In the stage play "Fanhua" (pictured above), every person who seems to be supporting role has an independent spiritual world.

Reading lights up life. In a new media environment, expanding reading in multiple screen forms has become a new cultural choice for many readers. In recent times, many literary works have been adapted in different artistic forms, moving from text to visual "concretization", and the extension of literature has been constantly open.

Among them, pure literature is adapted into dramas, stage plays, TV series and other media forms, such as Mo Yan's "Red Sorghum", Wang Anyi's "Song of Everlasting Sorrow", Liang Xiaosheng's "The World", Chen Zhongshi's "White Deer Plain", Jin Yucheng's "Flower Flowers", etc. These excellent literary works have been adapted into stage and film and television works one after another, and have performed well in different fields. At present, the TV series of the same name "Going North" of Xu Zechen's Mao Dun Literature Award has just concluded, the city tour along the canal of the same name has begun, and the musical was also performed last year; TV series adapted from the Mao Dun Literature Award such as Chen Yan's "The Protagonist" and Sun Ganlu's "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" are also planned to be unveiled this year.

The implementation of a large number of literary adaptations is due to the gathering of the "IP" power generated by excellent texts, the open literary vision, and the audience's expectations for multimodal and multimedia literary styles in the current media environment. What kind of literature can be "disguised" by cross-media and constantly faced with the audience? These literary works have some similar genes.

The ductility of time and space magnifies the imaginary narrative

No matter which medium form it is, the ultimate appearance of art is the imagination space built by the author. This space has both a time span and a spatial dimension. Time becomes the teller of history, and space becomes the extension of the story. The audience feels the continuity of the story in time and space in multiple adaptations, and establishes a broader literary map and aesthetic cognition.

In the original work of "Going North", there are two different narrative clues. The historical clue is that in 1901, the Italian Polo went north along the canal to find his brother; the contemporary clue is for the TV special film producer Xie Wanghe to conduct archaeology for filming "The Great River Tan". The two clues intertwined and constantly intertextualize each other, creating rich space for time and space ductility, and giving other media forms a broad imagination space.

Adaptations can be scanned panoramicly or highlighted. The drama and musical of the same name in "Going North" focus on the expansion of the historical line of the original work, while the TV series focus on the struggle history and changes in life of contemporary characters. The origin of the TV series was set in the 1990s. The story of young people who grew up from Huajie and their families was traced back to the story of the canal legend through the traction line of the canal application for World Heritage, completing the emotional inheritance of several generations. This is the result of the literary time and space ductility giving the screenwriter a rich imagination narrative. Logically, TV series are larger in size and easier to present the content of the original work, but the continuity of TV series actually cuts off the possibility of historical jumps. In dramas and musicals, because the transition of theaters is relatively easy, they are more reference-based in the processing of historical stories and modern stories, and can project the extension of time and space into the audience's imagination.

In his novel "Flower Flowers", Jin Yucheng describes the ups and downs of several characters in Shanghai alleys over the long historical span from the founding of New China to the reform and opening up. The stage play of the same name chooses to complete the narrative of the era between the classic drama screen transformation. The adapters of the TV series even capture a glorious story after the reform and opening up to show the charm of the characters in the "big era". The TV series of the same name adapted from Liang Xiaosheng's novel "The World" has received praise from the audience, just because it completely unfolds the timeline of the original literary work, allowing the genes of the period drama to be fully arranged in the TV series, and the audience completes the story with the transition of time and space. After the drama "The World" was staged in the TV series, stage art exerted the superiority of performance narratives and showed the other side of literary works. In a limited time, the stage art fully demonstrates its value-added function.

The complexity of group portrait narrative is a key

The literary creation process is often a "one-man show", and the writer's writing is lonely. But inside the novel, the native power has always flowed, and the character map created by the writer is fascinating. The complexity of group images in the text supports the cross-media adaptation of the work. Compared with literary works, media forms such as dramas, stage plays, film and television dramas are all a test of "multiple attention". Just having one or two outstanding characters is not full enough. The vivid group of characters is the beautiful rule to attract more audiences. It's good-looking, not one or two characters, but the characters are full of soup and flesh.

Still taking "North Going North" as an example, the writer has created a group portrait of the same boat around the characters on the "North Going North" ship. The protagonist Xiao Polo, the translator Xie Pingyao and various ship workers have different personalities, and as for their descendants, the characters are intertwined and wonderful. Group portrait narratives allow different souls to confront each other in the story, and the complexity of human nature becomes the foreshadowing of the story's advancement. Such group portrait stories have richer interpretation possibilities, both main characters and secondary characters.

In the TV series adaptation, the screenwriter "follows the map" according to the original work, and added characters that were never found in the work, condensing the story in the six families of the "Flower Street Courtyard", which does not seem inconsistent, just because there are rich group portraits in the original work. The screenwriter also replaced the protagonists' professions with emerging employment groups such as express delivery and takeaway industries, which is close to the earth and resonates with it. The musical adaptation specially incorporates the intangible cultural heritage inheritance art "Shipman's Roll" into the performance system, allowing the audience to feel the power of group dance, highlighting the canal's rushing for thousands of years. The characters' scenes in the drama "Going North" are also relatively even, with the two clues traveling non-stop, and the characters' characteristics are revealed in the actor's interpretation of the lines. The focus of interpretation in different media forms has changed, but the significance concerns emitted by group portrait narratives have always been contained in it.

In the novel "Fanhua", Abao is not the only narrative protagonist. Characters such as Husheng and Xiaomao have their own distinctive characteristics. In the Shanghai-language version of the stage play of the same name, the disc of the stage began to turn, and the actors stood around. Every person who seemed to be supporting roles had an independent spiritual world. Everyone was impressed by Xiao Mao's life story, and Shuhua's contrasting performance was even more touching. In Chen Zhongshi's "White Deer Plain", the work focuses on the grievances and hatreds of the Bai and Lu families, and the protagonists are clear, but the secondary characters in the depths of the Qinling Mountains often touch readers' hearts. Mr. Zhu, Heiwa, Tian Xiaoe and other characters have all grown into characters that occupies a weight in readers' hearts. These group portrait stories are reflected from literary works to media forms such as film and television dramas. The actors' conjectures and interpretations also enrich the characters, making the characters more complex and three-dimensional.

Emotion is always the most important resonance narrative

The core focus of cross-media adaptation is still in the resonant narrative under emotional links. This is not only the inevitable result of literary alienation narratives, but also the code for the success of other media forms. No matter how many media appearances a literary work presents, it is still their goal to make the audience close and empathize. Audiences of different age groups and levels will also find their favorite ways in different media forms.

The re-meeting of himself and his hometown is an important issue in Xu Zechen's writing, and it also constitutes the result presentation of the TV series "Going North". Struggle, search, and return have strong resonated with many young people with the same experience. The screenwriter is well aware of the rhythm of empathetic narrative and also knows the power of the mysterious movies of young idols. Therefore, he boldly activates youth narrative to attract this audience and win the "basic base".

The TV series "Fanhua" is an effective refinement of the narrative of the original literary works by director Wong Kar-wai. The audience shared a story of Shanghai in the 1990s in the "still sound" Wang's image style, and was moved by the legend of the booming trend-shaking stock market and business. What the audience feels most deeply about in the stage play "Flower Flowers" is the relationship between the changes of the times and the fate of the characters. Through Shuhua's lines, the audience feels the huge impact of the environment on the characters' spiritual world, and also feels the touch of the idealistic rhythm. The TV series "Song of Everlasting Sorrow" is loved by the audience because of the narrative of the fate of a woman's life. Many viewers experience the warmth and coldness of the world in the ups and downs of the protagonist's life; the time passage of "Miss Shanghai" in the drama is verified by each other, and the audience sighs in the short theater experience.

Generally speaking, if the occurrence of literature is defined as a writer's "solo", then the presentation of other media cultural forms can be described as "polyphonic", and more and more works are viewed together on multiple screens. Literary text is the origin of adaptation of various media forms, but the presentation of "polyphonic" is just like a kaleidoscope staged a "beauty and beauty".

During the adaptation process, whether it is a drama, a musical, or a film and television drama, there are different value spaces. Cross-media adaptation can constitute literary value-added or may be a loss. For example, how to highlight the key points while narrating group images, how to take into account the depth of history while selecting cross-sections, and how to reflect literary nature in different artistic styles, etc., all test the director's artistic control ability.

Nowadays, the development of generative artificial intelligence has once again stimulated the creative desire of ordinary people. It can be imagined that in the future, literary works will appear in front of the audience in more ways. In addition to traditional musicals, dramas, film and television works, micro-short dramas, animation works, etc. may also be born, realizing a multi-modal and "multi-screen" ecosystem for single works. In the recreation of various cultural "polyphonic" methods, more expectations are extended for cultural products actively created by audiences in different circles. (The author of Wang Xinxin is a PhD in Literature and a teacher at the School of Journalism and Communication, Huaiyin Normal University)

[Editor in charge: Tang Wei]