Research on the TV series of “Dream of Red Mansions”

Author:Li Yiqin ( M.A. in Arts)

ABSTRACT

“Dream of Red Mansions”, as one of the Chinese classics, has been adapted to the screen for many times in the history of Chinese film and television. Among the most famous adaptations are the 1987 TV series “Dream of Red Mansions” and the 2010 TV series “Dream of Red Mansions”. It is generally believed that the 1987 TV series “Dream of Red Mansions” is a classic, while the 2010 TV series “Dream of Red Mansions” has many defects and low artistic quality. This paper makes a careful study of the literature related to the two versions of the TV series “Dream of Red Mansions”, and finds that although the 1987 version of the TV series “Dream of Red Mansions” has won numerous praises at present, it was criticized by many experts at that time. In contrast, although the 2010 TV series “Dream of Red Mansions” attracted much criticism, most of it came from netizens, and academic criticism was absent. This paper first summarizes the academic criticism of experts on the 1987 TV series “Dream of Red Mansions”, and then takes it as the basic framework and academic standard to compare the 1987 TV series “Dream of Red Mansions” with the 2010 TV series “Dream of Red Mansions” from aspects of figure creation, plot arrangement, film language, etc. After this comparison, this paper found that although the 2010 TV series “Dream of Red Mansions” had “mechanical damage” in the choice of actors and music design, its drama was at a higher level. Compared with the 1987 TV series “Dream of Red Mansions”, it was closer to the language style and aesthetic implication of the original novel and has achieved great success in the visualization of the original novel. Finally, this paper puts these two TV series into the history of film and television adaptation of “Dream of Red Mansions”, which can not only examine the gain and loss and historical positioning of the two TV series in a larger academic perspective, but also witness the development of Chinese film and television with the adaptation of the two TV series.

KEY WORDS: TV play, Dream of Red Mansions, adaptation of classics, history of Chinese TV series

《红楼梦》作为中国古典名著之一，在中国电影电视的历史上，曾多次被搬上银 幕。在诸多改编作品中，最为人所知的当属 1987 年版电视剧《红楼梦》和 2010 年版 电视剧《红楼梦》。一般认为，1987 年版电视剧《红楼梦》是经典之作，2010 年版电 视剧《红楼梦》存在诸多缺憾，艺术质量不高。本文对两版电视剧《红楼梦》的相关 文献进行细致考掘，发现 1987 年版电视剧《红楼梦》虽在当下赢得了众多赞扬之声， 但在当时曾遭到较多专家的学术批评。与之不同的是，2010 年版电视剧《红楼梦》虽 然招致的批评较多，但多为网络言论，学术批评存在缺席的现象。本文先总结学界专 家们当年对于 1987 年版电视剧《红楼梦》的学术批评，再以此为基本框架与学术标准， 从人物塑造、剧情安排、影视语言等方面将 1987 年版电视剧《红楼梦》与 2010 年版 电视剧《红楼梦》加以比较。经过这一比较，本文发现，2010 年版电视剧《红楼梦》 虽然在演员选择与音乐设计上存在“硬伤”，但其剧作水平较高，较之 1987 年版电视 剧《红楼梦》，更贴近《红楼梦》原著小说的语言风格及美学意蕴，在对原小说文本的 影视化方面也取得了很大成功。最后，本文将这两个电视剧版本放入《红楼梦》的影 视改编史当中加以考察，既得以在更大的学术视野里考察两版电视剧的得失与历史定 位，也见微知著，以两版电视剧的改编来见证中国电影电视的发展历程。

关键词:电视剧，红楼梦，名著改编，中国电视剧史