47. Movie Makers

Wow. Iron Man 3. Its really been received here in China like no other film since moving here. Children in my classes pick Iron Man as their team name, draw pictures of him and ask if we can watch the DVD, that is already out thanks to those nifty pirates.

Succumbing to advertisement and boredom, I went to watch it last week. On the most part it was decent. But  quite extraordinarily near the end of the film there were two stupendously irrelevant scenes that consist of quite simply Chinese actors. Its totally ridiculous. I felt cheated to be honest. The dialogue between the characters was all in Chinese as they act out a needless scene.

Interesting article here that talks about this buttering up of China by Hollywood.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/jordanzakarin/how-hollywoods-obsession-with-china-may-change-movies-foreve

Me I just feel Chinese aren’t surely that gullible to go to a movie because of one irrelevant scene. But judging by the euphoria maybe they are.

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Two other films watched recently had a bit of an affect me also. 

First was the Jack Black hit School of Rock, a Chinese friend came round to watch it with me. It was just as funny as I remember it. Then it got to a scene with the Chinese kid telling Mr Schneebly that ‘He wasn’t cool’ and has no friends, added to this he plays the keyboard in the band.

All a little stereotypical wouldn’t you say. It reminded me of mine own perception of Chinese folk before coming out here. I felt embarrassed after because Chinese people do have dreams to visit England, and to see them portrayed in this light is completely disheartening.

Finally got round to watch One Flew Over A Cuckoo’s Nest and it rustled my feathers a little also. The cow Nurse Ratched treats the mental patients terribly. That same day I’d been in a class and a student was having trouble with the project I’d assigned when I went over to help the teacher came over and warned me that the kid was mentally disabled and he wasn’t worth my bother. I was only covering in this school so it was my only meeting. The teachers innocuous comment cheesed me off a little especially after the two summers I'd spent with Summit Camp teaching mentally challenged kids.

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Here was a child getting left behind. Talking to a student recently I asked them about the quantity of their homework. He said that you can choose not to do it but the teacher will treat you as a ghost by not considering you in class anymore.

There is a great fear amongst the students of failure. As mentioned in a previous blog, students will go to long lengths to be ready for GaoKao the final examination. I would really love to know the biggest factor to where there motivation is coming from. From themselves (INTRINSIC), their parents(EXTRINSIC) or society?

I believe that the Chinese education scheme as much as it has its faults. Lack of freetime, creativity and fairly narrow. The children are pushed to the limit and work hard but quite simply there is no other choice.

I honestly think I would have benefited in a Chinese education. I’m so indecisive most the time and I think being overloaded with work leads you to prioritise it.

Chinese educational methods are questionable, but I think also admirable.