Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 299 Traitorous Literature
Cao Yang drove to the hotel where Lü Yi was staying, picked her up, and asked, "What are you doing in Shanghai?"

Lü Yi also asked, "Why is Director Cao in Shanghai?"

Okay, we've come to the same conclusion.

Lü Yi chuckled and said, "We really are on the same wavelength."

As Cao Yang drove, he said with a smile, "It's a personal matter. I bought an apartment here when the development opened in 04, and the apartments have started to be handed over to residents recently, so I came to take a look."

Lü Yi nodded. She knew Cao Yang must be making a lot of money, and it was normal for him to buy an apartment in Shanghai, so he wouldn't have to stay in a hotel every time he came to Shanghai. That was good.

However, she then had an idea: if the price was right, why not buy an apartment in Director Cao's neighborhood? Being close to the water tower, she could get the moon first.

Where did Director Cao buy his house?

"Zhenyuan is located in Gubei, Changning."

Cao Yang replied, then continued the previous topic by asking, "Why are you also in Shanghai?"

Lu Yi secretly noted it down: Gubei Zhenyuan, right? I'll come and take a look when the time comes. I hope it won't be too expensive, otherwise I won't be able to afford it.

She smiled and explained, "Director Li An wants to make a movie adapted from a novel, and someone recommended me, so I came to take a look."

"Li An?"

Cao Yang frowned and asked, "The novel from Eileen Chang's collection of poems, 'The Resentful Woman'? 'Lust, Caution'?"

Lu Yi thought for a moment, then shook her head and said, "I haven't heard of the collection of stories you mentioned called 'The Resentful Woman,' but it is indeed adapted from Zhang Ailing's short stories."

Cao Yang slowed down his car. After a moment of silence, he asked, "Did you answer it?"

Lü Yi has already been labeled a "Cao Girl," and if she takes on this film, it would indeed tarnish her reputation as a "Cao Girl."

Lü Yi is not Tang Wei; she doesn't need to "sacrifice" herself to become famous. She has already become a hot new generation actress thanks to "Black Swan".

Furthermore, the values ​​in "Lust, Caution" are problematic. Does it glorify love with a traitor? Does it glorify Stockholm syndrome caused by "love growing over time"?

Its core argument is that national affairs are nonsense, and only personal feelings are real.

Oh shit!

This novel, which also has a film adaptation, once again confirms what Eileen Chang herself said: the passage to a woman's soul is the vagina.

Okay, while movies can be diverse, we can't include films about ghosts and the dead.

You can be erotic, you can even be violent, but you can't be biased, right?

Some say that the film and television industry and the financial industry produce the most of these kinds of people.

Cao Yang previously agreed with the second point, that those people would do anything for money, but had reservations about the first point.

Looking back now, that statement might be true.

Putting aside everything else, the so-called "Manchukuo Association" that was destroyed in 19 is the most typical example.
It's said that this is backed by funds and influence from South Koreans...

Cao Yang was overthinking things. That organization hadn't been formally established yet, but it certainly already had a loose alliance.

He parked the car on the side of the road, and if Lü Yi hadn't mentioned "Lust, Caution," Cao Yang would have completely forgotten about it.

Then he remembered that after the movie was made, there was a lot of praise in the film industry, with people thinking that this was art? Art knows no borders, but directors and actors do.

To be fair, Zhang Yimou still deserves criticism. As the president of the Venice Film Festival jury next year, he teamed up with Ma Ying-jeou to secure the Golden Lion for "Lust, Caution"!

"What's wrong? Did I say something wrong?"

Seeing Cao Yang stop the car with a frown, Lü Yi's heart pounded. She hadn't said anything, had she? What was wrong?
Then, remembering what Cao Yang had asked earlier, she quickly replied:
"Director Cao, don't worry. I didn't know there were any passionate scenes in this movie at first. I talked to Director Li today and found out that there were passionate scenes in it. I can't accept them and I've already turned them down."

Cao Yang hummed in agreement, then said to Lü Yi, "It's not because of you, I just thought of something."

After thinking for a moment, he said to Lü Yi, "You're right not to take this movie. With your current fame, you don't need to film passionate scenes to create hype."

"Uh-huh."

Lü Yi nodded quickly and raised her hand as if making a vow, saying seriously, "Director Cao, don't worry, I, Lü Yi, am not that kind of person. I definitely won't accept any movies with passionate scenes."

"Let me make a phone call first, then I'll take you out to eat."

After Cao Yang finished speaking, he called General Manager Han of China Film Group, as it seemed that China Film Group also had a share in this film.

"Mr. Han, I need to ask you something."

President Han was originally meeting with the heads of several cinema chains that had connections with China Film Group. The main reason was that "Inception" was so popular and had received such good reviews. He wanted to remind these executives to keep a close eye on the box office and not to do anything reckless.

"Box office fraud" is still very common in this era. Even with the internet, it's useless. Printing out other movie tickets and watching other movies is just a basic operation.

There are many other methods as well.

With Inception currently enjoying immense popularity, Mr. Han is worried that theater managers might be trying to make extra money, so he definitely wants to give everyone a heads-up.

Not only that, he also arranged for many "inspectors" to go deep into every city, not to catch anything, but to show people his attitude and make them dare not do such things openly.

When Han received Cao Yang's call and heard Cao Yang's formal tone, and the fact that Cao Yang didn't call him "senior brother," Han's heart skipped a beat. Had something bad happened?

"Junior brother, what's wrong? If anyone in the company has offended you, tell me, and I'll find a way to deal with them, no matter who it is."

He quickly expressed his opinion, thinking that someone in the company had offended Cao Yang, or that someone had been caught by Cao Yang for "stealing box office revenue".

Cao Yang sighed inwardly, realizing he had acted too hastily.

So he adjusted his attitude and said with a smile:

"Senior brother, it's like this. I'm now the vice president of the Directors Guild, and someone wrote me an anonymous letter saying that a director wants to bring traitorous literature to the big screen."

I don't know the specifics, and the person who wrote the anonymous letter doesn't know anything about the Directors Guild either. He probably thinks the Directors Guild is in charge of this kind of thing.
The Directors Guild is a social organization whose purpose is to unite filmmakers, uphold the dignity of directors, protect their rights, raise the level of film and television culture, and promote artistic exchanges between directors internationally, across the Taiwan Strait, and in Hong Kong.

However, after thinking about it repeatedly, as a director and as a Chinese person, I feel that traitorous literature should be despised, so how can it be praised? Don't you agree, senior brother?

After hearing Cao Yang's words, President Han breathed a sigh of relief.

That scared the hell out of me! I thought someone in the company had offended my junior colleague.

It’s good that it’s not, it’s good that it’s not!

Then it dawned on him: someone was going to make a movie about traitorous literature? With traitors as the main characters?
Damn, these guys are incredibly audacious. We really need to investigate them thoroughly.

(End of this chapter)