[Weekly Update] Too disconnected to the culture of the film

Have you ever gotten so busy doing your taxes you forgot to update Patreon?

No? Just me?

CHANNEL UPDATE

Tidbits about editing our next video:
Edit for our next video is complete. Editing is as fun as it is difficult to find some of these old Italian movies, ranging from old classics like the Steve Reeves Hercules films, to Finding Robowars, a Bruno Mattei movie released under his American pseudonym Vincent Dawn.
Anyway, I'll need a couple more edits for it to get past YouTube's content ID. Even though the movie is old and obscure, it is nevertheless in YouTube copyright system in full. That means sadly I can't show you a lot of the good stuff in full, sadly.

Bonus video:
Meanwhile, I'm still working on the bonus video script, in which I talk about each Superman actor, and discuss their performance as both Superman and Clark Kent. I wouldn't say I'm a big Superman fan (or comic book fan in general), but if you have seen our video on Ip Man, you know I do have strong and at times oddly specific opinions on the character.
That means my opinions are likely different from you, which makes me curious: Who are your favourite Superman actors?

February video:
Unfortunately I have not decided what to do with our February video, which is rather late and a bit concerning. A few potential topic includes discussing Satire hidden in Stephen Chow movies, Representation of female sexuality in Asian films, or a discussion on The Raids duology. Let me know which one you are interested in.

MEDIA TALK

So, I finally watched Her Story, a 2024 Chinese feminist comedy that came out too late to be included in our yearly recap video. I might still do a video on the film, along with a couple other late to the party releases. But I do want to talk one aspect of the film that's specific to me, and that is... I don't think I'm the right person to cover this movie.

Her Story tells the lives of two women: A young musician desperate for love (Chinese people call them Romantic Brain 恋爱脑), and a single mother too cynical for commitment. Through the friendship of the two, and their connections with men around them, the film paints a subtly comedic picture of contemporary relationships in China, one which women will laugh that asses off while men will be utterly confused.

It's one of the more subtle comedies to came out of China. Not only does the film's edit doesn't feel comedic, it also doesn't have musical cue for laughter. The jokes are subtle, either you gets it or you don't.

For example, during a dinner, the single mother is sandwiched between a young drummer (friend of the musician) who has a crush on him, and her ex-husband who, upon discovering this crush, became oddly jealous. In a battle of manliness, the ex poises himself as a good father and a feminist, listing his contribution in raising their daughter, and also casually (but not very subtly) brings up the fact that he has read all of the feminist writer Chizuko Ueno's work.

The joke is, in China, instead of guns and cars, there are men who flexes their "charm" by mansplaining their position as a feminist, as if supporting women's right is a virtue worth praising. It is akin to that throwaway joke in Get Out, in which the future father-in-law tells his black son-in-law that he would "vote for Obama for a third term if he could" in an effort to appeal to him.

My friend compares Her Story to Barbie, in that she, being a Chinese woman living in Chinese, didn't understand a lot of the jokes from Barbie (References to being obsessed with Zack Snyder, a not so subtle dig at Ben Shapiro, the American male tendency for rural cosplay). In a similar vein, people outside of China living in a different culture, may not find Her Story all that funny. And no matter how much I explain the joke, it will still not be funny. You just have to be there to get it.

Heck, even some men in China didn't understand the jokes. To them, the things the ex-husband did is perfectly normal to them.

This poses a big question for me. I lived outside of China, with a western educated background, and has minimal contact to the type of faux-feminist men. I can piece the joke together, and maybe get a chuckle or two out of it. But ultimately, my understanding of the film is insufficient. I feel like I should not be the one to introduce this movie, and I'm not sure what to do about it.

Maybe I should start contacting fellow female YouTubers.

And that is my initial thought on Her Story, a bit of a mess, with a lot to think about. The film received a limited US release before, so I expect it to be available in English soon-ish. If you have seen the film, let me know what you think!

I'll see you in a few days with a new video!