Yayyy!
What makes this particularly memorable, and a cause for great celebration, is that it was held on the site of last month's Sogo Acid Attack. I'm just so proud of HK showing its defiant feisty side, with everyone determined to be oblivious to any danger, although it must be noted that there were zillions of crates of water everywhere, just in case.
Besides, they caught the perps for that one: two young men doing a copy-cat. They still haven't got the Acid Bomber himself, who I'm still convinced is "Shenzhen Pervy Cop" as I talked about in an earlier post.
I love it when "HK Does Feisty" because they do it so well. It really is part of the character of the place as much as the constant Chicken Little-ing and the biophobia. All up, it's this interesting mix that separates the people of HK from the Mainland Chinese.
However, that's not my choice of threatdown for this week. What I want to talk about is Avatar. Like nothing else before it, this film has captured the HK imagination and, yes, has even started to shape the actions of the people.
You probably know, don't you, that the City-State of HK consists of The SuperRich and The People, and that the SuperRich are a tribe from the North called the Punti, while The People are a mix of Hakka, Hokai and Hokla rice farmers brought in from the North by the Ming Emperor back in the 16th century to work the Punti's newly gained land. Oh yes, and let's not forget the Tanka, the original inhabitants - all the pirates, fishermen and boat-people of the region - although they were Outsiders and thus never part of this setup.
And in this set-up, the Punti were and still are, despite a century of British Rule, the Landlords, the Developers, the Own-Everythingers, and, in HK's skew-whiff take on Democracy, even today only the Punti vote. THEY are what HK is all about and all 7 million of The People are just there to serve 'em.
And that's where Avatar comes into play. It's a new HK phenomena that The People have been standing up to The Rampant Punti SuperRich. As you know, it only started three years ago, and right across the park from us at Wedding Card Street ...
Wedding Card Street
And although The People didn't win that one ...
See across the park there?
On the left?
That's the empty space
that was once Wedding Card Street.
... The People did manage to save several of the buildings.
Three of the eight buildings we saved.
Wan Chai Market
The Brothel from "The World of Suzie Wong"
The Wan Chai Post Office.
Yes, I know I'm saying "we" when we didn't actually take part, but it all happened right outside our window, so we saw the whole thing and were with them in spirit and I did manage to photograph it all for the historical value, although I can't actually lay my hands on the photos right now so can't share them with you.
However, back then, Resistance was new to HK and no one was quite sure how to go about it. All they had was the inchoate emotions and sure knowledge that something they valued was being taken away, but they had no language to express what they were after and no sure way of being effective in their actions to defend their land, homes, life-styles and rights.
But all this appears to have changed in recent days, and it appears to be all thanks to Avatar. Yes, James Cameron's Giant Blue Humanoids are providing the rhetoric for resistance and even appear to be building that resistance itself.
From viewing this film in such enormous numbers, HK has not only learned they are allowed to resist but they even have entire chunks of dialogue to throw around too. No, honestly. Villagers on the brink of having their villages destroyed in the name of progress and superhighways are, as we speak, manning roadblocks and chanting lines from Avatar at the bulldozers and actually telling reporters that Avatar is their inspiration to fight back.
Astonishing, isn't it, that an American film about Americans is capable of bringing about such a massive and speaking "identification"! Maybe it's because the Good Guys have blue skin they aren't immediately identifiable with a single group and thus can be seen to stand for any people on our planet.
Wonder if James Cameron thought of that. Probably not, if his stupid comments at the Golden Globes are anything to go by. He seems to think the success is due to the technology, without realising it's doing even better in 2D in the poorer areas of the world.
It's NOT the technology, James honey. It's the message.
And did you know that the reason Avatar has earned nearly two billion at the box office is because it's also caught the imagination of the people of China. Up there, right across the Mainland, this film is in constant rotation, with tickets like hen's teeth and waiting lists months long. Originally it was going head-to-head with Confucius, but within days Confucius was kow-towing out. Seem The People crave the message of Avatar more than their own now-rehabilitated philosopher, Kung Fu Sai, and I'm now even wondering if they don't follow HK's example and, not long in the future, we'll see Avatar dialogue and quotes being thrown around every place up North where justice is not being seen to be done.
Whathisname once said "The Medium is the Message", but that's not the case here. It really is the message, James honey, and NOT the medium.
Even my old friend Richard, who hates everything about the modern world, is raving about Avatar and saying he feels all inspired and wants "to go All-Jihad on American Arse!" but I'm arguing with him that it isn't that simple. This film is bigger and more universal than that. I will even say it's an invitation "to go all-Jihad on Anyone's Arse." Everywhere on earth where the little people are being trod on by Giants - whether Corporations or Ideologies or Religions or Banks or Developers or anything else huge, destructive and/or impersonal - this film is an invitation to "Go All-Out-Jihad" in the name of Justice.
In the past, the platform and language for resistance came from religious text, and then from those massive, worthy, wordy 19th century tomes that were so complicated they were too difficult for most folk to read and understand. (Although I must confess I unexpectedly found The Communist Manifesto very poetic, very beautiful and very readable.)
Today?
Avatar!
So that's my choice for this week:
THREATDOWN
Resistance all dummied down, simplified
and so easily digestible it's available to everyone.
Many Days Later:
China has stopped Avatar in the much cheaper 2D version showing in the cinemas. I can only imagine this is because they want to limit the number of poor folks who see the film. Mmmmm!
Even More Days Later:
China has stopped Avatar in the much cheaper 2D version showing in the cinemas. I can only imagine this is because they want to limit the number of poor folks who see the film. Mmmmm!
Even More Days Later:
Everyone's now talking about how Avatar took on Confucius in Mainland China, and guess which won? Here's one article on it:
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