The Great Wall - Chinese directed movie ft. Matt Damon

[sdifox]

Didn't see any mention of there names, where did you get that from?

I think I messed up. I looked at the wiki and saw two column of names and assumed it was actor/role. D:


Mea Culpa.

this page has some lulz worth info.

http://www.theverge.com/2016/7/28/12317184/matt-damon-the-great-wall-movie-questions-answers

 

[Imp]

Someone wrote a social media post about how this movie's racist -- white man savior thing.

Ya, I didn't care about the movie, but knowing that Matt Damon and Pedro Pascal are in it, now I care.

 

[Svnla]

http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/29/entertainment/constance-wu-whitewashing-matt-damon/

http://www.eonline.com/news/783987/...n-s-latest-role-in-racist-film-the-great-wall

.

 

[StrangerGuy]

As a Chinese myself I found us and even Westerners find Chinese movies a lot better in the period before the moviemakers whored themselves out to Hollywood.

 

[master_shake_]

Matt Damon is destined to only doing bad movies.

huh?

really...ok.

 

[Imp]

http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/29/entertainment/constance-wu-whitewashing-matt-damon/

http://www.eonline.com/news/783987/...n-s-latest-role-in-racist-film-the-great-wall

.

Ya, she's complained about something else recently too. Was it the Oscars and making fun of Asian kids as good at math and people child laborers?

 

[DeathReborn]

Lets just call it payback for bad dubbing...

 

[JulesMaximus]

Interview with Zhang Yimou

Highlights:
First time dealing with Hollywood
US scriptwriters. He came on later in the process.
He doesn't understand English
If you ignore the monsters, they tried to accurately portray that period, using historical research.

Spoiler

Nobody in the movie has superpowers.

<-- Very mild spoiler.

---

Meanwhile, some Asian actors and what not are freaking out because they think this is whitewashing. Constance Wu from Fresh Off The Boat is reportedly having a twitter fit.

How else are you gonna get white people to go see the movie? :whiste::biggrin:

 

[zinfamous]

How else are you gonna get white people to go see the movie? :whiste::biggrin:

It's just business, and it goes both ways. You already see Hollywood doing a mild form of "yellow washing" if you want to call it that with many of their features over the last couple of years and from here on out.

One small example: The latest FF movie had their final sequence set in Hong Kong simply because they wanted to target the eastern market, as China is now approaching and should surpass the US in terms of box office sales for Hollywood blockbusters. You are also seeing more and more Asian actors being tossed into these Hollywood roles. I read recently that it is more or less required to have a certain Chinese aesthetic in these pictures to get a slot on the competitive Chinese box office, so Hollywood producers are placing Chinese products, locations, individuals within their films for this purpose.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/01/11/the-mogul-of-the-middle

 

[blankslate]

MMMMaaaaaattttt DDDaaaaammmooonnn...

rumor has it that he still occasionally signs autographs in that manner upon request.


__________________

 

[madoka]

I simply don't get why some people have a huge problem with a "white guy" actor in an Asian movie playing the role of a savior. No one ever complains about Jackie Chan or Jet Lee come over to our shore doing basically the same thing.

1. More whites playing as Asians WON Oscars than Asian actors been even been nominated.

2. Jackie and Jet often played sidekicks, so no, not the same thing.

3. Imagine how much of an uproar there would be if Hollywood made "the Story of the Underground Railroad: staring George Clooney".

 

[Svnla]

I simply don't get why some people have a huge problem with a "white guy" actor in an Asian movie playing the role of a savior. No one ever complains about Jackie Chan or Jet Lee come over to our shore doing basically the same thing.

Asian actors did not pretend to play white characters as white actors did as Asians.

and

and

and

And this takes the cake =

 

[Craig234]

I simply don't get why some people have a huge problem with a "white guy" actor in an Asian movie playing the role of a savior. No one ever complains about Jackie Chan or Jet Lee come over to our shore doing basically the same thing.

That's an interesting point. But as I recall they are typically not starting as that. Bruce Lee could be a dishwasher for his family or a factory worker in his Chinese movies.

In his two American films, one he was basically a CIA agent type and the other was basically just a number of combats in a building whoever he was.

Jackie as well usually a simple role, I think at most he played a government agent.

Recall his breakthrough US film, Rumble in the Bronx, just a guy who game over, dealing with household type things.

I think a classic example is the TV Series Green Lantern, where the excellent Bruce Lee fighter was basically a man-servant Robin type to the star white guy (who?)

An issue might be that the west has long had an abuse of power issue with China.

Go back to the Opium Wars for the west's effect. Look at the history of things like US support for the Chiang Kai-Shek government and Taiwan for decades.

There is the issue that the Chines government is authoritarian and trying to repress the democratic movements inspired by the west, as they did in Tiananmen Square.

But this is also showing a reversal (if it's a Chinese movie) - from 'if you want to make it big, Bruce and Jackie go to the US', to 'big US star makes movie for China'.

 

[Eug]

I must admit, one of my favourite movies of all time is The Party.

 

[Eug]

This forum is borked. I had to use Google to find this thread again. Anyhoo...

Entertainment Weekly: The Great Wall director addresses Matt Damon whitewashing controversy — exclusive

In a statement provided exclusively to EW, Zhang addresses the controversy, explaining that Damon’s character serves an important plot point, and defends his film against charges of racism. Read his full statement below.

In many ways The Great Wall is the opposite of what is being suggested. For the first time, a film deeply rooted in Chinese culture, with one of the largest Chinese casts ever assembled, is being made at tent pole scale for a world audience. I believe that is a trend that should be embraced by our industry. Our film is not about the construction of the Great Wall. Matt Damon is not playing a role that was originally conceived for a Chinese actor. The arrival of his character in our story is an important plot point. There are five major heroes in our story and he is one of them — the other four are all Chinese. The collective struggle and sacrifice of these heroes are the emotional heart of our film. As the director of over 20 Chinese language films and the Beijing Olympics, I have not and will not cast a film in a way that was untrue to my artistic vision. I hope when everyone sees the film and is armed with the facts they will agree.

---

So, he's effectively saying, STFU Constance Wu.

 

[lupi]

Actual trailer link

 

[lupi]

wow, wasn't expecting that.

 

[KeithTalent]

It's just business, and it goes both ways. You already see Hollywood doing a mild form of "yellow washing" if you want to call it that with many of their features over the last couple of years and from here on out.

One small example: The latest FF movie had their final sequence set in Hong Kong simply because they wanted to target the eastern market, as China is now approaching and should surpass the US in terms of box office sales for Hollywood blockbusters. You are also seeing more and more Asian actors being tossed into these Hollywood roles. I read recently that it is more or less required to have a certain Chinese aesthetic in these pictures to get a slot on the competitive Chinese box office, so Hollywood producers are placing Chinese products, locations, individuals within their films for this purpose.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/01/11/the-mogul-of-the-middle

100% this.

KT

 

[Eug]

Initial reviews of this movie aren't too positive.

 

[louis redfoot]

the world has yet to see a bona-fide asian superstar. shah ruk khan doesn't count... he's only popular in india. bruce lee, only post humously. jackie and jet just milked the stereotypes (buffoon, kung fu). and indians are more middle-eastern than asian (ie mongoloids: chinese, japanese, vietnamese etc).

though props to keni styles, the jackie robinson of asian males in porn (british of thai ancestry).