Euthanasia

"Why is it inappropriate?" Liszt looked at Liu Zhiwei.

"Seppuku is a samurai tradition in Japan, which is different from Chinese culture. This is not our characteristic." Liu Zhiwei said calmly.

"But all I need is an Asian actor," Liszt said, "An Asian actor who represents the whole Asian culture is what I want. He doesn't have to focus on a cultural tradition, and he has elements that can attract Asian actors." Fans, he is a successful character, the role I need."

Liu Zhiwei was not angry when he heard what Liszt said.He didn't speak until after Liszt finished speaking: "But I'm a Chinese actor."

"Does your nationality limit the scope of your performance?" Liszt's tone was obviously ridiculed.

"If you intend to attract Asian audiences," Liu Zhiwei did not get angry because of Liszt's words, "then you must at least understand the characteristics of each country's culture. There are 48 countries in Asia, just a few elements cannot represent all ethnic groups, let alone represent a certain nation."

Liu Zhiwei put the script down: "If you want to cater to Asian fans, at least understand these countries, respect the similarities and more importantly independence of each culture. I think you have always set your sights on China, and you should have yours Thinking right?"

Liszt stared at Liu Zhiwei and raised his eyebrows without speaking.

"You invited an Asian actor, chose me as a Chinese actor, and included a lot of kung fu elements in the script, so I have to think that you want an actor with a Chinese background. Our culture is a bit different from yours. ,We recognize that we respect diversity, but we are not an immigrant country, our culture has its own uniqueness, I hope you know and respect this." Liu Zhiwei said, looking directly at Liszt.

Liszt didn't speak for a while.Few Chinese actors have said such things to him.Asian actors are not a mainstream selling point in the entire European and American markets, and their status is not high. Many times, Asian actors are used as a kind of clown or a foil only as one of the necessary things for political correctness and filled into the script.Asian actors who are selected into the film are usually ecstatic because they are selected. They fully understand the aesthetics of the hegemony of the United States, understand the requirements of the world market and do not understand the culture of their own country, so they have never raised the issue of script and character setting requirements.

Even if it is proposed, under the interpretation and contractual constraints of a director like Liszt, they will usually accept and understand it.

Liu Zhiwei was the first actor who understood but didn't accept it.

Liszt had to move out of their contract: "I think there are related payments in our contract, if you want to change some important elements of this character..."

"I can pay the liquidated damages and not star in "Death Knight," Liu Zhiwei said flatly, "but because of your abuse and misuse of our country's culture, I may sue you for racial discrimination against me."

Liszt opened his mouth and stared at Liu Zhiwei.

Liu Zhiwei stood up holding the script: "Culturally, no one has hegemony."

Liu Zhiwei put the script by the door and walked out, letting go of "Death Knight" was as simple as letting go of an insignificant character.Liszt watched him leave absurdly, turned his head and looked at the other stunned staff.

As soon as Liu Zhiwei got home, he was bombarded with a phone call from Xu Ting: "You rejected "Death Knight"?!"

Jon was making a cocktail for himself at the bar. When he saw Liu Zhiwei entering the door, he wanted to say hello to him, but when he saw that he was on the phone, he kept silent and looked at Liu Zhiwei without blinking.

"Yes, I haven't read the script before. There is something wrong. This character committed seppuku. It conflicts with our culture. I don't like it very much. He didn't want to change it, so he collapsed." Liu Zhiwei said.

"Do you know that you lost 1000 million yuan in salary?" Xu Ting said loudly on the other end.

"Well, I know," Liu Zhiwei said, "it's not in my pocket yet, so it's not lost."

"Just for such a point?!" Xu Ting roared in disbelief.

"I saw such a point in such a short script. There must be more conflicts in the whole script." Liu Zhiwei smiled at Jon and put the bag on the sofa. The culture has been confused for a long time. This confusion is not because they don’t understand, but because they don’t want to take the initiative to understand. Asia is such a big money-absorbing market, and China is one of the countries that contribute the most. To them, China is stupid. A lot of money, and adding a little oriental element can make Chinese movie fans bloody. Our money is easy to earn, but our culture needs to be clearly understood and defined.”

Jon listened, and seriously sat down beside Liu Zhiwei with two glasses of cocktails.Liu Zhiwei smiled at him, and took the wine glass in his hand with his free hand.

Xu Ting was heartbroken there, but he knew he couldn't bring Liu Zhiwei back.Liu Zhiwei is often very easy to speak in some places that others don't understand, but in other places he is always difficult to understand.

"Okay... If you lose it, just throw it away, and there will be more in the future," Xu Ting sighed, "I have a contract at hand, and I just found one...We are not so passive. The condition for the contract to be established is that we and Li Si Te agreed on the script, but we didn't see the script before we signed the contract, which is noted in the footnotes...”

Liu Zhiwei briefly discussed with Xu Ting, and then asked Xu Ting to find a professional person from the legal department to do it.Seeing him hang up the phone, Jon immediately asked, "What happened?"

Liu Zhiwei briefly described the conflict between him and Liszt.

"The United States is a country of immigrants. You have a culture with many elements. I can understand why he doesn't think it's a big deal," Liu Zhiwei said. "But for the Chinese, especially for the status of China and neighboring countries in the world, cultural It is a very important thing that marks the difference between nationalities. You know that Chinese people have a strong sense of unity, and there are some contradictions between our culture and Japanese culture. Art is indeed borderless, but this kind of borderlessness must be established on the basis of respect for each A culture of respect and full understanding. Jon, do you understand?"

"I totally understand." Jon touched Liu Zhiwei's back. "In fact, when I got here, I found that China is very different from what I thought. You know there are some self-righteous people who never think that things other than themselves are big things."

Liu Zhiwei laughed and squeezed Jon's hand: "When are you going back? Are they not in a hurry?"

"Oh, don't worry, everything is on the right track, there is nothing that requires me to be there." Jon said, secretly crossing out the previously booked ticket.He originally planned to go with Liu Zhiwei when he went to the United States to film "Death Knight", but now the contract between Liu Zhiwei and "Death Knight" was blown.

Liu Zhiwei stared at Jon for a while, and said with certainty: "You have already booked the ticket, right?"

Jon: "No."

"You ordered."

"I do not have."

"Booked."

"I just ordered a—"

"So you ordered."

Jon: "..."

Liu Zhiwei smiled and said: "Jon, you don't have to cater to my schedule, you have your job, even if "Death Knight" is deleted, I can still go to your place. We don't have a home in the United States yet."

Jon bit his lips and smiled slightly, and opened his hands: "Come here."

Liu Zhiwei leaned over, was embraced by Jon and kissed the top of his head: "I love you Darlin."

Liu Zhiwei kissed his neck: "We will always stay together."

Jon locked himself in the study before going to bed, and Liu Zhiwei thought he had work so he didn't bother him.He also has his own business to do.Liu Zhiwei took out the camera that he often carried on his back, exported the previous film, and started editing. At the same time, Jon found Liszt's work number from the Internet.

"Hello, Liszt..." Just as Liszt on the other end spoke, Jon's words rushed out: "Listen, you big fool, ignorant ignorant, self-righteous American—if you don't To understand China, don’t try to use your superficial knowledge to create a superficial her. In addition to giving the world a biased and biased cognition, you also show your arrogance and ignorance! You think it’s a little superficial Is your culture able to attract Asians to send you money? No! If you can't even do the minimum respect, I will ban a shameless person's video from all platforms in Hurricane!"

After finishing speaking, Jon hung up the phone, opened the social platform aggressively, and found several blockbuster movies with Chinese elements shot in foreign countries.He used to find these blockbusters very interesting, but now he sees them and he gets angry.He posted several film reviews in a row commenting on the confusion and inappropriateness of their use of various Asian elements. The main purpose of his comments is not to let people understand the East, but to treat the cultures of Eastern countries shallowly with an attitude of attracting attention and making money, criticizing The randomness and the rough handling of those elements.

Not long after Jon rang it, his bell began to buzz. He immediately muted it, and waited carefully for movement outside for a while.

Seeing that Liu Zhiwei didn't notice his ringtone, Jon quietly picked it up.Mona's voice came from the other end immediately: "Jon! What did you do again?!"

"Writing a film review," Jon said innocently, "expresses my personal opinion."

"But why did I find that the ratings of these movies on our streaming platform have dropped!"

"Because I scored low, it's natural." Jon said innocently.

"Hey, just your low score can't make the overall score drop instantly!"

"Oh, I represent an entire army by myself."

"...Jon Williams!!"

Jon hung up the phone instantly.

Not long after Jon posted the film review, many overseas Chinese also began to respond, and then people with relevant experience in China also expressed their approval, but quite a few people thought he was making too much of a fuss.It’s just some Chinese elements. Wouldn’t it be a good thing to make more people aware of these elements and become curious and attracted to the culture?

While Jon was fighting with each other on the Internet, Liu Zhiwei, who knew nothing, was making his clips on the other end.Halfway through, Feng Yi sent him a message: "It has been sent to the competition! Wait for the good news!"