Generation Z Artists

Chapter 274 Fang's Version of "Hero" - A Big Bang
Wei Ping retrieved the overseas master tape and began frantically compressing and copying it.

Although it has been decided to release the overseas version in China, we cannot let go of its current box office potential.

Use the original version to generate revenue, and once that's done, use the overseas version to bring back those curious viewers who are still dissatisfied with the ending for a second viewing. After two rounds, how could it not generate 1.5 times the box office?
Actually, Fang Xinghe owns half of this money, but he really doesn't have time to deal with it right now—things have gone crazy in America.

The macro-level context is the rise of national collectivism, which is essentially a two-party system of consolidating power and dividing spoils overseas. On the surface, this is manifested in a shift in public opinion and the suppression of the liberal camp.

The ultimate result was that Fang Xinghe was elevated to a pedestal.

Although being criticized for being hypocritical and double-standard is unpleasant, those in power in the military, energy, pharmaceutical and financial groups don't care—didn't SR not detail the bad things the capitalists did?

If everyone gets scolded, it's the same as no one getting scolded at all.

Since Star River didn't get criticized, he's a tactful anti-freedom fighter.

Moreover, he doesn't oppose everything indiscriminately—he only opposes neoliberalism, that is, libertarianism that transcends family and nation—this is a just act!
So, after a few days of chaotic online arguments, the article successfully broke into wider audiences.

Oprah enthusiastically shared the article in her book club and recommended that her followers take a look.

Actually, she herself didn't understand it, but that doesn't matter. There are plenty of interpretations in the newspapers now, and reading them aloud can be quite impressive.

"Star River uses animals to metaphorically represent the pure wildness in the art world, but this still holds true in the real world."

His satire was profound, fully taking into account the sensitive and fragile egos of some Americans, and his stance was entirely aligned with the lower classes who are most vulnerable to losing equality due to freedom. It was a perfect teaching material that was both persuasive and revealing…

Schwarzenegger, who is preparing to enter politics, strongly supports this move.

The statement read: "Freedom must operate within the constraints of responsibility in a way that does not affect others. How do we judge whether something will affect others? First the nation, then the collective, and finally the individual. Star River's understanding of freedom is extremely profound and responsible, which aligns perfectly with my own beliefs. I would be very happy to collaborate with him on the next Terminator film..."

Incumbent politicians didn't say much because they were considering the impact and didn't want to confront the liberal camp head-on.

But Wall Street seized on this opportunity and acted arrogantly.

The Wall Street Journal published an article aimed at creating a "god-like" image for Fang Xinghe.

"Star River's cultural influence is making it a unique business amplifier."

From a cold, hard data perspective, since the global release of "Hero," the market share and sales of the products he endorses have increased by 45% to 128%.

Since the publication of "China-US Fangshi", the number has increased further, and Fangshi products have become best-sellers of the season.

This is not a coincidence. He seems to have a natural business instinct. Every time he becomes the center of attention, he can generate quite intense emotions and turn into a large number of supporters.

However, Star River never gives supporters the opportunity to express their enthusiasm in person. When these supporters have nowhere to vent their passion, turning to buying his works or endorsed products naturally becomes the only option.

This is not the first time something like this has happened.

Star River, always at the center of public opinion storms, always receives the widest support. No matter how outrageous his remarks are, there are always far more people who love him than those who hate him.

Of course, we would not speculate that this was all part of his business dealings.

In fact, his new article does not focus much on provoking emotions. He uses too many obscure technical terms and uncommon nouns, making the article difficult to understand and lacking in popularity and dissemination.

But what's even more astonishing is that he used an article that was more academic than commercial to sway a large part of American society, which fully proves that he is already an outstanding cultural leader with the cultural power to turn the rotten into the magical.

Although this is not American culture in the conventional sense, the wave of reflection it sparked will have a long-term and lasting impact on American intellectual circles.

We summarize this as a phenomenon: Star River's cultural invasion.

Today, more and more American teenagers are taking pride in emulating Star River. He doesn't have tattoos, doesn't swear, doesn't make dirty jokes, and doesn't encourage violence but doesn't shy away from using it either. This is a higher level of freedom and self-expression, and its significance is no less than that of the hippies.

By examining the core of his business value through the lens of logic, we have reason to believe that this will be a unique and long-term personal influence.

Intel has made a brilliant move; its partnership with Star River will become one of the most successful marketing cases of the 21st century.

Best wishes to American Express as well, whose January card issuance figures far surpassed others, and whose market value surged by 25%.

Currently, all brands in Star River's endorsement portfolio are performing well in the secondary market. It's time to officially establish a Star River concept stock, and all related business concepts are at the beginning of a long-term upward trend.

Trusting Star River can not only bring spiritual strength and support, but may also create one wealth myth after another.

For all related stocks, we have only one recommendation rating: We suggest buying immediately and holding for the long term.

The reasons will not be repeated here; time will prove them.

Wall Street made no mention of ideology, let alone big government and low levels of freedom and human rights.

However, their endorsement of Fang Xinghe by the entire market led to a higher level of trust.

— Trust Brother Fang, and you can make money.

The corresponding "Fang Xinghe concept stocks" continued their upward trend.

In fact, the initial logic behind the rise of those stocks was solid performance. The brand ambassador's popularity was further enhanced, and the enthusiasm for consumption was further released, so the performance was bound to increase.

With earnings up but the financial report yet to be released, the market is bound to have strong expectations.

This translates into a perfectly normal and healthy rise in the stock market.

But now, with Fang Shen being symbolized, conceptualized, and focused on, the logic behind the stock's rise has suddenly changed—from expectations of improved performance to the logic of holding a rare stock as early as possible.

Because Fang Xinghe endorses very few brands, which are scattered across various countries, he naturally has even fewer listed companies.

Therefore, Fang Xinghe concept stocks are very rare and hot stocks with long-term growth momentum in every market.

The shift from hyping performance to hyping concepts immediately opened up new avenues for growth.

In just two days, INTC surged by 37%.

It may not sound that surprising, but Intel's market capitalization is what it is. It's not the kind of stock that can experience wild fluctuations; it's clearly going to have a long-term upward trend.

Meanwhile, Nike, listed on the NYSE, BMW, listed on the French Stock Exchange, LVMH, listed on Euronext, Sony, listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange…

Stocks related to Fang Ge (a famous Chinese entrepreneur) surged across the board!
Once a person has value, they will find friends and good people everywhere.

The American business community is going crazy for it, with a flood of endorsement and collaboration inquiries every day. The media is even more enthusiastic, with interview requests and program invitations pouring in like snowflakes.

The most important cinema chains even took the initiative to request an expansion of the screening scale.

Meanwhile, Sony suddenly had an endless stream of parties – January was the start of awards season, and the number of people willing to get to know him among the thousands of Oscar judges was increasing daily.

With this momentum, in its third week of release, "Hero" saw its box office rise instead of fall, finally breaking the $3000 million mark for the first time.

At this point, the North American box office record for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is bound to be broken, and the title of the strongest foreign language film in history has been firmly placed on "Hero's" head.

Film critics, of course, did not lower their proud heads and continued to fight Fang Xinghe to the death.

And to be honest, a few articles with genuine insights have indeed been published.

However, under the overwhelming force of the regime, they couldn't make much of a fuss, and the pro-Fang camp simply crushed them.

What is the trend?

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) hosted a symposium on “American Culture and Historical Contexts”, with most of the participants being Ivy League history and humanities professors and scholars from around the world.

In his opening remarks, Chairman Bruce Cole stated, "Opposing unlimited freedom, establishing a correct collectivist view of fairness and freedom, and correcting the genes of American culture is the historical responsibility of our generation of scholars, experts, youth, and the general public..."

By now, smart people have already figured out what the United States is opposing and suppressing.
What is opposed is not liberalism, but all groups and individuals who are unruly and unwilling to accept constraints and control under the Midwinter Strategy.

Anyone who objects to the current government's centralization of power and military intervention is a hypocritical, double-standard neoliberal remnant who disregards the big picture.

Neoliberalism is a dumping ground; anything can be thrown into it.

Fang Xinghe, who fired the first and second shots with "Sex" and "The Sino-American World" respectively, naturally became a fighter for fairness.

Opposing excessive freedom is tantamount to seeking universal fairness.

The logic is sound, and the benefits are numerous.

The most direct manifestation of this was that at the latest Oscars PR reception, Fang Ge became the focus of the entire event, with every judge willing to chat with him for a bit.

Writers Guild President, Directors Guild Member, Screen Actors Guild Board Member, USC School of Cinematic Arts Professor…

Fang Xinghe behaved very well, chatting about everything under the sun while holding his juice.

Afterwards, "Hero" and "The Sino-American World" received high praise from this group of old white men.

"Star River's understanding of the two core American values ​​of freedom and equality is profound and accurate. He has never opposed true freedom, and the dynamic balance he proposed is precisely the perfect picture that the progressive liberal left in Hollywood has been striving for..."

"Hero is an art film imbued with a strong sense of Fang's philosophy. Its core of active engagement and its formal passivity create a powerful contradiction. The extreme sense of destiny, especially the moment Star River breaks the fourth wall, completely shattered my consciousness. I absolutely loved his performance, but I loved even more the screenwriter SR's imaginative handling of this scene. He deserves all the praise..."

“The Mandate of Heaven is clear, and modern America remains blessed, but Star River’s critique is still highly valuable.”

"Hero" presents us with an Eastern logic based on destiny, namely: if destiny is not used correctly, then any insignificant historical figure may harm or even destroy it.

This is significantly different from the Western logic of divine mandate, but it is more in line with historical patterns.

Whether it's Star River's writing or his handling of the story in *Hero*, both possess a rigorous and righteous beauty. I give *Hero* five stars.

The reputation of "Hero" has reversed, and it continues to spread among the public.

The most obvious evidence is that the percentage of female moviegoers has plummeted to around 40%.

The influx of male viewers finally unleashed the box office potential of "Hero".

In its fourth week, "Hero" defied expectations with a drop of 3562 million, dethroning "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" which was in its fifth week of release, and finally becoming the box office champion!

At this time, Fang Xinghe's personal influence also reached its limit, and he topped Time Magazine's list of the most influential people for the first time!

Double happiness?

No, it's a triple celebration!

In its fourth week of release, "Hero" grossed over 3 million yuan worldwide, officially creating a trend, a phenomenon, and a cultural hotspot that is being discussed everywhere.

At this point, the die was cast.

Fang Xinghe no longer needed to rack his brains for publicity, so he was eager to return home and hurriedly flew back to the capital to deal with his "young love".

As expected, the moment it landed, it was immediately surrounded by the media.

"Director Fang, Director Fang!"

"There are reports that the international version of 'Hero' will soon be released in Chinese cinemas. Is this true?"

"Hero has caused a sensation around the world, but in China, the criticism far outweighs the praise. Many people believe that the root cause is that Director Zhang insisted on his own way and refused to use the more perfect international version. What do you think about this?"

"Director Fang! Rumor has it that you and Director Zhang have already fallen out, so Director Zhang is determined not to accept the ending you dictated..."

"Many experts believe that Director Zhang should apologize to all movie fans. Director Fang, what do you think?"

Good grief, what is all this nonsense? I'll just sit here and watch.

Fang Xinghe ignored all the questions and walked towards the convoy under the escort of his bodyguards.

With public opinion fermenting to this extent, there's no need for him to do any more publicity, so there's no need to pay any more attention to it; just leave it to Wei Ping.

As expected, Wei Ping lived up to expectations, displaying an extreme level of shamelessness.

He took the initiative to hold a press conference and rambled on and on.

"I initially thought that the ending directed by Director Fang would be better, but Yi Mou was too stubborn and unwilling to let his hard-won artistic attempt die in the editing room, which is why there are two different versions, one for domestic audiences and one for international audiences."

"This really wasn't intentional on our part. There's no need for our friends back home to come up with any conspiracy theories. You all know what Mou Zi is like; he's stubborn!"

"Now that Zhang's version has been in theaters for a month, everyone who wanted to see it has seen it, and the majority of viewers are dissatisfied. This proves that my and Director Fang's approach was correct. So, it's time for everyone to see the real 'Hero'..."

The reporters were completely dumbfounded as they watched Wei Ping speak eloquently.

Goodness, Zhang Yimou really took the blame for this!

You're such a beast...

Fortunately, Zhang Yimou didn't attend the press conference, otherwise he might have been furious.

But Wei Ping's shamelessness did indeed reignite the moviegoers' desire to watch the film again.

Because Wei Ping made a huge boast—

"I can assure you that the international version is not only different in ending, but also in many details. The characters that you have been criticizing as being hollow and like puppets simply do not exist in the version directed by Director Fang. It can conquer audiences all over the world, and it will surely conquer you. This version of 'Hero' is absolutely not to be missed, otherwise it will be a regret for the rest of your lives!"

Whether it's experts, film critics, or even ordinary viewers, seeing the box office already reaching 2 million RMB is incredibly frustrating.

Based on an average ticket price of 20 yuan, there have been a total of 1000 million moviegoers.

Now, you're planning to make these 1000 million people watch it all over again?!

The media believes this is simply unrealistic, as they are well aware of the current spending power in the Chinese film market.

But the result is...

On the first day of the release of Fang's version of "Hero", cinemas across the country were packed to capacity again.

A total of 200 million people went to the cinema that day, and the box office reached 4207 million!
This figure not only broke the record for the highest single-day box office of "Hero", but also shattered the record of "Big Ship".

Moreover, the word-of-mouth completely reversed the day after the film's release ended.

These experts, who came with the intention of finding fault, were astonished to discover that, once compared to Zhang's version, Fang's version of "Hero" was truly impossible to criticize...

So what to do? Change your tune.

So, overnight, a flood of praise poured into "Hero," into Director Fang, and into the core of the film, which even American fathers loved.

Fang's version of "Hero" was a huge hit...

(End of this chapter)