Soviet SS4 ballistic missiles. |
Monday, 13 December 2021
Eyeball to eyeball; the fellow blinked!
Friday, 10 December 2021
5000 years of civilisation given due recognition?
Shang-Chi and The Legend of Ten Rings (2021)
Gone are the times when Hollywood made movies that overtly mocked cultures other than Western ones. Typically Indians and Chinese were portrayed as bumbling fools. Their cultures were made to look ridiculous, and their followers were mere bufoons. Perhaps they still do that but, alas, in a more subtle way. Just try to remember Amrish Puri as a Kaali worshipper enjoying human eyeballs as a delicacy and the faithful and spineless follower of Fu-Manchu plunging to their deaths in Hollywood's Fu-Manchu series.
For that matter, even the Russians and German were made to look like headless chickens running aimlessly in espionage sagas and combat movies.
Shang-Chi was a character introduced by Marvel in 1973 to spice up the series and satiate the appetite of comic fans the world over. Shang-Chi was presented as a long lost son of Fu-Manchu, who had been training in Tibet. In the earlier films, his daughter Lin Tang was characterised as his evil sidekick, doing the groundwork for Fu-Manchu's megalomaniac ambitions.In concordance to Marvel and Hollywood's agenda to pander to screams of the woke generation and offer so-called 'olive branch' to the minority and marginalised groups, the filmmakers have decided to make a Chinese superhero. However, the legend of Fu-Manchu reminds the world of the bygone idea of Sax Rohmer and writers of his era with the awful idea of 'Yellow Peril'. East Asia was portrayed as a threat to the western world, and Fu-Manchu was singled out as a caricature of a one-man mission to kill all white men and women to bring China back to its ancient glory. In 1932, the Chinese Embassy had expressed its objection to MGM's 'The Mask of Fu Manchu'.
China is such a big market for movies that Hollywood can ill afford to offend. The reminder of an offensive villain would not augur well with the Chinese market and for Chinese diplomacy.
In different versions of the comic series, Shang-Chi's father had been others - Zheng Zu and Mandarin. In this 2021 film version, the screenwriters have cleverly downtoned the evil quotient of these villains to create a composite character called Wen Wu. This works just well for Marvel had not obtained rights over the characters of Fu-Manchu and his nemeses. Incidentally, Mandarin was seen as Iron Man's arch-enemy. His 'Ten Ring' was an alien finding.
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The earlier ten rings were finger worn. Tony Leung as WenWu |
Shaun, a parking valet, leads a quiet life with his colleague Katy in San Francisco. All that comes to a halt when some bad dudes turn up on a bus he was travelling and create a hell ride on the undulating streets of San Francisco, reminiscent of the movie 'Speed'. The baddies are out for his pendant. Fearing that they would go for his sister, Xialing, Shaun (@Shang-Chi) speeds to Macau to meet her.
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Malaysian input |
That starts the dark family secret, the truth about his missing father, the story behind his mother's death and the legendary fight to stop the forces of evil from reigning Earth. In their own way, the film tries to apologise to the Chinese diaspora about Mandarin's past in Iron Man 3. An impersonator, Trevor Slattery, admits to having portrayed Mandarin and bad stereotyping behind him.
The final outcome is a story rich with ancient Chinese wisdom pregnant with much oriental mysticism. With the advancement of computer graphics and digital enhancement, what churns out is a tale that puts China and Chinese culture back on the map of its ancient glory. It is much like what Admiral Zheng Ho did to the Ming Dynasty in the 15th century when he sailed the high seas to explore till the New World, maybe.
(P.S. Malaysia has two representatives in the movie, Ronny Chieng and Michelle Yeoh)
Wednesday, 8 December 2021
Obey Fu Manchu Or Every Living Thing Will Die!
Director: Don Sharp
The character Fu-Manchu is the brainchild of an English novelist, Sax Rohmer (Arthur Henry "Sarfield' Ward 1883-1959). His first short story in 1912 with the character took such a liking on either side of the Atlantic that it spurred follow-up novels, plays and even a movie in 1923 titled The Mystery of Fu-Manchu.
The average Englishman in the early 20th century UK had probably no contact with an Oriental person. They had probably read about the industrious Japanese and their effort towards modernisation via the Meiji Dynasty. This was perhaps not the case in the USA or continental Europe, especially Russia. Chinese and Japanese immigrants have been working on the Pacific coast and were subjected to the same mistreatment as the blacks. The Russians had been perpetually fighting with the Japanese for imperial ambitions over Manchuria and Korea. The British were sympathetic towards the Japanese in the Russo-Japanese wars.
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Sax Rohmer |
For the imperialists and expansionists amongst the British, the Far East was a lucrative avenue for business and wealth. Their entry into China was resisted by the Chinese dynasty's closed-door policy. The colonialists justify their involvement in the Opium Wars by vilifying the Chinese as a mystic race with evil exuding from their every orifice. The anti-foreigners and anti-Christian stance of the Boxer Rebellion further cemented the idea the Chinese were terrible. Maybe the Europeans had not forgotten the cruelties Genghiz Khan and Atilla of the Oriental race. The sentiments to paint the Chinese as bad was skyrocketing by the late 19th and early 20th century. Hence, characters like Fu-Manchu and the looming fabled Yellow Peril seem justified. The 1905 Japanese win over the Russians seems to defend their claim that that anti-White yellow race was out to rule the world. Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm II was honoured to have coined the term 'Yellow Peril' (Gelbe Gefahr) to encourage Imperial German interests and justify European colonialism in China.
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A racist cartoon of The Yellow Terror in all His Glory (1899) depicts an anti-colonial Qing DynastyChinese man standing over a fallen white woman who represents the Western world. (Wiki) |
The xenophobic outlook towards the Chinese and other Orientals never went away. The central involvement of the Japanese in the Second World War and the embrace of Communist by China made the Great White powers somewhat sceptical of them. I guess now with China's threat to the US hegemony of world affairs puts them back in the wrong light. Even the Australians who had overt anti-Chinese clauses in their White Australia have resorted to labelling China and CCP as the Southern Continent's number one enemy of the State.
The yellow peril has had many faces, but Fu Manchu epitomised them for mass culture. A hugely popular icon, he even has a full facial hair is named after him - Fu-Manchu moustache, a wiry well-oiled moustache that almost touches the chin.
In come Dr Fu Manchu's nemeses, Dr Petrie and Nayland Smith of the Scotland Yard, to thwart his plan.
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Fu Manchu |
Secondly, it is Fu Manchu's daughter, Lin Tang. She is Fu Manchu's faithful sidekick. Shang-Chi only appears in 1973's edition of Marvel's comics. He is said to be Fu Manchu's son, but due to the non-renewal of rights and probably portrayal of a Chinese character in a bad light, Shang-Chi's father is depicted as Xu Wenwu. Shang-Chi's sister is Xu Xialing (not Lin Tang!). It would just go contrary to the producer's idea of including minority groups as superheroes to tap the lucrative Chinese market, would it not?
Sunday, 5 December 2021
Follow the prescribed story?
Directed by: Kevin MacDonald
20 years after the attack on the New York Twin Tower, the world is still at a loss of what actually happened on that historical day or the days leading to the event dubbed as the single most significant attack on American soil. People directly or indirectly will probably never have an appropriate closure to all their questions.
The world is given hopscotch information on what is known, what the intelligentsia believes happened and what they want us to think. Along with all is a narrative that the world should follow. Anyone deviating from the said account is deemed a conspiracy theorist.
The same thing is happening with a particular virus that is traced from the labs of Wuhan. With so many conflicting views, the Joe Public is left perplexed between needing to don a mask or not, vaccinate or not, and even trying alternative remedies. But no! The average Joe cannot form an opinion but instead simply obey the directives meted by the authorities, who themselves are clueless and are guided by self-serving politicians and businessmen. The powers-that-be have decided that citizens must be monitored digitally, and non-vaccination meant the loss of certain privileges.
I heard about Nancy Hollander through the 'Advocates The Podcast', a podcast sponsored by Taylor's University in Malaysia. After interviewing many top guns in the legal profession from the world over, the interviewers spoke to this New Mexico lawyer. My curiosity piqued to find out more about her. My research revealed that she is a rabble-rouser, involved in cases defending Guantánamo Bay detainees and a military whistleblower, Chelsea Manning, who leaked classified information to Wikileaks. Yes, she received her law degree from the same place as Saul Goodman! I also found out that a film had been made on her endeavour to free a Guantánamo inmate, and Jodie Foster was cast to play her. And here it is.In the frenzy to put a name to the mastermind who orchestrated the 9/11 attack, a Mauritanian national, Mohamedou Ould Slahi, was incarcerated without a charge for 14 years. Thanks to the passing of the Freedom of Information Act, Hollander, as his defence counsel, was able to scrutinise the day-to-day abuses inflicted upon Slahi. Slahi was able to describe the sexual molestations, the threats to his mother, the waterboarding torture, etcetera in letters which later became the first book (Guantánamo Diary) by a Guantánamo prisoner.
The movie shows what an independent judiciary system can do to open the maggots festering in a system that is supposed to take care of its citizens. In the name of national security and the need to keep information away from the prying eyes of the enemy of the state, injustice is justified. An emotional movie with a stellar performance by its main characters. Benedict Cumberbatch appeared as the conscientious Prosecutor, and Tahar Rahim (seen as Sobhraj before) plays Slahi. 4/5.
Thursday, 2 December 2021
A coward dies a thousand times, a valiant but once!
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PNS Ghazi |
Monday, 29 November 2021
Drinking the Kool-Aid?
Netflix, 3-part documentary.
I feel that the investigation results did not give a proper explanation for the turn of events. The hallmark of good mental is day-to-day functionality. In all accounts, the family seems to have done that. They had done themselves well from the hard times that befell them when they had to sell their property in Haryana and uproot themselves to Delhi. They had a thriving general store. They had friends and were cordial to the neighbours. Some of the family members got themselves higher education, and wedding bells were in the air. In the closely-knit community with so many find entertainment in playing busy-body and finding dirt amongst other people's households, it is perplexing that none is aware of the Chundawats' darks secrets. It is unbelievable that a 15 year would willingly submit himself to a deathly ritual. All the preparation could not be such a hush-hush. Is it so easy to subjugate educated, confident adults, to automatically accept and obey just because it is stamped with a religious seal? Wouldn't the younger generation, being of rebellious nature, be teeming with scorn at such practices and open up the dark family secrets to his close buddies? Some puzzling questions need to be answered.
P.S. "Drinking the Kool-Aid" is an expression used to refer to a person who believes in a possibly doomed or dangerous idea because of perceived potential high rewards.
Saturday, 27 November 2021
An unfair tale!
Director & Writer: Leela Manimekalai
It is said there is a back story behind every village deity. Madaathy is one such goddess. A representative of the feminine powers of the Universe, it is said that she is the embodiment of the spirit of a wronged low caste adolescent girl.
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