Generation Z Artists

Chapter 341 Fat Boy

Ms. Liu didn't suspect anything else, but the fact that Fang Xinghe was treating her daughter like a beast of burden again and again brought back a lot of bad memories.

Leaving aside the incident with "Young Love," the director didn't do anything good when filming "The Return of the Condor Heroes."

To showcase Xiaolongnu's ethereal beauty, her daughter spent an entire day suspended in the mountains at sub-zero temperatures.

They traversed mountains and rivers, wore only light clothing in the wind, and even shared a kiss... Oh, no kissing, but the romance scenes were portrayed as quite innocent and sweet.

That won't work either; in any case, Ms. Liu was extremely wary of any "friendly gestures" from Fang Xinghe.

You can refer to it as Fang Goo PTSD.

Let's not even talk about her being a Cannes Best Actress winner. Liu Xiaoli isn't the kind of vain mother. Compared to her daughter's physical and mental health, she doesn't care that much about money or her future.

It was always Liu Yifei's own idea to enter the entertainment industry.

"Director Fang, does Xixi have any other special work to do?"

She couldn't help but press for more information.

"It's just normal cooperation for publicity." Fang Xinghe said earnestly, as if he was doing it for her own good. "Sisi is very popular right now. It will be good for her future development if she has more contact with Japanese and Korean media."

Ms. Liu was still not satisfied and continued to inquire: "Was she going to South Korea alone, or did you take her with you?"

"I dont go."

Fang Xinghe waved his hand, his face full of selflessness.

"I went to divert attention, so she can enjoy the spotlight all by herself. You guys need to work harder in the next six months, and if you persevere, you'll become Asian superstars."

Oh, you're being lazy, our Sisi will handle the drama promotion for you.

Ms. Liu understood the gist of it and felt relieved.

She wasn't afraid of hard work, but she was worried about some big traps—the director was ruthless and unscrupulous, setting one trap after another, big and small, and if she wasn't careful, she would be fooled out of everything.

The advertisers have the most to say on this; they anxiously await the ratings, counting them every day before they dare to sleep.

Before Ms. Liu and her daughter went upstairs, Shiseido's marketing vice president had just left, bowing and scraping, looking utterly pathetic.

Looking back now, it seems they probably tried to get Fang Xinghe to intervene again, but failed...

Therefore, Nenxian was particularly curious: "Director Fang, when do you plan to make an appearance? If the male lead of a hugely popular drama doesn't show up for a while, the audience will complain, right?"

"It depends on how the situation changes, and I can't be sure right now."

"Why?" The little girl's eyes were full of innocent and adorable confusion. "It's just normal promotion for the show, showing up to capitalize on the hype, but why does it seem so complicated?"

Since you're ordering someone around to do work, you have to give them something in return.

Fang Gou prefers the kind of relationship where "you do as much work as you're paid for," but the problem is... Ms. Liu refuses to accept a single penny of money she shouldn't, treating her like a thief.

There's no other way but to do them a favor.

Fang Xinghe thought for a moment and decided to have a more practical conversation with the mother and daughter.

"Aunt Liu, Xixi is currently at a crucial stage in her rise to the top. Do you know how celebrities cultivate their image?"

"what?!"

Ms. Liu's mouth was agape in an "O" shape, her eyes were clear yet bewildered, and her once charming and mature face became incredibly adorable.

"I... I think it's about treating people with sincerity... Sisi is a very kind and wonderful child, I think everyone can feel that, right?"

Goodness, you really are something else!
Fang Xinghe felt a mix of laughter and emotion, his feelings becoming quite complicated.

Ms. Liu wasn't just making empty promises; she actually did it.

When The Return of the Condor Heroes was being filmed, waves of fans came to see it: fans of Faye Wong, casual fans of Jun Ji-hyun from China, older male fans of Gong Li, and young female fans of Huang Xiaoming...

The most people came from the starry sky, with more than 40 groups and over 1000 people. However, only less than 20 management personnel were allowed to take photos and videos of Fang Xinghe in the vicinity.

There were no photos, no autographs, and no interaction.

Wang Chali stepped in to warn: "Director Fang is extremely busy and sleeps less than 4 hours a day. Keep quiet and don't disturb him."

Baby's Breath was very obedient, and when she got back, she cried and said that her brother had worked so hard.

Liu Xiaoli had absolutely no sense of distance.

Every time fans come, he actively interacts with them, demonstrating a high level of manners, sincerity, and gentleness.

"Sisi, there's another friend here who hasn't gotten an autograph yet."

"Sisi, thank you everyone."

“You are all Sisi’s good friends. Message me if you need anything.”

What's the most outrageous thing? In the early days, male fans would even put their arms around her shoulders or shake hands when taking photos with her.

Fang Xinghe had heard about it in his previous life, and he saw it with his own eyes when he was filming The Return of the Condor Heroes in this life.

She must be the most down-to-earth superstar in the Chinese entertainment industry, right?

But what about the results?

In its previous life, Yifei Xianju, as the largest website for fans of Liu Yifei, forcibly tried to kill and merge with four other fan organizations, including Liu Yifei Chinese Website. If they disagreed, they threatened to fight to the death, delete posts, and shut down the website.

The posts deleted were made by Liu Yifei herself, her account was shut down, and the fan website server was closed.

They even threatened Hongxingwu to pay for the server fees, but refused to hand over the server access.

Xianju quickly shut down its website and engaged in a fierce battle with the other four major fan websites. Liu Yifei's early fan circle immediately disintegrated, which led to Liu Yifei's Tieba being occupied by anti-fans for a long time. Then, with the rise of Weibo, the Liu Yifei fan circle on Weibo was also plagued by infighting.

It can be said that Liu Yifei has never received support from fan organizations; on the contrary, she has been constantly held back.

When rumors are spread about them, fans not only fail to organize a clarification, but many male fans are actually the starting point and forwarding node of the rumors.

She, her mother, and her company team are basically the most profound case study of fandom in later generations.

Where did this simplistic conclusion that "male fans are completely useless" come from? It's so hard to guess...

Fang Xinghe created Xingwang ahead of time, and Liu Yifei got an official fan cafe. However, Yifei Chinese Website and Yifei Fan Club still appeared separately. They were mostly male fans, and they were very enthusiastic about visiting the set.

Fang Xinghe watched their interaction with a cold eye, finding it utterly ridiculous.

Liu Yifei and her daughter have already pushed the boundaries of what celebrities can do. No star is more sincere, easy-going, or kind than them, but this is precisely the most wrong approach.

Fans, whether male or female, become a mob when they gather together.

Individual fans can communicate, but groups of fans must be managed.

The difference between male and female fans is that male fans are more self-serving when it comes to idol worship, less willing to accept management, and less patient and stable.

The management of Yifei's fan club is all made up of rich second-generation heirs who have plenty of free time and money, but unfortunately, such people are even less likely to do "real work".

The real issue here is probably to wholeheartedly dedicate oneself to one's idol, consider their needs, and restrain one's own desire to perform and express oneself.

What rich second-generation male fans can't do, male fans can't do either.

Therefore, the best path for female celebrities worldwide is to rely on "national popularity" to maintain their status. If they really need to rely on fans, then it's best to rely on female fans. If they have too many male fans, then they should seize the golden period and quickly transform their image.

Girls' Generation has successfully transformed and become a national icon.

AKB48's transformation failed, and they continued to retreat to the theater, leaving graduates like Atsuko Maeda to slowly make their way in the world on their own.

Ju Jingyi's reposts are half-baked, her male fans are collapsing, and her female fan base isn't growing, so she can only survive on Weibo and Red Potato.

Liu Yifei had absolutely no awareness of transformation... no, she didn't even have any business acumen.

It's not that this is bad, and she'll be fine in the future, but this will mean that she won't receive any support when she needs it most.

Ms. Liu wanted to protect her, but Ms. Liu didn't understand at all; her thinking was still stuck at the normal social level of "being sincere and kind."

She had a smooth life, relying on her looks, temperament, and upbringing. But unfortunately, being a person and being an artist are not the same thing. The biggest hardship her daughter suffered was that she underestimated the evil and chaos of human nature.

Fang Xinghe decided to give them some pointers and point them in the right direction.

"Aunt Liu, sincerity and kindness are for treating friends, but fans are not friends."

"what?!"

The mother and daughter were confused again, feeling that Director Fang was saying some very strange things.

"why?"

Liu Yifei once again transformed into a walking encyclopedia of questions, which is a good habit. When faced with Fang Xinghe's words, her first reaction is never to refute, but to ask follow-up questions.

"Because artists are never natural people."

It's no exaggeration to say that in this day and age, no one can explain this issue clearly; only Fang Xinghe can provide such a comprehensive and insightful overview of the entire system.

He was lounging lazily on the sofa with his legs propped up on the coffee table. Opposite him was a large Sony LCD TV tuned to a Japanese channel. He held a wine glass in his hand, which contained 82 AD calcium milk. With a casual shake, it created a milk foam.

With such ease, he opened a door to the real world for the mother and daughter.

“Every artist embodies three overlapping images, which together constitute the celebrities that ordinary people perceive.”

These are: personal image, artistic image, and social image.

Your personal image is the closest to your true self; that is, what kind of person are you outside of your work?

What do you like, what do you dislike, and what are your hobbies?

An artistic image refers to the roles you have played, the roles you are suited to play, and the unique artistic temperament you possess.

Japanese and South Korean media praised your ethereal beauty, which will become the core of your artistic image.

Social image is a collection of social attributes such as your position, contribution, and role in society.

Let me give you an example—

My personal image is that of an arrogant, haughty, and wildly talented young man. My artistic image, however, is not clear enough due to the many labels attached to it. Generally speaking, it can be understood as a crazy artist who has no limits yet, who dares to explore and subvert, and is difficult to define.

His public image is that of a capricious, generous, and responsible philanthropist.

Only when these three images come together do they represent the complete me as perceived by the public.

So, now there is a question—

The public is very distant from celebrities; the various images they see are all conveyed through the media. So, how can we ensure that these images are true or false?

Fang Xinghe turned to look at Liu Yifei, and unsurprisingly, the girl was completely bewildered.

It's not that she's not smart; she just never tries to understand people's hearts.

Ms. Liu, on the other hand, seemed to be deep in thought.

Fang smiled and asked her, "Aunt Liu, you've lived in the United States. Do you think Michael Jackson was a bad person?"

"I..." Ms. Liu hesitated, "I don't know... I believe... well, I don't know who to believe."

"So that's the problem."

Fang Xinghe spread his hands, revealing the darkness in his palms.

"Because what the outside world sees is very one-sided, celebrity teams have the power to decide what kind of personal and social image to present, so they usually consciously shape these two aspects."

In professional terms, this is called creating a persona.

A love of learning can be used to create a persona; a love of doing charity can be used to create a persona; a love of food, a love of sleeping, a love of being silly, and a love of patriotism can all be used to create a persona.

At the same time, your competitors also have a strong desire to damage your public image; this is called buying negative articles.

Your haters may create various negative images of you out of hatred or for their own benefit; this is called spreading rumors.

Your PR team should always be vigilant about this phenomenon; it's called self-preservation.

As fans of celebrities, they have a strong urge to seek justice for their idols. If they are truly wronged, it is called "anti-blacklisting"; if they are falsely wronged, it is called "whitewashing".

All of this revolves around personal image and social image.

The fundamental goal of bad people is to gain benefits that do not belong to them by destroying you.

What we should do is manage our image properly, avoid risks, and build a firewall for ourselves.

This is not a shameful thing; image management is an obligation that all public figures should fulfill.

You can smoke, drink, sleep in, feel depressed, hopeless, and lazy in private. We are all human, and humans will always have times of pain. But you can't openly display it and bring negative impacts to the public.

Being a celebrity means you must, and can only, show the positive and wonderful side of yourself.

“I understand!” Nenxian responded very enthusiastically, then looked a little confused, “But how can I stop others from saying what they want to say?”

"This is not your job; this is the job of the brokerage team."

Fang Xinghe said casually, "We need to find a way to make those who spread rumors and slander pay the price. As long as the price is heavy enough, they will naturally not dare to do it again."

Fang admires Liu Yifei's magnanimity in never suing those who criticize her, but he also strongly disagrees with her stance.

We should fight against those who spread rumors to the end and never tolerate them.

This is not just about venting personal anger, but about making society a better place.

China's population is so large, and there are so many idiots that some people actually dare to spread rumors about great figures, insult martyrs, and verbally abuse active-duty soldiers and national heroes. If you hadn't seen it with your own eyes, who would believe it?

Idiots can't be cured, and we have no obligation to cure them. So we can only sue them one by one, make a big fuss, create an impact, and push the country to improve relevant legislation, so as to ultimately prevent such harm from happening.

So, even though Fang Xinghe never denounces anyone, his team has never stopped collecting evidence and has already stored it on several hard drives.

Furthermore, whenever he had the chance to write books or articles, he would give them a good whack with a spiked club; he never held back.

However, as a celebrity, he cannot speak out about normal opinions.

What should I do?
"Give fans a voice."

Fang Ge ignored the naive and soft-hearted young fairy and turned to instigate Ms. Liu, intending to lead her astray.

A mother's love makes her strong. Even if she wasn't strong, Chen Jinfei must be a wicked person, right?
"Sissi's personal image isn't strong enough. You're a loving mother, but someone always has to play the 'bad cop,' right? That's what management companies do."

You can talk to Mr. Chen later and establish a public relations department and a fan management department.

It doesn't cost much; a public relations director with good relationships with the media plus two junior staff members monitoring public opinion is enough.

The fan management department, consisting of three to five people, first severed ties with independent fan websites, then seized management control from the official StarNet fan cafe, and quietly developed a group of insiders to organize, manage, and restrain the fans.

Learn from the official fan club of "Full Sky Star" and build a sound system to create a healthy environment. In the future, if anything happens to Xixi, fans will rush to her aid on their own.

Otherwise, if Sisi keeps wandering around on the sidelines, without my strength and destructive power, won't she just be waiting to be bullied?

These last words completely moved Liu Xiaoli.

She slapped her thigh hard: "Oh my, isn't that right!"

Once she relaxed, her pent-up frustrations resurfaced, and she poured out her heart to Fang Xinghe.

"I was quite angry when I was filming Chinese Paladin with Sissi. I won't even mention how President Cai kept using Sissi to attract investment and cast actors. I just let it go for the sake of the film. But even though we had already secured enough investment and Alec Su had given his consent, she turned around and made us sign Sissi instead!"

Fang Xinghe listened with a smile, but it all felt very distant.

These are all things that happened in a previous life. When the Legend of Sword and Fairy was being filmed, the Fairy Sister Wang Yuyan had already been released, while Little Dragon Girl had not yet started filming. Liu Yifei was popular enough but not popular enough to be out of reach. President Cai used Ling'er to advance the project and then used the project to poach the young Fairy. It's heartbreaking that Legend of Sword and Fairy boosted the popularity of the young Fairy, giving outsiders a huge advantage for nothing.

Mr. Cai's efforts to sign the contract continued from the initial project proposal until the show became a huge hit. Later, in a fit of anger, he found a similar actress and groomed her as the mainstay of his production company.

However, the situation in this life was actually not very bad.

As soon as the news broke that Liu Yifei, the Cannes Film Festival Best Actress winner, was going to film "Chinese Paladin," everything from investment to casting immediately surged. This "Chinese Paladin" is a huge project, with top male stars like Alec Su, Jimmy Lin, Nicholas Tse, Ma Jingtao, and Jerry Yan all wanting to star in it.

Ultimately, due to Mr. Cai's Hong Kong investment background, the male lead role was given to Nicholas Tse.

Because of Daewoo's Taiwanese background, the second female lead was still played by Ady An.

Hu Ge was quite unlucky. He still won Yao Zhuangxian's appreciation during the audition, but he couldn't compete with the princess's boyfriend and could only play Jiang Ming, the leader of Shushan.

That's the wonder of fate; a small change can alter everything.

Actually, it doesn't matter whether Fengzi or Gezi plays Li Xiaoyao in "Chinese Paladin". Their acting skills and images are about the same, they're both just so-so.

But for the Tang people, things were clearly not like that.

Firstly, Hu Ge, the future pillar and number one star, still needs more time to develop and wait for the next big opportunity.

Secondly, in September 2004, after the filming of "Chinese Paladin" wrapped up, Dicky Cheung and Nicholas Tse injured Wang Bo-chao, triggering the shocking "Little White Dragon Incident" in mainland China.

Fang Xinghe was in the United States at the time, and he made a special trip back to China to sign an autograph.

but……

The leaders of the propaganda and film and television departments of the State Administration of Radio and Television rushed to his door to ask him not to interfere.

After that, he watched coldly as the public opinion storm brewed.

In this lifetime, the mainland has become more assertive and resolute than in the last, yet the Hong Kong entertainment circle dared not stand up to them arrogantly and instead sheepishly admitted their mistakes.

Wang Jing and General Manager Yang went to apologize to Wang Bozhao and apparently paid him 20 yuan in compensation. As a result, Wang Bozhao did not file a lawsuit.

Overall, it comes suddenly and disappears quickly, not lasting as long as in the previous life.

So Fang Xinghe was a little interested: "What about 'Chinese Paladin'? Will it affect its release?"

"No, not at all." Ms. Liu shook her head. "It seems like it could be released anytime soon, right? I suspect that Mr. Cai might be waiting for 'The Return of the Condor Heroes'..."

That's not necessarily true.

It would be strange if she didn't capitalize on the popularity of The Return of the Condor Heroes.

"So..." Fang Xinghe's eyes were somewhat subtle, "Two of Qianqian's dramas are going to be released in China this year? 'Chinese Paladin' right after 'The Return of the Condor Heroes'?"

"Hmm, right?" Ms. Liu didn't understand. "Then what's wrong?"

Good grief, what happened?
Your daughter is going to become a transgender person ahead of schedule!

Following the masterpiece-level Condor Heroes and the well-funded Chinese Paladin, her personal popularity has the potential to match or even surpass that of Little Swallow, becoming even more explosive than in her previous life. However, correspondingly, the haters will also begin to revel.

Tsk tsk tsk, I was just lamenting about fate, and it immediately revealed its cruel side...

Brother Fang took a deep look at the still confused, obedient, and dazed young fairy, and put down his heart to help her. He just smiled meaningfully at Ms. Liu.

"Then you should pay even more attention to image management... Okay, that's all I have to say, let's watch the show."

Just as Fang Xinghe waved his hand, the third episode of The Return of the Condor Heroes began airing.

Liu Yifei didn't think about anything; her mind instantly sank into it.

Ms. Liu was about to think about it some more when she suddenly saw her daughter combing the hair of young Yang Guo. Feeling the inexplicable affinity between Weng Feiran and Fang Xinghe, she forgot everything else.

"Xiao Fang, when are you going to appear?"

"It's this episode, near the end."

Ms. Liu quickly sat up straight: "Oh dear, I'll have to take a closer look."

"I need to take a closer look too."

Liu Yifei resisted the urge to turn her head, her eyes sparkling, her sweet, childlike voice filled with excitement and anticipation.

"With such a complicated filming process, it must look really cool when it airs, right?"

He's more than just handsome.

That was... a fat boy who was sent to Japan and South Korea.

(End of this chapter)