Hu Xiang
Recently, observation variety shows have become more and more popular. In the second season of "Exciting offer", the camera is aimed at the legal elites who have just entered the workplace, showing their process of upgrading and cracking monsters, from youth to maturity. Under the same roof, the observed people are a group of strange young people who live together in an apartment. The program hits the pain point that young people are too busy to socialize, can’t socialize, and dare not socialize, causing heated discussion. Why does this vertically subdivided observation variety show repeatedly break the circle? This is related to their omniscient and omnipotent perspective of God and the constant self-evolution of internal narrative.
Two-layer narrative theory and web synthesis version 2.0
Genette, a structuralist narrator, put forward a double-layer narrative theory. This division theory holds that the first narrative of literary works is an external story, which focuses on presenting the whole work; The second layer is internal narrative, focusing on sharing internal stories. Therefore, the double-layer narrative structure can be divided into internal and external narrative perspectives. The external perspective focuses on explaining the narrative from the internal perspective, while the internal perspective focuses on strengthening the authenticity of the story and promoting the plot development. This theory is suitable for observing variety shows. The internal narrative is the story of the observed object, and the external narrative is the off-site comments of the star guests. Internal narrative is responsible for creating suspense and conflict, while external narrative is a discussion field of values, which complement each other and advance together. This is forming a relatively fixed variety show mode, which is constantly evolving.
From its development history, such programs as My Boy, My Daughter and My Wife’s Romantic Travel can be called Version 1.0, which is characterized by taking stars as the observation objects and mainly satisfying the audience’s interest in the personal life of stars. However, the second season of Exciting offer and Under One Roof are version 2.0. The observed objects are amateurs, and the observation tentacles also extend from single interpersonal relationship to a broader workplace and social field, with further innovation in narrative, and the biggest feature is to strengthen its storytelling.
With the advent of the Internet age, storytelling has been promoted to a great extent, and the principle of "content is king" has become more prominent. In order to satisfy the audience’s thirst for stories, platforms and creators have almost racked their brains, whether they are long videos, medium videos or short videos, they are all pursuing a sense of story. Hot pot dramas, dinner dramas and interactive dramas emerge one after another, and variety shows follow the trend and embark on the track of storytelling.
For example, "Under One Roof" is a true record of social stories of six strangers in a closed space on the surface, but it is actually an idol drama-style narrative. With the plot of the variety show, the characters’ behavior can also see the shadow of the script behind them, which is more dramatic on the whole. This is no longer a pure record approaching the truth of life, but more like a dramatic performance purified in life, which makes people feel a sense of being difficult to distinguish between true and false.
The editing techniques in the second season of "Exciting offer" follow the rhythm of legal drama. Many people lament that Li Jinye is like He Yichen himself in "How to Shengxiao Mo", and the audience has a strong empathy with the characters. Some people think that story telling is a cognitive game, which can exercise our minds and let us simulate the world around us and imagine different strategies, especially in social scenes. The audience can also feel the pursuit of drama when watching variety shows, which is the charm brought by storytelling.
Inversion, Story Sense and God’s Perspective
The original intention of Under One Roof is to simulate a social scene and solve the social emotional needs of young people in the current fast-paced urban life. The characters selected in the program are very representative, including Liu Keli, a young boss who is busy starting a business, Li Hsing, a moat brother who realizes financial freedom, Chu Mengna who pursues the dream of an actor, and Wang Tianqi, a migrant worker who works in a fashion shop. At the beginning of the program, Liu Keli’s overbearing president’s manner, Wang Tianqi and Chu Mengna’s fireworks at street food stalls, and the mysterious e-sports professionals’ daily life were all the highlights that attracted people’s attention, because they all had a dual effect of being both real and dramatic. In particular, Wang Tianqi’s identity as a "rich second generation" from an idle worker was completely in line with the imagination of drama reversal, and the "between Li Hsing and Liu Keli and Chen Liuming" Therefore, "Under One Roof" is essentially a genre-based narrative of idol drama. In a space, it is in contact with young people from almost all walks of life and all walks of life, temporarily getting rid of the shackles of mediocre life, and seems to restart life and have a sense of fantasy.
In contrast, the second season of "Exciting offer" is more realistic. This season, the assessment mechanism of interns is more cruel, and the "kicking the pavilion" link is introduced, and two interns with relatively backward performance are really eliminated. Interns have also gone through legal negotiation, public welfare legal aid, investigation and evidence collection, 1V1 debate and mock trial trial. Every time, their tasks are getting heavier, and "involution" is becoming more and more intense. In particular, Hui Ding’s internship in naked resignation in pursuit of a lawyer’s dream has been dubbed "Bei Shuihui", which is regarded by netizens as a portrayal of migrant workers’ workplace, thus attracting a lot of attention. "Bei Shuihui" was "at the bottom" from the beginning of the interview to the first project task, and from the second debate began to counterattack, resulting in a sense of gap. Wang Xiao, known as "Sister Wang", took the initiative to break the aura of famous schools from the "favored son of heaven" who graduated from Stanford Law School, and the gradual mature transformation also made people feel emotional. Another example is Qiu Yi’s "slow fever" from the beginning, and her bold decision in the negotiations later made people look at each other with new eyes.
The program group just grasped the details of these changes and created a sense of story through "conscious" editing, as if letting the audience watch an eye-catching and thrilling legal industry drama. At the same time, with the advancement of the program, interns need to peel off the cold texture of legal provisions, personally explore the strong collision impact between human feelings and jurisprudence, reality and dreams in the society, feel the sense of powerlessness brought about by hard reality crushing in tears and loss, and regain their confidence and shine with the encouragement and help of teachers and friends. As robert mckee said in The Story, the story is not an escape from reality, but a carrier that carries us to pursue reality and try our best to dig out the true meaning of chaotic life.
In addition, the guest comments on the observation variety show ostensibly provide God’s perspective, which is actually an important part of building a sense of story. The internal narrative of the observation variety is very similar to the phantom on the wall in the cave described by Plato in the Republic. It is a simulation of reality and has always been separated from reality. Guest comment time is like the role of bringing cave people into the real world. The lights are on and all the discussions are held in the sun. Moreover, when the guests expressed their views, they provided many stories with their own life experiences, including positive and negative experiences and lessons. For example, if you should take the co-pilot when accompanying the leader in the car, and how to break the social deadlock when you first enter the workplace, guests can often provide a more mature value concept. Many netizens said on the barrage that "get new skills", which is also a shortcut to "exercise your mind". Through the blending of internal and external narratives, it reflects the broad social reality, and promotes the story from the internal perspective to the output of values from the external perspective. This is the secret of the advanced narrative expression of observation variety.
The reality show was made into an idol drama?
Human beings’ pursuit of stories is eternal, and it is understandable that observation variety shows strengthen the sense of stories, but this will easily lead to the paradox of authenticity. The biggest feature of observation variety is truth, especially now the observation variety which is mainly amateur has become an important direction, that is, to tell more stories of ordinary people, but like Under the Same Roof, it really walks between reality and fiction. On the one hand, I want to create the texture of real life, on the other hand, especially in the second half of the program, the sense of plot design is becoming more and more obvious.
For example, after Wang Tianqi and Chu Mengna went to the movies on a rainy day, they quarreled emotionally. Mona complained that Wang Tianqi was not considerate enough to cry, and the close-up shots in lines and actions were skillfully switched, and the sensational music was followed up in time. It was simply a replica of the idol drama around 2000, and the barrage was full of spit.
For another example, Wu Jiawen and Li Hsing have been having an affair for a long time, but suddenly they turned him down on the grounds that she likes people with a sense of youth. In the next issue of the program, a 20-year-old basketball player who is 1.9 meters tall and full of a sense of youth immediately appeared, and they had a "love triangle". No wonder netizens think that Wu Jiawen is a "tool person" and the program has thus become a "blind date program". If the hypothetical sense of drama is not well grasped, the realism created by the whole program will be greatly reduced, which will hurt the quality of the program.
Since the development of network observation variety, it has formed a stable expression paradigm and established its own advantages, especially its keen capture of young people’s lives, lively and free expression and moderate storytelling, which have deeply attracted young audiences. In fact, some traditional TVs are learning this mode now, but they have not learned the characteristics of networking, which leads to the good values of the program, but the communication effect is not satisfactory.
In the future, network variety shows must understand the double-edged sword of "truth and hypothesis", try to extend the tentacles of observation into the varied society and describe the style of the times, so as to observe the truth, taste and wisdom.