Up Front by Emma Hart

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Up Front: A Real Character

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  • BenWilson, in reply to Craig Ranapia,

    Never bothered with the commentary tracks on the film itself, because I’d rather get lost in the film without Ridley Scott, (or the producers or the writers or a good chunk of the FX crew) yapping away in my ear.

    Heh. It's not like I don't know the dialog in A New Hope backwards, so I thought there could be something interesting in his words, describing the directing of probably the most famous Sci Fi movie ever made. But no, he sounded bored, like he wasn't even watching, possibly sipping his coffee and working on something else at the time. Quite incredible. Yes, there's an art in it, but OMFG, that's no excuse to put what sounded like no effort at all into it. Eliot Goblet had more animation in his voice.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • Chris Waugh,

    Wellington • Since Jan 2007 • 2401 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to Jeanette King,

    the Bechdel test is a pretty good indication of whether in any book/film/TV programme/etc women are treated as people with independent lives worthy of interest. Just three simple tests – a surprisingly large number of movies fail to pass even the first or second step.
    1. The movie has to have at least two named women in it
    2. Who talk to each other
    3. About something besides a man

    Try running a modified version of The Bechdel Test over The Help or other films where minority experience exists to make a straight white middle-class person feel all empowered and virtuous in their still unchallenged privilege.

    The movie has to have:
    1. At least two named women of colour who aren’t domestics, on welfare or sexually/physically abused…
    2. Who talk to each other…
    3. About anything totally unrelated to men or white people. (Extra credit if said movie involves nobody demeaning women as bitches or whores.)

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic, in reply to Chris Waugh,

    Because the subject of swearwords came up, and some of you may be interested….

    The first recorded C-bomb on TV (6:14 in)...

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Craig Ranapia,

    the test is even simpler for disabled characters

    1) they exist
    2) bonus points if they talk at all
    3) and extra gold star if they're actually played by a disabled actor.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Emma Hart, in reply to Sacha,

    the test is even simpler for disabled characters

    1) they exist
    2) bonus points if they talk at all
    3) and extra gold star if they're actually played by a disabled actor.

    Heh, I was going to be all, "Yeah, we weren't nit-picking on Joey Lucas, we were just fucking astounded to see her," but I can't think of a single thing wrong with that character.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report Reply

  • JacksonP, in reply to Sacha,

    Yup, Marlee Matlin definitely deserves a mention.

    I've always found her characters in general, and there have been many, to be all the things you might hope for, in any sense I can reasonably think of.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2011 • 2450 posts Report Reply

  • JackElder, in reply to Chris Waugh,

    Which is actually true of real world Mandarin as it is spoken in the here and now.

    Yeah - I learned Mandarin at uni in NZ, which meant that I basically learned really carefully pronounced putonghua. Basically, the Chinese equivalent of Received Pronunciation. Actually getting people to understand me in Beijing was incredibly difficult until I got the hang of the local accent.

    Wellington • Since Mar 2008 • 709 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to Emma Hart,

    Heh, I was going to be all, “Yeah, we weren’t nit-picking on Joey Lucas, we were just fucking astounded to see her,” but I can’t think of a single thing wrong with that character.

    At least she didn’t suffer from Aaron Sorkin’s creative ADHD which saw an awful lot of characters given elaborate introduction only to be promptly disappeared to the Ainsley Hayes Memorial Steam Trunk Distribution Venue without anyone noticing… Damn, those famous West Wing ‘walk and talks’ have a higher attrition rate than the Hunger Games.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Chris Waugh,

    Really? Not one I’ve heard. The most common swear words around Beijing involve somebody’s mother and an intimate part of her anatomy.

    Tze Ming covered that in a post here once:

    Obvious outlet: learn how to tell warmongers and dictators to f*ck their mother’s stinky c*nts in FOUR Chinese dialects!

    I happened upon this invaluable resource just yesterday, while overloaded with historical tragedy. Much of the Mandarin I was already familiar with – but good lord, is Mandarin swearing totally pussy compared with those gutter-dialects of the Southeast or what. Comparing the vocabulary, it reminds me of the time I studied kung fu but could only shout my ‘counting-to-ten’ drills in Mandarin for the first few weeks, projecting the fearsome impression that I was inviting my opponent to a tea-garden to listen to some light opera, rather than threatening to pummel their face in. Now I know that the implications of saying ‘you have a pretty green hat’ to an adult man in Mandarin are utterly deadly.

    Meanwhile, those Cantos and Hokks trade pretty hats and cursing families unto the 18th generation for good old infinite variation on: 1) things that can be fucked and 2) grades of unpleasant pussy. Now I can enter Hong Kong with my head held high.

    The post contains links to some really filthy insults.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to JacksonP,

    Yup, Marlee Matlin definitely deserves a mention.

    Not least for getting through a season of Celebrity Apprentice with her considerable dignity intact. Great representation for the non-arsehole adult community.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Emma Hart,

    True - and for me I should clarify "talk" includes Sign.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic, in reply to Sacha,

    My Left Foot passes the first 2, although Daniel Day-Lewis did a pretty good job of imitating #3.

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • Chris Waugh, in reply to JackElder,

    Hehe, yeah, I've met others who've had the same shock. It's funny, because the textbooks seem to go out of their way to inculcate a Beijing erhuayin, but what they teach is so sterilised. And then, you look at the map and realise most of the China officially speaks some variety of Mandarin/北方官话, from Harbin to Kunming, Qinhuangdao to Lanzhou, there's debate as to whether Jin (central and northern Shanxi and bordering regions of Shaanxi, Hebei and Nei Meng) is part of Mandarin or a separate language.... Then you do down southeast, where you've got Wu, Xiang, Gan, Hakka, Yue, etc.... Hell, different districts and counties of Beijing have dialects distinct from downtown Beijinghua.

    I started learning Putonghua in Changsha, then moved up north to Taiyuan #rightbacktosquareone.

    Wellington • Since Jan 2007 • 2401 posts Report Reply

  • Chris Waugh, in reply to Russell Brown,

    Unfortunately that insultmonger link now gets me a 404. Looks like it's just so old it's fallen off the internet, doesn't look like the usual GFW block.

    Wellington • Since Jan 2007 • 2401 posts Report Reply

  • BenWilson, in reply to Sacha,

    4) They don't have a redeeming superpower, but are still interesting.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • BenWilson, in reply to Kumara Republic,

    Children of a Lesser God passed all three. And my bonus rule.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Chris Waugh,

    Unfortunately that insultmonger link now gets me a 404. Looks like it's just so old it's fallen off the internet, doesn't look like the usual GFW block.

    Yup. 404 for me too.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel, in reply to Russell Brown,

    404 for me too.

    Free Peugeots all round...
    Some people swear by them!
    :- )

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic, in reply to Ian Dalziel,

    Free Peugeots all round...
    Some people swear by them!

    And we're sorry, but the 403 is off limits. And the 504 was unable to reach its destination.

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • Gee,

    Feminist Frequency on the Oscars and the Bechel Test:

    Canada, eh • Since May 2011 • 78 posts Report Reply

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