Watched Shang Chi at the Cinema!

OMG. THIS IS THE FIRST TIME I'VE STEPPED INTO A CINEMA IN 1.5 YEARS!!! 

I can't even remember when I last watched a film in the cinema. Was it a middling Marvel show? I don't really want to go to cinemas now, because, pandemic, and also why would I want to waste 2.5 hours outside watching a show that I don't know if it's any decent. Anyway, I went to watch 'Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings' (2021). Picked a day to watch it when the dog was in school, and chose the 10.45am show in a 'vaccinated theater'.   

All in alll, I really enjoyed 'Shang Chi'. I didn't care that this film was representative of East Asian Americans in Hollywood, as opposed to a stereotypical 'Crazy Rich Asians' (2018) that somehow became a hit. I didn't care that it was part of the Marvel universe. I cared even less about Simu Liu. I didn't know how the name 'Shang Chi' is pronounced. Had to look it up — Oh, in pinyin, it's Xu2 Shang4 Qi4, 徐尚氣. Mmmmokay.  

I wanted to watch the film for Michelle Yeoh. (Yes, I also know her Chinese name Yang2 Zi3 Qiong2, 杨紫琼.) She plays a martial arts exponent Ying4 Nan2,  映南. Confession: I like her in films lah. I'll watch anything that she puts out. Hurhurhur. She has got such gorgeous screen presence and poise in 'Shang Chi'. I just love how they threw in powerful women in the film.

Tony Leung, as Xu2 Wen2 Wu3 (徐文武) the film's titular villain, owner of the Ten Rings and Shang Chi's father, was fun to watch. In fact, he turned in a sterling performance in his first Hollywood role. BUT, I really hate his hair in this film. I'm used to watching him as a romantic lead, a triad leader, or a detective, as a grandmaster of Wing Chun, and also as a Chinese military general. All with hair nicely combed and styled. Just not as a Marvel martial arts supervillain with very messy hair. Hahaha.

I was surprised to watch a Marvel film begin in Mandarin, narrated by Jiang Li, Wenwu's dead wife (played by Fala Chen). This isn't typical for sure. Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, the film removed the anti-Asian stereotype of Fu Manchu that was the father and the villain in the comics, replacing him with the complex villain Xu Wen Wu, a.ka. The Mandarin. The director also centered the film on Asian and Asian American culture. 

This generation of Singaporeans (of Chinese ethnicity) would feel strongly what East Asian Americans feel because we might not be fluent in Mandarin or Korean or Japanese, having spoken English all our lives. We reject the terms and notions of 'mother tongue'. Any other language would simply be the family languages that our grandparents spoke, or a second language acquired. Yet we might master neither of those languages. 

Besides the familiar customs (Qing Ming practices, to Asian breakfast items, and removing shoes when entering a home) to Asian audiences, which are strange to Americans and Europeans, there're many stereotypical elements, I feel, that made up the Western notion of 'what's Asian'. What is up with the many pagodas, lanterns and the color red? Then, there're many articles floating around about pronouncing the names in this film. There's this whole segment about Shang Chi teaching Katy how to pronounce his Chinese name. He's just normal 'Shaun' in the show. Okay, America. You just can't speak other languages besides English, huh. So I suppose this is why 'Shang Chi' is a big deal for Asian Americans, and in Hollywood. 

While this is a good film to address anti-Asian hate in America or Europe now, a single film shouldn't and can't bear the burden of ethnic representation in Hollywood and beyond. An Asian superhero is a good start, but many more characters should come along. I also look forward to watching the 'Eternals' due to be released in November. Directed by Chloé Zhao, that is supposed to have a fair representation of the diversity in America and Hollywood. However, both 'Shang Chi' and 'Eternals' don't have a release date in China, and may never will.