Chapter 172: The First Generation Mainstream Goddess of the F-Cultural Revolution...
In the south, autumn is in full swing, with the lingering heat of late summer raging. A group of young middle school students, having finally escaped the sweltering classroom, exchanged glances, their unspoken understanding clear.
Carrying their schoolbags, they crowded and jostled through the alley at dusk, and before anyone noticed, they all squeezed into the video arcade on the street.
"Boss, have you brought back what we asked for?" A group of students walked in, surrounded by colorful videotapes. What should have been a normal transaction sounded like a secret deal.
"My store always has the most complete selection, whatever's popular, we definitely have it!" The video arcade owner pulled out a videotape and waved it at the group of middle school students as if to show off. "So, do you want to watch it here or rent it to take home?"
The high school students whispered among themselves for a while, then pooled together the deposit for renting the videotape, and happily took the videotape back to one of their homes.
Seeing that the videotape had been put into the VCR, the group of people immediately started rubbing their hands together in excitement: finally, they didn't have to wait for the stingy TV station to broadcast one episode a day!
They can watch many, many episodes in one go!
Under the eager gaze of countless eyes, a poignant theme song began to play alongside the epic melody. Although the lyrics differed from the theme song they heard on television, the lingering yet intense musical atmosphere was exactly the same, captivating the listeners just as much.
Some people with a keen eye for literature stared intently at the lyrics, taking notes and comparing them with the Mandarin version. They felt that the lyrics of the Cantonese and Mandarin versions of the theme song for this TV series each had their own unique charm. It must be said that although there is a barrier between the two languages, there is no barrier in the way they are written. Thus, in this situation of "different sounds but the same writing", it became a product of an era.
Just like the ancient Song Dynasty poems, even without the accompanying melodies, those touching words can still resonate with people thousands of years later.
This can be considered one of the "lucky" aspects of Cantonese songs. During a period when Cantonese songs were ahead of the curve in terms of economy and culture, they were able to send their works to regions with different pronunciations but the same written language through their lyrics. This gave them an advantage in "understanding" compared to songs like Hokkien songs, which have completely different meanings in both language and written language, thus contributing to the glory of an era.
After listening to the equally beautiful theme song, everyone gradually became immersed in the exciting storyline.
Watching Yang Si betray Chaoyang Palace and become a disciple of Fairy Yunya, and then looking at this pair of stunningly good-looking people...
As the master and apprentice gradually grow, encounter setbacks, and separate, the audience's hearts rise and fall with the development of the plot.
Li Sishi's image as the Fairy of Yunya was so perfectly in line with the aesthetics of the era that, under the dual influence of "first impressions" and "previous masterpieces," even though the male protagonist Yang Si later encountered various beautiful female supporting characters after the Fairy of Yunya left, it was difficult to shake the absolute status of the female protagonist in the hearts of many students.
Even some more sentimental fans of pure love felt regret and anger at the misunderstanding and separation of the two.
In particular, Yang Si habitually flirts with beautiful female supporting characters whenever he encounters them, which greatly annoys the currently conservative "pure love warriors" who scold him for being too promiscuous...
Among these pure love warriors, there are quite a few boys. The image and character design of Fairy Yunya are simply a combination of the later popular "cold and aloof master" and "cool and aloof senior sister", which perfectly hits the hearts of many people. In addition, the two are a particularly witty and loving master-disciple relationship, which is simply a killer for teenagers with rebellious factors in their hearts.
But
Yang Si is clueless about romance and doesn't know how to cherish things. So, out of envy, jealousy, and hatred, the boys are actually more dissatisfied with him than the girls who are forgiving him a little because of his good looks.
As they watched the two reunite at the martial arts tournament and reveal their feelings, their emotions were filled with undercurrents. Only then did everyone's anger turn into joy. They smiled broadly as they watched the perfect couple reunite and make a name for themselves in front of the world. Their suppressed emotions soared to a point of triumph. Everyone felt a sense of exhilaration and satisfaction at this moment!
Unfortunately, these middle school students were still too young. Just when they were looking forward to Yang Si and Fairy Yunya finally reuniting and understanding each other's feelings, they thought the two should be sweet and loving... but the plot dealt them another heavy blow.
Just as everyone was catching their breath after watching the scene where Fairy Yunya left alone under the cover of night again because she was worried that Yang Si would be ridiculed and humiliated by the world, and also because she didn't want him to suffer the injustice of being left alone on the summit of Yunya, everyone's hearts were about to clench again: Why is it that good things always have to be fraught with difficulties?!
Moreover, not only are good things in the plot often fraught with difficulties, but so is reality—a group of students, engrossed in the plot and oblivious to the passing time, belatedly jumped up and wailed as they picked up their homework to rush to finish it, all the while watching the clock on the wall tick away...
They said they were going to a classmate's house to do homework together, but it's already so late, so they can only hurry up and finish their homework to avoid being discovered by their families.
Of course, the same applies to watching too many TV dramas.
Some students get so engrossed in their TV dramas that they simply give up and decide not to do their homework as it gets late, instead becoming completely absorbed in the storyline.
Compared to the middle school students who had money and connections to rent videotapes, the two elementary school students, Afa and Ahui, continued to sneakily peek out of other people's windows. Because they knew a little more about the plot than their classmates, they were quite the show-off at school. So even though they were often chased away by Granny Qian, they continued their window-peeping business.
But luckily, every time they peeked through the window, they always managed to witness a continuous story unfold.
Perhaps Granny Qian also watches two episodes at the same time every day, just like them, so her pace is consistent with theirs?
"Dinner's ready!"
"Come on, come on! We're coming right back!" Hearing the calls from downstairs, the two children responded with a familiar shout, holding onto their mothers. They then continued to watch the last bit of the story from the windowsill before finally going downstairs hand in hand, satisfied.
As the two small figures outside the window receded into the distance, a pair of aged hands slowly reached out from the two half-open windows and silently closed them, just like the tightly closed heart of the person inside.
Then, the hunched-over old man in the room walked to the machine next to the television, took out the videotape labeled "The Human World of Love and Chivalry" episode 8 and put it aside, and slowly changed to the videotape of episode 15 to continue playing.
As for the two children who were unaware that their "luck" came from a hidden act of kindness, they sat in the corridor eating their meals while happily boasting about their glorious feat of "safely making their way back" from the supposedly very fierce old lady upstairs, which amazed the other children nearby.
Before the information age, the human mouth was the fastest way to spread information, bar none. In addition, the fishbone antennas of that era could always receive signals from nearby areas. Therefore, some areas around Fujian Province that received Fujian Radio and Television also saw this version of "The Romantic Swordsman"...
Instantly "stunned" – not only by the beauty of the actresses in the drama, but also by the captivating storyline, a heartfelt exclamation.
Nowadays, most of the entertainment products in inland areas are of a more serious and traditional type. So when you suddenly see a well-made and exciting TV series like this, people who can watch this TV station are completely engrossed.
As for those who can't receive Fujian TV but hear from others that the channel has a super good drama series, they're probably just messing around on their own rooftops.
They would either use an antenna or go to someone's house that could receive Hunan TV to watch their show... The nationwide craze for watching the show became a hot topic during that period.
This led to a flood of video arcade and video store owners, sensing a business opportunity, flocking to Shenzhen to inquire with smugglers about whether they had any copies of this version of "The Romantic Swordsman" on videotape...
As more questions were asked, it wasn't just smugglers and pirates who got involved; even legitimate retailers jumped on the bandwagon, starting to plunder videotape shops throughout the city...
Unbeknownst to them, "The Romantic Swordsman" was already beginning to spread like wildfire from the first television station to broadcast it. Li Sishi, currently preparing to film her new movie in a village, put on a pair of pink striped short-sleeved arm warmers and then looked at her reflection in the mirror, admiring her "spirited young woman."
He nodded in satisfaction.
Because her character is initially portrayed as a "free-spirited young person from a walled village," the role needs to depict the courage of this generation of young people who have experienced multiple cultural shocks but haven't yet formed a unified, normal aesthetic, thus daring to pile on any element. Therefore, for this "spirited young woman" image, the stylist responsible for her makeup not only "drawn on the strengths of various styles" but also listened to Li Sishi's opinions from later trends, charging towards challenging the limits of current human visual perception.
She styled her long hair into an incredibly voluminous perm, applied heavy smoky eye makeup, and covered her face and body with a bunch of sparkly rhinestone patches. Then she wore a black leather vest and pants, pink striped short-sleeved tops, and purple striped socks. Finally, she adorned herself with a scattering of cheap earrings, necklaces, bracelets, waist chains, and anklets...
That's right. These elements that challenge the limits of color matching and human aesthetics are Li Sishi's reference to the strange and excessive decoration trend of the 1980s, combined with the Christmas tree decorations she saw in her previous life. She blended "Y-style", "S-style hot girl", "kill-M-style" and "F-style mainstream" and many other characteristics that normal people find extremely eye-catching, but are very popular among some teenagers with strong desire for self-expression, creating an image of a mentally ill girl that any normal person would think, "This person is probably crazy."
When the entire look was completed, even Zuo Lili, the assistant who had been helping out and watching the styling finish, couldn't believe that this was the "legendary Miss Hong Kong, the super beauty recognized by all the big stars" that she had been taking care of...
Not to mention Shang Hanyou, who was always outside getting his hair and makeup done, waiting to shoot the first scene.
Li Sishi, sporting this energetic young woman look, swaggered out, just in time to bump into Shang Hanyou drinking water—and so…
When she got playful, she gave him a very friendly "HI"...
"Pfft—" The impact of this energetic young lady look far surpasses that of the former rebellious girl. Shang Hanyou turned around following the sound and was so shocked that he knocked over the thermos in his hand.
Of course, he wasn't the only one "poisoned" by this image.
After Li Sishi's film and television works, starting with "The Legendary Miss Hong Kong," gained popularity, television stations and video hall owners across the mainland began to import the works of the "legendary Miss Hong Kong" to attract viewers and customers, making "Li Sishi" a popular goddess among the younger generation in the mainland. Then, the appearance of "The Voice of Dreams" gave all the teenagers who regarded Li Sishi as their aesthetic goddess a huge shock...
However, among these teenagers, there are naturally some who have no "morality" and want to drag others down with them after they have been hurt. After seeing Li Sishi's appearance, they insist on using "the new image of Li Sishi that you like" to trick others into watching the movie together, and then happily enjoy watching others being hurt by the "spirited little sister" look, laughing non-stop.
Among them, some of the still innocent and naive elementary school students become the primary targets of these malicious older brothers and sisters, who coax them into sitting down with high expectations.
Then, overwhelmed with emotion, she ran out, tears streaming down her face...
"Hahaha, they've been pestering me all day long to see pretty ladies and even stole the Li Sishi poster that I finally managed to buy! Let's see if they dare to mess with me this time!"
Although they had a very clever plan at the time, after a few years, these malicious older brothers and sisters who had once scared their younger siblings got married and had children, they suddenly saw their own children appear before them one day with a familiar, somewhat eccentric, and somewhat rebellious look, like a moving mountain of garbage...
Meanwhile, Li Sishi's "spirited young woman" image further contributed to her goal of unifying aesthetics across all ages, extending her influence and ultimately leading to her becoming one of the representative images of the first generation of mainstream goddesses in the post-millennium internet age...
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