Generation Z Artists

Chapter 106: A New God in the Troll World

After piracy took off, the world suddenly changed.

Not only did the 13 ugly guys celebrate offline, they also stopped playing the role of mentors and friends in newspapers and were ridiculed and mocked.

The literary circle, led by the avant-garde, was furious and spoke up for Fang Xinghe, directing their criticism at the education and culture departments and the General Administration, while scolding the whistleblower for having no aesthetic taste.

It's hard to prevent the department from finding an opportunity and taking advantage of the situation to stir up trouble.

Celebrities from all walks of life were involved in it either actively or passively, some wanted to attract traffic, some wanted to write anti-poems, and they put everything into it.

how so?

With a total of more than 200 million genuine copies sold, "Cang Ye Xue" has already secured the title of the best-selling novel in the past decade and has a very broad readership base. After the ban, the explosive growth in pirated sales will once again expand its influence.

In any field related to the cultural world, if you don’t know Fang Xinghe, you are equivalent to being "abandoned by the trend of the times."

The original words of this sentence come from Zhang Weiping, Zhang Yimou's current close partner.

He took the initiative to accept the media interview, and said with a big mouth: "Nonsense! Random ban! Stupid actions! Of course I know Fang Xinghe. In fact, I have been paying attention to him for a long time. I feel that he is particularly suitable for the male lead of my and Mouzi's new film. How can you not know such a popular person? Mouzi and I have not been abandoned by the trend of the times, right?"

Pingzi is a real villain who will not do anything without profit. He will not take advantage of useless traffic, but he will never let go of useful traffic.

This time, I was actually eyeing "Cang Ye Xue" together with Zhang Yimou.

After finishing filming "My Father and Mother" this year, Mou Zi has been troubled by the script and has been unable to finalize plans for a new film.

One of the options is Mo Yan's novella "The Master Is Getting More Humorous", and the other is the original script "Northeast Orphan" currently being written by screenwriter Liu Heng.

From the bottom of his heart, of course, Mouzi is willing to shoot the second one, but it will take a long time, and Liu Heng himself is not sure when he will be satisfied with the script.

Pingzi wanted to make the first one, and urged Mozi: "What era is it now? If you want to make money, you have to try to make a Lunar New Year movie!"

Is it a warm and light comedy, or Fang Xinghe’s past in Northeast China?
The two argued several times and decided to put it on hold and wait and see.

If nothing unexpected happens, Zhang Weiping will win in the end and persuade Mou Zi to shoot his first Lunar New Year film "Happy Times", which is adapted from Mo Yan's "The Master Is Getting More Humorous".

As a result, "Cang Ye Xue" came out, and the two brothers found that the other two choices were not as good as "Cang Ye Xue".

Nowadays, the pain of youth is not only not overwritten, but is still the freshest thing.

Moreover, the industry does not regard "Cang Ye Xue" as a pure youth love story at all. Its background structure determines the freedom of secondary expression.

Zhang Weiping saw the huge popularity and Mouzi saw the profound theme, and they hit it off immediately.

Mouzi personally called Fang Xinghe but was unsuccessful. Pingzi then took the opportunity to praise Fang Xinghe in the media.

"...Their generation is very different, and Fang Xinghe is particularly remarkable. Reading his books and articles often brings me to tears. If he comes to the capital to study in the future, I will definitely visit him in person..."

Balabala, it’s praised so highly.

However, anyone who believes what comes out of his mouth is a fool.

In comparison, Mou Zi is truly sincere at this moment, and his attitude is more sincere.

After "Cang Ye Xue" was banned, he made a special trip to Nong'an to visit Fang Xinghe in person.

At this time, Mouzi was not yet a national master, but he was already one of the best directors in the country - except for Xie Jin who was half a head ahead of him, Kaizi was already half a body behind.

He brought Liu Heng with him, and Liu Heng called Feng Yuanzheng, and the three of them went straight to the door.

"Hello teacher."

The moment he saw Feng Yuanzheng, Fang Xinghe immediately became a good boy.

It's time for me to save face for you~~~
Feng Yuanzheng couldn't stop smiling, then he rolled up his sleeves and was ready to show off to Mouzi and Liu Heng on the spot.

"How's your basic skills going? Come on, let's go for a fight!"

Walking around in a play is very common among actors, but if it is a master-disciple inheritance in the Ge School, then it may be very different - not walking around stage clips, but doing something abnormal.

They performed a tiger style training in the yard on the spot, and when they were getting excited, Feng Yuanzheng added some thunderstorm lines.

"You are my eldest son, and I don't want to talk about this in front of others."

Feng Yuanzheng paused for a moment, took a breath, and his expression and voice became stern: "I heard that you were very unruly at home in the past two years while I was away!"

Fang Xinghe replied immediately: "Dad, that's not the case, no, no!"

There is a subtle movement of drooping shoulders and retracting them. When it comes to facial expressions, the actor does not use the large-scale expressions performed on the stage of a drama, but instead uses micro-expressions in the eyes to show panic.

Feng Yuanzheng raised his eyebrows: "If a person dares to do something, he should take it seriously."

"dad!"

Fang Xinghe gave an expression that was both fearful and aggrieved, his voice raised, his slumped shoulders and slightly stiff neck formed an extremely subtle body language.

"it is good!"

Mouzi and Liu Heng cheered and applauded at the same time.

They are all top professionals in the industry, and they can fully appreciate the value of this performance.

The body language, facial expressions, and lines are all truly top-notch.

“What a great performance!”

Feng Yuanzheng couldn't help laughing, but couldn't hold it back. He turned around and boasted to Liu Heng: "How about it? I said he would win the Best Actor award sooner or later. Wasn't that nonsense?"

"Brilliant!"

Liu Heng gave a thumbs up and then responded bluntly.

"Based on this shot alone, Xiao Fang is better than you. You always can't change your acting habit. When there are only a few of us in the hospital and the distance is so close, why do you have to make such strong expressions?
Besides, Director Zhang is a film director, your handling is not delicate enough, and your thoughts are not as good as a child's!"

"Yo ho?"

Feng Yuanzheng felt both proud and uncomfortable. He simply ignored Liu Heng and turned to praise Fang Xinghe.

"It seems that you haven't stopped practicing while you're at school and writing books, and you've even put in more effort. Your level is even better than the last time we met. Great, great!"

"You taught me well." Fang Xinghe smiled modestly, "I practiced by myself at home, thinking about your teachings."

Well, with just one sentence, Teacher Feng was praised so much that he was almost offline.

Apart from nodding with satisfaction, he couldn't say anything else. Instead, he kept glancing at Liu Heng with the side of his eyes, looking very arrogant.

Mou Zi's eyes also became extremely eager, and he came up to hold Fang Xinghe's hand: "Xiao Fang, let's work together to make "Cang Yexue"? You play Chen Cang, and I will immediately hold a nationwide audition and pick out the most suitable Lou Yexue for you!"

He was truly surprised, even shocked, and overjoyed.

Because the whole story focuses entirely on Chen Cang, and this role is so difficult to choose, to the point of being somewhat unrealistic.

The first is that you must be young, energetic and wild.

The second is that he must have a melancholy inner aura and a little bit of neurosis. Too much of it is not good. Someone like Chen Kun is not suitable. Having none of it is even worse. Sunny handsome guys like Huang Xiaoming and Deng Chao are totally out of place.

The third is that you must have acting skills, and they must be very high, at least able to switch freely between the two extremes of sweetness and brilliance and madness and brutality.

Fourthly, his age cannot be too old, at most 22 years old. If you ask a young man over 22 to play a 16-year-old boy, no matter how he dresses up, he will lack convincingness.

This is so difficult, almost impossible to accomplish.

So when Mou Zi was thinking about "Cang Ye Xue", he was actually very uneasy.

If it was made into a realistic work, with the main perspective not on campus and Chen Cang and Lou Yexue downplayed, the problem with the actors would be easy to solve, but I always feel that the core is lacking.

If the film is roughly based on the original story, then the male and female protagonists will be big problems.

Now seeing Fang Xinghe's performance, a big stone in his heart finally fell to the ground. He was filled with ecstasy and wanted to immediately bring the chosen one Chen Cang into the group.

"You don't have to worry about the salary. Although you are a new actor, you are well-known. I am willing to give you the highest salary for a male actor in mainland China, 50. You and Hengzi will work on the script together, and the copyright fee and adaptation fee will not be less than 100 million..."

Fang Xinghe was not moved, he just felt it was magical.

There was an inverted relationship between top male stars and copyright fees, which was really outrageous in 1999.

Of course, Mou Zi couldn't just speak nonsense. He must have a clear basis for what he said.

So Mr. Fang took the initiative to inquire: "Is the domestic film and television market so bad now? The top male stars only make 50 per movie?"

Mouzi said firmly: "Only Ge You can get this price!"

Feng Yuanzheng encouraged him on the side: "The mainland and Hong Kong and Taiwan cannot be compared. Director Zhang's filming will probably not be popular in the Hong Kong and Taiwan markets. He spent 150 million on you, which shows his sincerity."

"That's right." Liu Heng nodded. "It would be good if this film can recoup its costs after it is released in China. To really make money, we have to see if it can win the three major European awards."

"If you win the prize, I'll give you a big red envelope in proportion to the prize!"

It can be seen that Mouzi really wants to pull Fang Xinghe on board, and he even said such words.

Because matters such as profit sharing from copyright operations have always been decided by Zhang Weiping, he himself has neither the ability nor the willingness to manage it.

The middle-aged Mou Zi is completely different from the later capitalist director of "Man Jiang Hong". Now he only wants to create and express himself, and is completely insensitive to money.

Fang Xinghe talked to them a lot about the film market, and they finally had a sense of touch and reality about the film industry at the turn of the century.

One word: miserable!

Except for the big directors and small-time celebrities who can win awards, ordinary well-known mainland directors live worse than the online movie geeks of later generations.

Those seemingly inconspicuous and unknown professional online movie directors can easily make millions a year and pick up a dozen extremely young girls. As long as they don't want to be promoted, they will feel comfortable as hell.

This is the decisive factor of market capacity. The larger the industry scale, the greater the survival space, and there is money in every corner.

For Fang Xinghe, the most important difference is that in the large-scale industry ecology of the future, after the layers are stacked, there are many elite talents in the middle and upper levels. Unlike now, if you want to pull out a high-level crew, you must rely on absolutely solid iron relationships.

These days, the environment is totally unsuitable for producing wild great directors.

Because the top talents in the industry, such as lighting, photography, props, fireworks, production, executive directors, etc., are only a few dozen or so in each category.

In addition, there is a chain of contempt. People from Hong Kong and Taiwan don't care about the mainland, and people from the mainland don't care about outsiders. If you are not a professional director, no amount of money can solve the problem of building a team.

For photographers, you can choose one among Gu Changwei, Lu Le and Hou Yong. You are a new director who is not a professional director. Who can you handle?

Even professional directors cannot command these people, unless they have connections or authority to help them, otherwise they will give you face by even drooping their eyelids.

Don't even think about the bigwigs from Hong Kong and Taiwan. They come to the mainland not to work, but to be fathers. Just try to coax them.

Don’t ever think that money can solve everything. At least in the current film industry, money is not the first factor, but the circle is.

After chatting for an afternoon, Fang Xinghe completely gave up the idea of filming "Cang Ye Xue" himself as soon as possible.

Inappropriate, unrealistic, and cannot maximize benefits.

If it were given to Zhang Yimou, he could indeed shoot the film, but Fang Xinghe was very skeptical about how his overly strong desire to talk would shape the script.

For a director, personal desire for expression is not a bad thing. What is important is whether it can be balanced. Fang Xinghe does not think that he has the ability to handle Mouzi now.

"I'm sorry, Director Zhang. I'm going to take the entrance exam for the directing department of the Film Academy, and I want to keep Cang Ye Xue to shoot on my own."

Fang Xinghe didn't confess to Mouzi until the very end, but even though it was late, he didn't lie and told the truthful reasons.

Mouzi was stunned.

"Yourself... oh!"

He suddenly realized: "No wonder you talked to me so much about directing... But you have the potential in this area. It's really like that if you shoot your own story."

Mouzi was quite generous at this moment. After he figured it out, he was not angry. Instead, he felt very comfortable chatting with Fang Xinghe.

"Then I have to give you some advice. This story is not easy to film. It is a problem to pass the review, and how to shoot the core is another problem. You have a deep understanding of the script and can learn the audio-visual language, so you just need a good team - don't just study hard after school, communicate more with teachers. The seniors at Beijing Film Academy are capable enough, but it is not easy to hire them."

These words are a bit heart-touching. Lao Mouzi has been through a lot of wind and rain over the years and encountered a lot of disgusting things. He is completely unlike Kaizi in terms of carefreeness. He has earned his strength and fame through his own hard work.

He solemnly warned Fang Xinghe: "In the film industry, your personality... I'm not saying you're bad, I like you very much, but your road will definitely not be easy. I'm giving you a heads up, you have to be aware of this."

"I understand." Fang Xinghe nodded gently, "Thank you for your kindness, I am very inspired."

He only said he was inspired but didn't talk about change. Zhang Yimou understood and shook his head with a wry smile.

However, although he returned empty-handed, he was in high spirits on the way back.

"My understanding of talent was too narrow before. After seeing Xiao Fang, I finally understood what spirituality is - how much time does he spend on directing and acting? How can he be so advanced now? Awesome, so awesome!"

Feng Yuanzheng was also frightened, grinning and saying, "Do you know when he started learning directing? During the summer vacation! I found the list of the books on directing in the study, and Wang Yali helped buy them."

"Good guy!"

Mouzi and Liu Heng’s eyes were wide open as if they were the same age.

"It's been less than half a year, then?"

"Just half a year." Feng Yuanzheng sighed, not knowing whether he felt sweet or distressed. "If this continues, in another year, maybe he will be able to write, direct and direct at the same time, and can in turn guide me in acting..."

The three of them looked at each other, and no one said a word - it was just right, a top director, a top screenwriter, and a top actor.

The more I think about this, the more terrifying it becomes, and it subverts my entire worldview.

“Being a director is not that easy.”

Liu Heng tried hard to comfort Mouzi, but he didn't know how much he was actually comforting himself.

"Xiao Fang can do anything except being a director. Anyway, I can't imagine him following someone's ass to get involved in the circle. But these days, if you don't get involved in the circle, how can you make movies?"

This is the truth and it couldn’t be more objective.

Mouzi wanted to help Fang Xinghe, but unfortunately, the young man did not appreciate it and was unwilling to start as a screenwriter.

It was impossible for him to force Fang Xinghe into the Northwest Circle, and he also did not have the ability to make people in the circle accept Fang Xinghe directly.

Therefore, Mouzi smiled and changed the subject: "When you mentioned the circle, I remembered what happened in Yangshuo recently? Why did you fight with Xiaofang as soon as you came back?"

Liu Heng curled his lips and said, "I just came back and found that I don't have much influence anymore. I'm just upset."

Feng Yuanzheng had no say in literary matters and could only worry about Fang Xinghe secretly.

This matter caused quite a stir, but the reason was actually very simple.

Just the day before yesterday, a reporter interviewed Yang Shuo and asked him about Fang Xinghe and "Cang Ye Xue".

Yang Shuo didn't hold back and started to criticize right away: "What the hell is this? Don't ask me about it. His aesthetics and sensibility are so low. My girlfriend insisted on praising him to me. I told her that if you want to see the face, just say you like that face. Don't talk about literature. Is literature meant to be ruined like this?"

The real reason is difficult for outsiders to figure out, but there are rumors in Beijing that a lot of unpleasant things have happened in the two years since Shuo Ye came back, and he is currently considering going back to the United States.

"This news should be relatively accurate. His daughter Xiao Mi is preparing to study in the United States. It is normal for him to change his environment and accompany his daughter to study."

Liu Heng was well-informed and told the story vividly.

"I heard that his daughter also adores Xiao Fang. She must have praised him a lot at home, and her father must be angry and embarrassed. Haha!"

Mouzi briefly commented: "With or without a daughter, Yangshuo and Xiaofang are impossible to deal with."

This is absolutely true. Yang Shuo hates being compared with him the most, and since Fang Xinghe made his debut, people have been praising his writing style for being "even better than Yang Shuo's ruffian style."

"Oops, I forgot to ask Xiao Fang what he was going to do. Look at my brain!"

Liu Heng felt a little regretful, as if he had lost a huge melon.

When Feng Yuanzheng heard this, he immediately felt nervous.

Based on his understanding of Fang Xinghe, this kid might be...

That’s right, as soon as they left, Fang Xinghe arranged a counterattack.

Yang Shuo is different from other writers. 99 was the twilight period of Shuo Ye’s influence. He was obviously on the decline, but there is still a generation that regards him as an idol and a beacon.

Who was Yangshuo before experiencing this era?

When this moment really came, Fang Xinghe immediately felt the pressure of Yang Shuo's criticism.

It goes without saying that the Hard to Prevent group also added fuel to the fire. Many screenwriters, actors and cultural figures across the entertainment industry also flattered him, even making the voices praising Fang Xinghe seem weaker.

The Beijing circle has never tolerated anyone who is not from a big courtyard, but they can always get along peacefully with the Hong Kong circle. People who understand them will never be surprised by their group at this time.

Fang Xinghe didn't understand, he just pulled back his hand and hit it back.

What does Generation Z know about Beijing?
Generation Z just extremely hates those superior people who occupy the toilet but do nothing.

The next morning, Beijing Youth Daily published the full response.

"Yangshuo was relatively normal in the early years. People would make fun of everything, neither soft nor hard. But after they gained some social status, they became vulgar and loved to point fingers at others and curse. In fact, there are traces of this.

In the early years, I loved to tease because when I was my age, I never fought back against those insults, insults and ridicules. It was not because I didn’t want to, but because I didn’t have the ability. So what should I do? I had to use words that were neither soft nor hard to fight back, which meant that I was not afraid. This way, I could both defuse the insults from the other party and preserve my own dignity.

Over time, he developed his unique language style.

However, when he gained a certain status and became a big shot in the Beijing circle, his writing and language became more and more straightforward and sharp.

The real thoughts in my heart couldn't be simpler: I am very awesome now, I am your spiritual dad, and I scolded you, so what?
Analyzing his style changes and then unraveling this person is just a story of a dragon slayer becoming a dragon, which is not worth mentioning.

I can even assert now that he will never produce any good work again.

We regard his going to the United States in 1997 as a watershed. Before going to the United States, he was like a stray dog, living in a state of panic all day long. At that time, his bones had already been broken.

After spending half a year in the United States, I was greatly comforted spiritually and began to deceive myself - living in the United States is the real life. I didn't make up his original words, did I?

So, why?
Because no one cares about him in the United States, there is naturally no pressure.

But he finally came back because he couldn't bear the loneliness and couldn't live the so-called free life where no one treated him as a boss.

Unfortunately, this is the world of the new generation. How can a former "literary giant" in the Beijing circle, whose spine has been broken spiritually and who has been forced to continue half his life by reflecting on his Chinese identity in the United States, regain respect?
Is it just because he started to promote the middle-aged greasy and castrated flattery of the new American father?
Even when Bian Que came, he had to bow his hands and say: I can’t cure you, just wait to die, goodbye.

Wake up, the millennium is approaching, and the early morning is dead!
It is not yet time for those born in the 80s to take over, but they obviously love me more than they love him.

When time rolls over a person, it never says hello, it just rolls over him carelessly.

Why are we often unable to notice it at the time?
Because people are flying in the sky and their souls are chasing on the ground, the thoughts of people floating high in the air have long been detached from the masses and are no longer connected with the ground.

If it's just a greasy facade supported by past glory but no vitality inside, why pursue it?

Those who could not be caught up, all such literati whose sense of family and country and national self-esteem were shattered, were all recorded in history with the most disdainful attitude - this person was very weak, and future generations should take it as a warning.

Yangshuo, this is how my life will be. "

This was almost the first time that Fang Xinghe cursed someone by name. Cheng Dayi and others didn't count, they were just casually named to expose their corpses.

The madman's first move broke through half of the cultural circle.

It's cruel, too cruel. Every word is true, but it also distills a kind of aggressive beauty that maximizes its spreadability.

Using the pen as an arrow to deny a writer from the root, only a very few trolls in history have done this, and now, the troll world has a new god.

********
My uncle came late but the amount was large. Thank you for your concern.

(End of this chapter)