This director lacks vision.

Chapter 366 The Sketch is Deconstructed

After arranging a time with Jiang Yifeng, Li Hong hesitated for a moment before calling Yuan Li instead.

After chatting for a while, she said, "I suddenly feel really nervous. What should I pay attention to?"

Upon hearing this, Yuan Li immediately put herself in the situation.

She said excitedly, "If it were me, I would definitely get a full-body beauty treatment tomorrow to get myself in the best possible condition."

Then choose two nice outfits, dress up beautifully, and go on your date.

"Anything else? Is that all?"

"Don't worry about anything else. Jiang Yifeng is a very romantic person. He will take care of you. Just enjoy yourself!"

"You know, I'm a little insecure. I'm worried he'll be disappointed, after all, I'm thirty-six. I still want to prepare a special surprise for him."

"Let me think. Don't you have a practice room at home? Could you set it up to resemble a studio on both sides of the Taiwan Strait? You know what I mean."

"Get lost! You're overthinking it. How could I do such a thing? I'm a decent person; being a host is my profession and my ideal! I would never do something so despicable!"

Li Hongyi firmly rejected Yuan Li's suggestion and hung up the phone.

But the next day, as soon as she woke up, she quietly began setting up the training room...

On February 1st, the second day of the Lunar New Year, Li Hong first went to a beauty salon for a treatment, and then began to struggle with what to wear.

Women's suits seem too formal and too masculine; dresses seem uninteresting; and pencil skirts seem too provocative.

Despite her indecisiveness, Li Hong eventually called Yuan Li.

Following Yuan Li's advice, she wore a black lace low-cut dress underneath, which was very sexy, and then put on a women's blazer over it, which made her look quite dignified.

Yuan Li said enthusiastically, "Men love this kind of contrast in you, trust me! You have such a great figure, you're 1.7 meters tall, with a great figure and long legs. You should show it off. I'll recommend a few more brands to you."

"Fine, I'll buy it for you. If I buy the clothes and you wear them, at least I'll feel like I participated!"

Li Hong: "..."

At 6 p.m., Li Hong arrived at the meeting place, Guomao 79 Western Restaurant, half an hour early.

This restaurant is a long-established Western restaurant in Yanjing, with French cuisine as its core, but now it has been transformed into a fusion restaurant.

Located on the 79th floor of the China World Hotel, the restaurant offers panoramic views of the bustling Yanjing CBD. Dining here is all about enjoying the ambiance, making it suitable for business trips and anniversary dates.

Jiang Yifeng arranged the largest private room. When Li Hong walked in, she saw various wines neatly arranged on the wine cabinet and a huge oil painting on the wall.

The sun had just set, and through the floor-to-ceiling windows, one could still see the bustling cityscape of Yanjing bathed in the afterglow of the sunset.

Regardless of whether the food here is good or not, the ambiance and view of this private room can make a woman feel romantic.

Li Hong stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window for a while, and seeing that it was still early, she sat down to browse Weibo.

These past two days, Weibo has been filled with praise for the Spring Festival Gala, and many people are also complimenting Li Hong's beauty, saying she loves watching these shows.

After scrolling down and refreshing, Weibo recommended a trending topic to her: #What changes did Jiang Yifeng bring to the Spring Festival Gala?#

The most popular Weibo post under the topic was made by a blogger named "Wu Guanchao XXX", titled "Jiang's Spring Festival Gala Innovation (Part Two)".

"In the previous Weibo post, we talked about Jiang Yifeng's innovations in stage design and song and dance programs. Everyone praised the underwater flying dance, Wanjiang, Guose Tianxiang and Jiutian Wenyue Ge.

Many viewers even requested that CCTV produce a special edition of the Spring Festival Gala, only including Jiang Yifeng's song and dance performance.

I won't go into details about these song and dance performances.

In this Weibo post, I want to focus on the comedy sketches of this year's Spring Festival Gala, especially the two sketches written by Jiang Yifeng himself—"Code Name Big Ben" and "Eighty-One Tribulations".

Perhaps in many people's eyes, these two skits are just funny or touching.

They didn't realize that Jiang Yifeng's two sketches represented a revolution in Spring Festival Gala sketches, and even pointed the way for future sketch creation.

Jiang Yifeng's innovation is a subversion of the traditional structure and form of sketch comedy.

He no longer views sketches as mere "collections of jokes" or "megaphones for a theme," but elevates them to "micro-comedies" with a complete dramatic structure.

Under Jiang Yifeng's direction, these two skits incorporated sketch comedy and manzai styles:
The scenes are highly focused—laughter is generated through the characters' extreme reactions and rapid reversals in specific situations.

The characters' comments are very direct—they not only conform to the popular tastes of the current internet age, but also quickly incorporate or even create memes, making them more relatable to everyday life.

This format strips away the complicated background explanations, gets straight to the core of comedy, has a fast pace and a high density, and keeps up with the times, allowing the audience to experience the purest joy in the continuous "unexpected". I would call it "new nonsensical comedy".

What's even more impressive is that Jiang Yifeng didn't simply innovate the structure, but rather integrated new content.

"Code Name Big Ben" is about espionage, but there is a lot to explore in depth.

Some say the skit satirized the personality cult surrounding the leader of state, while others say it, like the movie "Youth," reminds us to safeguard the fruits of victory.

Especially Qiao Shan's line.

"Allied forces? Lieutenant Michael Back, the front lines have fallen, the Far East has fallen, Normandy has begun, and you're now an ally? You've certainly got a clever plan!"

It has become a topic of much discussion.

There are many bloggers analyzing this skit online; you can check them out.

Every explanation has its merits, which is what makes the skit "Code Name Big Ben" so remarkable.

"Eighty-One Tribulations" is a clever deconstruction and innovation of Journey to the West, turning the tribulations of the pilgrimage into work achievements, which resonates more with us working people.

It also raised a question—what would happen if the pilgrimage failed?
The answer is reincarnation and rebirth; the foreshadowing by Sui Sanzang is very clever.

But no matter how many times we practice, the truth, goodness, and beauty in our bones remain unchanged.

Sui Sanzang said: In his view, "spending one's whole life saving all people" and "spending one's whole life saving one person" are the same.

These are actually two philosophical propositions.

"To dedicate one's life to saving all people" is to save all sentient beings and is a broad sense of social responsibility;

"To save one person for one lifetime" is to focus on the fate of the individual and to provide personalized care.

This is what we often discuss: the contradiction and unity between the group and the individual.

The eighty-one tribulations are a team's journey to obtain the scriptures, but there are times when some team members want to become Buddhas first, and there are times when personal interests need to be sacrificed for the benefit of the team. Perhaps there are also times when the first Buddha leads the later Buddhas?

If you were Sha Wujing, and you became a Buddha first, would you be willing to help the Buddhas who come after you?
If you were Tang Sanzang, a team leader, could you consider the needs of individuals while taking into account the interests of the group?

This is the deepest hidden theme in the skit. Only when you understand these details can you appreciate the brilliance of Jiang Yifeng's skit.

Jiang Yifeng's innovation in sketch comedy blends various classic elements, making it both funny and capable of conveying meaningful content.

This should be the direction for future innovation in Spring Festival Gala sketches.

In fact, this also represents a direction for the reform of many traditional performing arts forms.

This applies to both crosstalk and traditional opera.

I sincerely hope that Jiang Yifeng's direction of the Spring Festival Gala this time is a good start, rather than a flash in the pan.

We also hope that more people will see that this year's Spring Festival Gala not only featured song and dance performances, but also excellent skits.

After reading this Weibo post, Li Hong had a sudden realization: Jiang Yifeng's skits had so many profound meanings.

The Weibo post by "Wu Guanchao XXX" was posted this morning and has already received 110 million likes and has been reposted by major media outlets, gaining widespread recognition.

Because the stage design and visual effects of this year's Spring Festival Gala were excellent, and the song and dance programs put together by Jiang Yifeng were also very exciting.

On the night of the Spring Festival Gala and the first day of the Lunar New Year, people were mostly discussing these song and dance performances, and kept replaying and reminiscing about the highlights of the shows.

Today, the novelty of song and dance programs has worn off, and audiences' attention has begun to shift to comedy programs.

Jiang Yifeng's two short plays have been extensively analyzed and discussed.

Li Hong accidentally liked a Weibo post by "Wu Guanchao XXX" and then saw Jiang Yifeng walk in.

She instinctively asked, "Director Jiang, is your skit really as the netizens analyzed?"

Jiang Yifeng reached out, and his assistant helped him take off his coat and sunglasses.

After sitting down, he smiled and said, "No, the skits I write are just to make everyone laugh, while trying to ensure the integrity of the story structure. I don't think too much about it."

The netizens' ability to deconstruct is truly outrageous.

Jiang Yifeng was impressed by their various deconstructions and analyses of "Big Ben" and "Eighty-One Tribulations," realizing that such interpretations were possible.

But Jiang Yifeng did not come out to clarify anything.

After all, once a work is broadcast, it no longer belongs solely to the creator.

Viewers can have their own personal interpretations and emotional projections.

Moreover, these deconstructions are all just praising Jiang Yifeng's awesomeness.

Hearing Jiang Yifeng say that, Li Hong smiled and said, "I thought you would take the opportunity to brag about yourself."

Jiang Yifeng said, "If I were in front of a superficial young woman, I would brag about it."

Because of their limited knowledge, they would not recognize even the true God in person.

But Sister Hong, you are well-read and have a good sense of right and wrong; you can see my excellence at a glance.

I don't need to brag anymore.

Everyone likes to hear praise, no matter who they are.

Hearing Jiang Yifeng's praise, Li Hong couldn't suppress her joy, and the corners of her mouth turned up in a wide smile.

She felt that Yuan Li was right. Jiang Yifeng was good at chatting and could take care of her feelings, making her feel very comfortable around him.

The two started their conversation from the Spring Festival Gala, and continued talking about Li Hong's past experiences and current life.

Under Jiang Yifeng's guidance, Li Hong poured out her heart, and the more they talked, the more excited she became.

The private room was heated, so she naturally took off her suit jacket, revealing a black dress underneath.

The black lace against the snow-white skin created a striking visual effect.

Li Hong's figure was surprisingly good; Jiang Yifeng felt he had underestimated her.

To make up for his mistake, he told several risqué jokes, which made Li Hong giggle.

After laughing so hard she bent over, Li Hong leaned on Jiang Yifeng, and the two naturally made physical contact.

Everything falls into place.

Jiang Yifeng had just finished eating and needed to digest.

Li Hong took a breath and said softly, "Director Jiang, is it convenient here...? Are there any security cameras in the private room...?"

Jiang Yifeng said generously, "It's alright, I've bought this restaurant."

The China World Hotel belongs to the Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts group, and its owner is Guo Helian, a Malaysian Chinese tycoon known as the "Hotel King".

Guo Helian adjusted the business last year, intending to sell the South China Press Group on Hong Kong Island.

With official support, Fengxing Media conducted a stock market capital operation and acquired South China Press for HK$20 billion.

Buying the Western restaurant and property on the 79th floor of the China World Trade Center was a request made incidentally by Jiang Yifeng.

As Fengxing Media grows larger, it has many business banquets and receptions, and having a high-end restaurant can meet these needs.

Jiang Yifeng himself can also enjoy the top-notch environment of the rooftop restaurant.

The restaurant is still managed by the China World Hotel, but Jiang Yifeng made some personalized arrangements, such as this private room.

Hearing Jiang Yifeng's words, Li Hong completely relaxed.

People are always bound by their past experiences. In fact, Li Hong harbors a sense of inferiority in her heart.

She always felt that she didn't deserve good things, so being treated roughly would actually make her feel more relaxed and happy, and she would feel much more at ease.

Jiang Yifeng keenly perceived this situation and made strategic adjustments.

Before long, Li Hong touched the glass and saw the bustling Yanjing CBD from a reversed angle.

She tried her best to adapt to the rhythm and maintain her balance. In her euphoria, she noticed that the CCTV Headquarters in the distance, when viewed upside down, looked like a victory V.

When Jiang Yifeng accidentally spilled the milky white bone broth on her.

Li Hong subconsciously made a peace sign, which, combined with her expression of being warmed by the heating in the private room, created a striking contrast.

(End of this chapter)