Just saw The Great Wall. Matt Daemon, Dafoe, etc.

So… let’s see, I’m not the kind of Chinese that would be offended by this movie. Well at least not right after I see it.

The rings they recover, still slimy with its occupants bloody tissue, piling up, that’s some pretty gruesome imagery. But sadly, The Great Wall is probably more monument to all those who died building, guarding and rebuilding it than an ancient engineering marvel. This rings loudly as a metal ring would, reverberating many times throughout the movie.

Let’s see, there certainly is the white saves Chinese theme… westerner bringing the magnetic stone to China probly sounds offensive. Chinese invested the compass, and you want to credit that to the traders?

I can’t get upset though. I mean it looks like a pretty serious attempt to beautify Chinese people. All that scale, all that discipline and organization, women leading an army, social hierarchy and behavior expectations, all that ceremony, and respect and honor and greed and loyalty and betrayal, useless leadership at the top, and … a lot of good stuff to put on display, for better or for worse.

Anyways, for a brainless culture infusing fantasy with unevenly mixed movie genres and acting styles, it works fine. If this continues for another 5-10 movies, I’d be worried about the superficial integration. But right now it isn’t bad enough for me to be upset.

But then I’ve been in California for a long time, maybe more desensitized that other Chinese people about these things.