Original Article:https://www.weibo.com/ttarticle/p/show?id=2309404482696049983787
Original Author: 花非花2218
(TN: There is an electronic version of the magazine available to subscribers. The author had already read the electronic version and was giving her thoughts on the hardcopy version.)
I finally received my Portrait Magazine yesterday. After a short nap in the afternoon, I set down my cup of tea and carefully read it from front to back, spending almost 2 hours on it. Although the contents are the same as the electronic version, the feeling you get when you flip through paper is different.
“Print means a slowed down mind… the written and then the printed word brought a new kind of social organization to civilization. It brought logic, science, education, civilité.”
Niel Postman in “The Disappearance of Childhood”
The above quote was proven right every time I experience print media – truly, your heart will quieten down when you read print media.
I had read the electronic version countless times and almost memorized every single anecdote. When re-reading it from the magazine itself, it amazed me to realize that I was attracted by the understatements inside and outside of these anecdotes. The words leaped at me playfully and astonished me.
I actually do not quite agree with this conclusion. When he entered the entertainment business, his social experiences were probably the same as those who were of the same age, i.e. a newcomer who has worked for about 1 or 2 years. However, it was astonishing that he was able to absorb the precious essence of work life despite the short period of time, and had come to a realization that not even some of those who had worked half their lifetimes would understand.
Also, as fan of his interviews, I always enjoy his words, and his words are always mature beyond his age. This made me wonder where he found this amount of clarity in his life.
There are people who are able to understand and relate to the world without having to travel there personally; there are those who traveled everywhere but yet unable to call themselves a traveler. I once read a review about “Venice Diary” (a Chinese short story by Mr. Ah Cheng) – “When we read another person’s travelogue, we see his thoughts and his feelings, almost as though we went there ourselves. If the author had greater sensitivity and analysis skills than me, it might even be more interesting than visiting there myself.”
These people are more commonly found among artists and writers. For example, Eileen Chang, who wrote countless classic love novels despite having a calm love life. Han Shaogong also had ability to draw complexity from simplicity, “You can find a thousand miles of lands and ten thousand miles of plains from just a fallen leaf.” Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa said it even better, “The wise man makes his life monotonous, for then, even the tiniest accident becomes imbued with great significance.”
A man with a childlike curiosity, a strong hunger for knowledge, an acute sensitivity and the intuitive perception to see beyond what is before him – Xiao Zhan is someone who is able to see the world from just a flower.
The word “only” is like the orange highlighter he used to mark out his lines in his scripts – bright and vivid in my mind. After repeatedly analyzing this line, I realized that Xiao Zhan has a stubborn persistence with “excellence”. This was not just his desire to win – his opponent was none other than himself, and fulfilling his potential to the maximum.
To go from outstanding to excellent, the deciding factor does not lie in the doer’s ability but rather whether the doer wants it. With such extreme desire for excellence, the universe may just align itself for you, and you can move the world with just your thoughts.
I realized that I was too simplistic when understanding sensitivity. Previously, I thought this was related to the senses, for example, how he was sensitive to the changes of the Seasons; being sensitive to other people’s emotions and hence being able to invoke empathy in his audiences. After reading this, however, I realized this was more with regards to his observational skills – his interviewers, the sound engineer in his shoot, the deliveryman in the lift and the hawkers by the roadside.
To Xiao Zhan, this kind of observational skills are as natural as breathing. This also meant that he had already imbued acting as an instinctive part of him – he had already identified himself as an actor.
Director Sun Hao from the “Joy of Life” also said that during a group fight scene, Xiao Zhan continued to stay in character even though the focus was not on him, he would not just strike a pose and wait it out, but still remained in focus and in the character’s emotions.
When I read this part, I suddenly thought about the flow in psychology – when a person is fully immersed in something he loves doing, he will be giving it his full focus and enjoy the process entirely. This allowed me to understand from a different angle as to why Xiao Zhan said he was obsessed with acting, why he was “high” from performing. This was because acting made him full of energy and a great sense of satisfaction. This realization also calmed my mind and brought my heart down-to-earth – He truly embraced his identity as an actor, and if he continues with this attitude, he will soon be known as “Actor Xiao Zhan” instead of “Celebrity Xiao Zhan”.
When Chen Yu Shan spoke to Xiao Zhan then, he was still a newcomer with zero experience in acting, a young man confused about his future. However, if you read this, you would realize that this is still applicable today.
The best part about print media magazine would be having plenty of accompanying photographs in the article of over 20 pages. I find myself attracted to the series of photographs by Mei Yuan Gui, because he did not attempt to showcase Xiao Zhan’s good looks, such as his beautiful eyes or prominent facial structure, but instead, focused on capturing his inner essence – unyielding, relentless, ambitious and real.
On the cover, the sun shines through the thin shutters onto his face from the right. The shadows from the thicker shutters catches my eyes, and from my initial glance, he seemed rough, highlighting the values and direction of this interview – strength and authenticity.
Actually, when I received the magazine, I read the preface “From a name to another name, defy labels and prejudice” first. When reading the electronic version, the world was still at peace; now, the world had been upturned, my state of mind had changed drastically. As such, the preface had a lot of passages that resonated with me:
The internet created this era where reality seems suspended and what lies above appear to be fantasy. Public figures need to fill in the space in this fantasy as material to be spied and watched upon, and become the carriers of entertainment and commentary. Outside of this chaos, the reality has less of this hypocritical sympathy, but this also meant that it will never become the state whereby everything could be judged morally.
This issue’s cover person is Xiao Zhan, and from this boy who rose to fame overnight, it was hard for us to find any joy from his fame. In what he said, the vague moments of joy and happiness, those had nothing to do with fame, spotlight and the overwhelming adoration.
Behind Xiao Zhan’s symbol as the top celebrity, we can see a sensitive and disciplined young man, in the middle of the gigantic whirlpool of the entertainment business, quietly examining his journey from the depths of his memories.
The charm of literature or novels comes from the ability to recreate and capture what people may overlook or forget, despite the bustling chaos, despite the humble or even mean labels attached. A young man who is placed in the middle of a stage, but he loved the greenery and fields in between his shoots; A lady who was a sex symbol but decided to shed that label, and her current greatest joy was to go home for dinner. These appeared to be insignificant, but to these celebrities, and perhaps those who are reading their stories, these were moments to be cherished and revisited.
Nutty Translates 