Guangming Daily talks about IP-adapted TV series: some works have traffic but no quality

In 2000, the TV series "The Song of the Palace of Ming Dynasty" directed by Li Shaohong was popular in the streets and alleys, and its unique aesthetics made the drama a classic in the hearts of countless people. In 2021, "The Song of the Palace", also directed by Li Shaohong, suffered a disastrous reputation.

Recently, Guangming Daily published an article reflecting on the recently popular IP creation model, stating that some works adapted from IP have traffic but no quality, and it is not worth the loss to overdraw the "mass base" gathered by IP with shoddy works.

The so-called IP drama refers to a TV series or film adapted from domestic original online novels, games, animations, etc. that have a certain number of fans. After the great success of IP dramas such as "Celebrating Yu Nian", IP dramas have also been recognized by the market.

The "2020 Online Original Program Development Analysis Report" shows that among the 202 online dramas last year, more than 30% were adapted from online novels.

However, despite the popularity of IP dramas, not all of them have been as popular as Joy of Life. Also directed by Li Shaohong, The Palace of Ming Dynasty in 2000 scored a high score of 9.1 on Douban, while The Palace of Song Dynasty in 2021 scored below 4.0.

Currently, the Douban score of "The Palace of Song Dynasty" is only 3.8.

As the "white moonlight" in the hearts of countless people, "The Song of the Palace of Ming Dynasty" is obviously a big IP widely recognized by the market. On the 14th, Guangming Daily published an article stating that in recent years, the creative thinking of "riding the IP bandwagon" has prevailed in literary and artistic creation, but IP is not a "talisman" for literary and artistic works. "The Song of the Palace of Ming Dynasty" is the latest example of IP failure.

Guangming Daily believes that with the classic appeal and nostalgia that "The Song of Palace" had previously built up among the audience, "The Song of Palace" should have set off another viewing boom. However, the drama has an obvious "collapse" in storytelling. The uncoordinated narrative often gives people a sense of rush. Some scenes are superficial, some are too legendary, and some lack restraint.

The Palace of Songs is not the only IP drama that suffered a Waterloo. Another similar drama is Ode to Joy 2, whose somewhat out-of-control plot weaving and the "anxiety-selling" effect caused by the topic effect have largely damaged the reputation that Ode to Joy had accumulated before.

In fact, IP dramas began to show their shortcomings as early as 2018. The entertainment review account "Guduo Network Film and Television" once published an article stating that since the second half of 2018, IP dramas have encountered problems one after another. Rough production, excessive adaptation, and IP abuse have caused chaos in online IP adaptations. Many big IP adaptations were launched with great expectations, but ended in a mess amid public complaints, and a large amount of capital failed to obtain the expected benefits.

However, as long as the adaptation method is appropriate, IP dramas can also achieve good results. The TV series "The Great River" and "The Great River 2", which were derived from A Nai's novel "The Great River Goes East", are examples of successful IP drama adaptations.

Guangming Daily believes that "Long River" cleverly extracts the main ideas and artistic essence from the original work at the spiritual and story levels, and rationally transforms the realistic logic of the difficulty of reform into the logic of dramatic creation, which not only achieves the brand effect of the play itself, but also allows the audience to understand the "big things of the country" through the hardships and dreams of the characters in the play.

Guangming Daily believes that the key to IP adaptation lies in transformation, and the essence of transformation lies in finding the communication codes and dialogue paths of two or more expression discourse systems. This kind of communication and dialogue must be deep rather than superficial, and should touch upon universal values ​​and human nature, uphold a highly inclusive artistic outlook, and respect the essential laws of aesthetics. The movie "Hello, Li Huanying", derived from the stage sketch of the same name, uses the core creativity of the original work and explores the theme in greater depth and breadth, establishing a deep artistic connection between the sketch and the movie, and ultimately becoming a typical case in which the derivative work surpasses the original work in terms of aesthetic value and social impact.

Regarding the current chaos of IP dramas, Guangming Daily commented that whether it is original or adapted from IP, telling a good story is the only way to create literary and artistic masterpieces. Especially under the influence of IP thinking, some creators inevitably develop an inert mentality and speculative ideas of "pulling a big banner to cover up a tiger" and "leaning on a big tree to enjoy the shade", trying to rely entirely on the halo effect of previous successful works to achieve the purpose of gathering popularity and producing hits, while being passive and slack in storytelling. This indifference to the most fundamental artistic attributes of film and television works will inevitably lead to audiences not buying it, and using shoddy works to overdraw the "mass base" condensed by IP is not worth the loss.