Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"So we belong to the Quaker Church?" Ronald drove Aunt Karen and Donna to church.

"Yes, Ronnie. Your mother and I belong to the Staten Island Quaker Church, and your father is also from the New England Quaker Church. Don't you remember? Maybe it's because the church there uses another name for the sect - Quakers."

It was the first time that Ronald knew the sect his parents belonged to. After losing her husband, Aunt Karen was very busy making money. She often worked on Sundays and rarely went to church.

The leg warmer business started to get on track in the past two months. Donna went to a key high school, and Aunt Karen finally had the opportunity to restore the tradition of going to church on Sundays.

"Before, there were several wives of veterans from the Quaker Church in Little Bud who also came to make leg warmers. They told me that there is a small Quaker church in Manhattan. Today, a new priest came to preach. I heard that his speech was very good."

"I remember when I went to church as a child, there was no priest, and everyone was silent and communicated with God by themselves, right?" Donna still had some memories of going to church.

"Maybe it's a different way to get close to God. I heard that this priest is from the south."

...

"Dear church members, I hope you all close your eyes, close your eyes and pray, and pray with me for a miracle in your life..."

"Have you heard the good news? It is the gospel of God, spread among our brothers and sisters... Today I will talk about the story of Abel and Cain in Genesis 4:1-4:16..."

"Church members, we are all brothers and sisters, we are brothers and sisters' keepers, which means you are a trustworthy and godly person who takes care of others when they need or struggle. This sentence is very heartfelt and conveys a strong message...

That is, you show great courage, responsibility, and willingness to put others before you."

"God created 5,500 years ago. He created this world, he created it all in six days, and rested on the seventh day..."

"The former governor of California, now the presidential candidate of the Elephant Party, has gained an advantage in the primaries of 36 states. He is the candidate given by God to America. Let us pray for him to defeat Jimmy in the presidential election at the end of this year and lead America to prosperity and security..."

This pastor from the South has very attractive sermons, a magnetic voice and a rhythmic speech, but Ronald has no feeling for religion, just feels a little strange, "Isn't the current president a southerner? Why does this pastor from the South support the former governor of the Elephant Party?"

Aunt looked at him, stunned. This question was beyond her knowledge. "Maybe the former governor is a more devout believer, Amen."

Aunt Karen went to socialize with other veterans' wives, and she didn't forget to bring the cookies she baked. Donna secretly said to Ronald, "I don't like this priest. He said that the earth has only 5,500 years of history. He also said that evolution is wrong and all creatures were created by God. But he turned a blind eye to the dinosaur fossils discovered by science hundreds of millions of years ago..."

"Yes, but what about the fact that there were no priests in the church before, and everyone prayed in silence?" Ronald had never heard of such a custom in the church before.

"I don't know either. Although that church is also a Quaker church, everyone is silent for half an hour, no one speaks, and communicates with God. Then it's a social occasion, and it doesn't matter if there is no priest presiding."

"Then let's go to that church in the future." Ronald felt that this priest had some brainwashing ability, and he didn't like his family to be brainwashed.

"No, I remember when I was in middle school, it was closed because there were few believers."

"Girl, you must be talking about the liberal Quakers." Next to him was a college student with a big beard and long hair, and he felt very spiritual.

Seeing Ronald looking at him, he introduced himself, "I am from the Department of Anthropology at Yale University. I deliberately grew long hair and beard to investigate churches around the world." He took out his university library card, and sure enough, the photo on it showed that he had long hair and a clean-shaven beard, which looked normal.

"What do you mean by liberal?"

"After World War I, many religious institutions went bankrupt and no one believed in God anymore." The college student discussed with Ronald in a low voice, "At that time, the church also began to lean towards the liberal side, and did not deny the findings of scientific research, such as the life of the earth and the issue of evolution that your sister mentioned. They tended to regard the Bible as an ancient story rather than a sacred classic."

"Some conservative institutions use more conservative views to attract right-leaning believers. They are fundamentalists. They believe that every word in the Bible is the truth, not a metaphor or description. For example, Moses parting the Red Sea or Christ returning to the world are all real people and real events."

"But these claims seem too bizarre in modern society, so starting thirty years ago, a southern priest, Billy Graham, began to promote evangelicalism in America. Evangelicals dress more centrist than fundamentalists, but oppose the liberal attitude towards the Bible."

"Have you heard the good news? This sentence is their cut. They often start their preaching with this sentence."

"But we are Quakers, why do we invite evangelical priests?" Ronald asked.

"This is a misunderstanding. Evangelicalism is not a sect, but an evangelical movement. It encompasses all sects. For example, the most widespread and largest Baptist sect in America is divided into liberals, evangelicals, and fundamentalists."

"Liberal believers are prone to embrace science or doubt the existence of God, so there are fewer and fewer believers. Fundamentalists are too extreme. Now the Puritan churches that are developing well are basically evangelicals. They have also reconciled with Catholicism and Orthodoxy, and are very influential in the world."

"What does he mean by my brother's protector?"

"Hahaha, don't you read the Bible?"

Seeing that Ronald was a little embarrassed, the college student explained, " This is the content of the fourth section of Genesis. Cain, the son of Adam, only offered God the fruits of plants that fell on the ground. His brother Abel, on the other hand, killed the livestock he raised and offered God the flesh and blood of the livestock. God favored Abel, so Cain killed Abel. "

"God rebuked Cain, and Cain quarreled with God, saying that I am not my brother's keeper. So later, to say that someone is my brother's keeper is to praise him for the virtue that Cain lacked, putting the interests of brothers and even strangers before himself. "

"My brother's keeper, ybrother'skeeper" Ronald repeatedly said this short sentence from the Bible, feeling that it was very suitable for the title of his new Vietnam War script.

A mentally retarded fool, on the contrary, understood the true meaning of God better than many smart people. He couldn't throw grenades, couldn't aim with a rifle, and threw grenades into the sky during training, almost causing an accident. Fortunately, the platoon leader pulled him into the explosion-proof trench.

After being deployed to Vietnam, other people in the company disliked him and deliberately left him on Vietnamese land. After the fool was captured by the Vietnamese army, they took him to fight. Seeing that he was a fool, they did not abuse him. After encountering the original unit, the ambushing Vietnamese army captured many of his former comrades.

The former comrades thought he was a traitor and deliberately brought the Vietnamese. The fool took care of the wounded among them, and secretly let the prisoners escape at night, gave them weapons, and let them go home to see their mothers. The Vietnamese became alert and chased with the fool.

The fool played with his comrade's grenade. I don't know if it was intentional or curious, but he threw the secretly hidden grenade into the sky, and killed himself when it fell. In the chaos, the platoon leader and his comrades were able to escape and return to America to reunite with their families. However, everyone said that the fool was the incarnation of Christ, who was not killed by the grenade and was still on the battlefield in Vietnam, and was the protector of all the brothers.

Ronald took out his notebook, quickly wrote down his inspiration, and wrote a lot of plots.

Until Aunt Karen gently asked him, "Ronnie, have you finished writing? We should go back."

"Ah? Is it noon already?" Ronald saw that most of the believers in the church had gone to lunch, "Sorry, Aunt, I got inspired and wrote a lot of plots."

This time, there is not only brotherhood and comradeship, controversial plots, anti-federal government war policies, but also religious plots. I'm afraid it will be a big hit. Ronald is very satisfied with his inspiration.

"Let's go to Burger King? Their burgers and fries are delicious." Donna said with a smile.

"Okay, let's go."

I don't know what cooking method Burger King uses for beef, but it is indeed better than McDonald's. Donna ate very enthusiastically, "Mom, I don't like this priest. What he said is different from what we have in our science textbooks."

"Yes, don't delay Donna's studies. Ivy League scholarships don't have theological content." Ronald joined in.

"Okay, I will attend the Sunday gatherings of veterans and families in the future." Aunt Karen actually didn't like the atmosphere of the church very much. No one praised her delicious baked cookies.

…

“Crack, crack, crack…” Ronald spent the whole afternoon and evening typing frantically at home. When inspiration came, he had to seize the time to type more, otherwise he would not be able to catch it back if it was gone.

From time to time, he took a sip of the red wine beside the table, lit up a Marlboro, and smoked while looking for the notes he had made when interviewing a friend of Aunt Karen.

Sometimes he buried his head in typing, leaving the beautiful Michelle Pfeiffer aside.

Michelle Pfeiffer, wearing a bathrobe and wrapping her head with a towel, sat next to him to read the papers he had typed out and helped to sort them out. Pfeiffer knew that Ronald had entered a strange state and wrote very fast. On the basis of the dozens of pages of drafts, Ronald wrote very fast and had accumulated nearly 10 pages of manuscript paper.

Pfeiffer looked at the man in front of her who was two years younger than her. His concentration was really attractive. Will he be the next gold medal screenwriter in Hollywood? Like John Milius who wrote Apocalypse Now, or Billy Wilder who wrote and directed his own film?

"It's done." Ronald finished the 96th page of manuscript paper. After more than 10 hours of continuous writing, the first draft was written in one go.

"Honey, I forgot the time while writing." Seeing Pfeiffer holding his first draft with a smile on his face, Ronald couldn't help but stretch and took a sip of red wine. The urge to write quickly flowed onto the manuscript paper. Ronald seemed to have not finished writing and had not released all the energy in his body.

Michelle Pfeiffer gently pulled down the bath towel wrapped around her head, and her silky hair flowed down like a waterfall, pouring on the open-neck bathrobe, and also pouring on the snow-white shoulders and chest.

"Ronnie, you are really talented." Pfeiffer was hugged tightly and whispered in Ronald's ear, "Um...ah..." Pfeiffer exclaimed in a low voice.

That was the man who was encouraged and expressed his gratitude with actions.