Chapter 641 Director Lev's Confession Regarding International Co-production Projects...
Ugh, I'm so thirsty! Where were we?
Regarding international co-production projects, I regret to inform you of a fact: frankly speaking, our current co-production projects can only benefit one country in terms of box office revenue.
Hey girl over there, stop glaring at me. See, Huang understands what I mean.
Our two countries have different cultures, that's for sure. I've learned that *Ice and Iron* will be released first in Russia, meaning it will prioritize the Russian market. This is why most of the plot in the script consists of traditional Russian tropes. While considering the Russian market, all narrative elements must conform to Russian market conventions. Wei can only be presented as an "Oriental symbol" or a "Chinese element."
Why can't we cater to both countries simultaneously? Young lady, that's an interesting question. Want to hear the truth? Okay—the truth is, Russian audiences aren't particularly interested in specific aspects of Chinese culture; they only occasionally glance at the Eastern symbols in the propaganda: kung fu, dragons, mysterious hermits in straw hats. Similarly, Chinese audiences aren't very interested in Russian culture either. The period when Chinese interest in Russia was at its peak was probably sixty years ago.
Would you watch a movie composed of elements that you're not interested in?
Would you watch a movie where 50% of the elements are things you're not interested in?
Therefore, films co-produced by the two countries are destined to be like bread and cream. Either Russia is the bread and China is the cream, or China is the bread and Russia is the cream. If both the bread and cream are equally thick, it will be cloyingly sweet.
Hollywood? Ye… Chu, you talk too much. Okay. Hollywood is loved all over the world. Hollywood's methods have dominated for decades. Aside from our own culture, Hollywood culture… or rather American culture, is practically the second culture with the least cultural barriers to us. Therefore, its films can achieve great success domestically and also gain high box office returns in China or Russia. As for us and your country—please forgive me for saying this—we don't yet have the ability to export this kind of discourse… We even struggle to get our neighbors interested in each other. I don't want to discuss politics here, but this is the truth. At least that's the case today.
If you tell stories about China, most Russians won't understand them and won't be interested. If you tell stories about Russia, Chinese people can understand them, but they won't be interested either.
To pique others' interest in your story and get them to overcome cultural barriers and actively learn about you, you either need to perfectly match their fantasies of you, satisfying their delusions with stereotypes; or you need to be so powerful that they have to kneel down and lick your shoes...
If it's the former, isn't it simple? A big loaf of bread, a bear, and an old drunkard drinking vodka die in the street. A weeping, whining Eastern woman in a cheongsam is taken advantage of by an old man with two squid-like whiskers, and a superhero descends from the sky to save her. Haha, aren't there enough stories like that already?
If it's the latter, then it will take a very, very long time... I can't do it right now. Can you do it?
This is why, although this film is a co-production, it can only choose one market: either our country or your country. In the Russian market, it can only tell Russian or Hollywood stories; in the Chinese market, it can only tell Chinese or Hollywood stories.
Therefore, our script only has three options: China makes the cream, Russia makes the cream, or we abandon all the bread and cream and make hamburgers!
The script you're seeing now—oh, you girl over there, I know you're probably thinking it's outdated and cheesy. Do you want Mikhail to write a co-production script that equally considers and integrates the cultures of both countries, and that can appeal to audiences in both.
Believe me, I want it even more than you do!
And please believe me, Mikhail has been extremely, extremely, extremely serious. He has meticulously eliminated all stereotypes and racism that might offend you, and has avoided using any outdated elements from Western propaganda. To prevent you from becoming the Saigon girl rescued in a Western fairy tale, he has asked you to act as Kovalev's savior and ideological guide. Even if, in your eyes, this rescue seems utterly absurd, it is the only way he has found that both respects each other and is at least somewhat acceptable to the market…
Huang, I believe you saw this a long time ago.
Let's all be honest with each other. I chose the Russian market because this film will be released there first.
If one day in the future, another Sino-Russian co-production chooses to premiere in China, selecting the Chinese market, and I still have the privilege of working with you all, I would support Russia in making cream... Hmph! I don't think that chance will come. I was practically driven mad with anger before filming wrapped.
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