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NEWS: Live-Action Monster Hunter Producers Apologize for Controversial Dialogue Line




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Gem-Bug



Joined: 10 Nov 2018
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 07, 2020 9:48 pm Reply with quote
Good on them for apologizing, though it really shouldn't have been in there in the first place.
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Somer-_-



Joined: 14 May 2014
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 07, 2020 11:10 pm Reply with quote
Can't really have an opinion on this without knowing what the line was.
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Tanteikingdomkey



Joined: 03 Sep 2008
Posts: 2346
PostPosted: Mon Dec 07, 2020 11:37 pm Reply with quote
Somer-_- wrote:
Can't really have an opinion on this without knowing what the line was.

yay given some of the things that I know that has caused a similar reaction I can't help but go...So what Exactly upset them
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RockSplash



Joined: 28 Oct 2019
Posts: 495
PostPosted: Tue Dec 08, 2020 12:37 am Reply with quote
Somer-_- wrote:
Can't really have an opinion on this without knowing what the line was.


It's really not as offensive as I was expecting.

MERCENARY GUY:

Art! It's your chi! Chi-knees!

That's what it was. He points at his knees while saying it in a truck.
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RealMTL



Joined: 09 Jun 2018
Posts: 178
PostPosted: Tue Dec 08, 2020 1:15 am Reply with quote
#901749 wrote:
Somer-_- wrote:
Can't really have an opinion on this without knowing what the line was.


It's really not as offensive as I was expecting.

MERCENARY GUY:

Art! It's your chi! Chi-knees!

That's what it was. He points at his knees while saying it in a truck.


What's offensive here exactly? I don't think bad jokes should be considered offensive... just cheesy and unfunny.
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Somer-_-



Joined: 14 May 2014
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Location: Canada
PostPosted: Tue Dec 08, 2020 1:24 am Reply with quote
#901749 wrote:
Somer-_- wrote:
Can't really have an opinion on this without knowing what the line was.


It's really not as offensive as I was expecting.

MERCENARY GUY:

Art! It's your chi! Chi-knees!

That's what it was. He points at his knees while saying it in a truck.


Yeah I don't get it.
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FlamingFirewire



Joined: 03 Jun 2013
Posts: 461
PostPosted: Tue Dec 08, 2020 1:49 am Reply with quote
Somer-_- wrote:
#901749 wrote:
Somer-_- wrote:
Can't really have an opinion on this without knowing what the line was.


It's really not as offensive as I was expecting.

MERCENARY GUY:

Art! It's your chi! Chi-knees!

That's what it was. He points at his knees while saying it in a truck.


Yeah I don't get it.


For more context, you can reference the sources on the Wikipedia page for this, but as per the Wikipedia page, the referenced line calls back to a "racist playground chant in English-speaking countries, used to mock children of Asian origin":

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese,_Japanese,_dirty_knees

I hadn't heard of this one before either, but I'm sure there are many out there who have heard this before depending on where they grew up, and certainly didn't appreciate what it might imply.
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overlordrae



Joined: 16 Dec 2010
Posts: 90
PostPosted: Tue Dec 08, 2020 9:31 am Reply with quote
FlamingFirewire wrote:


For more context, you can reference the sources on the Wikipedia page for this, but as per the Wikipedia page, the referenced line calls back to a "racist playground chant in English-speaking countries, used to mock children of Asian origin":

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese,_Japanese,_dirty_knees

I hadn't heard of this one before either, but I'm sure there are many out there who have heard this before depending on where they grew up, and certainly didn't appreciate what it might imply.

OOH. Looking at the wiki, I'm most familiar with being harassed with the "Look at these" variant without the dirty knees part. Yeah, that's racist as fudge. Shit like that is why I denied being mixed race for years.
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Firefly251



Joined: 14 Jul 2018
Posts: 354
PostPosted: Tue Dec 08, 2020 9:51 am Reply with quote
generally I laugh at the stuff China QQ's about..but this was straight racist and shouldnt of been doen in 1st place.

you think they'd know that given the past yr of race movements...

racism isnt funny. under any circumstance.
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Beatdigga



Joined: 26 Oct 2003
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Location: New York
PostPosted: Tue Dec 08, 2020 9:59 am Reply with quote
Knowing how the internet works today, I wonder if an apology actually means anything or if it just gets people who hate China mad.
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Yttrbio



Joined: 09 Jun 2011
Posts: 3652
PostPosted: Tue Dec 08, 2020 12:56 pm Reply with quote
And honestly, what Chinese person isn't intimately familiar with American schoolyard antics and insults that would be incomprehensible in Mandarin and kind of sort of sound like the line used in the movie but not really and with a completely different context? Of course they'd be offended. This isn't just another invented outrage used to remind folks of who calls the shots.
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Deacon Blues



Joined: 09 Mar 2005
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 08, 2020 2:59 pm Reply with quote
Oddly, ANN is missing a pretty big chunk of this story.

A lot of this had to do with the original subtitle translation of that scene too.

Quote:
This interpretation was subtly propelled forward by the Chinese subtitles. To localize the joke, translators made the dialogue a reference to a Chinese colloquialism about how men must have dignity and not kneel down easily. “Men have gold under their knees, and only kneel to the heavens and their mother,” the saying goes in rough translation, implying that any time a man kneels, it should be an occasion precious as gold.

The inference of a connection to the racist rhyme from the words “knees” and “Chinese” combined with the subtitles’ phrasing about kneeling down appears to have made many patriotic young viewers believe that the moment in English must be an obvious insult. Worse, many feel that the translation — which swaps in references to “gold” and makes no mention of “Chinese” — was a deliberate cover up of the offense.


It was only made worse when they started invoking George Floyd-esque memes of I can't breathe and police officer knees. All in all the situation got blown way out of proportion and it didn't help that the propaganda machine in China only fueled the fire even more.

Pretty sad.
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faboo95



Joined: 28 Dec 2014
Posts: 92
PostPosted: Wed Dec 09, 2020 3:32 pm Reply with quote
Deacon Blues wrote:
Oddly, ANN is missing a pretty big chunk of this story.

A lot of this had to do with the original subtitle translation of that scene too.

Quote:
This interpretation was subtly propelled forward by the Chinese subtitles. To localize the joke, translators made the dialogue a reference to a Chinese colloquialism about how men must have dignity and not kneel down easily. “Men have gold under their knees, and only kneel to the heavens and their mother,” the saying goes in rough translation, implying that any time a man kneels, it should be an occasion precious as gold.

The inference of a connection to the racist rhyme from the words “knees” and “Chinese” combined with the subtitles’ phrasing about kneeling down appears to have made many patriotic young viewers believe that the moment in English must be an obvious insult. Worse, many feel that the translation — which swaps in references to “gold” and makes no mention of “Chinese” — was a deliberate cover up of the offense.


It was only made worse when they started invoking George Floyd-esque memes of I can't breathe and police officer knees. All in all the situation got blown way out of proportion and it didn't help that the propaganda machine in China only fueled the fire even more.

Pretty sad.


If the outrage has something to do with the subtitles, then yeah that's something I would understand. But to connect the corny pun to the "schoolyard rhyme" is quite the reach.
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Primus



Joined: 01 Mar 2006
Posts: 2761
Location: Toronto
PostPosted: Wed Dec 09, 2020 7:02 pm Reply with quote
#901749 wrote:
Somer-_- wrote:
Can't really have an opinion on this without knowing what the line was.


It's really not as offensive as I was expecting.

MERCENARY GUY:

Art! It's your chi! Chi-knees!

That's what it was. He points at his knees while saying it in a truck.


The clip I've seen isn't really like that. It's some banter between military personnel travelling through the desert. One of them, played by an American actor of Chinese descent, says, "What kind of knees are these?" He responds to himself, "Chi-knees." I'd link it, but Sony is blocking all YouTube uploads in the regions they're distributing the movie in. I had to use a VPN.

The actor who said the line has come out and defended it. He says that it was meant to just tell the audience that the character is Chinese. There was no ill intent, nor was it meant to reference that rhyme.

Yttrbio wrote:
And honestly, what Chinese person isn't intimately familiar with American schoolyard antics and insults that would be incomprehensible in Mandarin and kind of sort of sound like the line used in the movie but not really and with a completely different context? Of course they'd be offended. This isn't just another invented outrage used to remind folks of who calls the shots.


I've thought about that, too. I could understand if this was raised by western Asians who were on the receiving end of the taunt, but actual people living in China? The Wikipedia article on it was created this week in response to the Monster Hunter controversy. It's not so well known that you'd think people on the other side of the world would be familiar with it.
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