Huayu: Are you even sitting up straight? You're going to be the director?

Chapter 29 Cao Zhong's Bloodlust

Cao Zhong's rhetorical question elicited knowing smiles from some of the people below, but caused the faces of many film school students to instantly turn a deep purplish-red.

"He swore! He swore!"

"And the insults were really awful!"

That was really vulgar!
This event was held at the Beijing Film Studio, and many students participated in the project's inauguration ceremony.

Therefore, students accounted for 80% to 90% of the hundreds or thousands of audience members present.

These students have one thing in common.

They've all studied "Film History".

This includes Yang Mi, Ning Hao, Huang Xiaoming, Mei Ting, Zu Feng, Hai Qing, and many others.

This is even a required course for them.

People from the directing and cinematography departments are no longer mentioned.
It's the performing arts department; very few people haven't heard of it.

Only about 20-30% of people haven't seen the movie "Tokyo Story".

And Cao Zhong, in front of this group of people, began to slowly deconstruct the film.

He felt better after he finished cursing.

Then I moved a stool and sat down.

Cao Zhong just sat there, looking at the audience below.
"I know some of you want to beat me up right now. I know you're anxious, but don't rush."

"I've been researching this for two and a half years before I'm sharing this with you all here."

Some of you probably know Ozu's story, but how can you equate art with character?
That makes sense.

Cao Zhong's voice was a little softer, and he seemed to be reflecting on himself and correcting his biases.

He continued,

"In my opinion, that is indeed the case. There is no winning or losing in art education, and even less so in art itself."

However, some roots cannot be allowed to rot.

In the early days of film development, when various techniques were not yet mature, some pioneering experimental methods were praised and defined, and I agree with them.

But to create a god because of this is going too far.

Therefore, to deify a war criminal who invaded China is to compound the problem.

That's a sign that the root cause is rotten.

Some students got impatient and reached out for the microphone.

Cao Zhong gestured for the microphone to be given to him, and the student stood up, looking furious.

"You keep saying here that there are no winners or losers in art, and you admit that you are learning art. Doesn't Ozu have anything worth learning from? Your words and actions are too extreme. You are deliberately making extreme remarks here to provoke people."

After the microphone was taken back, Cao Zhong responded with a smile.

"Which of my statements was extreme?"

Cao Zhong's voice remained radical.
When the film "Tokyo Story" is shown in class, does the teacher dare to tell the students that the hands of this "master of family ethics" on the screen are stained with the blood of Chinese children who were corroded and festered by mustard gas?

Even Haruki Murakami, a person who has never experienced war, repeatedly apologizes to the victims because of his father.

Yet, you can't even see a label on a war criminal who invaded China in your textbook; it's because some people are heartless.

The subtlety, restraint, calmness, sorrow, and pain portrayed in this bloody butcher film, which deliberately glorifies the tranquility and peace of Japan, is hypocrisy.

When the West says it doesn't understand, nobody likes it. The West wants to make it the god of Eastern narratives, and once the academy falls in love with it, you fall in love with it too, wanting to learn its aesthetics and greatness—that's subservience.

The other person thought the wires were messy and too lazy to tidy them up, so they took the picture from a low angle, and then interpreted it as "Zen" and aesthetics. That's ridiculous.

The film portrays familial warmth, family disintegration, everyday narratives, and a long-lost tranquility. It's poignant about the annihilation of traditional ethics and morality, and lamenting the ultimate indifference towards families, with its characters refusing to even call their parents. Using art as a convenient excuse for their lack of filial piety and care for their grandparents is unfilial. Isn't it terrible enough?

Cao Zhong looked at the student who was standing: "Isn't it bad enough?"

The student did not answer.

Cao Zhong was still not satisfied and demanded that his subordinates give him the microphone.

The student held the microphone, wanting to say something, but couldn't utter a single word.

Anyone who enjoys debating knows that when watching debates, you see others speaking eloquently and fluently, and you feel like you can do it too.

But when you actually stand on the debate stage, a few words or questions from others can catch you off guard and leave you completely stunned.

The student was stunned by the beating.

But Cao Zhong showed no intention of letting him off the hook.
Are you an artsy type?
Do you really enjoy all of his movies?
Do you know about his life?

Do you think it's possible to love a part of someone, or that art isn't a part of their life?

Even if we judge Yasujiro Ozu by the lowest standards of humanitarianism, he would not even raise the muzzle of his gun an inch when firing. Do you really think he had any humanity?
Did you know that he once said he doesn't acknowledge the value of human beings, comparing Chinese people to objects, to insects, and doesn't consider them enemies, which is why he remains calm and composed?

Did you know that he wrote about his involvement with WAF during the invasion of China in his diary?
Are you not good enough to learn from? Are you not good enough to love? Why degenerate to finding some truly rotten people to indulge in and play with?

……

That's a bit too extreme.

This has left many people completely bewildered.

Huang Xiaoming's eyes widened in surprise. He suddenly realized that when he saw Cao Zhong by the bathroom earlier, he wasn't chanting a spell.

He's definitely memorizing his lines!

It’s so explosive!
Cao Zhong's words not only silenced the student, but also completely silenced the entire audience.

Some of the students who wanted to refute Cao Zhong were now silent and dared not stand up.

Although Cao Zhong's words were directed at the people from earlier, they still put a lot of pressure on the students.

They thought to themselves.

"I didn't say we were going to argue, I wasn't prepared!"

Cao Zhong was still speaking.

"That's just how people are. As long as the blood of their compatriots doesn't splatter on their shoes, the exquisite pleasure of the invading Japanese army in slaughtering China is fragrant."

It's normal for the butcher's cruelty to be reduced to a laugh and the whole thing to end well.

For that simplest thing, make an identification mark.
Sometimes I wonder, is it that you don't dare to, or that you can't?

Is it intentional to use academic refinement to help certain people evade historical judgment?
Or are you worried that all your learning and research will become a laughing stock for the rest of your life?

I don't understand.

I can't figure it out.

I see some people are forgetting.

I saw a group of people using the name of art to cover up their shamelessness.
I've seen many people inexplicably relying on Western rankings to try and learn certain avant-garde techniques or plot ideas. Fine, learn them if you want, but they insist on giving them the title of "the strongest." It seems that as long as they elevate someone to the status of a god in film history, they can add a layer of universality to their own callousness.

These things break my heart.

So I want to make my film, I want to awaken some people from their oblivion, I want to be an art student...

Blow up this stinking cesspool!
This is my mission!

(End of this chapter)