Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1507: Forrest Gump with a Big Red Bow

Ronald came to Paramount Shirley Lansing's office. Lansing was wearing a white suit and trousers, and looked a little unnatural. When she saw Ronald coming in, she asked her secretary to bring two cups of coffee, and then told no one or phone to disturb her. Then Lansing took out a letter and a videotape from the drawer and put them on the desk.

Ronald looked at the videotape, a blank version of the kind sold commercially, with the handwritten words "Confidential, for viewing only by relevant personnel" and the names of Ronald and Shirley Lansing added below.

Then Ronald looked up and glanced at Lansing:
“Is this from the White House?”

"Yes, he specifically asked two of us to watch it..." Lansing's expression was hard to tell whether he was crying or laughing, but it looked very strange.

Ronald looked at her eyebrows and hairline casually, and sure enough, there were two small unnatural spots on the left and right sides of her forehead. This is the latest plastic surgery, which is to cut from the invisible part inside the hairline, then cut off a section of the skin, pull it up and sew it up. It is very effective for female stars' wrinkles, eye bags, and sagging skin.

However, the side effects of this surgery are quite serious. It takes about three months to recover, and there are also side effects such as headaches. It is considered a necessary means for stars to do this for film projects. She, a studio executive, also has to do this. It seems that she cares a lot about her image.

Lansing ignored Ronald's gaze, turned on the small TV in the office, put the videotape in, and pressed the play button on the remote control.

A black screen first appeared on the TV, then blue sky and white clouds appeared, and a white feather appeared in the sky and kept floating.

“Beep, beep, beep…beep…beep…beep…beep…beep…beep…beep…beep…”

The familiar Forrest Gump theme song is a scene taken from the beginning of Forrest Gump.

"What is this?" Ronald looked at Shirley Lansing. What kind of weird thing was this? Why did the White House send him its own movie tape and let him watch it?

Shirley Lansing seemed to be trying hard to hold back her laughter. She held out her hand to Ronald and made a gesture for him to continue watching.

Ronald withdrew his suspicious gaze. Anyway, Lansing's expression was very stiff now. He couldn't tell whether he was holding back a laugh or it was a bitter smile.

The white feather flew through the white clouds and landed on a bench, but this bench was not the one at the bus stop in southern America at the beginning of Forrest Gump. In the background were the columns of the White House and the tall flagpole on top with the American flag flying.

This is definitely correct, Ronald rubbed his eyes. In front of the gate in the background, there were soldiers in Marine Corps uniforms standing guard.

The feather fell under the bench, between a pair of purple and white sneakers, and a well-maintained hand picked up the feather...

As the camera moves upwards, it is not Forrest Gump played by Tom Hanks, but a woman wearing an off-white office suit, a strong working girl uniform.

The camera moved up to the face of this fake Forrest Gump, and saw that she was wearing a red and white plaid shirt with Southern characteristics under her beige suit. She had blonde hair draped over her shoulders, and a very large, exaggerated red bow tied on top of her head.

Ronald's eyes widened. Isn't this the current First Lady, the hostess of the White House, Mrs. Rodham? What does this mean? You want to cosplay Forrest Gump? Why did you send it to me? Is this your Halloween costume?
Before Ronald could blink, another man came over and sat down. He wore a baseball cap backwards and glasses and started reading the Washington Post.

"Hi... My name is Rodham Gump, and you can call me Rodham William Gump." First Lady Rodham began to imitate Forrest Gump's speech, but the man didn't care at all. This imitated the scene at the beginning of Forrest Gump where Forrest Gump was talking to a passenger waiting for a bus.

Obviously, Mrs. Rodham also wanted to use the popularity of Forrest Gump to promote her own Rodham Health Care Act, gain public support, and then get it passed in Congress.

This trick was what she learned from President Ronald Sr. When Ronald Sr. wanted to pass a bill that was difficult to pass in Congress, he would often speak on TV and call on the public to write to their congressmen, asking them to respond to the people's call and vote in favor of the bill promoted by the president in Congress.

It's just that Ronald is a former Hollywood star with great personal charm, while Mrs. Rodham doesn't have that kind of personal charm, so she has to use Forrest Gump's charm to appeal to voters who like him. These people happen to be the supporters of the Elephant Party led by Gingrich.

"Look, that white house in the back is where I live..."

The female Forrest Gump, wearing a big red bow, pointed at the White House behind and said to the uninterested man.

"My mom always said the White House is like a box of chocolates. It looks nice on the outside, but inside, it's full of nuts."

"puff……"

Ronald couldn't help but spit coffee all over the floor, almost splashing onto Shirley Lansing.

"Sorry, sorry..."

Ronald apologized immediately. Was Mrs. Rodham talking about stand-up comedy? Nuts means nuts. Chocolate sold in America usually contains various nuts. But Nuts also means stupid. In World War II, when facing the German attack in the Ardennes Forest, the commander of the airborne division used this word to respond to the Germans' persuasion to surrender.

But is this really a good idea? Ronald certainly understood the joke, but many people in America might not. Mrs. Rodham's lines were also unusually uncomfortable. Often, her voice was always high-pitched, with the Los Angeles Valley girl's habit of ending a statement with a rising tone. Many ordinary people actually don't like this tone.

Besides, what good is it to ask the congressman to put pressure on the voters you are trying to win over, saying that there are many idiots in the White House? Isn't your husband William the biggest one among them?

"My mom always gave me good advice. She told me that life is like a health insurance plan. If you join, everyone in the community can help each other, and you can get better medical insurance. All costs will be covered in the community mutual aid program."

“That’s very good advice.”

Mrs. Rodham turned around again, faced the camera, and spoke directly to the audience to promote the health insurance plan.

"Christ Jesus..."

Ronald couldn't help but frown. This kind of cosplay could never be effective. The audience would only find it ridiculous when faced with such a crude imitation. There would be no idea that what this female Forrest Gump said made any sense.

The greatest charm of Forrest Gump is that he can understand the world with very simple common sense and principles that a person with an IQ of 75 can understand, and at the same time achieve very good results.

When Rodham was selling a health insurance plan, he had to use a long list of technical terms, and no audience could understand what they meant.

"She means that if Rodham's health insurance passes, you can get better coverage at a lower cost, and then when you buy insurance, insurance companies can't deny you because of pre-existing conditions."

"How is this possible? There is no such thing as a free lunch." Ronald shook his head. The American people are not stupid. How can such a thing with only benefits and no disadvantages not increase their own costs? Besides, Rodham's health insurance will also cover all people. Where will the health insurance for the poor, immigrants, homeless people, etc. who cannot afford commercial health insurance come from? It certainly cannot be paid by the rich, right?

In the end, these increased costs will still fall on the middle class who pay taxes silently.

“I also gave advice to others, like McGovern, the anti-progressive, anti-culture candidate in 1972.”

In the footage, Mrs. Rodham put on a hippie headband again and shook her head with a happy look, and added a shot of Senator McGovern accepting the Elephant Party's nomination as a candidate at the convention.

"What happened to McGovern?"

Ronald has no memory of this person. Perhaps he is a very extreme right-wing candidate whose political views are consistent with those of Gingrich recently?
This image is actually contrary to the consensus account of the audience of Forrest Gump. Although Ronald would not admit it, most of those viewers still do not like the hippie movement from big cities. They smoke psychedelic drugs, are not careful in their sexual relationships, and do not seem to be very smart. They may not be much better than Forrest Gump.

The camera turns and another bus passes by.

Then the next shot shows Mrs. Rodham with a typical 1970s hairstyle, with her hair tied up but with a perm to create various styles.

"Oh, I remember that hairstyle..." Shirley Lansing laughed. She seemed to like Mrs. Rodham's imitation show.

"My mother always said that life is like a hairstyle. You keep changing it until your hairstyle works...Anyway, I came to Washington in 1974 and participated in the investigation of the case of the President named Richard. At that time, people called me Deep Throat..."

"puff……"

Ronald almost spit out coffee again, and he quickly raised his hand to cover the spurting coffee.

It was during the Watergate scandal, when the Washington Post revealed that a White House staffer had participated in wiretapping the Democratic National Convention. The whistleblower who informed the Washington Post at the time had a code name called Deep Throat.

The reason for this nickname is that there was an X-rated movie at the time, telling a very... bizarre story. So the informant would use this nickname to remain anonymous.

But times have changed. When people talk about Deep Throat now, few people would think of the informant who forced the president to resign under the threat of impeachment. First Lady Rodham used this as a code name. If this short video was really broadcast nationwide, it would not be a good thing. It might even become a national laughing stock.

At this point, the short film cuts to another movie, "All the President's Men" starring Robert Redford, which is an adapted film with the exposure of the Watergate scandal as the main plot.

Robert Redford, the handsome man, had a conversation with First Lady Rodham on the screen. It was as if the female Forrest Gump was exchanging information with the reporter of the Post.

The camera cuts to Mrs. Rodham changing her hairstyle to Marilyn Monroe’s. She then tells the poor passerby, “In the late 1970s, I met our great leader Jimmy again, and I gave him some advice. I told him that people like mayonnaise now, so you need to talk more about mayonnaise.”

Ronald covered his face and made Forrest Gump meet and shake hands with all the great presidents. This was a humorous way to let the audience discover that Forrest Gump had experienced many historical events, which made them feel a sense of identity. Forrest Gump was more of a witness to history, rather than a changer or master of history.

Mrs. Rodham seemed to want to remind voters across the country that she also led the various campaigns of the Democratic Party. This would give the audience a completely different view. If Forrest Gump did not take credit, the audience would think that the Watergate scandal was exposed because he couldn't sleep and called the maintenance worker.

Rodham kept asking for credit, and the audience would only see her as a clown. Although in history, Rodham did participate in some Watergate investigations as a law student, who would see her as a person who really played a decisive role like "Deep Throat" in history?
"In 1984, I encountered another short candidate, Dukakis. I suggested that there was a way to make him look taller on television..."

The camera then switched to show Dukakis sitting in a battle tank, wearing a tank cap and waving at the camera in an effort to win votes from the military industry.

"Dukakis also lost. I once wondered if there would be no Donald Trump candidate elected president in the future..." Mrs. Rodham continued in that unpleasant schoolgirl tone.

"Woo..."

The engine whirred, and another bus drove by. Mrs. Rodham's hairstyle returned to that of her real life First Lady.

The man with the baseball cap on his back left, and a tall man in a red T-shirt sat down.

Rod handed over Mrs. Mu's box of chocolates and said, "Would you like a chocolate?", then took a piece and handed it to the other party.

The man in the red T-shirt is the current President William. He took the chocolate and put it in Rodham's hand, then took all the remaining chocolates.

"Hmm..." Mrs. Rodham made a delicious expression, "My mother always said that White House reporters are like a box of chocolates. Eating too many will make you look bad, but the right one is very sweet..."

"Oh my god, God, please save me." Ronald couldn't bear it any longer. What the hell was this? Everyone knew that reporters were not very friendly to the first lady. They always said that Rodham wasted too much money, redecorating the interior and purchasing new curtains.

"Do you have some chips that I can go with the chocolate?"

The president did not comment on health insurance, but focused on eating. He took the French fries from Rodham and started eating them with chocolate.

"Well, handsome people are just more handsome..." Rodham finally imitated the famous saying of Forrest Gump's mother and ended the short film.

"Well, what do you think? She even invited you to give your opinion in the letter..." Shirley Lansing asked Ronald, handing him the letter.
"I don't want to have anything to do with this short film. I'll just say I haven't seen it, but I don't mind others using it in a reasonable way."