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TV dramas lure audience with changing content
(China Daily)
Updated: 2005-01-17 08:41
Chinese people have developed different expectations towards movies and TV
soap operas, as TV ratings last year showed.
The poster of the
TV series "Chinese-Style Divorce" (Zhongguoshi
Lihun) | They are drawn to TV dramas that reflect
the daily lives of ordinary Chinese, even though they may expect the dazzling
action scenes and special effects from movie blockbusters such as "Hero"
(Yingxiong), "House of Flying Daggers" (Shimian Maifu) and "Kung Fu Hustle"
(Gongfu),which follow in Hollywood's footsteps.
Audiences go to movie theatres to enjoy audio and visual feasts, but when
they sit in front of TV sets, they smile and cry together with fictional figures
whose stories are similar to theirs.
Most of the soap operas that have been hits on TV over recent years are those
closely related to stories of common people their life crises, the puzzles they
confront, and all the trivia that complete mundane life.
The past year is no exception.
Family matters
A batch of soap operas became prime-time hits, with "Chinese-Style Divorce"
(Zhongguoshi Lihun) being the most popular one.
Starring Chen Daoming and Jiang Wenli (both among China's best actors and
actresses), the 22-part serial tells the story of a suspicious wife and a
broken-down husband.
It was aired across the country in the fourth quarter of last year. According
to a survey by AC Nelson, its TV ratings surpassed 10 per cent in most cities,
and even hit 20 per cent in some cities.
At the end of 2004, it was awarded "TV drama of the Year" by the"New Weekly"
magazine.
The novel of the same title has also sold well. The first print run hit
100,000 copies, and became a bestseller immediately after it appeared on the
market.
Enthusiastic discussions on the drama flooded the message boards of
entertainment websites.
Its Chinese title is also among Baidu and Google's most frequently searched
keywords in 2004.
TV insiders attribute the success of "Divorce" to its vivid depiction of the
contemporary Chinese life.
Divorce used to be taboo in the Chinese society, but with people caring more
and more about personal values and the quality of marriage, it is no longer
considered unacceptable.
The revised Marriage Law, which took effect in 2001, also loosened up legal
standards in divorce suits.
As a result, the divorce rate in China rose from 0.07 per cent in 1980 to
0.21 per cent last year, as statistics from the Ministry of Civil Affairs show.
Many people say that the drama more or less reflects their own lives.
After watching the drama, some couples realized that they have the same
problems and set out to improve relations, according to Wang Hailing,
screenwriter of "Divorce."
"Such interaction shows that TV drama is not only a vehicle to express
people's dissatisfaction. It also helps improve relationships," Wang said.
Other soap operas similar to "Divorce" are "Eldest Sister" (Dajie),
"Mother-in-Law" (Popo) and "Romantic Things" (Langman De Shi). Their TV ratings
ranged between 7.5 to 8.5 per cent when they were aired at the China Central
Television (CCTV).
Although the dramas vary in storylines, they have common aspects most are
about family relationship in urban areas, and thus are regarded as a genre
dubbed "Ethic Drama."
The genre tends to portray love affairs, marriage, and other family issues in
a highly realistic and worldly manner, instead of abstracting and romanticizing
the issues as the Taiwan and Hong Kong TV soap operas adapted from novels by
Taiwan writer Chiungyao did.
Idealistic and abstract expressions, which were common in TV dramas several
years ago, have faded, thus making the dramas more believable and closer to real
life.
These fresh TV dramas have the power to reach into the bottom of hearts.
According to Meng Xianhua, a divisional director at the Beijing TV Station,
at last year's Shanghai International TV Festival which ended in June, dramas
about family life accounted more than 17 per cent of the total trade volume.
"TV drama is an art for ordinary people. The secret of success is to mirror
ordinary people's sentiment and their lives," said Zhang Jinbiao, director of
"Eldest Sister."
Over recent years, martial arts TV dramas have been cranked out one after
another.
Kung fu and pop idols
But in 2004 the passion for martial arts, which was brought along by"Smiling,
Proud Wanderer" (Xiao Ao Jianghu) in 2000, abated.
The TV drama
"Goodbye Vancouver" (Biele, Wengehua) proved to be another hit
during the year 2004. | The only drama
of this genre last year was "Demi Gods and Half Devils" (Tianlong Babu), which
was aired in early 2004.
While "Wanderer" was bluntly criticized by most people, "Demi Gods" received
much better responses.
According to a survey held by Sina.com, one of the leading Chinese language
web portals, as many as 75 per cent of people ranked it as "good," 17 per cent
ranked it as "average," and less than 8 per cent regarded it as a "bad
production."
Pop idol soap opera was also a major TV drama genre last year, with "Goodbye
Vancouver" (Biele, Wengehua) and "Love from the Aegean Sea" (Qingding Aiqinhai)
getting popular.
The genre is characterized by heart-throb actors, pretty actresses, colourful
settings and unrealistic affluence, rather than strong characters and emotional
storylines.
Experts argued that almost all of Chinese mainland's pop idol dramas are
still under-developed, lagging far behind those produced in China's Taiwan
Province as well as in Japan and South Korea. Most of those dramas were merely
cheap imitations of South Korean productions and had no artistic value.
Imported South Korean soap operas still have a huge influence among Chinese
television viewers. For example, the viewer rating of the 120-part "The Last
Empress" hit 4.2 per cent, though it was aired after 10 pm at night.
By contrast, Hong Kong and Taiwan TV productions have lost a greater share of
the mainland entertainment market. In the 1980s, almost every TV channel was
flooded with TV drama series from Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Mainland TV drama began to evolve and gain popularity gradually among local
audiences in the first half of the 1990s, and has gained significant regional
attention now.
Many mainland productions have been aired and made huge hits in Hong Kong and
Taiwan, for example "Yongzheng Court" (Yongzheng Wangchao).
Since the end of 2004, "War and Beauty" (Jinzhi Yuyie), the latest history
drama from the Hong Kong Television Broadcast Company (TVB), spread quickly on
VCD and DVD on the mainland.
Although it has not been officially aired on the mainland, the drama, which
swept most awards for TV drama in Hong Kong last year, has already become the
most welcome Hong Kong production on the mainland.
Competitive business
For years Chinese TV dramas have been doing much better than the movie
sector. Easier entry for private investment and more liberal screening have
allowed TV dramas to boom, making watching TV the dominant nightlife
entertainment for ordinary Chinese.
But it seemed that changed a little bit last year, with three domestic movie
blockbusters each simultaneously reaping more than 100 million yuan (US$12
million) in revenue, an unprecedented state of affairs.
Movies' total box-office revenue skyrocketed 50 per cent to 1.5 billion yuan
(US$180 million) in 2004, and the total earnings of the whole movie business may
hit 3.6 billion (US$433 million), the State film authority estimates.
On the other hand, according to a CCTV survey, total viewer ratings for
prime-time TV drama series across the country dropped 4 percentage points in the
first half of last year.
However, insiders say that does not indicate the shrinking of the soap opera
market. "The output of TV dramas rose 10 per cent from 2003 to more than 11,000
episodes last year," said Jin Delong, director of the Department of TV Dramas of
the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television.
According to Jin, TV commercials aired before TV soap operas, the most
watched television programmes in China, are the most important revenue source
for TV stations.
Every year, soap operas bring about 22 billion yuan (US$2.65 billion) in ad
revenue for 2,000 plus TV stations across China, dozens of times that of movies'
box-office revenue.
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