Since the 2023-024 New Year's Eve, "migrant workers" groups have appeared in several films released in succession: "The Annual Meeting Can't Stop", as an absurd comedy in the workplace, has become a dark horse in the New Year's Eve and is known as "migrant workers". "The most exciting film about people"; in " Mr. Red Carpet ", the clip of the actors on the set violently beating up the management was posted on Weibo and became one of the hot topics of promotion; " Galaxy Writer " focuses on "full of B taste" and promotes When it was released, it was positioned as a "must-see for working people".
However, the box office of the three films is uneven - "The Annual Party Can't Stop" created a miracle of 1.292 billion workplace movie box office; "Mr. Red Carpet" failed to be released during the Spring Festival, with a predicted mainland box office of only 94.2 million; "Galaxy Writer" ” has a box office of 4.113 million. It has only been released for a week and has almost disappeared from the theater schedule. Why are the "beating workers" narratives so popular on the big screen, and why do different works receive such different responses?
Narrative Advantages
1. Resonance and "Crazy"
At the end of 2023, "The Annual Meeting Can't Stop" was released and became a dark horse, taking over 1 billion in box office. Its success is by no means accidental, but the power that has been accumulated for a long time is finally released - "The Annual Meeting Can't Stop" actually fills the gap in domestic workplace films in recent years, allowing ordinary migrant workers to no longer be speechless in local films. The film
focuses on portraying the background of a major Internet company. Through a farce of misalignment and layoffs, it vividly shows the true ecology of the contemporary workplace. From the detailed portrayal of everyone in the workplace in the film, we can see the epitome of ByteDance, Alibaba, New Oriental and many other companies, such as giving English names when joining the company, "voluntarily" working overtime, "aligning granularity" and "making good combinations" "Such big-name slang was used throughout, and the audience sincerely commented: "Did the leading actor secretly go to work?" "You can't make a movie like this if you haven't been in class for 20 years."
"Galaxy Writer" was released at the end of March this year. During the announcement, the main audience was also targeted at the group of migrant workers. The film tells the story of two ordinary screenwriters working hard in Beijing, focusing on the ups and downs of "film and television migrant workers" at the bottom, and satirizing many phenomena in the film and television industry. Directors Li Kuo and Shan Dandan said in interviews that almost every clip in the film is a story that the writing and directing team has actually experienced or heard. It is this reality that has won the recognition of the industry and made the film a 2023 film. The hit of the annual First Youth Film Festival, it won the Best Screenplay and the Jury Award; at the same time, the film also received support from many audiences outside the industry. Under the Weibo entry "Galaxy Writers Tap Water Amway Competition", some netizens expressed their opinions In his opinion, he believed that the film "allowed people to have such a profound understanding of the screenwriting industry for the first time" and "anyone who has been a Party B can sympathize with the dilemma in the film."
The "Day for Workers to Turn Back" marked on the poster of "Galaxy Writer" can also highlight another major selling point of this type of movie: "relieving anger". For example, at the end of "The Annual Party Can't Stop", a humble social worker who is afraid of losing his job and an outsourced employee who has not been able to become a regular employee sings his heart out in a rap song with tears at the annual meeting; "Mr. Red Carpet" tells the story of the protagonist superstar While working and filming, Liu Weichi showed the tough moments of ordinary workers on the crew - in the film, the crew beat up the unreasonable party A on the spot, which made the majority of workers say it was very enjoyable. Movie fans also spontaneously created many emoticons to rectify the workplace. Help promote the film. These movie scenes not only imitate the real workplace environment, but also use absurd "crazy" plots to hit the emotional resonance point of the public, thus giving the sad and helpless workers a sense of comfort and attracting the attention of more viewers.
2. Deconstruction and disenchantment
In the past year, in addition to "crazy literature", the term "Grass Team" has been popular on the Internet. The mood of the times has reached this point, and netizens are no longer satisfied with blind admiration for elites. On the contrary, "deconstruction" has become a new trend.
The image of large companies in previous film and television works is basically stereotyped - in high-rise buildings with bright windows and clean windows, employees call each other by their English names, and senior executives are busy strategizing."The Annual Meeting Can't Stop" breaks this point. By miscasting the perspective of employee Hu Jianlin, the film not only turns the English title into a comedy baggage, but also exposes the "workplace foolery" and workplace pua of the executives in the film. When Hu Jianlin, who was born in a standard parts factory, understood the contemporary "company and employees" as "factories and workers" and led everyone to work as fitters and hammers, the modern "big factory" also shed a layer of unattainable packaging. , forming a clever contrast with the "factory" that people are more familiar with.
"Mr. Red Carpet" shows the weird scenes in the film and television industry, dragging the best actor down from the altar, not only causing the superstar Liu Weichi played by Andy Lau to face a storm of public opinion and reputation crisis, but also spectacularly showing the chaos and loss of control on the set and even within the studio. . When the superstar Liu Weichi was in a state of despair and made all sorts of ugly appearances, it was not only the workers who were watching in the film who were disillusioned, but also us outside the screen. The film does not portray the protagonist Liu Weichi as a "superior", but instead highlights his less dazzling and even comical side. There are many vivid details in the film, which successfully weaken the aura and filter of the star. For example, Weichi Lau experienced life while filming a rural-themed movie. He checked into a Samsung hotel for the first time in his life, and then sat on a squeaky chair, twisting around with novelty and joy for a long time.
3. The background of comedy
Another thing that several films have in common is that they choose to use comedy to wrap up the discussion of real issues. It is funny, but it is more than funny.
"Mr. Red Carpet" focuses on "elegant comedy, knowing smile"; "Galaxy Writer" stars the "Three Dogs" combination of " annual comedy competition "; "The Annual Party Can't Stop" itself is based on classic cross talk The work is the source of inspiration. Judging from the starring cast, Dapeng and Baike are all familiar faces in early Internet comedies. The supporting cast is even called " Comedy Contest " and " Talk Show Contest " of team building.
But behind the comedy, the real content that these works want to express is either a reflection on communication, a discussion of the gap between dreams and reality, or a sharp disclosure of various ills in the workplace. Many of the emerging comedians who have become a new force in the film have had professional work experience other than being actors and have a deep understanding of reality. Therefore, they are "full of class flavor" in the eyes of netizens. They are not only acting in comedy, but also It is the life of countless viewers. Only by using laughter to get closer to the audience without weakening the power of reality can the film's watchability be taken to a higher level.
Box Office Difficulty
In recent years, movies involving "workers" and focusing on small people have been relatively scarce in the market. Stories from all walks of life and various groups of people have greater room for development. The success of "The Annual Meeting Can't Stop" is sufficient This is confirmed. However, unlike the former, which grossed a billion in box office, "Mr. Red Carpet" was withdrawn and re-released, while "Galaxy Writers" was "scheduled for films in the underworld", and the Douban scores of the two films were 6.8 and 7.0 respectively, which is the same as "Annual Meeting" There is a certain gap between the 8.1 points of "Can't Stop". So, why is it that "The Annual Party Can't Stop" is so popular with the mass market and has both good word-of-mouth and box office success, but the latter two films failed to win the favor of the general audience?
1. The perspective circle is relatively niche
First of all, the storylines of "Mr. Red Carpet" and "Galaxy Writer" both focus on the film and television industry. The former is considered to have the main perspective falling on big stars, although the film is full of people. The description of the workplace industry also includes a more specific profile of the work on the set. However, the protagonist’s superstar status, generous salary, etc. are too far away from ordinary people. Even if most of the plots achieve satire on the film and television industry, they are not It is difficult to resonate with the audience.
Although "Galaxy Writers" wants to promote "workers" as the main subject, its references are actually more targeted. It shows regional and professional characteristics, such as Changying, a place where screenwriters live, and film festival fans. The details of the drama such as grabbing tickets have made the "film and television migrant workers" in Beijing more sympathetic. This has also caused the reputation of "Galaxy Writer" to be polarized. Many viewers have questioned whether it is "enclosing the territory to be cute" or "the main creator is enjoying himself" ".
During the promotion process, both films consciously wanted to get closer to the public. For example, "Mr. Red Carpet" marketed "999 true stories in the entertainment industry", and "Galaxy Writer" stated that the film "conforms to the contemporary spiritual state". However, Limited by the film's own subject matter and story, it failed to achieve very good results. The previous " Yong'an Town Story Collection ", which was based on behind-the-scenes stories in the film and television industry, did not receive a good response. Although it received much attention from festivals and exhibitions, the final box office was only 3.23 million yuan. Practice has repeatedly proved that if these "fan-limited" filmmaker stories cannot be cleverly packaged in a more down-to-earth narrative and allow more audiences to empathize, it will be difficult to make waves in the mass market.
2. The expression method is not dominant
Furthermore, in terms of specific content presentation, the two films have not achieved "popularization" that can attract a larger audience and leverage higher box office results.
The humorous expression in "Mr. Red Carpet" is relatively cold and restrained, avoiding overly dramatic presentation of conflicts. In order to maintain the serious core as much as possible, director Ning Hao, who is well versed in commercial films, changed his previous style in this film, slowing down the narrative rhythm of the film and setting up a large number of long shot sequences to calm down the overall mood, which actually The entertainment quality of "Mr. Red Carpet" declined accordingly, and it failed to meet the audience's expectations for "Ning-style comedy". In the end, the film met with failure for the second time. It was first withdrawn from the fiercely competitive Spring Festival season, and then re-released on March 15. However, the total box office has not exceeded 100 million so far. Judging from the star-studded cast and the huge early publicity momentum, "Mr. Red Carpet" was the one that suffered the most serious box office failure among the films of the same magnitude this year.
Most of the memes written in "Galaxy Writer" have thresholds and are friendly to screenwriters and content creators. Even the poster wall in the protagonist's bedroom and the whiteboard where the screenwriter works are full of obsessed people "knowing themselves" details, but difficult for ordinary viewers to capture. In terms of the overall structure, the film strives to create an anti-routine comedy, using professional terminology in the film and television industry to segment segments, such as "story line", "emotional line", "character growth", etc. Audiences who have a certain understanding of script creation may You will smile knowingly when you see it, but in the eyes of most viewers, the film also appears fragmented and has a heavy sense of splicing.
One of the more out-of-the-box scenes in the film, "Saving the Cat", is a scene within a scene that uses a five-minute film commentary to illustrate fifteen dramatic beats widely used in popular science and commercial films. When the familiar soundtrack and dubbing sounded and "Look! This woman's name is Xiaomei" was put on the big screen, the reputation of this plot became polarized. Audiences who liked it thought it was unconstrained and extremely creative. Audiences who liked it thought it was inexplicable and said, "There is no need to watch short videos in the cinema."
"The Annual Party Can't Stop", "Mr. Red Carpet" and "Galaxy Writer" are both comedies that focus on the workplace and write about "part-time work". In fact, they have a lot in common, and the current situations they satirize and reveal are similar. , all have their own highlights and ingenuity; but because the film is based on differences in perspective and expression, the audience's position and narrative point are different, and thus it has received varying box office and reputation, this may be giving us inspiration. : When the public watches the movie, resonance will give it more value.
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