夏洛特烦恼(什么东梅?马什么梅?马东什么?)

LaimingLuo

The success of Chinese comedy film "Goodbye Mr. Loser", or "Xia Luo Te Fan Nao", dredges up unaddressed questions from the past and in doing so may help bring about some solutions.
The box office powerhouse is adapted from a popular stage show of the same name, which had previously only been seen in a limited number of cities. It is about a middle-aged loafer who makes a fool of himself at any given moment. During a very public showdown with his wife, the man loses consciousness and wakes up to his life 20 years earlier. He goes on a different life path that leads to fame and wealth, but a series of misfortunes follow him like a curse, until he has an epiphany about the most important person in his life.
20 days after its debut, "Goodbye Mr. Loser" has snapped 1.2 billion yuan from Chinese movie theatres. But as it reaches audiences nationwide, the film has become the target of bad publicity. Some movie critics claim the Chinese filmmakers have plagiarised the ideas behind Francis Ford Coppola's 1986 comedy drama "Peggy Sue Got Married," and even provide screenshots from both films for comparison. The filmmakers, however, dismiss the accusation as libel and vow to take legal action.
A simple look into the plot of "Peggy Sue Got Married," reveals that such accusations are hardly sound. "Goodbye Mr. Loser" the stage show has been popular for years, so whatever suspicions exist about its originality should have been settled by now. So to bring up the topic at this moment means one of two things: one, some competitors, jealous of its big bang in the market, want to introduce some negativity; two, the crew themselves, operating on the premise that "There is no such thing as bad publicity," wish to boost its success even more. In either case, this publicity stunt amounts to unfair manipulation of public opinion.
But any hidden agenda cannot fool the Chinese audience much longer, as moviegoers are becoming smarter. Today they are more and more aware of the rampant loser culture and the rather rude style of humour. No offence to the actors and actresses who have gone out of their way to tickle the audience, but "Goodbye Mr. Loser" does seem to contain some incorrect ideas. On movie rating websites Mtime and Douban, bloggers question the so-called "true love" between a good-for-nothing clown and his selfless wife. The number of such reviews suggests China's younger generation possesses sharper political insight regarding the rights of women and underprivileged people. Jokes at their expense now induce disgust rather than delight.
The popularity of "Goodbye Mr. Loser" has amplified the varying tastes of different generations so that more and more people can begin to understand the bad influence of tradition. Now let's see if the filmmakers can adapt to those changes.