1978 Synthetic Writers

Chapter 429: Can’t pass the review?

Shanghai's winter is full of damp and cold "magic attacks".

Jiang Qin is also a northerner known for her resistance to cold.

But after living in Shanghai for so many years, I am still tortured by the winter here.

The coldness penetrated into the bones and was so chilling that it pierced my bones.

“This movie is really well made.”

She came out of the Huxi Cinema in Caojiadu tremblingly with her husband Bian Huawei.

This is a great place for Shanghai kids to have fun.

Baixiang is a Shanghai dialect.

To paraphrase Mr. Lu Xun: "If we translate the Shanghainese term 'baixiang' into Mandarin, it would be 'playing'; as for 'eating baixiang rice', it would probably be better translated into classical Chinese as 'not doing one's proper job, wandering around for a living', which would be more understandable to outsiders."

“I think this movie will be a hit.”

Jiang Qin was recalling the scenes in the movie.

"Everything was filmed very well, especially the trial scene. The scene where the hero and heroine looked at each other was so shocking!"

The movie she and Bian Huawei watched was naturally "Furong Town" which was screened in Shanghai.

Jiang Xian's natal constellation is love, and he is a rare northern writer whose articles are very popular in both the south and the north.

In addition, this movie is the work of the famous director Xie Jin.

Moreover, Shanghai is the base camp of Shanghai Film Studio.

Due to the influence of many factors, the preview of "Furong Town" in Shanghai was as popular as that in Beijing.

"I saw the introduction in Popular Cinema."

Bian Huawei revealed: "I heard that in order to shoot this scene, director Xie Jin brought in two fire trucks from the county town to create artificial rainfall. The parade in the rain took four days to shoot. Liu Xiaoqing even got sick from the rain, but he still insisted on shooting despite the illness."

"She's really hardworking."

Jiang Qin was surprised and moved by Liu Xiaoqing's dedication.

"That Furong Town is so beautiful, like a paradise on earth. Where was the scene taken? It is exactly the same as the Furong Town I imagined when I read the novel."

"That place is called Wangcun Town, but the scenery we saw was actually arranged by the crew."

Bian Huawei said: "For example, the water hibiscus in the movie, there is no such thing in Wangcun Town. In order to facilitate the filming, the crew specially used five acres of private land as a pond for growing water hibiscus, and also transplanted dozens of wood hibiscus from other places."

"Is it?"

Jiang Qin was surprised, "It costs so much?"

"Well, transplanting plants is nothing. You don't know that those stilt houses we see in movies were actually demolished and transported from places dozens of miles away by the crew." said Bian Huawei.

"My God!"

Jiang Qin felt even more incredible.

In order to shoot the movie, the building was demolished, which shows the strength of the film!
But this is a true story. The Chastity Arch, Kuixing Tower and Zhuangyuan Tower built by the crew of "Furong Town" in Wangcun Town even attracted tourists to take photos.

There are also many people who are sketching who open their sketchbooks to draw sketches.

The crew members went over to explain that these were fake sets, but these people didn't believe it at all and thought that these buildings were the ones in Wangcun Town.

"The entire crew, from the staff to the actors, were so dedicated. No wonder the filming turned out so well." Jiang Qin looked very satisfied.

"Furong Town" is her brother's novel. She was naturally happy for Jiang Xian that the film crew treated it so seriously.

Bian Huawei glanced at his watch and said, "You go back first. I'll go to work again."

"Isn't today a holiday?" Jiang Qin asked curiously.

Bian Huawei smiled embarrassedly, "Anyway, there's nothing to do when I get back. I still have some manuscripts to read."

“Ah, you editors.”

Jiang Qin was helpless, "Then your names won't be on the manuscript, so why work so hard? You don't even take a break on your days off."

"Look what you said."

Bian Huawei straightened her collar and said, "If we weren't editors, how could there be such an outstanding writer like your brother?"

"Well, go ahead. I'll go back by myself."

Bian Huawei is still working at Story Club.

The "Story Club" today is no longer the same as it was back then.

Although he still doesn't hold a high position in the literary world.

But in terms of circulation performance, "Story Club" can definitely be ranked among the top literary magazines in Shanghai!
Moreover, Bian Huawei does not think that their "Story Club" is inferior to other publications.

Just recently, he and a group of Shanghai writers went to a border village on the Red Soil Plateau in Yunnan to collect folk songs.

In the homes of local villagers, the host offered the first glass of wine to the "most distinguished guest" in accordance with local customs.

And this guest is him, the special editor of "Story Club".

Bian Huawei was moved and at the same time, he felt indescribably proud.

Because some of the people in the field trip group are well-respected celebrities in the literary world.

But in the hearts of the villagers, "Story Club", a seemingly unpresentable magazine, is the one that is closest to them.

"Hua Wei, Hua Wei."

After reading the manuscript, Bian Huawei was called over by the editor-in-chief.

"Editor-in-chief, what's wrong?"

"There's a meeting going on at the Federation of Literary and Art Circles. You can go and join it."

"Row."

After receiving the task, Bian Huawei quickly rushed to the Municipal Federation of Literary and Art Circles for a meeting. He arrived a little early and ran to the corridor to smoke a cigarette. Almost everyone had arrived, about 30 people.

Bian Huawei took a look and found that among these people, in addition to editors of some publications, there were also many leaders, including cadres from the Federation of Literary and Art Circles, the director of the Municipal Film Bureau, the chairman of the Film Association, the director of the Shanghai Film Studio, and even female comrades from the Avengers.

After everyone arrived, they watched a movie first. It was none other than "Furong Town", which Bian Huawei had just watched.

Bian Huawei also quickly understood the purpose of this meeting, which was to discuss the film that was still in preview - "Furong Town".

Everyone stopped talking nonsense and started playing the movie once everyone was present, and then began the discussion.

"I think this movie is very humanitarian. The changes in the characters' fate convey profound connotations, and it is not too radical."

"Isn't this considered breaking the rules? Look at the negative characters in the movie, such as Li Guoxiang, Wang Qiushe, and Dou Baoying. How distorted is human nature? This is simply a disgrace to us!"

"I don't think we need to take it too seriously. We should seek truth from facts. Isn't it that through the characters with unique personalities, the disaster caused to the people is revealed?"

"Yes, I think the characters of Hu and Qin are both very good. When Li Guoxiang didn't dare to love and could only blaspheme love, Qin Shutian and Hu Yuyin dared to love and were not afraid of going to jail. In the end, they also got true love. What a touching story."

Everyone had different opinions and was arguing enthusiastically.

Gradually, two factions, supporters and opponents, emerged.

Supporters believe that "Furong Town" is an excellent film and are in favor of its official release.

The opposition felt that the film "Furong Town" had limitations and was suspected of smearing the film. It was a "poisonous weed" and they firmly opposed the release of the film. Bian Huawei also understood that today's meeting was actually one of the steps in the review of the film "Furong Town".

The film censorship situation is quite chaotic right now.

The film review is not conducted by any fixed film review organization, and there is no clear standard for film review. There is no such standard in later generations. Judgments have always been made according to the above spirit.

Therefore, whether or not the film can be released requires multiple discussions from many aspects, and the final decision must be made based on the opinions of all parties.

This group includes every organization you can imagine.

It is said that "Wilderness" was not allowed to be released until 7 years after its filming because the Avengers believed that the protagonist of the film had promiscuous relationships.

In fact, when the film shows the tryst between Liu Xiaoqing and Yang Zaibao, the audience can only see Liu Xiaoqing unbuttoning a button.

Such a loose censorship mechanism also resulted in the films in the 80s being sometimes loose and sometimes tight.

Many movies are like this: they are very popular when they are first released and the audiences are enjoying the movies. But just when the box office is booming and about to set a record, the movie is suddenly banned!
Cult themes are especially prevalent in this category, such as the old domestic films from the 80s, "The Beauty in the Haunted House", "The Poison Kiss", "The Haunted House", "The Silver Snake Murder Case", etc.

Evil and heavy taste.

Under a film censorship system without clear standards, you can see in movies such as "The Price of Madness", "Black Butterfly", and "Midnight Song":
"I am taking a shower in the bathroom but my key parts are covered by subtitles."

"Bandits bully a commoner girl. The camera quickly scans the half-exposed commoner girl, and then the chivalrous woman appears."

"In order to reunite with her disfigured lover, the young lady pierced her own eyes with two silver needles."

"Ranger Black Butterfly" is the most powerful.

I don't know where the director got the inspiration from, but he thinks that the most corrupt behavior for rich people is to drink human milk.

So after the movie was released.

The audience were sitting in the theater and when they saw the close-up of nude photos filling the screen, everyone couldn't believe their eyes for a moment.

"The Mysterious Big Buddha" is also amazing.

There is a scene in which an old monk gouged out his own eyes in order to protect the Buddha's wealth, and then stuck them on a bayonet to show the audience.

The key point is that this movie is a movie that is watched in private by primary and secondary school students and it is a definite childhood trauma.

In short, under the chaotic mechanism, each film studio is more powerful than the other.

However, this no longer occurred in the 90s.

In short, at the end of the discussion, the movie "Furong Town" was listed with dozens of crimes.

Seeing this situation, the director of the Film Bureau looked at the director of Shanghai Film Studio, Xu Sangchu, with regret.

As for Shanghai, they still want to do their best to support "Furong Town", a movie produced in the city.

But the most important thing is the attitude of the capital.

The release of "Furong Town" in SH City had to be put on hold for the time being.

Beijing.

No. 15 Hufang Road.

Jiang Xian's home was occupied by two of his old partners, Xie Jin and Li Jun.

He cooked himself, mixed some pork head and pig ears, fried a plate of peanuts, cut some coriander and mixed it with tofu, and finally smashed two cucumbers and made a plate of "Qianlong Cabbage".

As soon as Xie Jin opened the Xishui Daqu he brought with him, the rich aroma of the wine immediately wafted out.

"Old Xie hasn't drunk for a long time. Today should be the first time he breaks the ban." Li Jun said.

"Is it?"

Jiang Xian was surprised, "Doesn't Old Xie always drink wine?"

"Isn't this a play?"

Li Jun explained: "He gave the entire crew a strict order, requiring them to abstain from alcohol during filming. As a director, he set an example himself."

"You both have worked hard."

Jiang Xian understood how much willpower it took for an alcoholic to not drink at all.

He poured the wine, raised his glass first, and then picked up the food.

"You can only come to my place. No matter where you go in the capital, I guess there will only be cabbage."

"Or we'd love to come to you."

"Haha."

After chatting for a while, the topic naturally turned to the release of "Furong Town", and the joyful atmosphere suddenly became heavy.

Ever since the filming of the film was completed, the release of "Furong Town" has been a problem.

"Furong Town" is too sensitive!
As a novel, it is still tolerable.

As a movie, it naturally touched some people's nerves.

In short, due to layers of resistance, it was difficult to release the film, so Xie Jin had to strive for a preview first. However, as the scope of the preview expanded, there were more and more negative comments about "Furong Town" in newspapers.

"Have a look at this one." Xie Jin took out a newspaper from his bag.

Jiang Xian glanced at it roughly, without reading it carefully, with his eyebrows furrowed. This article mainly raised two points: one is that "Furong Town" is too enthusiastic about moral criticism, which can easily lead the audience's thinking about the social tragedy of Furong Town to moral condemnation of individual evil people or evil deeds; the other is that "Furong Town"'s criticism of the extreme left line is smearing us.

The first one is nothing, any literature has its limitations, and this sentence can be used to criticize any novel of "scar literature" or "reflective literature" because this is not a problem that can be solved at the literary level.

The latter one is a bit more serious.

This is equivalent to directly characterizing "Furong Town".

This sentence almost declares that the movie "Furong Town" is a "big poisonous weed".

If such rumors spread, there would be basically no hope for "Furong Town" to be released.

And there is only one way to wait for this movie:

block!

"We can't let the situation develop like this." Jiang Xian said.

Xie Jin nodded, and then confessed to Jiang Xian: "During this period, I have actually been processing the shots in the film. I deleted a few clips that do not affect the overall picture, such as the clips where Qin Shutian sings "The Sea Sailing Depends on the Helmsman", which have been deleted. In addition, I also re-recorded some clips, but tried my best to retain the more important original plots."

Jiang Xian had no objection to this. "What should be deleted should be deleted, what should be changed should be changed, and we will be beaten by Li Zheng."

Xie Jin nodded, then frowned and said, "What I am most worried about now is that the film will be edited into a mess. Even if it is approved for release, such a film will not be worth showing."

"You can go talk to Comrade Chen Huangmei."

Jiang Xian said: "Comrade Chen Huangmei attaches great importance to the movie "Furong Town"."

"That's what I meant."

The three of them drank a lot, but didn't drink much, only half a catty each. Xie Jin and Li Jun staggered and staggered as they left No. 15 Hufang Road.

Jiang Xian lay on the bed for a while. After waking up, he washed his face, sat down at the table, and read the newspaper that Xie Jin had given him again.

If "Furong Town" continues to be criticized like this, then he, the original author, will also be in trouble.

He has to take the initiative to do something.

(End of this chapter)