Why The Knockout (2023) became a phenomenal hit: A contextual analysis and interview with screenwriter Zhu Junyi1

Abstract

The Knockout, a crime television drama, emerged during the Spring Festival holiday of 2023 and quickly sparked a wide discussion both online and offline. Different from previous shows of the same genre, it adopts a three-timeline narrative structure and abandons stereotypical characterization. The heroes are made of flesh and blood and the villains are not born to be evil and cruel. Their choices and the consequences echo the changes in Chinese society over the past twenty years. This article features our interview with the screenwriter Zhu Junyi and, from the perspective of sociocultural contexts, briefly analyses why The Knockout became a phenomenal hit, revealing changes in the screenwriting trend of main melody works. The interview consists of three parts, covering the ecology for screenwriters in China, the birth of The Knockout and Zhu’s characterization of the television drama script.