#I bet he was so happy and wanted to share his experience onstage

[sunshineandlyrics]

🥰 Louis being happy chatty with Helen, Krystle, Rachel, Ben and Ross after his performance.

🇲🇽 Tecate Pal Norte, 30 March 2024

[wabbitseezonarchive]

would you be cool with sharing some of those entertainment headcanons you mentioned in your singing daffy post? :D

WILLOW DISCUSSES A HUUUUGE THEME ON HER BLOG THAT SHE’S NEVER MENTIONED IN PUBLIC BEFORE WHOOPS !!

Oh my gosh, yes! This took me a while, even though I’ve had this question in my drafts for soooo long lmao! I’ve been wanting to answer this question for a while! And this is actually my last draft until I’m all caught up, so—ending on an awesome one lmao.

OKAY, SO—DAFFY’S ENTIRE MOTIVATION AS A TOON, AND HOW THAT EXTENDS INTO HIS PERSONALITY??? 

—yes. Of course I have to cover this.

I don’t have the post that was mentioned originally in this ask (bc this was sent in soo long ago! my bad!) but what it basically mentioned was how: Daffy’s at his peek happiness-level whenever he’s performing, and I mentioned it being because he’s ‘fulfilling his purpose’, and I wanted to go into more detail on what I meant with that!

During the height of a performance, Daffy gets so beyond exhilarated. He honestly lives for those moments, and is almost constantly striving for them. It can be with anything, singing, dancing, acting, even getting shot at if it’s part of the routine. In those moments, he completely forgets himself and becomes fully immersed in the role. He doesn’t care about competing with anyone, or proving himself in any way, it’s all about the performance, and the act of performing and then seeing  from the audience that he made them happy, it’s the best feeling in the world; and I think the ‘feeling’ that a lot of toons strive for. It’s their entire purpose, to make people happy, after all!

For Daffy, it’s like an itch that needs to be scratched—which is also why I hc that he gets so frustrated when he doesn’t get a reaction from the audience. Because that ‘itch’ isn’t being scratched, and he’s not fulfilling his purpose as a toon if he can’t be entertaining!

This idea was basically inspired by that one line in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, where Roger is pleading with Eddie to convince him he was being framed, and he said: “I could never hurt anyone! My entire purpose in life is to make people laugh!” (and me being the nerd I am and having read the Roger Rabbit comics, incorporating a few other things from them into this idea lmaaao 👀 )      

So a toon having a ‘purpose’ (usually to be ‘entertaining’, or to ‘make people laugh’) is a big thing in and of itself that I’ve never really discussed on this blog, but that I always think about when I’m writing lol!And I love thinking about it, because I imagine that concept plays into the society a lot. I bet it leads to a lot of inequality, and that humans use it as an excuse to mistreat toons. Because it’s simply ‘their purpose’ to entertain them, and so a lot of humans still don’t recognize toons as ‘people’; which probably leads to a lot of protests and stuff for ‘toon rights’ in this universe and stuff too lmao. WHICH IS A WHOLE OTHER TOPIC AS WELL, BUT IT’S SO COOL TO THINK ABOUT! And I’m always looking to expand ideas too, so I’d love to hear yours too if you have them, and I’ll probably incorporate them lol!

But yeah, especially in the older days, when toons weren’t trusted as much (and especially so after the whole Judge Doom incident) a toon was given a ‘purpose’ that they would feel compelled to strive towards. This was partly because humans knew how powerful toons could be if they had complete and total free will. Doom’s ‘purpose’ probably wasn’t established, or he somehow broke away from it, or he was created by a negative human; but for whatever reason, he didn’t feel that call to ‘make people happy’, and only wanted power for himself. Most toons are created with the sole purpose to entertain and bring joy to humans. And that trait has been emblazoned onto them from the moment they’re being conceptualized as a character on model sheets and stuff by their animators, before they’re even fully created.

So from the first moment they’re ‘flesh and blood’, conscious and fully-aware, they’re purely  their ‘purpose’

The earlier toons, depending on how much they were re-modeled and everything (which can drastically alter a toon’s appearance and personality suddenly) generally grow out from their inherent purpose and personality that was created for them by their human creator(s). And as they grow as individuals, and expose themselves to the world and have more experiences and stuff, their own personality develops like a human’s does; adapting to their environment and the situations around them. This explains why Daffy went from being just a complete loon, uncontrollably hyperactive and crazy lolol, to developing his own personality over the years as his situation changed.

But deep down, that one inherent purpose remains like a driving force that they can’t shake for their entire lives.

Like I mentioned earlier, with Daffy, his underlying, intrinsic drive is to entertain others. And when that drive isn’t fulfilled, it’s like an itch that can’t be scratched, that only gets worse until it is. Annnnnd—if I wanted to get angsty with it (bc you know I always have to add angst lmao) and to add another layer of urgency  to a toon needing to work and be ‘useful’ and entertaining——imagine if, when a toon’s purpose isn’t fulfilled, then they begin to ‘fade’.

Which is just as bad as it sounds lol.

When they no longer can fulfill their purpose, and their influence on the public begins to waver and they begin to be forgotten, then the toon will begin to ‘fade’. Like a very, very slow death for a toon. Which also takes into account ‘population control’, so that not every toon to ever be created is around for eternity lol; but the ‘forgotten’ ones just… fade away; which kept the population down before the invention of Dip. Dip’s just a lot, uh—quicker.

I also know that the Epic Mickey games have something to do with ‘being forgotten’, but I’m not that familiar with those games, so if anyone who is has ideas on how to incorporate that, then again, I’m all ears! I freakin’ love collaborating ideas so much lmao 👀 it’s what i’m here for tbh!!

So, if you look at it like that, the need to fulfill their purpose is like a survival thing among toons. Especially if they get into a particularly desperate situation, where they’re at risk of being forgotten because they can’t get work, or something. Which is unfortunately common for toons, because a lot of them are created for a single show, and often can’t find work later on.

Daffy’s been lucky enough to never have to had worried about fading, but the frustration that comes with being unable to fulfill his purpose drives him crazy sometimes. It’s why he gets so snappy and jealous and bitter when he doesn’t get applause, or gets one-upped onstage. It’s not that he’s upset at his coworkers (unless they’re Donald) he’s frustrated that he isn’t scratching that itch. When he doesn’t get a laugh, or he feels unappreciated, or replaced, or whatever, it’s frustrating because he needs to feel useful and funny and entertaining.

I have ideas on how this developed over the years, and how  he transitioned from being such a hyper, carefree bundle of unbridled energy—to being bitter and jealous and a total diva lmao!

I actually can’t believe I’ve never talked about this, but man, I should go into more detail on that, because I have it all thought out, even tying it into real world history, like WWII and how that factored in and stuff lmao!

But this is already getting super long, so I’ll TRY and sum it up quickly!

While over time, Daffy’s convinced himself that his ‘diva-ness’ is justified for many reasons, such as: he believes he deserves more respect than he’s getting, he believes he’s at least equal to the other toons at the studio, despite the ‘second banana’ routine he’d fallen into with Bugs over the years—–it’s not really about any of that. It’s not about the applause, or the cheers, or the awards, or anything like that! It’s really, way deep down, truly about being able to fulfill his purpose. Feeling useful as a toon, and knowing that he’s bringing joy to people. That people benefit from him being around!

When he performs, he wants to fill the audience with as much joy as he possibly can! He gives everything of himself when he performs; and the height of that moment, when he’s just lost in the act of fulfilling his purpose? It’s the best feeling in the world to him.

[ai-da-ice]

[Fan Account] The Da-iCE a-i Contact Fan Meet Experience!

On 6/8 I went to my very first Da-iCE fan meet, ai-contact 5 ~Fight Back~. Unlike with concerts where I had a good idea of what to expect due to watching all of Da-iCE's concert DVDs, I really had no idea what the fan meet would be like or what the group would do during the event. I was bit worried that it would be 100% talk and I wouldn't be able to follow well, but to my pleasant surprise, a lot of different things happened during the fan meet outside of just talking, and I was able to understand quite a bit of it!

The venue this time was Toyosu PIT, which is somewhat on the small side. There are no higher levels, only the ground floor. I was in the 20th row, which put me closer to the back than the front, but my view was still decent. They also had a few monitors set up, but I didn't really need to rely on those too much throughout the night.

I arrived a bit early to buy merchandise. Da-iCE's fan meets usually have some unique merch options that differ from their tour merch. This year's merch line up included a new lightstick for the group's anniversary year, which I really wanted so I could complete my lightstick collection. I also bought 3 pins for the group-- these are given randomly and you can't choose which member or design you receive. I got I LOVE TAIKI and I LOVE YUDAI pins and one Hayate design as well. Since I love all the members, I don't want to sell or trade, but I may possibly buy some Sota versions from a fan if I can find them at a good price!

For the fan meets, if you buy a copy of the new single, you can also receive a ticket for an event after talk. At the after talk, you can write a question for the members on a slip of paper which they may select to answer. You also receive a random new seating ticket for re-entering the building. I got ticket number #405, which put me around the 10th row, much closer to the stage than my original ticket!

The main event started at 7 PM with a video of the members playing rock-paper-scissors to determine who would be the event MC. Naturally, Sota lost, which meant he would not be participating in any of the games, but would be in charge of directing the members in all their challenges. The very first thing on the agenda would be to choose an event keyword. The staff would keep track of how many times each member used the word and tally it into their final score to determine the event's "winner." The keyword of the event this time was "yabai," a word used in Japanese for many different things. It usually means something like "incredible" or "cool," but it can also mean "dangerous" or even “scary” depending on how you use it. Toru-Yudai-Hayate-Taiki weren't told the key word, but us audience members were shown on a screen.

Right after the key word was selected, my question about whether or not there would be performances was answered as the music to Hayate's solo song "Sunadokei" began to play! I've never seen Hayate perform solo in person before, and let me just say: HE WAS INCREDIBLE! Hayate has said in the past that he doesn't have a lot of confidence in his voice and didn't intend to join the entertainment industry as a singer, but his level of control and stability was quite good for someone who isn't a lead singer! I was so impressed by his delivery!

Next, Sota also got to perform his solo song from Kake Hayabusa, "Owari Aru Tabi". As expected of Sota, the performance was absolutely gorgeous, and he conveyed the emotions of the song powerfully and beautifully.

With these two performances wrapped up, the group started playing games. In the first challenge, the members had to collect fans from the audience using different categories. Hayate had to collect people whose birthday was June 8th. Yudai had to collect people who still used old fashioned flip phones. Toru collected people with a specialized professional license. Taiki collected people who had dice-shaped fashion accessories. Unfortunately, I didn't fill any of the requirements, but the fans who did were taken up onstage and could talk to the members a little bit about their birthday or special items. I couldn't get an exact count, but it looked like Taiki collected the most people, and Hayate the least for this category.

After that, the group played a gesture game. The audience members were shown a word or phrase on the big screen and we would have to mime it for the members to guess. Some were song titles like "You&I" or "Tokyo Merry Go Round," but others were more complicated like the members' radio programs or special events. Toru ended up winning this game, with Yudai coming in last.

After the first two games, we were back to performances! Toru performed his solo song "hitofuyu". Even though it didn't match the summer weather since it's a winter song, he still delivered a great performance. He seemed a little nervous to be performing on his own, but I think he did a good ob overall! The group then got together to perform the 5 vocal, bossa nova version of "HELLO." They've gotten really strong at performing as 5 vocally, so I hope they continue the trend of doing 5 vocal songs in the future!

The next performance was chosen by a fan vote. We had three options: Stay, what you say, and Did You Know? Yudai had a sound level meter, and we were supposed scream "Haaaaaaaaiiiiii!" for the song we wanted them to perform. I originally voted for "what you say", but it tied with "Stay" and we had to revote, so I changed my mind to "Stay" so I could hear Sota's epic high note. "Stay" wound up winning and we received a great performance of the Fight Back era masterpiece. Unfortunately, Yudai made a little mistake in the choreography right when he was at the front of the formation, and we teased him a little for it ^^ When the performance was over, he jokingly hung his head in shame for a bit.

After, the event went live for about twenty or so minutes on SNS-- Da-iCE's Youtube, Twitter, Instagram, etc. We were also allowed to film this portion with our cell phones if we wanted. Da-iCE played a video announcing the release of their upcoming 4th album BET (out August 8!) as well as their upcoming tour beginning in September at Makuhari Messe and ending in January was two days in Osakajo Hall. I was so excited to hear about the album release, but a little upset that I'd miss out on the tour. It's about one month after I'll have moved back to America, and I would have really loved to see it T^T While the live broadcast was still recording, the group also did a performance of new single FAKESHOW.

When the live broadcast shut off, Sota announced the event keyword to the remaining four members and the staff showed the tally of how many times each member had said it. It was a surprisingly small count: Taiki, Toru, and Hayate had each said “yabai” 3 times, while Yudai had only said it twice.

With that final game over, they tallied up the total score. Toru won by a huge margin (his score was 26 and the next highest score was Hayate with 14), and Yudai and Taiki tied for last. Toru's prize for winning was a box of specialty food, while Yudai and Taiki had to do a punishment game of spelling the word "Osakajo" with their butts. It may have been a punishment for them, but it definitely wasn't for us! While Sota was decided what word they would have to spell, they did a little bit of twerking and model posing for us >_< I wish I could have taken a video to share the visual delight, but rules are rules!

The group wrapped up with a relaxed and light hearted performance of TOKYO MERRY GO ROUND where they spent as much time laughing and trolling each other as they did performing. They also threw out signed balls to the fans, but I didn't come close to catching any. Since I was closer to the back, whenever a member threw a ball to our area, it would hit the rafters of the building and fall to the ground.

When the event was over at close to 9 PM, we had to go outside again to re-enter for the after talk. Like I mentioned, I was in row 10, about in the center. For each fan event, different members would be answering the questions, and for our event we had Yudai, Hayate, and Taiki. The after talk was very brief and the boys dug through the questions and pulled out the questions they thought were the most interesting to answer. Unfortunately I was suffering from a bit of a stomachache this point (having taken a two hour walk on a full stomach before the event, bad idea T^T) and my concentration wasn't so good. My brain wasn't very much on what they were saying, since I was just kind of staring dazedly at their faces. Forgive me! The one question I caught was about where they wanted to visit in America-- they said LA and New York, the obvious choices! The after talk went by quite quickly, but it was good to have the chance to see them again, especially since my view was much closer than the original event.

Overall, it was a fantastic experience, and I'm so glad I got to go! I really feel like there are no walls between Da-iCE and their fans. They talk to us comfortably, like friends, and aren't afraid to show off all their silly sides. Even though their popularity is increasing, they still feel like the companionable, humble guys they were back when they got started. Every chance I have to see them really makes me so happy inside :D

[wanna1things]

Soulmate!Park Woojin

haha i lov him my first born son, my illness friend, my bab

Genre;; fluff + uhh college!au,, soulmate!au, musical...theatre!au??, graduation!au at the end?????? is that a thing really i don’t knoww

Warnings;; mentioning of like an alternative version of park woojin’s dark past,, that damn dark past…. I had to warn you

Pairing;; Park Woojin x reader

Requested;; no ho ho ho i’m writing this so this account doesn’t die ++ this is also kind of for the anon who asked me to make the soulmate thing into a series sorry i never replied lol but im in a park woojin mood so woojin comes next

Soulmate AU Type;; soulmates experience the same illnesses at the same time until they get in a relationship together (?? is that the right way to put it idk) + soulmates are confirmed by a flash of light when you touch for the first time after you start dating

Summary;; Your best friend Woojin is alway sick when you are sick. You brush it off as being because you spend pretty much every second of every day with him, but maybe it’s something more...

Style;; bullet point

Word Count;; 1796

Also in this series;; Daniel | Jihoon  | Jinyoung | Minhyun

don’t tell anyone the idea from this came from this amazingly fun fact;; woojin is 2 months and 27 days younger than me AND he got shingles EXACTLY the same time in his lifetime as me; so 2 months and 27 days after me; so he is my illness amigo

you and woojin basically grew up together

from the moment his family moved in next door to you you’ve been best friends

i mean the friendship started in a very… different way

you used to hear him singing and dancing in his backyard

and you sang back at the top of your lungs in a desperate attempt to start a conversation lol

when you were in middle school you two used to write your own little musicals and perform them for your families

they weren’t particularly uhh technical?? but they were adorable and your families loved it

there’s so many embarrassing videos of those musicals dfjshdf

when you and woojin both caught chickenpox at the exact same time and were confined to your homes

both of your parents winked at each other

they had the idea that y’all were soulmates because duh that’s how soulmates work

as middle school and high school went on you both always had colds at the same time, you got appendicitis within days of each other and you both had your tonsils out on consecutive days

you brushed it off as it just being a coincidence because ;; well;; you were together 24/7 of course you’d get sick at the exact same times you basically had the same germs

you both got closer and closer until you were pretty much inseparable, people either assumed you were dating or that you were brother and sister tbh you two always used to say you were twins to fool people lol

nobody ever really fell for it though

in your last year of high school, both you and woojin started to date people

most of your other friends had all found their soulmates and honestly

as much as you loved being with woojin you were pretty sure you both needed to start having a look for your soulmates

every time you saw woojin with his girlfriend, something ached in your heart that you couldn’t put your finger on

you just chalked it up to you being a bit jealous that you couldn’t be around your best friend as much, nothing more

little did you know woojin felt the same whenever he saw you with your boyfriends

he knew exactly what it was though, he’d had a crush on you since like;; lol middle school

maybe even since he heard that terrible singing response

but he thought you obviously didn’t reciprocate this since you wanted to look for your soulmate so he just;; did the same as you

and there was like a one in 7 billion chance that y’all would be soulmates anyway, so he looked for his own

but he’d never keep a girlfriend for too long, either because they noticed how he only had eyes for you or woojin just felt bad leading them on

you two still spent time together though

every week you made time for a movie night and sleepover

you’d just turn up in each other’s houses, basically addressing each other’s parents as mum and dad too

your parents could both see there were some unspoken feelings between you two but they just let you sort it out between yourselves

when you started to apply for colleges you made sure to apply to the same ones, or ones close to each other

both you and woojin wanted to major in music/dance and drama

which everyone thought was adorable because of y’know those musicals

but both of you still tried your hardest to forget that

SPOILER ALERT

you both got accepted on the same course at the same prestigious performing arts college

you stayed best friends the whole way through college, taking the same classes the whole way through

also since you went to college there was some sort of unwritten agreement not to date people?? like you couldn’t explain it but you didn’t really want to search for your soulmate anymore (you don’t NEED to search he right here!!!)

halfway through your course your college did a rendition of romeo and juliet

OF COURSE you and woojin went for romeo and juliet i mean (cliche) OF COURSE you both get it too

aaaaaaaaaaah you both conveniently forgot about the kissing scenes

but being actors who must rise above™ you both just agree to deal with the kiss

UMMMM sike you totally did not deal with the kiss

that night you literally fell over just thinking about kissing woojin

did i forget to mention that since the middle of the last year of high school you realised god

you have a bIG crush on mr park

big is an understatement actually gosh

just the thought of kissing your crush made your heart rush 9999 miles per hour but NO you have to be a mature actor

after your little heart attack session you get to learning the lines

you and woojin are doing not the traditional romeo and juliet but a kind of revamped version, a bit like west side story orrr the romeo and juliet film with leonardo di caprio

basically its modern day and with like gangs and stuff rather than families??

AND IT’S CALLED ROMEO AND JULES YES

and in this woojin is a mafia boss’ son lol

the first time you walk into the rehearsal you see woojin standing at the front of the stage in this fancy ass suit with a silk red shirt under and you almost like;; have a nosebleed

“y/n, are you okay??? you’ve been staring for like the past 3 minutes lol”

you realised you’ve been staring a BIT (a lot) too long and go and join him onstage to rehearse

SKIP to 2 weeks before the performance

it comes the time when you have to;; practice the kissing scene;;

you managed to negotiate with the director that there only be one kissing scene because otherwise your poor heart wouldn’t be able to handle it

as you run through the lines the;; kiss;; is getting;;; closer and closer;;; aaaa

woojin suddenly held your face in his hand like he was cradling something precious

OOOOOF here it comes

“Jules, I am more sure than anything that we were put on this earth to find each other.”

he smiled one of those like really cute smiles he does you know where it shows off his ADORABLE snaggletooth

and then he leaned in and pressed his lips against yours

and you swear to god it was like your heart stopped

as it was going on your brain was basically scrEECHING ok yOU LOVE PARK WOOJIN OHHHH MY GOD

when the scene was over you both wandered back to your rooms with a permanent blush comPLETELY lovestruck

until you both woke up the next morning with throat infections

you stayed in bed until the afternoon when you went to pick up your phone to ring woojin and complain like god this guy got you ill AGAIN

when you see you have an incoming call from woojin

“y/n!!! why did you not tell me you had a throat infection omg you better hope this is gone in 2 weeks because i canNOT perform with my throat like this”

“woojin... i did not have a throat infection before this you dummy it’s your fault i bet its because you decided to stay up playing cooking mama or something until like 5 am yesterday”

“MAYBE I DID BUT THAT’S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS”

woojin hangs up almost immediately because it’s just hit him

you and him both got sick at the exact same time okay

your parents were right you really were soulmates

SO, he rises out of his bed and brainstorms a confession plan

and he decides that at the end of the performance of romeo and jules he’ll reveal his love lol

luckily you both recover in time to do the show but you don’t have time to rehearse the kissing scene

which you’re really thankful for because you don’t know how much more your heart can take

on the night of the play you both share a hug backstage before going on

and you convince each other not to be anxious

it’s just like one of your musicals from when you were younger

both of your parents are in the audience too

the performance starts and it goes like super well

the dance sections are amazing and woojin’s dancing is so like… beautiful you almost forget your lines lol

the kiss scene actually goes surprisingly well

but halfway through you hear your parents and woojin’s little sister go ‘oo’ and wolf whistle lmaoooo

which makes you both blush and fumble a little bit

in the ending scene where you and woojin die because of a hit put out by the mafia boss

there is a whole ass STANDING OVATION

you and woojin are really shocked but you hold hands and smile widely at each other because like this was your dream since you were kids??

and woojin is just staring at you because god you looked so happy in that moment it was like you were glowing shfdsj boys so lovestruck n WHIPPED

as you go backstage you and woojin are just talking and in total shock about the whole thing

“listen woojin i can’t believe it went down so well like did you hear those cheers?? oh my god!!!”

“haha yeah did you hear both of our parents and my sister when the kiss scene happened i was so embarrassed”

“oh my god woojin why did we even invite them honestly i wanted to go and hide in a whole-”

“y/n will you go out with me?”

“honestly when i heard them i felt like i was going to die - wait what? are you serious?”

you look at woojin and you realise he is like… deadly serious

“well duh i am”

“oh darn okay then yeah uhhhh yeah i’ll go out with you??”

he holds your hand tightly and there’s a sudden like flash of light

and woojin just whispers

“i knew it, i’ve known it for years”

and you smile and lean forward to kiss him because god

are you pleased that your best friend and the person you have loved for years is your soulmate

and of course your parents are pleased because damn that 6th sense was CORRECT

UHH BONUS

when y’all graduate obviously top of the class

you make a wonderful plan

to dig up your dark past together

and at graduation you recreate one of the first musicals you did as kids

it goes down so well and the whole class just cheers and screams and cringes along with the hilariously terrible and childish storyline

and basically it’s the damn cutest thing yes

i take that back YOU TWO are the damn cutest thing

ok im going to sleep now uh enjoy this and i’ll do the other members uhh SOON

[deniscollins]

In China, Daydreaming Students Are Caught on Camera

If you were a high school principal or on the School Board, would you do an internet live stream of your class so parents and others can see how well the children behave, and misbehave, in class: (1) Yes, (2) Noe? Why? What are the ethics underlying your decision?

In the halls of Yuzhou No. 1 High School in central China, students refer to them simply as “the cameras.”

When the first bell sounds before 7 a.m., their fish-eye lenses spring to life, broadcasting live as students sit at their desks and measure geometric angles, pass notes or doze during breaks. Before long, thousands of people — not just parents and teachers — are watching online, offering armchair commentary.

“What is this boy doing? He’s been looking around doing nothing, like a cat on a hot roof,” one user wrote. “This one is playing with his phone!” added another, posting a screenshot.

As internet speeds have improved, live-streaming has become a cultural phenomenon in China, transforming online entertainment and everyday rituals like dating and dining. Now the nation’s obsession with live video is invading its schools, and not everyone is happy about it.

Thousands of schools — public and private, from kindergarten to college — are installing webcams in classrooms and streaming live on websites that are open to the public, betting that round-the-clock supervision, even from strangers, will help motivate students.

School officials see the cameras as a way to improve student confidence and crowdsource the task of catching misbehaving pupils. Parents use the feeds to monitor their children’s academic progress and spy on their friendships and romances. But many students see live-streaming as an intrusion, prompting a broader debate in China about privacy, educational ethics and the perils of helicopter parenting.

“I hate it,” said Ding Yue, a 17-year-old senior at Yuzhou No. 1 High, in Xuchang, a city in Henan Province. “I feel like we are zoo animals.”

Some experts warn that live-streaming in schools will make Chinese youth, already accustomed to the nation’s extensive internet censorship and use of outdoor security cameras, even more sensitive to surveillance.

“If classrooms are under surveillance at all times, instruction will definitely be influenced by outside factors and the opinions of whoever is watching,” said Xiong Bingqi, vice president of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, an influential Chinese think tank, who called the practice a violation of students’ rights and a threat to academic freedom.

After a critical article on the subject recently in The Beijing News, a prominent newspaper, several schools announced they were ending the broadcasts. But thousands of others chose to remain online and continue to draw a daily audience of cyber class monitors eager to report daydreaming students and lax teachers.

There are dozens of live-streaming platforms in China, and classroom feeds can be found on many of them. Anyone with an internet connection can visit and choose from thousands of live school feeds. The most popular site may be Shuidi, owned by the internet security giant Qihoo 360 Technology Company, which sells webcams and software, among other products.

“When you tell them, ‘It’s possible your parents might be behind your back watching,’ it’s like a sword hanging over their heads,” said Zhao Weifeng, the director of a private school in the eastern province of Jiangsu that installed cameras in its classrooms last year. “Having surveillance makes children behave better.”

The Deep Blue Children Robot Center, a network of technology enrichment programs based in Beijing, said it had made live-streaming a central part of its teaching model.

“A noble person shouldn’t have anything to hide,” said Jiang Jifa, a computer scientist and co-founder of the network. “Everyone needs to be able to pose onstage, to run for office, to receive attention from the country and the world.”

In China’s cutthroat education system, live-streaming has also found evangelists among G.P.A.-obsessed parents looking for new ways to push their children and schools eager to improve academic performance. “It helps students spend their time more efficiently and get into their dream universities,” a parent of a senior at Yuzhou No. 1 High wrote recently in an online forum.

Webcams have proved especially popular at rural boarding schools, where teachers say live-streaming can be a vital link between children and parents, often migrants working in cities hundreds of miles away.

China is not the first to use internet-enabled cameras in classrooms. Private schools and charter schools in the United States have in recent years experimented with closed-circuit, private broadcasts to deter crime and misbehavior. Britain is testing body cameras for teachers in part to gather evidence for student disciplinary hearings.

But critics say Chinese schools have adopted live-streaming technology on an unheard-of scale and with few of the privacy protections in place elsewhere.

Deng Xu, whose daughter attends an elite preschool in Beijing, said she understood the desire to keep an eye on children and their teachers at school, especially when they are very young. But she said at some point parents had to let go.

“It’s just sad to be watched all the time,” she said. “Parents need to learn to be hands-off.”

Han Xiao, a lawyer in Beijing who has spoken out against live-streaming in classrooms, said that many schools were operating the cameras without the consent of parents and students and that public broadcasts posed a threat to student safety.

“Classrooms are enclosed spaces, so the activities of students like reading and eating snacks should be regarded as private,” he said. “Living under surveillance and fear will hurt students’ potential to grow.”

Qihoo 360’s cameras are advertised as tools for deterring thieves and monitoring young children at home. But the company said it had not targeted schools for sales. It added that it had not received complaints about privacy and that individuals initiating live-streams must agree to respect the privacy of others.

“Many schools and teachers willingly bought and installed our devices and choose to share the footage voluntarily,” the company said in a statement.

Live-streaming in general is on the cutting edge of entertainment in China, making stars of ordinary people as they use their phones to broadcast meals, candid monologues on the meaning of life and tutorials on subjects like applying makeup and rebuilding cars.

The industry more than doubled in size in 2016 and is expected to generate $5 billion in revenue this year, largely through the sale of virtual gifts, according to Credit Suisse. But it has proved difficult for the Chinese government to regulate.

The authorities issued guidelines last fall that banned pornography and original news reporting on live-streaming channels. The rules recognized a general right to privacy, but did not address the use of live-streaming in schools.

At Yuzhou No. 1 High, which began live-streaming classes late last year, students now joke that their school should instead be called “Yuzhou No. 1 Prison.”

Reached by telephone, several said they were uncomfortable that anyone with an internet connection could tune into their classroom discussions. To avoid the camera’s stare, they sometimes congregate in a blind spot near the front of the classroom, they said.

“Who knows if there are any psychopaths watching?” asked Li Li, a junior.

The school did not respond to a request for comment.

Ding Yue, the senior, said live-streaming had also contributed to bullying at the school, recalling how a student was teased after classmates read that an online commenter had made fun of his looks.

“Most students want to speak and fend for themselves, but we don’t have the power,” he said, when asked if students had complained to the school. “It’s the business of grown-ups. We aren’t allowed to talk about it.”

[annhens93x]

Pumping Iron at 40: The Classic Bodybuilding Movie

Getty Images / Keystone / Staff

It’s hard to overstate the impact of director George Butler’s 1977 documentary Pumping Iron, not just on bodybuilding, but on society. For one thing, it introduced the world to pre-Conan Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose incredible success might not have been possible without his breakout performance as himself in P.I.

Then there’s the mainstreaming of gyms that can be traced to the  lm’s release. Beginning in the late 1970s and well into the ’80s, the health club industry saw massive growth, with chains popping up throughout the U.S., then the world, and with them, a surge in gym memberships. Pumping Iron is the reason many of us, myself included, got into working out in the first place, so it’s with great pleasure that I wish George, Arnold, and the rest of the film’s cast and crew a happy 40th anniversary.

PUMPING IRON:

The film that almost wasn’t.

With the exception of the brothers Weider, few people have had as much of an influence on the popularization of bodybuilding as George Butler. As the engine that conceived, directed, and then brought the film Pumping Iron to theaters 40 years ago, Butler has given bodybuilding fans the world over a visual touchstone that still serves as everything from historical reference to motivational guide to celluloid bible.

M&F: What was your  first professional experience with bodybuilding?

George Butler: Charles Gaines was assigned by Sports Illustrated to write an article on a bodybuilding contest for the July ’72 issue. He asked me to take the photographs.

What was the contest?

It was the Mr. East Coast, which was held in Holyoke, MA, and was won by a wonderful bodybuilder named Leon Brown.

Were you familiar with bodybuilding at the time, or was it a new experience for you?

I had grown up in Jamaica and the West Indies, and I used to work out in a gym in Jamaica, and bodybuilding was a big sport down there. I saw my first bodybuilding exhibit actually at a political rally in a church in Savanna-la-Mar, Jamaica.

SEE ALSO: Arnold's Anniversary Workout at Muscle Beach

How did that come about?

A friend of mine was running for parliament in Jamaica, and he had a political rally in the parish church, and part of his rally included a bodybuilding exhibition with a guy named Samson. The power went out in the middle of it, so they lit it with kerosene flares.

After the Sports Illustrated article came the book. I understand that you faced a few obstacles in attempting to get it published. Hadn’t Doubleday given you an advance to do the book?

Right. We did the entire book and turned the manuscript in to Sandy Richardson, who was editor in chief at Doubleday, and he wrote us a letter saying, “I want my money back. No one will ever read this book, and no one will ever be interested in Arnold Schwarzenegger.”

So then you shopped it around in New York?

Yeah. We ended up at Simon & Schuster.

That was in ’74?

Late ’74.

And was it a success?

Yes. It made The New York Times Best Sellers list.

How many editions have there been?

I think about 20 printings.

SEE ALSO: The Golden Era of Bodybuilding

Your book is what inspired me to take up bodybuilding. When I was about 10, I remember thumbing through a copy in a department store and coming to the picture of Arnold with a topless girl on his shoulders, and I thought, “That’s what I want to be.”

Well, bear in mind that the woman on his shoulders was the top woman bodybuilder at the time. I took those photos for a Playboy article, and Arnold was supposed to be the male bodybuilder, and Heidi was supposed to be the female bodybuilder.

So after the book comes the movie. What was it like trying to bring the  film to the screen? Was Charles involved?

Charles decided he didn’t want to be involved in the movie. Pretty much everyone deserted by this point.

Did you have funding at this stage?

Well, funding came in very erratically and with great difficulty. I actually went to 3,000 people one by one to  finance the  film.

3,000?!

Yeah, it’s really true. I’m not exaggerating.

So you then went out and shot some footage?

We shot a test  film, and I screened it in New York for 100 investors, and [actress] Laura Linney’s father [playwright Romulus Linney] got up and said, “George, if you ever make a movie about Arnold Schwarzenegger, you’ll be laughed off 42nd Street.”

That kind of negative attitude still astounds me.

What you’ve got to understand is that back in the early ’70s, bodybuilding was the least glamorous sport in the world. The prevailing view was that it was purely homosexual, that body- builders were totally uncoordinated, that when they grew older their muscles would turn to fat, and that they had no intelligence whatsoever. Charles Gaines said that it was like trying to promote midget wrestling. It was so tawdry...everyone we knew was laughing at us.

How big a crew did you have for the filming?

Well, the way I shoot  films, my crews expand and contract. For instance, when I was shooting at Lou [Ferrigno]’s gym in Brooklyn, it was really just half a dozen people. When we were shooting at Gold’s Gym, we had a bigger operation. It was probably 12 people, which included the cinematographer, gaffer, the assistants, and me, and some electricians, etc. Basically I’m very proud of the fact that I’ve always worked with a small crew. When we were filming in South Africa at the contest, we were running about six cameras, and with South African assistants we probably had 30 people.

It’s amazing not only how far bodybuilding has risen since then but how far it seems to have fallen at that time. Back in the ’40s and ’50s, guys like Charles Atlas and Steve Reeves didn’t portray that image. 

Yeah, but there were limited pockets of bodybuilding. If you look at Charles Atlas, he wasn’t really much of a bodybuilder, and Steve Reeves made it in the movies and was very handsome. Look at it this way: Arnold Schwarzenegger arrived in America in 1968, and when we met him in 1972, the Mr. Olympia contest was held in a tiny little auditorium in Brooklyn and the prize money was something like $1,000 and only Arnold and Franco were making it as professional bodybuilders. Everyone else had another job. Leon Brown worked at a Laundromat in Staten Island.

I know that Steve Michalik was a graphic artist.

Steve had to have a full-time day job, and he was Mr. America. It was a joke it was so bad.

It feels like a larger production, though, especially the competition scenes in which you go from backstage to the audience’s perspective to onstage. What kind of a budget did you have?

I raised $400,000 to make the movie.

Amazing that you could  film for so long on such a small budget. You shot for about three or four months, I figure.

Yeah.

And so when Pumping Iron was released, was it straight to the art houses, or did it have a wide release?

Actually it began at the Plaza Theatre, which was a regular movie theater in New York, and it broke every box office record there was at the theater.

Were the reviews generally positive? Are there any memorable stories related to the  film’s release?

Oh, yeah. Well, it got fabulous reviews, and through a friend I got Jacqueline Onassis to come to a lunch for Arnold and that sent people through the roof. And I put Arnold before that in the Whitney Museum and in a ballet studio, and I got Jamie Wyeth to paint him.

Now, I remember the movie from PBS. It was before VCRs, so I used to run to the TV with my audio tape recorder and tape the audio for later listening. When did PBS start airing it? Probably, I would say, in late ’77. So pretty soon after the release.

Well, it was released in January ’77. So probably in October/November, it went on PBS. Even that was exasperating. The distributor, which was a company called Cinema 5, which was like the Miramax of its day, sold Pumping Iron to PBS for 30 grand. About a week later, ABC came to me, and Tony Thomopoulos, the president, asked me if he could buy it. I said, “Well, how much?” and he said, “$1,000,000.”

And by that time it was too late?

Yeah.

Now among the bodybuilding set, there is a lot of speculation concerning a few of the scenes in Pumping Iron. I’ve talked to others who have wondered if some of the  film is documentary or maybe a little bit of the guys acting for the camera. One case in particular that everyone talks about is the “missing T-shirt/crusher scene” and the on-screen friction between Ken Waller and Mike Katz. How much of that was real?

The only tricky thing involved there is that Waller evidently stole Katz’s T-shirt because we got on  film Katz saying, “Where’s my T-shirt? I bet Waller took it.” And so we  filmed the before after.

With him tossing the football around with Robby and Roger talking about how he was going to do it?

Exactly.

What about Arnold? He told so many great stories that are still debated, like whether he really missed his father’s funeral (as he states in the film).

That’s true. He did not go to his father’s funeral.

And when he made his analogy of a pump feeling like an orgasm, did he clear that with you  first or was it just extemporaneous?

No, that was extemporaneous.

Were there any things that didn’t make it to the screen that were great, funny, or remarkable?

[Laughing] Thousands of things.

Any that you can share?

Yeah. I’ve got Louie saying on  film, “All I want to be is the Hulk,” and this was several years before he became the Hulk.

Amazing. Now you’ve got four main protagonists in the  film, and each one was pretty different from the others. I’d like to get your thoughts on each. What was your impression of Mike Katz?

I adored him. He was authentic, and he always wore his heart on his sleeve, so you could tell on his face what was going on in his mind. The most amazing thing I know about Mike Katz is that he was a high school teacher. We  filmed him at his high school, and I watched him playing touch football, and he began on the zero yard line, and he ran 100 yards down the  field. There were a lot of good high school athletes there, and no one could touch him. I mean he went so fast, and he was so agile. You’ve got to remember, this was a guy who played track, hockey, and football. Three sports, All-American in college. You know, he was a New York Jets lineman, and I’m pretty sure he could have played professional hockey or could have thrown the discus or something like that. I mean, he’s an astonishing athlete and a great human being.

I’ve had the opportunity to speak with him and found him to be a thoughtful and considerate person.

He’s a  fine human being.

What was it like shooting the scenes with Lou Ferrigno and his dad?

Well, when you make a  film like Pumping Iron, you’ve got to put a good story together, and I had a keen insight into Louie’s relationship with his father. I knew that he was the perfect bodybuilder to set up as the guy who could, or might, knock off Arnold. And the contrast was perfect. Louie worked out in a small, dark gym in Brooklyn that was actually R&J Health Studio, which was owned by a man named Julie Levine. And Gold’s Gym in California was the exact opposite. Louie would work out in these tiny little rooms with one person around him and his father, and Arnold would work out in a gym in California that had its doors open, was wide open, right on the beach. And it was light and airy, and Louie’s was dark. Louie was dark and brooding. Arnold was blond and big and beachy and stuff  like that. But both men are sons of policemen. I found that very interesting, and I’m sure Arnold subconsciously registered that. So the  film set up this wonderful contest between these two men, and of course Louie was 6'5" and he’s a giant, really. But here’s something interesting not many people know. Nik Cohn wrote a movie called Saturday Night Fever. He wrote the screenplay for it, and the whole Italian family, John Travolta’s family, is modeled on Louie and his family.

You’re kidding! Actually, I can see it. Like the scene in which Louie’s family is sitting around the kitchen table...

Yes! It’s all John Travolta’s family. With his sister and brother and the Catholic Church and everything else. It was modeled on them in Pumping Iron.

That’s too funny! Moving on to Franco. He seemed like a lot of fun to be around.

I was always very fond of Franco. It was my idea to go to Sardinia and  film there. That’s when we were really doing seat-of-the-pants  filmmaking because three of us went to Sardinia: myself, Bob Fiore, and his girlfriend, who was Marshall McLuhan’s daughter. I did sound and lighting, and Bob did lighting and camera work, and we were able to do key scenes for the movie in Sardinia with literally a two-man crew. And it worked. And we got stopped by the police in the mountains. It was very exciting stuff  because Franco’s mother and father were real shepherds, and I’m not even convinced any other Americans had been to his village before us. It was way, way up in the mountains in Sardinia, and it was so remote, and it was so high up that there was still ice in June on the lakes. At one point Franco chopped a hole in the ice and caught some trout, which he served us for lunch. On another occasion Franco’s family put me in the only available bedroom, which was his sisters’ room. Five of his sisters were going to sleep in the room with me, so this was quite wonderful. Then I realized Franco’s father was sitting right outside the window at the foot of my bed, watching me all night long.

How long were you in Sardinia?

Probably a week.

That’s fun footage. The movie is so international, and it’s amazing how you did it on such a small budget with such a small crew and yet it’s this globe-hopping excursion. Well, we filmed in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Montreal. We  filmed at the Whitney Museum in New York. We  filmed in Connecticut. We  filmed in Massachusetts. We  filmed in Paris, and we  filmed in South Africa.

Now I’d be hard-pressed to figure out exactly which scenes were shot where.

Well, where Franco blows up the hot-water bottle is in Massachusetts. Mike Katz was  filmed in Connecticut. The movie actually opens in San Francisco.

Is that the ballet scene?

The ballet scene was New York City. That was another location I forgot to mention. It was shot in Joanne Woodward’s dance studio in Manhattan.

Another interesting tidbit. Turning now to Arnold. We all know that he is this self-made man. What was your impression of him? Did he just seem like a guy who was born to be successful?

Yeah, well, the reason I made the film was because I thought he was very charismatic and interesting and smart. But initially, when I met him, he had been in America four years and virtually nothing had happened. You know, he wasn’t in other movies. We were the first people outside of bodybuilding to interview him.

Yeah, he did Hercules in New York and then kind of laid dormant for awhile.

Hercules Goes Bananas.

With Arnold Stang.

[Laughing] Yeah. And even his voice had to be redubbed in that movie.

That’s probably the best aspect of it: the overdubbed voice.

And I’ll tell you another little sidebar. When I was trying to get Pumping Iron going, I was very short on money. So I went to this lab in New York, and I had just come back from shooting the initial part of the  film. I asked them if they’d give me some credit, which is the kind of thing they normally do when you get going on a movie. This was a place called DuArt Film Lab, and the owner of it was someone named Irwin Young. So I went in with my hat in my hand and asked him if he would give me $15,000 worth of credit. He said, “Tell me what you’re doing,” and I said, “Well I’m making a movie about bodybuilding.” Then he said, “Does it have anything to do with Arnold Schwarzenegger?” and I said, “Yes.” So he said, “Forget it. I won’t give you any credit. I had a movie in here called Hercules in New York, and they never paid a bill, and they owe me 30 grand.”

That’s a riot! What a coincidence.

[Laughing] It was an unfortunate one.

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