Everybody dies, the guy does not get the girl
Friday, February 22nd, 2008After watching numerous Chinese movies, including the recent Lust Caution, I have come to the conclusion the title of this post accurately describes most Chinese movies.
About 5 years ago, Lily and I went to a series of movies during the Austin Chinese film festival. In each and every one these movies, the same thing happened…
- everyone you care about in the movie dies
- the guy never gets the girl
In fact, in one of these movies (something like Gong Gong Hurah), in the end the girl is riding away on a horse, while the guy is calling out Sumiyaaaaaa… You see, in this movie, the guy loved the girl, the girl loved the guy, but the girl slept with another guy while the main guy was off in the big city. When the guy comes back, he’s upset because the girl slept with another guy, so he leaves again. They eventually meet up again, and stare deeply into each other’s eyes, and then she rides away and he calls her name. Then the movie is over, done, finished.
But this latest movie Lust Caution really is the best example of this type of movie. Truly, everyone dies, and the guy never gets the girl.
Never a happy ending - rule #1 for a Chinese movie.
- lao gong
My Lao Po likes to tell me that in every American movie, the guy ALWAYS gets the girl, and the bad guys die.
哈哈！
俺太落后了，到处都看到筒子们在谈论这个“戒.色”， 可是俺竟然不知那是何物。有一次看到小红 又在谈论这个“戒.色”，俺终于鼓足了勇气问了小红，这才知道这东东的英文名叫” Lust Caution “， 立马网上查了查，知道DVD 二月十八九号出，即刻就从netflix定了。昨晚终于看了。看完了都快夜里一点了。没想到电影的结局再次让阿竹大发感慨，立马跑到我的博客上发表他这么多年总结出来的对中国电影的结论。呵呵，说实话，每次看中国电影他都会预言结局，结果每次都会应验他的预言。我就反唇相讥说，你们美国的电影也可以预言结局，不管主角处在多么危险的境地/处境，你都不要为他们紧张担心，因为他们最后总是会化险为夷，胜利成功地得到他们想要的。
也许我的某些个性特点也代表了典型的中国人的的典型特点，而阿竹的某些个性特点也代表了典型的美国人的典型个性特点。每次阿竹跟我谈他的idea 时，我总是会一连串提出一大堆的“如果不成如何如何”的疑问来，所谓的“有些打击士气不鼓舞人心”的话，而阿竹才不去想那些如果不成会有的结果呢，他只会一门心思想着那些如果成了就会有的让人激动发狂的结果。他说这样你才会有动力全力以赴地立马去按照你的想法行动，如果想得太多就会让你鼓不起劲迟迟动不了手。而你不试是永远没有任何结果的。
典型的悲观主义和乐观主义的结合哈！
