Pro China Messages In Movies

[Charlie Parker]

I'll keep this to movies and not politics but isn't the obvious Nationalist thing in some recent product really annoying. Ip Man was just stupid at the end. "With Ip Man's fight the Chinese people has the courage to fight back and the Japanese lost in 1945!" Sure this schtik is nothing new, but it's really unsubtle compared to the silly pulp of something like Fist Of Fury.

I couldn't stand the Mainland thriller 'The Message' and 'Hero' I found really dreary because of its undertones. I might watch 'Founding Of A Republic' tonight! NAWT!

Saying that 'Assembly' had nationalistic undertones but that was as much about being a soldier as communist pride. Sometimes it works as it fit the story.

[Jubilee]

I will try to stay away from this thread as much as I can, or i'll hijack it.

But I couldnt agree more about it being annoying.

And yes Ip Man was almost derailed by that awful text at the end (and indeed, certain parts of the film - i'm thinking the "chinese kung fu is gentle, you are all evil" Ip monologue)... The Japanese lost did they?, and Ip Man saying he would'nt teach them helped aid this? Too far.

I still enjoyed the film, great action, nice pacing, but god!

[Phil]

I think you have to accept that a hint of patriotism is always going to sneak into any film industry. Admittedly, some of it is perhaps a little more enforced within Mainland China, but you can't say that we haven't seen the same kind of national bias within American or British war movies?

[Charlie Parker]

True enough, you'll NEVER see worse than John Wayne's Vietnam movie Now that's dodgy. In fact it is bloody racist! As for Braveheart

It's probably the enforced issue, they're as subtle as a brick. A film that could carry a message becomes a film that's used as a message.

Not to discount Mainland film, last year's Cow and Assembly, Shanghai Triad I've all enjoyed.

Shiri is an example of a nationalist movie that isn't dumb with it, but that may be more the strength of the actors playing the North Korean hit squad than anything else. Choi Min Sik's rant to the SK agent is memorable!

[ASaroch]

I think Assembly was a more personal story than that though. I think it was a war film that ended up being about one man's journey to get the past recognised. It didn't champion one side over the other really.

[Charlie Parker]

That's true, I think I'm tarring all mainland films with a Red propaganda badge

[ASaroch]

since we last discussed this, the messages in films have been even more obvious. Some films set in modern China almost look like tourist adverts (actually, quite a lat like the fawning portrayal of New York over the past decade).

[Charlie Parker]

Half the time the message is more than the movie, I'm getting a bit tired of Chinese films nowadays, I even find their film style to be very static and stiff.

[monkeyboy]

As you have all said, I am not sure the pro-chinese message is that unique. I find myself equally uncomfortable with the pro-USA tub-thumbing in many a hollywood blockbuster.

I do get more uncomfortable with the anti-japanese sentiment (mostly because they get Japanese actors to play the parts), but then there is a train of thought that suggests this is warranted... But it always interesting to see the mirror from the other side isn't it? I know the Japanese never talk about what they got up to beween 1900 and 1945, and us Brits do like to ignore an awful lot of our history post 1800 too. And if I remember rightly, other than the wonderful Downfall, the Germans are pretty much not allowed to discuss what happend between 1930 and 1945 by law?

As you also say - lots of mainland films do seem to be adverts for the Tourist Information Board these days - I liked Sophie's Revenge and Go Lala Go, but I am sure they are displaying a side of China that is far from representative than the reality. The sad thing is, they are showing a view that just makes them anyplace anywhere, not what would make the place unique.