China showbiz struggles to focus on talent rather than mere popularity
BEIJING: Actors Yang Yang and Liu Yifei looked charming as a couple in Once Upon a Time.
A surefire formula for box office success, right?
Wrong. It bombed. Their faces turned as red as the lanterns of the Lunar New Year.
That was a slight detour from the well-trodden path to popularity in China. Throw some fresh faces in the mix and voila!
“If you only want to watch pretty faces, why not go to a beauty pageant, instead of go see a film or TV show?” asked well-known Chinese director and producer Zheng Xiaolong, also a member of the National Committee of the CPPCC, when addressing the assembly at the Two Sessions last Saturday.
Zheng went on to stress that it would be unhealthy for the creative industry to only focus on how actors and actresses looked, instead of the actual quality of their performances.
The faces on Once Upon a Time were fresh enough, but many moviegoers dismissed it as “the worst film of the year.” That year referred to 2017.
Actor Yang Yang, 27, was widely ridiculed for his lack of acting talent.
Jaws dropped over the many scenes in the TV series General and I (2017) because it simply featured actress Angelababy standing in front of obvious greenscreen backgrounds instead of a real-life set.
“I think there is a difference between a real actor and someone who is merely a celebrity,” said well-known Chinese actor Feng Yuanzheng at the Two Sessions when addressing China’s “fresh meat” issue. He noted that while the former commit themselves fully to their roles, the latter tend to only worry about publicity.
While the problems with such a superficial trend is clear, studios are under a lot of economic pressure to use every means at their disposal to bring in audiences, which sometimes means hiring idols more for their popularity rather than their talent.