news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

japan is going further and further down the path of "imitating others without success".

japan's wowow tv station announced that it would adapt "water margin" into a tv series.

as soon as this incident came out, it became a hot topic both at home and abroad.

japanese audiences are full of expectations.

but as the hometown of "water margin", our netizens' reactions are varied.

some people expressed curiosity about this new interpretation;

some people lamented that domestic directors ignored the four great classics, and believed that this allowed the japanese to pick up the slack;

some people are worried that the japanese version will lose the spirit of "water margin".

in fact, the version that japan is remaking this time is the water margin by kenzo kitagawa, and this version is completely different from the original story.

the 1973 japanese version of "water margin" was the trigger for the filming of the 1998 cctv version of "water margin", or to be more accurate, "a stimulus".

let me tell you in detail.

1973 japanese version of "water margin"

the earliest remake of "water margin" in japan was based on a comic of the same name serialized by japanese cartoonist mitsuteru yokoyama in "friends of hope".

once it was released, it became a huge hit and a "water margin fever" swept across japan.

yokoyama mitsuteru's comic water margin

taking advantage of this trend and the normalization of relations between china and japan in 1972, japan decided to spend 600 million to bring "water margin" to the screen.

song dynasty street scenery created by japan

on october 2, 1973, the japanese version of "water margin" was broadcast. the entire island country cheered for it and the ratings remained high.

the bbc quickly bought the copyright and dubbed it into english.

after it was broadcast in 1976, many foreign netizens recognized that the japanese version of "water margin" was the best tv series they had ever watched in their childhood.

bbc dubbing

in 1977, hong kong introduced the show and broadcast it, causing an uproar:

"this is the water margin? it's ruining a classic!"

why?

it’s just because the play has been changed too much and too radically.

the japanese version abandoned song jiang's role as the protagonist and replaced him with lin chong.

according to the japanese, "lin chong is a hero. his appearance fits the image of japanese bushido and there are many fighting scenes, which can fully meet the psychological needs and visual effects of the audience."

japanese version of lin chong

look at the shape again:

li kui, the iron horned one-eyed dragon yang zhi, the savage wu song...

after watching the japanese version, cctv decided to make its own version of "water margin".

a good horse deserves a good saddle. when remaking a classic, the director is the core.

but at that time, the academic community had a dirty word for literary adaptation:"adapting a famous work is like digging up one's ancestors' graves."

it is inevitable to be scolded.

besides, there are many good examples:

"journey to the west" is famous all over the world and its rebroadcast rate remains high; "dream of red mansions" is well-known in the north and south, and everyone praises its brilliance; although "romance of the three kingdoms" has not been broadcast, its great popularity has already been passed on by everyone.

who are you looking for?

after careful consideration, cctv's leadership team decided on one person, zhang shaolin, who had directed "romance of the three kingdoms".

zhang shaolin was under great pressure. after thinking it over, he decided on a tone:i am dedicated to adapting a good play, all for the purpose of avoiding being criticized.

before writing the script, zhang shaolin read "water margin" more thoroughly than anyone else, from every word and sentence written by shi nai'an to various opera versions.

but when it came to writing the script, he turned things around.

in the past, when remaking famous works, it was a rule to be faithful to the original work, but zhang shaolin didn't think so.

he believes that the character biographies in the first forty chapters of water margin were written in an exquisite manner, but in the last sixty chapters, when group battles took place, the plot seemed rough and not worthy of praise.

in order to balance the focus of the story, the plot must be reshaped.

the selection of screenwriters was even more unique. zhang shaolin felt that the temperament of "water margin" matched the northwestern han people, so he specially invited yang zhengguang from xi'an and ran ping from inner mongolia to write the script.

first, they lured the two men to qinhuangdao, under the pretext of "taking a vacation to relax", but in fact it was a "cage", and they could not leave unless they could make up a story.

now that he had the script, zhang shaolin was troubled by the appearance of the 108 heroes.

exploring the experience of previous works, although the character modeling of the three kingdoms is good, the styles are different and the play is too distracting.

this wouldn’t work. director zhang wanted the audience to be fully engaged and have a seamless experience, so he invited traditional chinese painter dai dunbang.

painter dai dunbang

when dai dunbang was first invited, everyone around him advised him not to bother, saying that drawing this kind of costume drama was too tiring and not worth it.

but dai dunbang doesn't think so. he thinks it is an honor to contribute to a national treasure-level work like "water margin". even if he is not paid, he will still paint the hero with his pen.

even today, you can still see his work at the end of "water margin". one hundred and eight heroes walked out of the paper with high spirits.

everything is ready, except for the actors.

zhang shaolin originally thought that casting would be easy by following teacher dai’s drawings.

but who would have thought that the casting process would be no less difficult than wu song fighting the tiger.

before filming began, zhang shaolin sent four assistant directors to help with casting. they came from all over the country, grassroots or famous actors, and their professionalism was not taken into consideration. the only thing they looked at was your image and personality, and whether you were a good candidate for the liangshan heroes.

when writing the script, zhang shaolin had already decided to ask li xuejian to play song jiang.

li xuejian shook his head after hearing this: "i won't act as a capitulator!"

but how could director zhang give up so easily?

he sent the script to li xuejian, leaving only one sentence: "take a look and then decide."

li xuejian took a look at the script and felt that it was down-to-earth, unlike those exaggerated plays, and it really presented the character of song jiang in three dimensions.

so, he slapped his thigh and decided to play the role of song jiang.

after the broadcast, li xuejian's performance was perfect, so perfect that he himself did not expect it.the audience actually thought he was song jiang himself.

some viewers were so angry after watching the final recruitment scene that they smashed the tv with chairs.

his fellow villagers were even more unhappy: "this is not a bad example for our liangshan heroes!"

some people even said that if li xuejian dared to return to the village, he would be given a good "education".

after hearing the news, li xuejian didn't dare to step into the house for several years.

li qiang was the first choice for ximen qing. zhang shaolin offered him two roles, lin chong and ximen qing. li qiang said, "i can't play lin chong."

because there is only one lin chong in his heart, and that is the image of tony leung, and he thinks it is difficult to surpass him.

interview with luyu

plus, she happened to meet wang siyi who was auditioning for the role of pan jinlian. when he took a closer look, he saw "black hair like crows, crescent-shaped eyebrows, fragrant cherry lips, straight and prominent nose, rosy cheeks, and a delicate face..."

the whole person just felt numb.

wang siyi's version of pan jinlian

after li qiang had finished his makeup, the directors took one look and said, "his long waist makes him look more like zhang sheng or pan an."

this ximen qing is not just a bully as described in the book. instead, he is more romantic, charming and enchanting.

li qiang was chosen by heaven to play ximen qing.

if you ask, which character in water margin is the most picky?

black whirlwind li kui, flowery monk lu zhishen, and walker wu song.

zhao xiaorui first auditioned for the role of ruan xiaoqi. after putting on makeup, he thought that with this look, wouldn’t he be more like li kui?

what he really wanted was to play the black whirlwind.

as luck would have it, the crew had already chosen jia shitou, a man of great strength and sturdy build, to play li kui.

but when the director asked shitou to try out a few fighting scenes of li kui, he always lacked a sense of ruggedness and had a soft character at heart, and no matter how he acted, it just wasn't right.

after careful consideration, the director team decided to give zhao xiaorui another try.

when he first appeared, he was both reckless and affectionate. although he was not as strong as jia shitou, his demeanor as li kui was unmatched.

the director team decided that zhao xiaorui would play li kui, and jia shitou would play hu yanzhuo.

top: hu yanzhuo bottom: li kui (stills)

zhang shaolin is selecting actors for the role of lu zhishen.there is only one standard for "a fat man with a strong aura".

assistant director kang honglei hit his head and recommended zang jinsheng, but he was 1.83 meters tall and weighed more than 170 kilograms at the time, and at first glance he did not look fat.

director zhang asked directly, "can you gain weight to the size i want in one month?"

zang jinsheng responded with something very cool: "if you dare to use me, i will dare to gain weight. if i can't handle it, i will leave immediately and won't hold you back."

as a result, zang jinsheng really did it.in one month, my weight skyrocketed to more than 260 kilograms.

as soon as he appeared, he was tall and majestic, his behavior was comparable to that of a vajra, and he was as compassionate as a bodhisattva, just like a living arhat.

later, because i gained weight too quickly, i developed thyroid problems and had to be hospitalized for surgery.

jin shengtan once commented that "wu song is the number one person in water margin."

zhang shaolin wanted to find a"it can make girls' hearts flutter and boys' jealous."

but he couldn't find the right person. just when he was about to despair, a burly man appeared on tv.

he has a strong build and a majestic appearance, just like the reappearance of the injured star.

this person is ding haifeng.

at that time, ding haifeng was planning to change his career. he thought that if he succeeded in the audition this time, he would continue to stick to the path of an actor. if not, he would give up as soon as possible.

after ding haifeng put on makeup for the audition, director zhang had an idea in his mind.

but "wu song is a man of heaven."

how to play the role of a "celestial being"? it was very difficult for the young man who had just started out.

"at that time, in order to relieve stress, i had to drink several bottles of wine every day to give myself courage, especially when shooting fighting scenes. when i was drunk, i could better find the feeling of wu song. the blood-spattered yuanyang tower and the drunken beating of jiang menshen were all shot while drinking. after the whole shooting, my whole body was covered with bruises."

in fact, getting skin scrapes and bruises on the face were child's play for the crew of "water margin".

when filming the scene where wu song fights the tiger, the entire crew went through a life-and-death challenge.

producer meng fanyao initially borrowed a real tiger from a circus, but after filming, zhang shaolin felt that it was not good enough and not passionate enough, so he found another ferocious tiger.

in order to ensure the safety of the actors, the crew also bought a 100,000 yuan insurance policy for ding haifeng.

as a result, when the camera was turned on, the tiger bit his clothes and its claws scratched his face.

the tiger made many mistakes and became irritable and restless. in excitement, he jumped out of the fence, scaring everyone away.

behind the scenes of outlaws of the marsh

in order to capture the tiger jumping, the photographer hid in a pit. as a result, the tiger got excited and almost rushed over to grab him. fortunately, the trainer stopped him in time.

the difficulty of the filming, the hard work of the crew and the dedication of the actors are admirable.

04the story of loyalty and righteousness becomes a classic

when "water margin" was first broadcast in 1998, the ratings soared to 78% and the commercial effect was even better.

the advertising fee per second is as high as 10,000 yuan, and each episode has about 4 minutes of advertising, with advertising revenue reaching 2.4 million yuan per episode. the entire series was broadcast for 43 episodes, with total advertising revenue exceeding 100 million yuan.unprecedented.

source: tv past: a 50-year chronicle of chinese tv dramas

but.

the plot was changed and the theme was distorted, which made it a classic but also caused controversy.

compared with the high scores of "dream of red mansions" (9.7), "romance of the three kingdoms" (9.6), and "journey to the west" (9.7), this drama only scored 9.0 on douban, ranking last.

the audience understood that cctv selectively adapted and deleted the plot of the expedition to liao in shi naian's original work, retaining only the part related to the theme of "the people have no choice but to rebel", in order to highlight the inevitable failure of the uprising.but i don’t understand why the dark sides of all the characters are played up so much?

song jiang is the most controversial.

excessive cowardice and weaknessit is the most distinctive label of central water songjiang.

as the leader of liangshanpo, with a large number of troops under his command, he should be able to govern his own country and even overthrow the existing court.

but he chose to surrender.

why?

the original novel begins with "captain hong mistakenly releases the demon", and the answer is revealed between the lines.

it turned out that the emperor sent hong wei to "seek a master to dispel the plague", but hong wei relied on his power and acted arbitrarily, and actually released the demon king in the temple into the world.

what is even more shocking is that after releasing the demon, one can just walk away as if nothing happened.

the power is so great that it is terrifying. once the demons wreak havoc on the world, who can clean up the mess?

song jiang knew very well that the world was bustling with people pursuing profit.

he considered himself a bandit and his chivalrous acts were only temporary. deep down he longed for recognition from the orthodox government and was willing to bow down and submit even if the court was incompetent.

when song jiang was rewarded and promoted, fang la was tortured and skinned alive.

using the sacrifices made in the uprising as a stepping stone, he ascended to the high position of "pacification envoy" and dyed his brocade robe red with the blood of the rebels.

behind song jiang's loyalty to the court is his servility to power, which is the common sorrow of many tragic heroes in ancient china.

they have fire in their hearts, but dare not ignite it; they have swords, but dare only to castrate themselves.

lu xun’s words “after all, they are just slaves” hit the nail on the head.

through song jiang, yang shui abandoned the excuse of "fatalism" and faced the fact that the old social system was "cannibalism."

lin chong, yang zhi, lu junyi and others were originally honest people. they did not become bandits willingly, but were forced into a desperate situation because of the corruption of the system.

but people often only see the flashing of swords and sabers, but don't ask why they draw their swords.

secular public opinion often praises power, glorifies monarchs and extols the system, but in fact it uses the "limitations of history" to cover up the truth.

shi naian certainly knew that the liangshan heroes' surrender was just another scam.the ending of song huizong and his successors was miserable, just like the fate of the heroes who became bandits. covered under the ice and snow was the pain of losing their country and the evil of corruption.

cctv’s adaptation in this drama can be said to be “just enough”.

the part about "defeating the liao dynasty, flattening tian hu and wang qing" after the surrender was omitted, and the story went directly to the expedition against fang la and the fall of the hero.

before being recruited, they were full of vigor and vitality; after being recruited, they died and their reputations were destroyed. this was a complete exposure of a scam.

hu yanzhuo died in the jin army, ruan xiaoqi was oppressed by the fishing tyrant and died in anger. the unknown "sai rengui" guo sheng died in the expedition against fang la, leaving behind his descendant guo xiaotian. several years later, guo jing was born, and the martial arts world was once again in turmoil.

it can be seen that the fate of heroes cannot be determined by personal likes and dislikes or good and evil, nor can it be judged solely by their behavior.the evil of the system was as heavy as a mountain. it crushed them and buried their bloodiness.

history is nothing but countless such cycles, with a few people waking up and the majority sleeping.

in this process, whoever can stay awake has the right to write history.

and they are often not heroes.

therefore, the cctv version of "water margin" has always been a classic.

it's just that it encountered an era that could not match its height.