Source: Pantry on the 3rd floor
The latest is a new drama on the street.
Look at this review and think which brain-dead domestic drama? Then you're wrong
Is "Kung Fu" about Kung Fu?
The plot of the first episode began like this: The Chinese-American girl Ni Gene, played by Liang Anping, was dissatisfied with her family's blind date arrangement and ran to China alone to learn kung fu. When Nikki returns to San Francisco after completing her studies, she finds that her family and community are controlled by gangsters, and she uses the skills she has learned to fight crime and protect her hometown with her friends, and there are even greater secrets behind the murder of her master...
Is this plot a bit of a "secondary two" flavor?
In fact, the drama is a remake of a Hong Kong kung fu film from the 1970s and 1980s. According to the New York Times, the establishment of the drama is indeed due to the follow-up drama of the same name filmed in the United States after Bruce Lee set off a wave of kung fu around the world. However, the protagonist at that time was the White American actor David Carating (Bill in "Kill Bill"), and now it is changed to An Asian woman. In the words of The New York Times, the new Kung Fu "will be part of the small but steady progress in the image of Asians on the Hollywood screen in recent years."
In the 1970s, Bruce Lee first went to Warner with a script, but no one wanted to make a drama or movie with a Chinese protagonist at that time, and was rejected. Warner later filmed a series that closely resembled the story, starring white actor David Carradin. This version of Kung Fu aired in the United States for three seasons between 1972 and 1975.
Continue with this new Kung Fu. Because of the Asian-American lineup and Chinese kung fu elements, the drama attracted much attention before it started broadcasting. After premiering in North America on April 7, the show's first episode set the highest Wednesday rating on CW television in seven years, and the second episode also had a good number of 1.4 million viewers. The director and screenwriter of the play have Asian members, and the main actors are also Asian faces, among which the heroine's actor, 27-year-old Liang Anping, has starred in American dramas such as "Vampire Descendants", "Grey The Antian Doctor", "Living in the Moment" and so on.
Liang Anping resembles another Chinese-American actress, Okafina.
Among other supporting roles, there are also well-known Asian actors such as Lin Ludi, Liu Lide, Shannon Dang, etc., and Nicky's father is a senior Hollywood Chinese actor - Ma Tai, who plays an important role in films such as "Mulan" and "Don't Tell Her"; Chen Qionghua, who plays the heroine's mother, has starred in works such as "Picking Gold" and "Marco Polo", as an Asian actor from Singapore.
Matte (left) is known as "Hollywood's first choice for Asian dads"
However, even with so many Asian actors and screenwriters joining, "Kung Fu" is still questioned about many thunder points. For example, the Shaolin Temple where the heroine learns kung fu is actually in Yunnan, and the kung fu female monk with long hair is practicing martial arts by the Li River...
Coupled with poor Mandarin, unable to resist scrutiny, childish treasure-snatching plots... On Douban, "Kung Fu" has only 3.6 points (out of 10 points), "this is the stereotype of Westerners about China" and "it is simply the most 'middle two' juvenile comic adaptation".
However, in the eyes of the Western media, the drama does not seem to be so bad.
Metacritic has an average media score of 65 out of 100 on the Metacritic website, and an 80% freshness rating (media reviews) and a 47% popcorn index (audience ratings) on Rotten Tomatoes.
"Variety" praised, "Liang played a remarkable heroine in "Kung Fu", feeling the obligation to the family and society, which is attractive."
The Wall Street Journal noted, "The actors are very dedicated. The main theme is not asians against the world, but a showdown between good and evil. The play itself is a political statement, but the plot is not (political)".
The San Francisco Chronicle commented that "compared to the old version of Kung Fu, the new version of the plot is not serious, but it depicts the family life of Asian Americans just right."
However, the Los Angeles Times also commented that the show was "hastily and hastily stacked with various elements", and CNN simply pointed out that "neither the action scenes nor the key narratives are creative."
This is not the first time that word-of-mouth controversies such as "Kung Fu" have occurred. The huge contrast between "Picking Stars" and "Mulan" when they were released in the United States and China shows that Hollywood's understanding and use of Asian elements is still unable to get rid of the inertial thinking of "political correctness" and "cultural appropriation".
When Hollywood producers choose the theme of kung fu, they really want to dig out new ideas from the unique kung fu film genre in Chinese films and please today's young Western audiences, but in the specific operation, there is still a grafting of Zhang Guan and Li Dai.
For example, in "Mulan", Fujian Tulou moved to the north
The concubines walked casually around the noon gate square
Backward values and show off in "Picking Gold"
"Dragon Quest" has a hodgepodge of all Southeast Asian elements
"Kung Fu" is full of stereotypes such as "dumpling restaurant" and "table tennis"
These so-called mix-and-match Chinese elements have become "accurate in detail" and "original Chinese style" in the eyes of Western film critics and audiences who occasionally run to Chinese restaurants in Chinatown to order "Zuo ZongTang Chicken".
It is worth mentioning that since the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, insults and violent attacks against Asians have occurred in major cities in the United States, Andi Sandra, Wu Yanzu, Kim Dae-hyun and other Asian stars have loudly called for resistance to discrimination, the "Kung Fu" crew has spoken out for this, and the screenwriter has also revealed that "intentionally highlights the respected image of Asian Americans", which makes the drama currently under the protection of a "politically correct" public opinion, so that critics cannot bear to be harsh.
In fact, in recent years, the advent of Asian-American themes and elements such as "Picking Gold", "Mulan", "Don't Tell Her", "Dragon Hunting Legend" and other Asian themes and elements of film and television dramas has to some extent also been a psychological compensation for "hatred of Asians" in reality, using fictional Asian heroes and imaginary Asian cultural platters to comfort the audience, so there is no need to pursue the accuracy of expression.
In this context, such dramas are sufficient as long as they conform to the mainstream Western "Oriental imagination" – to make "Asians stand up on the screen". Yet this "political product" and "oriental imagination" has the terrible consequence of another stereotype — moving farther and farther away from actually telling the story of Asians.