I was acting crazy in North America, and all the crazy people there took it seriously.

Chapter 224 I understand, the prison BA is the salvation of the Americans.
The first film in the "Prison BA" series was a huge success in France, and overnight, French newspapers were filled with discussions about "Prison BA".

"European Heroes Business Agency" has been working tirelessly to launch its operations in the British Isles, the Iberian Peninsula, and the Apennine Peninsula. Wherever it goes, it advances with unparalleled "madness" and is unstoppable.

From luxurious cinemas in London's West End to makeshift screens in Berlin's underground beer halls, from ancient Roman square screenings to cafes along Amsterdam's canals, this "freak" film from America has captivated Europeans who pride themselves on their worldly knowledge and refined tastes with its unique charm.

Whether it's a regular movie theater or an underground screening venue hidden in the city, as long as a poster for "Prison BA" is displayed, almost every screening is sold out, and many places even need to add midnight screenings to meet the demand.

"Prison BA" has sparked phenomenal social attention, becoming the hottest topic of conversation in cafes, salons, and even family dinner tables.

People weren't discussing the rules of the game, but rather fiercely debating the various "unorthodox" elements presented in the film, and they couldn't forget the fleeting glimpse of the daringly dressed cheerleaders' swaying long legs.

Europeans have to admit that they have never seen such a vibrant sports league!

It brutally ripped away the veil of warmth surrounding "fairness," "friendship," and "excellence" in sports competitions, nakedly revealing a mixture of violence, desire, technology, and capital, and subverting their understanding of sports competitions.

Europeans are generally prepared for the "troublemaking" of Americans, after all, the "American collapse theory" has become a well-known concept among Europeans.

But they never expected that Americans could so thoroughly infuse the spirit of "making a scene" into sports events, creating such a distinctive and diverse "spectacle"!
Europeans felt both uncomfortable and unable to resist!
What's most interesting is that in the past, whenever American society showed any signs of "madness," European public opinion almost unanimously mocked "America is doomed"; but this time it's completely different, with European society's evaluation being mostly positive.

At its root, it may be similar to the American mentality regarding the presence of Black celebrities in prisons.

People's expectations of "normal people" and "prison prisoners" are vastly different.

When a normal person goes mad, it's seen as a dangerous sign of social disorder and the decline of civilization; but when a prisoner goes mad... well, good for him, please be even more mad, I love watching!

Watching a group of deserving prisoners engage in such a fierce and absurd struggle under unique rules offers European audiences a dark entertainment experience with a sense of moral exemption—safe yet thrilling.

As a result, with the release of the film, a large number of "armchair basketball" fans quickly emerged in European society.

They were arguing heatedly about who was better among the "talented," "heroic," and "poor" types, debating whether the players or the audience could create more drama, and discussing how to create more drama in the future... while eagerly anticipating the sequel movie revealed in the post-credits scene.

In particular, the European sports community reacted in stark contrast to their American counterparts, who treated them with utmost seriousness and launched a barrage of criticism.

Many people in the European sports world, especially those pioneers committed to commercial reform, praised the various "innovations" of "Prison BA" after watching the movie!
"Advancing with technology"? This is clearly a technological empowerment and frank exploration of the limits of human physical ability! It is the inevitable direction for the future development of sports!

"Full audience interaction"? This is a revolutionary immersive experience! It greatly enhances audience participation and the dramatic tension of the competition, and is the secret to maintaining and increasing the value of tickets!

There's also the way commercial sponsorships are seamlessly integrated into every aspect of the game... This is the kind of business operation model that team owners dream of!
All of this is a "version of the answer" that is ahead of its time!

There's no way around it; the money-making power of "Prison BA" movies proves everything.

According to some media estimates, the distributor earned at least $500,000 just from selling film copies in various European countries!
What does this mean? It means that even if the "Prison BA" alliance only takes the minimum share, it can still get at least $100,000.

How many sold-out matches would it take to make that money?
People in the sports world, after doing some quick calculations, were green with envy.

They can still play matches, sell tickets, get advertising deals, and even make a fortune from movies! It's like they're dancing on a gold mine!
I'm so envious!
However, despite the envy, the European sports world still has some sense of reality.

They also realized that not every competition can make a lot of money by making movies.

At the very least, your game itself needs to have a story, or in short, it needs to be entertaining! And ideally, every minute should be full of surprises, and every character should have a backstory.

So, can the European sports world learn from this?
After in-depth research, the European sports community came to a rather disheartening conclusion: it is difficult to directly copy the "Prison Basketball" model.

To learn from "Prison BA," you first need a foundation like Fox River, a profit-driven private prison system that dares to break all conventions; you need a social atmosphere with extremely high tolerance for violence, drugs, and gray areas; you need capital to intervene and manipulate without any bottom line...

In short, to complete the cultural aircraft carrier "Prison BA", you need a "great" country on the verge of collapse and increasingly insane!
European sports figures are lamenting that old Europe is still too conventional! They can't learn from it!

Of course, it's not entirely hopeless.

Some insightful and clever people have already taken action. We can't emulate the prison basketball league, but can't we take this opportunity to develop a normal basketball league?

The more popular the "Prison Basketball" movie becomes in Europe, the more people will become interested in the sport. Even if we only hold regular matches, we can still attract new viewers who are interested in the movie and get a share of the market!
However, there is one country that thinks it can really copy "Prison BA"!
That is Germany.

The trauma of defeat in the war, the humiliation of the Treaty of Versailles, the despair of economic collapse, and the continued chaos in Weimar Republic society... all of this caused the German people to suffer both physical and mental anguish far greater than in other European countries.

Initially, Germans followed mainstream European opinion, watching America's "madness" with a sense of amusement, waiting for this nouveau riche nation to collapse, hoping to find some amusement in their numb suffering. But gradually, in order to repay its enormous debt, the authorities frantically ran the printing presses, triggering hyperinflation. Now, 42 billion marks are worth only about 1 US dollar.

At this point, the moral values ​​of the whole society, like the value of paper money, plummeted, and there was no bottom line left.

Many Germans went from mocking the American mentality to beginning to understand and learn from it.

Since reality is so painful, why not go crazy!
Americans can run "prison BA" (a form of illegal gambling), so why can't we Germans?
One German saw far more than that.

In the basement screening room of a smoky bar in Berlin, where the movie "Prison BA" was playing, a man with a mustache, after watching the film, demanded that his organization members gather all the information about "Prison BA"—from the management philosophy of Fox River Private Prison to the recently popular "prison culture superiority theory," leaving no detail untouched.

After some "in-depth research," this mustachioed man came to a conclusion that even the instigator couldn't have imagined:

"I get it! 'Prison BA' is not just a simple sports entertainment event, but a well-thought-out 'national salvation movement' for Americans!"

At a core internal meeting, he excitedly shared his "insights":
"The greatest crisis facing America is that it is being polluted and diluted by those inferior 'impurity' races! The Second Civil War in the South is the best proof of this!"

"The 'prison culture superiority theory' is essentially a highly efficient social screening and purification mechanism! It systematically identifies and concentrates these useless or even harmful 'impurity' populations in society—criminals, degenerates, and unpopular minorities—and throws them into prisons, squeezing out their remaining value in every way and to the maximum extent until they are exhausted!"

“‘Prison BA’ is truly a brilliant and great innovation!”

The man with the mustache pounded his fist on the table.

"In the past, we only thought of making those 'impurities' do hard labor in factories to barely squeeze them out. Look at the Americans! They can come up with all sorts of new ways to package these social scum into popular sports stars, making them fight to the death on the field for a little bit of benefit, while attracting the world's attention and making huge sums of money! This is not only economic exploitation, but also spiritual domestication and display!"

"Moreover, this system allows ordinary people to subtly accept and endorse this 'waste utilization' model through entertainment, while elites can develop a ruthless and decisive 'superhuman' mind by participating in and operating this model!"

Just one word, I surrender!

What impressed the mustachioed man even more was the propaganda methods of the Americans.

"What is clearly the most brutal exploitation and oppression is disguised as 'humane' management full of 'humanitarian' care, and as a touching story that inspires 'redemption' and 'rebirth'! This ability to manipulate people's hearts is truly astonishing."

"The American version is still far ahead of our German version in terms of both publicity and practical application."

Feeling the “gap” and the “time waits for no one”, the man with the mustache made a major decision: he would select the most loyal and promising elites from the organization and send them across the ocean to America to learn in depth the “way to save the nation and survive”!
Among them was a young intellectual named Paul Joseph Goebbels, who embarked on a ship bound for New York with the mission of "seeking knowledge".

During his transatlantic journey, Goebbels chatted with other passengers and was surprised to find that more than 80% of the passengers on board claimed to be "fans" of "Bad Boys".

Wealthy travelers from Britain and France visit America hoping to catch a glimpse of the legendary, unexpectedly exciting live games of "Prison Basketball."
Some people harbor basketball dreams and want to try to participate in the "Prison Basketball" selection process;

Some are sports managers who want to learn the "Prison Basketball" operating model;

What impressed Goebbels the most were a group of representatives from pharmaceutical companies in Germany.

At that time, Germany had the world's most advanced chemical industry, and the pharmaceutical industry was one of its pillar industries.

These shrewd businessmen, armed with samples and instruction manuals, were ambitiously preparing to go to "Prison BA," which they saw as the "ultimate testing ground" and "technology expo," to empower the "tech-savvy" teams there and to grab a huge share of the profits.

All of this caused Goebbels to fall into deep thought.

In his diary, he wrote: "This is just a movie! A carefully packaged propaganda piece! Like a powerful magnet, it attracts so many people from different backgrounds and with different purposes, filled with all sorts of aspirations, desires, and calculations, who flock to that country without hesitation. This power to manipulate collective consciousness and guide social trends... we must grasp it!"

As the ship finally slowly entered New York Harbor, what came into their view was the wreckage of the Statue of Liberty, still under restoration, silently reminding every arrival: Welcome to the land of "madness"!
The Europeans who came to learn from the experience had not yet recovered from the shock of the ruins when, upon landing, the shrill cries of newsboys and the front-page headlines of the latest newspapers gave them a second shock:

"A Feast for Death: A Tech-Fueled Showdown in Prison Basketball! Both Coaches Pledge: No Basketball Without Death!"

The Europeans who had just set foot on American soil looked at each other in bewilderment.

No, you Americans really play like your lives depend on it!
This American sports version seems to have evolved to an excessively advanced level!

……

(End of this chapter)