*** This article has nothing to do with this movie, because it caused a little thought. Just take this to express it, love it.
****This article has been published in Shanghai's "Literature", if you need to reprint it for commercial use, please privately write to the author, please.
Speaking of the United States, people often think of lofty words such as "equality", "freedom", and "democracy". In recent years, the White House website has opened up a petition function, and it has almost been regarded as the office of the Qingtian master by grievances all over the world. It seems that only the United States can preside over justice in the world. In fact, many things are like Xu Caihou shouting anti-corruption, you just listen to it. The human rights situation in the United States is far from being as good as it seems. Take the issue of race as an example. The black affirmative movement has also occurred in the past few decades. What is this concept? In other words, there are still a large number of people who were racially discriminatory in the past. They are still alive. It's just that they dare not jump out and say their true thoughts because of the pressure of public opinion. In the past few months, there have been two celebrity criticism incidents in the United States that have caused a national sensation. One is a TV personality, Paula Deen, who owns her own restaurant chain and cooking show, and the other is Donald, the owner of the NBA Los Angeles Clippers. Sterling, all because he had made remarks that discriminated against black people, was dragged to the national news media for a controversy. In the United States, the red line of racial discrimination is not only untouchable, it is better not to be close within five meters.
Wait, do I say "racism" is a red line? Wrong, to be precise, only discrimination against blacks is an absolute taboo in the United States. But for other ethnic groups, such as Asians, Latinos, Indians, etc., it is not so strict, and it is not hurt to make jokes occasionally. Among them, the Asian environment is even worse (especially the Chinese). In recent decades, with the development of the Chinese economy and the demonization of China by the American media, Americans now treat the Chinese as Japanese devils. Don’t just hear that the Americans call us the Oriental Dragon. In Western civilization, the “dragon” has always been associated with the devil. The Americans are actually saying that we are the incarnation of evil.
If you compare American and European films, you will find that American culture is actually very conservative, even with regard to sex, Americans are far less open than Europeans. And Hollywood is actually the most stubborn and uncivilized area in the United States. You heard that right, it is Hollywood, a cultural center that continuously exports value orientation to the world, and it is also a place where human rights problems are very serious. If you don’t believe me, how many famous female directors are there in the film industry? How many movies feature women as the protagonist each year? In the Hollywood movie world (the television world is a bit better), male chauvinism is an unspeakable secret. Returning to the issue of race, Hollywood’s most popular movie blockbusters, take superhero movies as an example, how many protagonists are people of color? Except for a few black actors such as Will Smith ("Men in Black" series) and Harry Berry ("Catwoman"), the remaining superheroes are all white. However, in order to avoid getting into racist lawsuits, in these movies, they often don’t forget to give the hero partner a skin-skinned assistant. Iron Man’s friend is a black man, and Batman drew Morgan Freeman (a veteran black star). Supporting role, do you think these are all random events? Do you think these actors are selected based on their acting skills?
However, among people of color, blacks are getting better and better in Hollywood, Latinos have also entered the mainstream American cultural circle because of their geographical advantages, and Indian faces have increasingly appeared on large and small screens. There was even a popular TV show featuring Indians ("Mindy Troubles"). According to my observations, the most unwelcome people in Hollywood today are Chinese actors, and Chinese men are more miserable than Chinese women.
In fact, as early as a hundred years ago, Chinese characters appeared in American movies, but there were no Chinese actors. What is going on here? How to act without a Chinese actor? The answer is simple, let the white people paint their faces yellow to play the Chinese. This kind of lowest level of racial discrimination was nothing at the time. Nowadays, it is absolutely taboo to paint the face black to play the role of black people. However, painting the face yellow is still one of the commonly used make-up techniques in Hollywood. This kind of make-up technique was used in the movie "Cloud Atlas" a few years ago. Most of the Chinese characters in the early films were created to ridicule the Chinese. It is these images that further formed the deep-rooted stereotypes in American culture. Among the two most famous stereotypes against Asians, one is Fu Manchu, an evil, clever, and scheming criminal, and the other is Madame Butterfly, a mysterious, oriental charm, and a love object exclusively for whites to play with. These two impressions have deeply affected American thinking, and even continue to the so-called racial equality today. Why do you think those rich white men like to find an oriental wife so much?
Many film scholars believe that the first Chinese-American movie star in history was Huang Liushuang, who was born in 1905. She was also the first Chinese-American movie star to be named on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. However, in her career, she became tired of playing the image of a villain called "Mrs. Dragon" in American stereotypes time and time again. The biggest incident that hit her happened in 1935. Hollywood studios would rather find a white actor to star in the movie of the same name based on Pearl Buck’s masterpiece "The Earth" than give the role of the Chinese girl Alan to Huang Liushuang. Finally She left Europe in a fit of anger, where she achieved great success.
This is the state of survival of early Chinese Hollywood movie stars: not only have to endure widespread discrimination in the society, but also need to fight for roles from white actors that should belong to Chinese, and these roles are often misunderstood of Chinese. When Huang Liushuang traveled in Shanghai, Chinese reporters once criticized her, saying that the roles she played in deepened Americans' misunderstanding of China. However, the author believes that thanks to the appearance of these Chinese faces and their achievements, American attitudes have changed more or less. Isn’t it much better to play the Chinese role by the Chinese than the white people to deliberately ridicule the Chinese?
For a long time, the achievements of Chinese Hollywood movie stars can be said to be mediocre, but whites with yellow faces have always existed grandiosely. Until Bruce Lee's appearance, he steadfastly fought for the face of the Chinese in Hollywood and even in the United States. He not only broke the weak oriental image in the traditional Western impression, but also made Hong Kong-style martial arts movies and martial arts suddenly popular in the West. It can be said that the Americans' concept of Chinese martial arts is still what Bruce Lee showed. After Ang Lee's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was released, many Americans shouted that it was an eye-opener. It turns out that people can still fly as they fly! The light gong known to passers-by in China, but the Americans have never seen it. The only martial arts they know is that of Bruce Lee. However, the martial arts wave caused by Bruce Lee is a double-edged sword. He also solidified the development path of Chinese actors. Bruce Lee’s successors, from Jackie Chan and Jet Li, to Michelle Yeoh and Liu Yuling, martial arts have been the only way for Chinese actors to survive in Hollywood for a long time.
However, all these Chinese actors, even as the protagonists of the movie, still have an invisible wall that is difficult to break through. That is, they still play characters that are clearly portrayed for the Chinese. Many people may ask, what if a Chinese does not act as a Chinese? However, if the United States is truly a racially equal country, it should treat all races equally, and then you should see characters on the screen that are completely unconstrained by ethnic background. For example, a Chinese-American actor once said with emotion, why can't I play a serial murderer? Wouldn't the Chinese have serial murderers? No, but in the American stereotype, serial murderers are all white people.
This is why I say that Hollywood is a hypocritical and profit-seeking place. Here we need to distinguish what is the so-called "Hollywood film". In general, American movies can be divided into two categories. One category is box office blockbusters produced by major studios, such as "Transformers 1234", which is really the so-called "blockbuster"; the other category is low-cost art films, these films Most are independently produced. Simply put, the purpose of blockbusters is to make money, so box office blockbusters must not only cater to the society's aesthetic taste and average IQ, but also echo the social value orientation. In the "pre-affirmative movement" era, Hollywood unscrupulously satirized ethnic minorities, shaping and strengthening stereotypes; in the "post-affirmative era", Hollywood cocked its tail and promoted universal values. Box office blockbusters have never played a big role in promoting social fashion. Why do you think Hollywood movies are adding Chinese elements more and more? That's just because China's box office market is too attractive.
But on the other hand, the role of art films should be to stand on the cusp of public opinion orientation, on the one hand to reflect, on the other hand to promote the development of social climate in a positive direction. But looking at the American art film market, there are very few films about Chinese. Except for a few Chinese directors, such as Wang Ying ("The Joy Luck Club") and Ang Lee ("Pushing Hands") have made several movies describing the living conditions of Chinese in the United States, even the Chinese filmmakers active in Hollywood today. Few people get involved in this topic. This is Hollywood’s attitude towards Chinese Americans: on the one hand, commercial blockbusters continue to have stereotypes about Chinese people, and superficially add some Chinese elements in their eyes to please the Chinese market; on the other hand, no filmmakers are filming about Chinese people, China With cultural films, Americans' perceptions cannot be changed.
However, in contrast to the attitudes of American filmmakers and artists on black racial issues, from "Kill a Mockingbird", "Guess Who Is Over for Dinner", "Driving for Miss Daisy" to "Crash" and "Helping Together" in recent years. "Twelve Years as a Slave", if you pay attention to the Oscar list in recent years, you will find that almost every year a movie about black racial issues is on the list. The scandals that American white ancestors committed against black people are thrown on the face of the American public time and time again, which has led to the fact that American society now always treats black racial issues like a thin ice. Of course, the image of black people in movies is getting taller and bigger. If you don’t believe me, take a look. American blockbusters rarely arrange black people as the behind-the-scenes, and they are afraid of stepping on the landmines of racial discrimination.
American movies are not willing to promote Chinese culture, but can you blame the Americans for this? You let people in your own country, vigorously promote our culture, you are all Bethune when you are an American? The key problem is that our own movies are really not powerful and have no international influence! India has their Bollywood, which still produces movies with unique Indian flavors with the world's second largest output. Japan has always been a big movie country, especially art movies. Mentioning the names of Akira Kurosawa and Yasujiro Ozu, I am afraid that no Hollywood filmmaker does not know. Korean films have developed rapidly. Not only have they developed their own film industry, but their production standards have been in line with international standards. Even Korean films have been frequently remakes by Hollywood in recent years (such as "Old Boy"). But looking at the Chinese film industry, which movies have been popular in recent years? "Tai囧", which is well-received and popular in China, is a second-rate production that copied the Hollywood genre. The author seems to be inferior to "Xiaobing Zhangga"; "Little Era", which has attracted countless brain damage, is said to be unqualified. Inferior movies in slideshow style, the total box office in North America is only 20,000 U.S. dollars... Chinese filmmakers seem to have lost their cultural spirit, the ability to think independently and a sense of social responsibility. On the other hand, the profit-only trend has swept Chinese society, the people's taste in appreciation is low, and domestic art films have no room for survival. The result of various factors working together is that Chinese films continue to export cultural junk, and China's international cultural image has never been able to improve.
A "Transformers 4" once again evoked countless complaints from Chinese people. In fact, I want to ask the question, what image of Chinese do you expect to see in American movies? If you are surrounded by racial equality, what you want to see should be an image of an American with only an Asian face but a complete stranger. But is this really what Chinese people want to see? In fact, to put it plainly, on the one hand, the Chinese expect Americans to take a high look at themselves and show off their pictures in movies, but on the other hand they look down upon their own nation. It is no exaggeration to say that 90% of Chinese people are racist. Although it is said in Mandarin that there are 56 ethnic groups in China, in fact, in most parts of China, there is no distinction between different ethnic groups, and the Chinese do not adapt to the mixed state of the United States. Looking at the escalating racial contradictions caused by the recent terrorist incidents, it is not difficult to see that the concept of racial equality has never penetrated into the consciousness of the Chinese people. Most of the first-generation immigrants in the United States did not have the concept of racial equality. Almost every Chinese who has just arrived in the United States is eager to "integrate into mainstream American society." What they call mainstream society especially refers to white American society. Chinese people look down on people of color other than whites, and look down on other people except Chinese. Asian. Your discrimination against one race hides your low self-esteem in front of another race. This is why many Chinese people are eager to integrate into the so-called mainstream white society in the United States. The domestic ugliness of admiring foreigners and fawning on foreigners has been generously taken on the stage, and even website models have indicated that foreigners are preferred. In an almost monoethnic area, what is the trouble with using a foreigner as a model? Everyone is complaining about the large-scale placement of advertisements in "Transformers 4", but the merchants are not stupid. It is precisely because of the Chinese superstition of foreign culture that they spend a few seconds in the Hollywood blockbuster. what! Interestingly, the opposite situation is happening in the United States. The advertising industry in the United States-different from movies-has begun to show more and more Asian faces in recent years. The reason is simple. Businesses want to take advantage of these familiar Asians. Faces attract more and more wealthy Chinese consumers.
The deeper reason for the Chinese people's self-deprecation of their own nation is their self-deprecation of their own culture. In recent years, most of the new immigrants who have gone to study and work in the United States are from science and engineering backgrounds, and their cultural literacy has been relatively weak. Their offspring will often become "banana people": the outside is yellow-skinned, but Chinese culture has been lost. . However, in contrast to other ethnic minorities, in recent years in the United States, I have rarely seen Mexicans who do not speak Spanish, even the second and third generations of immigrants; American blacks have their own cultural preferences, such as jazz, etc. Even the English used is a variant called "African American English", which has a different grammar and pronunciation from American English. Chinese immigrants have completely lost their cultural origins in the multiplication of generations. Even the Chinese themselves have alienated their own culture. Who do you expect to promote?
The domestic contempt for one's own civilization is particularly serious in the film industry. Chinese filmmakers seem to always be obsessed with building their own reputation through international film festivals and obsessed with international awards, which also reflects their contempt for their own culture. The old lady Zhao Lirong said well: "The nationality is the world." Only the orthodox and pure national culture is attractive to foreigners. Ang Lee's success is due to the intriguing charm of Eastern perspective and Eastern traditional culture brought to his films, which is exactly what Hollywood needs. The success of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" has attracted domestic filmmakers to imitate. In the following years, costume plays have continued one after another. To put it bluntly, this can only be said to be an expression of lack of cultural backbone.
In short: Why should you care so much about how Hollywood portrays the Chinese? Does Li Bingbing have any lines in "Transformers 4"? Why do you care so much? Why do we Chinese, an ancient country with a profound and profound culture like mellow wine, constantly abandon our own cultural traditions? If Chinese films can be developed, Chinese films can be better-looking, more in-depth, and can be fascinated by the world, then the image of China in the eyes of Americans will naturally change.
View more about Transformers: Age of Extinction reviews
