Post by klep on Aug 16, 2021 11:03:03 GMT -6
MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 8/16: Big Trouble in Little China
PULP ADVENTURE WEEK!
There's a problem I've noticed in a number of films I've seen that I like to call Wrong Protagonist Syndrome. It happens when the filmmakers don't understand whose story it is they're trying to tell, and following the wrong viewpoint causes a great strain against the story. My go-to example is 2010's Tron: Legacy which is clearly a redemption story for Jeff Bridges' Kevin Flynn, but the film's insistence on following Flynn's son (Garrett Hedlund, one of a bunch of interchangeable white guys Hollywood was trying to make A Thing at the time) continually pulls the film away from the story its trying to tell.
John Carpenter's Big Trouble in Little China is a film that by all rights should have fallen into this trap. Its star is Kurt Russell as Jack Burton, a trucker who gets wrapped up in a gang war/mystical plot in San Francisco's Chinatown. But its protagonist is his friend Wang (Dennis Dun). It's Wang's town that's in turmoil, it's Wang's fiancée who gets kidnapped as part of Lo Pan's (James Hong) evil plot, and it's Wang who does most of the actual fighting and planning.
But Big Trouble in Little China manages to avoid the pitfalls of Wrong Protagonist Syndrome because it never truly acts like Jack is the protagonist. Jack never really drives the action himself; instead he's reacting to all of the things happening around him. He's mostly in the film to be loud, look pretty, and occasionally do a cool thing with a knife. Jack is a fish out of water and on some level he knows it; certainly the film knows it. Jack is the butt of most of the film's jokes, frequently undercutting his braggadocio and getting laughs out of his ignorance.
And its perhaps that which helps keep the film from feeling all that exploitative. Nine out of ten films like this made by Hollywood would fall into gross white savior tropes and have Jack prove his easy superiority to the Chinatown residents at navigating their troubles and various factions. But because Jack is so obviously a hapless interloper and sidekick - because the film treats Wang as its protagonist - it doesn't feel like Chinatown, Lo Pan, and all the Chinese cultural signifiers are just window dressing for a white man's story. It's not a perfect film in that respect; like many genre films it leans a little on stereotypes (as with Lo Pan and Victor Wong's Egg Shen) to help fill in character details, but it's much less offensive than Hollywood usually is about these things. And that's the result of deliberate effort; Carpenter apparently worked with the cast to remove racist or insensitive elements from the film.
Which just goes to show - it is possible to make a hilarious, exciting genre film that isn't grotesquely offensive to the cultures it's operating in. All you have to do is try.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 8/23: Beauty and the Beast (1991)
GUEST ESSAY WEEK!
Next week while I'm on vacation we'll have a guest essay on the animated classic that turned the breath of fresh air that was The Little Mermaid into a full-on rebirth of Disney animation. Be sure to join us next week for our discussion of Beauty and the Beast, available on Disney+ and for rent at the usual places.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 8/17: The Green Knight
The podcast's pairing on Arthurian legend concludes with David Lowry's take on the tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Come join our discussion of this alluring film on Wednesday! The Green Knight is still in theaters and will be streamed in a special screening by A24 on Wednesday evening.
PULP ADVENTURE WEEK!
There's a problem I've noticed in a number of films I've seen that I like to call Wrong Protagonist Syndrome. It happens when the filmmakers don't understand whose story it is they're trying to tell, and following the wrong viewpoint causes a great strain against the story. My go-to example is 2010's Tron: Legacy which is clearly a redemption story for Jeff Bridges' Kevin Flynn, but the film's insistence on following Flynn's son (Garrett Hedlund, one of a bunch of interchangeable white guys Hollywood was trying to make A Thing at the time) continually pulls the film away from the story its trying to tell.
John Carpenter's Big Trouble in Little China is a film that by all rights should have fallen into this trap. Its star is Kurt Russell as Jack Burton, a trucker who gets wrapped up in a gang war/mystical plot in San Francisco's Chinatown. But its protagonist is his friend Wang (Dennis Dun). It's Wang's town that's in turmoil, it's Wang's fiancée who gets kidnapped as part of Lo Pan's (James Hong) evil plot, and it's Wang who does most of the actual fighting and planning.
But Big Trouble in Little China manages to avoid the pitfalls of Wrong Protagonist Syndrome because it never truly acts like Jack is the protagonist. Jack never really drives the action himself; instead he's reacting to all of the things happening around him. He's mostly in the film to be loud, look pretty, and occasionally do a cool thing with a knife. Jack is a fish out of water and on some level he knows it; certainly the film knows it. Jack is the butt of most of the film's jokes, frequently undercutting his braggadocio and getting laughs out of his ignorance.
And its perhaps that which helps keep the film from feeling all that exploitative. Nine out of ten films like this made by Hollywood would fall into gross white savior tropes and have Jack prove his easy superiority to the Chinatown residents at navigating their troubles and various factions. But because Jack is so obviously a hapless interloper and sidekick - because the film treats Wang as its protagonist - it doesn't feel like Chinatown, Lo Pan, and all the Chinese cultural signifiers are just window dressing for a white man's story. It's not a perfect film in that respect; like many genre films it leans a little on stereotypes (as with Lo Pan and Victor Wong's Egg Shen) to help fill in character details, but it's much less offensive than Hollywood usually is about these things. And that's the result of deliberate effort; Carpenter apparently worked with the cast to remove racist or insensitive elements from the film.
Which just goes to show - it is possible to make a hilarious, exciting genre film that isn't grotesquely offensive to the cultures it's operating in. All you have to do is try.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 8/23: Beauty and the Beast (1991)
GUEST ESSAY WEEK!
Next week while I'm on vacation we'll have a guest essay on the animated classic that turned the breath of fresh air that was The Little Mermaid into a full-on rebirth of Disney animation. Be sure to join us next week for our discussion of Beauty and the Beast, available on Disney+ and for rent at the usual places.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 8/17: The Green Knight
The podcast's pairing on Arthurian legend concludes with David Lowry's take on the tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Come join our discussion of this alluring film on Wednesday! The Green Knight is still in theaters and will be streamed in a special screening by A24 on Wednesday evening.