文/fancy
In this year’s Spring Festival, compared to Jia Ling, Zhang Yimou is the most bloody director, right?
His movie "Article 20" was controversial due to its large scale and poor story, but in the end the box office still declined.
Especially in the large-scale area, Zhang Yimou has been ridiculed more than once or twice for his "male condensation" scenes.
His two recent films, "Man Jiang Hong" and "Sturdy as a Rock", also have similar plots.
However, the effect is obvious.
Every time he makes a new movie, he rubs the edge, and the audience scolds him every time he sees it. But in the end, didn't "Man Jiang Hong" win the box office championship during the Spring Festival last year?
"Sturdy as a Rock" was so bad in every aspect that Venus couldn't help but criticize Zhang Yimou, but it was still the most talked-about movie in the summer last year.
Compared to Jia Ling who only had one "Hot and Spicy" movie, Zhang Yimou was still able to gain both fame and fortune despite the controversy in many films. His black and red physique is truly unrivaled.
Why does he challenge the audience's bottom line again and again, but still manages to save the day?
In the final analysis, this is all created by Zhang Yimou’s ingenuity and wisdom.
In his early years, he studied Western movies and filmed both human nature and the times. Anyway, he filmed whatever China was backwards.
From "Yellow Earth" to "Old Well" to "No One Less", Lao Mouzi quickly established a foothold in the director circle because he identified the points that foreign markets like to watch domestically.
Even in order to cater to Western aesthetics, he changed the female protagonist of "The Thirteen Hairpins of Jinling" to a white male. In the plot of
, there are even more large-scale scenes between Chinese women and white men that foreigners love to watch.
Foreign audiences would be fools if they could not appreciate Zhang Yimou's deliberateness.
Of course, "The Thirteen Hairpins of Jinling" was nicknamed "The Battle of the Virgins" by them.
Because they can’t feel the feelings of our family and country, watching this movie is full of charm and enchantment.
Now let's look at "Jinling Thirteen Hairpins", which has become a benchmark movie for Zhang Yimou's male gaze.
However, this does not prevent it from scoring as high as 8.3 points in a certain category. It has won awards and made the heroine Ni Ni famous.
The influence of "Jinling Thirteen Hairpins" cannot be ignored to this day. The more people scold Zhang Yimou, the more he shows his actual achievements and slaps him in the face.
Since hosting the grand Olympic Games in 2008, Zhang Yimou has been in the limelight.
He knows that the situation in the country has changed, and he cannot blindly only take pictures of the bad side of his family.
At a time when Hollywood special effects blockbusters were raging, he gathered domestic superstars led by Matt Damon, Andy Lau, and Lu Han to co-produce the Chinese and foreign blockbuster "The Great Wall".
Although this time because of the poor plot, Lao Mouzi was scolded miserably again.
But this big production, whether it is the configuration or its special effects, is worthy of the audience's ticket price.
, especially its ending song "A Bridge of Fate", is even more popular.
On the other hand, the loss of "The Great Wall" is not ugly. On the contrary, it achieved half a success.
Seeing that making blockbuster films was thankless, Lao Mouzi later turned his attention to low-budget films.
From "Shadow" to "One Second" to "Above the Cliff", including the closest ones to us, "Man Jiang Hong" and "Solid as a Rock", each of them is controversial, but their flaws are still intact.
During this period, Lao Mouzi also directed the Winter Olympics, maintaining the level of 2008 as always.
This caused the audience to love and hate him. Faced with these low-cost movies, they said they were disappointed over and over again, but they could not escape the "law of true fragrance" and contributed to his box office time and time again.
Looking around, there is no director of his generation who can match Lao Mouzi and adapt to the changing circumstances.
Directors like Ang Lee, Wong Kar-Wai, and Jia Zhangke who maintain their original aspirations, for the sake of higher quality, the production cycle is too long.
On the other hand, Lao Mouzi has controlled both quantity and quality.
If you don’t believe it, go to a certain page and look at the ratings of Lao Mouzi’s works over the years. There are a lot of them, and the average is above 7 points.
So you say that he makes quick money, no other director cherishes his feathers, and he can’t keep his feathers in his old age, so what?
He overtook others in a curve and opened up a new road.
Other directors can't even afford to eat in order to be elegant, but Lao Mouzi continues his myth.
Relying on this wisdom of keenly aware of the direction of the wind, it is not surprising that Lao Mouzi is now making movies and changing his style, and still getting both criticism and profit.
In contrast, the "superstars" of the same era as Lao Mouzi, from Stephen Chow to Andy Lau, have to learn a lot from him.
They made their fortune in Hong Kong films, but the era of these "superstars" has long ended.
The reason is obvious. Hong Kong films in recent years have followed the same routines, and the leading actors are all supported by old people. There are no new people joining, which makes the audience tired.
The final glory of Hong Kong films is entirely supported by the affection of mainland audiences for them.
However, in the end, the mainland audience, who were their "food and clothing parents", were severely stabbed in the back.
Nowadays, Hong Kong movies are completely in decline. Who deserves it if he doesn’t say a word?
Even if it is Stephen Chow's original comedy style, if it is not sincere, it will not be popular.
In recent years, several of his works have been ridiculed by the outside world due to poor box office performance. In addition, Xingye is involved with several capital interests, which has greatly damaged his vitality. It is no wonder that "Mermaid 2" has been delayed and has not been released. , so much so that he has to sell his mansion.
Under such circumstances, some of the "era superstars" headed by Xingye have begun to move to the mainland, and some, for the sake of a better future, even have to compromise and start to ride on the popularity of Internet celebrities. Before
, Stephen Chow met with Brother Yang. Later, Andy Lau was promoting his new film and was a guest on Dong Yuhui's live broadcast to have an awkward chat with him.
Even Jackie Chan, known as the "Light of the Chinese", could not escape the disaster.
Audiences who are familiar with him have long known that Jackie Chan appeared at Simba's concert a few years ago.
Sure enough, if the money is in place, anything can be said.
Brother Jackie Chan is friendly to Simba, and the two of them are like brothers. Don’t you know what
internet celebrity is? When it comes to them, what is difficult to change is the large number of negative images.
Therefore, the outside world is always disappointed when these "superstars" are related to them.
I don’t rule out that some of these “superstars” and Internet celebrities really get along, so they choose to cooperate.
is like Master Xing and Brother Yang. They both came from grassroots backgrounds and made their fortunes through comedy. They are essentially the same type of people.
Mr. Xing is Xiao Yang’s idol. Internet celebrity culture is not accepted by the outside world, but it is inevitable to deny it. They have achieved great success in the Internet celebrity world. Cooperating with Mr. Xing not only satisfied Xiao Yang when he was young. Meeting idols can also give you the opportunity to realize your dream of a class leap.
On the other hand, Mr. Xing can also take advantage of Xiao Yang’s huge traffic in the Internet celebrity world to find new breakthroughs in the troubled film field: develop on short video platforms.
From this point of view, the cooperation between the two parties is essentially a win-win situation.
However, even if this is the case, Xingye's side must be helpless.
You must know that Internet celebrity culture has emerged a long time ago. Why didn't he get involved with Brother Yang at that time? In essence,
still looks down on the other party and does not need the other party. The same is true for other "superstars" of
. Why did they have obvious barriers with Internet celebrities earlier, but in recent years they have been rushing to post one after another? Isn’t
a jealous Internet celebrity with higher traffic than today’s celebrities?
It is precisely because of the late exposure and the unwillingness and awkwardness that these "superstars" do not have the achievements that Zhang Yimou has today.
If they want to seek truth-based advice, instead of trying to compromise and be embarrassed, they should implement "Yimouxue" into etiquette and invest in the sinking market.
After all, face cannot be eaten as food.
These "superstars" may lower their prices to cater to the sinking market, and they may even acquire an approachable personality.
will not lose its price even if it is scolded. It is also a kind of traffic that cannot be obtained.
Lao Mouzi’s step-by-step practice has taught these “superstars” the effect of catering to the sinking market.
Whether they can seize success depends on whether they can continue to put down their dignity and implement it to the end.
Time will tell. Do you think we will see "superstars" like Andy Lau, Stephen Chow and Jackie Chan collaborating with internet celebrities in the future?
However, this also proves from the side that the status of those "veteran directors" is in jeopardy, and they must also consolidate their status from another aspect.
