Yellow Peril by Tze Ming Mok

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Yellow Peril: My black heart bleeds

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  • Danielle,

    Perhaps now isn't the best time to complain at how... oppressive rugby can feel in this country. But that's how it is.

    I'm quite interested in this subject. Do you think it's more or less oppressive than it was in, say, the 50s? Because I imagine that in the past, on one hand it was more oppressive, because we had so few recreational options, so boys were forced into rugby-playing or nothing else. Now there are so many different things kids can do instead, and our culture is maturing past 'sport and sport alone', I think, but at the same time, the proliferation of media and rugby professionalism has made the game bigger, flashier, more ubiquitous, the messages have become more extreme... and of course, I'm a woman and I ignored rugby until the 1990s, and now I like it, so I never felt the oppression at all. Is anyone here old enough to remember and compare?

    (I like the line in our anthem that says 'the nation's van'. I know it stands for 'vanguard', but I enjoy imagining the type of van we would drive, as a nation. Probably a Toyota Hi-Ace...)

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • andrew llewellyn,

    It'd be a VW Combi surely?

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report Reply

  • daleaway,

    Sorry, RodgerD, I'm pressed for time at the moment.
    Would anyone like to take up the challenge of extending Rodger's horizons?

    Since Jul 2007 • 198 posts Report Reply

  • Jeremy Andrew,

    It'd be a VW Combi surely?

    On a hippie trail, head full of zombie?

    Hamiltron - City of the F… • Since Nov 2006 • 900 posts Report Reply

  • Stephen Judd,

    For reference, I was at secondary school in the 1980s. And the 81 tour was a very fresh memory.

    The sort of thing that gets up my nose is the last round of Hurricanes advertising, which claims its my civic duty to support this manufactured team of professionals.

    To take this further, the annoyance I feel is the same kind I felt at (Heinz!) Watties "you'll never be a Kiwi till you love our Watties sauce" ads, the Saatchis "Flying Geese (Obey the Leader you mindless drones)" ads and virtually every Telecom ad after they took Spot out and shot him.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report Reply

  • Jeremy Andrew,

    Even the ones that say Telecom mobile users are a bunch of muppets?

    Hamiltron - City of the F… • Since Nov 2006 • 900 posts Report Reply

  • Stephen Judd,

    Without going deep into the semiotics of Telecom ads, I reckon the bunny, the lion and the gorilla are conceptually close to Tze Ming's black sheep. They evoke stereotypes with the plausible deniability of fuzzy animals.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report Reply

  • andrew llewellyn,

    <quoite>(Obey the Leader you mindless drones)</quote>

    yeah, but they all got their turn to be leader.

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report Reply

  • Stephen Judd,

    Even so, I don't want to mindlessly follow those in front. Do they know where they're going? And I am highly suspicious of calls for unity. In the service of what good? As judged by whom?

    That ad could have been produced by the Chinese communist party. Be a goose, comrade llew!

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report Reply

  • Jeremy Andrew,

    They evoke stereotypes with the plausible deniability of fuzzy animals.

    Telecom learned much from the lessons of George Lucas.

    Hamiltron - City of the F… • Since Nov 2006 • 900 posts Report Reply

  • horse,

    For some lightweight doco about the national anthem a couple of years ago, Chris Knox penned a new one with refreshingly simple lyrics and in both English and Te Reo. Very upbeat and cheerful, it'd stand out nicely amongst the typical dirges.

    Oh, and as a Pratchett fan, can I just say I now laugh out loud every time I hear the Aussies tell us their home is "girt by sea!". :)

    Palmerston North • Since Feb 2007 • 32 posts Report Reply

  • rodgerd,

    Sorry, RodgerD, I'm pressed for time at the moment.
    Would anyone like to take up the challenge of extending Rodger's horizons?

    I'm sorry for interrupting you in your busy day of being snide. My horizons are fine; yours appear to bogged down in being defined by things and people you profess to dislike.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 512 posts Report Reply

  • Rich of Observationz,

    According to Sports Radio, there are a couple of hundred people out at Chch airport right now, to welcome the All Blacks back and reassure them that they're not going to get lynched.

    Does anyone know why Christchurch? Air NZ flights from non-US places all go into Auckland, at least first. Were the team having a commiseratory get together with the Aussies before coming home?

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • Rich of Observationz,

    if the crema is sweet, and the beans leave a faint aftertaste of chocolate, i just might have to improvise.

    It's only a bloody hot drink you know!

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • merc,

    Does anyone know why Christchurch?

    I'm fighting my cynicism but fear that the sponsors may have felt they could contain (stage) the arrival easier in Christchurch. Like the spontenaneous haka, paid for I hear, nah just kidding. But hows this for a damning article re NZR(F)U,
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/feature/story.cfm?c_id=1501233&objectid=10468850

    Since Dec 2006 • 2471 posts Report Reply

  • jeff constable,

    I've got to say, gutted as I am about the ABs loss, I'm glad I live in Australia. Growing up in NZ I loved watching rugby with my dad, but as I got to my late teens I was turned completely off the game by realising that most of the people that follow the sport were meatheads and people I'd not wish to associate with. Admittedly at that age most boys aren't worth associating with.

    It took about 15 years to merely enjoy watching it again, and then only shifting to Aus to get truly involved emotionally with the All Blacks. Union is a poor third/fourth sport here and most people honestly don't give a crap - and the meatheads that I'd hate to be lumped in with uniformly support League.

    Don't know where I'm going with this except to say that being at a remove from the cult of rugby has allowed me to really appreciate it again. And to support the ABs without feeling like I'm supporting the dickheads like Deaker...

    Sydney, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 12 posts Report Reply

  • Rich of Observationz,

    "you'll never be a Kiwi till you love our Watties sauce" ads

    Coz of course it's an act of patriotism to like the product of an Irish multinational. Which is in turn more or less the same as a UK product, just with a different label and extra sugar.

    Like it being patriotic to drive the badge-engineered, Australian-assembled product of a US multinational (Holden).

    I guess helping corporates wrap themselves in the flag at least keeps voiceover artists employed - especially if they can do a convincing version of (whatever the Kiwi term for an Ocker accent is).

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • Rich of Observationz,

    Perhaps for the 2011 world cup, they could change the rules so that everyone else plays through the group and knockout stages and then the final is best of three with the host nation?

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    And you are. Perhaps now isn't the best time to complain at how... oppressive rugby can feel in this country. But that's how it is. I know a more well-adjusted person wouldn't care, but I can't be that person all the time.

    Not saying this is you, but there are some people who whom being anti-rugby is a fashion trend. They add it to their over the top makeup, unusual clothes, and 'hide' in alternative cafes where there's no TVs.

    I had a period in the mid-90s when I was a raving left-wing student, when I came out all anti-rugby. Missed the 1995 World Cup because of it. Then I remembered that I actually enjoyed watching the game, and I didn't need to take on board any of the trash that went with it, I could view it how I wanted.

    And I find adverts for rugby teams much less annoying than some of the products that get sold these days.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Michael Fitzgerald,

    "We may have the least nationalistic anthem ever."

    Anthems "God save the Queen" & "God defend NZ" (added in 1973)

    Since May 2007 • 631 posts Report Reply

  • Alex Gilks,

    Nice piece.

    Patriotism and music: I wandered past Thomas Bracken's memorial yesterday and remembered my favourite mad caller on Radio Sport on Sunday morning: "We need a new national anthem". Pretty sure she was being ironic, but fair cop, we have to put up with a dreadful dirge.
    I should say I don't think these kind of things make teams play better or worse but we should at least try to make our team a little more stylish.

    Music that may not take forever to change: those crap songs they play pieces of when the ABs score a try. Slice of Heaven? It was bad in 1986, it's embarrassing, it's about an animated dog and the fat badly-dressed affluent baby-boomer supporters who squawk around in groups outside these distant stadiums. The sounds could be dark and mysterious, and a bit now, just some beats maybe. I don't know who the NZRU takes its musical advice from. OK not everything has to be seamlessly branded, but do they realise that to a young audience this would be the equivalent of playing Max Merritt over the PA at a test match when I was a kid in the late 70s.

    Upper Vauxhall, Dunedin • Since Apr 2007 • 17 posts Report Reply

  • Che Tibby,

    It's only a bloody hot drink you know!

    yeah, but a man has to have his passions.

    i like my violence kept in controlled, rule-bound conditions, and my coffee short.

    the back of an envelope • Since Nov 2006 • 2042 posts Report Reply

  • Rich of Observationz,

    I met the DJ for Eden Park - he came round to look at a guitar my flatty had advertised.

    Nice enough middle-aged bloke.

    Didn't seem at all affected by sitting there playing "Why does love do that to me" twenty times in 90 minutes.

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Again, I am probably a hippy and you can all mock and scorn me, but in some ways I feel that someone who spends the time to publicly say they're 'amused' when the ABs lose is kind of indirectly being mean to my nice old Grandad.

    I've got a Grandad thing back there too. My grandfather, Jack Saulbrey, played and coached for the Hutt rugby club for years. I have a framed picture of him in the 1934 Hutt Senior A team, which won the A. McBain Memorial Shield that year.

    His son, John, played for Horowhenua, and his grandson, Luke, received his letter to attend the New Zealand Rugby Academy on the day he came home from hospital to recover from a spinal injury that ended his playing career.

    When Jack happened to be in town and saw me play a good one, I was very proud.

    And I'd say more about the two big boxes of almanacs and game programmes going back to the 1920s that my parents threw out after he died in 1985 (and before I could call and tell them not to), but I'm still trying to get over that ...

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    The sounds could be dark and mysterious, and a bit now, just some beats maybe.

    Absolutely. I've often thought that some ominous dub would make for a great lead-up to a big test-match.

    Worst audio experience at a rugby ground: when the clowns at North Harbour Stadium ran the sound from the fucking TV ads they were playing on their big screen through the new speaker system they'd installed -- at absolutely deafening volume, right over our heads.

    I wrote an angry letter and got a nice reply back from Doug Rollerson.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

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