The Great Wall of Stupidity

[Darkeon]

Was more the fact that he was the embodiment of the Samurai culture and the last one to carry on their history and traditions- history only being carried on by the white guy.

Because he lived among them for very long, thus absorbed their culture and way of life and carried that with him. I don't see the issue here..

[Joathen]

Because he lived among them for very long, thus absorbed their culture and way of life and carried that with him. I don't see the issue here..

Not so much an issue, was just funny to me that the only person who survived was the white guy- it's like a action movie where the black guy sacrifices himself or a horror movie where the promiscuous girl dies first.

[Fenixdown]

Well, works for me :P He is really hot, and so is Tom

Called it.

[Macaquerie]

Was more the fact that he was the embodiment of the Samurai culture and the last one to carry on their history and traditions- history only being carried on by the white guy.

Eh, that kind of ignores that the REAL problem with the movie was the whitewashing (hah!) of samurai society. In reality, the rebellious samurai didn't give two shits about protecting Japanese culture or tradition, they were just a bunch of aristocratic douchebags fighting to maintain their privileges despite lacking the ability to make a meaningful contribution in a modern society.

[THE Bigzoman]

Was more the fact that he was the embodiment of the Samurai culture and the last one to carry on their history and traditions- history only being carried on by the white guy.

But he wasn't the last one to carry it on..

The Samurai culture lived on into the Mejij era. The ones up in arms in the Boshin War were a small minority clinging to the power the Tokugawa Shogunate granted them for centuries.

[Sting]

Did they atleast make the monsters pay for it?

[Notshauna]

Honestly we get one of these a year pseudo-historical special effect shows inexplicably staring a white man. And I'm by no means opposed to movies taking liberties with the source material to make the story they want to make but, it's gotten to the point of self parody. Like seriously if you replaced the big budget special effects and high tier actors you'd get a sketch in a comedy program.

[Kronik85]

So the Great Wall of China was built to keep out what appears to be Dinosaurs? Looks fun, will watch.

[Joathen]

But he wasn't the last one to carry it on..

The Samurai culture lived on into the Mejij era. The ones up in arms in the Boshin War were a small minority clinging to the power the Tokugawa Shogunate granted them for centuries.

Yes- in reality, which was my point; the ending where they asked the one white dude to describe the life and death of the Samurai was silly to me- because those cultures and traditions carried on well past some one-sided Imperial stomping match. They weren't the last samurai, and so Tom Cruise did not need to be the historical beacon of their culture.

[Kraenen]

Honestly, I do often find Asians' constant fawning over anything remotely associated with the West or white people as being extremely irritating. Unlike Asian Americans, they never really had a chance to grow up in and get bored with white culture, and hence still live in a world where things like Friends and Seinfeld are innovative and cutting edge.

I thought Seinfeld was Jewish? (wasn't it also the best sitcom of all time?) What's "white culture"? Do you think Asians are bored of Asian culture since they grew up in it?

[melodramocracy]

People bitching about unimportant bullshit on Twatter. More news at 11.

[spanishninja]

'Cuz they're a tiny minority, bro.

A more interesting question is why the chinese are so fond of white leads in movies.

As a Chinese person, I actually don't know. Growing up in the US, I watched both Chinese movies and Western movies, but liked the actor sets to be distinct between the two. Stephen Chow is my favorite Chinese actor, and I would see every movie he was in. I actually don't have a favorite American actor though.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see how the Matt Damon casting will actually affect the gross. If it is a huge success, will he get all the credit? If it totally bombs, will the Chinese components of the movie get all the blame?

[Spectral]

What's "white culture"?

Apparently it's some mondo monoculture where all things are the same if they're created by people that share a set of superficial characteristics. This definitely isn't racist at all

[spanishninja]

Apparently it's some mondo monoculture where all things are the same if they're created by people that share a set of superficial characteristics. This definitely isn't racist at all

well, functionally speaking, mainstream American culture is basically 80% middle class white culture, and 20% divided (unequally) among whatever other subcultures white people think is important at any given time. So things like hipster, hip-hop, LGBTQ, etc, will fall into that 20%, with Asian-American and Latino cultures being noticeably absent.

[Spectral]

well, functionally speaking, mainstream American culture is basically 80% middle class white culture, and 20% divided (unequally) among whatever other subcultures white people think is important at any given time. So things like hipster, hip-hop, LGBTQ, etc, will fall into that 20%, with Asian-American and Latino cultures being noticeably absent.

While it'd still be pretty non-specific, it would make more sense to call this "white Americana" or something rather than "white culture".

Even then, not noticing the differences between Texans, Californians, and New Yorkers would strike me as pretty ignorant. I guess maybe to someone sitting outside of it, this all looks the same, but that doesn't really represent reality anymore than looking across the oceans and referring to "European culture" or "Asian culture". There are some commonalities that make for threads in these cultures, but they're very diverse.

[Azadina]

Yes- in reality, which was my point; the ending where they asked the one white dude to describe the life and death of the Samurai was silly to me- because those cultures and traditions carried on well past some one-sided Imperial stomping match. They weren't the last samurai, and so Tom Cruise did not need to be the historical beacon of their culture.

The emperor only wanted to know how the leader of the samurai, who was his teacher and mentor died. Not all the history of samurai, just him.

[spanishninja]

While it'd still be pretty non-specific, it would make more sense to call this "white Americana" or something rather than "white culture".

Even then, not noticing the differences between Texans, Californians, and New Yorkers would strike me as pretty ignorant. I guess maybe to someone sitting outside of it, this all looks the same, but that doesn't really represent reality anymore than looking across the oceans and referring to "European culture" or "Asian culture". There are some commonalities that make for threads in these cultures, but they're very diverse.

This is a good point, which would make the 80% number higher or lower depending on how much influence "middle class white culture" has on overall cultural norms of a specific region. I am mostly stating how significant an effect middle class white people have on the idea of "mainstream".

[Kraenen]

well, functionally speaking, mainstream American culture is basically 80% middle class white culture, and 20% divided (unequally) among whatever other subcultures white people think is important at any given time. So things like hipster, hip-hop, LGBTQ, etc, will fall into that 20%, with Asian-American and Latino cultures being noticeably absent.

You're talking more on TV/movies though right? Are you talking about the consumers or producers of it? Not to sound too actuarial or something about people but Asians account for ~5.5% and it's not like Asian people aren't on TV or movies. It's just that American TV isn't Asian :P Even with that, there's always been Asian-themed media with Asian people.

I find this an interesting take on the diversity even just within this "white american culture" - https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...o-you-live-in/

[Macaquerie]

This is a good point, which would make the 80% number higher or lower depending on how much influence "middle class white culture" has on overall cultural norms of a specific region. I am mostly stating how significant an effect middle class white people have on the idea of "mainstream".

For the most part, middle class whites mostly consume culture while producing little of it, this isn't necessarily a function of their race but just the fact that what we think of as culture tends to come from the margins of society. However, as they tend to hold the bulk of the purchasing power, they tend to dictate what's trendy and fashionable, and this comes down to little more than what they deem to be cool or exotic. Something like yoga is a perfect example of this, regardless of its origin the first thing that springs to mind when anyone thinks of it is a perky white lady and not some grizzled Indian mystic.

You're talking more on TV/movies though right? Are you talking about the consumers or producers of it? Not to sound too actuarial or something about people but Asians account for ~5.5% and it's not like Asian people aren't on TV or movies. It's just that American TV isn't Asian :P Even with that, there's always been Asian-themed media with Asian people.

I find this an interesting take on the diversity even just within this "white american culture" - https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...o-you-live-in/

Where does one go to find this Asian themed media you speak of? If you're talking about foreign films and TV shows, that tends to be of little interest to Asian-Americans since most of us can't understand what the hell they're saying, and the bulk of it tends to be overwrought, melodramatic pablum at any rate.

[Vash The Stampede]

Why are there white people at all involved? The premise of the movie is stupid anyway, but did we need extra stupid? If they stuck Rambo in the film, it would make more sense, and it would be funny.