Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Ronald's interest was immediately aroused by his assistant and translator Hannah. Can the cultural gap between different countries have such a big effect?

The most incredible cross-cultural shock that his own film encountered before was the experience of "breakdancing" in China. Their original intention of introducing this film was to reflect the oppression of the lower-class blacks and Latinos by the upper-class whites in Ronald's film, and the racial and class gap made it almost impossible for the lower class to turn over.

However, the charm of breakdancing is unstoppable, and it has become a popular fashion among young people, which was unexpected by the Ministry of Culture. Even the opening shot of the heroine working in a hamburger fast food restaurant was amazed by the audience who had never seen this kind of foreign fast food.

Just a few months ago, KFC also opened its first store in Qianmen, which was very popular.

Are Germans not allowed to dance by the church like in the movie "Full of Energy" back then? Suddenly seeing this hot dance between men and women, are they emotional and cry?

Ronald was curious, slept for a while, ate some fried sausages and Coke, and waited for Hannah to take him to see "Dirty Dancing".

The cinema that showed "Dirty Dancing" twice a day was not far from the Brandenburg Gate. This famous landmark in Berlin was built by King Frederick II of Prussia for the victory of the war. It is a landmark building in the scenic movie.

However, after the Cold War, this place became the dividing point between East and West Berlin. Just opposite is the Berlin Wall that separates the two camps.

Looking at the Statue of Victory on the Brandenburg Gate, behind it is the TV tower built by East Berlin to show its superiority. Ronald restrained the idea of ​​going to see it. This is a place where no one comes, and there are Wehrmacht guards on the opposite side.

"It's here, there is a ticket booth." Hannah pointed to a very old-fashioned cinema and said to Ronald. The outer wall was still a red brick structure, not the Bauhaus style that was popular in West Germany recently. The two bought tickets and went in. The cinema was still the old cinema style with an aisle in the middle.

Ronald looked around and saw that the audience for "Dirty Dancing" was similar to that in America, mainly couples and single women. Only about 20% of the seats were occupied. Ronald looked at Hannah, who said that people would come to watch after the show started.

Soon the cinema began to ring the bell, and then the lights dimmed. Ronald looked at the screen suspiciously. The movie was still in English, and the audience did not seem to have much trouble.

Suddenly, there was a sound from the back entrance. Ronald looked back and saw a group of young people coming in from the back and sitting down on the seats at the back. There were as many as 30 or 40 people.

The movie was soon over and the lights came on again. Ronald stood up and wanted to communicate with the audience who came later, but found that they were hiding in the corner, and they seemed to be sobbing softly in the places where the lights could not reach.

Ronald was puzzled. This group of audience came in after the show started, and it seemed that they did not buy tickets, so they sat in the back corner. Moreover, their clothes and temperament were different from the young people in West Berlin that Ronald saw.

Ronald went up to greet a young woman with short hair and was wiping tears with her hands.

"Hello... I'm the director of the movie..." Ronald wanted to communicate with her why she cried after watching "Dirty Dancing".

"Woo... ah..." Ronald didn't say anything, but this action seemed to touch the heart of the female audience. She was sobbing softly, but suddenly burst into tears. This time it didn't matter, and the audience around her who came with her also started crying loudly.

"What did I say?" Ronald looked back at Hannah and was stunned.

The two returned to the hotel, and Hannah told Ronald the whole story in the bar. Since the new secretary-general of the Union Mikhail came to power, the firmness of the Berlin Wall has loosened under the new open and transparent thinking.

The number of East Berliners who smuggled in from various places has rapidly increased from dozens per year to hundreds or even thousands. In 1987, nearly 4,000 people even tried to escape from there.

Many of these people are skilled and well-educated young people. Some of them came here alone through other Eastern European countries in the name of tourism. They often spent a lot of money to come here. Many people chose to work in West Berlin, where the salary was relatively high, in an attempt to reunite with their families.

However, East and West Germany have been separated for a long time, and there has been a deep cultural gap between the two sides. Many people have been culturally shocked after coming here and don’t know how to socialize with West Berlin residents.

Many charity groups let them come to the cinema for free to watch Western movies. Let them gradually get familiar with how to gain a foothold in Western society.

Hannah, a staff member of the Berlin Film Festival, is also a member of a charity organization. She used the convenience of working in the film industry to contact some theaters. If the theaters were not full after the opening, she would let those East Berlin immigrants go in for free.

After trying many movies, Hannah found that "Dirty Dancing" directed by Ronald was the most effective. Many people cried after watching it, as if the pressure was vented, and they would be able to adapt to and integrate into society better in the future.

So when Ronald came to the Berlin Film Festival this time, Hannah volunteered to be his translator and assistant, just to thank Ronald.

"Why? Why does my movie have this effect? ​​I don't understand? It's just a romantic comedy. American audiences, at most, have a heroine who helps them fulfill their unfulfilled dreams." Ronald still didn't quite understand and asked Hannah why these people cried.

"This is a kind of venting after long-term repression in life. Your movie is a movie that makes people brave. The hero and heroine made choices according to their own inner thoughts, which just fits their psychological state. Crying and laughing are both recognition of their own choices."

"Okay..." Ronald thought about it and understood a little. When you arrive in a new environment, there is a big cultural gap. Although the language is the same, there is always a feeling of incompatibility. Such a movie seems to be a ritual that allows them to say goodbye to the past, which is a bit like psychological therapy. That's why those audiences cried.

"But this movie is about to be taken off the screen. I would like to ask you to authorize several cinemas to show your "Dirty Dancing" for a long time, so that we can help more people. The number of people coming through third countries this year is much higher than last year... Please, Ronald."

"Give me the list of cinemas, and I will authorize each of these cinemas to have a copy for a long time, without paying the copy rental fee. As long as you want to continue showing it, you can continue to show it." Ronald thought this was a good thing, so he agreed.

Hannah was very happy and did her best in the following accompanying work. She can speak the languages ​​of several European countries and is familiar with the role of translation. She is also a person in the film industry and is familiar with professional vocabulary, which makes Ronald's trip to the Berlin Film Festival very smooth.

...

"This is Mr. Godard..." A few days later, Hannah introduced Ronald to Jean-Luc Godard, the director of the French New Wave film, when she was helping Ronald participate in the screening of the film forum.

In addition to the 15 films from various countries in the competition, there are many other films to be shown at the West Berlin Film Festival. Some of these films were not selected in the competition unit, and some were originally small productions, so they only participated in the so-called forum screening session.

Today's screening is "Hairspray" produced by Ronald's Daydream and directed by John Waters. Waters was still smoking cigarettes one after another, waiting for the screening of his film. His eyes kept looking at a director on the other side, and the two films were screened one after another.

Along with his "Hairspray", Godard's new work "Right Hand Up (Keepyhtup)" was also screened in the forum today.

Reporters surrounded Godard, wanting to interview this big mouth. This unscrupulous left-wing filmmaker wanted to shoot a super low-cost movie, and he and John Waters sympathized with each other on this point.

However, the other views of the two on the film were diametrically opposed. Godard just sprayed the reporter.

"Too much, too much Hollywood garbage. Bah... I don't know if this is West Berlin or a Hollywood film fair? There are eight Hollywood commercial films participating in the West Berlin Film Festival competition and forum this year?

And they are not here to exchange art at all, they are here to sell films. I tell you, these Hollywood garbage will be released in Germany after the film festival. They have turned the film festival into an advertising conference full of money!

The truly artistic and humanistic left-wing films have been squeezed out by them. This place is like a colony..."

Looking at John Waters, who looked very bad, Ronald shook his head and pulled him in to chat with the film producers and the audience.

Godard was right, he was here to sell films. Low-cost films like "Hairspray" were sold here to German film producers. Medium-level productions like "Moonlight" were just to get an award, get the recognition of foreigners, and go back to build momentum for the Oscars.

"Hollywood, Hollywood doesn't understand art. They are all tools used by capitalists to make money. I strongly urge this year's jury to focus more on those films of real working people, such as those from Eastern Europe and China."

Ronald quickly covered his face. Although Godard participated in left-wing activities and always said that he made films for working people, his family was actually rich and he made films for fun.

Among the directors of the New Wave, only Truffaut was from a real lower-class family. On the contrary, he respected the industrial mechanism of Hollywood very much. He also made a cameo appearance in Spielberg's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and wanted to introduce the Hollywood commercial film system to the United States. Unfortunately, he died young...

With Godard still making a lot of comments outside, Ronald accompanied John Waters to watch the German audience's impressions of "Hairspray".

Maybe because they didn't understand the American black liberation movement shown in "Hairspray", the content in the background about black people entering white schools for classes did not receive any response.

But some comedy content still transcends culture. For example, the mother played by the drag queen actor Dive and the protagonist's daughter Tracy played by Ricky Lake made the audience laugh as soon as they appeared.

Both of them are fat, but very flexible. Especially Ricky Lake, a fat girl, dances better than those slim girls. The rhythm and expression are definitely beyond ordinary dancers.

This kind of plot can naturally arouse the audience's sense of humor. Without looking at the subtitles, the audience also applauded happily and cheered for the fat girl Tracy.

After the film, John Waters went to be interviewed by the film festival reporters. Ronald happily watched Michel Cannold, who was in charge of the distribution, negotiate with various film distributors. The film's ability to amuse the audience across cultures was obviously recognized by many theater buyers.

Looking at the buyers who raised their hands enthusiastically and wanted to squeeze in to talk to Cannold and sign a contract with Daydream to buy copies, Ronald happily slipped to the back of the cinema. This ultra-low-cost production invested by Daydream seems to be profitable.

In contrast to the situation outside where many reporters surrounded Godard, when Godard's new work was about to be screened, all the buyers did not attend. Godard's films are known for being shoddy, obscure, and inexplicable. This kind of film has no box office value at all, and only some theaters that show art films will be interested.

Ten minutes after the screening began, audiences have already started to run away. This movie is directed and acted by Godard himself and is divided into three sections. The first section is about a musician looking for an ideal harmony, the second section is about an individual looking for a suitable society, and the third section is about a traveler looking for a destination.

Ronald held his temper and watched the third paragraph, then he couldn't help but run away. Some avant-garde and experimental films can be used by directors to find inspiration or enlightenment. But with Godard's random creation method, you have to be very lucky to see inspiring works.

After coming out, Hannah asked him what he thought of Godard's works.

Ronald was not in a position to speak ill of his peers, so after thinking for a while, he said, "Godard occasionally makes one or two good films, but unfortunately I never see them."

Hannah understood Ronald's dry humor and laughed so hard. A reporter nearby heard a few words and wanted to come over for an interview. Seeing that he couldn't avoid it, Ronald simply accepted the interview generously.

"May I ask what you think and comment on Godard's views on the film festival?"

"I don't completely agree with his views. What I disagree with is that the West Berlin Film Festival is not Hollywood's backyard. We are like West Germany, which is also an ally of our America, not a puppet. As for whether the Hollywood films participating in the competition are good, it is up to the audience and judges to judge.

Where I agree with him is that we really need to focus more on other places in the world besides Europe and America. For example, the films of Mr. Kurosawa Akira from Japan always give me a lot of inspiration."

"May I ask if you have any preference for the films from Asian countries participating this year? Except for your own Moonlight Seductive?"

"I like all the ones I have the opportunity to watch."

"So which films have you seen? You like Kurosawa Akira from Japan, but do you have a preference for Red Sorghum, a film from China, which is also an Asian country this year? Which do you think the audience will like more, this movie or your own work?"

"Oh... I don't know. I heard it's a very good movie. I haven't seen it yet. As for the audience's taste, that's a mystery."

After accepting an interview with a reporter, Ronald ran away. When he arrived at the hotel, he asked Hannah when the Chinese movie would be shown. He also wanted to go and see it.

Hannah checked the schedule of the film festival. It happened that the screening time of "Red Sorghum" was close to the award ceremony. Ronald, who came late, had the opportunity to see it. This also shows that the organizing committee is very optimistic about this movie and arranged to show it to the audience later.

Ronald casually said that he liked Kurosawa's movies, but he didn't expect that this "Red Sorghum" gave him a very familiar feeling. The director's use of color is obviously in the style of Kurosawa's "Shadow Warrior".

In the large yellow wheat field, a red sedan chair was carried by several strong men. The sedan chair kept shaking up and down. The heroine in it, who looked very Chinese, was wearing a red wedding dress.

Ronald felt a strong hormonal impact that was about to overflow from the screen, and it was constantly accumulating. Regardless of other aspects of this movie, the skill of using pictures and colors to directly hit the audience's emotions is still very good. Even viewers who don't understand Chinese will be aroused by this audio-visual language, which arouses primitive emotions.

Ronald knew the male lead of the movie. He was the male lead of the movie that Director Xie was shooting when he went to Songjiang. His facial lines were very familiar.

He had never seen the female lead before. Her style was very different from those Jiangnan beauties in Xujiahui Studio. She had a wild beauty.

Ronald felt very good. This movie was also a movie that did not require you to understand the lines or the story to understand the emotions that the director wanted to express. It was very interesting. It was just like Kurosawa's "Shadow Warrior". This director was obviously deeply influenced by Kurosawa, which could be seen from the pictures.

After the movie was over, Ronald waited to see who the director was. The subtitles of Chinese movies are different from those in Hollywood. The only names of the original novel and the screenwriter followed the movie title. The director's name only appeared after the movie was over.

"Zhangyiou?" Ronald was confused for a moment. Isn't this the name of the best actor at the Tokyo International Film Festival last year? Director Wu said he is not a professional actor, he was a photographer, how come he is a director now?

Exploitation Hollywood 1980