"Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace" starring Zhou Xun
Gong Dou is undoubtedly one of the most beloved genre films among Chinese people. This can be seen from a simple fact: "Gong Dou" has become a special category independently from costume films, and Gong Dou has been launched in recent years. The drama always wins very high ratings and becomes a topic of discussion in the streets.
In addition to the fact that such films generally have a strong cast, the costumes and props are more visually impactful, and the plot twists can also satisfy people's entertainment needs, the reason why the Chinese have such a strong attachment to those films hundreds of years ago that were full of intrigues and often trivial I have a special liking for the plot, which is undoubtedly related to the special mentality of our society.
I say this because popular literature and art can often best reflect the soul of an era. Just as it is not difficult for us to see the plight and yearning of ancient farmers from folklore, or to discover the frustrations and longings of scholars from Liaozhai stories, today's film and television dramas performed every day in the living rooms of every household often reflect the lives of ordinary people. .
Xia Zhiqing once said that the novels of the Mandarin Duck and Butterfly School may not have literary value, but they can show "what kinds of daydreams Chinese readers like to do during the Republic of China." This sentence can also be used to describe what kind of daydreams are in front of the TV. Chinese people watching TV series.
The daydreams of contemporary Chinese people
One of the primary characteristics of the palace drama is that it is full of anachronism ().
Although the backgrounds of these dramas are all set in ancient times (especially the Qing Dynasty), neither the screenwriters nor the audience really regard them as history distant from themselves – on the contrary, it is precisely to let modern people Feel the same, otherwise it wouldn't have been a ratings success.
Although "Story of Yanxi Palace" is advertised as "restored", regardless of the scenery and props, the heroine Wei Yingluo's personality and value orientation are obviously modern.
In "Story of Yanxi Palace", Wei Yingluo fights monsters and upgrades all the way, almost defeating an opponent in every episode
Here, the "restoration" of history only has aesthetic and visual significance, and of course it is not a restoration to the real history (even if it is possible), because as popular entertainment, the first thing to do is to cater to the general potential psychology of the audience. In particular, it evokes a strong sense of immersion in them, as if they are the protagonist in the play.
This is achieved by at least the popular palace dramas: in fact, many people, consciously or unconsciously, regard these dramas as a guide to survival in the workplace or how to behave in the world.
Here, "history" is just an imaginary background. What is important is that the story projects people's daydreams: Although the background of the times is different, in essence it is like "The Domineering President Falls in Love with Me", which often presents a small character. Struggle and luck in complex environments.
Therefore, there is often a Cinderella complex hidden in the story. The protagonist is from an ordinary background, has no talent, is kind but is hated by others, and the only person who can change this unfair situation is at the top of the power structure and is often criticized by others. Blinded.
Slightly different from this character setting is "Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace". The protagonist was born in Fujin, and later became Qianlong's second empress. What's a bit special is that he had the last laugh with the protagonists in many palace battle dramas. Compared with the setting of "Ruyi", Ruyi did not have a good ending – which may in turn confirm the above view, because since Ruyi was not a small person at the beginning, he could not become a lucky Cinderella.
Since many of the rules in the palace are not open to the public, it makes people feel "scareful at every step". To gain a foothold in it and defeat monsters and avoid landmines step by step, a little person needs almost the same skills as "Tomb Raider".
Even if you don't want to fight for favor and power, you may not be able to live well, because the whole harem is like playing mahjong with the atmosphere of eating the family and guarding the family below. Therefore, in these stories, even the concubines who did not want to compete for favor in the end ended up being favored for various reasons. Join the struggle, because even to survive you have to fight back.
The ladies in the harem spent almost all their ingenuity on designing serial condoms. What was particularly important was giving birth to a dragon son, which was directly related to the mother's fate. Therefore, various medicinal materials of traditional Chinese medicine were exaggerated to the point of being magical in palace fighting dramas. , the imperial physician was a key figure, and musk has become a well-known infertility medicine – in "The Legend of Zhen Huan", it is almost a must-have for the concubines.
Since competition is a zero-sum game, friendship is unreliable: Although Yuying and Erchun in "The Golden Branch" formed a life-and-death friendship, they each had their own plans after entering the palace. But the paradox is that because the situation is too complicated, if you want to get ahead, you need not only a complex and deep mind, but also someone to help.
Due to some mysterious factors that are difficult to explain, there are always particularly infatuated people in palace dramas (such as Fu Heng in "Story of Yanxi Palace" and King Guo in "The Legend of Zhen Huan") who selflessly help the heroine, and This love is all the more pure because of its utter hopelessness (it is, after all, the Emperor's woman).
Except for this incredible Mary Sue-style love, there is actually no real love in the harem. In "Story of Yanxi Palace", they even used their feelings to assist themselves with peace of mind.
Women who want to find true love in the harem end up in tragedy, which was once an important proposition in palace dramas.
Even if the heroine was once truly favored by the emperor, a concubine's gain or loss of favor is usually not entirely due to her personal appearance, character or talent, but also to many political reasons that she cannot control (the Nian concubine and the concubine in "The Legend of Zhen Huan") This is true for the noble concubines in "The Story of Yanxi Palace"). Sometimes the emperor's favor towards them was just to take advantage of or fear the political power behind them, or "concubines are not allowed to interfere in politics" itself was the reason for falling out of favor.
In this way, feelings have also been politicized. Even if you can please the emperor, it may not be based on the heart-to-heart feelings between the two.
Although the emperor was also infatuated, his subjective feelings were elusive. For example, in "The Legend of Zhen Huan", the reason why Zhen Huan was favored was just because she looked like Empress Chunyuan, whom the emperor once loved. Of course, if the emperor is the protagonist, it is difficult not to make him a little infatuated and sincere, otherwise the audience will be too indifferent to him after all.
Despite this, many palace dramas emphasize that there is no real love, and the emperor does not allow himself to have it – he can "pet" a concubine, but he cannot "love" her.
This is more consistent with history. In fact, the original purpose of establishing the Chinese harem system was to ensure that the royal family had male heirs, so the relationship between the emperor and his concubines was not important at all.
Emperor Cheng of the Western Han Dynasty was lustful, and his minister Du Qin even advised him twice not to favor only one person, because this would not ensure the birth of a prince, and would easily lead to disputes in the harem: "If you like and hate, you will be favored by one person." "If favored by one person, the path to succession will be limited, and jealousy will arise." (Book of Han, Volume 60: Biography of Du Qin)
It's the same in Japan. In the shogun's palace, women compete for favor, but the interaction between the shogun and them is highly politicized and ritualized to ensure that personal feelings cannot affect the balance of power – there must even be a female officer who monitors the shogun's dormitory all night long. , this is to prevent the side room from blowing pillow wind to plead with the general to appoint a relative (see "Daou Nippon" by Moru Miya).
Stills from the Japanese drama "Oku" show that the shogun's inner palace in the Edo period was also full of palace battles, and side chambers were strictly prohibited from interfering in politics.
Here, emotion as a kind of personal will is not very important, because it is influenced by too many other forces. Strangely, this helplessness itself often strengthens people's feelings of true love and sympathy for the protagonist. Sometimes It even rises to a certain level of tragedy, as if the Cinderella in the palace is a modern person who has traveled back in time.
Chinese people love to watch palace battles. Of course, this may not necessarily be because it is like this in real life. After all, movies and TV dramas are always more dramatic.
As Naito Yasu said, although Japanese popular culture is full of pornography and violence, this is not necessarily because Japanese people have such repressed impulses hidden deep in their hearts. After all, “We are never so lustful in reality.” or cruel”.
This kind of entertainment is closer to Artaud's theory: "The audience can regard the play as a dream rather than a replica of reality… They allow themselves to wander in a wonderful and free dream. This freedom lies in After being rendered with fear and cruelty, it is recognized by the audience."
For today's office workers, real life itself is not without depression. Not only do they have to adapt to a changing market environment, they also have to face trivial matters and pressure from their bosses every day in the office. What's more, they have to deal with complex office politics. As for the legend that the power struggle in the company is like a TV series, it is everywhere. Almost every employee will say that he/she avoids office politics but is “everywhere.”
The popularity of palace fighting dramas is largely due to the fact that they look "ancient" at first glance, but are actually quite "realistic". "Du Lala's Promotion" and "The Legend of Zhen Huan" are not only about the historical background , there is not much difference internally.
In fact, if there is any difference, it is that the palace battle drama can provide a more perfect background: it is far away from reality (so it can be boldly fictional), but it is in line with reality (so it can arouse resonance); it has both gorgeous scenery and ups and downs. plot; in addition, it can also combine the "rich family grudge" type and the "Cinderella" type story to fully satisfy people's sense of substitution.
China's daydreams do not include the theme of a woman's ambition and tragedy/Stills from the British drama "The Tudors"
Therefore, it is not difficult to understand another daydream that often appears in those dramas: in the Chinese version of "The Red and the Black", the last little person who rises step by step will always succeed, rather than perish like Julien; And, miraculously, after so many unscrupulous struggles, she often maintained a pure and almost intact personality. Even if the protagonist finally joins the palace fight, he can come back every time, and it is impossible to use some "harmful" methods like the darkened villain.
Usually, they have confidants who are devoted to them (supposedly because of their charisma), and they can keep their composure and set up traps for the bad guys to reap the consequences.
Even if sometimes the protagonist's methods are not necessarily glorious (for example, in "The Legend of Zhen Huan", Zhen Huan took abortion pills beforehand to dispose of the queen but falsely accused the queen; in "Story of Yanxi Palace", Wei Yingluo let lightning kill Concubine Yu to avenge her sister), But as long as they target bad guys rather than innocent people, they are immune to blame and may even appear to be happy with their revenge.
This is probably because Chinese people who pay attention to moral concepts find it difficult to like a morally flawed protagonist, but they can accept that she loses her innocence in a complicated environment – which does not seem to be her fault.
This is also quite different from Japanese dramas. In the classic Japanese drama "The White Tower", Goro Zaizen, who aggressively defeated everyone to climb up, finally fell short and died of a terminal illness. His personal image was also mixed between good and evil.
However, in Chinese stories, such small characters are often positive, and sometimes even appear to be very wise. They rarely fail in success. They usually end up smiling at the top after experiencing "startling steps". Although Wei Xiaobao in "The Deer and the Cauldron" has many shortcomings, which greatly violates the setting of "heroes" in traditional martial arts, he is undoubtedly such a "successful person".
Such a plot cannot simply be explained by the "Cinderella" motif. Rather, it is a path to success for little people with Chinese characteristics.
Gong Du: The epitome of Chinese family politics
Chinese people particularly love palace fighting dramas, probably because they are the most extreme form of Chinese family politics: the palace is actually a big family, and no one can leave freely in this closed structure, and they can only survive if they want to survive.
Individuals have no private life in it, and they have no right to stay alone, because even if you don't make trouble for others, trouble will find you. In this closed world with no escape, only patriarchy maintains its stability, and there is no way out in life. The only hope is to have your parents on your side.
There are no clear laws and regulations to rely on here, because the rules at home are self-evident, emotions are often more important than logic or rationality, and parents' will may change at any time, which makes every step must be adaptable. Take action.
This kind of family political game is obviously quite different from that in the West, so there is a saying: Foreigners know how to "compete," but Chinese people know how to "struggle."
Gong Dou is the ultimate version of Chinese family politics
Having experienced what may be the longest tradition of family politics in world history, the Chinese people are indeed very proficient in this aspect.
The two works generally recognized as the most outstanding among Chinese classical novels: "Jin Ping Mei" and "A Dream of Red Mansions" are both vivid embodiments of this kind of family politics. This also means that Chinese people have the strongest interest and deepest experience in this kind of subject matter. Therefore, Best at showing it off.
The family envelopes people's entire lives, and it's the same in the palace, with the same power structure and individuals who can't escape – no one can say that I am unhappy here and leave without serving the emperor. The only exit mechanism is death: Queen Fucha in "Story of Yanxi Palace" took the initiative to give up love and withdraw from the fight, but in the end she could only die.
Although "Jin Ping Mei" has a bad reputation, it is indeed groundbreaking in this regard. In "Introduction to Chinese Classical Novels", Xia Zhiqing criticized it quite a bit, but admitted that it was "the first real Chinese novel" and "a milestone in the history of the development of Chinese novels" because it "patiently describes a Chinese family" Vulgar and sordid daily chores” was revolutionary.
Andy Pu rated it much higher in "Four Wonderful Books of Ming Dynasty Novels", arguing that the novel's structural layout itself inspired "A Dream of Red Mansions": the "subtle and complex interpersonal relationships" in a deep house enclosed on all sides.
It can be said that all current palace fighting dramas are imitations of "Jin Ping Mei" to some extent. In "Jin Ping Mei", the plot of Pan Jinlian killing her son with a lion cat has been appropriated in palace fighting dramas. The personalities and situations of characters such as Wu Yueniang, Pan Jinlian, Li Ping'er, Meng Yulou and Sun Xue'e are often similar in palace fighting dramas. setting, because structurally both are similar: within a closed family structure, a group of women compete around a male center of power.
In "Jin Ping Mei", Pan Jinlian used a lion cat to murder Li Ping'er's child, which is also a common plot in palace fighting dramas.
Although modern palace fighting dramas no longer include Buddhist karma and retribution, but focus more on Cinderella narratives of small characters, they are all complex power games under a "quasi-family power structure."
Whether it is the modern landlord family in "Raise the Red Lantern" and "Orange Is Red", or the family feud in "The Mansion", as well as the endless palace fighting dramas nowadays, in the final analysis, it is the continuous interpretation of these family politics and remakes also prove that the Chinese people have a long-lasting and strong interest in this.
Although some people dissatisfiedly believe that the popularity of palace battle dramas is due to the obsession with the royal atmosphere of the old era, but to be fair, at least to a certain extent, this is also because it can better satisfy people's entertainment psychology: what else can be better than palace battles? A complex, exciting and thrilling Chinese-style family politics game?
"Raise the Red Lantern" stills
As Wu Fei said in the book "Floating Life", the family in Chinese culture is both the most sacred place and the most secular place, and there is no other transcendent value impulse; not only that, family politics is omnipresent , "often a series of interlocking power games."
There is no justice or fairness in the general sense here, but relies on emotional intimacy and respectful relationships. Therefore, the most grievances of Chinese people are often "you don't understand my feelings." This is not a universal principle of fairness, but a self-expected relationships.
In this sense, Chinese people are born to be politicians: because everyone who grows up in a traditional family learns from childhood how to observe words, behave and respond to the expectations of others. A person who does not know how to "be a human being" is destined to suffer. .
Another important argument made by Wu Fei is that in the power game of family politics, "what determines the outcome is not only strength, but also moral capital." The so-called "moral capital" refers to the things in a family that are recognized as beneficial to the whole family. Words, deeds, or status.
Palace fighting drama is like an upgraded version of this kind of family politics, but because it involves greater power, more characters, and more intense struggles, it is impossible for the emperor, as the patriarch of the family, to know everything clearly, making the whole situation more complicated. Complex, nuanced and unpredictable; but one thing remains the same: the winner must have the moral advantage.
Although the protagonist finally gained the upper hand in the palace fight, he often showed that he wanted to withdraw from it, saying, "I don't want to fight at all, but you insist on forcing me to fight." Some of those who failed were inferior in skills, while others were capable but their "bad things" were exposed, they lost their moral high ground and were relegated to the sidelines.
This line in "The Gate of the Mansion" can be compared with what Liu Xianglian said in "A Dream of Red Mansions": "Except for those two stone lions in your East Mansion, even the cats and dogs are not clean."
In this kind of political game, there are no absolute principles, because as Hou Xudong said in the book "Favor: Trust-Resignation Monarch Relationship and the Development of the History of the Western Han Dynasty", "From the emperor's point of view, being favored mainly depends on the emperor's own ability. Feelings often have nothing to do with the origin of the object" – but the trouble is, "the emperor's own feelings" are elusive.
This sometimes makes people very confused: How come the same thing is favored by the emperor in this play, but the emperor doesn't even look at it in that play? When he is not favored, he greets the Queen Mother every day, but sometimes he is still not favored, and it is useless for the Queen Mother to like him; but sometimes he is seen by the Emperor when he comes to greet the Queen Mother, creating an opportunity to meet, and then one day he complains of illness, and somehow the Emperor I just can’t let go of it.
This is not so much "feeling" as it is power, which makes the Chinese people put their intelligence and wisdom into how to "guess the meaning" and observe people's emotions.
People watch these dramas not just to watch a bunch of people fighting to the death in these dense cobwebs of interpersonal and power relationships, because Chinese people will relish seeing how to behave in complex environments. "Principles", and sometimes even read them as teaching materials and inspirational stories – at least "Dae Jang Geum" and "Dulala's Promotion" have such miraculous effects; private enterprise owners can even read them from " The management philosophy can be seen in "Yongzheng Dynasty"; as for how to be a boss and subordinate in the office from "Latent", someone has already summarized it.
Complex struggles in complex organizations, and good people will always encounter various hardships and tests. These are traditional themes in stories from all over the world, but the difference in China is that these hardships are not only often a stumbling block for intrigues, but also And all of this will ultimately be attributed to the ultimate truth that "everything depends on how to be a human being."
"Being a good person" does not necessarily mean being tactful, and its specific meaning is constantly changing.
In the Hong Kong drama "Golden Branch Desire" (2004), which can be regarded as the originator of palace dramas, the plot setting is relatively loyal to tradition: the battles between the concubines are ultimately shrouded in the patriarchal patriarchal power of the emperor; but over the years The palace fighting dramas are keeping pace with the times. The heroines are often set up with quite sharp personalities. They do not rely on resignation to achieve happiness like the protagonists in fairy tales. Instead, they rely on the opposite traits to stand out – such as being particularly stubborn, unwilling and unwilling. Will bow his head.
In "Story of Yanxi Palace", the heroine even said, "I, Wei Yingluo, am born with a bad temper and am not easy to mess with." This anti-traditional temperament not only defeats monsters and upgrades along the way, but also impresses others and joins their own camp. This is the aura of a well-deserved protagonist.
Obviously, this is also a new daydream arising from the gradual disintegration of family politics: people hope that they can not only stick to themselves, but also have a way to survive in an environment surrounded by powerful enemies.
The 2009 hit "Insidious", under the appearance of a spy drama, is actually about the complex struggles of interpersonal relationships and office politics, which are the most talked about among Chinese people.
This kind of entertainment combined with the Cinderella narrative creates a counter-historical story: it provides people with an opportunity to fantasize about a counterattack.
Since the advent of time-travel dramas, this has become even more perfect, because you can even travel back in time and start your life over with a new identity, as long as you seize the opportunity in front of you!
What is attractive here is not the twists and turns and vivid plot of Gong Du, but also the dreary tragic life under the inescapable power structure, and it becomes a comedic post-modern experience: the protagonist’s life is Like a role-playing game (RPG), its mission is to overcome various difficulties and achieve final victory.
Some people even realized the way to raise daughters after watching "Story of Yanxi Palace": Girls should also strive for strength, highlight their independence and "not to be messed with", know how to protect themselves, and finally seize the opportunity to change their own destiny. This It really turns fairy tales into dream life.
Time-travel stories such as "Bu Bu Jing Xin" and "Prince Concubine's Promotion" have turned this into a game of alternate history, and in the lexicon of this era, "success" is always a good thing no matter what. .
The parody of palace fighting structures in university academic circles
Of course, the reason why these plots continue to attract people is that the structural characteristics of many organizations in Chinese society are still like big families. "How to behave" in office politics is also the most personal and personal experience of the ordinary middle class. The most profound experience.
Especially in many organizations where complete systems and rules have not yet been formed, daily operations are inevitably deeply imprinted by the leader's personality. Many things can be relaxed or tightened, all under the control of this person's power. The subtlety of all this lies in how everyone understands and uses it.
This kind of thinking does not seek change, but just adapts to limited resources in an uncontrollable environment. The reason why "being a human being" is so important is because it is difficult to turn to the law for these daily subtleties, and you can only rely on your own "character." As a middle-class working class with little sense of security (no one is indispensable, "everyone is a part-time worker"), people are naturally aware of this.
Although China's original extended family structure is constantly disintegrating in this era, "being a human being" is still regarded as an unchanging principle in interpersonal communication. Family politics may have gradually faded away and become a pastime and entertainment, but people still cannot avoid the almost isomorphic office politics, but now more emphasis is placed on self-realization in a complex environment.
To a certain extent, it can be said that as a social phenomenon, the popularity of palace drama seems to indicate that the new generation in China is both repressed and cautious, and at the same time extremely eager for the illusion of success. Rather than saying that they are not worried about losing themselves in the process of climbing up, it is better to say that they firmly believe that "everything is possible."
For many people with dreams, hard work is the only way to success. On this road, he may easily regard ambition as ambition, and the "competition" he understands may actually become "struggle". ".
