In the creation of TV series, spy war has always been a subject that has been written repeatedly and is constantly innovating. The recently aired TV series "Storm Chaser" used a unique narrative method to create a new world for spy drama narratives. Through fascinating character stories, exquisite image language, and innovative artistic expression, the play vividly tells the story of the Chinese Communists' pursuit of faith, and profoundly explains the historical logic of why the Chinese Communist Party is able to do so.
"Storm Chaser" sets the background of the story in the early 1930s. In November 1931, the Provisional Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic was established. The government led the base areas to carry out the struggle to break the enemy's economic blockade, and economic work such as finance and finance made certain progress. In the play, young Wei Ruolai came into contact with the Red Faith in Shanghai, and finally chose to join the Communist Party of China, fighting side by side with Communists Shen Jinzhen and Xu Nuo. The fate of these characters is a highly condensed and artistic transformation of that revolutionary historical story.
What is quite innovative is that "Storm Chaser" chooses finance, an area rarely explored in spy war narratives, to open up a new path for spy war dramas to delve into the theme of faith. The series promotes the development of the plot through a series of financial events and guides the audience into the depths of history. The author focuses on the numerous obstacles Wei Ruolai's master Shen Tunan encountered in the process of financial reform: he was assassinated in order to recover customs custody rights from foreign banks; his work in investigating counterfeit currency was also covering up scandals for the reactionary high-level officials of the Kuomintang. Nothing happened during the process. Each of these realities fully exposed the corruption of the Kuomintang government and social darkness at that time, and also paved the way for Wei Ruolai to join the new democratic revolutionary cause led by the Communist Party of China.
Focusing on the main line of pursuing faith, "Storm Chaser" uses the narrative language of a spy drama to skillfully weave the interpretation of faith into a suspenseful story, arousing the audience's empathy for the fate of the characters. The life path of the protagonist Wei Ruolai has certain typicality and practical significance. At first he had a sense of justice and hoped to serve the country through finance. In his interactions with Shen Tunan's sister Shen Jinzhen and other Communists, he gradually came into contact with and understood Marxism. In the end, after witnessing the betrayal of the Kuomintang reactionaries and the sacrifices of the Chinese Communists, he found his own faith, tempered it into steel, and grew into a financial worker who was responsible for the economic front of our party. Wei Ruolai's growth process not only reflects the ideological and emotional characteristics of young people of that era, but also conforms to the contradictory trend of drama and the logic of history, making it easier for today's young people to have a sense of substitution and spiritual resonance. The audience can see from him that the trueness of faith is tested in the face of danger, the strength of faith is tested in the hail of bullets, and the beauty of faith is demonstrated in the close connection between personal destiny and the future of the country.
"The Storm Chaser" uses artistic techniques to create a number of three-dimensional and plump characters. Positive characters such as Xu Nuo, Wei Ruolai, Shen Jinzhen, etc. are vivid, approachable, respectable and cute. Villain characters such as Lin Qiaosong also try to avoid single, conceptual and simplistic shaping, making the plot richer and more diverse.
In the play, two completely different scenes of Shanghai also form a sharp contrast: on the one hand, the so-called upper class society is full of feasting and drunkenness; on the other hand, life in the streets is full of misery, and a large number of workers and vendors are in danger, and in the war Under the oppression of the ravaging and reactionary government, his life was like a piece of grass. By showing the real life conditions of the working people, the play reflects the truth of the times, provides a psychological basis for the growth and transformation of the characters, and also allows the spy war narrative to show a certain historical thickness and deep ideological background.
A line in the play says: There is an old Chinese saying, ride the long wind and break the waves of thousands of miles. The barren land you see, given time and patience, will surely grow into an economic farm capable of supporting the world. Today, this line has become a reality. From "The Storm Chaser", the audience can also see that making dreams come true is not just time and patience, but also requires the unremitting efforts of generations of strivers to pursue the eternal light of faith in their hearts.(Author: Ren Shanshan, deputy editor-in-chief of the Theoretical Review Editorial Office of the People's Daily Literature and Art Department)
"Guangming Daily" (page 15, April 24, 2024)
