The breakthrough of creation concept has brought new atmosphere and new exploration to the original children's play. Children's play may become a new hotspot and new highland of contemporary literature and art after children's literature, and the iterative upgrading of the upper floors still needs to continue to update the understanding of children's play
The art conference of the International Children's and Youth Drama Association, known as the "Children's Drama Olympics", was held for the first time in China. While exchanging creative experience, artists from 46 countries focused on Chinese contemporary original children's dramas. According to statistics, in 2017, the number of children's dramas performed nationwide reached 15700, up 9% year on year. Taking Beijing Tianqiao Art Center as an example, the number of performances of children's plays has continued to rise, with 800 performances in the past three years, accounting for 1/3 of the performances in this place.
The development of Chinese contemporary children's dramas is not only reflected in the attention of international peers and the growth of market data, but more importantly, the steady increase of the original power. One of the important factors to enhance the power of originality is "concept upgrading".
First of all, the creators' increasingly comprehensive and in-depth understanding of children has led to breakthroughs in the audience's age structure, perspective and theme of original children's dramas. Today, more and more artists believe that children are born with a sense of beauty, and also "see" the social and cultural attributes of children. To sum up, they no longer "despise" children. Out of our understanding of children's aesthetic power, in recent years we have had original infant dramas that are "small and beautiful", such as "Whooshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshoshosh; Because I believe in children's understanding, I have tried to bring adult literature and art works into children's theaters, such as Notre Dame de Paris and Titanic; Out of a new understanding of the natural relationship between "philosophy and young children", there was Time Forest, which explored abstract issues on the stage; Similarly, because we began to attach importance to the social attributes of children, we have "Goats Don't Eat Paradise Grass", which faces the social problems directly.
Culture is inherited by blood. Xintianyou can only be born in the northwest of China, and the music of Glinka can only be born in Russia. The cultural consciousness of the creators brings about the conscious pursuit of original children's dramas in Chinese style, Chinese aesthetics, and Chinese stories. Idiom Rubik's Cube series, Three Monks, Nezha, and Little Soldier Zhang Ga's Fantasy, from mature national art troupes to young private institutions, actively draw creative materials from China's excellent traditional culture and historical journey, absorb traditional aesthetic characteristics such as opera and traditional Chinese painting on the stage, and stimulate the audience's cultural identity and national pride, It has become a consensus in the creation of children's dramas in China, and has brought the "Chinese style" in the field of children's dramas, which is irreplaceable and unmatched by foreign high-quality children's dramas.
In addition, the enhancement of contemporary awareness has led to the upgrading of children's dramas. Adaptation is an important part of children's play creation. Myths and legends, children's literature classics, picture book stories, new favorites of animation... From ancient times to now, from China to abroad, literary works and products have accumulated a large number of "IP" loved by children. Although there are some problems in the current adaptation, such as "just for quick money, not for quality", there are also some explorations such as "snipe, clam, fish" that are more purposeful than the original "IP" or more realistic in interpretation and presentation.
The renewal and breakthrough of creation concept has brought new atmosphere and new exploration to the original children's drama. Children's drama may become a new hotspot and highland of Chinese contemporary literature and art after children's literature. At the same time, there are also some ideas that still restrict the creativity and influence of original children's dramas - the iterative upgrading of original children's dramas can not be separated from people's re understanding of children's dramas.
First, children's dramas should focus on children. "Children's Center" first means to let children deeply participate in the creation itself, and let children become the source of creativity and the source of stage art expression means, rather than being satisfied with the game interaction in the theater as the creation terminal. In this regard, we can actively learn from the creative techniques of foreign children's dramas: artists immerse themselves in the children's environment all the year round, make children become creative providers through continuous daily art workshops, and then the artists process these materials, and let the works meet with small audiences at the creative development stage, directly get audience feedback, and timely revise the works. In this regard, original children's dramas have great potential.
"Children's Center" is also reflected in the profound expression of the real life of contemporary children and adolescents, which should be the embodiment of the people centered creative orientation in the field of children's dramas. The duty of an artist is to find and raise problems. Some of our original children's dramas have become conceptualized, moralized, and adults' "take for granted" imagination of the world of minors. It is precisely because the creators have not really gone deep into the lives of minors, and the creators have not found enough realistic problems and listened enough, so naturally they can't hit the nail on the head. Literary and artistic works that really penetrate into the lives of minors can not only arouse strong resonance among minors, but also drive social attention. At present, our society is in a huge transformation period. The left behind children in those years have grown into teenagers who welcome the return of working parents, the rural revitalization boom has stimulated the cultural self-confidence of minors, the virtual network has impacted real life, and the so-called combination of struggle and confusion under elite education... These are the times and the present that contemporary Chinese children and adolescents are experiencing, To be discovered and presented by our artists.
Secondly, the understanding of the sociological significance and value of children's dramas needs to be deepened. Children's play is not only a part of literature and art, but also an important medium for "educating new people, promoting culture", actively participating in contemporary practice, and actively building the future. From this perspective, not only the practitioners of children's play need to have a high threshold of access and a broad vision of interdisciplinary background, but also should arouse social consensus, Gradually attract the best talents in society to cross the border into the children's drama industry. From the 1930s to the 1950s, Tao Xingzhi, Ye Shengtao, Mao Dun, Xia Yan, Bing Xin, He Luting... It was the most outstanding educator, writer and thinker of the era who provided spiritual nourishment for children. This tradition also needs us to continue to spread.
Another important meaning of re understanding children's plays is to improve the understanding of the artistic standards of children's plays. Excellent children's dramas should not only achieve the unity of "artistry, ideology, and value orientation", but also conform to the characteristics of audience groups of the corresponding age groups, that is, the evaluation standards of children's dramas should not be reduced because they are "children's" dramas, but only be higher and more comprehensive. Literary and artistic works can not effectively convey the correct view of history, nationality, country and culture without the ontological requirement of "artistry". Enhancing the artistry of works is another urgent task for original children's dramas.
From children's literature to children's drama, the party and government have always attached great importance to strengthening literary and artistic originality, providing rich spiritual nourishment for minors, and transmitting correct value orientation. Continuing the tradition and basing on the present, China's original children's dramas have a promising future.
