Guo Jingming, the first victim of China's urbanization

Zhen Gu Research Laboratory

·2024-12-11 13:38

Everyone has been trendy in spirit for a long time, but he is still in the wealthy world

Guo Jingming's latest play 'The Great Dream Returns to Departure' has basically been released. Guo Jingming, who was ridiculed as having "three pounds of powder on his face, speaking slowly, and the biggest filter on", has become a new joke for netizens to revel in.

Guo Jingming, because he entered the city early, relied on selling flashy and extravagant city images in the early days, and was able to deceive a group of middle and high school students into following him. Now China's urbanization rate has exceeded 65%, and the boy and girl who used to be Guo Jingming now understand the aesthetics of modern life and works better than Guo Jingming. Guo Jingming has gone from being one of the first beneficiaries of China's urbanization to becoming a sacrificial lamb, with the core being one word - soil.

Difference in elevation

17-year-old Guo Jingming came to Shanghai for the first time to participate in the final of the New Concept Essay Competition. A thin and frail figure walked out of the airport, and in front of him was the bustling metropolis of the East, which was ten thousand times more prosperous than his hometown. That was in 2000, Shanghai's GDP was 45.51 billion yuan, and Guo Jingming's hometown, Fushun County, Zigong City, had a GDP of 3.5 billion yuan.

In a nostalgic program, Guo Jingming recalled the moment he first stepped out of the Shanghai subway station: "There is no subway in my hometown. The first time I took the subway, I realized that trains could run underground. When I came out, there was People's Square above, which was very bustling. The shock these scenes gave me was indescribable in words at that time

Guo Jingming lives in the county town, but the conditions are not difficult. My father works in a state-owned enterprise and my mother works in a bank. Living in the local area is considered well-off. There is only one self perceived shortcoming, a height of less than 1.6, which is due to being short in stature caused by childhood sepsis, and being bullied frequently in daily life, known as the "stickman".

Teenagers cannot bear the pressure of being different, coupled with adolescent rebellion, which has developed their insecure and sensitive personality.

In the second and third year of junior high school, Guo Jingming could argue with his father every morning, it was just a trivial matter, but every day he could have fresh excuses. For example, if the sound of brushing teeth is too loud, my dad will say, 'Why are you brushing so loudly?'. I don't argue with my mom, she just cries, 'I think my mom is smarter.'.

The upbringing environment shaped Guo Jingming's inner tension, and writing became his outlet for anger and resentment.

In his senior year of high school, Guo Jingming released his first collection of essays and short stories, "The Edge of Love and Pain," which depicted both the brightness of youth and the gloom of sensitive youth. He wrote in the book, "We thought we were looking for a lock, but in fact we were looking for the lost key

Coming from Zigong to Shanghai to participate in the New Concept Essay Competition, Guo Jingming's heart has added another scar left by the regional development gap.

In the award-winning work "If there is no sun tomorrow" in the first competition, Guo Jingming wrote: I walked on the road with beautiful French wutong trees on both sides, and I always wondered whether my mother would wrap coins in dumplings and sit at the table waiting for me. If there is no sun next year, lend me a pair of black wings and I will fly home.

Even stubborn teenagers will think of their mothers when they are unfamiliar and lonely.

Picture | Street View of wutong Trees in Shanghai

After studying film and television directing at Shanghai University, Guo Jingming's gap with his surroundings became even greater. He found that 'the clothes I wear and use in the county town are the best', but after coming, he saw his classmates changing their phones from time to time and wearing different clothes every day, 'realizing that they are all the worst'. When interviewed by Yang Lan, he used this passage to answer the host's question, 'What is the biggest humiliation after entering society?'.

In an interview with Chen Luyu, he blurted out, "Shanghai University is a very abnormal university because all the classmates in the class are from Shanghai, but I am from out of town. The teacher teaches in Shanghai dialect, which I cannot understand

The school requires students in film and television directing to be equipped with high-performance computers DV、 There were three cameras, but Guo Jingming calculated and found that "this was equivalent to the down payment of a car at that time, the salary of my parents who didn't eat or drink for three or four months", feeling very guilty and disappointed.

At this moment, his inherent stubbornness once again saved him. He recorded all the teacher's classes and began to spend three months self-learning Shanghai dialect. Half a month later, his mother gave him money to buy filming equipment.

The energy of hydropower comes from the altitude difference of rivers and lakes. And Guo Jingming's creative energy came from his sensitive and abundant inner and external experiences at that time, which opened up a gap between him and countless middle and high school students from the beginning.

The work that best embodies this energy gap is undoubtedly the "Tiny Times" series. In the four part quatrain known as the one full of the scent of materialism, many golden phrases are either popular or deadly.

Image | Guo Jingming's output comes from information gap

For example, "The things that a child needs are so simple and clear... Listen to me, now go to my room, wrap him in a Herm è s cashmere shawl, and stuff a LV wallet in his hand... (No way) How about switching to a PRADA dress

Some people who have experienced pain will hide it and not let others endure it again. But Guo Jingming transformed the pain into a dagger and stabbed others. People who love this kind of thing will love it to the death, thinking that this is the truth of urban life. Those who do not love are dismissed as materialistic and meaningless.

From the results, relying on the information gap in the city, Guo Jingming has shown more struggling middle and high school students as well as young people the flashy city and the possible redemption. This output method has also contributed to the IP of "Writer Guo Jingming".

In the context of urbanization, Guo Jingming's influence on young people in small towns far exceeds that of the enlightenment generation "Ma Xiaojun" in "Animal Fury" and is slightly lower than that of the brainwashing generation "Chen Haonan" in "Gangster Boy".

Business Transformation

Zhang Qiang, who graduated from the Chinese Department of Peking University, became the Vice General Manager of China Film Group 10 years ago. In 2013, his participation in the film "Chinese Partners" was a success.

In the same year, Guo Jingming began directing and adapted the film "Tiny Times 1.0 Folding Age" that he had published four years earlier. Zhang Qiang purchased the film adaptation right and recommended Chai Zhiping, the "Godmother of Idol Drama" in Taiwan, China, China, as the supervisor. Chai was responsible for the film style, the creation team and the financial budget, to protect Guo Jingming. Guo Jingming originally lacked confidence, but now he has a strong team and is confident, and Director Guo 1.0 has emerged.

Tiny Times 1 gathers various big name stars, with an investment of 50 million yuan and a production cost of 40 million yuan. Guo Jingming personally invested 10 million yuan, and the money visibly did not flow much into the plot, but into the entertainment industry. According to statistics, more than 7000 sets of branded clothing were prepared for the four films, all of which were from top tier brands.

In the movie, the protagonist Gu Li changed into 115 sets of clothes, wearing a diamond ring worth 1.4 million yuan and Fendi fur worth 260000 yuan. The school uniforms in the movie are all custom-made Burberry, all Nike at the sports meet, and even LV handbags are used when packing luggage.

The scenes in the movie are also extremely luxurious. Gu Li lives in a riverside view room on the Bund and uses Herm è s blankets. Even Guo Jingming took out his own mansion, including the old house of Wang Jingwei's fourth aunt that he purchased, all of which were used as scenery.

Picture | Guo Jingming's Study

After the movie was aired, many people criticized its materialism. The ratings of the four films on Douban are hovering around 5 points, but this does not prevent the total box office of the "Tiny Times" series from approaching 2 billion yuan, and the audience has achieved money with money.

With "Tiny Times", Guo Jingming completed the transformation from text and images to video. Through the output of his writer identity, he not only filled the spiritual black hole of "emotional Guo Jingming", fought back and defeated the "inner inferiority caused by material and external dissatisfaction in the past", but also completed the wealth carnival of "rational Guo Jingming" as a film director in commercial operations, achieving his personal great era.

This has been expressed very clearly in a program he once accepted called 'Wealth Life'. The current theme of the program is called 'Literary Youth Who Can Do Business'.

Guo Jingming said on the program, "I am a rational and emotional person myself. Writing novels has a keen sense of touch and capture of the world, and can release your inner emotions. At the same time, I am a science student, and I also hope to have a lot of sense of achievement. In terms of running a company, there are many business rules, and it is no longer as emotional as writers. How can you play brilliantly within the prescribed framework, seize enough market share, and beat your opponents beautifully? This is another kind of bloody pleasure. These two kinds of pleasure are different. Personally, I sacrifice a little more personal time than being greedy

After achieving great success, renowned Shanghai host Cao Kefan complimented him with intricately designed questions. How could such a concentrated and exquisite body of yours burst out with so much energy

Image | Cao Kefan interviews Guo Jingming

He replied, "My thinking is quite flexible and I can turn things around quickly. I don't set any rules or limitations for myself. Anything has a curiosity for me. This curiosity also drives me to quickly want to know him

However, Guo Jingming's three pronged approach - worshiping money, hype, and Guo's aesthetics - cannot always be effective.

The 2015 film "Jue Ji" had an investment of over 200 million yuan and a box office of less than 400 million yuan. It is said to have suffered a huge loss after being distributed. The TV drama adaptation of "Fantasy City" in 2016 received an investment of 360 million yuan, with the original novel receiving a rating of 7.3 on Douban and the TV series receiving 3.5 points. Its ratings and reputation were both impressive.

Guo Jingming angrily shouted, "Is it only when I die that you won't continue to curse?" On the surface, it was a response to public criticism, but in reality, it was considered guilty, and his "talent realization" reached a turning point of failure.

The flashy narrative that was once sold to middle and high school students suddenly came to an end one day. Some people say that it's because the growth of young people is faster than Guo Jingming's iteration.

The first group of urban victims

In 2000, China's urbanization rate was 36%. By 2024, China's urbanization rate will exceed 65%. How many young people enter the city, Guo Jingming's urban flashy narrative will reveal more flaws.

On November 1, 2024, the highly anticipated costume drama "Big Dream Returns" officially started scoring on Douban platform, with a score of 4.9, which is no improvement compared to the "Tiny Times" series.

Many viewers commented that watching this drama by Guo Jingming felt "very awkward" throughout the entire process. From the makeup and character design of the actors to the arrangement of the plot, they all present a false sense of emptiness.

For example, in terms of makeup, "three pounds of powder on the face, slow speech, and maximum filter opening" has become Director Guo's latest aesthetic, and later the series was criticized for "Japanese style" and urgently rectified.

A rational audience believes that Director Guo is able to capture the beauty of actors' faces and is willing to decorate the scenery with fancy art, but he still doesn't care about the plot and only cares about the appearance.

Looking back at the past few years, Guo Jingming has hit many streets.

At the end of 2020, Guo Jingming heavily released the movie "Qing Ya Ji" in an attempt to prove his directorial skills to everyone who had mocked him. However, he swept the Golden Broom Award for the most disappointing director along with the simultaneous release of "Jue Ji 2: Cold Blooded Banquet". The audience did not buy it, and the "Guo 2.0 era" was turned away.

In 2023, Guo Jingming finally managed to regain some popularity with "Cloud Feather", but observant viewers discovered that he had placed his actors Cheng Lei, Amy, Sun Chenjun, and his most respected Tian Jiarui in more exciting subplots, which is unclear.

Guo Jingming may be a bit overconfident in himself, naively thinking that as long as he outputs clich é d stories of changing soup without changing medicine within the market validated framework, he can always be pursued by fans.

Little do they know that in the present, ordinary people who have experienced the wind and knife cutting of the times - from drinking from Starbucks back to Ice and Snow City, from eating 19.9 yuan hot pot from Panther, from sitting in a Didi driver's seat at an office desk, from dedicating themselves to love to no longer considering love as the main thread of life - have become mentally "mature". This makes Guo, who is still performing brilliantly and with a plastic feel in front of everyone, seem ridiculous.

In the process of rapid urbanization in China, the younger generation seeks identity and emotional support in literary works

Yao Liang, who is already 33 years old this year, was once a "Guo Jingming boy" who chased after a fourth child.

In 2006, Yao Liang, who was only 15 years old at the time, was in a county town in Hubei Province, flipping through the circulating "The Most Novel" in his class. In the slightly luxurious life diary of the creator, it is written that author A bought a new branded piece of clothing, and author B bought a cup of Starbucks. He saw a parallel life of his longing for the city in it.

Four years later, Yao Liang was selected for the second "Literary New" Writing Newcomer Selection Competition hosted by "The Most Novel", a composition version of Super Girl Super Boy, with judges including Liu Zhenyun, Zhou Guoping, Cao Wenxuan, and others. Winning the competition can earn you a customized newbie plan worth 1 million yuan.

45 contestants from across the country gathered at Beijing Changjiang Literature and Art Publishing House, with cameras covering both sides of the corridor, forming a formation resembling celebrities walking on the red carpet. The organizer changed them into white shirts, did a good job of styling, makeup, and hair, inspiring these teenagers to socialize like they were in a world of fame and fortune.

Yao Liang clearly remembers that in the second round of selection, 30 contestants had to walk through a long and dark corridor one by one, and each "audience" had to walk for 5 minutes. The mentor who announced their fate sat on the sofa chair at the end of the corridor.

Unfortunately, Yao Liang did not ultimately follow Guo Jingming's path. In the end, he only received an eliminated version of the line 'Promise me, you must write it forever'.

That night, 15 qualified contestants changed into evening gowns provided by the organizers and went to a high-rise building in Guomao for a celebration banquet, where they drank until they got drunk in the Champagne Tower. Yao Liang, who missed out on this glamorous life, once felt deeply frustrated. Under the support and preparation in the first half of the competition, he felt like a second rate person.

But now, more than a decade has passed, and the former Guo Jingming boy Yao Liang has returned to being an ordinary person with common interests, hobbies, and dreams. He claimed that he had already stepped out of Guo Jingming's mind, and his carefully designed elimination sentence - "Please make sure to write it down" - "can only hurt me 10 years ago

When the young man met Guo Jingming at the crossroads of the mansion and the old dilapidated small intersection, Guo Jingming still lived in the mansion, but the young man had already desensitized and was destined to become the most familiar stranger to each other.

At that moment, Guo Jingming had almost become a victim of the wave of urbanization in China, with narcissistic writing but no one paying for it.

Note: Yao Liang is a pseudonym in the text

This article is from the WeChat official account "Zhengulab Research Office" (ID: zhengulab), written by Sun Yue, edited by Gong Zheng, and released by authorization.

The viewpoint of this article only represents the author himself, and the 36Kr platform only provides information storage space services.

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