Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Ronald flew to New York on Friday.

Nicita arranged everything for him. Pauline Kael, a famous film critic for The New Yorker magazine and perhaps the most controversial, sharpest and most different from mainstream film critics living in America, would meet him at home to discuss her fierce criticism of Top Gun.

The old lady was born in 1919 and began to write film reviews for The New Yorker in the 1960s and 1970s. She was an important promoter of the New Hollywood movement.

The beginning of the American New Wave film, Bonnie and Clyde, was strongly recommended by her and won public recognition in one fell swoop. It became a double winner of box office and reviews and was destined to have a place in Hollywood film history.

Pauline was also invited by Warren Beatty, the star of Bonnie and Clyde, to serve as a senior consultant for Paramount, but she resigned a few months later and went back to writing film reviews.

This time, Pauline's criticism of "Top Gun" was very fierce. There were old people who knew her in Paramount. After coordination, she agreed to meet Ronald at home and talk to him face to face about why she criticized the movie so harshly.

"Excuse me, does Ms. Pauline Carr live here?" Ronald rang the doorbell, and a little boy came to open the door.

"Grandma, someone wants to see you. What's your name?" The little boy turned to Ronald.

"Ronald, Ronald Lee."

"William, please let him in." Pauline came out and took her grandson aside and let him watch TV.

"Hello, Pauline."

Ronald didn't know how to communicate with the film critic for a while.

She helped him a lot in the early stages, but this time the criticism was very ruthless.

"Come on, Ronald, the film reviews now have no influence. The New Yorker will not influence many of your audience. They don't care what an old lady says."

"No, your film reviews are very important to me." Ronald felt relaxed all of a sudden, walked into the living room, and chatted with Pauline Carr.

"Film reviews don't have the power to determine the box office like Broadway drama reviews. What's more, your film company has invented a film review unblocking system. Now film reviews can only appear in the media after the film is released. The first audiences no longer use film reviews as a reference for their film selection.

What's more, I write for the New Yorker magazine, which has even less influence than the film reviews of newspapers like Albert."

Pauline laughed and ridiculed her own influence.

Ronald knew she was telling the truth. Compared with Broadway drama reviews that can determine the life and death of a new play, film reviews are more often a secondary marketing tool for film companies. The posters in the cinema cost much more than the public relations of film critics.

However, he still disagreed, and told her about the past when his debut work "Fast and Furious Richmond High School" benefited from her film review, which increased the copies and became a national distribution, and thanked her in person again.

"I like that movie, and your second movie, 'Night of the Comet'. They remind me of Robert Altman. You don't stipulate what viewpoints and methods the audience should use to watch your movies. They go to the cinema, are attracted by you, and then discover plots and stories that exceed their expectations. Everything is so full of room and is an adventure.

The big productions you shot later tend to be stereotyped. In the first five minutes of the movie, I knew what you wanted to do. For someone who doesn't like to watch the movies he wants to review repeatedly, this is not a good experience."

Ronald also liked Pauline's frankness, "I understand what you mean, but I can't continue to stay in those small-scale exploitation films. Hollywood is a very realistic place. If I want to make a movie that has been passed down for decades and people still remember it, I must first prove that I can sell it. And to sell it, these Hollywood routines are indispensable."

Pauline's hair is gray, and she wears a pair of reading glasses. When she heard Ronald say that he wanted to make a movie that would be passed down for decades and people still remember it, she couldn't help but smile.

Ronald found that the old lady smiled very gently, like an old grandmother from the neighborhood, which was very different from her sharp look when she didn't smile.

"I was right about you. You really want to make a classic movie. If you want to make a movie that will be remembered, you must stay away from those popcorn movies and pay more attention to the major issues of reality.

All the classic Hollywood movies focus on the major issues of reality at that time."

"Major issues of reality?"

"Yes," the old lady stood up and refilled Ronald's coffee, then took down a few books of her own film reviews from the bookshelf, turned to the catalog and handed them to Ronald.

"Have you noticed that since the 1970s, Italian directors have dominated the mainstream of Hollywood classic blockbusters. The original Jewish directors, Puritan directors, gradually withdrew from the stage of serious dramas and turned to making comedies and popcorn movies. They were the directors and actors of almost all classic movies in the 1930s and World War II."

Ronald looked at the cover of the first book, which was Pauline Carr's first film review collection "Kisskissbangbang". He flipped through the table of contents of several books, and there was a review of Martin Scorsese in it. Seth's "Taxi Driver," Francis Coppola's "The Godfather," Brian De Palma's "Carrie," and Michael Cimino's "The Deer Hunter."

Compared with the golden age, the number of Jewish directors has decreased a lot, and she only likes Spielberg. A traditional Puritan director, she admired Robert Altman.

"Indeed, why?" Ronald had never thought about this question. Why did Italians become so popular in Hollywood after the 1970s?

It's definitely not a matter of money. The Italian gangsters only invested in movies after the unexpected success of "The Godfather".

It is not a matter of so-called nepotism or ethnic care. When it comes to taking care of ethnic groups, Jews are the leaders, and their gangs are much more powerful than Italians. They have been involved in the film industry as early as the 1920s.

Ronald scratched his head. He found the old lady's sharp question very interesting, but he couldn't think of an answer.

Seeing Ronald looking at her like a grandchild, wanting to know the answer, Pauline Carr smiled. This scolding him had a very good effect. She didn't look like a master. , slipping down onto the popcorn commercial filmmaking machine.

"Because the Vietnam War changed the minds of Americans, stupid."

"Hmm? Vietnam War?"

Ronald raised his head and found that he couldn't keep up with the old lady's thinking. He was from a family of Vietnam War veterans. He didn't think there was any difference in thinking from others?

Pauline Carr knew that Ronald had not thought about this profound change in artistic style in the film market, so she continued.

"It turns out that we Americans are New Babylonians who feel that our destiny is clear and God is favoring us. But the Vietnam War made us fall from the moral level. We sent poor children to Vietnam to bomb those innocent people and failed. Let us know He is not morally flawless.

The Japanese products are of high quality and low price, which further exacerbates this problem. In addition to being moral, we no longer have any sense of superiority in industry and technology. "

Ronald nodded in agreement. The Vietnam War had indeed had a great psychological impact on Americans. A very obvious change was that the baby boom was over and the new generation of young people were no longer willing to have children.

"The most serious consequence of the Vietnam War is that the understanding of guilt has changed dramatically. Americans have a completely new understanding of what guilt is, which is completely different from the past."

"Guilt?"

“We have lost the sense of moral superiority that the Puritans had on the Mayflower. We once believed that we would get better and better and that we would defeat all evil and demons.

After the Vietnam War, we discovered that maybe evil is not so easy to defeat. We may fail, and maybe we will have to coexist with them. We do not have as much superiority to other human beings as we imagine, morally or technically. "

Ronald didn't quite understand what this so-called sense of guilt had to do with the Italian-Americans dominating the New Hollywood movement.

"Italians, and many of the new generation of directors, are Catholics. Unlike the Puritanism of America, the education they received from an early age included a full sense of guilt. We are all guilty, and we are guilty every week. Go to the priest to confess.

It just so happens that this mentality is consistent with the common feelings of modern Americans, so the movies they made are also psychologically in line with the psychological state of the audience at that time.

In addition, visualization is the strength of the Italians. Look at those Renaissance paintings and architecture. They are naturally able to make movies look like world-famous paintings. "

"oh……"

Ronald fell into deep thought. As a top film critic, Pauline Carr looked at issues from a very different perspective than the director. He was certain that, at least when Scorsese and Coppola made the movie, they would never consider Catholic guilt.

But there may be some truth in a different perspective. These are all subconscious thoughts integrated into the bottom of the director's thinking. You may not be aware of their existence at ordinary times, but when making movies, you are affected all the time.

"Then what kind of culture is my subconscious base? The new generation of consumerism in Hollywood? Or the teachings of Confucius of Chinese Americans in previous lives?" Ronald thought about himself. The great thing about the old lady was not that she cursed people or that she Not to praise, but to inspire thinking.

"Looks like you agree with me," Pauline Carr said, mistakenly thinking that Ronald was thinking of the New Hollywood directorial style.

"I heard that you had a professional education. You have watched a lot of Hollywood movies from the golden age. At that time, Puritan and Jewish directors dominated Hollywood. It was a completely different era.

Jews like to expose the dark side of society and then correct it, so they are in tune with the social reality of the 1930s and World War II. Society has problems, someone exposes them, then someone corrects them, and our society moves on.

The Puritans have more beliefs about destiny, for example, if we fight against the Germans and little Japan, the whole world must be saved by the Americans..."

Ronald understood what Pauline meant. Movies reflect social reality. If your cultural and educational background is subconsciously in tune with the culture of most American audiences, then your movie will not only sell well, but also gain a foothold in film history.

I wonder what the cultural subconsciousness of the new generation of young people after the 1980s is? Maybe my movie just fits their cultural subconsciousness?

"Now Jewish directors and actors don't make serious dramas much. It's not that they don't want to make them, but they don't get the audience's likes. Now Jews mainly make comedies, like Jerry Zucker.

They no longer make those mainstream value movies of social reality, even Spielberg, no longer makes movies that reflect social reality. Spielberg is great, his innocence, details, many of them are great, but he is not the one who reflects the major social issues of the moment."

"And directors with Puritan backgrounds, such as George Lucas, are more willing to explore science fiction and film technology. Without someone to reflect social reality, the art of film will die."

After saying that, Pauline Carr looked at Ronald with a burning gaze.

"Hmm? Me?" Ronald discovered the old lady's subtext. The future of the film depends on you!

"I can't do that. I just make movies according to my intuition and hope to entertain the audience. If I can still talk about it decades later, I will be satisfied."

Ronald waved his hands quickly. What a joke. He is not the material to be the successor of the classic Hollywood director and reflect major social reality issues. Moreover, Hollywood is no longer the Hollywood of the past. If you can't make money, it's suicide to reflect major dark issues in reality.

"No, I always think you have the potential to become a film master. You act according to your intuition, regardless of those clichés. This is a typical trait of a master. Human intuition does not need to be quantified by theory. Human intuition is the sum of all human emotions and minds. Only second-rate directors need formulas. First-rate directors just need to act according to their intuition."

"You are overpraising. There is already very little room for directors in today's movies. If you don't find out what the audience likes to watch, it is likely to fail at the box office. If it happens three times in a row, I will have to say goodbye to Hollywood."

"Ah..." Pauline also knows that the current Hollywood market is shrinking. Movies need to be able to drag the audience from the TV to the cinema. The industry is very different from what she was familiar with back then.

The two put down this topic and continued to talk about other movies. Pauline Carr's comments on major directors are very sharp. She is more independent. She especially likes some movies that are not favored by mainstream film critics, and she also hates some generally favored movies.

According to her, most of the current film critics are the unemployed sisters-in-law of producers. They are just given a position to make some money.

"To reflect major social issues, left-wing novels and movies are the birthplace of masterpieces, because they dare to attack major social issues. You can pay more attention to left-wing art. Stop making those popcorn movies, if you want to leave your name in history."

When Ronald said goodbye, Pauline Carr still told him to read more left-wing literature and art.

"Left-wing novels?" Ronald didn't really believe in this. The economy has developed well since the president took office. Now everyone is busy making money, and no one is interested in caring about the dark side of society. If you have this time, you might as well invest in stocks or work two jobs to buy a house with a mortgage.

But what Pauline said is very inspiring. If you want people to remember your movies decades later, you must grasp the pulse of the times and consciously grasp the psychology of the current audience.

Just like the current "Top Gun", it fits the American people's psychology of wanting to defeat the Soviet Union. Ronald came to a theater in New York to observe the box office situation again.

In the afternoon, the box office of "Top Gun" was still very good, with many young people, and fathers and children coming together.

"Huh? What is this?" Ronald found the poster of "Top Gun" and looked at everyone.

"Is this Paramount's new marketing method? Or are they selling some fighter models?" Ronald went forward to see what was going on.

"Sir, do you want to join the Navy? Do you want to be a carrier fighter pilot like the Lone Ranger? Just fill out a form here."

"No, but thank you."

Is this movie so popular? The Navy is recruiting?

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I wish my reader fityykz, who is studying film at New York University, a happy birthday and academic success.