Jackie Chan, the great action film star, places foot in mouth again on democracy (AP)....Action star Jackie Chan said Saturday he's not sure if afree society is a good thing for China and that he's starting to think "we Chinese need to be controlled.""....we'll just do what we want." Oh, the horror! Strange ideas that equate public order with authoritarian control and an all-embraceness sameness abound in the Chinese mind. Wish Chen would focus on movies, and drop the scintillating social commentary.
Chan's comments drew applause from a predominantly Chinese audience of business leaders in China's southern island province of Hainan.
The 55-year-old Hong Kong actor was participating in a panel at the annual Boao Forum when he was asked to discuss censorship and restrictions on filmmakers in China. He expanded his comments to include society.
"I'm not sure if it's good to have freedom or not," Chan said. "I'm really confused now. If you're too free, you're like the way Hong Kong is now. It's very chaotic. Taiwan is also chaotic."
Chan added: "I'm gradually beginning to feel that we Chinese need to be controlled. If we're not being controlled, we'll just do what we want."
I think one interesting thing is that AP found this worthy of reporting. Liberty Times has an article with the original quotes in Chinese as well as similar nonsense he has said before. After abusing Hong Kong and Taiwan for being too chaotic (China is far more chaotic than either), Chen completed the trifecta by saying that products made in China were not trustworthy.
And this from a guy who owes his wealth and creative freedom and ability to come and go to the fact that he was born in Hong Kong in a place with great personal and political freedom.
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36 comments:
Thanks for the info. But he is Jackie Chan and not Jackie Chen.
I do not enjoy his movies.
Time to call for a boycott of Chan films,eh?
Disgusting. I suppose it's easy to say other people shouldn't have freedom when you're a rich movie star and can go and do as you please.
there is alwas a time when old people became old idiot, who doesnt need to be heard. looks like jackies time is knocking at his door.
You know, I'm glad to hear that Jackie said he would move out of the Chaos in HK, into the hinterland to become a vassal of the CCP.
Oh wait, he hadn't said that. Those other people should be controlled. It's superb to hear this kind of talk from folks who, in reality, have more freedom to "do what they want" than I do.
aehmm.. why are you talking about Taiwan when he is talking about chinese?
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Chan's circular logic is the same as what some of my Chinese colleagues (authoritarian supporters) employ during my discussions with them.
If you ask them "why" the Chinese people should be controlled, the inevitable answer always yields, "Because they are not educated to know any better." Classic elitism. More interestingly, when asked "why" there is a need for the government to censor the truth in the media the reply is usually, "Because they can't handle the truth."
When these authoritarian supporters are asked if they think that maybe knowing the truth would help the majority of Chinese become better educated, their heads usually explode.
This is not about controlling "chaos", obviously. It's about maintaining the current class structure in China.
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BTW, in my opinion, Chan is exhibiting a kind of racism against his own people.
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Certainly seems he's looking for a political career.
If he wants to play this role, he'll have to deal with his critics:
Here's his Facebook page with over 1 million people. You can leave him a 'billet doux' there:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/-Jackie-Chan/30382852317?ref=mf
Jackie Chan? Isn't he the guy who stared in Rumble in the Bronx? The Big Brawl? I read in some gossip magazine he has 2 wives but won't act in movies where Chinese people are portrayed as gangsters and prostitutes (although it's OK for White Folks to be).
Honestly, who cares what he says. I say a 'behind the scenes' clip where a pinball machine cracked his skull. Who knows why he thinks he's qualified to talk about such things?
Most importantly, Taiwan is not part of China!!
他為什麼要把台灣拿去跟中國香港比
中國人需要被管是他們中國人的事
台灣是台灣人的
台灣人不是中國人
這戲子搞不清狀況
說的話也是邏輯不清的廢話
台北市民
In other words, according to Jackie "too stupid to breathe" Chan himself, his head should have exploded before he finished that sentence...
... if he only had a brain, that is. ;-)
In another of Chan's other not[e]worthy comments, he said Chinese women should marry foreigners in order to "spread Chinese culture far and wide." It might go well with your collection of other comments related to "Zhonghuaminzu."
Tim Maddog
Since when are Taiwan and Hong Kong more "chaotic" than China? Makes you wonder if Jackie Chan has ever set foot in China - the real backwater China, with factories and farms and villages - or if he lives in a cocoon.
You could argue the governments are more chaotic, maybe, but society at large?
Not that anyone knows how chaotic the CCP is or is not; they don't report the truth in their censored media outlets. "The Taipei Times says that the Taiwanese government is in a right mess, but Xinhua says that the government of China is doing great. I guess that means China is better."
Jackie Chan has been making such comments for a while now. He falls into that class of reprehensible movie stars who use their fame to express un-expert opinions. Many American actors are this way too. They were correctly ridiculed as the Film Actors Guild (FAG) in the puppet film Team America. Jackie Chan definitely should have been in there. Ever since he made that comment a few years ago about Taiwan elections being a joke, I have had little respect for him. This comment has removed whatever respect was left. It seems he is not only nationalistic, but thinks Chinese people are incompetent, and thus can't control the affairs of their own country.
"BTW, in my opinion, Chan is exhibiting a kind of racism against his own people.""I read in some gossip magazine he has 2 wives but won't act in movies where Chinese people are portrayed as gangsters and prostitutes (although it's OK for White Folks to be)."Scott, most Hollywood movies ARE generally racist towards Asians, portraying them as cooks, scientists, martial artists, gangsters, prostitutes. They commonly speak poor English, are asexual or hypersexual (sluts, seducers, or rapists), or are clowns.
Thus, if Chan really has a rule like that, it's not symmetrical with white people. White people aren't limited in their roles. They are commonly portrayed as heros, studs, beauties (that aren't sluts or seductresses or helpless locals).
If Jackie Chan refuses to act in movies like that, there's a real reason for that that isn't there for white people.
In fact, Jackie Chan's movies are notorious for the ridiculous way that Asians are portrayed; he is very unpopular for blindly reinforcing negative stereotypes about Asians.
I would welcome counter-examples, but I think the closest you're going to get are actors/actresses that are of partial Asian ancestry and don't have dominating Asian features.
(There are similar problems with the way blacks are portrayed, with different stereotypes, but I think also in the past few years, there have been more conscious effort to fix this).
(Also, I agree Jackie Chan's being racist in his words here, and it's an interesting reflection of racism in his work as well).
"Time to call for a boycott of Chan films,eh?"
Yes, it is - but not because he's a biggot, rather because the quality of his movies really started to go downhill. I really used to admire his early movies but as time went on they got worse and worse.
Anyway, a foreign Blue blowhard like yourself would probably enjoy some of his singing or perhaps a pair of his designer sunglasses.
"Started to go downhill"?
That implies that he made good movies once upon a time.
They were good for one thing, at least: entertainment on those horrid transcontinental flights.
He just gets worse and worse over time.
Maybe he is joining FoGuangShan Master Star Cloud contest on who makes the siliest and raciest saying of the year...
DPP city councilmen have asked that Jackie Chan be officially removed as a spokesperson for the Deaf Olympics, to be held in Taipei later this year.
A Taipei official came out to meet reporters and the councilmen and said "If we removed a spokesperson just over one statement that he made, it wouldn't necessarily be good for Taiwan's image".
The imaginary hobgoblin of world opinion has been whipped out. Anyone have ideas on how to make him eat his words?
I'm not sure if blogger has a simple polling mechanism or if the Taipei Times is up for doing some querying of expats in Taiwan.
I can understand why TI advocates hate Chan because he had the audacity to question the TI explaination of the 319 Incident. But the verdict on the 319 incident is far from closed. Every investigation so far has raised more questions than answers. In the end, it is very possible that Chan will be vindicated and the TIers will have some well deserved egg on their faces.
I'll go ahead and say that I love his movies, and thought he was cool before he took up singing. Makes this all the more disappointing.
Jackie Chan is a joke. He wouldn't take this stance if his butt-naked scenes were censored by the PRC government.
Scott Sommers :Jackie Chan? Isn't he the guy who stared in Rumble in the Bronx? The Big Brawl? I read in some gossip magazine he has 2 wives To my knowledge, he has one wife (林鳳嬌 Lin Feng-jiao? ) and a lover. He and his wife have a son, but according to an article by Lin, he went home to see them maybe about once a year.
In that article, Lin said that Chan once came home, suddenly agreed to be a father at least for a day, by going to pick up their son from school.
He went out but didn't pick up their son --- because he went to an elementary school where he thought their son went -- at a time that their son already in high school.
Lin is a very beautiful movie star. She sacrificed her career at its high peak to be a house wife of Chan's. And Chan made her live like a widow.
At one time Chan confessed his affair to the public, by giving this remark:
"I've made a mistake that ALL MEN in the world would make."
（我犯了天下男人都會犯的錯)
WTF !!
,I can understand why TI advocates hate Chan because he had the audacity to question the TI explaination of the 319 Incident. But the verdict on the 319 incident is far from closed.Bwahahahahahahahahahaha!
I let the pro-China trolls post so everyone can see how dumb they are. Thanks for the confirmation of the wisdom of this policy.
Name Not on Our List? Change It, China SaysThe mentality of the govt officials and bureaucracy in this article goes so well with what Jackie Chan said.
Check out the latest word from the official spokesperson for Jackie Chan's company: He says JC was taken out of context, and was only referring to the entertainment industry.
Yeeaaah. Taiwan's chaotic entertainment industry...
We really got to start putting the brakes on Hou Hsiao Hsien, Pili Puppets, and Cloud Gate before they cause a permanent breakdown of society!
WTF is 319?
and he's become the quintessential auto-racist, like Clarence Thomas. We know how to say "Uncle Tom" in chinese: "cousin Jackie"
He has become America: we love the movies, hate the politics.
It's very hypocritical that he has become a star because of the the Hong Kong freedom, that he's now against that.
Big question:
Will he spin or will he apologize?
Big question:
Will he spin or will he apologize? I don't think he will ever apologize, because-- the way I see it -- he is doing all this in the past few years for an official position in China's government.
Just like Star Cloud.
It might be a well-thought out plan since his movie isn't that popular any more.
Well, at least The Onion covered it.
Personally, I concur with Mr. Khuns.
He always says he was taken out of context. Listen, the guy's taken more shots to the head than Mike Tyson. When he shows lack of judgment and blurts out stupid stuff, just laugh it off like Iron Mike eating your baby.
Want to see Jackie taking some big shots to the head? This is from Rumble in the Bronx filmed in Vancouver. watch what happens at 3:00
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtA_xiISKRo
Do you really doubt he has a little more brain damage than most of us?
gooogleable:
You're calling Clarence Thomas an "Uncle Tom" and then saying Jackie Chan is racist?? Ever hear about the pot and the kettle?
Here's the Onion's take on this:
http://www.theonion.com/content/amvo/jackie_chan_endorses_government
Enjoy!
Readin: How is it racist to point out that someone acts against the interests of his own race?
We are all very quick to judge Jackie Chan here. If we all took a few minutes to walk in his shoes, go through in life what he's been through where he at times he had little or no choice, feel what he felt and had as much life experience as he does...we might be able to understand where he's coming from and see thing and his reasons through his eyes easier. His English isn't great but how many of us can say we learnt authentic Mandarin Chinese through American movies and music? Would love to see you lot try. I couldn't do it. Jackie Chan has done more good that outweighs the few carelessly timed and made comments he's occasionally thrown out there.
Good luck with your judgemental lives people. It's a sad way to live when life is so short.
So Singaporeans need to be controlled too? Their richer than U.S citizens on GDP/capita basis and are a democratic nation. Also their 75% Chinese but the government is fully multicultural in principle, they have had Indian Presidents.
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