There is ism in the mouth, and business in the heart.

Matilda 2022-06-01 16:52:37

"Ip Man 4" binds kung fu and nationalism together, which is also a chicken thief.
It's just a fight, and it has to rise to patriotism, humiliation, discrimination, and prejudice.
If you win or lose, you can only represent whether your martial arts is good or not. What does it have to do with the country and the nation?
There is ism in the mouth and business in the heart.
So "Ip Man 4" is essentially the same as "Wolf Warrior 2" and "Black Panther", except that Leng Feng and Black Panther are fictional characters, and Ip Man is real.
But the problem is that Ye Wen has never been to the United States, nor has he beaten those people. What is the difference between Leng Feng’s overseas evacuation and the Panthers spreading Wakanda’s technology to the world?

"Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" filmed Bruce Lee as arrogant but couldn't beat the veterans. This is an insult to Bruce Lee. So in "Ip Man 4", the 71-year-old Ye Wen beat the Marines to respect Ye Wen?
One is to belittle Bruce Lee, and the other is to make Ye Wen a superhero. There is no essential difference.
Why don't you make a movie in which the Avengers discriminate against the Chinese, and then Ip Man hangs on the Avengers to win glory for China? Isn't this more patriotic?

In "Ip Man 4", Liang Gen asks a foreigner for help writing a letter of introduction, but the other party thinks that the Chinese are fugitives; Ruo Nan's classmate Becky discriminates against her; Becky's father Andrew arrests people; the principal asks Ip Wen to speak Donations; Patton discriminates against people of all other races...
It is still an old-fashioned battle between good and evil. The Chinese people are good people and the Americans are bad people in the whole movie, so in the end, the good people defeated the bad people.
Button was utterly broken, and Ye Wen was too magnificent.
It is either black or white, good and evil are distinct, either good or bad, and there is no middle ground.
So this is the same as the Hollywood blockbuster hitting villains, monsters, zombies, and aliens, except that the villains, monsters, zombies, and aliens are replaced by Americans.
The difference is that Hollywood blockbusters position themselves as popcorn movies, and "Ip Man 4" has to rise to a patriotic level.
And the plots of Hollywood blockbusters are not so simple. You see, "Transformers", "X-Men", "Rise of the Apes" and so on are two races and four camps, or even more camps.
Transformers in "Transformers" is good and bad, and humans are also good and bad;
Mutants in "X-Men" are good and bad, and humans are good and bad;
In "Rise of the Apes", the apes are good and bad, and humans are good and bad...
There are bad guys in the protagonist and good guys on the other side. They are not as simple as in "Ip Man 4". All Chinese are good guys and all Americans are bad guys.

And if the Chinese can't beat Colian and Button, can they represent the Chinese?
If the Chinese beat Colian and Button, does it mean that the Chinese are very powerful?
Whether a country is great or not is determined by fighting?
Is China's rising international status because the Chinese fight fiercely?
It feels like someone on the Internet says, "I look down on you, I want to make an appointment with you." Just ignore him. Are you going to fight him?
"Ip Man 1" bundled martial arts with the War of Resistance Against Japan. Ip Man defeated the Japanese general Miura and became a national hero;

"Ip Man 2" tied martial arts and national dignity together. The British boxing champion insulted Chinese martial arts, and Ip Man defeated him;

Originally, "Ip Man 3" didn't use such old routines anymore. "Ip Man Side Story: Zhang Tianzhi" and "Ip Man 4" fell into cliche again.
In "Ip Man Side Story: Zhang Tianzhi", various foreigners look down on the Chinese. The British police also shielded criminals, so Zhang Tianzhi beat the British police.

The "Ip Man" series are all the same plot and routine, without any new ideas.
As early as 1972, Bruce Lee filmed a "Jing Wu Men" that kicked the "Sick Man of East Asia" plaque with one foot, which was very exciting in the era.
Moreover, Chen Zhen did not escape safely at the end of "Jingwumen", even though he killed the murderer of his master, he was eventually shot to death by the Japanese.
He didn't make Chen Zhen an invincible superhero. Instead, he used Chen Zhen's experience to express the frustration of martial arts practitioners who couldn't get rid of all unfair things with effort.

It's been 47 years, and it's been half a century to round up. You are still repeating the old routine of "Foreigners look down on Chinese people, and Chinese people will convince them." It's to cliche.
Who said that kung fu movies have only this kind of plot?
You see, Jin Yong's martial arts novels can be written wonderfully, even in-depth, without these opportunistic things such as patriotism and insult to China.
There is also "The Great Master", "Master", "Kung Fu", and "Hero"...Especially "Shaolin Football" are movies from 2001 and still keep pace with the times.
It doesn't have to rely on beating foreigners to arouse the audience's patriotism.
If you really want to fight foreigners, you can also shoot a fictional story of a fictional character. There is no need to forcibly add so many dramas to Ye Wen, who has never been to the United States.
In order to set off Ye Wen's strength, "Ye Wen 4" also arranged that everyone could not beat Brother Lin, only Ye Wen could do it; everyone could not beat Button, only Ye Wen could do it.
This is actually an old routine of the "Ip Man" series.
"Ye Wen 1" Wu Chi Lin was killed by Miura, and Ye Wen helped him avenge him;
"Ip Man 2" Hong Zhennan was beaten to death by the British boxing champion, and Ip Wen helped him avenge him;
"Ip Man 3" Tian Roshan was interrupted by Zhang Tianzhi, and Ye Wen helped him get revenge;
"Ip Man 4" Wan Zhonghua was nearly killed by Barton, and Ye Wen avenged him.
Everyone was defeated by everyone against the big boss, and finally, Ye Wen came out and defeated the big boss.
Each movie must be played by other schools first, and the result must be a disastrous defeat.
Why can't other sects beat the big boss?
Because it's not the director who has the final say. The director says you can win, you can win, the director says you can’t win, you can’t win.
The director's way of embodying Ye Wen's power is not to make Ye Wen strong, but to belittle other schools. Ip Man is number one in the world, and Wing Spring is number one. Is this really the philosophy of Chinese martial arts?
At the end of the movie, I will kidnap you with morality: if I let him go, I won't be Chinese anymore.
The implication is such a patriotic movie, if you criticize it, you are not Chinese anymore.

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Extended Reading

Ip Man 4: The Finale quotes

  • Ip Man: Uncle Ip is a martial artist. In the face of injustice, I must stand up and fight. That was why we took up martial arts. This is something I very much want to do. Just as you want to cheer leading.

  • Ip Man: Self-confidence is the most important thing, no matter where you are.