8.8 points tvb’s new drama ＂Hong Kong Love Story＂, can the ＂Northbound＂ Hong Kong drama return to its peak？

In Chinese’s traditional concept, "house" is a very important existence for most families, and marriage, old-age care and child-rearing all need a relatively stable place to live. butIn Hong Kong, where land is scarce and gold is scarce, the present situation of a large population has long been a realistic problem faced by most Hong Kong people.And the "public housing" under the tight environment? Terms such as "tāng" and other places of residence unique to Hong Kong have gradually become familiar to mainland audiences through film and television works.

　Source: Network

The Love Story of Hong Kong, broadcast by Jade Channel at 22:30 every Monday to Friday night from December 7, was praised for its "truth", story telling method and drama structure close to Hong Kong people’s lives.A core topic element of this drama is the housing problem of Hong Kong people.This 12-episode short play, which is not in prime time, is not only lively in rhythm, but also slightly broad in scale. It tells some "sexual intercourse" closely related to "affairs" and "sex", but also highlights the deeper realistic conflict behind these instinctive needs.

Not all Hong Kong people live in elite tvb dramas everywhere, as the public information says, "At present, half of Hong Kong residents live in public housing". Although there are many film and television works depicting the living environment of Hong Kong residents, the film and television content that faces the real problems in people’s lives will always be welcomed by the public.

As of writing,This tvb drama, which has not been purchased and broadcast through any mainstream video website in mainland China, has already scored 8.8 points on Douban.And because of its full "Hong Kong flavor", it was praised by the audience as the light of tvb drama in 2020.

Humor tells the reality of Hong Kong,The charm of grounded tvb drama reappears.

　

Do couples have to "wait for each other" when opening a house? In fact, you can also order a "pass" from the "yellow cattle" at a higher price.

"Hong Kong Love Story" begins with such an absurd situation that a pair of loving couples with stable feelings are rushing around to solve the suffering of lovesickness. The man wanted to propose to his girlfriend on the seventh anniversary, but something happened temporarily, so he had to find another place with his "prepared" girlfriend. Helpless, the "waiting time" was too long, and the male owner finally bought the pass from the "yellow cattle" at a higher price. However, because it was an hourly room, they were knocked at the door to remind them that it was time before they had fun. In the end, the young people who were still displaced at the age of 30 still failed to "get things done."

Hong Kong’s real estate industry rose very early, and regardless of social phenomena such as polarization between the rich and the poor and class solidification, it is even more difficult to only discuss that young people without housing want to buy a property on their own. Chen Zilang, the man in Hong Kong Love Story, is also looking forward to giving his beloved girlfriend a home. However, he is really trapped in reality, and even the anniversary makes his girlfriend angry. Later, Chen Zilang took out a ring on the crowded bus and promised that she would give her a warm home. Not surprisingly, his girlfriend, who loved him deeply, promised him in tears.

The sweetness of love cannot match the cruelty of reality.The public housing area where the man lives is small, and the grown-up children live above the cabinet on one side of the entrance hall wall, and only the father and mother who are not harmonious with each other are squeezed into a bedroom of several square meters. The father, who is deeply rooted in male chauvinism, has made his mother accustomed to it for many years. The behavior of scolding loudly at every turn scared his wife to be angry but didn’t dare to make a sound. It was not until her 60th birthday that the children’s mother gave her a gift: divorce and applying for public housing.

The depression brought by a family of five living in a humble abode broke out, and the long-standing trivial and contradictory conflicts were mainly caused by the impact of real life and the escalation of contradictions caused by insufficient living space, except that the father who earned money to support his family was indeed a male chauvinist.

Ironically, under the same roof, the inconsiderate old man’s bad habits of urinating, farting and throwing peanut shells everywhere are unbearable, but the clerk of the notary office needs the parents to prove the separation before he can continue the divorce procedure. My mother, determined to pursue a new life, finally decided to live in the original "closet bed" for her daughter who left home. Even if she sat face to face at a small dining table with the old man, she would never cook for him … In Hong Kong Love Story,Some people can’t get married because of the house, and others can’t get married because of the house.In this regard, the characters in the play officially "spit": in this way, marriage is more like an accessory to the house.

Life is hard, and you can’t be idle for a day.

If we look at the emotional life of the man’s family separately, we can see the differences in the choice of emotional objects, emotional models and lifestyles of Hong Kong people of different identities and ages. butIf we observe it vertically, we can get a glimpse of the marriage and love status of ordinary Hong Kong people in different stages of their lives. At this point, the strong social representation of "Hong Kong Love Story" is described in a general form in the play.

Although the expression of Hong Kong Love Story is humorous, it does not delay the further thinking value of uncovering real problems.It is worth mentioning that this TV series has not been broadcast in mainland China, and it is a tvb drama that must be all-ending. However, this drama, which can only be watched by vip on "burying piles", has also caused many mainland audiences to think about "house", "love" and "marriage".

Hong Kong dramas with insufficient "capital",Can you change your destiny by "going north to marry"?

　

In recent years, "the decline of Hong Kong opera" seems to be an indisputable fact.However, there are still a steady stream of Hong Kong dramas in the stalls where actors are lost and young and yellow. However, on the day when Hong Kong dramas can’t compete with big productions and big stars, they choose a "track" that is easier to make achievements-boutique short plays. After all, many "small and beautiful" Hong Kong dramas can take another chance with good stories. At the same time, "Going North" co-produced new works with mainstream video websites, which became an important choice for Hong Kong dramas to "change their lives".

Unlike Hong Kong Love Story, which was born and broadcast in Hong Kong,In recent years, a number of Hong Kong and Mainland co-produced film and television works have been registered on mainstream video websites in the Mainland.The form of "co-production" is becoming more and more common, and the former "Hong Kong dramas" have become the guests of various video websites, and most of them come out in the form of "super online dramas".

Tencent Video "The Apostles 2"

With the rise of the entertainment industry in mainland China and the change of the entertainment industry in Hong Kong, mainland audiences are no longer satisfied with the content quality of the original Hong Kong dramas. During this period, the progress of internet technology and the content output by video websites also seized the living space of Hong Kong drama in terms of content volume.

There are fewer people watching Hong Kong dramas.

However, if the mainland Internet platform wants to retain more users, it needs more high-quality content. Producers of Hong Kong dramas also need stronger financial support to ensure the sustainable development of Hong Kong dramas. Therefore, simply buying films from Hong Kong and putting them on video websites can no longer meet the needs of video websites. Hong Kong drama producers and mainland mainstream video websites "co-produce" online dramas in a win-win way, which has become a "new model" that conforms to the development of the times and the needs of users.

"Half-breed" looks better.With capital support and content filling, most of the Hong Kong dramas after the "Northern Marriage" are "radiant".This year, the Bridge of Sighs, which is 100% invested by Youku and painted by Douban with a score of 9.0, is a landmark "Hong Kong drama wholly owned by the Mainland". This 15-episode short play, with the help of mainland capital, tries to tell Hong Kong-style stories in a more novel way, bringing a more novel experience to the audience who originally loved Hong Kong drama. This work has the dual genes of Internet and Hong Kong drama.

In addition, The Blind Man’s Lawyer and Creation Again, which were jointly produced by iQiyi and TVB, and The Apostle 2, The Palace Plan 2, The Heart Storm 3 and The Iron Detective, which were jointly produced by Tencent Video and TVB, are all evidences of the northward movement of Hong Kong dramas. In the 2021 film list released by Youku, in addition to the purchased Hong Kong dramas, the dramas such as Wooden Spine Witness and Criminal Investigation Diary in the "Hong Kong Theater" film list are also produced in cooperation with TVB.

If we compare the growth and change of Hong Kong drama in the mainland to the stage of monster transformation. Then, since 2013, Youku has exclusively harvested the copyright of TVB genuine high-quality content, and it is the "first transformation" to transfer Hong Kong dramas from TV to the Internet; In 2018, Youku, TVB and TVBC jointly launched the "Global Synchronous Drama Series", realizing the simultaneous broadcast of TVB dramas in mainland China and Hong Kong is the "second transformation"; In 2020, the appearance of the wholly-owned Hong Kong drama Bridge of Sighs in the Mainland promoted the new pace of the development of Hong Kong drama in the Mainland and completed the "third transformation" with higher value.

However, in order to maintain the charm of "Hong Kong drama" in the mainland market and keep pace with the times to meet the new needs of Internet viewers, the "super online drama" from Hong Kong has a long way to go. The core competitiveness of Hong Kong drama in the Mainland is not a huge production, and the well-known Hong Kong stars scattered all over the world can’t become the core influence to attract the audience of Hong Kong drama.Whenever, high-quality content itself is the trump card with the most core competitiveness.

This is the case with Hong Kong drama, and so is the "Hong Kong drama" after the "Northern Marriage".