At noon on July 6, 4 episodes of the TV series "Mustard Seed Time" were launched on Mango TV, officially starting the premiere mode. This TV series stars Hao Fushen, Bian Cheng, Huang Zixing and other young actors, and tells the story of campus life of a group of high school students. Based on the current 4 episodes, this TV series is light and humorous. Of course there are distortions, but it maintains a very good-looking character. It is very suitable for young viewers who have just finished their high school life.
Light-hearted humor is one of the biggest features of this TV series. In the play, three types of characters are selected: a male academic tyrant, a male academic scumbag, and a female narrator, and then tell the story of their high school campus life together. This method of framing is relatively common in school dramas - the female protagonist serves as the narrator of the story, while the male top students and male scumbags are often the typical representatives of all campus classes.
The male academic leader is of course introverted, but his academic performance is very good. As for the male scumbag, he is a typical extrovert, lively and active, but has poor academic performance. This role positioning is also typical of campus. There are really not many people with good academic performance and outgoing personality. The scumbags are all lively and active, and can easily gain recognition from the audience. Under the current educational philosophy, it is rare to see someone who is lively and active and can learn well.
The relationship between the three people is of course a typical triangle. The female protagonist likes the male overachiever, and the male underachiever likes to protect the female protagonist. The male overachiever needs to help the male underachiever in his studies, but the male underachiever does not want the male overachiever to shine like him. Under this relationship, this trio has a clear behavioral goal, which is the college entrance examination. In fact, almost all middle school dramas have a fixed goal, which is the college entrance examination. Because of the existence of this goal, the ultimate direction of all characters' efforts is also the same. On the main line, high school dramas are rarely different.
However, everyone is different in the details. This "Mustard Seed Time" takes the light comedy route, looking for some comedy moments in campus life. It's certainly unreal to these moments. Especially compared to today's high school campuses. In the current era of exam-oriented education, high school students are very nervous and don’t have so much fun. The TV series only shows them studying hard, but there is nothing interesting about it. For the sake of spectacle, I can only fake it for fun.
This TV series is seriously distorted because it faked many scenes for fun. Even though it corresponds to the high school campus life of my old editor, this TV series is still so relaxed that it is distorted. In our time, exam-oriented education was not so brutal, and Hengzhong Middle School was not going sideways. Hebei candidates could still be proud of themselves in their respective middle schools, instead of being harvested by this department or that department. Even so, our campus life is still not that much fun.
This is actually a problem that all school dramas have to face. Want to be realistic? Of course it can be realistic. The poorer ones, like the opening of Lu Yao's "Ordinary World", are realistic. That is the memory of poverty of our generation. Poor students can only eat vegetable soup. This is realistic enough. However, today’s young people don’t even look at such a heavy thing. Moreover, there are no such poor students in high schools nowadays. If it were true, the school would help itself.
Nearly all current school dramas can only take the comedy route, showing imagination about high school campus life in a state of distortion. This is a martial arts-like approach. Central Plains, how is it the same? Before Jin Yong wrote martial arts, of course he knew what the Central Plains was like. However, he would rather write about an imaginary martial arts world in the Central Plains than anything else. And this imagined better martial arts world in the Central Plains has become a classic for many people.
School dramas are the same. They all require imagination based on reality. In many cases, imagination is more important. Many creators of campus dramas have just left campus themselves. Of course they know that their creations are distorted. However, it is this distortion that makes them content with the life they once had. Everyone is distorted when telling their past.And this kind of distortion also makes many people who have just left campus find it enjoyable.
These distorted plots did what this audience wanted to do but did not. This is similar to martial arts, where martial arts do things that readers and audiences want to do but don't. "Mustard Seed Time" is a school drama suitable for students who have just finished their college entrance examination. Of course, it is also suitable for all middle school students. Watching it for fun can still make everyone happy. (Text/Ma Qingyun)
