It’s worth remembering this promise the next time there are developments in China’s new Silk Roads initiative, its brash exercises in the South China Sea, or its opposition to the Western-dominated Bretton Woods institutions. Xi, who took power in 2012, promised the Chinese people that under his rule their country would finally regain its glory on the global stage. Instead, it is a catch-all phrase that signifies many things while remaining vague enough to be held accountable for nothing. A viewing of The Great Wall evokes similar vibes, except the superpower being deified lies on the other side of the Pacific Ocean.īefore Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again", the Leave campaign’s “Take Back Control" and Narendra Modi’s endless abbreviations, there was Xi Jinping’s “The Chinese Dream".Īnd much like those earlier catchphrases (especially in the case of Modi’s coinages), the Chinese president’s term doesn’t carry an explicit, concrete meaning. The fact that he’s fought under multiple flags-the English, the Spanish, the Vatican, etc.-is something the female lead, a winsome Chinese commander who would die for her order, notes with dismay.įor a long time, watching American blockbusters that fetishize its military prowess (i.e., almost anything by Michael Bay or Peter Berg) has been an uncomfortable experience for many. The film takes pains to point out how the guns-for-hire nature of Damon’s character is at odds with the Chinese troops’ collective loyalty. Over the course of the film’s 104-minute runtime, there are almost as many shots of Damon’s character gawking at the Chinese troops as there are of the attacking monsters. With awe filling his eyes, he exclaims: “I’ve never seen an army like this!"
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This perception not just completely reversed the power dynamics in this series of events, but also failed to understand both the events themselves and their intended audience.Īt the beginning of The Great Wall, the vaguely European mercenary played by Damon finally arrives at the titular landmark, where he sees the Song Dynasty’s forces stationed as far a the eye can see. The explanation that quickly took hold in the popular imagination pinned the blame on Damon, as if he entered an otherwise-untarnished universe and ruined the Chinese’s innocent fun-filled romp with his presence.
Their statements evidently didn’t do enough around the time of the film’s release, the hashtag #ThankYouMattDamon-meant to send up the white saviour phenomenon-went viral and was featured in major news publications.ĭid a film set in 11th century China really need a white protagonist, many wondered. The allegations reached such an intensity that both the film’s star and director had to defend it from this fury. The raised eyebrows gave way to eyerolls when the first trailer made it seem like this would be an all-too-familiar and all-too-depressing case of a heterosexual white male protagonist stepping in to save the day when a rich and exotic “other" is under threat.Įxamples include-but, sadly, are far from limited to-The Last Samurai, Blood Diamond, The Help and Avatar.
The answer, to anyone slightly familiar with history, seemed evident in the poster itself: foreigners like Matt Damon. The first promotional poster for the film had the tagline “What were they trying to keep out?" over the all-caps title. Eyebrows were raised as soon as it was announced that Chinese auteur Zhang Yimou, once famous for subversive dramas such as Raise the Red Lantern, would be directing a big-budget, special-effects-laden epic centred upon the Great Wall of China and the purpose it served for ancient Chinese empires. This vision is here to stay, and it can be traced back to one country’s quest to be a global superpower.Īccusations started plaguing The Great Wall months before anyone saw it.
One contender may have come and gone, but more like it are not far off. While analysing the colossal misfire behind The Great Wall, one should focus not on the superficial crime of whitewashing, but on an extremely ambitious and disruptive vision of what an “event film" or “international blockbuster" may look like in the future.