Exploiting Hollywood 1980

The movie had already started showing in the theater, and Ronald just missed the opening and title.

What he saw on the screen was a map of the African continent, and then the camera zoomed in to reveal a grassland. There are various wild animals on it: zebras, African elephants, gorals, giraffes, etc. drink water and live on the edge of lakes and rivers.

The film's narration is in a language that sounds like German, but Ronald isn't sure. He heard several pronunciations of Kalahari repeatedly, which seemed to be place names.

The rivers, lakes, and ponds on the picture slowly disappeared, the oases turned into savannas, the green grass turned yellow, and the leaves of the trees fell off.

Ronald started moving his butt, this is a documentary right? Talk about animals on the African grasslands? Or the importance of environmental protection?

There is no market for documentaries in American cinemas, but it is possible to sell them to TV stations. If the quality of this documentary is good, would you like to talk to Helen’s father?

As soon as the narrator changed his voice, the camera focused on several primitive people covered with leaves. Ronald began to wonder again, could this be a documentary about primitive people?

The language of these primitive people is quite interesting. There are many "click-click" sounds made when inhaling with the tongue and roof of the mouth. It was like the sound that children sometimes make when eating.

The film focuses on how these primitive people found water in the arid grasslands. They dig up rhizomes and use their leaves to catch the dew. The food sources are certain plant fruits and bows and arrows stained with venom, which are obtained from shooting antelopes and other small herbivores.

It has to be said that there is a considerable market for this type of documentary in America. Ronald has watched some documentaries broadcast by PBS, where he traveled to various places around the world to photograph the local customs and customs.

Just when Ronald was starting to figure out how to sell the documentary to Helen's father, the scene switched to aerial photography scenes of big cities. Skyscrapers, highways, busy office workers, industrial production lines, large-scale school education and so on.

There's something interesting about this clip, Ronald thought.

The unhappiness of modern people in the modern materially rich life contrasts with the very happiness of the primitive people in the primitive and poor life. Ronald's rating for film directors went up a notch.

But how to continue? Continue to compare various aspects of life between primitive people and modern people? This is also a good way.

The next shot turns back to the primitive tribe. A primitive man is walking, and an airplane flies above. A pilot drank Coca-Cola,

He threw the Coke glass bottle out of the window and landed right in front of the primitive man.

The primitive people thought this was a gift from God. After taking it back to the tribe, they discovered that the Coke bottle was harder than any natural tool and could be used to process food, clothing, and even be used as a musical instrument to play rhythm.

But when there was only one Coke bottle, everyone started fighting and fighting. The primitive people felt that this was not a gift from God but an evil thing, which destroyed the peace of the tribe, and prepared to take it to the end of the land and throw it away.

Now Ronald saw clearly that this was a drama.

The fake documentary technique was used to quickly exaggerate and explain the environment of the story. When the second film was finished (about 22 minutes), the story had entered a huge suspense.

Rebel leaders in nearby countries staged a coup to overthrow the local government. After the coup was stopped, the rebels detained a large number of innocent residents and fled into the Kalahari, where the primitive people lived, hoping to use them as hostages to fight against the government forces.

A primitive man who threw Coke bottles into town was sentenced to jail for shooting a goat that was owned by someone else. A zoologist understands their language and believes that primitive people have no concept of property rights and should not be sentenced to prison.

The judge asked the primitive man to work as a guide for the zoologist to compensate for his sentence. On the way to send the primitive people home, the two met the heroine, a school teacher, who was kidnapped by the rebels.

At the end of the film, the primitive man used darts to tranquilize the rebel soldiers while rescuing the heroine and his students.

The hero successfully rescued the heroine, and the two finally got married.

And the primitive man went to the sea and threw the Coke bottle into the sea. He returned to his tribe and lived a happy life.

The whole movie is a comedy, but it does not use lines to make people laugh. Instead, it uses the contrast between primitive people and modern people to reflect the absurdity of some modern society.

Ronald liked this kind of advanced humor very much. Even though he couldn't understand the lines, it didn't stop him from laughing from beginning to end.

After the screening, Ronald approached Mia, the manager who had brought the film to the screening, and offered to purchase the American distribution rights for the film.

"No, no, no, we can't sell the rights to distribute this film in America right now."

"Why?" Ronald was surprised.

Mia Trotsky is the sister of the film's producer, Boyet Trotsky.

She answered with a wry smile, "Our film was shot in South Africa. My brother Boyette's Mimosa Studio employs all white technicians. From photographers, to lighting engineers, makeup artists, and even photofinishers. It’s white people.”

"This goes against the Sullivan principle, and America's legal system is a long-arm jurisdiction. If I cooperate with America's company, I will be blacklisted by the divestment movement, and my brother's theater chain will not be able to introduce America." The Liga film was screened.”

Ronald was confused and quickly asked Mia for details.

It turns out that South Africa now has an apartheid system. Whites and blacks are not allowed to use the same bus, eat together, use the same tap... they must do everything separately.

Sullivan is an American bishop who is also a director of General Motors. When he visited the General Motors factory in South Africa, he discovered that the black leader Nelson Mandela was in prison and South Africa implemented apartheid policies. Shocked, Sullivan launched a boycott movement after returning home.

He called on all American companies to withdraw their investment from South Africa and stop doing business with South African companies if the South African government could not release Mandela, lift the apartheid policy, give black people the right to vote, and not employ black people on a large scale.

These policies he formulated are known as the Sullivan Principles. If Mimosa Pictures sells the film it produces to an American company, the Sullivan Doctrine will be triggered.

The Trotsky brothers were afraid that they would be targeted by the news media for selling movies into America and be put on a no-traffic blacklist. Not only would they not be able to import American movies, but they would also not be able to import film shooting equipment, technicians, etc., which would have a negative impact on Mimosa Pictures. The blow was devastating.

"Then why don't you hire some black employees? Their wages are not high, right?" Ronald wondered if there was a tendency among the siblings to support segregation.

"Of course not. Look at this movie, we hired a large number of black actors," Mia quickly denied, "my brother and I actually support the abolition of apartheid."

"But your country's Sullivan principle is very harsh. It only counts the proportion of permanent employees, and black wages must be equal to white employees. And we are a small company and cannot afford to hire so many incompetent employees for a long time.

You know we are not a production-oriented company, unlike General Motors who can hire some black employees with lower skills. What we hire are technical talents who require long-term training. "

Ronald thought it was a pity. If this movie could be introduced to America at a low price, it would be a bit of a mess. "What if I buy out the distribution rights of your movie? Then the movie has nothing to do with you."

"Look at those protesting crowds, right?" Mia pointed to the door, "We tried to sell the movie to PolyGram and release it in Britain.

The protesters placed advertisements in newspapers, revealing that the film was shot by a South African studio, and were eventually forced to cancel the release plan. Because Britain is also a participant in the divestment plan, the public has a bad impression of South Africa. "

"This is really..." Ronald was speechless and could only exchange business cards with Mia, and then chatted about their South African film market situation.

"By the way, what's the name of your movie? I didn't watch it at the beginning." Ronald finally asked.

"the gods must be crazy"

"So do you speak German in South Africa? I didn't understand the lines at all. But the quality of your videos is very good. I can laugh from beginning to end even though I don't understand the lines."

"No, it's afrikaans, a mixture of Dutch and West German. We're going to put it in foreign subtitles and try the European and Japanese markets."

"Are the primitive people in the movie really living like they did?"

“That may have been true in the past, but now the governments of Botswana and Namibia have driven them into private areas, and their living space has become smaller and smaller.

Because of this movie, our company now gives that tribe $200 a month, asking them to buy some things from a nearby grocery store to subsidize the tribe. "

Ronald nodded. It seemed that he had a beautiful imagination. How could modern society not be affected? Even such primitive tribesmen can improve their living standards by making movies. It's also a good arrangement.

The two walked out of the theater while talking, but Mia was greeted by the demonstrators. I was so frightened by the eggs and slogans that I ran away.

Ronald managed to avoid the egg and tried to run away. He found that the beautiful college student he had gone to the movies with two days ago was also in the crowd. He quickly walked and said loudly, "One of you, please don't hit me. I just pass by occasionally."

When the beauty saw it was Ronald, she hurriedly stopped her companion, and then asked him, "Do you want to buy a movie about South Africa's racial oppressors?"

Her companions also gathered around her, and it seemed that she would not be able to escape until she explained clearly.

"I won't buy their movies, Sullivan's Principle, Sullivan's Principle." Ronald quickly explained using the newly learned terminology.

"Well, you have to shout slogans with us to show that you don't support South Africa." Another fat girl at the parade thrust a placard into his hand.

"What do you want me to shout for?" Ronald was forced to hold up a placard that read "Against Apartheid."

"Free Mandela. "

"Free Mandela!" Ronald shouted.

“Multinational corporations leave South Africa!”

“Multinational corporations leave South Africa!”

Satisfied, the protesters let Ronald go.

With lingering fear, Ronald asked the beautiful college student he knew in a low voice, "This movie is about primitive people. There is no racial discrimination."

"The South African film company actually doesn't make movies that expose the ugly side of South Africa's apartheid system. What's the intention of making movies that glorify the harmonious coexistence of white people and black people in South Africa?" The fat girl shouted next to her, "If you don't object, you are condoning it! "

Ronald was forced to shout two more slogans and quickly escaped.

“You can’t mess with protest girls, you can’t mess with them.”

multiple copies

Please remember the first domain name of this book: . :