Youku's legendary costume drama "Pearl Curtain and Jade Curtain" is currently on the air. The series tells the story of a pearl diver named Duan Wu (played by Zhao Lusi) who escapes from the pearl field to avoid being insulted. He encounters a businessman from the Western Regions

2024-11-04 14:52:06 entertainment 3728℃

Youku's legendary costume drama " Pearl Curtain and Jade Curtain " is currently on the air. The series tells the story of a pearl diver named Duanwu ( Zhao Lusi ) who escaped from the pearl field to avoid being humiliated and met Yan Zijing ( Liu Yuning), a businessman from the Western Regions, and Zhang Jinran ( Tang Xiaotian), a humble gentleman. Then they went west to do business together. A passionate legendary story of a woman who refused to give in to her fate amidst the ever-changing circumstances and eventually grew into a generation of businesswomen. The play uses the ancient pearl business as an entry point. The protagonists such as Duan Wu, Yan Zijing, and Zhang Jinran travel all the way to the northwest and Yangzhou. In the process of traveling through the jewelry business in various places, they witness the excitement and thrill of the ancient version of the traveling merchant road movie.

Recently, Fu Tian, the chief screenwriter of the show, said in an interview that the show portrays a tough, self-improving woman who never gives up. The heroine Duanwu is an ordinary person. She does not have a noble background, nor is she constantly being treated by noble people. She looked at it differently. "She is just like thousands of ordinary people. She has empathy, dares to question authority, dares to love, and has the courage to face. I hope the audience can pursue their own ideals and be the best version of themselves like Duanwu."

Zhao Lusi plays Dragon Boat Festival.

Story: The heroine has the same goals as today’s young people

Beijing News: In your opinion, what is the difference between "Pearl Curtain and Jade Curtain" and previous stories about heroines doing business?

Futian: This drama considers the issue of rejuvenation. This rejuvenation is not just the youth of the protagonist or others in terms of age, but also the youth in mentality. The difference between "Pearl Curtain and Jade Curtain" and other business dramas is that the heroine Dragon Boat Festival is breaking down the decadent stereotypes and bad habits. She is breaking down barriers and conventions. This is also consistent with the goals pursued by young people today. Therefore, most of the heroine's opponents and friends are energetic and young-minded people. Only then can they hold their heads high and bravely face the unknown world after experiencing failure, misery, gains and losses.

Beijing News: "Pearl Curtain and Jade Curtain" presents business, jewelry, and court drama. Both the heroine and the hero have to uncover the mystery of their life experiences. How to sort out a main narrative so that the audience can always follow it and be fully immersed in it, without being too overwhelmed and the story out of focus?

Futian: The plots of the first three episodes of are compact, and the scenes and protagonists change very quickly, but there is a clear main line, how the heroine breaks out of the dangerous quagmire step by step. Other characters also revolve around this line. So as long as there is this cognition, the audience's emotions will be firmly attached to the heroine's situation. And business, pearls, life experience, etc. are revealed bit by bit along with the main line, and there is a feeling of peeling off the cocoon. As long as it does not achieve the purpose of overshadowing the guest, it will be the icing on the cake.

Beijing News: The Tang Dynasty was chosen as the background of the entire story as the dynasty of ancient commercial society, and it was not made in vain. What were the considerations? What supporting role does it provide for the growth of the heroine?

Futian: The status of women in ancient times was at a relatively high point in the Tang and Song Dynasties. In the Tang and Song Dynasties, whether it was divorce, remarriage, widows doing business, including women doing business themselves, they could do it by themselves. . So we set the background in the Tang Dynasty because whether it's divorce, remarriage, or women's public appearances and careers, this is a very common thing, and you won't find it particularly surprising, and it will have a stronger sense of reality. The reason why I didn't make any excuses is to retain this understanding. Moreover, during the Tang Dynasty, both the maritime and land Silk Roads were prosperous, and with the processing and trading of various pearls, jade, and gemstones, the silk we exported and the jewelry that came in were very immersive settings.

The play tells the story of Duan Wu’s growth from a pearl diver to a jewelry merchant.

Characters: Dragon Boat Festival wants to find the foundation of life

Beijing News: In recent years, it has become more popular to focus on costume dramas that do not focus on falling in love, but let the heroine talk about business and career.This drama tells the story of doing business during the Dragon Boat Festival. What unique qualities does she have?

Futian: In the early days of , she was indeed a "thief". She had the characteristic of not following common sense. This has something to do with her birth. She is not as knowledgeable as those eldest ladies who were born better. But Dragon Boat Festival has a greater chance of growth. She is like a sponge, constantly absorbing nutrients to enrich herself. Some of the other business dramas with female protagonists do not focus on business. The heroine sometimes relies on male characters to help her complete many things. The independence of Dragon Boat Festival is indeed better than this kind of female characters. of. Because of her birth, it is difficult for her to rely on men as a means to overcome difficulties in life. She wants to rely more on herself. In some traditional ancient puppet dramas, even if the heroine has a high position, her real vision is still the love between the sexes. In "Bead Curtain and Jade Curtain", we want to create a heroine whose vision is not just about love, but her vision is in the business world and the vastness of the world.

Beijing News: In the first three episodes, Duanwu refused Zhang Jinran’s company without hesitation. She said that if I were by your side, I would not be free and independent. Will there be fewer emotional lines in Duanwu in the early stages of the plot?

Futian: In this situation, Duanwu feels that talking about emotions is a luxury. After such an experience, she will think, what can I do with such a person? Can I depend on him for the rest of my life? If he can sympathize with me now, will I have to rely on his sympathy to live my life in the future? She wants to find the foundation of life.

Beijing News: After experiencing all kinds of difficulties during the Dragon Boat Festival, what is the strongest motivation to climb up from the bottom? How can the special nature of the Dragon Boat Festival be reflected in the script?

Futian: I think the motivation behind experiencing all kinds of hardships in the Dragon Boat Festival and climbing up from the bottom is the ultimate loneliness in the pearl field. In the end, she wanted to come out but was unwilling to sink. She had a longing for light in the darkness. Therefore, she is eager to go out and see the wider world, and doing business is also a process of gradually opening her horizons. As a jewelry merchant, Duanwu's aesthetics has been gradually opened up. Duanwu has never been a slave to the pursuit of money and wealth. She can give up a lot and pursue what she thinks is more worthwhile. This is a sign that the heroine is an independent person.

Beijing News: How would you describe the male protagonist Yan Zijing, the second male protagonist Zhang Jinran, and the female protagonist Dragon Boat Festival?

Futian: Yan Zijing seems to be the boss in the darkness, as if he always has a knife hidden in his heart, but his heart always hides the innocence of his youth. He longs for love, but always dares not to love. In the end Between gains and losses, he chose to be open-minded and face reality. Zhang Jinran is the little sun that warms others, but behind the smoothness of life, there is also a kind of confusion hidden. Because he is so smooth, when he meets the Dragon Boat Festival, he gradually sees a truly cruel world. The Dragon Boat Festival actually has two sides. She is like the cold moon, but she is also a blazing fire. She always has the heart of a girl. No matter how difficult the reality is, she is always invincible and can overcome all difficulties. The biggest difficulty in writing this script is how the heroine can bravely go her own way without being threatened by her own life and destiny, even though she is surrounded by a complex life experience and even hatred.

Liu Yuning plays Yan Zijing, a businessman from the Western Regions.

Theme: "Female+" themes will become the next trend

Beijing News : The original novel is relatively short and does not have a particularly complete and rich story. Why did the series end up focusing on business?

Futian: Although the original novel of only has tens of thousands of words, within these few tens of thousands of words, some clues can be seen about the characters, especially the heroine. When the heroine first started fishing for pearls, did she like pearls? I think I don't like it. She actually hates pearls and has no concept of jewelry. After she followed the male protagonist to the west, she gradually realized in the process of doing business that jewelry is not just a commodity, it is actually a presentation of beauty.

Beijing News: "Jade Curtain" is a legendary costume drama, and costume dramas with female protagonists have always been a popular category on the market. In your opinion, what new expectations do audiences have for costume dramas about women?

Futian: Dramas with heroines in ancient costumes have been popular for several years. This also reflects that while the audience expects emotional dramas, they also look forward to the heroine's free and sassy spirit, and increasingly value career elements. Compared with most female themes in ancient costumes, which start from adversity such as the family home and start the plot from marriage and love, the heroine of "Pearl Curtain" faces wolves, tigers and leopards from the beginning, which is a real desperate situation. For her, her family, country, and world are far away, and the danger of life and death is closer.

Beijing News: The play integrates female themes with traditional culture, business and other elements. In your opinion, will the "female +" theme become the next trend?

Futian: "Pearl Curtain and Jade Curtain" is a fusion of female themes and traditional cultural and business elements. I think the "female +" theme will become the next trend. Our first female-only shows started in the 1990s, like Cravings. The initial female themes focused on love and marriage. Later, female themes began to talk about gender emotions, and then female themes began to talk about the harem, the workplace, and court struggles that women could also participate in. Now, with the awakening of women's consciousness, people increasingly feel that women's careers are also important, which means that we must learn from the excellent female characteristics in traditional culture and abandon the outdated dross. When adapting, this contemporary sense should be brought into the ancient costume themes, instead of making the female characters in ancient costume themes appear feudal and decadent than today's people.