Chinese Entertainment: Starting from 1996

Chapter 571: Confrontation
In the 1980s and 1990s, mainland literature and film were very prosperous.

During this period, a large number of outstanding writers and literary works emerged, as well as many excellent films.

It is undeniable that the mainland film industry market has grown larger and larger as it has entered the era of commercial films, but in terms of artistry, it is indeed not as good as in the 1980s and 1990s, and the quality of the films is also not as good.

The 1980s, 1990s and 2000s were the period of most freedom for mainland film creation.

At that time, many directors made movies by adapting literary works of the time, so there were many intersections between literature and film.

Therefore, the famous writers at that time were highly respected by people in the film industry, and their status was very high.

In fact, not only writers, but also cultural figures at that time had a very high status.

Since their appreciation level is relatively high, most of the mainland's film critics also come from this group.

Although they seem to have nothing to do with film work, they do have a great say in the film industry.

They are present in major domestic awards and their opinions are consulted when relevant policies are formulated.

What is even more difficult to ignore is that their reviews can influence the reputation of a movie.

So they have a huge impact on the film industry.

The reason why Lu Chuan had such a luxurious configuration when he debuted was because his father was not only a writer but also a film critic, and many people in the circle would give him face.

However, these cultural figures at that time were more upright and their evaluations were more objective and fair, which is also why they had such a great influence on the film industry.

Otherwise they wouldn't have such great authority.

But people will always change if they enjoy power for a long time, especially when it is power without constraints.

As the older generation retires, the new film critics are obviously not as upright and are slowly beginning to deteriorate.

Some of them enjoy the pleasure of being bossy, some do things for money, and some even go so far as to become direct spokesmen for certain interest groups.

Especially since the beginning of the new century, they have almost become a scourge to the film industry, but their influence is not so easy to eliminate in a short period of time.

So many people in the industry are very disgusted with them, but there is no better way.

Because many of them are experts and professors from major universities or well-known public figures or public intellectuals.

They naturally bring a filter to the general public and have a huge influence.

Among them, two well-known directors in the industry were severely criticized by them, one was Xie Jin and the other was Zhang Yimou.

Because they are the leaders of their respective times, only by discrediting them can their authority be demonstrated.

We all know that before the founding of the People's Republic of China, the center of domestic films was in Shanghai, and even Hong Kong films were born in Shanghai.

The filmmakers in Shanghai are mainly influenced by Hollywood movies. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, these filmmakers became the main force of various film studios. The Shanghai Film Studio has also continued the classic Hollywood narrative style.

In the 80s, Shanghai Film Studio began to learn from Hollywood again and made many useful explorations, such as shooting science fiction films;

At the same time, at the Xi'an Film Studio, Zhang Yimou and other fifth-generation directors who graduated from the Beijing Film Academy were also entering the film industry with their avant-garde films.

These are two completely different paths. If everyone explores and develops on their own, then Chinese-language films may very likely have two film centers like Hollywood films, a commercial film center and an art film center, thus walking on two legs.

Among them, the representative figure of Shanghai Film Studio is director Xie Jin.

Then in the late 1980s, film critics led by Zhu Dake criticized Xie Jin, saying that Shanghai Film Studio and Xie Jin had accepted Hollywood cultural colonization.

This was a very serious accusation in the circumstances at the time.

As a result, Xie Jin began to seek transformation and never made a masterpiece like "Furong Town" again. The Shanghai Film Studio also gradually declined from being the main force of Chinese-language films to a third-rate company with no creativity.

While other film studios were flourishing, Shanghai Film Studio did not produce any influential films.

If it weren't for the developed economy of Shanghai, it would have been difficult for Shanghai Film Studio to get back on its feet again.

Their criticism, which demonstrated their authority, caused very serious damage to Chinese-language films. It not only ruined director Xie Jin, but also almost ruined the Shanghai Film Studio.

Other studios were so saddened by the loss of their film that they dared not explore commercial films anymore.

The result is that Chinese filmmakers have gradually lost the ability to tell stories with images.

The mainstream of mainland films has shifted to pursuing philosophical ideas, downplaying plots, opposing sharp conflicts, and emphasizing the exploration of human nature, and has since drifted further and further away from the audience.

As Chinese-language films continued to win awards overseas, the mainland film market collapsed rapidly. By 94, they had to introduce Hollywood blockbusters to boost the market.

Fifth-generation directors like Zhang Yimou and Chen Shishi are often criticized for not being able to tell stories, because they grew up in this kind of atmosphere.

Later, Zhang Yimou filmed "Hero", which marked the beginning of domestic commercial blockbusters, and then his reputation took a sharp turn for the worse.

From being a representative figure of Chinese-language films, he suddenly became the unforgivable sinner of Chinese-language films.

Director Xie Jin's fate once again happened to Zhang Yimou.

However, after entering the millennium, their approach no longer worked as it should. Not only other industries, but the film industry as well, became more money-oriented.

So although Lao Mouzi has been criticized all the time, it does not affect his ability to continue making movies, and he does not have to be so nervous.

As we enter the second decade of the new century, the commercialization of Chinese-language films has become unstoppable, but those old guard always want to get in the way.

Because movies no longer talk about art, they lose their voice.

Commercial films don't need them to evaluate them, after all, box office data is the most intuitive evaluation.

As a representative figure of domestic commercial film directors, if Liu Zhou did not have the identity of a wealthy man and close connections with the higher-ups, he would have been criticized by them as a director.

Despite this, Liu Zhou was never welcomed by them.

If last year's "Interstellar" hadn't broken the box office record of "Avatar" and had such a huge impact, they would have started criticizing it a long time ago.

But in order to restore their influence, they will definitely find opportunities to cause trouble.

Now that Liu Zhou has become a representative figure in the domestic film industry, he is a natural target for them.

In the past, because of Liu Zhou’s influence, they did not dare to target him deliberately.

But now if they don't take action they will be swept into the garbage dump, and they can't care about so much. They have to find Liu Zhou as another target to re-establish their authority.

In other words, Liu Zhou is now beginning to enjoy the treatment that Xie Jin and Zhang Yimou enjoyed in the past.

It is indeed easier to be criticized by others if you make a movie about the Tangshan earthquake, especially when they want to make trouble for you. Now that the Tangshan earthquake has been released for only a few days, it has suddenly encountered so many negative reviews and criticisms. It was them who did it.

At first, Liu Zhou didn't take it too seriously. After all, not everyone liked him along the way, and he had offended many people.

It’s no big deal to be criticized as long as it doesn’t affect the movie box office.

But as the situation escalated and was clearly directed at him, especially after Zhu Dake, a professor at the same university and a famous critic, stood up again, he felt that it was not that simple.

This is an attempt to completely discredit oneself.

Look what he said:
“Film is an art form and also a carrier of culture, but Liu Zhou, due to his limited cultural background, can only treat film as an industrial marketing method.

However, the foothold of film is culture. Without sufficient literary literacy and sincere artistic spirit, it is impossible to create truly high-level film works.

Looking back at his past films, they are almost all soulless and without any artistry. They are simply industrial products produced on an assembly line.

The past two or three decades of Chinese-language films have proved that movies without soul are garbage, and now "Aftershock", which is being wrongly sought after by everyone, has proved it again.

Compared with Xie Jin's round bowing, Liu Zhou's was even more shameful.

The films made by Xie Jin usually satisfy both the government and the audience, while Liu Zhou's films not only satisfy the government, but also kneel down in front of the RMB...

Spielberg's "Schindler's List" is a Jewish elegy, while Liu Zhou's "Aftershock" turned the suffering of the people of Tangshan into a visual feast.

Such a sharp contrast is undoubtedly very sad. "

Liu Zhou couldn't help but sneer when he saw his comments. It really was a familiar feeling. He might have just been criticizing for the sake of criticizing, and might not have understood the details of the situation at all.

Liu Zhou is not just a director, he is also a writer.

Although he started out by writing youth romance novels and then became famous with "Ghost Blows Out the Light", he has also written serious novels.

In order to interrupt Feng Kuazi's "Youth" and to improve his own status in the field of literature, he wrote the novel "Youth" in advance.

As Liu Zhou's last work, "Youth" received a lot of praise in the industry after it was released. At least the writer community no longer regarded him as a writer who could only write popular novels.

So he has no literary literacy and simply speaks without thinking.

Liu Zhou was full of disgust towards Zhu Dake. Since they were coming for him, he would not remain indifferent.

He is not like Xie Jin and Zhang Yimou who have been scolded all the time. Besides, they are all eliminated people. The fact that they can create such a big fuss now is just their last burst of glory.

It is just right that we have completely swept them into the trash this time, otherwise their existence will continue to be a scourge to Chinese-language films.

So Liu Zhou also opened his Weibo account and spoke out about the current public opinion for the first time:
"I woke up from a dream and found myself the sinner and cancer of Chinese-language films. I don't know what crime I committed to deserve such a label.

This scared me so much that I quickly checked how they defined me. After looking around, I was completely relieved.

It turned out to be a group of old dogs barking.

More than 20 years ago, they used the same method to deal with Director Xie Jin. Seven or eight years ago, they used the same method to deal with Director Zhang Yimou. Now they are using the same method on me.

Haven't you made even a little progress in these decades?

Your salary has increased several times.

Or maybe you are just old stubborn people who are conservative and corrupt.

It is such a great misfortune that Chinese-language films have critics like you who only know how to wield power.

He always likes to talk about ideas, pursue philosophical concepts, and always want profound and stupid thinking.

They like to criticize commercial films to seek a sense of existence, and think that it is a sign of degeneration. They criticized Ning Hao's "Crazy Stone", Stephen Chow's "Kung Fu", and Feng Kuzi's movies. As long as it is a commercial film, they will criticize it.

They talk about Chinese movies all day long, as if they know everything about them and act like they are in favor of Chinese movies.

But in reality, it has been holding back Chinese-language films and almost driving audiences to Hollywood movies.

The reason why audiences don’t like to watch domestic films is because of you old dogs.

Gentlemen always say that people just like entertainment films. If you don’t like them, who do you think you are?

In order to satisfy his own selfish desires, he completely ignored the filmmakers in the industry who worked diligently for the development of Chinese-language films.

What a white-haired bastard, what a shameless old thief. I have never seen such a shameless person. "

As soon as Liu Zhou’s Weibo post was published, it immediately caused an uproar.

This time he launched an indiscriminate attack and scolded the entire comment community.

However, Liu Zhou's fans were instantly excited. It was the first time for them to see Liu Zhou publicly insult someone, and the insults were quite dirty and not polite at all.

This made them feel that Liu Zhou was fighting alongside them, so their fighting spirit became even higher.

He fought more vigorously against those black fans and cursed those experts and professors more harshly.

In particular, Liu Zhou's words on Weibo were quoted, and for a while, "white-haired man" and "old thief with gray beard" became hot words.

At the same time, Liu Zhou's Weibo post also resonated with many netizens, who expressed their support.

"Oh my god, Liu Zhou actually cursed. He actually cursed. This is the first time I see the richest man curse so down-to-earth. But it feels so refreshing to hear it."

"You're right to criticize. What do those old guys know about art? Does anyone watch art films? We go to the cinema to watch movies not to think about life, but to relax."

"That's right, they are the only ones who are still enjoying themselves. They have no say on whether it is art or not."

"What is an art film? If a film has a dismal box office and no one cares about it, then it is called art? I hate these so-called experts who pretend to know art."

"Nowadays, I get annoyed when I hear people with the title of expert or professor."

"They are really bored. Liu Zhou worked so hard to make Aftershock, a film of great significance, but they criticized it as worthless.

It's just like finding faults in an egg, or finding faults with your eyes closed, it's just like looking for trouble."

However, although Liu Zhou's speech caused a considerable impact, it also seemed to have stirred up a hornet's nest, and half of the commentators were angered by him.

In addition to Zhu Dake, more and more so-called experts, professors and critics have come forward to accuse Liu Zhou.

Xie Jin could be defeated and Zhang Yimou could be discredited, and they felt that Liu Zhou was no exception.

(End of this chapter)