In 2020, the Lemon-Fifteen was a representative of the urban theatre by means of an accurate narrative of women ‘ s groups in pain.
The plight, choice and growth of Wang Manni, Gu Jia and Zhong Xiaocai at the 30th hour of their lives and the occupation of the living room of the domestic audience have also provoked water in overseas markets. Not only did South-East Asian viewers follow up through the subtitle platform, but they were also adapted by Viet Nam and Thailand.
The day before,“Thirties in Bangkok” is online on video and Disney+.It’s not like I’m going to be able to do this.In Japan, South Korea and so on, the 30th edition is also moving forward.We’ll meet with the audience in a few days.
This year, just like the 30s, came overseas, and it’s called “The Hard.” This young love drama, adapted from Shinjiang literature, is rapidly gaining popularity among young audiences abroad. With the help of Nai Fei, the show soon appeared on a multi-country hot list and ranked first in Hong Kong, China, Taiwan and Singapore.
Unlike earlier years’ “crowds for resources”, today countries are increasingly coming out of the sea through formal channels into the daily content consumption of overseas audiences and playing an increasingly important role. This also means that a new breakthrough has been made in the country ‘ s journey to sea, from simple distribution rights to local language adaptation, from simple copyright transactions to platformization, branding and even localization.
But at the same time, problems and challenges are emerging.Can the national drama really be integrated into the cultural ecology of overseas, not just as a “carb”? Is it possible for the interior entertainers to become a stable (transnational) fan base by being overseas?These are practical questions that need to be addressed when countries go out to sea.
From distribution rights to branding operations, it is not a new topic to go overseas.
More than 20 years ago, the national drama had crossed the ocean. The historical dramas, represented by the Kang Hee dynasty, the Zheng Dynasty, and so on, have often been sold overseas, and the Returning Juge has launched a wave of lookouts in several countries in South-East Asia, even sweeping the gold slots of Korean television. However, the country’s journey to the sea has become more difficult for a number of reasons, including the weakness of history, the coldening of the Joans, the rise of the Koreans, the movement of the Koreans, and the global wave of Hollywood.
It was not until 10 years ago that dramas such as the Scroll of Scrolls entered markets in South-East Asia, Japan and North America through the sale of copyrights. The pattern then was straightforward, with domestic producers selling air rights to overseas television stations or streaming media platforms to make a “fast money” that, although low in price, was a set of tens of thousands or thousands of dollars, was an additional way of earning.
This stage of national drama is based mostly on the foreign style of “Oriental antiques”, but this simple sale of copyright makes it difficult to generate a continuous brand effect. After reading one, overseas viewers will not necessarily remember who produced it, let alone follow the next Chinese play.
The real turning point, in the rise of streaming media platforms. The Achilles, the Queue video and the Cool video platform have been launched in international editions, and have begun to map overseas markets using platform-based ideas, even creating a series of dramas and home-made dramas that cannot be broadcast in the interior.
In collaboration with Be On Cloud, the BL “Taiwans Love Me”, was launched in 2022, and the bean bean petals scored 8.6 in small circles and ranked fourth on the classic Thai show with high bean petals.
This year’s Zhum Yum Dining starring “Unholy Love” was aired on the mainland to make the entertainment viewers high, and the two leading men soared. But they have not been able to escape the archaeology, as has been the case with the American drama’s tops, Wang Yib and Jun.
In the aftermath of the “Direct Love” fire, the two “absorbed public resources”.But in the light of the fermentation and public opinion generated by the events in question, these things are over for a while, and many fans have forgiven them, even because of the “poaching powder” that seems more cohesive and fighting.
In addition to this, the platforms include a series of BL series, such as the Creation Camp ” Bed Companion ” , ” The Hidden Ace ” , and a selection of a series of BL plays and shows, which are selected by viewers who lack a substitute, who issue daily “Quest in earnest, what’s a good comedy” etc.
In this model, national dramas are no longer the existence of “frequently provoking a flower”, but are part of the platform’s content, with a long-term accumulation of actors and platforms.
“Thirties in Bangkok”New attempts at localization
Beyond the platform content, localization is no doubt a more meaningful way out of the sea than a mere distribution of rights, as is the case in Bangkok.
The Thai version retains the “30-year-old dilemma” of three women in the framework of the drama, but in the particulars of career choices, family conflicts, social discourse, etc. of the main role, it is a complete domestication, such as Wang Hong Hong Ni becoming a strong woman, Zhong Xiaocai becoming a guest dress, and her husband turning from a TV director who graduated from Nandan to a police officer.
Thailand’s socio-cultural climate, gender issues and middle-class anxiety have also been ably embedded, linking them to the real life of local audiences. This adaptation not only avoids “controversial” but also makes the value of China’s original model more visible.
In the view of the producers of “Thirty in Bangkok”, the core of “Thirty in Asia” is mostly applied in metropolitan circles. Whether the city is Shanghai or Tokyo, Seoul, Bangkok.
If the sale of the country’s play copyright is aired to overseas platforms and television stations, and is the result of the country’s out-of-seaing 1.0, and the co-production and production of platforms such as the Achilles and local production companies are the same as the country’s out-of-seas 2.0, today’s lemon view is a new path to the “Internationalization of China’s reality plays” created by “Thirties in Bangkok”, pushing the country’s production out of the sea to 3.0.
It marks a step forward in the country ‘ s journey to the sea: not only to sell the finished product, but also to export story patterns and creative logic.
This is similar to the spread of Korean drama around the world. In the early years, South Korea opened up with the productions of iconic copyrights, and later, through the adaptation of the original combination model, such as ” Man of the Spectrum ” , ” You from the Stars ” , the local cultural industry has developed a voice, and the squid game, which works with Nai Fei, has become a global boom.
Of course, there are problems with localization. On the one hand, adaptation requires significant input and, for both original authors and producers, benefits and brand recognition are not entirely manageable. On the other hand, successful cases of adaptation are still rare. The “Thirties in Bangkok” is a good start, and more needs to be done to scale this model.
The future of sailing, from going out to melting. Go on.
Platforms and stars are two key factors in the process of the country ‘ s outing.
Today ‘ s international version of the Achilles and Quest video provides not only a channel for broadcasting but also an effort to build an indigenous operating system. In the South-East Asian market, for example, they plan feature sheets based on local festivals, hot spots, operate accounts in local languages, interact with viewers and are more easily integrated into the daily flow of information for users.
On the other hand, actor spirit overseas has also become an accelerator for the country’s outbounds. Shen Moon built up a large number of fans in Viet Nam and Thailand with the help of ” To Our Pure Little Goodness ” , while Happiness next stop, ” The Lan Machine ” , has a very high heat in the South-East Asian market.
Their social media fans make up a high percentage of overseas users, and even viewers learn Chinese to follow the stars. This star effect, in turn, brings natural flows to the drama.
However, the limitations of the star effect are also evident: on the one hand, the high concentration of traffic on a small number of actors continues to lead to a lack of stability in the country’s overall access to the sea; and, on the other hand, if the quality of the work is not kept up, it is difficult for actors to sustain their spirit abroad in the long term. Thus, how to achieve the tripartite synergy of “works, platforms, stars” is a structural problem that needs to be addressed when countries go out to sea.
Although the path of the country to the sea is increasing, there are also limitations.
One is the limited content. At present, there is a concentration of high-seas dramas, and urban love, youth icons and antiquities remain the dominant. Such topics are easily transmitted across cultures, but they are also prone to homogenization, as compared to historical, family and realism issues, which remain limited in their acceptance abroad. How to find a balance between “easy to export” and “rich expression” and even “good traditional culture” is a challenge ahead of production.
Second is the lack of localization. Despite attempts such as “Thirty in Bangkok”, the number of home-grown adaptations of national dramas abroad as a whole remains scarce. Most dramas continue to rely on subtitling, which, in addition to language barriers, also leaves a gap in cultural understanding, which can easily create cultural barriers that can be understood but not felt.
Third is sustainability. Sea-going hotspots are often driven by individual blasts rather than by the industrial chain as a whole. This means that the “sustainable prosperity” of the country’s outbound has not yet been established. The Korean drama can produce a stable output because the industrial chain has mature mechanisms from IP hatching, production to platform promotion, and there is still a gap in the national drama.
The latest article 21 of the Law “On Radio” (Some initiatives to further enrich the content of television screens and promote the availability of content on television) explicitly states that “support for the cultural output of the country’s high-quality productions” is to be achieved through more quality and wider dissemination. Cultural exchange and cooperation programmes along the way also emphasize “cultural solidarity for people’s hearts and minds” and provide direction and channel support for culture to travel to the sea.
It is also clear from policy support that the ultimate goal of a country going out of the sea should be not simply to “go out”, but to “integrate”. This requires a multifaceted approach. It’s like exploring diversity. While maintaining the preponderance of youth, love, and so forth, it is important to try more realistic and diverse narratives, such as social issues, family ethics, phantom adventures, etc., that could be a new breakthrough.
For example, greater cooperation in local adaptation should be developed more jointly with local teams than simply selling copyright. China provides a framework for storytelling, and local teams are responsible for adapting and landing, thus creating a “two-way” creative model. This would guarantee cultural adaptability and enhance brand influence.
From the sale of a single copyright to the localization of the 30-part Bangkok Book, the country travelled a phased decade. Today, it is no longer an occasional surprise, but rather a trend and industrial logic.
But there is still a long way to go before there is a truly global explosion in Chinese, a “global cultural phenomenon” of concern. It requires more meta-materials, more flexible localization strategies, more robust platform layouts and more sustainable star effects.
“Thirty is not the end, but another beginning.”Today’s achievements are only the beginning of a country’s journey to sea.