The suspense drama “Jiang Zhao Liming” provides a valuable perspective for the audience in the shaping of female characters.The picture above shows the warm gesture between Li Xiaonan, played by Ma Sichun, and Wang Cheng, played by Bai Ke. The left picture shows the grandma played by Li Xiaonan and Zhao Shuzhen.
Tan Jie
Many cultural theories have tried to prove that women in film and television, on the big screen and on the small screen, are the ones to be stared at. In recent years, suspense-type online dramas that have repeatedly become popular have also followed this theory, and female characters have gradually become the focus and main characters of such dramas.
The recently concluded suspense drama “Jiang Zhao Dawn”, despite the lack of decryption in the second half and the procrastination of the plot caused the ratings to go up and down, this story about how women save themselves in marriage and the shaping of female characters are still for the audience. Provides a valuable perspective to better understand the situation of women. A woman is a mystery, and a woman like a “mystery” is very attractive, but in a film and television work, the true vitality of a female character after solving the “mystery” is more attractive to the audience. .
Ma Sichun, who was re-evaluated because of her role
“Jiang Zhao Dawn” was on the air at the time when the recurring brain-burning drama “The Beginning” was on the air. The most important reason for its ability to break through and gain attention was the role of Li Xiaonan played by Ma Sichun. Previously, Ma Sichun had caused a lot of negative comments in other film and television works because of his round body, but in “Jiang Zhao Liming”, such a figure has become a plus. The protagonist Li Xiaonan is an ordinary woman who works hard for stability. If she hadn’t found out about her husband’s betrayal and malicious harm and rose up to save herself, she might have lived forever working in a real estate agency during the day and cooking at a night market stall at night. This is a burden of life that requires a certain amount of physical strength and energy. For shaping such a character, Ma Sichun, who has a fat body, fits the role very well. In addition, the hairstyle is simple and the clothes are simple. Most of them are matched with plaid shirts and knitted cardigans. Mid-skirts or wide-leg pants, with light purple as the main tone, did not make the audience feel that there was an effort to modify the figure, and the overall perception was mainly gentle and friendly. With all these, Li Xiaonan’s character was believed and accepted by the audience as soon as she appeared on the stage: her image is like the common women around us, adding a lot of real texture to daily life.
The degree of fit between the actor’s external image and the character certainly determines the audience’s “first impression” of the character, but the presentation of a character mainly depends on the actor’s professional performance. The visual “fat” is a manifestation of an external force in coping with life and resisting injury. Ma Sichun made good use of his body characteristics to perform. Actions such as brushing the pot truly reproduce the character’s very life-like state. In the scenes of learning to swim, deep diving and finally being pushed into the river to save himself, Li Xiaonan’s strong desire to survive is brought to the audience through a series of postures and actions. In front of the eyes, and let the audience accept the plot setting of Li Xiaonan’s successful landing. At the same time, Ma Sichun did not bring the external “Confucian strength” into the expression of the character’s heart and emotions, but coordinated and unified the two sides of women’s “hardness” and “softness” in one role, and then display accurately. For example, Ma Sichun’s way of speaking and tone of Li Xiaonan’s performance is generally “soft”, without edges and corners. In the processing of lines, he is mainly angry, and the emotions in his eyes are always very restrained, with kindness, gentleness and unbearable. Main tone. The unity and stability of Ma Sichun’s performance in the play maintains the internal and external consistency of Li Xiaonan’s character, especially in the face of Hong’s repeated provocations, he is still tolerant and soft. This is actually very important, because it avoids the danger of the audience’s perception of Li Xiaonan from falling from inner strength to black belly revenge. In fact, it also avoids the audience’s suspicion that the heroine in this suspenseful crime drama stimulates her husband to commit murder. A discussion of whether the conduct is completely just and legitimate.
It is precisely because of the precise understanding of the role and the handling of the performance that Ma Sichun successfully shaped the role of Li Xiaonan, and accurately conveyed the female power and femininity of forbearance, strength, tolerance, and redemption in this role. Therefore, the scene that has been shown many times in the play, that is, Li Xiaonan dragging a heavy scooter after closing the stall, like Sisyphus, seems to be climbing up with all his strength at every step, which makes the audience so moved.
From female stars to actresses, the topic of body shape has always revolved around Ma Sichun. In the current popular culture, there are too harsh requirements for women’s bodies, and there is also a richer and more ambiguous interpretation of the relationship between the character Li Xiaonan and the actor Ma Sichun. The audience likes the role of Li Xiaonan created by Ma Sichun. “Fat” may be just one of the dominant factors, but behind it lies the audience’s desire to abandon the “white, young and thin” single stereotyped aesthetic in the creation of film and television dramas, and to shape the film and television works closer to reality. The desire for life, more real and palpable characters.
Female role-building under suspense genre
In recent years, suspense-type web dramas have tended to push female characters to the core position of viewing. Last year, iQIYI Mist Theater mainly promoted “Octagon Pavilion Mist” and “Who is the Murderer”. Hao Lei and Zhao Liying starred in the two dramas respectively. However, the response after the broadcast was not as expected. It’s not easy to win the audience’s favor with female characters.
Aside from the differences in the actors’ performance styles, only starting from the shaping of female characters, comparing Li Xiaonan in “Jiang Zhao Dawn” with the female characters in the same type of drama, it is obvious that the former can more affect the hearts of the audience. Xuanzhu played by Hao Lei in “The Misty of the Octagonal Pavilion” is blurred, emotional, with a sense of vulnerability, and is specially designed to heal the trauma of the teenager and reconcile with his family; in “Who is the Murderer”, the psychiatrist Shen Yu played by Zhao Liying is persistent and rational , looking for his father wholeheartedly, he did not hesitate to try his own way to make up for the regret of the lack of fatherly love. They either show the delicate emotions of women, or they obviously carry the complexity of human nature specially made for suspense creation, although the finale of the series is all “reconciliation” and “reunion”, which serve the creation of suspenseful plots. , the female characters who are dominated by a specific type of goal, but it is difficult to gain the audience’s resonance.
Li Xiaonan in “Jiang Zhao Liming” is like a heroine who came out of social news, and also like an ordinary woman around us. This character expresses the typical maternal traits of women and the aspirations of ordinary women for a happy family in a direct and natural way. After realizing that she was facing danger in her married life, Li Xiaonan always endured and persevered, taking every step of the way, and finally saved herself, protected her family, and helped other women around her. Such a role can undoubtedly bring inspiration and strength to people. As the screenwriter Cao Xiaotian said: “Because in the real marriage relationship, most of the women who are victimized do not have the courage and opportunities like her. Li Xiaonan is a fictional character, and it is also a hope and blessing for women.”
Around the heroine Li Xiaonan, in “Jiang Zhao Liming”, female characters such as Li Munan, Yu Hong, Nian Nian, and mother were also expressed to varying degrees, establishing a group portrait of women close to contemporary real life. Formed a mutual reflection, and the mutual help between them makes the film show the background of warmth. “When someone reaches out to pull you, you can grab that hand…” The heroine Li Xiaonan and the hero Wang Cheng have reached out to each other several times, re-establishing the relationship between the sexes, the individual and the society. The relationship of mutual trust is also a very powerful warm encouragement for the audience, making us believe that Li Xiaonan, a fictional character and the story that happened to her, may actually happen, and still be able to gain strength from her, continue Be sincere and passionate about the world.
There has always been only a wall between suspense genres and social reasoning dramas. Suspense-type realist works are inseparable from the reflection and excavation of human nature and social nature. The twists and turns of the plot and the typicality of the characters are important, but a literary and artistic work needs to guide positive humanistic values and find the characters and stories. The way out must not be ignored. Obviously, “Jiang Zhao Liming” basically realized the creator’s observation of social and human values through the shaping of the female role of Li Xiaonan. During the broadcast of the show, whether domestic violence, private installation of cameras, and gambling debts are the common causes of husband and wife. Debt, etc. have become popular words in the French. It is precisely because of this that the weakness of the narrative and the lack of suspense design in the second half of the play are all the more regrettable. Because the social value of a work is ultimately realized by its artistic value.
(The author is an associate researcher at Shanghai Art Research Center)
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责编：张晓荣 ]