Thursday, April 23rd, 2009
News Links: April 23rd, 2009
It’s been twelve days since the last news links post so there’s a huge backlog of links. I’m going to be attacking the pile by separating the links into two posts: one for the regular news and another for the Hong Kong Film Awards links. We’ll do the regular news links in this post and save the HKFA one for later. But first, some reader interaction on the topic of the day:
From the comments on the Jackie Chan “Chinese need to be controlled” post:
phatyou writes: I’m not trying to condone or justify what Jackie said, but I think Jackie said what he said, not because he was trying to carry favour with the mainland (there was certainly some brown nosing going on, because he would never say the same thing in HK or Taiwan) but in some simplistic way he actually believes in it. Jackie grew up very poor, so poor that his parents had to send him out to the academy, and in the academy that was where he learnt his discipline and his principles, under the iron hand of master Yu Jim-Yuen. Fast forward 40 years, with the prosperity of HK and China coming in bloom, he probably views this generation as soft and spoiled, and yearns for the culture of his youth, where respect for your elders and authority reigns supreme, but minus the torture and the human rights abuses. Maybe I am overthinking it, but that’s the way I see it.
I don’t think our reactions are that far apart. I still think the main motivation for saying what he said was to look like a cool guy in front of a Mainland audience. However, I agree that his opinion was formed off the top of his head from just his own experiences. I don’t think his opinion was based upon deep reflection of today’s society and meticulous analysis of Marx, Mao, Adam Smith and The Federalist Papers. This is why I’m finding it hard to muster the disgust others are feeling for him. He’s an actor, a guy who’s famous for amazing, often clownish, physical feats. He’s not a political leader. He’s not running for office. He’s not responsible for creating public policy. If you’re going to hate him, hate him for being a money-grubbing, pandering indiscreet dope. Don’t hate him for comments that were clearly made without much thought or conviction. Jackie Chan isn’t a “Communist oppressor” or a “fascist”. He’s like an “environmentalist” who makes a big deal out of planting a few trees on Earth Day. He’s not a greener-than-thou type who wants capitalist economies to die because they’re killing the polar bears.
phatyou continues: As for the nail in coffin for Jackie’s career? The beginning of the end came when he decided not to do anymore action movies. SHINJUKU INCIDENT was a bold attempt to remake himself, but in the end, he is who he is. Jackie is not good enough of an actor to be seen as another character and not as Jackie!. Maybe he should go into producing, be somebody like Eric Tsang and cherry pick projects and use his contacts in and outside the industry to get them made.
The beginning of the end started well before he decided to quit making action movies. I think it started around the time of Dragon Seed. I think that scandal confirmed to many what people had been whispering about Big Brother Jackie for many, many years. He then exacerbated the situation by doing sequel after sequel in addition to movies like THE TUXEDO. People started seeing him less and less as a “cool action star” and more and more as a “sellout who has few principles”.
phatyou asks: I haven’t been really paying attention, but how is his relationship weird with his son? His overcriticalness towards him? It seems like Jackie always slag Jaycee in the media. From what I have read or seen on TV, I find Jaycee to be very well adjusted, down to earth guy. He could’ve very well had gone down Edison’s or Juno’s route as a spoiled rich brat, but I don’t get that from him at all. Seems like a nice and jovial guy.
I don’t know what his real relationship is with his son. I was talking about the public perception of the relationship. I don’t read six newspapers a day anymore so I don’t have my finger on the pulse of public opinion as much as I did in the past but I think people see Jackie Chan’s relationship with his son as “weird.” Like you said, he constantly slags his son in public while most people in his position would be supportive of their kids.
Also, I think the prevailing public opinion is that Jaycee Chan’s down-to-earth demeanour is a testament to his mother Lin Feng-Jiao. I don’t think anyone credits Jackie Chan for Jaycee Chan’s upbringing.
David Harris writes: For what it’s worth: Jackie Chan comments ‘taken out of context’
Sometimes, I wonder if PR people exist in Hong Kong. “He was only talking about the entertainment industry” is just about as bad as “They’re fake! They’re fake! The photos are fakes! We’re calling the cops!”. The only thing worse would be if he released a video statement in which he mumbled that this whole incident was a “strange, strange ordeal.” I don’t think anyone with two intact frontal lobes in their brains buys that he was only talking about the entertainment industry. On top of looking stupid, he now looks spineless.
If I was his spin doctor, I’d have him do something similar to what President Obama did after Reverend Jeremiah Wright’s “… not God Bless America … God Damn America!” sermon leaked. I’d have him hold a press conference where he didn’t take any questions but read a speech further explaining his comments. The speech would include some of the ideas that phatyou mentioned in his comment: the young generation is soft and spoiled, people don’t know the true value of a dollar, people are selfish and don’t value work ethic like they did in the past and so forth.
I’d spin “Chinese people need to be controlled” into “people have become lazy and entitled, they want the benefits of hard work but they don’t want to put in the sweat and tears … people all over the world, not just Chinese people need challenges and obstacles to struggle against” that’s what I meant by “people need to be controlled”. I’d also have him play the whole “I didn’t go to school, I’ve been working my butt off since I was a child, I’m not an educated man so sometimes my words aren’t refined” card.
A speech like that wouldn’t mollify everyone but it would do a better job of damage control than “he was quoted out of context, he was only talking about the entertainment industry.”
In any case, Jackie Chan’s going to have to do something more than have a spokesperson react for him. This can’t be dumped into the “Jackie being Jackie” file along with his drunken display at Jonathan Lee’s concert. This can’t be swept under the rug like Dragon Seed. There’s too much acrimony for it to just blow over.
One last piece of reader interaction: To reader Joe, I finished this post before I read your comments. I’m happy to answer your questions in a future post. However, I’m not sure if people want to hear me yap about history, society and politics so it may be better if you shoot me an e-mail so that we can discuss your questions without boring everyone else.
JACKIE CHAN NEWS LINKS:
Jackie Chan Faces Film Boycott for Chaotic Taiwan Comments
Jackie Chan’s ‘freedom’ talk sparks debate
Jackie Chan trips up over “chaotic Taiwan” remarks
OPINION: East (Jackie Chan’s Remarks) versus West (Jackie Chan: Racist?)
MORE JACKIE CHAN NEWS LINKS:
More than 100 to perform at Jackie Chan’s Bird’s Nest concert
Dragon Seed, Eight Years Later: Elaine Ng plans for daughter to meet “father”
RELATED LINK: Fast Weekly story upon which above article was based
Singer Coming Back with New Album, and Jackie Chan
IN PRODUCTION:
Husband and wife directing team Mabel Cheung Yuen-Ting and Alex Law Kai-Yu (AN AUTUMN’S TALE, THE SOONG SISTERS, CITY OF GLASS) were on location Tuesday afternoon in the Central district shooting their new film 歲月神偷 (trans. OLDEN DAYS MASTER THIEF). Set in the 1960s, the movie stars Simon Yam Tat-Wah and Sandra Ng Kwun-Yu with Ng playing a “’60s era housewife/Robin Hood”.
With the film, Law and Cheung hope to re-create the memories of their youth and inspire the people of today. Law: “In Hong Kong during the 1960s, everybody was poor but everyone was filled with ambition and determination. At the time, the economy wasn’t great but everyone still had opportunity. All they needed was the willingness to work hard to pave a road to success for themselves. Nowadays, Hong Kong people don’t have that spirit. If they have any spirit at all it’s ‘negative spirit’. Many people are depressed or live in denial. I don’t think that’s healthy. I think we need to look at the past, see how we did things back then and see if we can apply it to today.”
See, this is the kind of thing I would include in the speech if I was Jackie Chan’s spin doctor. People would buy this more than they would buy “he was only talking about the entertainment industry”.
RELATED LINK: Photos from the set courtesy Sina.com.
Carina Lau to play Empress in Tsui Hark’s new film
Chow Yun-Fat: Kung Fu Confucius
Variety: THE MAD DETECTIVE and THE MISSION to be remade by Hollywood
Post-Olympics, director Zhang Yimou plans new film
Pan-Asian auteurs line up for Chengdu omnibus
New JOURNEY TO THE WEST TV series: Building an epic ‘Journey’ out West
Photos: Tang Wei and Andy On Chi-Kit work on Ivy Ho’s CROSSING HENNESSEY
Photos: Fan Bingbing works on Peter Chan’s BODYGUARDS AND ASSASSINS
GENERAL NEWS:
Hong Kong film festival announces shorter run for 2010
Ang Lee’s Woodstock Film Up for Cannes Competition
Celebrity Watch: Items on Daniel Wu, Aaron Kwok, Jacky Cheung and Charlene Choi
Tse Family Drama: Little Lucas’ $2 million offer leads to parental dispute
More Tse Family Drama: Rumoured couple Andy On Chi-Kit and Jennifer Tse Ting-Ting, sister of Nic, deny relationship, share stage at publicity event for a watch company
Taipei Times Pop Stop: Nic Tse and Cecilia Cheung among other celebrity items
ABC gives Zhang Ziyi the creeps
Edison Chen receives threat mail again!
Joe Nieh: Miffty Zhang is “God Sister”
FEATURES:
Aaron Kwok: Aaron bags Guinness record for show stage
Fruitful decade for Raymond Lam
Bai Ling promotes CRANK: HIGH VOLTAGE
- Bai Ling cranks up moonstruck life for “High Voltage”
- INSIDE THE MIND OF BAI LING
- Bai Ling goes where the action is
- Bai Ling, Crazy Cool
- Bai Ling Wants To Know If You’re Naked
Jim Chim Sui-Man (LoveHKFilm People Page): Chim fired up over battle of the sexes
Taiwanese star Dylan Kuo: Dylan Comes Clean
Mainland director Lu Chuan: Nanjing! City of Life or Death?, City of Life and Death, a Director’s Odyssey
MOVIE REVIEWS:
Channel News Asia reviews THE SNIPER
Hollywood Reporter review of GLAMOROUS YOUTH
Tapei Times review of the Taiwanese horror film INVITATION ONLY
PHOTO GALLERYS:
Stars attend Eric Tsang Chi-Wai’s 56th birthday party (April 13th)
Karen Mok Man-Wai in the Chinese edition of Marie Claire
Zhang Ziyi and Gillian Chung promote VEVA cellphones in Beijing on April 16th
Chung was on stage for only two minutes during which she talked about the phone’s functions and how happy she was to be its spokesperson
Zhang Ziyi at an event for Armani
Miriam Yeung at a publicity event for Lenscrafters
Irene Wan Bik-Ha, Sonija Kwok Sin-Lei, Kathy Chow Man-Kei attend publicity event
Anthony Wong Chau-Sang shoots video for Charmaine Fong’s song “Table For Two” Pace Wu’s ‘Fashion’ Show
Nick Cheung and Esther Kwan’s Wedding Pics
Promotional photos for Leo Koo’s new album STRINGS FOREVER
Making her first acting appearance since the television series MOON FAIRY (奔月) in 2003, 
