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QINGDAO TODAY
在线翻译:
szdaily -> Opinion -> 
Poor-quality script can’t win viewers
    2020-04-20  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

Tan Yifan

ceciliatan2006@126.com

THE Chinese long video market has seen a steep climb since the Spring Festival due to the wild and widespread coronavirus, which has kept people from going out. According to the data released by Enlightent, an entertainment data analytic company, a total of 133 drama series were screened in the first quarter on three main video websites — Youku, iQIYI and Tencent, an increase of 36 from the same period of last year.

Although there have been increases in both TV and online viewers as well as increased audience ratings, none of the big-budget and most-recommended dramas became a hit or won a high score on Douban, a Chinese film and book review platform. Even the most anticipated drama “I Will Find You a Better Home” that had teamed up with famed scriptwriter Liuliu and actress Sun Li has failed to woo viewers.

Despite the fancy lineup and big-budget studios, those dramas were all troubled with a common problem – poorly written scripts, which often result in ridiculous plots.

For instance, to highlight the protagonist, the scriptwriters often ignored the common practice within a profession or the key to success. Problems were always resolved easily and unexpectedly and the leading roles could always win no matter how poorly they behave. In the drama “Perfect Partner” (scored 4 out of 10 points on Douban), which depicts the lives of public relation workers in Shanghai, the heroine always violates the rules of her profession, but eventually becomes the most valuable PR in Shanghai.

To deliberately create a buzz among viewers or make headline-grabbing topics on the Internet, the scriptwriters tend to give tragic family stories to the leading role and add love affairs to the plotline. In the drama “I Will Find You a Better Home” (scored 6.2 out of 10 points on Douban), which tells the story of real estate agents, the dramatic conflict of the peerless heroine comes from her wretched family background: a poor family that gives privilege to men over women. Scriptwriters of “Better Home” (screened in March 2019) had apparently hoped to replicate the success of “All is Well,” which discusses family relations, by using the same plotline but ignoring the differences in drama themes. “All is Well” went viral for its heroine’s miserable family background.

To create a sense of “artsy,” some scripts disconnect the viewers from the reality. In “Imperfect Love” (scored 6.7 out of 10 points on Douban), a Chinese remake of the 2010 Japanese hit drama “Mother,” the phrases and way of expression in the lines are too artsy to fit the characters and setting of the career of the heroine.

Another problem of the dramas is the outdated values revealed in scripts. According to Enlightent, women have become the main audience for drama series in China. To cater to female viewers, more dramas are making the only leading role to be female. But instead of giving full freedom to woman characters, the female roles have to make compromises to traditional values and to woo male roles.

With big budgets, all-star crews, exquisite costumes and quality pictures, the dramas still flopped in the market. In fact, the problem has haunted Chinese film and drama series makers for a long time.

In recent years, a simple plot outline could attract big investment. Movie crews often began to work before a script was available.

Investors believed that as long as an Internet buzz was generated, more viewers would be attracted.

But as streaming platforms are changing strategies to win video-on-demand viewers, and all Internet drama producers must hand in the full script before applying for approval, as required by new regulations issued Feb. 6, downplaying the role of the script will have investors paying for stories’ shortcomings.

(The author is head of Shenzhen Daily’s Qianhai office.)

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Shenzhen Daily E-mail:szdaily@szszd.com.cn