In China, what type of drama is eye-catching, profitable, and popular?
Some people say that this is a spy drama, with brain-burning plots and thrilling stories, which makes it easy to fall into the trap.
Some people say it is a period drama. In recent years, there have been many masterpieces and hits.
Some people also say that it is a suspense drama, and its popularity is soaring...
all have their reasons. However, although these dramas have a wide audience, the filming costs are high, and the requirements of the passerby audience are also high. Without a good story, no one will give it face. When word-of-mouth fails, you may lose blood.
The ancient puppet show that is truly the best at surviving droughts and floods is the ancient puppet show.
has low risk, and there is almost no difficulty in adapting and filming it. The new generation of audiences love to watch it, and the requirements are not high.
Once there are top-level blessings such as Zhao Liying , even if the reputation of the series is average, it can still create amazing popularity.
However, in recent years, ancient puppet shows have become popular, and excellent works are hard to find. Investigating the reasons, I think there are three points:
First, the quality is shoddy.
There are top-notch people in charge, but the cost is skewed to the actors. But there are not top-notch people in charge, and they may still just want to make quick money.
's cut-out acting and sloppy production make this young audience just tolerant of their idols, but not stupid.
Secondly, it is a routine story.
The stories of ancient dolls and sweet pets are all similar. Xianxia dramas are about love through three lives and three lives, and ancient sayings are about kings, grandsons and nobles meeting in adversity, experiencing heartbreaking sadomasochism or being framed by bad guys, and finally getting married. Stories like
have long been clichéd, and there are more and more industrial saccharine ingredients. Watching one part is equivalent to watching them all.
Third, the acting skills of traffic stars are terrible.
To be honest, most popular celebrities simply don’t have the acting skills to support a drama.
This has actually caused the ancient puppet show to enter a vicious cycle. The market popularity is almost entirely due to the prosperity supported by fans.
However, in today's world where ancient puppet dramas are becoming increasingly homogeneous, an ancient Chinese drama that recently debuted last night has blossomed.
Kong Liu adapted the original work, "Xi Huazhi".
The original novel has exceeded 1 billion views on the entire Internet, and it can be regarded as a masterpiece of ancient Chinese novels in recent years.
stars, Hu Yitian, , Zhang Jingyi, and Myolie Wu, , Liu Jia, Yang Mingna, Kaohsiung, Hai Yitian, and other powerful actors are in charge.
screenwriter's masterpiece, "Long Moon Ember".
Director Zhu Ruibin is the king of hot searches for transition scenes in the ancient puppet world. His representative works include Yang Zi 's "Sweet Honey", Dilraba 's "Long Song Xing " and White Deer 's "Ning'an Ru". Dream". Although controversial, he is indeed the director with the most stable output of ancient puppet plays in recent years.
’s cast and team are not bad.
What attracts me more is the type.
The ancient female house fighting + growth theme that almost disappeared after "Knowledge". As expected,
became the third most popular drama on Maoyan as soon as it started airing last night.
Will it be the first dark horse of the ancient puppet drama in the new year?
binge-watched 6 episodes, and I found that this drama is really different from other ancient puppet dramas. Three highlights make it a rare flower among the 2024 ancient puppet dramas.
Highlights 1. The topic is novel and the angle is novel, the story is anti-routine and anti-bloody, the rhythm is neat, and it is very appetizing
The sweet pet of ancient dolls is most likely to fall into the trap of "female competition" and routines.
Male and female protagonists, whether they are humans or gods, will always go through sadomasochism and all kinds of sex work, which is both sweet and sadistic, and sweet again after the abuse.
But "Cherishing Flowers" is different. It uses a special setting to defeat the routines of all ancient puppet dramas - the heroine's house was confiscated.
The Hua Mansion, a wealthy family, suffered a house raid and was exiled, leaving only women and children in the family. The rich daughter Hua Zhi led the women to participate in the "Metamorphosis", do business, and save themselves. The setting of
is novel enough. The opening three scenes drew me into the drama more thoroughly:
The first scene: saving my husband.
has to say.
The first level of the story of "Xi Huazhi" is still an ancient puppet.
Yes, fall in love.
However, this ancient puppet is a bit unconventional.
Let’s talk about the first meeting between the male and female protagonists. How is it usually filmed in ancient puppet dramas? The female protagonist is in danger, the male protagonist appears, spins in the air, and falls in love at first sight.
But I have never seen the heroine save the hero the first time they meet. When
appeared, it was a bit like a cliché hero saving a beauty.
Hua Zhi (played by Zhang Jingyi) went out to buy devices without telling her family, and was searched by Qisu Si on the street. The little boss led by
was used to being domineering. When he saw Huazhi's planetarium drawings, he decided that it was a suspicious object. He came to her carriage and said wildly: "Even if the wife of the king and grandson comes, we have to search."
The first person to appear was a man. Er Chenqi, although he was upright and a high-ranking son, was pushed aside when he met the Qisu Division, which was created by the emperor himself and was equivalent to the Jin Yiwei.
At a critical moment, the male protagonist Gu Yanxi appears on the stage. As soon as
appeared, he revealed the origin of the planetarium and protected the heroine.
The female protagonist actually protected him. He himself was dressed in exotic clothes, but he was targeted by the disgraced little boss of Qisu Division. Without saying a word, he was going to take him directly to Qisu Division.
Now, it’s the heroine’s turn to save the hero.
She opened the curtain of the carriage, got out of the car and vouched for the male protagonist. She also made some reasoning, proving that the male protagonist was by no means an outsider, but on the contrary, he should be a sergeant stationed at the border.
Is this rhetoric useful? That is of course useless.
When Qisusi is doing things, it doesn’t matter if you are one of our own, if you are caught, you will be dead. What they fear is only greater power.
Fortunately, the heroine is the granddaughter of the current prime minister.
Being reasonable is not easy to use, but identity cards are easy to use.
The heroine herself doesn’t know that what her identity brought her might be taken away when she wakes up. And the person who took away the Hua family's immense wealth was the person in front of him - Gu Yanxi.
This opening was beautifully shot.
At one end, the heroine saves her husband in a busy city. At the other end, the Hua family listens to a play. When the old lady played by Liu Jia appears, she immediately feels like a Dream of Red Mansions.
Huajia is the Grand View Garden.
The character traits of the four ladies of the Hua family are portrayed in a scene of listening to a play.
even laid the key foreshadowing: why are they all women, and where are the men from the Hua family?
The answer is: They are all going to court.
ancient puppet = love.
But I have to say that "Xi Huazhi" is interesting.
In this ancient puppet, the love plot is not the main plot.
What is the main line?
The second drama: the palace change.
Although the plot has a light comedy style. But there’s also serious putting pen to paper.
Corresponding to the ups and downs of the Hua family are the changes in the court.
The Hua family is powerful because Mr. Hua is a famous direct minister in the court who dares to speak out and give advice.
But success is also straight, and failure is also straight.
This time the Hua family hit the wall: the emperor established the crown prince and Qisu Si.
An important minister in the past had his house confiscated just because of one sentence: Since the emperor only trusted Qisu Si and established the heir, and it was only the emperor's family affairs, what difference does it make if the ministers say it or not? There are differences between
. Not to mention that the Hua family is safe.
said it, and it collapsed overnight.
But this court drama is not over yet.
Who would have thought that the powerful leader of the Qisu Division would be beaten to death in this court hall.
The reason is a frame-up.
In the feudal dynasty, when the kings, grandsons and nobles were framed and secretly minted coins, the other party had only one end, death.
And the person he framed this time was none other than the prince of Daqing Dynasty, Prince Ling, and the male patron, Gu Yanxi.
Unfortunately, this time, he also hit a brick wall. Just the night before he was framed, the deputy envoy of the Qisu Division secretly went to the palace to see the emperor and revealed his plan to frame the emperor.
Before he entered the palace, he was already dead.
But the leader of Qisusi is dead, who will take over? Still Gu Yanxi.
This is really a cruel person, he will destroy his face at the beginning! Just to prevent the emperor from suspecting that he covets the throne, he realized that "no one with a disfigured face can be established as a prince."
He cut his face in front of the hall and said, "Your Majesty believes in me, and I believe in Your Majesty," and then put on the ghost mask of the leader of Qisu Division.
The blood on his cheeks still didn’t stop, so his first task was to go to Hua’s house and ransack it.
The third drama is a matter of course: family changes.
Without further ado, in the second episode, we will directly confiscate the house.
The heroine, who was scolded by her grandmother and went to the ancestral hall to copy female books, suddenly heard the noise in the court. The noble girl had fallen overnight.
There are also particularities in this house raid.
In the house raid in "The Red Mansion", all family members were left with only their coats, and the servants were regarded as family property and no one was left behind.
However, the Hua family was ransacked, and although all their wealth was lost, the silk and satin clothing was still there, as were the maids and attendants, and even the whole family could move to a mansion given by the Queen Mother.
Gu Yanxi also left two carriages for them. Whose family were they copied from?
In fact, there was a foreshadowing in the play. Although the Hua family was in decline, it was not a capital crime. It was in the face of the Queen Mother. Gu Yanxi's family copied it, just because they were open-minded. Only by closing your eyes can you leave a trace of private property to the Hua family and avoid living on the streets.
But next, it depends on the Huajia themselves.
The noble ladies who were so high in the past are completely useless once they are in trouble.
stood out, but it was the heroine Hua Zhi who used to devote herself to business studies and took an unconventional path.
Standing up the lintel of the Hua family by oneself will be a matter of the future.
The most urgent task is to punish the evil servant Chen Zhi who worked hard to obtain the Hua family's wealth.
A few old, weak, women and children could not stop the evil servant who drove away with the Hua family's belongings in a carriage, but Qisu Siguan Cha, who followed the Hua family all the way, could.
Hua Zhi shouted directly and took the initiative to hand over the Hua family’s private property.
Wherever the family wealth is now, it naturally lies with Chen Zhi, who is responsible for it.
Now the Hua family has completely lost all their wealth. When Hua Zhi drives the carriage and pulls the remaining cart of books home, the second lady played by Yang Mingna should have asked the audience's confusion: Miss Zhi, please run as fast as you can, what's the function? That money will never come back life or death.
But what the heroine said next was heart-wrenching: It works. If Chen Zhi succeeds today, Li Zhi, Wang Zhi will come to snatch it tomorrow.
I want to let them know today that even if there are only women and children left in our Hua family, even if we go to Qisusi, we will have to fight to the death with them. Even if they blackmail and plunder, they will never take advantage of us.
From then on, Huazhi resolutely stood up and became the person in charge, showing her face regardless of worldly opinions. She took the Hua family's family members with her and started selling peach charms at a stall under the guidance of everyone. She started a business and became a money-maker to support her family. The female tyrant in the business world finally regained her family reputation and counterattacked all the way to the current imperial family.
The stories in the first six episodes include the intrigues and intrigues of the court, the look and feel of the Grand View Garden in the Dream of Red Mansions, the desolation of the family confiscation at the end of Red Mansions, and the noisy "Know or Not"-style big family that breaks bones and connects tendons.
But the Hua family is not made of clay. In the final analysis, the story does not rely on the male protagonist descending from the sky to save everyone, but the female protagonist leading the female family members to rely on themselves. After all, this is not an ancient puppet story full of routines.
Highlights 2. Top ruthless women, pretending to be pigs and eating tigers, sassy heroines... The female characters are three-dimensional and impressive.
In most ancient puppet dramas, the female characters are always the same.
The female characters are either cruel or vicious. Every appearance of
is to highlight the beauty and wisdom of the heroine, and every motive is to promote the unparalleled love between the hero and heroine.
But "Xi Huazhi" is not.
In addition to the male and female protagonists, there are many female characters in the play, all with very distinct personality traits and recognizability. They not only compete with the female protagonist, but also achieve and complement each other.
One, Myolie Wu
Myolie Wu’s acting skills are really eye-catching.
The third lady she played was a little nervous when she appeared. She heard her voice before she saw her.
Listening to a play in the Hua family, she tries to please the old lady with every word. With just a raise of her eyes and a line of dialogue, she portrays the image of a businesswoman who married into a wealthy family.
The character of Xia Jin'e is very similar to Feng Lazi in Red Mansion. Before she got married, she helped the family run the business and figured out the abacus.
When the Hua family was at its peak, she enjoyed all the glory. When the Hua family fell, she suffered along with it. She was not forgiving, but her heart was not bad.
Chen Zhi defected in a carriage. She threw down Hua Zhi, who was blocking the carriage and usually did not deal with her. The family persuaded her to cut ties with the Hua family, but she refused.
Myolie Wu plays the role of sharpness, scheming, domineering and the softness hidden deep in her heart to the fullest. She is bound to have a scene as soon as she appears.
The third lady is also the king of golden sentences in the play: "I want to learn from Qu Yuan and not be picky about solar terms."
"There is no food in your belly, so go to bed early." "Normally silent, but suddenly running out, hum, faster than a rabbit."
For the sake of the third lady, I can continue to follow this drama.
Second, Liu Jia
Liu Jia has produced many works in recent years. She has been featured in many popular dramas, such as "Where the Wind Is", "The Sea in Dreams", etc., but most of her roles are as loving mothers.
I didn’t expect that this time I would be so into the role of the powerful mistress of the Hua family.
Dressed in splendid clothes and wearing a forehead mop, she carries the aura of a high-ranking mistress. Even if her home was ransacked, she would still be domineering, speaking and acting with energy and energy while tapping her cane on the ground.
Regarding the heroine, she scolds her on the outside but likes her on the inside.
Watching old actors and actresses acting is a peace of mind. I guess after this drama, there will be more costume dramas looking for Liu Jia.
Third, Yang Mingna
Yang Mingna is recognized as an actress who should be popular but is not popular.
Even in middle age, her good looks and acting skills are still outstanding. This time she played the role of the second lady, who appears to be indifferent to the world but is actually secretly scheming. As soon as she appeared on the stage, the whole character had a gentle feeling. However, in a few scenes, she was... Hidden city.
With these distinctive female characters, the Hua Family drama is worth watching.
Let’s talk about the two little flowers.
Zhang Jingyi is a new-generation flower who calls Zhou Xun aunt. She is beautiful and has a good temperament. Her acting skills are definitely not bad among the new-generation flowers. Her weaknesses are her lines and costumes.
The Hua Zhi she played was considered beautiful by some and ugly by others. The reviews were not as unanimous as the costumes of the Republic of China and modern costumes.
But I think her performance as Hua Zhi is not bad, she has a twisted and stubborn arrogance in her eyes. Calm and stubborn, she is not a classical Chinese beauty from poetry, but a handsome female shopping mall boss with a modern sense.
The drama has changed the time-travel character of the original female protagonist, but the character and ability have not been changed. Zhang Jingyi plays Hua Zhi, which I think is just right.
The second female lead, Lu Yuxiao, is a rising star. The female spy in the previous film was brilliant.
played the role of the demented Shaoyao this time. He performed a petite and frail character, clearly different from the previous ruthless character, and his performance was passable.
Finally, let’s talk about the male characters.
Hua Yizheng, played by Kaohsiung, is still outstanding.
The 77-year-old Kaohsiung showed the integrity of this direct minister in just a few scenes. Only with a grandfather like him will there be Huazhi in the future.
Hai Yitian performed the emperor's calculations, testing people's hearts every minute. Justice is not important, but the eternal stability of his country is important.
The extremely full female group portraits in the series make this fictional historical series more popular and lively.
This is also the reason why "Cherish the Flowers" does not follow the old love-doll routine:
Watching the performances and fighting skills of this group of drama stars is much more interesting than the saccharine of sweet pet drama workers.
Highlights 3. The subject matter is novel and takes a new approach, rewriting the 2024 Zhai Dou Ancient Illusion Ceiling
In the past few years, Chinese dramas have been suffering from the ancient times for a long time.
What the audience is afraid of is not the genre of "ancient puppets". Everyone loves to watch sweet and sadistic dramas.
What the audience is afraid of is that the ancient puppet shows are becoming more and more clichéd and goofy, leaving the audience with a taste of industrial saccharine and an unexpected bitter taste.
The appearance of "Xi Huazhi" can be regarded as a model for domestic ancient puppet dramas.
First of all, it uses innovative stories and perspectives to change the routines and traditions of ancient puppets.
There are no routines of heroes rescuing beauties or palace battles, only the daily life of the heroine leading her family members who have had their homes confiscated and struggling to survive, and cherishing flowers. It is not the male boss who cherishes the flowers, but the handsome female protagonist who cherishes herself.
Secondly, in terms of storytelling, "Cherishing Flowers" has achieved a certain balance.
What Zhu Ruibin is best at is telling stories.
's drama series has a fast pace. The first episode creates a group portrait, the second episode involves ransacking the house, and the sixth episode starts a business for the Hua family.
The plot is compact and smooth, not suspended.
In the story, there are court battles, house fights, and the danger of the fate of the Hua family. To a certain extent, "Cherishing Flowers" is a thoroughly enjoyable drama.
especially lays out the rhythm of counterattack and counterattack. Quite skillful.
Compared to watching dozens of episodes where the male and female protagonists fall in love day and night, this hodgepodge is just enough to watch.
In addition, although the series has female protagonists, they are all female protagonists.
There are many female characters and characters in the whole drama, but they all have very distinct personality characteristics. The female supporting characters do not dominate the show, and the side stories are also wonderfully told.
Yang Mingna’s second wife and Myolie Wu’s third wife, the stories of each character inject a different kind of floral fragrance into the whole drama.
Finally, there is the ambition of women in the story. In the first episode of
, the grandfather from Kaohsiung said something to the young heroine, but it’s a pity that she is a girl.
I thought he was looking down on women, but I didn’t expect that the next sentence was regretting that she would no longer be able to pretend to be a book boy to accompany him when she grows up.
The ship encounters a hurricane while sailing, and the boatmen go on strike. The heroine Hua Zhi climbs up the mast to rescue the emergency. The loyal servant is so anxious that he shouts, but the grandpa tells him not to shout, not because he does not care about his granddaughter's life, but not to distract her.
This is the first time I have seen a powerful official in an ancient puppet show who respects women so much.
Although the fictional world is still in the feudal era, from the opening words of the heroine, "No matter who I marry, I still do my own thing," we can feel the consciousness of these girls in the play fighting for their own independence, freedom and rights.
Later, when the Hua family fell, she did not rely on the male lead and the second male lead at all. Instead, she said to all the maids: "You used to work in the inner courtyard, but in the future you should be the leading soldier, charge into battle and live your life."
Don’t become a vassal of men and be brave enough to be your own flower. This is the most touching power of "Cherishing Flowers".
No matter in which era, beautiful women are described as flowers, as if flowers exist only to bloom for flower admirers.
But flowers can actually bloom for themselves, and women have the right to pursue their own beautiful life.
The sisters-in-law of the flower family are like the flowers in the garden of the Red Mansion. The entrance hall is in ruins, but the flowers are in full bloom. This is Xi Huazhi.
To cherish flowers, you must first cherish yourself.
When there are too many uncertainties in various themes of Chinese dramas, Guwu is the safest from all aspects.
But the audience doesn’t want to watch the same plot repeated over and over again.
When the garden is full of flowers, the flower market of the ancient puppet show will last forever.
"Xi Huazhi" blooms in another style. This strange flower in the 2024 ancient puppet drama deserves to be appreciated.
