WATCHING THE PANDEMIC
While all of you have been locked down at homes, here are some things that might have crossed your mind - China and Pandemics. So here is a list of movies that you watch which have connection/resonance to China and pandemics.
Wolf Warrior I & Wolf Warrior II - These movies have given rise to the coinage called - 'wolf warrior diplomacy'.
But what is "wolf warrior" diplomacy, what does the name mean and where did it originate?
The "wolf warriors" represent a completely different type of diplomat to the famously bland Chinese foreign representatives of the past few decades.
Instead of long, verbose statements, these Chinese officials are taking to Twitter and other social media platforms to hit back directly at any criticism of China or the ruling Communist Party.
"Wolf Warrior" is actually the title of a hugely-successful series of patriotic action films in China, featuring Rambo-like protagonists who fight enemies at home and abroad to defend Chinese interests. The first film was released in 2015 and made more than $76 million (545 million yuan) at the box office.
It quickly spawned a sequel that became China's highest grossing film at the time when it was released in 2017. "Wolf Warrior 2"' was based around a squad of People's Liberation Army soldiers sent into an African country to rescue Chinese civilians. The film's tagline was, "Even though a thousand miles away, anyone who affronts China will pay."
Personally, I was not too impressed by these jingoistic movies. I think that the Chinese ape the west a lot and for all their animosity towards America, and the Western World, they adopt all things western without much reflection, like consumer consumption to economic development models. So it was really disappointing to watch these movies as I have grown up watching James Bond and lately Mission Impossible movies, so the wolf warrior was like a poor copy of James Bond and Ethan Hunt! The Wolf Warrior could definitely do with a sartorial and gadgetry upgrade!
On the other hand, there is one movie from China that is worth watching - The Wandering Earth which starts the actor who portrayed the Wolf Warrior - Jing Wu.
The film, based on a short story by Three-Body Problem author Cixin Liu, lays out a crisis of unprecedented proportions: the sun has become unstable, and within a hundred years, it will expand to consume Earth. Within 300, the entire solar system will be gone. Earth’s governments rally and unite to face the problem, and come up with a novel solution: they speckle the planet with 10,000 gigantic jets, and blast it out of its orbit and off on a hundred-generation journey to a new home 4.2 light-years away. The idea is to use Jupiter’s gravitational well to pick up speed for the trip, but a malfunction of the Earth Engine system leaves the planet caught in Jupiter’s gravity, and gradually being pulled toward destruction. A frantic group of workers have to scramble to reactivate the jets and correct the Earth’s course.
I really liked the movie as it was based on the sci-fi work of author Cixin Liu, whose trilogy of The Three Body Problem has broken new ground in science fiction. I really loved these books and it was reported that they were making a play based on the First Part, and plans were afoot to make a movie too. While we wait for the Three Body Problem to made into a movie, which if made, might become comparable to Star Wars (Star War fans, you needn't pick a fight yet).
A lot of people have watched Contagion and commented on how it is relevant to the current pandemic, so there is no point in belabouring over the same point.
I think the movie Minority Report (2002) resonated with me after reading about how China was implementing bio-surveillance using HealthCode made available by Tencent and India soon followed with the ArogyaSetu. For more on this you could read a hot take by Dev Lewis, who is a Researcher at Digital Asia Hub and Yenching Scholar at Peking University.
So, while you are locked down, or in the so-called Unlock Phases - more and more phrases from the tech world entering our lives and seeking to control us humans as if we are devices in the hands of the government, hope these movies will engage you.
- Wolf Warrior - I & II
- The Wandering Earth
- Contagion
- Minority Report
Wolf Warrior I & Wolf Warrior II - These movies have given rise to the coinage called - 'wolf warrior diplomacy'.
But what is "wolf warrior" diplomacy, what does the name mean and where did it originate?
The "wolf warriors" represent a completely different type of diplomat to the famously bland Chinese foreign representatives of the past few decades.
Instead of long, verbose statements, these Chinese officials are taking to Twitter and other social media platforms to hit back directly at any criticism of China or the ruling Communist Party.
"Wolf Warrior" is actually the title of a hugely-successful series of patriotic action films in China, featuring Rambo-like protagonists who fight enemies at home and abroad to defend Chinese interests. The first film was released in 2015 and made more than $76 million (545 million yuan) at the box office.
It quickly spawned a sequel that became China's highest grossing film at the time when it was released in 2017. "Wolf Warrior 2"' was based around a squad of People's Liberation Army soldiers sent into an African country to rescue Chinese civilians. The film's tagline was, "Even though a thousand miles away, anyone who affronts China will pay."
Personally, I was not too impressed by these jingoistic movies. I think that the Chinese ape the west a lot and for all their animosity towards America, and the Western World, they adopt all things western without much reflection, like consumer consumption to economic development models. So it was really disappointing to watch these movies as I have grown up watching James Bond and lately Mission Impossible movies, so the wolf warrior was like a poor copy of James Bond and Ethan Hunt! The Wolf Warrior could definitely do with a sartorial and gadgetry upgrade!
On the other hand, there is one movie from China that is worth watching - The Wandering Earth which starts the actor who portrayed the Wolf Warrior - Jing Wu.
The film, based on a short story by Three-Body Problem author Cixin Liu, lays out a crisis of unprecedented proportions: the sun has become unstable, and within a hundred years, it will expand to consume Earth. Within 300, the entire solar system will be gone. Earth’s governments rally and unite to face the problem, and come up with a novel solution: they speckle the planet with 10,000 gigantic jets, and blast it out of its orbit and off on a hundred-generation journey to a new home 4.2 light-years away. The idea is to use Jupiter’s gravitational well to pick up speed for the trip, but a malfunction of the Earth Engine system leaves the planet caught in Jupiter’s gravity, and gradually being pulled toward destruction. A frantic group of workers have to scramble to reactivate the jets and correct the Earth’s course.
I really liked the movie as it was based on the sci-fi work of author Cixin Liu, whose trilogy of The Three Body Problem has broken new ground in science fiction. I really loved these books and it was reported that they were making a play based on the First Part, and plans were afoot to make a movie too. While we wait for the Three Body Problem to made into a movie, which if made, might become comparable to Star Wars (Star War fans, you needn't pick a fight yet).
A lot of people have watched Contagion and commented on how it is relevant to the current pandemic, so there is no point in belabouring over the same point.
I think the movie Minority Report (2002) resonated with me after reading about how China was implementing bio-surveillance using HealthCode made available by Tencent and India soon followed with the ArogyaSetu. For more on this you could read a hot take by Dev Lewis, who is a Researcher at Digital Asia Hub and Yenching Scholar at Peking University.
So, while you are locked down, or in the so-called Unlock Phases - more and more phrases from the tech world entering our lives and seeking to control us humans as if we are devices in the hands of the government, hope these movies will engage you.
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