Chapter 1483
Everything Will Be Alright
A few weeks passed, and time flew by.
Time has already passed 2011 and arrived at 2012.
2011 has passed, and I miss him very much.
After all, a lot of thrilling things happened this year.
For ordinary people, especially for millions of netizens at home and abroad, 2012 was a truly "thrilling" year.
After all, according to "rumors" and the legendary Mayan calendar, this year is the end of the world.
Zhang Yuan had nowhere to ask genuine Mayans, nor could he easily dig a few out of a grave.
After all, they were all wiped out by the Spanish.
It has existed for over three thousand years and has a population of over one million.
They were discovered by Europeans 30 years later and became extinct.
I don't know whether the horror is the apocalypse or the colonizers.
Or perhaps the prophesied end of the world is the arrival of white people.
In any case, this "doomsday theory" has swept across the world and become a topic of daily conversation among ordinary people.
Of course, there are also many people who rushed to buy vinegar in 02 and salt in 11, and now they have started hoarding supplies again.
North Americans are hoarding toilet paper, while Russians are hoarding vodka.
It's understandable that people in China are stockpiling instant noodles and biscuits.
What's unusual is that in the Sichuan region, many people have started hoarding candles and matches.
It's not a problem with Chengdu being zero, but rather that it had only been a few years since the earthquake, and everyone still vividly remembers the water and power outages at that time.
In any case, businesses in various places have discovered the business opportunity.
Taobao heavily promoted "Doomsday Shopping," while Mexico, leveraging its control of Mayan ruins, launched a massive marketing campaign that attracted tens of millions of tourists.
Even more extreme is Columbia Pictures, which simply made a disaster blockbuster with the same name, "2012," to cash in on the problem.
The director is the same guy who directed another disaster blockbuster, "The Day After Tomorrow," so it's a perfect match for his expertise.
There are also many employees in the company who spend their days discussing how to survive if the world ends.
Zhang Yuan felt that if it really was the end of the world, he would definitely find several old women to roll around with.
Even death should be a pleasurable one.
However, to cater to his subordinates' preferences, he specially ordered a batch of "doomsday survival kits" online from the company, which included needles and thread, masks, alcohol, rope, batteries, flashlights, soap, water purification tablets, etc.
The company has a lot of young people, and they were happier to receive this than to receive a red envelope. They were overjoyed.
Don't forget to go to work even if it's the end of the world... Zhang Yuan really wanted to leave a little note inside.
But to avoid looking too "capitalist," he saved the money.
No matter where I sit, even at home, I can hear my aunt talking about the end of the world.
The disturbance only completely stopped when he arrived at the People's Conference Hall, where the Beijing Federation of Literary and Art Circles was holding a meeting.
People here don't allow discussions of feudal superstition.
The president of the Federation of Literary and Art Circles, representatives from the Film Association and the Actors Association, as well as people from the Municipal Bureau of Culture, Tourism and Radio and Television, all came.
After all, he won two awards in two consecutive years, one of which was an international award.
Even if you're like Zhang Ziyi and have won all three major awards, those are still domestic awards.
At this time, the prevailing social atmosphere in China still places great importance on external recognition.
Just like the Olympics and the World Expo, there are many people of Zhang Yimou's age involved.
In short, they overestimated the West and underestimated themselves.
It actually made things easier for him.
He pulled out his manuscript, which was titled "Film and Television Artists and Their Daily Lives."
Without Cheng Hao's help to review and revise, he fiddled with it himself for quite a while.
I also sent the article to Xixi, pretending to ask her to help me revise it.
She was always quite proud of herself because her thesis received the highest score in her class when she graduated from Beijing Film Academy.
It can be considered as catering to their preferences.
In reality, the changes were not made according to her suggestions at all; they were just done superficially.
But she was very happy, feeling that she had participated in an important event in her life.
Zhang Yuan looked around and realized that she was the only one who could learn anything; Yang Mi and Liu Shishi never even read books.
These female celebrities...
"I am deeply honored by your invitation today."
"Below I will share some personal insights on film and television acting, for your reference only."
Please forgive me if I said anything wrong.
After saying that, he picked up the manuscript.
"You don't need to be so tense and serious."
"I'm here today just to have a chat. Let's treat this like a regular get-together, no need for reading from prepared speeches," the leader from the Cultural Affairs Bureau said with a friendly smile.
Zhang Yuan scanned the area with his eyes.
Is your family having a party where everyone is wearing executive jackets, designer brands are placed in front of them, a red carpet is laid on the floor, and the national flag and emblem are displayed on the ceiling?
Putting everything else aside, when Zhang Yuan picked up the white porcelain cup with a lid in front of him, he felt like spitting out tea leaves even when drinking plain water.
He even wore a diplomatic-style suit that the Court of State Ceremonial had previously made for him, which made him look dignified.
Anyone would feel nervous in such an environment.
But then he thought again, "I am a little nervous."
But others don't even have the chance to feel nervous!
No matter how many people want to kneel down, they can't get this opportunity.
Then I relaxed a little.
“Okay, memorizing lines is a basic skill for me anyway,” Zhang Yuan joked.
"Hehehe, I'm not telling you to say it, just say whatever you want."
Once you get to this area, you have to use some high-sounding and sophisticated phrases.
We can't talk about "vulgar" topics like "liberating one's nature".
Teacher Ma Jingwu once told him that when he was a class teacher at the Beijing Film Academy, many talented people emerged from Wang Zhiwen, Hu Yajie, and their class.
They all look like veteran artists now, so serious.
But back then, whenever it came to performance assignments, these guys would come up with some explicit love scenes for him.
They even said that Teacher Ma is old and doesn't understand, which is called Freud.
He was that famous Austrian psychologist, the founder of psychoanalysis.
Personality development is defined as five stages: oral stage, anal stage, phallic stage, latency stage, and reproductive stage.
Simply put, human developmental needs include eating well, defecating comfortably, the Oedipus complex (also known as the mother complex), sexual repression, and constant mating.
Everything comes down to nature and sex.
Westerners are indeed like that, otherwise they wouldn't smoke whatever they can get their hands on and eat whatever makes them feel high.
At first, Master Ma Jingwu couldn't understand it. Later, he specifically went to read the book. After reading it, he was very dismissive, saying that Western things were nothing special, just the same old stuff.
They felt that the West hadn't even reached the stage of the Chinese concept of "preserving heavenly principles and eliminating human desires."
They even advocate releasing and amplifying desires—how low-class!
The older generation of artists were truly amazing; they never bowed to Western theories and possessed ample cultural confidence.
Zhang Yuan also spoke confidently about his performance.
"I believe that performing is also a form of labor."
"It's no different from farming or working in a factory."
"The word 'actor' should not be sanctified or elevated."
"Instead, we should get closer to life and approach the character through the details of daily life."
"In the award-winning film 'The Piano in a Factory,' I played an ordinary worker."
"But it was this simple and genuine performance that moved the foreign judges and audience."
"It's not necessary to make a big show of things, with instruments like sheng, yu, xiao, jian, ji, and zhi to win over foreigners."
"The real Chinese people and their lives can also resonate with others."
"But the key lies in the word 'truth'."
"To prepare for this role, I learned how to operate a machine tool, although my skills aren't very good." "I also learned how to knit, because the character in the film knits long underwear for her daughter."
"I also learned to read simple workpiece drawings."
“These all greatly enhanced my understanding of the character and improved the quality of my performance.”
"It made me truly feel and become like Chen Guilin, an ordinary worker."
"During the performance, I felt the charm and power of the workers."
"Great!" The leader from the Cultural Affairs Bureau led the applause.
Because this person really did work in a factory when he was young.
Hearing that he could operate machine tools made me like him even more.
Looking back, it can be summed up in two words: naive and immature!
"Thank you for the compliment, boss."
"There is another very important point, which I have always firmly believed in when I participate in any activities overseas."
"That means we Chinese are the best, and I am a representative of these outstanding people."
"You must stand tall and be confident. I don't think I'm any worse than foreigners."
"We all have one head and two legs. I can do everything they can do, and I can also do things they can't do."
"Excellent!" the literary association's publication also commented, "The young people of today are remarkable."
"Yes, we must showcase the splendor of China when we are abroad."
And so, in the conference room, Zhang Yuan, a billionaire, discussed how to lay off workers.
A group of department-level officials applauded and cheered.
The room was filled with a cheerful atmosphere.
As for whether Zhang Yuan felt guilty when he said those words.
Then we can only quote what Brother Qian said when he talked about the Spring Festival Gala in later generations.
"That's the requirement for that place!"
So none of the words Sisi revised for him were used.
Anyway, after the meeting, the leaders were quite satisfied with him.
Everyone was cheerful, and there was no sense of impending doom.
Similar to, yet in contrast to, a large meeting was also being held in Huayi.
What was similar was that the meeting was very formal, but the atmosphere was quite different.
The air there isn't very pleasant.
The year-end shareholders' meeting has turned into a complaining and venting session.
"I don't think it's the end of the world, it's the end of Huayi!"
The eldest sister who bought Zhang Yuan's shares was known for her outspokenness, and she immediately launched into a tirade.
After all, the stock price has plummeted, and these shareholders are all very worried.
And this is even with Tencent investing 4.5 million.
Both Jack Ma and Yunfeng's bosses transferred some of their shares to Little Ma.
When Tudou failed, they turned to Tencent, which had just established its video platform.
This was a positive development, causing the stock price to rise from over 30 yuan to over 50 yuan.
However, it is still far from the peak price of over 120 yuan when it was first listed.
Furthermore, the Wang brothers planned to sell some of their shares for other investments, but this was stopped by other shareholders; otherwise, the price would have fallen even further.
The two brothers claimed that Ning Hao's film failed to pass censorship and that Zhang Yuan caused trouble when the stock price fell last year.
During the Spring Festival season, Huayi Brothers' box office performance was significantly worse than that of films from both sides of the strait.
After all, last year saw the release of "Let the Bullets Fly" and "Ip Man 2".
But what about this year?
Not only the woman from the south, but other shareholders also fired back.
What about the Lunar New Year film season?
"What about Lunar New Year films?"
"What about our movie?"
In 10 years, there were films like "Aftershock," "Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame," and "If You Are the One," all of which performed quite well at the box office.
But this year it failed to fire!
Almost no major films were released.
The two brothers are spending money everywhere; they have no time to make movies.
Therefore, Jun'er's approach of cracking down on the practice of "taking a three-year break from listing" is correct.
There's a group of companies that, once listed on the stock exchange, immediately start to lie low; once they have money in their pockets, they don't know what to do with it.
Are there any films starring us in the Lunar New Year film season?
Where is Feng Xiaogang?
The shareholders were furious.
That's right, even Director Feng isn't here; there are no films starring him in this year's Lunar New Year lineup.
When the shareholders looked at the financial statements, they found that the film revenue for the whole year had dropped by 7%!
He immediately lost his temper.
This is actually a consequence of the financial problems caused by Zhang Yuan's actions at the end of last year.
"Please don't worry, everyone."
"Director Xiao Gang is planning a new film, and it's going to be a big one."
"I've read the script and I think it's excellent."
"Filming will begin soon, and we will show it to you later."
Xiao Wang quickly explained, his forehead covered in spittle.
When Feng Xiaogang is mentioned, he is full of confidence.
Because Director Feng and Zhang Yuan share a common label: they've never lost money on any of their films.
Upon hearing this, everyone knew that Director Feng wasn't taking a break, but rather preparing for something big, and the shareholders quieted down a bit.
This is the power of people; just mentioning a name is a reassuring thing.
Just like how with Zhang Yimou's involvement in film production across the Taiwan Strait, all shareholders felt that this wave was in the bag.
But they didn't know that Director Feng was working on a major film called "Back to 1942".
Just like no one knew that Zhang Yimou would later make "The Great Wall".
"It's not just Xiao Gang who's making big works."
"We are still discussing the development of new works with Stephen Fung's company, Chenlong's company, and Pang Ho-cheung, who has become quite popular in recent years."
"We are also working with Tsui Hark on a sequel to Detective Dee."
"Next year will be a big year for Huayi!"
"We will release ten new films to revitalize the Chinese film market."
Damn it, I want to make a triumphant return.
"We will prove that Huayi is the number one film and television company in China."
"We have the strongest team and the best market," Xiao Wang said with great enthusiasm.
"Great!" Immediately, some of their own people applauded and cheered.
"Hopefully so. What we want to see are the results," the Alibaba representative replied calmly.
"Don't worry, everything will be fine as long as Xiao Gang's film is released," Xiao Wang said with great confidence.
"Too."
"Yes, yes, yes."
The others echoed in agreement.
Unfortunately, his words stabilized the situation internally.
But the external situation is not like that.
After looking at this year's Lunar New Year film lineup, my colleagues came to only one conclusion.
Huayi is no longer capable.
Especially compared to Zhang Yuan's company. (End of Chapter)