Bodyguards and Assassins

The movie has been nominated and also won numerous awards in Hong Kong. Bodyguards and Assassins is a movie about what would be the start of the Chinese Revolution and how people used their lives to protect the Revolutionist Dr. Sun Yat-sen as he holds a secret meeting. The meeting would be held in Hong Kong which was a British territory than so the monarch has no power there. The unfortunate thing is the fact that Cixi, The Empress Dowager, had found out about the meeting and send elite assassins to dispose of Sun Yat-sen. One might ask why people are willing to throw their lives away just so Dr. Sun Yat-sen can hold a meeting. The answer is very complicated.

The first is the fact the ruling family, Qing Dynasty, where considered foreigners and they ruled for almost two hundred years. Hans, which are the majority of China, were not allowed to hold any Imperial office. Furthermore the there was very little development making civilization in China virtually the same as the Ming Dynasty. When foreigners, like Great Britain, arrived in China, People realize the current state that they were in.

Unlike the Mongolians who ruled China during the Song Dynasty; the Qing Dynasty were still Chinese, but they are not Hans. Because of this there was no reason to overthrow the ruling family which is not true. The peasants of China were not oppressed, but they are not happy for most of China was poor. The movie manages to depict the shamble streets of Hong Kong and the lives of the poor. Streets are crowd daily with crowds, street vendors, and rickshaws with the occasional beggars. The narration would remind the fact that the revolution is to hopefully help the poor and oppressed find a better life.

The fight choreography was done really well and the compelling acting. At time the movie would try and make us imagine the life they could have lived if they were to live. Even though many lost their live, Dr. San Yat-sen did not proceed to become president. This of course lead to the instability of the Republic and the People’s Republic eventually came into power.

Little Big Soldier

Jacky Chan’s new movie was film in China and production was in Hong Kong. Furthermore this movie, starring Jacky Chan, was directed and produced by him. The new movie, Little Big Soldier, is about a soldier who mange to capture an enemy general. Both armies were annihilated and they were the sole survivors. The setting takes place around the Warring States Period which is around 2500 years ago. The movie like almost all Jacky Chan’s movie is hilarious and fun, but is lacking in the action he is usually know for. The lack of action does not bother me at all, but the setting did.
Like I mentioned before, it is the Warring States period and Jacky Chan, starring as a foot soldier, who captures an enemy general is trying to get back home. He hopes to be able to claim a reward by turning in the general. The foot soldier is from the state of Liang while the general is from the Wei. During the Warring States period, the kingdom of Liang most likely did not exist. I have never heard of this kingdom before. After researching, I discovered that the Liang state actually existed several hundred years earlier in the Spring and Autumn Period of China, which is practically the era before the Warring States period. It is historically known that the states in the period that the movie takes place in was conquered by the Qin, another of the five warring states. Countless battles took place in this era, but it is not portrayed much in the movie. Instead, the audience only learns about the battles through the conversations between the foot soldier and the general.
In Little Big Soldier the foot soldier is looked down upon by the general and everyone else they come across. Through the perspectives of both characters, I can see the difference in the lives of regular soldiers and high ranking generals. As the movie progresses, the two begin to understand each other, though unwillingly. Mostly, both characters try to force the other to understand his own position. Through their adventure I began to understand the hardships that the people of that time faced as every state was at war with all others in an attempt to conquer the other states.
I can tell that Chan is trying to create something different from his earlier films by using more words and less action, but even then this movie fits best under the action genre. The film is likeable in some ways because it tries to get the audience to sympathize with the main characters. The bad side is that it failed to do so. However, I like how he imagined how that period of Chinese history was like. I would love to see more of what Chan can do in his upcoming films.

Japanese culture in the U.S.

As many people know, Japan is well known for it's technology and culture. With those comes games and animation(anime). Just recently Square Enix, a Japanese media publishing company,released Final Fantasy XIII. The main characters of the game is Lightning and Snow. Awkwardly enough Lightning is the female character and Snow is the male character. Although nothing is wrong with them, main issue when people play the game is Hope. Hope is another character to the game. Compare to Lightning ,who is strong willed, letting nothing get her way and Snow who emphasize that he is an hero. Hope on the other hand is an hopeless weak and pessimistic character. He is the kind of character many would say they want to put a boot up his rear. Characteristic like that of Hope is rather common among popular Japanese games and anime.
Another great example is Raiden form Metal Gear Solid. In Metal Gear Solid 4 Raiden is a Cyborg, Ninja who can take on ten Gekko, giant robot, which the is equivalent to taking on a entire Navy Marine platoon. Raiden however was not like this to begin with. When he was first introduce in Metal Gear Solid 2, people in the U.S. had a hard time getting attach to him because they complained that "He whines like a girl." The creator of Metal Gear Solid was very disappointed how could people dislike Raiden.
Compare to the U.S, Japan is more accepting of this kind of characteristic. In fact most of the popular games and anime localized has an character with that kind of personality. Although I hear complaints how pathetic Hope, but compare to Raiden when he was first introduce way less. Do to steady stream of media from Japan, gamers in the U.S. are more accepting of this kind of behavior in characters.