao Qiqiang on the road.
Those who have climbed out of the field of life and death and stand at the top are rare, or even unique; most people do not have the "golden fingers" in Internet literature (the special ability that makes the protagonist rise), the magical encounters of Jin Yong-style heroes and Zhen Huan , Mei Changsu, Gao Qiqiang's ups and downs experience. We are more like supporting characters in a play, trying our best to complete this life is enough.
In this sense, the supporting role narrative can reveal the "hereditary" color of the protagonist: "hereditary" a certain family background, social relations, and the gift of fate beyond human control, such as Zhen Huan's face and the emperor's infatuation with Chun Yuan. Mind. An Lingrong's tragedy lifted the confusing veil covering Zhen Huan.
Behind the veil is the real life of ordinary people.
In addition, the narrative of supporting characters also hides an ironic attitude, which is to mock the protagonist's image and the creator behind the scenes.
In dramas, the protagonists often occupy the main perspective and a large number of scenes, which to a certain extent deprives the supporting characters of their right to be understood and respected.
In 1990, Chen Peisi and Zhu Shimao collaborated on the sketch "Protagonist and Supporting Role", which revealed the ecology of these two characters.
For example, a 1994 Qiong Yao drama " Crescent Moon Princess ". A general accidentally rescues a princess, and the two of them, who are like adoptive father and daughter, develop a secret love. The general takes Princess home. Her family regarded her as a relative, and the general's son loved her wholeheartedly. When the general and Princess were together regardless, it was clearly the first wife and son who were injured, but Princess said with confidence:
"I am here to join this family, not to break it up."
b video blogger "Xiancai" "The Story of a Duck" opens the entire drama from the perspective of the general's wife. In response to the heroine's "shameless" statement, a commentary was immediately added: "Where's my gun? I'm not here to kill you, I'm here to open your mind." "!" The blogger quickly criticized the protagonist's hypocritical behavior and severely attacked the male and female protagonists for their unrealistic self-beautification and love-oriented approach.
Many people who watched the drama at that time would sympathize with the love between the male and female protagonists, and they would criticize the first wife for making things difficult for the female protagonist. This is because the narrative of the protagonist is the focus of the creator, and they must defend and rationalize the logic of the protagonist's behavior; Supporting character narratives can break away from the original narrative goal and use your own ideas to understand, so it is closer to common sense in life.
Of course, this ironic gesture does not negate the protagonist or the film and television drama itself. It just makes the audience more clearly aware of the boundaries between creation and life, fiction and non-fiction. What belongs to the protagonist is like fiction; what belongs to us is non-fiction full of flaws, changes and helplessness, which is the life that everyone lives in.
四
More broadly speaking, rebelling against classic idols and constructing narratives of supporting roles. Behind this transformation of creative perspective is an echo of a collective thought in society-compared to stars, leaders and some more noble We are more willing to pay more attention to ourselves and the things around us.
In the past, we preferred the "high and mighty" story of Sun Wukong resisting power, defeating demons, and achieving greatness; now, we are more likely to be moved by the sad migrant workers in "Summer of the Little Monsters" and are more interested in "Don't Panic, Your Majesty" I deeply sympathize with the exaggerated portrayal of the workplace.
In the past, we understood the supremacy of love in Qiong Yao dramas, and those characters who could be sacrificed for nothing but love seemed to be the only true meaning of life; now, love has begun to "dissolve", and "making money" is the kingly way, and it is more pragmatic Our attitude towards life makes us no longer superstitious about false spiritual stimulants, but instead uses our bodies as temples, worshiping them devoutly and never neglecting them.
Supporting character narrative is becoming a broad mirror, which reflects the situation of a generation. Those netizens who once shared the same breath and fate with Zhen Huan are now shouting the slogan "Everyone is An Lingrong". This kind of self-mockery reflects helplessness and sadness.
At the same time, the promotion of supporting roles has made us broad to a certain extent.
Lu Prize-winning writer Zhang Li mentioned the interpretation of "Jane Eyre" when talking about the female perspective at the n-talk literary night. By following the perspective and perspective of the hero and heroine, we will read about the beauty and nobility of love; and when she reads the book "The Mad Woman in the Attic", you will be suddenly awakened. In Rochester's eyes, his ex-wife, that A crazy woman, isn't she a "woman who was oppressed to the point of losing her voice"? And Rochester may become a "disgusting man" as a result.
Zhang Li’s speech at n-talk literary night
This is not to belittle "Jane Eyre" or the characters in the novel, but to say that the transformation of perspective, especially the perspective of the supporting characters who serve as the background, can bring us different inspiration and emotional comfort.
They - the stories of those supporting characters are very important.
Text/Li Ruifeng Editor Li Jie
