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[Deleted member 20920]

You must be talking about the highly overrated and mediocre Cold War.

Yes. And similar movies along the same lines. Can't really remember the names at the moment.

 

[Rooth]

I don't know who came up with the idea to whom, but I'd imagine that Legendary came up with the idea of a white lead for the film, and that Wanda accepted it because that kind of thing is pretty common in China. Would it have been better if Legendary started with the mindset of a Chinese lead to begin with? From the perspective of seeing better Asian representation in Hollywood, absolutely. The Hollywood mindset of only making safe casting choices is poisonous and wrong-headed. But given how its cast is pretty typical, in the sense of non-Chinese talent, for actual Chinese blockbusters I'm just not convinced that this film is the one to get up in arms about.

Why isn't this something to get upset about? It's white men in executive positions making the decision that once again only white men can be leads. Keep in mind also this film was greenlit way before Legendary got acquired by the Chinese.

And another thing, it seems that if there's going to be a role for a Chinese character then priority goes to a female. (Andy Lau has only a small part in this film according to people I've talked to. The biggest Chinese part will be going to Tian Jing.)

Look at Legendary's other project, King Kong. White lead and a supporting character who happens to be an Asian actress. See how it compares with Transformers, Mission Impossible, Pacific Rim, Avengers 2, Independence Day, Batman VS Superman, Suicide Squad, etc. I feel the list goes on and on.

Is there even a word for this? Sexist? Racist? A mixture of both? Where if you have to take Asian talent then only women are allowed?

 

[MGrant]

I'm trying to think of the last big-budget Hollywood film set in China with a Chinese lead. Rush Hour 2? Yeah, Constance Wu is right.

She's also right that a lot of east Asians don't care. I think that's the wrong angle to look at this from; the Han Chinese are ensconced in the upper tiers of society in China, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong, as are the ethnic Japanese, Koreans, Malaysians, etc. in their respective countries, so the issue of Asian-American actors not getting work and not getting favorable media portrayals doesn't affect their lives at all.

I do wish she hadn't had to fake the accent for FOTB, though. Not her fault, but it's the only concern I have with what is otherwise a great show.

 

[Timbuktu]

When I say The Departed, I'm referring to Infernal Affairs of course. The name escaped me for a while.

Lots of overly serious corruption centric or crime centric movies from Hong Kong these days.

Those movies have always been a staple of HK cinema, so I don't mind that too much; when anything with a bigger budget is a co-production with China these days, you aren't left with much. The Overheard films and now Cold War series are trying too hard to be another Infernal Affairs, but never quite reach those heights. The Election films and maybe Life without Principle was probably the last HK crime films that I though really had something of substance to say. And even Johnnie To is dragged into the Chinese market these days.

Look at Cold War 2, all this political drama and conspiracy theories in the plot and not one mention of Beijing or China given the current political climate. The election of a triad leader in those films a decade ago said more about the mood in HK today. Smaller indie films coming out of HK and China can be quite interesting though and we are getting more of those nowadays.

 

[KurtSloane]

Whites even appropriating main character roles in Chinese movies now.

Chinese director and film production company went and got a "white" ..... take it up with them, if anyone is at fault it is the director / production company.

Keep white hating though.

 

[KevinCow]

I came into this thread ready to disagree, because I feel like people often overreact to these kinds of things, like how they completely miss the point of The Last Samurai.

But yeah, I just watched the trailer, and that's pretty egregious. All the Chinese characters seem to be nameless fodder with 100% of the focus on Matt Damon.

I'm pretty psyched for Black Panther. It's a big blockbuster movie that not only stars a black character, but has a mostly black cast and doesn't take place in a stereotypically black setting, like how most movies with largely black casts these days seem to either be period pieces about slavery in America or about urban street stuff. Not that there's anything wrong with these settings, it's just nice to see a mostly black movie that doesn't conform to those stereotypes.

I hope Black Panther does gangbusters and shows Hollywood that movies can star non-white people and be successful.

 

[UnemployedVillain]

Chinese director and film production company went and got a "white" ..... take it up with them, if anyone is at fault it is the director / production company.

Keep white hating though.

Literally the last page, an Entertainment Weekly interview with the director. Like I said, more people in here need to see this post.

NOPE.

http://www.ew.com/article/2016/07/28/great-wall-first-look

How do the film’s Hollywood elements blend with its Chinese elements?
First and foremost, this is an English-language film, and a Hollywood blockbuster. It was already very clear in the script phase. This is a Hollywood monster movie and needs to be made in that style. I don’t want to change that approach, and there’s no need to do that. What I really want is to bring Chinese color and cultural background to the worldwide audience through a film language that they are familiar with.

How much did your own Chinese identity contribute to the development of the film?
A lot. This script was written by American screenwriters. So the story is really told from an American’s perspective. When I came onboard, I wanted to make sure everything Chinese in this film feels genuine.

---

You see, some people mistakenly believe this is a Chinese-language film for China with some western leads for flavor like Dragon Blade or whatever. No. This is a Chinese production made in the Hollywood system targeting the worldwide (read: western) audience, with western leads, and is entirely in English, written by Hollywood screenwriters.

I'm pretty psyched for Black Panther. It's a big blockbuster movie that not only stars a black character, but has a mostly black cast and doesn't take place in a stereotypically black setting, like how most movies with largely black casts these days seem to either be period pieces about slavery in America or about urban street stuff. Not that there's anything wrong with these settings, it's just nice to see a mostly black movie that doesn't conform to those stereotypes.

I hope Black Panther does gangbusters and shows Hollywood that movies can star non-white people and be successful.

I wouldn't hold my breath. The Fast & Furious series has been super popular despite only having a single white dude as one of the main actors (very much an ensemble film) and no one has taken notice at the fact that a mostly minority movie can succeed.

But you came in ready to disagree? Simply off of the title? Why?

 

[KurtSloane]

My next question is what is wrong with a Hollywood company making a film with a white actor playing hero in China?

If it sells, works and if it's good .... then what is the problem?

 

[KurtSloane]

I came into this thread ready to disagree, because I feel like people often overreact to these kinds of things, like how they completely miss the point of The Last Samurai.

But yeah, I just watched the trailer, and that's pretty egregious. All the Chinese characters seem to be nameless fodder with 100% of the focus on Matt Damon.

I'm pretty psyched for Black Panther. It's a big blockbuster movie that not only stars a black character, but has a mostly black cast and doesn't take place in a stereotypically black setting, like how most movies with largely black casts these days seem to either be period pieces about slavery in America or about urban street stuff. Not that there's anything wrong with these settings, it's just nice to see a mostly black movie that doesn't conform to those stereotypes.

I hope Black Panther does gangbusters and shows Hollywood that movies can star non-white people and be successful.

Jackie Chan Hollywood movies have done great, Jet Li also had decent success, Denzel has been a leading man for years, as has Eddie Murphy.


The evidence is already there and has been since the 80's.

 

[Luigi87]

My next question is what is wrong with a Hollywood company making a film with a white actor playing hero in China?

If it sells, works and if it's good .... then what is the problem?

... because it is already hard enough for persons of colour to get lead roles in movies? That they cannot even get a lead role in movies taking place based on their own cultures is clearly an issue?
And that's just two of many issues brought up quite clearly. This is not just about making money, it's about understanding a lack of respect and racial equality the world has particularly in entertainment media.

Also your examples provided are but a drip in an ocean of Hollywood productions.

 

[Pepboy]

You have to think of it from the perspective of an Asian American. It can be vastly different than a minority living in their home country. When an Asian in their respective country looks at movies, the vast majority are from their respective movie industries, meaning they see tons of representation of themselves and similar faces. Yes, it's a globalized economy and Hollywood is large as well, but their perception is looking into the "Western cinema" as an outsider and assuming it reflects the demographics of Western countries.

For an Asian American they see it in reverse. While they identify with their home countries, their movie industry IS Hollywood and they see the lack of representation. That China has a movie industry where 99.9% of the actors are Chinese is irrelevant.

So despite you pointing out her being Asian American as some attempt at irony, that very fact is EXACTLY why she's in a more reasonable position to make these claims

What? I don't get this post at all. I mean I cannot even mentally construct the concepts you are trying to communicate. That China has 99.9% of movies with chinese, and then China decides to make one movie with white lead is irrelevant? Why? That seems very relevant.

 

[crisdecuba]

My next question is what is wrong with a Hollywood company making a film with a white actor playing hero in China?

If it sells, works and if it's good .... then what is the problem?

Problem is that your criteria is only about whether it sells, works, and is good (from a film review standpoint I guess is what you mean). Too limited a framework to see what others are explaining.

 

[Cuburt]

PRC Chinese are not going to be looking at it the same way that Chinese Americans do. They have likely never had a conversation about representation or examined it because Chinese representation in Chinese movies isn't an issue. To a Chinese movie exec it's probably "matt damon = money" you try to bring this issue up and "its just one movie" but to Chinese Americans this is every movie. Chinese people paying for it doesn't mean it isn't perpetuating a racist image.

Then you get people like in this very thread with the attitude of, "Well, the Chinese don't give a shit and they are from China, so it can't be problematic and therefore I'm not only okay with not giving a shit, I can be guilt-free for not trying to understand why people would have a problem with this."

 

[spwolf]

Then you get people like in this very thread with the attitude of, "Well, the Chinese don't give a shit and they are from China, so it can't be problematic and therefore I'm not only okay with not giving a shit, I can be guilt-free for not trying to understand why people would have a problem with this."

Do you really think people in this thread should feel guilty because Matt Damon stars as a lead in Hollywood production financed by Chinese money?

 

[UnemployedVillain]

What? I don't get this post at all. I mean I cannot even mentally construct the concepts you are trying to communicate. That China has 99.9% of movies with chinese, and then China decides to make one movie with white lead is irrelevant? Why? That seems very relevant.

What's so confusing about it?

A Chinese person in China watches movies where 90% of the people on screen look like them. They have no qualms with representation because they're the equivalent of a white person in the US watching a Hollywood film. And to them a white guy in the movie is just a famous foreign actor in one of their films.

An Asian American, whose home is the US, sees maybe 5% of the people on screen looking like them. To them a white guy in a movie, which could easily have starred an Asian lead, is yet another case of Hollywood going with a white male lead under the guise of bankability and worldwide appeal.

 

[ElyrionX]

I'm Chinese and I honestly couldn't care less. Yes, the white savior trope is enormously cringe-worthy but in Chinese cinema, you also frequently have equally cringe-worthy Chinese guy defeating Western oppression tropes.

 

[soundscream]

The trailer is just odd. He sticks out like a sore thumb. I wonder what possible reason he has to be there, because it kind of looks comical with the mascara and Chinese armor. That Nicholas Cage Hayden Christenson movie looked more believable.

 

[Billy_Pilgrim]

Are there any good examples of awesome scripts that didn't become a movie because the main character was a minority?

 

[Chairmanchuck]

I'm Chinese and I honestly couldn't care less. Yes, the white savior trope is enormously cringe-worthy but in Chinese cinema, you also frequently have equally cringe-worthy Chinese guy defeating Western oppression tropes.

Dont forget the Westerner who is nice at first, gets the girl and then betrays everyone.

 

[Rooth]

Are there any good examples of awesome scripts that didn't become a movie because the main character was a minority?

Not a finished script but Sony was pushing for Aaron Sorkin to finish writing Michael Lewis' Flash Boys before they found out the lead was an Asian Canadian guy.

 

[kess]

they should retcon Damoney as a Tocharian

 

[Violet_0]

honestly, I really doubt that most Chinese ever heard of Malala (the Pakistani school girl who was shot by the Taliban) or care much about Mandela or Ghandi at all. The popular Chinese heroes are probably ... Chinese, too. Also, we don't know if Matt Damon is going to be the savior or just the hero's sidekick

I'm not even really sure if they got Matt Damon to make the movie more marketable internationally (where it's doomed to fail) or just to increase the prestige for the domestic market by attaching some big Hollywood name to it, to make it stand out a bit

 

[HarryKS]

I think many Asia-region Chinese like myself don't care too much about racial representation. Go ahead and cast Chris Pine as Wukong for all I care.

Even Crimson Typhoon using the dumbest stereotype and biting the dust in 3 seconds didn't outrage us.

People still don't understand that. That's always been a great strength of the Chinese community and why as a whole, they keep pushing ahead of the rest. They just don't buy into the whole social malaise when there's more important things they can focus on.

What's incredible is who fights those battles. Tropes moving into reality.

 

[Kinyou]

This is why the plight of Asian American actors is going to be really complicated going forward as China starts to put more money into Hollywood.

China\Asia want white Hollywood actors to give their movies "legitimacy", it's a prestige thing. "Oh boy Matt Damon is in a movie directed by a Chinese wow look at that!" is the reaction they want.

From an American viewpoint this movie looks dumb and fucked up, but from the other side of the ocean, it means something completely different.

Honestly I think that's a huge factor.

I bet the movie wouldn't even remotely get as much attention if it didn't star Matt Damon and was just another big budget Chinese fantasy movie

 

[G.O.O.]

My first thought was that it was racist against mongols :/

 

[gtj1092]

I think most are over looking her point about kids and the white nerd getting the girl. My daughter watches mostly Disney channel and every one is white and the one show with a black family some how had a snow white daughter and of course she is the lead character. I then look at my daughter's wall and nothing but white singers and actors. When I ask her is she wants to sing or act she says she wants to like every little girl but then she says she knows she can't but she can't articulate why. All she can say is she's different. She also only makes white characters in the Sims. When i asked her about it she says they are cooler and more customizable. Which leads back to the white people can be anything in Hollywood and the rest of us can only play stereotypes.

I know none of this matters to alot of you but these things do have a big impact.

Also hate the "now is not the time to talk about this defense". Reminds me of Republicans talking about fun control after mass shootings.

 

[Lucky_Se7enty]

I think most are over looking her point about kids and the white nerd getting the girl. My daughter watches mostly Disney channel and every one is white and the one show with a black family some how had a snow white daughter and of course she is the lead character. I then look at my daughter's wall and nothing but white singers and actors. When I ask her is she wants to sing or act she says she wants to like every little girl but then she says she knows she can't but she can't articulate why. All she can say is she's different. She also only makes white characters in the Sims. When i asked her about it she says they are cooler and more customizable. Which leads back to the white people can be anything in Hollywood and the rest of us can only play stereotypes.

I know none of this matters to alot of you but these things do have a big impact.

Also hate the "now is not the time to talk about this defense". Reminds me of Republicans talking about fun control after mass shootings.

This reminds me when I was observing a lesson in a primary school and the students were told to design their own superheroes. The class was all south Asian Muslims and all of their superheroes were white with western names. When the teacher asked why this was, I've student replied that it's what they see in cinema and TV. Not over student drew a character with brown skin or Asian name, because heroes are not brown or Asian. It was pretty sad

 

[Gaz_RB]

I think most are over looking her point about kids and the white nerd getting the girl. My daughter watches mostly Disney channel and every one is white and the one show with a black family some how had a snow white daughter and of course she is the lead character. I then look at my daughter's wall and nothing but white singers and actors. When I ask her is she wants to sing or act she says she wants to like every little girl but then she says she knows she can't but she can't articulate why. All she can say is she's different. She also only makes white characters in the Sims. When i asked her about it she says they are cooler and more customizable. Which leads back to the white people can be anything in Hollywood and the rest of us can only play stereotypes.

Damn man, interesting anecdote. It's interesting to hear it from the view of a parent.

 

[Mesousa]

I think most are over looking her point about kids and the white nerd getting the girl. My daughter watches mostly Disney channel and every one is white and the one show with a black family some how had a snow white daughter and of course she is the lead character. I then look at my daughter's wall and nothing but white singers and actors. When I ask her is she wants to sing or act she says she wants to like every little girl but then she says she knows she can't but she can't articulate why. All she can say is she's different. She also only makes white characters in the Sims. When i asked her about it she says they are cooler and more customizable. Which leads back to the white people can be anything in Hollywood and the rest of us can only play stereotypes.

I know none of this matters to alot of you but these things do have a big impact.

Also hate the "now is not the time to talk about this defense". Reminds me of Republicans talking about fun control after mass shootings.

The proud family?

That show was always suspect to me.

 

[lightskintwin]

Chinese director and film production company went and got a "white" ..... take it up with them, if anyone is at fault it is the director / production company.

Keep white hating though.

White hating? Man, shut the fuck up with that nonsense. People of color are tired of the same bullshit type of films located in entirely different countries or cultures but the leading role/main protagonist is white typically a white male, while all of the supporting characters are people of color. Y'know, the character the audience gets to identify with and relate the most with. The character that's humanized and usually 3 dimensional. Decades of this crap is enough. Not to mention, it's insulting to the audience.

Now in a vacuum, there isn't anything wrong with the Great Wall in and of itself, but in the context of decades of films like the Last of the Mohicans, Dances with Wolves, The Last Samurai, Glory, The Blindside, The Help, Blood Diamond, Dangerous Minds, etc... then it becomes a very troubling and deeply white supremacist trend. And even if some of the stories are true, it's the fact Hollywood either tells it from a white character's point of view or makes it a priority to tell these stories instead of the millions of other people of color stories where a person of color is the lead/main character.

I can't believe people defend The Last Samurai. For the record, I love The Last Samurai; I cried at the end of it. That still doesn't mean centering the story around a White male protagonist isn't deeply problematic and continuing a racist tradition of Hollywood. It was being criticized when it came out. I used to follow David Poland's reviews all the time and when this was released he summed it up perfectly.

The Last Samurai is a movie that pretends to be anti-imperialist while its internal meaning, telling the story of a white man who comes to be as good or better than those in a culture that is completely new to him, could not be more imperialistic. The road is littered with beautiful shots and good intentions, but in the end, that's the story of this movie.

But here’s what really got me – Zwick and Cruise were on Oprah and I saw them on Oprah After The Show. I don’t really watch Oprah, but I like Oprah After The Show because it usually has a more relaxed feel and they operate more in real time than in TV time. So Zwick explains what the movie is about… “This country tends not to know a lot about other cultures… we tend not to care… and we tend to pay some serious consequences for that not knowing.” He then goes on to say of the film, “It’s about authenticity and accountability… about taking accountability for your life. Owning your life.”

That is not the lesson of the samurai, especially at the time of this story. The samurai were not about the western notion of self. The tragedy of the samurai was that they believed in a higher plane of responsibility. They believed in honor above self. That belief led to their extinction.

In movie language, Zwick's twisted view is all well and good. At the movies, everything is about us. We are the audience. But it is a bastardization of the Japanese culture that I truly believe Zwick honestly meant to be exploring.

That split, between good intentions and reality, is what makes Zwick’s work dangerous. He gets the significance of the situation, but the question he is compelled to ask as a result is “How is this about me?”

Well, it’s not always about you, Ed. And you are infecting a large group of people whose intentions are as well held as your own with this disease of self-involvement. Nathan Algren is the character with whom the audience identifies and his journey of rebirth and re-found passion is lovely. But not to put too fine a point on it… so what? An entire culture has been run over, part of it destroyed and the person I am concerned about is the one white guy in the room who has a dazzling smile?

 

[UnemployedVillain]

Ed Zwick has made a career of movies with helpful, insert white characters in different cultures taking focus away from the more compelling stories

 

[my6765490]

Sorta OT but a quick browse through her twitter shows alot of tweets of a "political" nature, wouldn't that be ummm, not allowed since it might dissuade potential viewers from her shows?

 

[lightskintwin]

Also it's not a coincidence Matt Damon announced a diversity initiative with his Project Greenlight series and partnering up with the Media, Diversity and Social Change Initiative at USC’s Annenberg School on the same day this trailer was released.

 

[Kenshin001]

This is why the plight of Asian American actors is going to be really complicated going forward as China starts to put more money into Hollywood.

China\Asia want white Hollywood actors to give their movies "legitimacy", it's a prestige thing. "Oh boy Matt Damon is in a movie directed by a Chinese wow look at that!" is the reaction they want.

From an American viewpoint this movie looks dumb and fucked up, but from the other side of the ocean, it means something completely different.

How Chinese feel is irrelevant. Yes, it's a Hollywood film made by Chinese in China, mostly financed by Chinese investors and Legendary is owned by a Chinese conglomerate. It's helmed by their beloved director and has a lot of Chinese stars. True, most Chinese probably do not care less if Matt Damon has a starring role and are happy to see Andy Lau and the pop singer guy. But it's quite obvious Chinese have been brainwashed by white people and can not make adult executive casting decisions by themselves. Only by avoiding this movie that perpetuates the racist myth can we educate them. Of course Chinese may complain that the movie flopped because white people are racist, instead of it being a corny looking monster movie plagued by accusations of whitewashing but luckily their opinions don't count.

 

[krazen]

My next question is what is wrong with a Hollywood company making a film with a white actor playing hero in China?

If it sells, works and if it's good .... then what is the problem?

Depends; if we are talking about purely selling product? Nothing! Push that dope.

However, its stlll a shitty practice. One of the tools of systemic racism is subtle pushing of stereotypes; photoshopped mug shots to make the accused look scarier, common portrayal of asians/east asians as subservient in movies, mandatory hot piece of ass in acton movies, etc. Hollywood's record of using stereotypes has been a big issue for the past few years and while you can argue it's not an overt portrayal of asians being stereotypical, having the manly white guy come and save the Chinese is a problematic image to put out there particularly since one of the big Asian stereotypes for men is that they are weak. There's so many person goes to foreign place to find something about himself and teachers the natives how to not be so savage/saves the natives movies out there we can run marathons of em.

You can make money trafficing in racial stereotypes; Foxnews is a billion dollar company. But it's a shitty way of doing business and as more people complain and we become more aware of the stereotypes.. a bad one because of the word of mouth

 

[andythinkpad]

You just describe basically all Chinese big commercial films in the 21th century. All "scenes!" "feels!" "moments!", zero substance.

All lot of them have to do with censor.

There is no excuse for HK movies though, they just stop making good movies.

 

[lightskintwin]

Sorta OT but a quick browse through her twitter shows alot of tweets of a "political" nature, wouldn't that be ummm, not allowed since it might dissuade potential viewers from her shows?

Not if the showrunners are fine with it. Kinda like how Jesse Williams spoke out politically, and some butthurt fans created a petition to get him off of Grey's Anatomy, but Shonda Rhimes shut them down and told them Jesse Williams is staying.

I'm glad prominent Asian Americans who have access to larger audiences are using their platforms to speak about more political and controversial issues instead of being quiet and silently accepting it.

 

[wesleyshark]

I mean if you want to just lazily regurgitate a 13 year old narrative then go right ahead but the film does not feature a white savior, it's quite the opposite. Cruise's character comes to actively reject western ideology and is haunted by white guilt for his participation in the massacre of native americans. If you want a white savior film to act as your scapegoat look to Last of the Mohicans, Avatar or Dances with Wolves, movies where it takes a white man's enlightenment to lead the troubled 'savages' to prosperity, not one where a white man comes to deeply love a culture but is ultimately powerless in preventing it's destruction.

The movie portrays Cruise as a troubled, flawed character who is merely a spectator to the events that unfold, not some flawless messiah that comes to single handedly shape the culture with his whiteness.

This is a great summary.

 

[Kinyou]

What's so confusing about it?

A Chinese person in China watches movies where 90% of the people on screen look like them. They have no qualms with representation because they're the equivalent of a white person in the US watching a Hollywood film. And to them a white guy in the movie is just a famous foreign actor in one of their films.

An Asian American, whose home is the US, sees maybe 5% of the people on screen looking like them. To them a white guy in a movie, which could easily have starred an Asian lead, is yet another case of Hollywood going with a white male lead under the guise of bankability and worldwide appeal.

I'm not sure if Matt Damon here really stole an Asian American role since I imagine they would have had an all Chinese cast if you remove the storyline about westerners showing up.

 

[lightskintwin]

This is a great summary.

It is not a great summary. It is indeed a White savior film that pretends it's not.

I'm not sure if Matt Damon here really stole an Asian American role since I imagine they would have had an all Chinese cast if you remove the storyline about westerners showing up.

I don't think anybody's arguing that Matt Damon stole a role from an Asian American. It's the perpetuation of the racist myth of the Special White person, or White Savior trope that's been told through media for decades that people of color are fucking tired of. People would've preferred an all Chinese cast in a fantasy movie set 1000 years ago in China amidst China's most iconic world wonder.

As much as I love Game of Thrones, It is annoying seeing Daenerys (Queen of and Feerer of Slaves) and Tyrion amidst the backdrop of her freed brown slave army who are merely background for the main storylines of the white main characters.

It's nothing more than centuries of white supremacy subconsciously and implicitly being manifested through media and you don't have to be white to perpetuate this.

 

[BronsonLee]

I agree with Constance. They should replace Matt Damon immediately.

With me.

 

[Kinyou]

I don't think anybody's arguing that Matt Damon stole a role from an Asian American. It's the perpetuation of the racist myth of the Special White person, or White Savior trope that's been told through media for decades that people of color are fucking tired of. People would've preferred an all Chinese cast in a fantasy movie set 1000 years ago in China amidst China's most iconic world wonder.

As much as I love Game of Thrones, It is annoying seeing Daenerys (Queen of and Slave Feerer) and Tyrion amidst the backdrop of her freed brown slave army who are merely background for the main storylines of the white main characters.

It's nothing more than centuries of white supremacy subconsciously and implicitly being manifested through media.

I think in that case it's still a bit open on how much the movie will play up Matt Damon's role.

 

[duckroll]

I'm not sure if Matt Damon here really stole an Asian American role since I imagine they would have had an all Chinese cast if you remove the storyline about westerners showing up.

The entire movie is in English. If they have an all Chinese cast doing an English language blockbuster aimed at a worldwide audience, I find it hard to believe that not a single Asian America will get a role.

 

[lightskintwin]

I think in that case it's still a bit open on how much the movie will play up Matt Damon's role.

You may be right, but the trailer did a poor job of conveying this. If anything, it portrayed the whole movie centering around his character hence the criticism. If Matt Damon was a supporting character, or a lead amongst other Chinese leads than most people wouldn't have said anything, and may even been excited over it.

However looking at this poster, people's suspicions will probably be proven correct.

 

[Htown]

so fucking stupid smh

 

[Dangansona]

Corporations should be motivated by "mad respect", not money?

Yeah I somewhat agree with her write up but that's not going to convince anyone lol.

 

[Kinyou]

The entire movie is in English. If they have an all Chinese cast doing an English language blockbuster aimed at a worldwide audience, I find it hard to believe that not a single Asian America will get a role.

I mean, will the chinese actors in this movie speak English? If that's so then fair enough, bit if not it would be a bit odd to only have one speak English.

You may be right, but the trailer did a poor job of conveying this. If anything, it portrayed the whole movie centering around his character hence the criticism. If Matt Damon was a supporting character, or a lead amongst other Chinese leads than most people wouldn't have said anything.

However looking at this poster, people's suspicions will probably be proven correct.

Could also be that he's the most recognisable to the international audience, but true, with a poster like that I understand why people aren't willing to give it the benefit of the doubt.

 

[duckroll]

I mean, will the chinese actors in this movie speak English? If that's so then fair enough, bit if not it would be a bit odd to only have one speak English.

Yes the entire movie is in English and the script is written by American scriptwriters. This isn't a made for China movie in Chinese with some western dudes in it like Dragon Blade. This is a made for "the world" English blockbuster funded by China. I've been trying to explain this over and over in the thread!

 

[BronsonLee]

Yes the entire movie is in English and the script is written by American scriptwriters. This isn't a made for China movie in Chinese with some western dudes in it like Dragon Blade. This is a made for "the world" English blockbuster funded by China. I've been trying to explain this over and over in the thread!

Yeah but I don't wanna listen to you duck, it ruins my narrative!

I doubt this is a Last Samurai situation where A: People will totally not understand that The Last Samurai was not Tom Cruise and B: That movie doesn't get made without Tom Cruise period

 

[……forgetit]

I guess this is a criticism of the culture behind it? I just watched the trailer and a white guy in the middle of this is hilarious, but it was made entirely by Chinese people. Who is to blame in this case? Just hollywood for perpetuating the white savior for so long?