Free Web NovelChapter 215: Chapter 191: Time of Reckoning 2
"Who Is Trying to Ruin the Future of Drama?"
"A Farce Disguised as a Thriller"
"Has the Public Lost Its Sense of Aesthetics?"
...
Their core message could be summed up in one sentence: "My bad review is justified; if you like it, you just have bad taste."
As a creator herself, Furin had always looked down on these people who made a living from criticism.
After all, her own artistic experiments had been subjected to the same treatment.
The key issue was that they only criticized without offering suggestions. They’d say something was bad but couldn’t articulate what would make it good.
At that moment, Furin felt a deep sense of solidarity with the New Drama Guild.
However, after carefully reading through the bad reviews, she discovered that while the issues they pointed out were varied and even contradictory, their writing styles were highly consistent.
They were filled with out-of-context quotes and deliberate misinterpretations.
There were also baffling attempts at moral grandstanding, such as claiming that because the final justice was carried out through vigilantism, the play was promoting harmful values and should be rejected...
It was as if they had all been given a template and just filled in the blanks.
They also contained numerous plot errors, which Furin, who had only seen the play once live, could easily spot.
’This is definitely organized and premeditated.’
Furin felt she had uncovered a tremendous secret, so she rushed to find Zog.
"It must be the Drama Guild!" she said, thumping her chest, full of conviction.
"Wow, amazing! I never would have thought of that," Zog praised her in the tone of a preschool teacher praising a child.
A little praise, no matter how childish it sounds, can go a long way in boosting one’s happiness.
Of course, it’s not recommended to use this tactic online. Without the right tone of voice, plain text can easily be mistaken for sarcasm.
Emojis can’t replace tone either, because any emoji will eventually be interpreted as sarcasm.
"Then hurry up and deal with them! It’s already a trending topic. Are you just going to let them ruin the play’s reputation like this?" Furin said urgently.
"I’ve already dealt with it. I’m the one who got it to trend," Zog replied.
"Huh?" Furin’s brows knitted together. "Shouldn’t ’dealing with it’ mean banning their accounts? Are you an idiot? You helped them trend?"
If she had her way, all professional critics would be banned from the internet. She’d ban every new account they made, or better yet, put them on a real-name blacklist so they couldn’t register in the first place.
Zog asked unhurriedly, "Are there many Ordinary audience members in the theater?"
"Yes, tons. It’s almost a full house every time, but I’m afraid that won’t be the case in a couple of days."
"Don’t worry. The troupe in the Royal City has been performing for several weeks straight, and it’s still sold out every night. These critics’ reviews don’t affect our profits. As long as the audience likes it, that’s enough."
"But if we let them keep making reviews like this, we’ll never win any awards."
Furin still cared a lot about all kinds of awards; she was a Dragon with a strong sense of honor.
Coincidentally, that was something Zog didn’t have.
She kept every award she had ever received in her hoard, placed right alongside her most precious gems.
Even her "Most Beloved Teacher by Apprentices" award was in there. She believed she’d won it based on her teaching skills.
In reality, however, the students had simply voted for the best-looking teacher at the academy.
"What’s the point of winning awards?" Zog shot back. "For box office revenue? We don’t lack that. For fame? I think the audience’s adoration is worth more than the praise of experts."
"So we just ignore them?"
"Did you know that trending isn’t necessarily a good thing for them? They’ve positioned themselves against the majority of the audience; it’s just that the majority isn’t speaking up," Zog replied.
"It’s like a spring. The more pressure you put on it, the stronger it recoils. Right now, we’re putting pressure on the silent majority. When they get a chance to speak up, it will be a moment of fierce reckoning."
Furin was starting to understand. Just because the audience was silent didn’t mean they didn’t disagree. They just didn’t dare to speak out yet.
Zog was pleased that Furin didn’t ask any argumentative questions. When he had used the spring analogy on Elsa, she had asked what would happen if it was stretched beyond its elastic limit.
People here were still accustomed to listening to the opinions of so-called professionals, believing that criticism was something that required a certain threshold of expertise.
Since the film and television database went online, audiences had mostly just been giving ratings, rarely leaving comments.
This went against the database’s original purpose.
The feature was created to make the audience’s opinion the mainstream opinion, so that leaving reviews would no longer be a privilege for the few.
And now, with all these mass-produced bad reviews from the Drama Guild, people just needed an opportunity—an impetus to bravely refute the critics.
"So when is this moment of reckoning?" Furin asked.
"We’re still waiting for a key person."
"Who?"
"KNOCK KNOCK." There was a knock on the door.
"Come in."
Elsa walked in. "Boss, Teacher, the Drama Guild Chairman’s secretary has arrived."
Zog hopped down from his chair. "Excellent. The key person has arrived."
「A few minutes later, in the reception room.」
The secretary sat awkwardly on the sofa. He had never seen Zog up close before. Despite his small stature and flippant demeanor, Zog exuded an indescribable sense of pressure.
"AHEM," he cleared his throat and said, looking slightly nervous, "The Chairman is the one who promoted me. I am very grateful for his many years of mentorship."
"Furthermore, the Drama Guild is where I’ve worked ever since I graduated from the academy. I have deep feelings for it. For you to ask me to betray the Chairman and the Guild... it truly goes against my principles and conscience."
After speaking, the secretary observed Zog’s reaction, but Zog showed no reaction at all. He simply waited for him to continue.
After a brief silence, it was the secretary who couldn’t hold out any longer. He broke into a fawning smile.
