章 113: Chapter 113 - Reality Adaptation
With that sincere advice from Lin Ming Yang, Bartleby actually calmed down, "You're stalling for time and then waiting for those ridiculous people down there to rescue me?"
"Ridiculous?" Lin Ming Yang pointed at himself, then reached back towards the back, "Me, these officers here, and most of the students downstairs, what does your death have to do with us? Maybe years from now you'll be the main character in the school's ghost stories, but who cares if you're dead or alive now. What I find really laughable is you yourself, without even understanding the situation, you think the school will organize a mourning party for you if you jump from here? Don't be silly, people commit suicide every day in the US and no one will care who you are or what you've done. Everyone will just remember it later and say that some idiot who couldn't think straight once jumped off a building at school."
"If it has nothing to do with you, what are you standing here for?" Bartleby asked with a sneer.
"Because besides those of us who have nothing to do with you, there are people in this world who actually care about you, who care if you live or die, and they're standing behind me right now. They gave you life, and if you want to die, you should ask them if they agree first!"
Bartleby was disheartened and said, "I'm a total loser, what's the point of living?"
"I've heard about you, but I've never considered you a failure until you stood here. True failure starts from the moment you give up!"
"From the beginning to the end, that consisted of a dream woven by lies and deception!"
"But everyone has the right to pursue their own dreams, I know you must be questioning whether the American education system and social laws are justified, but you had to face the consequences of being 'alternative', no university was willing to open its doors to you. What you did may seem stupid to others, but I think you made a very groundbreaking attempt, why can't students build a school of their own?"
Lin Mingyang said while not moving his feet forward, and finally he managed to stand only three steps away from the edge of the building.
"Your starting point for making that fake website may have been 'laziness', but I see in this matter your courage to change the status quo and fight for your future. This thing you did is a wake-up call to everyone, it warns those young people who are still caught up in the anomaly of being distressed by their inability to go on to higher education, that although entering university has become a 'level of excellence' in the standards of the society, it is more important for an individual to find a form of survival that suits him or her, instead of all trying to squeeze on like headless flies onto that one-wood bridge."
Hartby clutched his head in pain, "Things aren't at all what you think they are, I'm doing this to deceive my parents!"
"But you actually did that anyway, and even though it didn't work out, it still deserves respect!" Lin Ming Yang took another step forward, "The famous Hollywood director Woody Allen once said that if you don't have frequent setbacks, it means that everything you do lacks originality."
Hartby smiled bitterly, "But I'm still a failure!"
"No one is born to succeed!" Lin Mingyang didn't go any further, "I didn't come here to advise you not to jump down. Your pioneering approach has inspired me, so I'm going to adapt your story into a script, but out of respect for copyright, I want to ask for your personal permission first."
Bartleby's mouth grew in surprise, "Are you sure you're not kidding me?"
Lin Mingyang extended his right hand, "To show my sincerity, we can shake hands first!"
Bartleby hesitated for a moment, but finally passed his hand over.
But once Lin Ming Yang gripped his hand tightly, he had no intention of letting go, "Still ready to die now?"
Only when he helplessly realized that he couldn't draw his hand back did Bartleby realize that he had been fooled, "But my dream is already dead!"
"True dreams, like classics, do not die out due to setbacks, nor do they fade with time, instead they become more and more precious." Lin Ming Yang looked at the other party's eyes very seriously, "I'm an actor, but every word I said just now was not acting. Dreams can come again, but life will not have a second chance to choose!"
From the moment Lin Ming Yang and Hartby shook hands, everyone saw the hope of a successful resolution to the matter, but at this time Lin Ming Yang made an unexpected move, he actually let go.
"Life is your own, if you really want to die, it's useless for me to pull you back now. It's easy to die, it takes courage to live!"
Hartby, however, was in deep thought, was death really a relief for himself? The hearts of everyone on the scene were in their throats, the moment was brief, but the anxious waiting made it feel like it was getting so long. When Hartby jumped off the parapet, all breathed a sigh of relief.
Hatby's parents rushed up and hugged him tightly, cheers rang out on the floor and downstairs, and the principal, Matthew, crossed his chest, busily thanking God.
The moment he let go, it would be a lie for Lin Ming Yang to say that he wasn't nervous. Because of his nervousness, a layer of fine beads of sweat had seeped out of his hands, and while shaking hands with him, Principal Matthew noticed this.
"Well done, you did me a big favor this time!"
Lin Mingyang knew that this kind of so-called gratitude from Matthew would be null and void when it expired, "Then can I make a request?"
"About the qualifications for the AP course exam?" Matthew, however, guessed his thoughts ahead of time, he smiled and patted Lin Mingyang's shoulder, "You wrote a good paper at the end, so you're fully qualified to take this year's exam!"
----
Lin Ming Yang wasn't joking with Bartleby, he was really prepared to adapt the other man's story into a movie, in fact he had the exact same story as this one in his head, but the evaluation given by Ecks after listening to his idea wasn't optimistic.
"The storyline does get the blood boiling, especially the part where the hero makes an impassioned speech in front of the Ministry of Education officials, it's simply a genius spiritual leader, someone like that would have just as much of a future without going to college. I'm not an academic theorist, but for the average person, if they can't even cross the threshold of university, they won't be very successful in the future. It's because of the rejection that college is so glamorous. The xenophobia of any university is defined by those students who are rejected."
"I don't agree with you that having gone to college doesn't define who you are or what you want to be, much less what position you will be in society in the future, yet these notions dominate a college education. I'm not writing this story to try to negate the role of college, just to offer my own thoughts on the college model of education."
"Universities are supposed to be a service system in society, they are not supposed to force you to sit there and listen to the mathematical and scientific formulas that your teachers have hardwired into your brain, the system is supposed to be there for you. However, young people today are molded into the same model of success; study hard, get into a prestigious university, and get the job that makes the most money. Although this is a clean life, it is really boring and unusual."
"The most desirable aspect of S.H.I.T. University in the story, though fictional, is its student-first philosophy of freedom, creativity, uninhibitedness, and antisocialism. Basically, you can think of it as a paradise. In a different ending, S.H.I.T. was not recognized by the Ministry of Education and various students were discharged. But their time at S.H.I.T. taught them what they needed, not the measure of society at large, but self-awareness and a passion for life."
Ecks didn't deny the uniqueness of Lin Ming Yang's idea, but he needed to consider more realistic factors, "You've just invested 40 million dollars in satirizing the shady nature of the arms trade, and now you're targeting the education system. If you really have so much dissatisfaction with reality, just go straight to running for president of the United States in the future."
"I'm not trying to criticize the existing education system, but I hope that people can realize from the film how to arrange their college life so that it goes to suit their needs, rather than blindly pursuing the goals that others have set for you. What this story essentially strives for is a spirit of optimism, the tenacity to never give up no matter what!"
"You're going to write and direct your own movie this time?" Lin Mingyang was still mainly an actor at this stage, but every year he would get over his addiction to directing, it was almost forming a regular cycle, which was why Ecks snapped with such certainty.
"The protagonist in the story is archetypal again in reality, although he didn't make such a shocking move as in the story, he did inspire me, I can't act out that kind of chaotic, neurotic feeling in him right now, so I have to look for an actor whose temperament is closer to his."
Eckles said nonchalantly, "As far as I know, there's no one among the well-known Hollywood actors who meets your requirements."
"Then it's better to find an actor who doesn't have much fame right now, this will also save the cost of the movie." When Lin Ming Yang said this, he had actually thought of a suitable candidate in his heart.
----
"Justin Long?" Ecks had never heard of this name before, "I remember Britney Spears' boyfriend is named Justin, a very famous singer, but he definitely doesn't have that last name!"
"I'm just saying that this actor and Britney have worked together, a few years ago they co-starred in a movie called Across the Country Road." Lin Mingyang explained helplessly.
"Hollywood produces so many movies a year, usually there aren't is influential ones that I don't pay special attention to." Ecks hadn't paid much attention to the movie, but he was interested in Britney's gossip, "Are you sure that Justin Long really didn't have sex with Britney?"
"All I know is that when Justin Long was working with Britney, who was in the eye of the storm because of the drug incident, a little off-the-cuff joke he made made headlines; and even though Long was upset about it, it wasn't until he opened his mouth and apologized to Britney that our sweetie found out it was happening. This could be considered the shy Justin Long's first close encounter with the 'power of public attention'. You don't even know this, and you call yourself a Britney fan?" Ecks had become a complete "fake fan" in Lin Ming Yang's eyes.
"Then what other famous movies has he acted in?" Eckles coughed twice and used the excuse to change the topic.
"'Scared Cannibals 2', a small-budget sell-out horror movie."
Ecks had a memory of the movie, but still couldn't recall what role that Justin Long had played in it.
"You really don't know him?"
Ecks nodded seriously, then Lin Mingyang smiled.
"See I told you, Justin Long is definitely a suitable candidate, the fact that even you don't know about him means that right now he really doesn't have any fame!"
Ecks' eyes widened, "That's your criteria for picking a lead actor?"
----
Lin Ming Yang had to be busy preparing for the next AP exam, and the heavy responsibility of going to find Justin Long was handed over to Ecks.
It wasn't difficult to follow the map, but in the face of this somewhat shy "big boy", Ecks had to be careful with his words, "Justin... I'll just call you by your last name, your first name really makes it easy to mix you up with Britney's boyfriend, Justin. "
"That's fine, my friends usually call me by my last name." Justin Long smiled politely.
"So, Ron, you know why I'm here?"
"I've read that script and to be honest I'm intrigued by the character, everything he does in the movie is something I've wanted to do but haven't had the opportunity to do."
"Can you talk about it specifically?"
"Although the beginning of the script was a bit whimsical and made me think it was just a joke by a group of young people, the more it went on, the more real the joke was made, especially when the protagonist stood up in the courtroom dressed to the nines to plead for the university he founded, that impassioned speech made me change my mind about the whole movie, I thought the character was great. "
"Felix will be pleased to hear you say that, but I have to tell you what I think of the script." Eckels said solemnly, "It's a youthful comedy without any youthful comedy, because it deals with the proposition of how education makes choices."
Justin Long hesitated for a moment, but finally chose to support the ideas in Lin Ming Yang's script, "This story may be absurd and ridiculous on the surface, but behind the absurdity, it's a group of courageous young people who don't go by the book, and through different general circumstances as well as their own personal battle of wits, they redefine the standards of the society and the expectations of the future, reforming them into their own imagined way of doing things. I think this is very much in line with the views of young people nowadays."
"Good, if you don't agree with me on this issue, then surely you can find a common language with that Felix guy!" A bright smile suddenly appeared on Ecks' face, "Congratulations on becoming the male lead in this movie!"
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