Huayu: Starting from the top talent show

Chapter 360: Shen Juan versus many? Can he be killed?

2019 6 Month 27 Day.

An ordinary Thursday became special because of the release of a movie about juvenile crime.

Thanks to the high traffic and popularity of the male lead Shen Juan, as well as the distributor's recent intensive marketing efforts, "Better Days", a movie that was originally only discussed within the fan circle, has almost broken through the circle and quickly entered the public eye, becoming the hot topic of the moment.

School violence, a persistent and widespread social problem, also surfaced and became the focus of public opinion.

In fact, as early as the first day of the official pre-sale of the movie, the distributor, under the guidance of Shen Juan, cooperated with the Ministry of Education, public security departments and Douyin officials in many places to launch an online activity "Oppose School Bullying":

We call on society to pay higher attention to this issue that seriously affects the physical and mental health of young people, encourage people who are being bullied or have been bullied to speak out about their experiences, and then warn students not to engage in school bullying and educate them not to stand idly by when they encounter school bullying.

The distributor's goal is to make this movie break out of the circle, attract more people to go to the cinema to watch it, and increase box office.

The goal of the relevant departments is to improve and alleviate this increasingly serious social problem as much as possible and reduce juvenile crime.

Shen Juan's goal is to use his influence to do practical things for the society while further expanding his influence among the youth group, thereby achieving a positive cycle and gaining a higher social status and more important value.

As for the profitability and performance of this movie, I haven't paid too much attention to it. Anyway, the box office will not be low.

After all, to put it bluntly, for a top artist who regularly has millions of sign-ins on his super topic, no movie or TV series at this stage can bring him a qualitative leap.

A hit movie or TV series is like a pill that can help you break through a realm. The lower your cultivation level, the greater the bonus and the more obvious the effect.

But the corresponding problem is that the foundation is unstable and the fighting spirit is superficial, and the fans attracted by the role may not all stay.

Of course, Shen Juan doesn't need to worry about this problem.

Because his current cultivation level is at least that of a Dou Zun, the Huangji Pill is indeed powerful, but it is for Dou Huang.

What use is this thing to a Dou Zun?
My buddy, our opponent is the Soul Palace. Just go ahead. How can the Dou Wang and Dou Huang of the Yunlan Sect have the qualifications to bark in front of me?
Do you think your horse runs faster than mine?

In short, his current development in the domestic entertainment industry is already infinitely close to the size limit of the current market.

If you want to gain more fans, you can only wait for the arrival of the era of loyalty and wait for the domestic entertainment fan circle to expand rapidly.

Therefore, compared to those mainstream themes that are more popular with the general market but only have a slight impact on him in terms of data, he needs those relatively niche, but not so niche, or in other words, those film and television themes that seem "niche" because they have rarely been brought to the stage before, to expand his popularity and influence at the social level.

Not to mention achieving the effect of Nezha and Wolf Warrior.

As long as those primary and secondary school students whose values have not yet been formed can know "Better Days", know that this movie is about school bullying, and know that bullies will be condemned by the entire network and insulted by classmates, and will not have a good ending in real life, a large group of potential bullies can be made to behave themselves.

After all, teenagers at this age have a strong sense of shame, and they are more afraid of being looked down upon than bullying others.

Although it is impossible to completely cure and eradicate this long-standing social problem from the root, as long as the occurrence of bullying can be greatly reduced and a relatively stable growth environment can be provided for the children who are being bullied, Shen Juan's original purpose will have been achieved.

It’s true that I want to stand out.

It is true that I want to be a role model for teenagers.

It is also true that I want to contribute to society and the public.

He knows very well that he is not a perfect idol, so he can only make up for his shortcomings in other aspects.

It is not because you become an idol of the times that you can gain everyone's recognition and influence and change the lives of others.

It is because they have influenced and changed the lives of others and gained everyone's recognition that they can become idols of the times.

Now that you have entered this industry, you must use all means and methods to achieve the best in this industry.

Since the weekend has not yet arrived, the main audience on the first day of the release are naturally the students who are already on summer vacation.

Hu Qidong is one of them. He just took the college entrance examination at the beginning of the month and is waiting for the university to start and usher in a new life.

To be honest, he went out to the cinema to watch "Better Days" in the hot summer purely to kill time and post the ticket stub on his Moments to gain social attention.

Because he has no interest in movies, TV shows or celebrities, he simply cannot understand the thoughts of those star-chasing fans.

Isn’t it just a movie with full marketing?

Is it necessary to hype it up as a must-see? Can it make people cry and reflect on their past lives?

Then there is Shen Juan, who is inexplicably loved and admired by many classmates. Isn’t he just a handsome singer?
For some reason he has gained the favor of the government, often appearing in mainstream news and making public appearances in various ways.

But are they all so fanatical?
Not only do they buy albums, they also buy magazines and endorsements. They make so much money a year, why do they need such a small amount of money from you?

With such feelings and doubts, Hu Qidong checked his ticket, entered Screening Hall No. 7, found his seat and sat down.

I adjusted to the most comfortable position for watching the movie, and then looked at the seating situation around me:
Although it was only Thursday afternoon and many people had not yet gotten off work, most of the people present were students, but even so, the theater was still quite full. For this not-so-popular cinema, the attendance rate was not much different from that of the Spring Festival period.

It was able to attract so many fans to watch the movie, and there were even many male viewers like him.
It seems that Shen Juan really has appeal!

But do these people really not pay any attention to or care about Shen Juan’s chaotic and decadent private life?

This is wrong!

Is it because the post-00s have become more open-minded?

Or is it because they are more concerned about the artist's professional ability and fairness rather than personal morality which should not be discussed?

Don't understand at all.

Considering that he didn't quite understand the deeper operating rules of the entertainment industry, Hu Qidong felt that he should not waste any more brain cells on it, so he retracted his gaze and gradually turned his attention to the big screen directly in front of his seat.

After a while, after a medley of safety promotional videos and trailers, the dragon logo appeared and the movie officially began playing.

The opening still sets the overall tone of the film, and then introduces the character backgrounds of several main characters one by one.

"Wow!"

When Shen Juan's bruised and bloody face appeared on the big screen, causing the fans in the audience to cry out in pain or surprise, Hu Qidong had to admit that the movie had aroused a little interest in him by disfiguring the handsome guy.

Covering the general's face can indeed allow the audience to temporarily stop scrutinizing his appearance and pay attention to the actor's acting skills.

At least in this scene, he felt that Shen Juan did a great job, and nothing about it made people feel unreal or distracted.

So he watched more and more attentively, and soon immersed in the depressing atmosphere deliberately created by the director.

Chen Nian is constantly bullied by Wei Lai, Xiao Bei and Chen Nian agree to redeem each other, the good times they spend together, Chen Nian is humiliated by Xiao Bei and Xiao Bei shaves her head, Xiao Bei is willing to take the blame for Chen Nian before confessing, the two look at each other through the window in prison
The love plot that was previously imagined in youth films occupies a very small space in the film, or it can even be said that it does not exist at all.

On the contrary, after putting his emotions into the situation, an indescribable feeling of depression and vague guilt attacked him crazily.

How could there be such a pitiful girl?
Although he has not met a girl with a similar tragic experience as Chen Nian in real life, he knows that there must be many in other corners of the world! This is by no means a single case that appeared due to film and television adaptations!

How could there be such a charming little gangster?
He now understood why so many people would fall in love with an actor because of a movie or a TV series.

Because Shen Juan has proved with his actual actions that a good enough plot and character setting, coupled with outstanding acting skills that do not distract people from the show, does have the ability to attract people and make them his fans. At least Hu Qidong has already developed some good feelings towards him and thinks he is a good actor.

That’s the charm of acting!

How could there be such a vicious minor?

Wei Lai really made him hate her to the core.

She obviously has a wealthy family and a beautiful appearance, but she does all kinds of unacceptable and shameful things!
This guy is so bad!

The more Hu Qidong looked at it, the angrier and more uncomfortable he felt.

Especially when I saw the climax and the two parts where Shen Juan showed off his superb acting skills, I couldn't help but shed tears.

This movie is both despairing and hopeful.

It turns out that if you like someone, you can really give up and take on everything for her.

Hu Qidong saw Chen Nian's story, Xiao Bei's story, and Wei Lai's story in the movie.
But not every Chen Nian can meet Xiao Bei, and not every Wei Lai can be "solved" by Chen Nian personally.

Bullying is prevalent and will always exist.

There are only zero times and countless times of bullying in school.

We live in the gutter, but we can still look up at the stars. However, the majority of people in society are those who can look up but cannot reach them.

This is the cruel reality.

After walking out of the cinema, Hu Qidong was filled with complicated thoughts and mixed emotions, and he couldn't calm down for a long time.

The public welfare short film shot by Shen Juan to resist school bullying was broadcast as a movie easter egg, which was undoubtedly very effective.

This made him start to think seriously about whether he had ever bullied others, or whether he had turned a blind eye to bullying and watched from the sidelines.

The answer is undoubtedly yes.

Hu Qidong believes that 99.99% of the people in the world have personally experienced or witnessed various forms of school bullying, and 99.98% of them have adopted an indifferent attitude and become accomplices of school bullying.

He is one of them.

Of course, there is no point in dwelling too much on this kind of human nature issue, because seeking benefits and avoiding harm is human instinct.

Before the fire burns oneself, it is extremely reasonable for anyone to remain silent in order to protect himself.

But as a freshman who has finished his high school life, he still wants to do something for his juniors.

As the great leader Che Guevara said:

After we leave, they will build schools and hospitals for you and increase your wages. This is not because they have a change of heart or because they have become good people, but because we have been here.

Since school bullying cannot be cured, we should use various means to delay and alleviate this social problem as much as possible!

He knew from the beginning that he did not have the ability and awareness to become a leader, but he was willing to join the wave started by others, become a part of them, and do his part for the collective cause with the right path and direction.

Although young people of this age are most likely to be instigated and bewitched, and become tools for others to achieve their personal goals.

But they did it willingly.

Because they know it’s the right thing to do.

And the right thing should be done.

It doesn't matter if I succeed, but I must be part of the success!
When people are young, they tend to be idealistic, full of hope for the future, and firmly believe that everything will develop in a good direction.

Shen Juan, who has become famous all over the world and the pride of Asia at a young age, is the embodiment of their ideal. So naturally he can gain their support and love, and then naturally become their idol and role model.

Beijing, Sony Pictures Entertainment China branch building.

Seeing that all major news media and online comments were hyping up Shen Juan, Mei Shuheng became more and more annoyed.

As a senior executive of the Chinese distributor of Marvel movies, and also as a new official who was parachuted into the Chinese branch from overseas and urgently needed to support performance and establish prestige, he certainly paid close attention to and attached great importance to every move of "Better Days", the strongest competitor of "Spider-Man: Far From Home" in the same period.

Because he had lived and worked in the United States before, he had a very clear understanding of how popular Shen Juan was in North America.

Know how crazy his fans are.

So in fact, since June 6, the day when the premiere reviews of "Better Days" came out, he has already started contacting major well-known paparazzi and entertainment reporters, trying to get them to dig up some negative information about Shen Juan in China and make it public, thereby affecting the good box office performance of the movie.

However, these well-known paparazzi who had originally assured that everything would be fine once the money was in place were frightened when they heard Shen Juan's name. When they heard that he wanted to expose Shen Juan's dirty laundry, they were frightened and panicked. They quickly refused and asked him to find someone else for help, saying that they did not have the ability to do so.

Actually.
After noticing that Shen Juan had taken over the torch of the times from big brother Cheng (Stand C in the Spring Festival Gala), obtained recognition from above (including but not limited to becoming the global promotion ambassador of Shanghai Culture and Tourism and Oriental Pearl), ascended the throne of domestic entertainment, and intensively cleaned up a wave of paparazzi marketing accounts targeting Shen Juan, and a bloody reckoning came, the "Anti-Shen Juan Alliance" that had gathered a group of heroes, those big black fans with strong mobilization power, and those mindless voices criticizing and boycotting Shen Juan
All of a sudden it was gone.

After all, although paparazzi want to make money, they still know what money they can get and what money they cannot get.

Shen Juan is in such a blatant one-to-many relationship, who wouldn't have a few photos and videos saved?

But rules are made by people and they constrain ordinary people.

The eldest brother became a son and Lian Xidu was able to return to filming.

Could someone of Shen Juan's status be brought down by a sex scandal?
The relevant departments only need to say a word to Sina, and the entries related to the incident will be locked directly, and they won’t even be on the hot search list.

Then you went to Douyin to promote it, and found out that Shen Juan is not only Douyin, but also the biggest face of Yangdou.

Then Hupu is full of straight male fans who have some affection for Shen Juan due to their hobbies such as basketball and e-sports. They go there to spread the word that Shen Juan is corrupting social morality. People might even say, "Oh my, everyone says Brother Juan is awesome, I am great!"

It's one against many, and most of them are unknown amateurs, not their favorite female stars, so why are they so anxious?
It can be said that wherever he goes, he is his background.

All content that defames him will be restricted.

Frequent sending will result in direct cancellation of the account.

The referee, referee, witness, organizer, and co-organizer are all my people. How can you fight me?
You still dare to take the lead in targeting Shen Juan at this time. Not to mention whether it is effective or whether you can make him lose fans, the mere fact that they are noticed by the higher-ups and decide to use you as a warning to other groups with ulterior motives, resulting in the guys who make a living being smashed by the authorities, is a consequence they cannot afford.

So at this time, the only ones who are still willing to bring negative news to Shen Juan are those low-level media and small marketing accounts who are not afraid of wearing shoes and are willing to say and do anything as long as they are paid. Big-name entertainment reporters with many fans are no longer willing to take their orders.

But the problem is that even if these small marketing accounts post a hundred Weibo posts a day, they are not as effective as one from a big-name entertainment reporter!
Do news like "After the premiere, Shen Juan drove to Cheng Xiao's house and did not return home overnight", "The newcomers in the crew of "Yue Lao" are suspected to be Shen Juan's harem", "Shen Juan has close relationships with many female guests, and "Longing for Life" may have become a romance variety show" really have any effect?
Mei Shuheng knew very well that it was just for fun.

People who follow the entertainment industry have long known about Shen Juan’s chaotic and open private life and know what kind of person he is.

Naturally, they would not make a fuss about such things and say that they have turned from a fan to a passerby, or from a passerby to a hater.

For those who don’t pay attention to the entertainment industry, it’s useless to tell them how bad Shen Juan is, because they are not the audience of entertainment.

This is like a luxury brand loudly advertising that only high-end people are worthy of buying their products, leading to a boycott by the general public.

Do they care?
Will performance be affected?

nonexistent.

They can even attract a group of pseudo-rich people who aspire to become "high-end people" to buy their products to show off.

In a word, there is no profit in the sinking market. You may see it today and forget it tomorrow.

He was leading the trend in the mainstream entertainment market, but no one dared to take over. So they cut off the possibility of collapse at the source.

This allowed "Better Days" to fully reap the entire traffic dividend of the male lead Shen Juan. On the second day of its release, it directly got 3% of the screenings thanks to its good reputation and first-day box office of 45 million, strongly suppressing "Spider-Man: Far From Home", which had 35% of the screenings on the first day of its release.

When two strong forces compete, if one step is slow, all steps will be slow.

"No, we must let those paparazzi use their big accounts to criticize Shen Juan. We can't let him be so arrogant any longer!"

Mei Shuheng could no longer sit still, and quickly picked up his phone and dialed several numbers in succession. In order to achieve decent results for his first project after taking office, he decided to humble himself and communicate with the paparazzi in person. Finally, after continuous attempts, he got through to one of them.

"Hello, Mr. Mei, you are calling me this time. Is it because of the previous incident?" The voice of the middle-aged man on the other end of the phone sounded a little tired and helpless. It seemed that he couldn't stand the constant phone bombardment from Mei Shuheng, but it was not easy to block him directly, so he answered the call.

"Yes."

There was silence for a while on the other end of the phone, and finally they decided to tell the truth and take this opportunity to explain everything clearly, so that this ABC who did not understand the actual situation of Chinese society and was transferred from the United States some time ago would completely give up this unrealistic idea and stop bothering them.

"Boss Mei, have you analyzed the composition of Shen Juan's income?"

"What does this have to do with the composition of income?" Mei Shuheng expressed his confusion. Isn't our goal to ruin Shen Juan's reputation?

"But aren't you very curious about why we are unwilling to accept this order? Then I will analyze it from the source."

Mei Shuheng frowned, "Okay, then you continue."

"You also know that he is a singer. Since his debut, he has released three regular albums, two of which are in English and one in Chinese. He also released a Japanese EP during this period. However, only the Chinese album was released through a domestic music platform, and the rest were all released overseas."

"Even the DVD that was released a while ago is also on sale overseas. And then there are his endorsements. You may not know this. The endorsement fees of other domestic entertainment stars are all obtained from the Chinese branch of the brand, but Shen Juan's remuneration all comes from the overseas headquarters."

"Plus, he is about to start his world tour, and many foreign cities have offered him high subsidies. President Mei, haven't you noticed that more than 90% of Shen Juan's income comes from overseas? His way of making money in China is very simple. Apart from the quotations for performances at Tmall Carnival Night and other events, even his filming pay is for domestic dramas he produced himself. He is completely separated from the capital system of cultivating traffic in the domestic entertainment industry."

"In other words, he made all his money overseas, so it's difficult for the domestic entertainment industry to target and restrict him by blocking resources."

"Is there no opponent who wants to defeat him?" Mei Shuheng was still unwilling to give up while holding the phone tightly.

"Of course there is, but why did they want to defeat him? Wouldn't there be no new opponents after defeating him?"

"What do you mean?"

"The rivals in the entertainment industry are fighting each other just to make the other party lose fans and collapse, so as to absorb the fans that have dropped from him and the film and television business resources that have been vacated after his turnover. But Shen Juan has already lost all the fans he can lose, and the remaining fans will not run away because of this kind of thing."

"His business endorsements are all directly hired and promoted by overseas headquarters, and his film and television works are all produced by his own company. Although he is still developing in the domestic entertainment industry, he does not occupy other people's resources at all. The profit from ruining his reputation is not even higher than that of Li Yifeng and Wu Jiaheng, the old top stars!"

"Then Shen Juan's fans like to bring comments from foreign websites back to China for netizens to read. There is a sentence in it that says 'Alex introduced me to the domestic entertainment industry.' So have you ever thought that it is because Shen Juan is developing in the domestic entertainment industry that the closed domestic entertainment industry can receive so much overseas attention."

"Ever since LV and Tiffany tasted the sweetness from Shen Juan, major luxury brands in the fashion circle and many internationally renowned brands have flocked to the domestic entertainment industry, all eyeing China's high-quality market with great development prospects, trying to bet on good seedlings in advance and replicate Shen Juan's miracle."

"Then countries including Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia also began to gradually get in touch with Chinese dramas. For example, Netflix bought the exclusive overseas broadcast rights for Shen Juan's upcoming drama Go Go Squid!. To some extent, this has brought extra income to all artists and the film and television industry in the domestic entertainment industry."

"To put it bluntly, he is the leader who makes the pie bigger and bigger, not the cancer who monopolizes the existing pie and does not share it with others. Assuming that the size of the domestic entertainment industry is 100 now, Shen Juan alone accounts for 30. If we bring him down, we can lose 10 points from him. But the problem is that he can bring more than 20 points to the domestic entertainment industry in the future. Instead of wasting energy trying to grab these 10 points, why not grab the extra 20 points?"

"Although the domestic entertainment industry is a martial arts world, it has never been the kind of martial arts world where people take revenge and profit always comes first."

"And even if we take a step back, President Mei, have you ever thought about why Shen Juan is now being highly valued by the relevant departments?"

"To promote the site's value? To publicize it to the outside world?" Mei Shuheng was indeed not very familiar with the operating rules of Chinese society and domestic entertainment.

“That’s half right, but not the whole story.”

"Don't ask anymore, just tell me clearly."

"OK, Shen Juan is indeed very valuable in terms of his influence, but many people's thinking is still too limited. They think that Shen Juan is relying on his influence to do whatever he wants in China, while being suppressed in the United States. However, everything is relative. Someone may be an opponent today and a friend tomorrow."

"What would happen if Shen Juan was suppressed by public opinion in China and softly banned by the entertainment industry, and he changed his nationality in anger and fled to the United States to settle down and develop? He has extremely exaggerated value and propaganda in China, so does he have no value in the United States?"

"Don't think that those Western media are attacking Shen Juan now. If he really goes to the United States one day and becomes a rare person... I'm not talking about you. It's not rare for you to be born in the United States. I'm afraid that all those disgusting Western media will change their attitude and say that Shen Juan is the king of pop in the new century!"

"Besides, Kpop next door can cultivate so many spiritual Koreans in China. If Shen Juan goes to become an American and then clings to the government's thigh to become a propaganda tool for the invasion of Asia-Pacific culture, I really dare not imagine what will happen and what the public opinion environment will become."

"Many things really can't be done just because you want to. Shen Juan's value and significance are not as simple as you think. He has risen so fast in the past two years that by the time he touched the interests of some people and made them plan to take action against him, he had already reached a state where he could not be chosen."

"To put it even more harshly and exaggeratedly, those netizens who still scold Shen Juan for being pro-Western and fawning on foreigners and asking him to get out of here can probably directly bid 50 yuan for it. Everything he does is beneficial to China. If it becomes rare for him to sing a foreign song, then the United States will probably laugh to death."

"So Mr. Mei, you should listen to my advice and stop. Behind him are all bigwigs from all walks of life who support him. They are afraid that foreign forces will infiltrate and target Shen Juan, forcing him to leave China. Do you think this kind of gossip that only you and I know about can bring down the reputation of a world-class top artist?"

“Not to mention the collapse of the house, it’s even hard to get on the trending search list!”

"So my personal suggestion is that Mr. Mei, you should focus on promoting the content of the movie."

"Shen Juan is not only at the top of the entire industry, but also has additional value due to international confrontation."

"Artists of his level are not people who can be easily mentioned or touched, whether by you or us."

After hanging up the phone, Mei Shuheng was so angry that his hands were shaking.

Why is a lousy singer so important?
Why does it feel like we are all trying to be like MJ?
Is this really reasonable?

Fxxk! Fxxk! Fxxk!

But that's the damn fact.

Shen Juan is not only extremely important to China's cultural output, but also of great significance to the United States' peaceful evolution strategy.

This made him sandwiched between the two superpowers. While becoming a pawn of both sides, he benefited greatly and strengthened himself.
To the extent that even the capital is unable to handle and suppress him now, and can only watch him grow bigger and stronger.

And the most annoying thing is that while this guy is becoming bigger and stronger, he has not yet adopted a winner-takes-all monopoly model.

Not only did he give other competitors a piece of the pie, but he also made the pie bigger for everyone to share, solving the "food and clothing problem" of his peers, which made it so that others had no intention of opposing him at all.

Because opposing him is equivalent to opposing oneself.

To deal with him is to cut off part of your own source of income!

Even Wu Jiaheng could hold back, so why couldn't others hold back as they were not Chaoxiong who had a deep hatred for Shen Juan?

If you try to take him down now, and if you succeed in taking him down, who will we turn to for the lost overseas income?

Can you take on his responsibilities and play his role?
If you can't do it, just lie down quietly.

At least before his replacement is found, for the benefit of the entire collective, nothing must happen to Shen Juan.

Alas. Mei Shuheng sighed with an unpleasant expression.

It actually allowed a lousy singer to gain such high fame and influence and climb to such a high position.
What a fucking dull era!

What a damn world!

(End of this chapter)