Movies in General

J

jackliu

Banned Idiot
All good points, and I tend to agree Mainland entertainment tend to not be our cup of tea, and they are towrds more to the domestic audience rather than aim to go global.

Here is more thing I realize about mainland TV
1. Historical drama... LOTS LOTS of historical dramas, all the way from Spring Autumn period to 1930s Shanghai, pick one period in Chinese history, there will be half dozen shows/movies about it. This is clearly targeted towards Chinese, no way Westerner will watch it, this is especially true for the hundreds of anti Japanese TV shows and movies. However this is also something that make the Chinese entertainment most special, because no other nation is so obsessed with it is past as China, so I don't know, maybe as China gets stronger this is something that may go international, but they need to work on changing the format.

2. Dramas... LOTS LOTS of dramas, attempted tearjerkers, and mostly failed tearjerkers, they wanted those show to be emotionally moving, but in the end to me, it just felt like bad actor doing fake crying, and lot of serious people hanging around in a room and talking to each other in a serious voice. This is not something that will spread internationally world wide. (Maybe Korean drama can prove me wrong)

3. Martial arts movies... This is something HK is more famous for and they don't make good movies anymore, the one coming from mainland is not bad, but also not that special either, this genre is being done to death, and also starting to get stagnate, they need to do something to revive it, and this is something that have the potential to go worldwide.

4. Comedy sitcoms, this is actually something that can be tolerated, I think this a relatively new genre come from the West, I don't remember seeing them when I was a child, I can see some of the show can be quite funny, but due to cultural differences I just don't get a lot of the jokes, but this is overall a positive development. Still I don't see this going worldwide, because US can make much better quality sitcoms.

5. Reality TV shows, like China's version of dancing with the stars, American idol. I hate them and never watch them here in US and I'm not about to start to watch the Chinese version, this is a direct copy from the West, no future for growth whatsoever.

I have this feeling that mainland entertainment is being too highly regulated by the government, this is not good for cultural development. I really want mainland entertainment to succeed, I just don't know how.
 
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solarz

solarz

Brigadier
jackliu said:
I have this feeling that mainland entertainment is being too highly regulated by the government, this is not good for cultural development. I really want mainland entertainment to succeed, I just don't know how.
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The first thing we have to realize is, there are a LOT of shows produced for Mainland TV every year. Like shows everywhere else, including North America, 95% of that is crap. The trick is to know what the good 5% are, and since everyone's taste is different, each person will have their own selection of 5%.

For example, my wife is watching these shows all the time. That's her main form of entertainment. Most of the shows she watch, I can't stand. However, once in a blue moon, I find something she's watching to be quite interesting, and end up watching it as well.

I believe this is where culture plays a big role. Depending on your life experience, these shows may or may not resonate with you.
 
Equation

Equation

Lieutenant General
ABC78 said:
Hollywood's glass celling is a major obstical. Any Asian person that even breaks through will never support more progressive themed projects because it will cost them their job or hurt their career. Asians that are successful in Hollywood only make stuff that strokes the white ego and sense of superiority.

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That's why Asians and Chinese needs to become more of the producers and ownership of Hollywood in order to give more positive role for Asian actors and actresses. Look at how the Jewish and Jewish American communities are doing it. There population in the US are about the same as Asian-Americans, yet they are for more represented on Hollywood and on television. I'm telling ya...control the flow of media, you can control the pop culture and "modern" fad for the masses to indulge on.;)
 
A

airsuperiority

Captain
Equation said:
That's why Asians and Chinese needs to become more of the producers and ownership of Hollywood in order to give more positive role for Asian actors and actresses. Look at how the Jewish and Jewish American communities are doing it. There population in the US are about the same as Asian-Americans, yet they are for more represented on Hollywood and on television. I'm telling ya...control the flow of media, you can control the pop culture and "modern" fad for the masses to indulge on.;)
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True enough...or perhaps the best weapon to destroy Holllywood is to make it "oppa chinese tv style" (start dancing gangnam)
 
A

airsuperiority

Captain
jackliu said:
All good points, and I tend to agree Mainland entertainment tend to not be our cup of tea, and they are towrds more to the domestic audience rather than aim to go global.

Here is more thing I realize about mainland TV
1. Historical drama... LOTS LOTS of historical dramas, all the way from Spring Autumn period to 1930s Shanghai, pick one period in Chinese history, there will be half dozen shows/movies about it. This is clearly targeted towards Chinese, no way Westerner will watch it, this is especially true for the hundreds of anti Chinese TV shows and movies. However this is also something that make the Chinese entertainment most special, because no other nation is so obsessed with it is past as China, so I don't know, maybe as China gets stronger this is something that may go international, but they need to work on changing the format.

2. Dramas... LOTS LOTS of dramas, attempted tearjerkers, and mostly failed tearjerkers, they wanted those show to be emotionally moving, but in the end to me, it just felt like bad actor doing fake crying, and lot of serious people hanging around in a room and talking to each other in a serious voice. This is not something that will spread internationally world wide. (Maybe Korean drama can prove me wrong)

3. Martial arts movies... This is something HK is more famous for and they don't make good movies anymore, the one coming from mainland is not bad, but also not that special either, this genre is being done to death, and also starting to get stagnate, they need to do something to revive it, and this is something that have the potential to go worldwide.

4. Comedy sitcoms, this is actually something that can be tolerated, I think this a relatively new genre come from the West, I don't remember seeing them when I was a child, I can see some of the show can be quite funny, but due to cultural differences I just don't get a lot of the jokes, but this is overall a positive development. Still I don't see this going worldwide, because US can make much better quality sitcoms.

5. Reality TV shows, like China's version of dancing with the stars, American idol. I hate them and never watch them here in US and I'm not about to start to watch the Chinese version, this is a direct copy from the West, no future for growth whatsoever.

I have this feeling that mainland entertainment is being too highly regulated by the government, this is not good for cultural development. I really want mainland entertainment to succeed, I just don't know how.
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very agreed, especially first point. AND my parents love to watch those and call it QUALITY stuff! my parents really don't understand the definition of entertainment(quite like how my dad loves to watch 2012 simply because of all those retarded special effects that i can only roll my eyes and say "pul-lease land plates can't sink like they're titanic!"
 
A

airsuperiority

Captain
solarz said:
Not sure what channel you're watching, but when I'm in China, most of them was broadcasting Dating Shows, Idol Shows, and all kinds of TV Series, most of which is impossible to watch unless you've followed it from the start.

So I don't watch much TV when I'm in China. Of course, I don't watch *any* TV when I'm here either.

Hey, who needs TV when I can go shoot a Super Mutant with my sniper rifle? ;)
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i also understand what you mean, and although they probably aren't that fun to watch...but do gotta give them credit that it's good to at least there's something NOT serious on TV ! XD

and no i don't really follow those shows myself for most of the time, and even if i am, i'd much rather watch taiwan or hong kong's...at least i recognize some faces lol
 
kwaigonegin

kwaigonegin

Colonel
airsuperiority said:
i also understand what you mean, and although they probably aren't that fun to watch...but do gotta give them credit that it's good to at least there's something NOT serious on TV ! XD

and no i don't really follow those shows myself for most of the time, and even if i am, i'd much rather watch taiwan or hong kong's...at least i recognize some faces lol
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One thing I NEVER understood about Chinese movies (mainly kung fu ones) is the deliberate and forceful attempt at laughter.. where a character would suddenly and impulsively burst into a very forced laughter.. typically followed immediately by the stroking of his moustache or beard...
do you guys know the type of scenes I'm talking about?

WTH is all that about?
 
Equation

Equation

Lieutenant General
airsuperiority said:
very agreed, especially first point. AND my parents love to watch those and call it QUALITY stuff! my parents really don't understand the definition of entertainment(quite like how my dad loves to watch 2012 simply because of all those retarded special effects that i can only roll my eyes and say "pul-lease land plates can't sink like they're titanic!"
Click to expand...

Different generation..different taste.
 
Equation

Equation

Lieutenant General
kwaigonegin said:
One thing I NEVER understood about Chinese movies (mainly kung fu ones) is the deliberate and forceful attempt at laughter.. where a character would suddenly and impulsively burst into a very forced laughter.. typically followed immediately by the stroking of his moustache or beard...
do you guys know the type of scenes I'm talking about?

WTH is all that about?
Click to expand...

You mean the symbolic evil villain laughter and body language? LOL...my guess is the director didn't have confidence in the audiences intelligence therefore has to input silly simple gesture to portray the character's manipulative evil deeds.:p
 
plawolf

plawolf

Lieutenant General
You guys remember how we were just talking about all the MIB III and Red Dawn rip-off cut scenes and changes like it was ancient history? Well, apparently nobody told the BBC and they are running it like it's some new revelation. It's funny how life works out sometimes.

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It just seems like such a random 'lets bash China' piece for the BBC to run. There is absolutely nothing remotely new about anything they are reporting to prompt or justify this piece. The ranting bloggers at least had the good grace to blog about the stories when they actually happened. The only rationale for that story seems to be, 'Oh look, Chinese leadership change immanent, must rain on that parade so how can we bash China today? Nothing remotely recent? Well just find something, anything!'.

It's interesting that the producers decided to include the old hat stories about cut scenes and changed baddies, yet they neglected to mention the fact that China just more than doubled the annual quota for foreign films, which actually happened after both MIB III and Red Dawn rip-off. Presenting an up-to-date assessment of the Chinese movie scene was clearly not what the producers had in mind when the made that piece.

The production value of that piece was also laughably bad, since they managed to get a shot of just small group of Chinese people apparently sitting with a sea of empty seats around them to illustrate the point that Hollywood movies are more popular in China.

Is it just me, or is the BBC actually getting worse? Because it seems CCTV no longer holds a monopoly on hapless and obvious propaganda pieces.
 
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