Guo Jingjing Gets Panned

A common fallacy is that celebrities who achieve fame for whatever reasons can leverage that fame into a career in the public eye, such as acting in movies and television, hosting television/radio programs, endorsing products as public spokesperson, and so on.  In reality, those other roles may require very special skill sets and personalities.

A case in point is the China's darling at the 2004 Summer Olympics: Guo Jingjing (郭晶晶), the gold medallist in diving.  Recently, she made her music video (MV) debut in the song <<Left Shoe Worn On The Right Foot (左鞋右穿)>> by singer Lu Yi (陆毅).  Here is Lu's description of the process:

We arranged for her to come to Shanghai to shoot the video.  She began her preparations at 8am and we finished at 5pm.  We used a full day to shoot the video.  During that time, I worked very well with Guo Jingjing.  Although she was not an actress by training and she had no acting experience before, she followed the instructions carefully.  I didn't think that she was nervous at all.  I have known her for some time, and we joked around a bit during the filming.  Although it was very cold that day, she had to wear light clothing for the video.  There was no air-conditioning at the location, and all we had was a heater.  It was cold.  But the good thing was that it only took one day, and we all worked through it.  Guo Jingjing did not accept a cent in payment.  She did this to help me out.  I only bought her a handbag.  A red Versace."

    

So that was the hype about Guo Jingjing's debut.  But what did the self-appointed critics on the Internet have to say?  Well, she was demolished!  A typical phrase (at Wenxue City) was "Stiff like a wooden chicken" (呆若木鸡)!  Ouch!

Her friend Lu Yi was tactful enough to only say (via Sports.cn): "Everyone has their own special talents and the things that they ought to do.  Guo Jingjing has the unique qualities of the athlete.  We don't have to force her into the entertainment circle?  I feel that she is not suitable for the the entertainment circle."