Jackie Chan: Chinese People "Need To Be Controlled" – Arts & Entertainment
www.google.com — HONG KONG (AP) — Action movie star Jackie Chan questioned the need for freedom for Chinese people during a speech Saturday, prompting outrage from lawmakers in Taiwan and Hong Kong, who accused him of insulting his own race.
I think it's possible that Jackie himself needs to be controlled. Clearly the pinball machine blow to the head he took in Rumble in the Bronx + a whole lot of other shots to the head + making 500 commercials a year and endorsing every product in China has taken its toll.
No kidding. What a self-centred, narrow-minded, classist dick. Some good conversation about this over at The Useless Tree.
I saw another version of this in which he also claimed Chinese products were crap, and that he would rather buy a Japanese TV. I wonder how that plays into his endorsement deals.
Here it is, (found on Danwei):
http://www.wtop.com/index.php?nid=114&sid=1653130
Kai Pan did a great job on CN reviews today talking about all of this and how it's all been taken a bit out of context. Agree with him or not, it's worth a read:
http://cnreviews.com/life/news-issues/jackie-chan-said-chinese-need-to-b...
Just because he didn't use the strongest language possible doesn't mean that the overall intent of the language was overblown by the Western press. I mean, this isn't the first time he's said this sort of thing. Also, it isn't just the Western press that's eating this up:
http://blog.stnn.cc/StBlogPageMain/Efp_BlogLogKan.aspx?cBlogLog=1002359761
http://shehui.daqi.com/bbs/00/2548338.html
I see a lot of overseas Chinese and Taiwanese performers doing whatever they have to to curry favor with the Beijing authorities and Communist Party. As the mainland market becomes increasingly important to performers many of them are willing to say and do whatever it takes to be allowed stardom and its financial rewards in the PRC. This means chucking their principles into the trash or rationalizing their self-betrayal. Jackie's been doing this for several years.