Post by Jackie on Oct 9, 2003 12:43:38 GMT -5
www.rubylin.cc/bbs/viewthread.php?tid=298
It Has Lost Zhang Ailing's Soul - Discussion of the Adaptation of TV Series "Ban Sheng Yuan"
Heard that they will broadcast TV series "BSY", an adaptation of Zhang Ailing's novel "18 Springs". How exciting. There are now too many ill-produced romance serials on TV, make people lose their appetite, hope Zhang Ailing's crystal-clear writing style can allow the audience to wash their eyes. Had seen director Xu Anhua's film "BSY", this writer believes "truly based on original work" is by no means a difficult task.
However, after watching several episodes, sensed something was not right. Manzhen should be a simple & peaceful person on the outside, a vivacious, strong & restrained woman on the inside. But in the series, she looks like a rich young lady. Not only are the clothes brightly colored, even the pajamas had laces on them. This doesn't look like a girl coming from a poor family. In the book, the older sister Manlu is an already color-faded prostitute, in the series she suddenly looked all youthful, this makes it hard for people to understand which direction her destiny is moving: such splendor looking, why condescend/stoop to marrying Zhu Hongcai, & entrapping her younger sister like that? Furniture in the Gu household was too fine, very different from the novel's description. This reflects the director/writers' lack of confidence in the characters' directions & the environment. Sichun's irritability & Cuizhi's bad temperament, are also much different from the original novel.
The most difficulty thing for people to accept is, insignificant side details in the plot seriously limited the space for the main storyline to develop. Can't believe that some viewers still ask this question: Is the actual leading lady Manzhen or Manlu? The audience don't know whether to laugh or cry.
In Zhang Ailing's novel, Manzhen was the center, was definetely the lead, her & Sichun's pure love, joys & sorrows, & separation, is a thorough story line. Zhang Ailing, through their story, displayed her understanding of "fate" & "missed opportunities", & also displayed the tragedy of a young female intellectual of that era, plus the similarly well-described supporting characters like Manlu, Cuizhi, Shuhui, Mujin, made "18 Springs" to appear three-dimensional. But in the TV version, the scenes for Manlu, Zhu Hongcai, & Sichun's father's had been greatly expanded, even added the character of Yang Zhenyuan, who did not even exist in the original novel. At least so far, each of these episodes nearly showed them busily running around[meaning revolves around them], so difficult to catch even one glimpse of the lead. The novel's original social value has been greatly weakened. Perhaps some people will refute: most of these characters exist in the book, those situations may also happen to them. However, take Chinese medicine as an example, if the quantity of each compenent in the prescription changed, the efficacy of the drug will be completely different. It was as if the director/writers had already decided to make it 35 episodes. Therefore, they greatly expanded the novel's plot, but these additions failed to make it better. By doing this, is it still a work of Zhang Ailing's? To revise[or adaption a novel], the most important thing is to display the original novel's soul and style. If Zhang Ailing's novel's calm/restraint characteristic failed to be displayed, & making it like a noisy, battling marketplace, then this one is no different from those new romance serials that called themselves Old Shanghai dramas.
It Has Lost Zhang Ailing's Soul - Discussion of the Adaptation of TV Series "Ban Sheng Yuan"
Heard that they will broadcast TV series "BSY", an adaptation of Zhang Ailing's novel "18 Springs". How exciting. There are now too many ill-produced romance serials on TV, make people lose their appetite, hope Zhang Ailing's crystal-clear writing style can allow the audience to wash their eyes. Had seen director Xu Anhua's film "BSY", this writer believes "truly based on original work" is by no means a difficult task.
However, after watching several episodes, sensed something was not right. Manzhen should be a simple & peaceful person on the outside, a vivacious, strong & restrained woman on the inside. But in the series, she looks like a rich young lady. Not only are the clothes brightly colored, even the pajamas had laces on them. This doesn't look like a girl coming from a poor family. In the book, the older sister Manlu is an already color-faded prostitute, in the series she suddenly looked all youthful, this makes it hard for people to understand which direction her destiny is moving: such splendor looking, why condescend/stoop to marrying Zhu Hongcai, & entrapping her younger sister like that? Furniture in the Gu household was too fine, very different from the novel's description. This reflects the director/writers' lack of confidence in the characters' directions & the environment. Sichun's irritability & Cuizhi's bad temperament, are also much different from the original novel.
The most difficulty thing for people to accept is, insignificant side details in the plot seriously limited the space for the main storyline to develop. Can't believe that some viewers still ask this question: Is the actual leading lady Manzhen or Manlu? The audience don't know whether to laugh or cry.
In Zhang Ailing's novel, Manzhen was the center, was definetely the lead, her & Sichun's pure love, joys & sorrows, & separation, is a thorough story line. Zhang Ailing, through their story, displayed her understanding of "fate" & "missed opportunities", & also displayed the tragedy of a young female intellectual of that era, plus the similarly well-described supporting characters like Manlu, Cuizhi, Shuhui, Mujin, made "18 Springs" to appear three-dimensional. But in the TV version, the scenes for Manlu, Zhu Hongcai, & Sichun's father's had been greatly expanded, even added the character of Yang Zhenyuan, who did not even exist in the original novel. At least so far, each of these episodes nearly showed them busily running around[meaning revolves around them], so difficult to catch even one glimpse of the lead. The novel's original social value has been greatly weakened. Perhaps some people will refute: most of these characters exist in the book, those situations may also happen to them. However, take Chinese medicine as an example, if the quantity of each compenent in the prescription changed, the efficacy of the drug will be completely different. It was as if the director/writers had already decided to make it 35 episodes. Therefore, they greatly expanded the novel's plot, but these additions failed to make it better. By doing this, is it still a work of Zhang Ailing's? To revise[or adaption a novel], the most important thing is to display the original novel's soul and style. If Zhang Ailing's novel's calm/restraint characteristic failed to be displayed, & making it like a noisy, battling marketplace, then this one is no different from those new romance serials that called themselves Old Shanghai dramas.
