In the first year of Yongzheng, 17-year-old took part in the conscription with her good sisters eyebrow zhuang and Ling Rong. She had the idea of filling the number, but the emperor preferred her wisdom, integrity and dignity, and finally the three were chosen together. However, due to Hua Fei's arrogance, eyebrow zhuang was wronged and Rong came to their senses. Naive Zhen Xuan gradually became a smart woman in the harem. When the emperor discovered Nian Gengyao's ambition, Zhen's father cut off the Nian Shi family and finally defeated Hua Fei. However, he was assassinated soon, and his father was involved in the literary inquisition and jailed. After giving birth to her daughter, Zhen Xuan, who was disheartened, chose to practice in the palace. Outside the palace, they loved each other and waited for an opportunity to fly away because of the careful care of the 17th master. Later, due to misinformation about the death of the 17th ancestor, Zhen Xuan designed to see the emperor and return to the palace to save the flesh and blood in his belly. Due to the birth of twins, Zhen Shi's father's unjust case was rehabilitated, and the Zhen Shi family rose again. Zhen Xuan evaded the Queen's frame-up many times and finally brought her down. Zhen Xuan, who can be deceived by nature and enjoy all the glory, can only watch his beloved 17th grandfather die in his arms. After the emperor died, Li Hong succeeded to the throne, and Zhen Xuan was honored as the Empress Dowager.
How to evaluate?
Ding Zhenhai, former editor-in-chief of the overseas edition of People's Daily, believes that the theme itself is different in size, but there is no difference between good and bad. Whether writing important history or trivial matters, whether writing emperors and generals or writing concubines and maids, the key lies not in what to write, but in how to write it, whether it has ideological depth and artistic value. The large-scale War and Peace, the exquisite and meaningful boule de suif, the magnificent Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and A Dream of Red Mansions all depend on the theme. The difference between The Queen in the Palace and other court dramas is that it has no intention to show the anecdotes of the romantic emperor and the pretty woman, but to face the decadent nature of the feudal emperor's life with critical realism and reveal the alienation of people in the evil feudal system.
"Recently, all walks of life have criticized some works in the' harem fever' on the screen. The fundamental purpose is not to cancel such themes, but to oppose the vulgarization tendency in the creation of such themes and the' follow the trend' that violates the law of creation. " Lee Joon, former vice chairman of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, said that those harem dramas criticized by everyone either "ignored the basic requirements of historical truth and subverted and weaved the overall orientation and relationship of important historical figures at will", or "completely abandoned the revelation of the basic social contradictions and historical themes at that time, mainly using the emotional waves and tactics of the harem to reveal the historical development", or "showed and beautified the jealousy and tactics in the harem life without criticism or even appreciation" and "The Queen of the Palace". As far as the guiding ideology is concerned, the key to success or failure lies in whether the creator explains the harem tactics with history or with harem tactics, infecting people with advanced culture or earning ratings by sensory stimulation and vulgar taste.
In this regard, Zhong, the former vice chairman of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, has the following attitude: "You can't fall into theme determinism at once, and the theme of harem should be restricted; Of course, it can't be said that the theme can be completely indifferent, because after too many similar themes, the ecological environment of the whole artistic creation will be unbalanced. "
Zhong believes that TV dramas with the same theme mainly depend on their value pursuit. All TV dramas that embody positive, healthy and serious value orientation and pursue truth, goodness and beauty should be supported; On the contrary, we should resolutely oppose it. Facing the audience, TV drama creators should lead rather than cater to them. Just like the creators in The Queen of the Palace, they should not follow the trend blindly, but should pursue different values in the same theme. This is the "real letting a hundred flowers blossom".
It is not a simple law that the height of a writer determines the height of a work. Harem is a masterpiece about the alienation of human nature. Finally, it was drawn as a panoramic symbol-palace, which is a deformed and morbid symbol of life structure and a dark cellar that corrodes human nature. The imperial power system is no different from Kafka's bureaucratic meat grinder. Professor Zhang Yuhua, director of the Academic Affairs Office of Communication University of China, said that the palace ladies' play tells the world that no matter what you shoot, the key lies in what values you shoot.
Zhang, Deputy Secretary-General of China Television Association, believes that "The Queen in the Palace" is the best work in the current pattern of ancient costume court dramas, not only because of its ups and downs, meticulous details and vivid characters, but also because of the depth and breadth of its ideological connotation. The play depicts the court life in form and spirit, and criticizes the feudal imperial power system.
All TV dramas with historical themes are artistic interpretations of history, and the real historical texts restrict the imaginary artistic texts and enrich the real historical texts. "The Queen in the Palace" interprets a well-written court story with a rigorous creative attitude, ups and downs, revealing a strong accusation and criticism of the decadent feudal monarchy.
"Let history be true, make history dramatic, and make drama historical. A real emperor propped up the historical pattern of this drama, and the core of this drama is Zhen Xuan. " Zeng Qingrui, a professor at Communication University of China, said that although Zhen Xuan is a fictional character, she is actually the epitome of countless harem women in China for thousands of years. As a special group, "harem women" among the concubines in the palace are surging among them. It's not just a struggle between women. Their status and honor are closely related to the rise and fall of their respective families. Their sorrow is that everyone has been killed and everyone is hurting others. This is the distortion and alienation of human nature by the backward system.
Lee Joon also believes that the adaptation of The Queen in the Palace to the original novel has increased the interpretation of the historical background of the drama series, created a real historical scene and atmosphere, and truly reflected the draft system and the six-palace system under the feudal imperial power system, which is not only the feudal rulers' hegemonic possession and monopoly of beautiful resources, but also the strangulation of young women and trampling on the dignity of life. The court culture soil can't grow a real tree of love, and the only way to end the tragedy is to bury the imperial power completely.
Zhang Yuhua said: "The play transcends the binary opposition of right and wrong, good and evil, evokes the elasticity of human nature, writes the terrible variation of human nature in extreme circumstances, and shows the helplessness, helplessness and tragic struggle of individual destiny in the face of huge history."
Although harem is not a historical drama in a strict sense, it explores between historical truth and artistic fiction. This drama is as critical and enlightening as the cultural reflection works that appeared in the late 1980s. Yin Hong, executive vice president of Tsinghua University School of Journalism and Communication, expressed his unique views. He said that the play basically depicts women in the harem from the standpoint of enlightenment. In the court struggle, some lives were destroyed, some dreams disappeared, and some personalities changed. Although the protagonist Zhen Xuan protected her love, her position and her children through fighting and won the honor, she lost the basic happiness and independent will that one wants. So this TV series is very different from most harem dramas. It regards the imperial court not as a peach blossom garden, but as a huge prison. In the end, Zhen Xuan's fate was bound by this prison and a mutated cultural state.
Liu Yuqin, deputy director of the People's Daily Literature and Art Department, also holds the same view. In her view, in the face of history, the concubines in the palace try their best to coordinate history and art, respect the laws of history, do not take the route of game play, pay attention to the excavation of connotation, and show the creator's respect for history and the ability and courage to grasp the relationship between history and art.
Empresses in the palace forged good aesthetic quality by tempering historical details. The actor's exquisite performance, exquisite props and excellent music production all bear the creator's artistic pursuit of Excellence, revealing a heavy sense of history and elegant cultural taste.
"In the Forbidden City, the towering high walls make people unable to see the peaks outside. We noticed this, so we spent a lot of time in post-production and erased all the mountains that appeared in the lens. " Director Zheng Xiaolong said. In order to personally feel the spatial environment of the characters in the play and create a real historical scene and atmosphere, he went to the Forbidden City several times before shooting, and made a detailed textual research on trivial issues such as how far the residence of the characters is from the imperial garden and the spatial relationship between the palaces.
It is this meticulous creative attitude that makes the empresses have a deep sense of history and cultural taste in the palace. Professor Yin Hong said with emotion: "The exquisiteness reflected in the art of the work also reflects its serious, responsible and worthwhile historical attitude."
Liu Yuqin noticed a detail. According to the strict hierarchical title, TV series arranged different styles of clothes for the concubines and maids around them. "Such details are enough to give insight into the founder's serious attitude towards history. In the process of showing the specific costumes of historical figures, the whole drama exposed the strict and cold hierarchy of feudal society and triggered people's thinking about the fate of mankind in a specific era. "
How the language of costume drama conforms to the characteristics of the historical era has always been a difficult problem for the creators. Empress's language in the palace is semi-illiterate and semi-illiterate. She learned a lot from the language of A Dream of Red Mansions. For example, Take a closer look, You Little Hoof, You are so alive, You are a distinguished guest, You will fall if you climb high, and so on. People who have seen A Dream of Red Mansions will feel deja vu when they see this place. Ding Zhenhai explained: "Because the plot scene is around the Yongzheng period, such language use is very appropriate."
Zeng Qingrui further pointed out: "The play does not simply quote A Dream of Red Mansions in language, but deeply digs the essence of the language charm of A Dream of Red Mansions, revealing sad colors in many places and having a tragic and beautiful charm."
Empresses and concubines in the palace consciously pursue cultural taste, talk about poetry and painting, play the piano and flute, enjoy plum blossoms and snow, and the breath of classical culture comes to their faces. Mao Peiqi, a professor in the history department of Renmin University of China, appreciates the cultural implication embodied by the concubines in the palace: "The times, scenes and costumes are self-evident, and some details, such as the vegetable jade on the sole, the brocade on the cheongsam and the fox fur on the coat, are all an inspiring article, which is enough to see the cultural and knowledge reserves created by the master." The basic necessities of life, medicines, utensils, etiquette and official system displayed in the play are all exquisite, and the emphasis on the authenticity of historical details undoubtedly increases the sense of history of the play.
Zhang Yuhua commented: "This drama has injected certain aesthetic vitality into today's costume court drama. His music greatly expanded the depth of the significance of the play, especially the constant humming without words in the main play, which is an eternal bitterness and a cry of human nature; There are gorgeous and plain lighting effects. In a word, The Queen in the Palace firmly and generously abides by the rhythm, scenes and other discourse forms of TV series, enhances the ontological characteristics of TV series, and provides enlightenment for China TV series in the critical period of aesthetic development.
"The Queen of the Palace" has achieved good ratings and reputation after being broadcast on various channels. In the chaos of "palace drama" on the screen, "The Queen of the Palace" provides reference experience for the creation of such themes with its profound critical significance.
At present, the ratings of "The Queen of the Palace" are very good at all ground stations. According to Cao Ping, the chief producer of the drama, the average daily audience rating of Guangzhou TV Station reached 6.39%, and that of Zhejiang TV Station reached 7.34% in less than two weeks. By the end of June, 5438+February1February, the ratings of TV channels in Beijing TV station exceeded 10.78%, ranking first in TV dramas around the world. Not only that, the play also gained a good reputation. "After seeing the concubines in the palace, I don't want to travel through ancient times. It is a feudal cannibal society, or it is better to live in a modern society. " The hearts of the audience who saw the queen in the palace were greatly touched.
It is precisely its practical significance that this costume drama touches the hearts of modern people. According to Yan Jingming, editor-in-chief of Wenyi Bao, "the queen in the whole palace shows modernity". Yan Jingming said that the greatest success of Harem lies in shaping the character Zhen Xuan. Zhen Xuan in the play is endowed with rare qualities: he doesn't love power in his bones, advocates freedom, pursues true love and is kind in nature. These rare qualities are also needed and cherished by modern people. In order to survive, Zhen Xuan finally had to move closer to power, rely on power to maintain his own survival, and even retaliate against others. The protagonist's helplessness and compromise widely exist in contemporary society. It is the emotion and experience vibration of the audience and the protagonist that produces spiritual singing.
The work "The Queen in the Palace" is aimed at the dilemma of balancing the artistic quality and economic benefits of TV dramas under the pressure of viewing. Suo Qian, vice chairman of the Beijing Federation of Literary and Art Circles, said that now we are in a market environment. All creators should not only consider whether the TV series is good-looking or not, but also consider whether it can have ratings and whether the investment can be recovered. It is commendable that the concubines in the palace can maintain their own quality in such an atmosphere. Suo Qian further pointed out, "In the current situation of serious TV series" getting together ",the success of" Palace Concubine "is actually a great risk. The contrarian trend of "The Queen in the Palace" reflects the irrationality of the current TV drama creation environment. " Suo Qian believes that the problem of "getting together" in the homogenization of TV dramas cannot be solved only by literary criticism and policy norms afterwards.
Wu Yong, Vice Minister of Culture of Beijing Evening News, said that the audience likes it. In fact, the audience is aesthetic. They can see what works with cultural pursuits are. They may not be able to clearly point out the strong critical spirit and social significance in the play like experts, but the fate of the characters in the play worries them. After watching the play, they know how to cherish their present life, and then they realize the practical significance of the play.
Lu Ying, deputy director of Beijing Radio and Television General Station, agrees with this. She said: "The queen in the palace needs several years to write the script and shoot it. At the untimely moment, at least from the viewing situation, the audience is discriminatory. They can accept this work after they are tired of the' court drama'. "
Television is the carrier of popular culture with great influence at present. "The history of the past is mainly read from books. Today, we can learn about it through TV and other media. It is the unshirkable responsibility of art producers to use modern mass media to spread correct historical views and values, improve people's historical and cultural literacy, and understand the historical spirit through art appreciation. From the concubines in the palace, we see the spirit of the creator, which is worth learning by all literary and art workers. " Liu Yuqin said.