Generation Z Artists

Chapter 273 The Best Time to Release
The popularity of "Hero" in China is slightly higher than in its previous life, but not by much.

Fang Xinghe's involvement greatly improved the quality of the film, but unfortunately, that's the limit of the Chinese film market.

Within a limited timeframe, the number of screens determines the box office surge, so despite everyone actively scrambling for tickets, the increase in box office revenue on the 10th was not significant.

However, the so-called "not much improvement" is a comparative event that only Fang Xinghe knows about; his current film fans and media colleagues are unaware of it.

All they could see was that "Hero" seemed to have taken a mad dog's descent, earning 40 million in three days and breaking 100 million in ten days. From big cities to small towns, there were queues everywhere and discussions about it everywhere.

The media relentlessly attacked the audience from all angles, while the audience only cared about buying tickets, creating an extremely polarized situation.

In the early days of China's film market, there were very few blockbusters, leaving audiences with little choice. So even films as bad as "Mantou" could still achieve considerable box office success.

As the first commercial blockbuster in China, "Hero" naturally received the highest level of treatment.

Within 10 days, his name appeared on countless front pages, from CCTV's "News Broadcast" to "Global News," everywhere.

Of course, it's the increasingly intense infamy.

Hero is a visual spectacle, but the ending is really not good, that's a common opinion.

In the original timeline, viewers had no choice but to endure the disappointment of the ending and comfort themselves by saying: It's okay, at least the visuals and fight scenes were exciting enough, so it was worth it!
As the first major domestic film, let's not have such high expectations.

With this breakthrough, the next time will surely be even better.

The honest and simple domestic movie fans both criticized and encouraged the film, and were hardly affected by the negative reports, which helped "Hero" reach a box office of 2.5 million yuan.

But the situation is completely different now—the media suddenly reported bad news, and the international version had a completely different ending!

All major newspapers are tracking the international release: it's third on the US charts, a huge hit in Japan, breaking records in South Korea, and a kung fu craze in Europe...

Domestic viewers, after watching for a while, suddenly found it hard to stand.

Why?

Why do foreigners get to eat so well and have special editions, while we can only watch helplessly as Chen Daoming spouts nonsense?
The insults gradually spread, with the target being Zhang Yimou.

Mouzi lost a lot of hair and looked bewildered.

"Sigh! How come even domestic audiences can't understand the concept of 'all under heaven'..."

Zhang Weiping couldn't help but curl his lip and patted the newspaper on the table: "What concept or not, the problem is that the characters don't hold up! In my opinion, the international version is much better."

Wei Ping has always spared no effort in manipulating Mou Zi.

"You're just too stubborn. You always like to focus your efforts on things you don't understand. Have you seen Xiao Fang's new article? That's a true demonstration of his profound understanding of the world, unification, the foundations of Eastern and Western cultures, and ideologies!"

Mou Zi was speechless and just kept smoking.

In the past two days, Fang Xinghe's article has stirred up public opinion once again.

Initially, everyone was focusing their criticism on the domestic version of "Hero".

Wang Shuo jumped out and cursed: "What is 'Hero'? It's a giant aphrodisiac! Zhang Yimou is just a decorator, making the visuals magnificent, but the content is empty. He's using grand scenes to fool the public, feeding them 'visual Viagra'!"

A comment on Tianya: "After watching 'Hero,' I realized: the greatest hero is Qin Shi Huang. The assassins, after all their efforts, were ultimately moved by the emperor's magnanimity and willingly went to their deaths. This wasn't an assassination attempt on Qin Shi Huang; it was clearly a large-scale performance art piece praising the Qin king. The movie tells us that resistance is futile, and understanding and supporting powerful authority is the ultimate solution."

The voices of countless stars converged into a torrent on the StarNet: "What a waste of my brother's amazing action scenes!"

The media, however, turned against Tian Gang, criticizing his political metaphors and historical perspective.

"The 'hero's' view of heroism is: heroism is about obedience, sacrifice, and abandonment. For the sake of a so-called 'world,' one can abandon family feuds and national hatred, and sacrifice individual life and love. This logic is consistent with the collectivist narrative of 'sacrificing the small family for the greater good,' but when taken to its extreme, it reveals an underlying worship and fear of power. The King of Qin is no longer a tyrant, but a lonely, tormented, yet great guardian of the 'world.' This film is aesthetically lavish, but in its spiritual core, it kneels down. Zhang Yimou kneels completely, and Fang Xinghe is equally hypocritical!"

The anti-Fang Xinghe group, led by 13chou, was having a blast, using the story of "Hero" to humiliate Fang Xinghe, who was credited as the second screenwriter.

"The story is so bad that Fang Xinghe is largely to blame!"

"What utter nonsense about constantly preaching rebellion and cultivating a rebellious persona!"

"The characters are like puppets, forcibly arranged by the director to complete his pre-set visual spectacles and thematic preaching. Zhang Yimou is not good, and Fang Xinghe also does not play a positive role. With this level of skill, how dare he be listed as the screenwriter and assistant director?"

"Perhaps this is Fang Xinghe's true level. We shouldn't have high expectations for his works. That film, 'Better Days,' is probably an even bigger joke."

Then, after a few days of euphoria, news came that the overseas release version was actually spearheaded by Fang Xinghe, leaving them completely stunned.

Subsequently, as good news kept pouring in from overseas, the domestic public opinion field suddenly became a complete mess.

"Holy crap! Fang's version of 'Hero' is sweeping the globe? Really?"

One characteristic of the print media era was the difficulty in verifying the authenticity and accuracy of external information.

First, information in foreign newspapers may be taken out of context and biased.

Secondly, the process of transferring the goods back to China also involves secondary processing.

Third, no one has any particular authority; domestic media have the right to decide what to believe and what to question.

As a result, all sorts of messy information were mixed up, and no one could figure out what was going on.

Criticism and praise are intertwined, appreciation and hatred coexist, and the ever-increasing overseas box office figures are hard to discern as genuine. Only the article "Chinese Consciousness" is true and undeniable.

Without a doubt, this thing will inevitably make the domestic public opinion environment even more chaotic.

On January 8, People's Daily decided to reprint the full Chinese version.

On January 9th, suddenly the criticism of "Hero" stopped, and Fang Xinghe became the target of criticism.

He wasn't even criticized this harshly in the United States.

The liberal camp in the United States criticized him, but at this moment, national collectivism was in the lead in the United States.

On a political level, the US leadership chose to downplay the article and did not intend to use it as an excuse to make a fuss. Therefore, its influence only spread within the broader cultural sphere.

But it's different in the country.

Domestic media outlets reacted strongly, while a large number of "cultural elites" also responded.

Wang Shuo once again launched into a tirade: "Fang Xinghe doesn't know a damn thing about American culture! 'The Sino-American World' is just an even stronger aphrodisiac. Fang Xinghe is a pyramid scheme operator. He coats those harmful and toxic things with cornmeal, fries them, makes them smell delicious, and makes you hard, but does it really work? After the pleasure, your body will only be weaker!"

Lieyanshan and others vowed to defend American freedom to the death.

"American freedom is beyond question! America's wealth and power are the result of its high level of civilization. Tracing the cause back to the result, a democratic system, a free society, and an inclusive attitude are all indispensable."

Fang Xinghe is arrogant and presumptuous in his pronouncements on culture, like a child telling adult jokes. He doesn't even know where the door is; it's pure armchair theorizing!

At the top four universities, numerous professors and scholars wrote articles criticizing the "errors and omissions" in the article.

Fang Xinghe's interpretation of the idea of ​​unification is incorrect—or at least not accurate enough.

Throughout history, few monarchs truly spoke of unification. In feudal dynasties, valuable land was the common pursuit of both the emperor, his subjects, and the common people.

The so-called expansion of territory refers to land with value, not territory in a spiritual sense.

They wouldn't attack territories that had no real significance in order to achieve unification. Therefore, the area under each dynasty's control was different. For example, the Western Regions gradually lost their value in the mid-to-late Tang Dynasty, so the Song Dynasty had no motivation to recover its 'old territory'.

The core ideal of the Northern Song Dynasty, "restoring Yan and Yun", was not based on the so-called "idea of ​​unification", but on the extremely important strategic position of the two prefectures of Yan and Yun.

Unification, as a political slogan, has never been a mainstream concept in the history of ancient Chinese dynasties. It was more like a rag that was used when needed and then shelved when not in use.

Fang Xinghe uses this as the core to refine the so-called Chinese consciousness, which is essentially just polishing his reputation and prestige. It is not only unbelievable, but also has the suspicion of being a sensationalist attempt to gain fame and prestige.

This selfish yet clever boy has far too much ambition, but unfortunately, his abilities can't keep up with his ideas, making him nothing more than a laughingstock..."

This article was written by Yan Feng, a professor in the Chinese Department of Aurora University. His sophistry was so advanced that he won over a large number of neutral readers at the time.

how to say?

At this point in time, unification is indeed not the mainstream ideology.

It could even be said that, apart from development, there is currently no ideology in China regarding the spiritual subject.

Anyone who frequented the Tiexue forum in its early days knows how niche it was to discuss spirit, culture, and war.

The vast majority of ordinary people don't even have the concept that "China is awesome".

On the contrary, they firmly believe that "China is weak, while foreign countries are powerful, from culture to economy to system, in every aspect."

The Hong Kong media ridiculed this even more.

"Chinese consciousness? What kind of consciousness does China have? The consciousness of a brutally oppressive autocratic regime? Wake up, you loser! Your so-called Chinese civilization is thousands of years behind Western civilization. The stubborn feudal ideology of unification is the root of this decay and backwardness! Without democracy, how can you develop? Without freedom, how can you stimulate individual initiative..."

……

The various public intellectuals can't see the overseas version of the ending and can only guess based on the content of the article, but that doesn't stop them from jumping out and stirring up trouble.

For a time, the country was abuzz with activity, with another attempt to bring down and discredit Fang Xinghe.

This grand occasion stands in stark contrast to that abroad.

In the United States, where the issue originated, left-wing literary circles considered Fang Xinghe's "Chinese consciousness" and "American freedom" to be highly innovative and a wonderfully inspiring form of thinking.

The liberal camp was stabbed in the lungs, but it was no match for Fang Xinghe in literature either.

They don't understand Chinese consciousness, but they know the origins of American freedom—coincidentally, Fang Xinghe has thoroughly exposed it without any omissions.

From negative individualism to positive collectivism, and finally to neoliberalism today;

From the reasons for the birth of American freedom to its development path, and finally to its derivatives and transformations;

From individual needs to historical legacies, and finally to the influence of capital and the inheritance of education...

Fang Xinghe dissected everything so thoroughly that those who understood couldn't argue with him, while those who didn't immediately grasp the essence of the matter, demonstrating his immense authority.

The opposition had no choice but to ignore the article's fundamental logic and resort to sophistry and tantrums.

As a result, the film and television industry continued to criticize "Hero," ignoring "The Sino-American World" and even avoiding Fang Xinghe himself.

The media, however, remained shameless and relentlessly pursued Fang Ge, attempting to obtain firsthand interview material.

At the societal level, a brand new, comprehensive crackdown on individual liberalism and free-market capitalism is underway.

Every Gen Z knows that the representatives of American freedom are LGBT, gender equality, and the political correctness that has suddenly proliferated in Hollywood, such as "Black Mermaid" and "Black Juliet".

However, few people know that this wave of fanatical liberalism is a backlash against the previous era's big government's comprehensive suppression of liberalism.

Taking 2001 as a turning point, until the mold withdrew in midwinter, it was a complete cycle from centralization to decentralization.

Fang Xinghe's new article emerged just as the centralized power movement was beginning.

The US government (or, to put it another way, the two factions) opted for a low-key approach: the government wouldn't get involved, and they could argue all they wanted.

The hallmark of this was that the National Gun Association remained completely silent throughout.

How harsh was Fang Dadan's sarcasm?

"With a bang, freedom of gun ownership was born."

As the most powerful, violent, and oldest civil rights organization in the United States, the Gun Association rarely sends lawyer's letters when it wants to deal with someone... Sending bullets is much more convenient, right?
But this time, they didn't utter a single word, not even a protest.

This reveals the attitude of the American upper class.

The cultural and media circles had a tacit understanding to focus on advocacy and praise, which quickly sparked a major social debate.

Is the article too profound for ordinary people to understand?
No problem, we have plenty of commentators and stand-up comedians.

The complex and difficult articles were quickly broken down into simple and easy-to-understand slogans and declarations, so that even those who could not understand the core of the articles could understand the dangers of allowing individualism to spread further.

Of course, the American public won't fully agree, and those who should oppose it will still oppose it. However, at least in the media, our Brother Fang has already officially become a "new generation of super literary star" and a "sharp, bold, and wise cultural opinion leader."

The way things unfolded was so magical and unbelievable.

Fang Xinghe harshly criticized American-style freedom, and while making sarcastic remarks, he used the phrase "animal world" to succinctly summarize the petty scheming and despicable behavior of the broader cultural sphere.

However, in the United States, he is generally regarded as an "opinion leader who dares to speak his mind and has profound wisdom."

Fang Xinghe highly praised Chinese consciousness, summarizing the core position of the idea of ​​great unity in the genes of Chinese civilization, which combines magnificence with a strong hope for the future.

However, in China, most cultural elites reacted with outrage, while ordinary people either did not understand or agree with the stance.

As a result, the box office performance of "Hero" also began to become extreme.

In the United States, the scale of screenings expanded rapidly, skyrocketing from 1000 to 1680.

Finally, in its second week of release, it reached second place on the box office charts, narrowing the gap with "The Lord of the Rings".

In China, box office revenue suddenly dropped significantly after 12 days of release.

Domestic audiences who neither approve of "The Sino-American World" nor like the ending of Zhang Yimou's version have shown a significant decline in their enthusiasm for watching the film.

It sounds absurd, but it's also very real and ironic.

Of course, Brother Fang was not flustered.

Not only was he unperturbed, but Wei Ping also sensed a huge business opportunity.

Didn't you want to see what the international version would be like?
Come on, let's take another cut from you guys!
(End of this chapter)