Big Trouble in Little China: Offensive or Not? | Video Essay

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Accented Cinema - Episode 80
Before you get angry, hear me out: I think most of us agree that Big Trouble in Little China isn't particularly offensive. Even a Chinese-American audience can appreciate the film for its wild imaginative story. But that raises the question: What makes some movies offensive, but not others?
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[@JimmyBoots1986]

It should also be noted that Kurt Russel in Big Trouble in Little China is the dumbest character in the movie and the Chinese-American characters are the most competent. Not only that, but the Dennis Dun and the rest of the primarily Asian cast were allowed to use their natural American accents, which was rare at the time.

[@AccentedCinema]

That is true! Hiding amidst all the crazy chaos and surreal plot, it's hard to noticed that Kurt Russel's ended up mostly a comedy sidekick.

[@JimmyBoots1986]

@@AccentedCinema Yeah, Kurt Russel is the butt of most of the jokes in the movie.

[@modgoat2594]

Oh dammit somebody already posted

[@PerplexedPlayers]

@@AccentedCinema John Carpenter and Kurt Russel purposefully didn't tell studio execs that the main hero of the story was Wang and not Burton since Kurt was a rising star at the time and Dennis was kind of an unknown. Much of the marketing for the film features Kurt Russel and not Dennis Dun because the people making the promotional stuff for the film didn't know he was the plucky sidekick instead of the hero. The subversive qualities of the movie are deliberate with Kurt excited to play a heroic character who is mostly just a blowhard that "thinks he is Indiana jones" (in Russel's words) and Asian actors getting to play characters they don't often get to in American cinema.

[@calvinjim8829]

I think the term I heard for Kurt Russell’s character was “Banana Peel Hero”. He was still the protagonist you followed, but yeah, Wang was the real hero.

[@Shorty5ft3]

My dad is a black man who grew up in NYC during the height of Bruce Lee’s career. He would always tell stories of going to theater when he was younger with his friends and when they leave the theater they would play fight like Bruce in the streets. To this day he has almost every vhs/dvd boxset of every Bruce Lee movie.

[@TG8.]

This made me tear up. Thank you for sharing and I'm glad your dad and his friends were inspired by Bruce Lee!

[@peterwang5660]

I’m telling you, black Americans are better than Chinese people at Kung Fu at this point. And I mean real Kung fu, that could actually break your arm and kick your ass.

[@germain83]

Most definitely watched those with the Wu Tang. My parents actually met through my fathers sensei. My mother was really into Bruce Lee and they watched Kung Fu movies in The Bronx and most likely Times Square too. Without Bruce or martial arts, safe to say I wouldn't be here 😆 Thank you for sharing!

[@stephenshw2262]

Black people was the main market for Bruce Lee films. That's why Enter the Dragon had a black lead.

[@Guerrilla_Grodd]

@@stephenshw2262 Source?

[@hanchiman]

I am Chinese and I think Big Trouble in Little China is one of the best tribute Wuxia movie from US, John Carpenter even admit he made this movie as a counter movie against the Asian phobic movie "Year of the Dragon"

[@tottedpotato]

imo, one of the most important asian american movies ever made. asian america, we out here!

[@hanchiman]

@@tottedpotato Not to mention Carpenter did it in a respectful way. Way better than all those awful 1980 American "karate movies". Probably everyone know, but the hero is Chinese even though he is seen from the sidekick point of view who is a bumbling idior

[@javiersoriano671]

I read somewhere before Dennis Dun got the part for Wang I heard Jackie Chan was originally considered for the role. I could be wrong tho

[@hanchiman]

@@javiersoriano671 hmmm I always thought John wanted Dennis after seeing his performance in Year of the Dragon

[@hanchiman]

@@javiersoriano671 but I think John did wanted to have Jackie as Egg Shen

[@Bj5m17h]

The scene in The Karate Kid, when Daniel finds Miyagi drinking, singing, and mourning his dead wife, reminiscing on his youth and past did so much to humanize and flesh out the character. If not for this scene and a few others, it would be easy to write off Miyagi as a stereotypical mysterious Eastern master type. Also Pat Morita was just a fantastic actor, and brought such warmth and humor to the part. Great video explaining how to analyze film with nuance.

[@dimitrescu182]

@@PikaCheeks he fought against the Germans only. I'm not sure if any American soldier fought in both theaters of WW2

[@AccentedCinema]

Karate Kid did an excellent job at depicting a the lives of first and second generation immigrant as a whole. Daniel was born into an Italian-American family, and Mr. Miyagi is obviously Japanese-American. Their connection as both outsiders and perceived weirdos are one of the reasons they connected. While Daniel was born in New Jersey, he had to move to L.A. with his family, which provides a much more relatable metaphor for people to understand how it feels to be an immigrant in a foreign land. It's just a beautiful movie all around.

[@daoyang223]

except Miyagi was very well composed and powerful. It just goes to show how much he's grown after his wife's passing.

[@Doskharaas]

To me, A Korean, I have some contradiction, that the request you guys suggest--and I’d like to do also, but--breaking down those movies, which are somehow having a potential to recognize as a cultural inappropriate toward Chinese culture, is a little bit off to a Chinese, even those should regarded as cult classics. Maybe It is up to him and we just going to hope for him having generosity to do.

[@anmolt3840051]

I believe there was an allusion to Japanese internment camps as well because Mr. Miyagi talks about how his wife and unborn kid die due to a lack of medical attention while he himself was overseas fighting in the war

[@Yautah]

"You don't mess with Asian people's food you ****" ! *Nods aggressively in french*

[@a.c.7573]

Honestly food is very important in most if not all cultures

[@mackychloe]

How do nod in French?

[@n0tthemessiah]

​@@mackychloePretentiously

[@theoneandonlymichaelmccormick]

One interpretation of Big Trouble in Little China I’ve been chewing on, (even if it likely doesn’t hold up to scrutiny) is that all of the ludicrous, faux-Chinese mystical elements of its plot are just the way that it’s main character, Jack Burton, interprets them. Jack Burton is a white, two-fisted truck driver with a John Wayne drawl who talks about himself in the third person. He’s an outsider to this culture, in addition to not being particularly smart, and the movie is from HIS perspective. So when Jack gets dragged into a gonzo gang war between two warring martial arts dynasties, a duel between esoteric sorcery and the forces of evil, an ancient prophecy coming to fruition, and supernatural threats the likes of which he has never seen before, not a goddamn lick of it is gonna make any sense to him. Jack is in way over his head. He’s “a pretty reasonable guy, who’s seen some pretty unreasonable things”. Ultimately, I think that’s what makes him a likable character, despite being a goofy blowhard who’s always falling on his ass. He has NO BUSINESS getting involved in this conflict, and easily could have ran the hell away when the going got tough, but he didn’t. He was in the right place at the right time and did the right thing when it mattered.

[@supermansdaddy7019]

Supposedly, Carpenter's on record saying that Jack Burton *is* the bumbling sidekick who has zero idea what's going on, the movie just happens to focus on him.

[@allisonj7197]

Try picturing it as if Jack is retelling this whole story to someone drunk in a bar 10 years form the events happening. It would 100% fit his personality to describe it like this and embellish the crazy details and misremember the rest.

[@williamzebub3252]

I read somewhere that Big Trouble In Little China is supposed to be an Asian fantasy action movie that has an American action movie star stumble into the plot and think it's his movie, but it's not.

[@functionatthejunction]

But Egg Shen shows us magic is real at the begining of the film.

[@capthowitzer]

If you listen to the 2001 DVD commentary track (it's up here on KZbin,) both John Carpenter and Kurt Russel note that this is more or less the intended interpretation. Things are confusing and a bit nonsensical, because we're seeing the whole thing from Jack's perspective, and he doesn't really get what's going on. Wang is the actual competent protagonist, who understands what's going on. Same with him being the sidekick - this is how he's played by Kurt Russel, and is how he's meant to be interpreted.

[@jurtra9090]

Raya was inspired by the Hall of Mirror in Versailles!!

[@khairulhussain517]

And Donald Trump's bathroom.

[@BGrimoire]

@@khairulhussain517 or, as they allegedly call it, the Donald's Dump

[@hasansaifee7156]

kuze?

[@jurtra9090]

@@hasansaifee7156 hm?

[@powerist209]

OR maybe Avatar... Like I mean it does seem too much of a coincidence since it was announced just after Avatar cartoon was released for Netflix. Think like how many companies try to ride on Halo/World of Warcraft/Call of Duty/Disney popularity and failing at being "genre killer".

[@kweassa6204]

I think another factor might be that the "South Asian culture" they tried to 'represent,' was just way too diverse to be mixed in one or two fantasy amalgamations. Movies like Kung Fu Panda, for example, depict a "Chinese-like" culture that went through heavy modification to fit the Western taste and style, but still the core elements within that (friendly) caricature is still solely recognizable as "Chinese" -- rather than, for example, a mix of Korean or Japanese here and there. If KFP featured that kind of "Asian-ish" cultural mish-mash and tried to pass it off as an homage to Chinese kung fu flicks, it probably would have had met significant backlash from the Asian audience that the movie just made a crude 'fake-Asian-ish' culture that couldn't even tell apart what was Chinese or Japanese or Korean. It would have felt insulting to East-Asians in that it would be practically saying, "oh I can't tell apart Asians, they all look alike." I think such an effect is in Raya. South Asia is in its size an area as large as Far-East Asia, and while there is some underlying similarities, each of the regions all have a culture and sense of identity that's very distinct from one another. Thai culture is not the same as Cambodian, Malaysian is not the same as Indonesian, and heck, even each of the islands in those regions have their own identity that stems from long tribal traditions. The Far-East cultures like Chinese, Korean, Japanese have a homogenous "central representation" of their culture, coming from their own historical experiences of forming unified national authorities and governments, South Asia experienced very different hustory, and as a result you can't really homogenize their cultures into one "representative version that entails all of them." As a result, I think the South Asian audiences might have felt, "is the film saying 'we can't tell apart who's who in South Asia, and since we can't just pick one, we'll just mix them up and that'll do." CJ of Cool History Bros coins the term, "cultural uncanny valley" for something like this. It's like weird, flawed imitation of what South Asia is, but it doesn't give out the feeling of respect, but rather, feels more like a crude parody.

[@rexx23ify79]

Small little nitpick, lol. Don't take it seriously. I think you meant "South East Asia" rather than South Asia, which refers to India, Pakistan and Bangladesh (and maybe more. Unsure.) instead of the different nations in SE Asia

[@sususegar]

The problem with the movie is that, as all of Xiran's guests repeatedly mentioned, Disney marketed this as "🤟A MOVIE FOR SOUTH-EAST ASIAN REPRESENTATION YO!🤙", effectively implying that they know about our culture as much as we do ourselves. I don't know how much they actually knew when they decided to market it that way, but that was a huge "woke-ism" faux paus - it's like doing yoga once then claim you know India and exclaim "sooo much culture!" like a dumb white girl on her vacation "finding herself". (This is a Fakkah Fuzz reference. Look it up if your woke ass is feeling offended) I don't think there would've been such uproar if they didn't oversell that monolithic idea, it's clearly actually an animation movie set in a fantasy land that just looks inspired by South-East Asian cultures. Or they could've made each kingdom represent different countries, that might have been more fun than to mix it up and just look strange to us. Personally, I really don't give a shit about Asian representation in Hollywood because they'll never get it right. I find it more of a 3rd/4th generation Asian-American millenial/zoomer identity crisis problem. For us Asians in Asia, just give us entertainment, even if with tropes and all, as long as it's not intentionally offensive we don't care. A good example is the Chinese guy in Ocean's Eleven - typical pint size Chinese opera acrobat, does not speak a lick of English, appears uptight and uncool, all the stereotypes you can get. But it's not offensive to me and the other characters respect him as a valuable heist colleague.

[@igodreamer7096]

Pretty much. Great text.

[@GameFuMaster]

Well, it depends. I mean people do it with fantasy all the time. Medieval fantasy is just "European aesthetics" all the time, I'd argue. But I guess it's more on intent, like trying to represent "Asians" as just one group, rather than as a fantasy group that takes inspiration from Asian culture (how ever many cultures it may be). Even saying "Chinese" culture is stupid, because of its influence Mongolian invaders, not to mention, the large number of ethnicities in China.

[@jonhanson8925]

I will say generalizing an entire continent is pretty standard in Western fantasy. Look at how many western fantasy stories are set in an amalgamation of dozens of different European cultures across centuries, if not millennias.

[@Merc1987]

Gotta say, as much as this was a necessary and greatly informative essay, I'm a little disappointed this wasn't a deep dive into Big Trouble In Little China. Love to see a full take on it when you get some free time!

[@fridaalmaraz6381]

Same! I am always down for a long conversation about Big Trouble in Little China! a film that to me is as enjoyable today as it was back when I was a little kid.

[@gazeboist4535]

I'll second (third?) this request; it was the deep dives into specific movies that got me into this channel at the beginning, together with the historical genre examinations. This essay was great, but I'd love to see more specific movie analysis.

[@belfire777]

Ooo would love to see it too, growing up in US being the only asian in my grade school i was super excited for this movie.

[@seoulfoodyo]

I was very disappointed about that. He barely talked about it. It's one of my favorite movies, it's iconic, it's cult and it's hands down the best East meets West movie of all time.

[@whosaidthat84]

I clicked the video just for this! It's an all time favorite and played a huge part in inspiring Mortal Kombat.

[@ATakTakTak]

A lot of Disney's recent movies seem to exist for the purpose of "replacing" different real life cultures and places with their theme parks, under the excuse of representation. Why go to those countries and contribute to their economies when you can just go to Disney World/Disneyland?

[@rga1605]

I agree, like, there should be better ways to represent other cultures than relying on big players, because it's like Di$ney is saying "this culture doesn't until we make a film about it".

[@tridra5714]

@@rga1605 This. As a Pakistani this is what I have thought about when it comes to the announcement of the Kamala Khan Ms Marvel show movie thing (I don't know what it is) it feels like the culture isn't known or a thing to people unless a big corporation in the west makes a movie about it representing those people when Pakistani's here already have a good television/film industry. But this also makes me think about the perpetual foreigner topic Accented Cinema talked about in a previous video ( not exactly but for the perpetual foreigner's experience) The movie could be for American-Pakstanis who don't get to see depictions of themselves or have trouble with Urdu making them feel like they can never truly experience the Pakistani style of films. I'm just rambling at this point another thing that just makes me detached from caring about the Ms Marvel project is the fact that I myself am from a different part of Pakistan while she is I believe supposed to be from Sindh I am from Gilgit Baltistan which have their own different dialects and cultural and geographical differences but still with quite a few similarities

[@madridistasejati5358]

@@tridra5714 they even change a lot of thing from Kamala's show from it's source for god's sake, glad it got suspended.

[@theobuniel9643]

@@tridra5714 I don't think MCU Kamala is Sindhi. from what I'm seeing in the trailer, that few bits of Pakistan that we might see looks like Punjab.

[@nrishiee5231]

I am a singaporean. I have never really cared about my asian, more specifically chinese heritage until i came across your channel. Your videos have made me realise that perhaps i should be caring about my culture, how it is represented, and the importance of understanding others. Thank you for helping me reconnect.

[@nurulanizazainudin]

Raya tried to tell SEA people that they know SEA more than SEA people themselves. Raya is a VagueSEA.

[@TheRealGuywithoutaMustache]

I can’t help but mention that your videos are always insightful and well written

[@ANONYMOUS-tg2tq]

YOU AGAIN

[@daoyang223]

How much??!!!1 How much!?!!q11

[@nyuwishtick]

Hey bot

[@Jekyll_Jackal]

This is Disney we're talking about they got rid of black people from their film posters, and cut Lgbt scenes when they released it in asian countries. While praising it in western countries.

[@Kinos141]

Fun fact: The Storms in Big trouble in little China were the inspiration for Raiden from Mortal Kombat. Also, one of the badguys was named Rain, same as a character from MK. I love how one art form inspires another.

[@kylenguyen7371]

Mortal Kombat was inspired by a myriad of different movies, but Big Trouble takes the cake for the number of characters MK drew inspiration from/for. Shang Tsung drew from Lo Pan, but also the villainous Han "the hand man" of Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon (owns a private island, hosts a tournament for sinister ends after usurping it from its Shaolin roots). Raiden, Fujin, and Rain parallel the Three Storms, while drawing upon their own cultural influences individually (Rain being the obvious odd duck of the trio, as he was not based off of a Japanese deity; he's actually a reference to the late artist formerly known as Prince). Johnny Cage is immediately both a parody of Jean Claude Van Damme's character Frank Dux (from the film Bloodsport), and a parallel to Jack Burton for being the clueless white guy walking into a supernatural powder keg. Kano is visually inspired by The Terminator, while Sub-Zero's infamous "ESRB-maker" fatality is an homage to The Predator. Scorpion is an outlier, in the sense that he's basically a ninja version of Marvel Comics' Ghost Rider rather than being inspired by any movies; franchise co-creator John Tobias was actually an artist for several comic books.

[@Jobe-13]

I love Kubo a lot. I was surprised to find out how obscure it is in the public eye and didn’t win awards either.

[@dubuyajay9964]

Ooh, kitty! 🙀😻

[@AuspexAO]

I kind of feel like Japan is the one Asian culture that should be immune from the idea of "cultural appropriation". Their culture is one of the most dominant cultures in the most wealthy nation in the world thanks to their economic boom in the 1980s. It's tied together in western cyberpunk and how the west views the concepts of honor and warrior culture. I think their culture has been pretty successful at "infecting" the world (which is a good thing!) Even if Japan were to disappear tomorrow, people would be talking about the samurai, yakuza, the honorifics like sensei and sempai, their music, their games, their creation myth. It's safe and sound in the mind of humanity. Ask your average Westerner if they know a Polish Hussar and no one would. Ask your average American if they know what a samurai is and they'll get it 9/10 times.

[@Germania9]

What's not often discussed about movies with problematic Asian characters is the wide gap between Asian-American viewers and mainland Asian viewers. Asian-American viewers have to put up with a century of hurtful stereotypes on Western film, that Asian viewers don't. Mainland Asian viewers here seems to be more ok with how Asians in these movies are portrayed, no matter how terribly stereotyped they are. Most mainland Chinese viewers may be more than happy that a white person plays a Chinese character, so as long their portrayals are positive. This, however, does not excuse the whitewashing of Asian characters being played by white persons, like in Firefly. The only time Asian viewers were angry is when, for example, a Chinese or Korean person plays as a Japanese, and vice versa, much like what happened to Memoirs of a Geisha.

[@michaelrenper796]

Firefly has deficits and could have done much better in representing the Chinese part of the future culture is shows, but where do you see "whitewashing"? Remember, intention matters. The culture of Firefly is a merge of European/Western and Chinese elements. So a "white" character can have plausible grown up in a mostly Chinese settlement and vice versa. PS: I speak Chinese and I love (within the obvious limitation) how it shows Hanzi being used where its conciseness makes it most suitable. As warning signs, in user interfaces aso.

[@debishvebishwish4839]

One of the most obvious example is Crazy is Asian. Rachel Chu is a Chinese yet Nick's mother belittle her saying "How American" just because she is passionate and wanted to follow her dreams. Idk how accurate is this, but I've seen local Asians belittling even their own that work outside Asia for "discarding Asian values". Idk where I am going with this, I'm just rambling again

[@supermansdaddy7019]

I notice some Asian films do this (have a Korean or Japanese play Chinese characters - not even villains, just regular characters), and as someone who doesn't really watch Chinese films, I wonder what the nuances are.

[@Germania9]

@Shaun L247 I'm quite aware of that. A lot of Chinese movies portray white men as such, without depicting them as intelligent, culture-stealing, tea-sipping, Shakespeare-quoting villains like their American counterparts. With how far Chinese films have evolve nowadays, there are still a lot of lost potential pitting Chinese heroes against a more cunning Western villain. OTOH, South Korean movies having surprisingly decent depiction of white characters, even as villains. Especially Boon Joon Ho movies and even D-Wars, which feature really decent acting by its Western cast, especially Craig Robinson & Robert Forster. So much so that Squid Game's own white villains feel like a weird yet very tiny thud against other South Korean films

[@Delinae]

Your comment about the differences between Asian and Asian American viewers make sense, as long as you aren't blaming Asians for not being aligned with Asian American priorities (it sounds like your comment sort of implied this). Asians have their own historical issues, as you point out, so what they want to see in media is different, that's all. Asian American as a pan-ethnic category was designed before the post 1965 influx of new Asian immigrants to the US and it was a political project to create a large enough demographic that US politics can't ignore. It doesn't naturally lead to the desire to see all Asians, regardless of their heritage, in commercial media. We have to wonder why it is that we have to even use commercial media as a political representation tool in the first place.

[@NaeemCho]

I just want to let you know that over the years I've watched your videos you've made me cry quite a few times with how clearly you can express things I've only felt but never put to words. Thank you!

[@tripchaup1831]

As a South-Asian, I feel very familiar to South-East Asian cultures (barring Vietnamese) and able to emotionally connect with em (specifically Javanese, Thai, Khmers and Burmese). I was not able to connect with Raya and the Last dragon emotionally. The wanted to present a Kung Fu panda-type flick without the charm, without the anthropomorphism, in a mishmash SEA culture Easter eggs for aesthetic purposes. They even made Nagas some cutesie creatures instead of the divine beings they are 😔

[@Therapy_Uncle]

Big trouble in little China was a love letter to every asian film he'd ever seen.

[@Stormbolter]

I blame Kung Pow on me ending up organizing movie viewings of poorly subtitled asian kung fu movies. It was terrible, yet I can still probably quote 60% of the film and fail to supress a smile when thinking of some of the things in it :) Thanks for another marvellous essay.

[@lainiwakura1776]

Kung Pow is a really stupid movie but it's still funny. I like how everything said is dubbed over, even the white guy, as a way to make fun of studios not wanting to subtitle movies from foreign countries.

[@Stormbolter]

​@@lainiwakura1776 And parodying the way those dubs were done, which is to say, terribly. People speaking out of sync ("who is this guy" - interlocutor starts moving the lips, then stops moving the lips - "I don't know").

[@JZBai]

Kung Pow! Enter the Fist is offensive. But not to Chinese. It's offensive to the French. :P

[@JoshuaC923]

On that day he learnt that metal claws are very painful

[@TheMixedPlateFrequency]

The odd part I found. Was that during those old Kung Fu movies, when they used English dubbed. Majority of the actors in those films could actually speak good English already. So I always wondered what the whole purpose of doing an English dub was for, when they could have just used the actors voices to do an English dub.

[@SomeGuy_1138]

This video came at an amazing time. Since the new game Sifu had just come out, some people were jumping on it because it was a French indie developed game telling a "Chinese story" and all of that. So I've been having a lot of those Kung Fu Panda thoughts going through my head, especially in terms of intent behind the project. I actually love the fact that Big Trouble in Little China does the thing where the POV character isn't actually the protagonist of the story which is just fun. But also, you have to love a movie that brought together Chinese-American legends like Victor Wong and James Hong onto the same screen together being batshit crazy and awesome. Thanks for this!

[@peterwang5660]

The thing with Sifu is that, mainlanders have been pretty happy with it, but us overseas people in the West, we’re a minority so we’re jumping on and putting very high expectations on any chance to be represented that we can get. Sifu falls right into the cultural uncanny valley, it’s pretty damn good for a bunch of French dudes that probably just watched too many Kung fu movies, but it’s just not there yet.

[@observant6953]

The sifu game is awesome! They put so much work in the fighting animations. When you finish off an enemy next to a wall or table the character actually uses the environment for the finisher. Also it is a loveletter to many other productions (I spotted references to Oldboy, Kill Bill, Sekiro) and even a fist is called Pak Choy which is also what the attack is called in the Kung Fu system they used. They even asked the Kung Fu master that they motion captured to help them design the home of the character. The soundtrack is also a modern version made by a chinese artist. Much recommended, but maybe wait for the easy mode patch, it's reeaaally hard at the moment.

[@madridistasejati5358]

@@peterwang5660 I think of Sifu as a love letter for asian martial art movie in a game format. It's not meant to representative, it's just some proper Kung-fu action game, I mean they even put one of the most iconic fighting sequence of all time in the cinema to the game itself(talking about the hallway scene from Oldboy).

[@josephrossow8901]

Great video essay. I love that you mentioned Kung Pow. That film is interesting for all kinds of reasons. I almost wrote a paper on it in college. For example, how do you nail down a narrative in a movie that you could edit in any order you want, with any dialogue you want? It's like taking puzzle pieces and putting them together to make something interesting, but wasn't the intended puzzle. Another example is how the main character (the Chosen One) points out some of the absurdities of the genre, like his reaction to the 'demonstration' of the invulnerability of the primary antagonist (Betty). It even takes it a step further to point out the oddities of the actual low budget film-making, for example, there's a take where the actress running in the scene wipes her nose with her sleeve rather openly. A different production company might've done another take, but the film calls attention to the fact that small errors in the filmmaking were there as well. I was always impressed by how a film that seems so stupid, Kung Pow, could have a shocking about of thought and depth in it. Your video essay brought up a great point about how it interacts with depictions of asian culture and how it attempts to be a 'Kung Fu' movie, despite also, very knowingly, defying that idea as well. I'd never thought about the movie as 'representative', but you're absolutely correct to scrutinize its racial and cultural depictions. For me, it added a whole new dimension to contemplate the movie in. Thanks again for the great video. Cheers.

[@gaspardbonnehon8758]

I often get defensive when cultural appropriation is brought up, because it's often anglo-saxons talking with other anglo-saxons about how some other culture is represented, and it annoys me because Americans. This is a very sincere, refreshing video that was obviously written with a lot of thought and a lot of perspective. I love your work.

[@peterwang5660]

Cultural appropriation was originally about science. Like, taking indigenous medicines, turning it into a pill, and never giving the peoples you were inspired by any of the money. Now it’s… “okay but Mexicans don’t care that there’s sombrero Mario unlike you salty Latino Americans!”… yeah because they can’t expect any better but this is all stupid anyways.

[@rantingrodent416]

I've done this at times, explaining what people with direct lived experience have taught me on the subject, because those people don't deserve to bear the emotional labour of educating everyone themselves.

[@rsmith02]

@@rantingrodent416 That's what allies do!

[@glenbe4026]

it is more often North Americans and wannabe North Americans who continuously harp on about "Cultural Appropriation". Maybe because for the North Americans every thing is about their and other's skintone and which of 4 imaginary races (white, black, brown, asian) they need every single person in the world to be labelled as. Their entire cultural identity is built around "race". I imagine when they get up in the morning, the first thing they do in the morning is to look in the mirror to affirm which one of those 4 imaginary races they identity as.

[@ClusterShart]

How can you not understand how the Star Wars prequels have been seeing a resurgence?You used one of the big memes, honestly that’s two thirds of the love right there. Great as always.

[@MultiSkiptracer]

"Is the film better than what came before" is a fantastic way to frame older films that are still somewhat bounded by their times. This puts into words perfectly why some films are still acceptable as long as we know the time it came from

[@ericcota4732]

For anyone who was hoping for a deep dive into Big Trouble in Little China, until Accented Cinema makes his own video, Filmjoy has a great video about it that discusses how it’s a critique of American involvement in the problems of foreign countries and how it plays with the roles of protagonist and supporting character with Wang Chi and Jack Burton

[@pluviosity]

your saying about treating other culture as Halloween costume is spot on. As an Indonesian, I don't really mind about keris being made like that (it's kinda cool actually), as long as they *bother* to built strong (and as original as it can be) story around it. I really want a deep dive video on cultural appropriation because as a non-white/non-Western, it's quite confusing.

[@Whitegear94]

I think Raya is using a Kalis (Filipino Sword variant) and not the Keris, since she is wielding it like a sword and not like a dagger. But the general problem that stems in the movie is that they are trying to fuse so many different SEA cultures into one, which makess it very watered down. Best approach would have been focusing and making it episodic where each episode focuses on one of the cultures at a time.

[@pluviosity]

@@Whitegear94 could be. Keris is not the only one wavy dagger/sword in the Southeast Asia. Although with how the movie is made, I wouldn't be surprised if it's a mix of everything all at once. You're right about the focusing. Imo, they should've just pick a folklore from one region instead of trying to make a generic one with cherry-picked aesthetics.

[@otterpoet]

Thank you for this video. Well presented and insightful. As a kid, _Big Trouble in Little China_ was the spark that ignited my fascination and love of Asian cinema and culture. It will always have a safe space in my heart.

[@otherwisemaladroit]

Growing up watching 80s kung fu/wuxia movies as a SE Asian, I adore "Kung Pow! Enter the Fist". It's low budget and silly, but it was clear to me that it is a love letter to those classic movies and I didn't feel that it patronized me as a fan and as an Asian. It was about that specific genre of movies, and a fan's love for it.

[@darkroninmarvel]

This reminds me of a talk I had with some Asian friends of mine about the new iron fist. Some context, Iron fist a.k.a Danny Rand is a character created by marvel comics and has been a controversial figure for 40 years because he is a white guy who is a master martial artist and knows chi manipulation, so he's been accused of cultural appropriation and a mighty whitey. This year, Danny is going to be replaced by an Asian as the new iron fist. When I gave this news to my friends, their reactions ranged from confusion to borderline rage, telling me that they liked Danny, finding his story about an outsider who had to work his way to earn his powers, and don't want him to be replaced with another Asian guy who knows martial arts. It was quite the interesting discussion.

[@cassiebrien2290]

It’s funny as an Asian American, I find Netflix’s Danny Rand weirdly relatable. He fought to become the Iron Fist because in K’un-Lun he was often called an outsider and he thought becoming the Iron Fist would make him feel more like he belonged in there. When it didn’t, he tried to return to his old life in New York but, just experienced massive cultural shock. He was so deeply changed by his time in K’un-Lun he found it hard to feel belonged anywhere. As a second generation immigrant, I often feel like I’m never American enough around other Americans and never Asian enough around other Asians. It cool to watch a superhero main character struggle with his identity and figuring out where he belongs in the same way I do.

[@darkroninmarvel]

@@cassiebrien2290 yeah, anyone can relate to Danny's story, no matter the race, why Marvel can't understand that?

[@Trilaan]

All I can say is Big Trouble in Little China is one of my favorite movies. Sometimes I even think it might be my absolute favorite movie.

[@nisgreaterthanzero]

Fantastic as always! And as always I'm impressed that you can cover a difficult topic like this in around 15 minutes when so many channels spend hours discussing a single movie. It can be a lot harder to make a short video essay than a long one, and as a viewer I really appreciate that you're putting in that effort.

[@eltontan4340]

honestly i felt more comfortable with those older films that may be racist back in the days than some of these cultural pandering Disney films(only some i do like some of them like Moana) cos at least people back in the day were probably honest with their thoughts and those films are a reflection of their mindset.I always love seeing asia culture being presented by outsiders more than ourselves yet seeing Disney behind these films doesnt feel welcoming like their 2D animated films in the 90s,it feels like you're being deceived and pandered into watching and liking their films. you know people behind "Birth of a Nation" werent trying to hide their intentions of the films and its how most Americans are back then,but nowadays you have corporations telling you they love your culture while selling it as merchandise,the fact we know what corporations like Disney really are these days probably contribute to the reason. As a Malaysian Chinese,i really liked Big trouble in little China and Kill Bill is my favourite movie of all time because they're passion projects and you can tell John Carpenter's intention is sincere behind BTLC.the filmakers behind the live action Mulan may be sincere,but is the Disney CEO the same?one is a project by a filmakers while the other is a Disney commision project,can I trust the latter?

[@gaiusn9961]

There's a film I don't see talked about often called "Snow Falling on Cedars." The film came out in 1999 and didn't do well at the box office, but the story was centered on a white man who had to learn to let go of his obsession for a Japanese woman. They were each others first love, but when WWII happened, the woman, Hatsue, was sent to the internment camps and Ishmael, the man, is sent to the Pacific. He loses his arm, and gets at letter from Hatsue saying that she can't love him anymore. Fast forward ten years, and the man she marries is put on trial for murder. Ishmael, the local reporter, finds evidence that the man, Kabuo, is innocent, but for his obession he can't come forward with the truth. The film starred Ethan Hawk, Yuki Kudo, Max von Sidow and a lot of other great actors. This may be an odd request, but if you ever get the chance I hope you could review this movie. Thank-you.

[@observant6953]

Wasn't this the movie that gets referenced in Horrible Bosses?^^

[@gaiusn9961]

@@observant6953 I'd never seen that movie, so I looked it up and yes that's the movie. Hey, if it's worth going to jail for piracy, it's worth getting talked about. Also, side note, the Japanese translation of the movie and book suuuuuck. The movie in Japanese is called "ヒマラヤ杉に降る雪" which means "snow falling on Himalayan cedars." The book in Japanese is just called "殺人容疑" which means murder suspect. This story gets no respect.

[@acudaican]

I had to read that book at school. Always remember it as the story where the protag just manages to get the tip in before his Japanese girlfriend calls it off and breaks up with him lol. Been salty ever since.

[@SamuraiMujuru]

to be fair, Tarantino really probably should be "cancelled", but for completely different reasons 😂

[@dubuyajay9964]

Cancelled? Give that man a RAISE!

[@tybellsprout]

Disclaimer: I love your videos, thanks for creating a series I feel like was made special for me. I swear, you'd think I'd learn, ever time I read one of your titles, I feel a sense of concern as I load your video. Every time, it's another insightful and (perhaps) retrospective look at a topic from a perspective I resonate with. I love your content, and feel like I learn so much, thanks for your hard work. It really means a lot to me.

[@josiahalcorne]

What was offensive about this movie was that after an amazing performance we all loved, Hollywood couldn't find anything else for Dennis Dun to do in 40 years.

[@hazardsigns]

Glad to see a nuanced take on these issues. Very often nowadays, I feel like you have to "side" with one of only two opinions. There also seems to be a glee in tearing down people you perceive to be on the "wrong side". I wish more people were willing to have an open discussion, where there are more options than "thing good" or "thing bad". Thanks for sharing.

[@sonyakinsey4376]

For me one of the problems with the Bruce Lee scene in Once Upon A Time in Hollywood was that it wasn't there to celebrate Bruce Lee and his achievements, but to make Brad Pitt's character, a man who may have killed his wife, and is horribly violent to teenage girls later in the film, look better and to set him up as a bad-ass. Out of universe you have a white dude with every single possible advantage vs. Bruce Lee, who had to fight for every inch in the system as an outsider. I grew up a Bruce Lee fan and the whole scene left a sour taste in my mouth. I can understand why his family was upset.

[@PHjerome802]

watched it for the first time as a kid and back then, I didn't understand the plot but as crazy as it is I remember enjoying it. And I think that is the point.

[@AccentedCinema]

Honestly, I still don't really understand the plot as an adult. But it's crazy and fun.

[@bennygerow]

You just named a bunch of movies I liked in the beginning, so this is going to be very interesting and I'm happy you're covering this topic. Another one I'd be curious about is the Last Samurai. I thought it was going to be really cringe, but I ended up loving it because I thought it was so well done!

[@zeromailss]

You said it so well, thank you As an Asian that has traveled to many other Asian countries I feel a little annoyed with Raya but never know how to express my feeling in words, you nailed it

[@SeanHiruki]

Big Trouble in Little China is one of my favorite films of all time and what got me interested in Asian history and culture in the first place. I hope you do a deeper dive into it someday

[@MrEllifant]

As an aspiring writer who is non-asian I think a lot about the topics you bring up in your videos. Especially, since I want to write about the China I experienced when I lived there, but without falling into unnecessary stereo types. All I can do is research to the best of my ability but I also want to capture my own perspective. If intention matters, I should be able to do it but no matter how well researched or how many people I ask, there will be someone who is offended by the mere fact that I as a non-asian dare to portrait "them". There comes a point where I have to say:" but these are my fictional characters...", nonetheless I have to do the work before getting into any argument, because otherwise I couldn't live with those creations. Love your videos, great food for thought. keep it up ;)

[@wileyjackson5124]

I I've in South East Asia, and everyone I know was just happy to see our cultures get a film. We can recognize Raya. Were just happy to see we got a seat at the table. Our own SEA cultures don't get represented ever. Plus our cultures are often very mixed and we can find elements of our culture throughout the region. Sorry but Raya showed our fruits, and ideas and architecture. A lot of Vietnamese people worked on that film, and we are very proud of that.

[@flyingburningman4602]

Yeah, Vietnamese = South East Asian, if a film tried to represent Vietnamese culture and Vietnamese making it, it's fine. But in reality, Mainland Southeast Asia alone has 5 countries. The Hollywood think themselves can represent vast of geographic area is just ignorance, even the maker’s ancestor came from there, why? Because the culture is shaped the nature and social circumstance, not skin color and blood line. A US amusement draw from different cultures, cool, Avatar: The Last Airbender does it well. But culture representation? No, stop baring about it.

[@kodokudeusotsuki]

@@flyingburningman4602 Raya didn't aim to represent all South-Eastern Asia countries, it aimed to create a fictional country like Wakanda. Do you blame Wakanda for not representing all Africa? No, it's just a fictional country with its unique features inspired by real countries.

[@whazat]

Great video, as always. It's so good to hear someone so lovingly preach their enjoyment of movies while still being aware and even critical of problems that can be within them.

[@renatocorvaro6924]

Great video, but I was kind of hoping for a full video on Big Trouble In Little China. I'll be back when that video comes out!

[@zz5165]

never have i ever stayed for one channel and always wait for their uploads, great video essay as always!

[@igodreamer7096]

Big Trouble In Little China, The Last Dragon... Man, that was right in the nostalgia! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA Another great video, AC. I agreed very much with you thought in the end. Keep up the good work and good luck in your cinematic adventures! xDDDD

[@Alakamer]

i love your videos so much, man. over the past month i've literally watched every single one.

[@Kinoksis]

Isn't Raya set in a fantasy world? It's inspired by multiple south-east asian cultures, but that doesn't mean it has to be 100% faithful to their mythos and general culture.

[@myfyp2]

Then don't claim the movie to be cultural authentic.

[@Mokiefraggle]

I think the problem people had with it was that Disney kinda touted it as something more like Moana, which was a fantasy story very much taking its cues from real Pacific Islander culture, just drawing it all the way back to the idea that all those varied cultures were once more of a singular monolith that split into what would grow into the many varied but still somewhat similar cultures we see today. Instead, they made a fantasy world that was just a huge, poorly done hodge-podge of all South-East Asian cultures, all while leaning hard into this idea that this was a SEA film made by SEA people. At least, that was the read I got while watching part one of Xiran Jay Zhao's videos on the subject...still haven't finished the other two parts, and haven't seen the movie.

[@theonlymegumegu]

thank you for the last point, i think that's the biggest takeaway a lot of people need. for people who have become anxious about things they're passionate about, for people who let either the bad or good overshadow the other without consideration, to remind us all that loving anything means taking the good with the bad and learning to come to terms with it and more. as always your content is amazing, keep it coming!

[@AbysseMicky]

Your videos are so good and interesting to watch !

[@amelta2008]

what a good video. eloquently said and a well-rounded summary. great job

[@Vertutame]

As someone who's from SEA, I think Raya has the look of SEA culture but I just can't really point which country it got from. It's like... china town I guess. that they use dragon or gold color everywhere while in china, they don't do that. I think the movie is okay to watch, 6/10 I watched it but didn't think it's that great. I would say.... it's like watching x-men apocalypse.

[@kodokudeusotsuki]

It's like Wakanda. It's a fictional country and you can't say from what country exactly it was inspired from.

[@terracannon876]

This is the most fair and objective video I've seen addressing this topic. I like most how you list out the individual factors to look for, which can help us keep an eye out in other movies in the future. Thank you for the video!

[@FeederBot]

I just realized Mulan's dad throwing the sword may be a reverse reference to a scene in three kingdoms. Basically Zhao Yun(or Zhao Zi Long), a famous warrior of Liu Bei's faction was surrounded by enemies while protecting his lord's infant son. So long story short, he survived and brought the baby back to Liu Bei. Literally the moment the baby was brought into Liu Bei's hands, he threw the baby, his very own son, to the ground, and proceeded to check on Zhao Yun's wounds and asked if he was ok, basically mirroring what Mulan's dad did but with different priorities XD

[@keenoled]

Quality yet again, thank you! Love this channel.

[@howdy_dave]

I love your channel dude. Keep up the good work

[@JZBai]

Really nice video as always! :) Since you HAD to bring it up again at the end; any chance you'll make a video discussing the Asian influences in Star Wars and your thoughts on how they handle Asian culture in that franchise?

[@wampastompastomp]

You said a lot of the "elements" that make up a film, but what I saw in big trouble in little china was how fascinating and how heroic and competent the Asian characters are. I was thinking, holy shit, Kurt Russell should not have been on the poster, it should've been Dennis Dunn. I couldn't believe how much positivity and screentime the Asian characters got. Like another poster said, Kurt Russell was the idiot and Dennis was the hero. Not to mention both Dennis and another Asian character both had love interests. Kim Cattrall for the other character and Dennis's love interest, even though she's supposed to be Asian, obviously looks very white. This was a HUGE representation considering how much Asian men are desexualized in films. I can't believe the movie was made in the 80s. Seems more legitimately "woke" than the fake woke shit we see today. Kudos to John Carpenter.

[@thomsirveaux99]

It was a big eye opener as an adolescent how many people didn't seem to understand or accept the American half if Asian-American. I saw "Big Trouble" as a child and it's been one of my favorite movies since, and the scene where they all toast America before the big battle apprently left a huge impression on me, I've never seen reason not to be able to see and accept that people with family from, or who are themselves from another country that live as an American citizen are any more or less American for it. It has to be so difficult to make that transition, I have a lot of respect for those that do it, and again probably because of this one cheesy bad ass movie about an ancient magician stealing a truck!

[@wampastompastomp]

@@thomsirveaux99 so true man

[@michaelchang963]

Your video reminds me somehow, of the movie Anna and the King. Good job, keep it up!

[@dannychen1281]

I appreciate the way you ended this essay by urging us to keep an open mind always when watching movies, even those that are "bad"... though I agree on one point, don't ever mess with our food!!!

[@lordofd7111]

Hm. So, I suppose the conflict at the center of this would be Respect vs Representation?

[@Popculturechameleon]

We just found your channel and we already huge fans! This video is incredibly well made and insightful. We talk about Big Trouble in Little China on our channel constantly, one of our favorite films!

[@zhongjiang7083]

I think also with Disney's animated Mulan it helped a lot that they got people like Chen Yi Chang, one of the principle character/art designers who is Chinese himself, to supervise it. Especially when you look at some of the concept arts he's done, you can clearly tell he knows what he's doing, by drawing in clear inspirations from Shanghai animated features and real historical research(in fact, some of those concepts are way more accurate to history than the finished film). This is a bit anecdotal, but I think the mainland Chinese dub also did a lot of favours for Disney's animated Mulan, by ironing out the kinks in the dialogue and localizing it heavily so that it actually elevated the material, with language, turns of phrase and naturalistic idioms that just make it sound way "classier" than the english original even. And also the performances such as Chen Peisi's Mushu for example is, in my opinion, a vastly superior performance than Eddie Murphy (no offence to Murphy ofc, but he definitely wasn't a natural voice actor the same way Chen Peisi was)

[@kunderemp]

While their critic to Raya was valid, as Indonesian (and also happened to be Javanese) I was triggered by how SERAT did the same exact thing, thinking Java equals to Indonesia and disregard the other Indonesian culture such as proposing Kujang as alternative because Kujang "did not have the same significant as Keris to Javanese". What a hypocrite! She also narrowed down the Silat martial arts to her own Javanese-biased definition, disregarding the fact that there are various of Silat. Hypocrite!

[@havokmusicinc]

Great video. Intention is so important, and the distinction of expressing an interest with a culture vs attempting to represent a culture is a very important difference

[@iahphrodite]

The ending message was so well-written 😢 you made my day~ 😌

[@DrBunnyMedicinal]

Another excellent video that leaves many things to ponder. Thanks for them all, and I look forward to watching many more!

[@robertobuatti7226]

I fell in love with Asian cinema as a teenager in the 90's where I rented them at my video store, it opened my eyes to many cinematic styles from all over Asia in which Hollywood films could not deliver, I especially love Hong Kong action cinema, John Woo's movies have really been a great influence on me, his movies really deliver a operatic action visual style mixed in with amazing camera work and amazing choreography that delivers something beautiful onscreen.

[@CappnRob]

Love the point you make about sincerity. I don't make movies, but I am trying to be a writer, and trying to tell stories of other cultures outside my own really does boil down to 1: LISTEN TO PEOPLE FROM THAT CULTURE and 2: BE SINCERE. Big Trouble and movies like it resonate with me because even as a white dude from the middle of nowhere backwoods of America can tell that there's love and passion for the cultures that inspire and are featured in these films. Hell, in Kill Bill, the actor for Pai Mei once played the protagonists opposing the character in several Hong Kong movies that inspired Tarantino. Its through exposure from these movies that adore and respect and homage the cinematic cultures of other places that get people interested in watching the original sources.

[@VideoJamesShow]

I want to give you round of applause. This is one of the best videos you have done and expertly written as well.

[@pterodactylpie8825]

I’ve been waiting for someone to do a video about this. I grew up with this movie and had such a crush on Dennis Dun. Thank you for this!

[@liberpolo5540]

The end gave me goosebumps, another banger of a video yet again!!

[@Saka_Mulia]

Trying to bring attention to nuance is an uphill battle, I commend your efforts. Especially in an increasingly polarised world. Great vid.

[@Lazer_puppy]

If I may share a little gem from my own culture, " Respeto ante todo", "Respect above all". If your are touching some one elses culture you should have the upmost respect not just as an artist but as a person.

[@wchan39]

The way I see it, the differences is like this: Using Kill Bill as an example, it's like Tarantino is saying, "I love this genre of movie so much that I'm gonna make my own movie like it and show it to everyone how much I love it!" In Raya's case, it's like Disney is saying, "I am not part of this culture but I know about this culture more than the people living in the place that the culture came from and I'm gonna prove it with this movie!" You can see which one people are more upset about.

[@YesterdaysMoose]

What a wonderfully insightful and informative video!

[@MoxieMcMurder]

Another great video! 💚

[@Petrico94]

As far as "inspired" movies and settings, I think it's fine if it's upfront they're being a fantasy setting that is not representative of historic or modern fact. Avatar the Last Airbender (which gets brought up a lot as a trope parade that is very entertaining) is way off culturally, but it's a fantasy world that mainly borrows the aesthetic so that should be kept in mind, it also shows passion for what it takes inspiration from without being a direct copy. Mulan is not historically or culturally accurate but the myth has some vagueness to it that allows for cannons with dragon rockets, most of the movie still holds up. Heck, Disney does a rough job representing European life for the sake of story and a fairy tale setting in a lot of their movies, not everything is going to be historical fiction especially if they want magic added. The year a film was made can give context but the phrase "hasn't aged well" still remains. In this context authenticity can help a movie stay relevant after the stereotypes have been eroded. Some are less harmful and can last longer while others should be seen as wrong now and wrong then. Film history can be interesting but only for educational purposes, and it still doesn't help when a current film can't be authentic with more resources. I'm still not sure, is it fine to love a film for being a stepping stone for representation even if it has to be mentioned it was made in a different time and there are better movies made long after that are much more stable? I can forgive only having white voice actors especially on older projects, in Hollywood you mainly want someone who can act more than someone who is the perfect ethnicity but just learned English, can't sing, not the best in front of a crowd or camera, or other factors that affect the final product past accurate representation. What's hard to forgive is being disingenuous with the culture of the setting and set design which you have full control over especially with animation. Raya roughly takes inspiration from SEA cultures but a big problem is the marketing made it out to be representation of the cultures in that region while it came off as unfocused or unfaithful. Even when it came out I felt it could have done better just as a movie and people have only disliked it more, especially with the cultural shortcomings being more vocal. I still don't hate it but a lot of people are going to now and it should have done a lot more even if it just wanted the aesthetics.

[@knutderklein9994]

If I'm allowed a little nitpick, Kris/Kèris was never a ceremonial dagger. It was a potent thrusting side arm alongside spear or Golok (heavier and shorter, yet softer machete if you like). Kèris value as a weapon of arms decreased after the Javanese Sultans no longer wield great power due to colonization

[@SLYKM]

That is a seamless transition to the the skillshare ad. Great video so far

[@raizopopo3159]

Raya? I dont even know there is such movie. Fun fact about Indonesia: We proud with our food, you eat our food you'll become our family. But if you mess with our food; we shall grant your wish for a paintful end.

[@brandonstone1913]

Another excellent video!

[@legomech1946]

Fantastic video essay! I'm glad this popped up as a recommendation!

[@ChristianPencz]

Beautiful, amazing work as always. Thank you!

[@06DOR]

For Big Trouble, it's worth noting that Jack Burton was never intended to be the hero. He's the sidekick and Dennis Dun/Wang Chi is the hero. This is lost on many.

[@CasualHobbyist]

As an Asian American who casually enjoys movies, I really enjoy how you break down both the cinematics as well as the culture subtext. Please keep up the good work.

[@TheSinlessAssassin]

Been watching your videos a lot lately and just gotta say I appreciate your take on these things. I'm Southeast Asian and I don't take much offense to how we're portrayed so long as a story is good, but I can understand why others might be offended by certain depictions of us. That said, I like how you posit that how we perceive art is how we perceive ourselves, and so seeing the problematic elements in a film shouldn't negate its quality storytelling (if there is any) and that no film is perfect just like us. That hit hard!

[@Jonez.12]

What is the name of the song that starts at 1:50? The erhu is mesmerising

[@HUEnshiro_do_Norte]

That battle between Lo Pan and Egg Shen had a huge visual impact to me when I was a kid. "Big Trouble in Little China" is such an 80's masterpiece.

[@AuspexAO]

"You could never defeat me, Egg Shen." As a young writer I instantly wondered whether Egg was a powerful young sorcerer when he first faced Lo Pan and what became of his friends that time.

[@emelianenko4899]

Subscribed. Amazing video.

[@ehongkongwong]

I appreciate your last point about it being okay to like movies despite their flaws. It gives a more balanced approach to movies instead of finding any reason not to like them. It's very easy and feels very empowering to criticize and point out all the negative aspects of something that someone else has created, but it's much harder to do it in a way that's constructive. I'm not SE Asian, but I did generally enjoy Raya (not super memorable but still enjoyable), so thank you for the permission to not hate the movie.

[@4zn1nv4zn3]

Loved big trouble in little china. As an Asian American, it was cool to see as a kid an Asian on the screen that spoke w an American accent, was cool, and not some nerd.

[@bighara]

Wonderful analysis, as always

[@deecee9548]

Gosh, you have just given me a whole list of films I want to watch from my childhood AND new ones too! Thank you 😁

[@MatadorShifter]

Kung Fu Panda creators were very familiar with Chinese kung fu cinema and martial arts when they were making the movies but they kept it simple because their main target audience was below 18. We have animals who represent each style of the animal kung fu styles (although not all of them). The leopard's name is Tai Lung which is an obvious reference to the biggest wuxia actor of all time, Shaw Brothers' Ti Lung. Lord Shen totally feels like a reference to Lo Lieh's Pai Mei - a sneaky eccentric evil kung fu master with a very dry sense of humor, packing lethal skills and thinking one step ahead of his enemy. There's much more in the movies that I'm not going to mention but you can tell that whoever wrote the Kung Fu Panda series was either a Chinese martial arts cinema fan or an intelligent person who really did their homework and knew how to present it in a simplified, accessible way

[@higashirinchiah1013]

I love Raya being SEA inspired rather than focusing on authenticity of a specific SEA country. They never said the country in the cartoon is any of the SEA country. How can it offend, if the country is not even existent? 🤷🏻‍♂️