Are kung fu cinema fans pretentious?

[Drunken Monk]

I currently run a kung fu cinema Instagram. It's small and far from special but it has enlightened me to the arrogance of some kung fu cinema fans. For example, I post a clip from Martial Club and someone will come along and say, "Actually, in the US it was known as Instructors of Death and I saw it back in '84 in such and such movie theater." Now, granted, that could be considered as someone just sharing but it always sounds so patronizing to me.
I also have a podcast and have been chided for saying certain actors' names incorrectly. For example, I pronounced Yuen as "Yun" and not "Yoon." Sure, this is a mistake and I should be able to say names correctly if I'm talking about the genre but I can't help that those correcting me are doing it from a high horse rather than a place of help.

With that said, do you find kung fu cinema fans to be arrogant? Are we always correcting each other on the correct year a film was made, the actors that were in the film and all other types of movie facts? Are we dickheads?

Maybe this topic is a little too personal and I'm taking things to heart. But I just wondered if anyone else has come across and arrogance among fans. Or is that cinema fans in general are arrogant and it's not specific to "our" genre?

[AlbertV]

It's a classic case of to-may-to, to-mah-to. People tend to pronounce things differently or say this was released under so and so. It's the classic case of what everyone else sees. I mean even though I've seen lately Yuen Wo-ping, I still use Yuen Woo-ping. Some still use Samo Hung and not Sammo Hung. It's just a matter of perception. Doesn't bother me any and I've watched classic Kung Fu for 36 years now. 

[Secret Executioner]

Seeing just the title, I was going to point out that every genre must have its snobs. I've seen discussions about the Halloween franchise on other forums (not even movie-related to begin with, but there were lots of horror fans on there) became a bunch of heated debates on whether the Rob Zombie remakes were better or worse than the original stuff or a guy claiming come hell or high water that Halloween 4 was the best.

 

I don't feel like people here are stalking waiting to jump at somebody's throat and being an asshat (or a dickhead) about a wrong movie fact. It seems people here tend to be rather nice and if a mistake is spotted, the corrector will be polite in how (s)he points it out and corrects it.

[Drunken Monk]

1 minute ago, Secret Executioner said:

I don't feel like people here are stalking waiting to jump at somebody's throat and being an asshat (or a dickhead) about a wrong movie fact. It seems people here tend to be rather nice and if a mistake is spotted, the corrector will be polite in how (s)he points it out and corrects it.

As a disclaimer, I think everyone on these forums is wonderful. This place has been nothing but a chilled, polite source of knowledge. I don't feel like anyone here is overly abrupt or even close to that.

And I guess you're right, opinions are opinions and, in places, you are going to have those people that think The Big Boss is the greatest kung fu film of all time or that Billy Blanks is superior to Jackie Chan.

[DragonClaws]

1 hour ago, Drunken Monk said:

With that said, do you find kung fu cinema fans to be arrogant? Are we always correcting each other on the correct year a film was made, the actors that were in the film and all other types of movie facts? Are we dickheads?

 

You get idiots following all genres or interests. They are not exclusive to the Kung Fu movie genre. It's just a human trait. I don't talk anyone down, even if I'm correcting a post. In fact I'd prefer people to point out my mistakes, otherwise how can you learn/improve?.

 

 

1 hour ago, Drunken Monk said:

I also have a podcast and have been chided for saying certain actors' names incorrectly. For example, I pronounced Yuen as "Yun" and not "Yoon." Sure, this is a mistake and I should be able to say names correctly if I'm talking about the genre but I can't help that those correcting me are doing it from a high horse rather than a place of help.

 

Pronouncing these actors names is no easy thing. If I was to do a Kung Fu movie podcast, I'm sure I'd pronounce around 90% Asian actors names wrong. Unless I used their Western aliases.

I've encountered just about every type of hater or moron, since joining online forums many years ago. Moderated on many site's, and had to deal with so many different types of people. Sometime offence is taken, when know-one actually means to offend someone. This can be down to all kinds of things, culture gaps, language barrier's etc.

It's easier for many peope to just be negative, than it is for them to build something up and be postive. People will give you construtive criticism. While others will just use it as an excuse to pull you apart, or vent their anger/jealousy. The types that don't applaud you when you do well or have success. Yet are quick to get on your back when you make a mistake.

 

 

 

[ShawAngela]

1 hour ago, Drunken Monk said:

I also have a podcast and have been chided for saying certain actors' names incorrectly. For example, I pronounced Yuen as "Yun" and not "Yoon." Sure, this is a mistake and I should be able to say names correctly if I'm talking about the genre but I can't help that those correcting me are doing it from a high horse rather than a place of help.

Is the person who corrected you on this a Chinese one ?

I'm not a Chinese person, nor do I consider that I'm a learned one on Mandarin language, but from what I learnt when I began to learn Mandarin with my teacher when I was at school, it's not "Yun", nor "Yoon" that should be said, but "Yuen" the end of the word being like in "hen" without the "h", (exactly the same pronunciation for Yuen Biao...) so, if people criticize you, at least, they should be able to give you a correct correction instead of despising you...I wonder where they found this pronunciation as " yoon " ! This would be available if there wasn't the letter " e " in the word, but it's here, so, "yoon " is absolutely inaccurate in my opinion...but maybe I'm too prompt to react and be angry when I see such reactions for such trivial matters......and maybe Chinese speakers should correct me if I'm wrong with this matter, and I thank them in advance.

[Drunken Monk]

27 minutes ago, ShawAngela said:

Is the person who corrected you on this a Chinese one ?

Nope. A very white American person.

I apologize to everyone if this topic seems too centralized on me. I just wondered if anyone else had had similar experiences.

[DrNgor]

I tend to not encounter this so much in kung fu fandom circles, as opposed to kaiju eiga circles, where fans can easily become arrogant, angry, self-important douches if you trigger them the right way (like saying something disparaging about any movie made before 1975).

Everybody here is really cool, even if we don't see eye to eye on wire issues (or the greatness of Seven Steps of Kung Fu). There is an exception or two, but no pretentious bags of d***s here.

[Secret Executioner]

3 minutes ago, DrNgor said:

(like saying something disparaging about any movie made before 1975)

Even the likes of Son of Godzilla ?

 

(sorry, couldn't help it)

[DrNgor]

21 minutes ago, Secret Executioner said:

Even the likes of Son of Godzilla ?

 

That actually happened to a friend. He made a comment about how the film was entertaining, despite the suit not being the best, and an older "superfan" (guy who's well-known in fan circles) got all defensive and pissy about it, acting as if he was disrespecting old school special FX on the whole.

[Secret Executioner]

2 minutes ago, DrNgor said:

That actually happened to a friend. He made a comment about how the film was entertaining, despite the suit not being the best, and an older "superfan" (guy who's well-known in fan circles) got all defensive and pissy about it, acting as if he was disrespecting old school special FX on the whole.

Holy smoke.  

[ShawAngela]

37 minutes ago, Drunken Monk said:

Nope. A very white American person.

I apologize to everyone if this topic seems too centralized on me. I just wondered if anyone else had had similar experiences.

There's no apologies needed. It's normal that you tell us about your experiences.

And still regarding the pronunciation, I wonder who would pronounce Yuen Biao as " Yoon Biao " and the same for Yuen Woo Ping.

You can hear the Mandarin pronunciation of Yuen Biao on the third line of this link :

https://www.pronouncekiwi.com/Yuen Biao

 

[DrNgor]

3 hours ago, AlbertV said:

mean even though I've seen lately Yuen Wo-ping, I still use Yuen Woo-ping. Some still use Samo Hung and not Sammo Hung. It's just a matter of perception. Doesn't bother me any and I've watched classic Kung Fu for 36 years now. 

I wonder if anyone still says Michelle Khan instead of Michelle Yeoh.

I also wonder if any fan rolls their eyes whenever another fan writes "Bruce Li" instead of "Jimmy Ho Chung-Tao", "Bruce Le" instead of "Huang Kin-Lung", and "Bruce Liang" instead of "Leung Siu-Lung."

[Rodolphe Dux]

4 hours ago, Drunken Monk said:

I currently run a kung fu cinema Instagram. It's small and far from special but it has enlightened me to the arrogance of some kung fu cinema fans. For example, I post a clip from Martial Club and someone will come along and say, "Actually, in the US it was known as Instructors of Death and I saw it back in '84 in such and such movie theater." Now, granted, that could be considered as someone just sharing but it always sounds so patronizing to me.
I also have a podcast and have been chided for saying certain actors' names incorrectly. For example, I pronounced Yuen as "Yun" and not "Yoon." Sure, this is a mistake and I should be able to say names correctly if I'm talking about the genre but I can't help that those correcting me are doing it from a high horse rather than a place of help.

With that said, do you find kung fu cinema fans to be arrogant? Are we always correcting each other on the correct year a film was made, the actors that were in the film and all other types of movie facts? Are we dickheads?

Maybe this topic is a little too personal and I'm taking things to heart. But I just wondered if anyone else has come across and arrogance among fans. Or is that cinema fans in general are arrogant and it's not specific to "our" genre?

That’s a very good point. But as far I know, Yuen as in 袁 for example is pronounced « jyun4 » and « yuán » in canto and mandarin so it seems you were more accurate in the first place.

But yeah, ma and asian fans are stuck-up and arrogant, especially on social media. But the worst debate I come across now and then is the pointless « tarantino’s a hack » kind of debate, full of qt noob worshippers and arrogant hardcore grindhouse fans. Same kind of rage and despise. That’s what I like small communities like here, hot debates from times to times but no rage.

[ThunderScore]

6 hours ago, Drunken Monk said:

I currently run a kung fu cinema Instagram. It's small and far from special but it has enlightened me to the arrogance of some kung fu cinema fans. For example, I post a clip from Martial Club and someone will come along and say, "Actually, in the US it was known as Instructors of Death and I saw it back in '84 in such and such movie theater." Now, granted, that could be considered as someone just sharing but it always sounds so patronizing to me.

Not sure I understand what is patronizing about someone relating their experience seeing something under a different title. Does it come off as bragging perhaps?

[Drunken Monk]

49 minutes ago, ThunderScore said:

Not sure I understand what is patronizing about someone relating their experience seeing something under a different title. Does it come off as bragging perhaps?

Not bragging, per se. But sometimes there’s an underlying know-it-all tone. Like, “You called the film this but I also know it as this.”

I think it’s fine when done in a harmless and informative way but there are times - just a few - when it comes off a smidgen condescending. Like a battle of knowledge, if you will.

Again, not on these boards.

[ThunderScore]

I guess I can see it being interpreted as condescending, but it would depend upon the tone. How about a link to your podcast?

 

[Drunken Monk]

34 minutes ago, ThunderScore said:

I guess I can see it being interpreted as condescending, but it would depend upon the tone. How about a link to your podcast?

 

You can find it on most podcast platforms under the title, Fu for Thought.

I’ll admit, the audio on the first two episodes is dismal. We improved with the third though. Thanks for asking.

[Takuma]

I may not be qualified to answer because I’m probably the dick pointing out mistakes

😄

But… I agree it depends on the tone. Personally I’m always fascinated by film history, so details like how something was marketed, what year it was released, by what studio, with what kind of edits etc. are always interesting to me. Of course, that doesn't excuse give anyone the right to act like a dick, unless the original poster him/herself is an arrogant dick (e.g. makes strong statements or long analysis without even bothering to check the basic facts, or has this "crazy Asian movies" approach that is mainly based on cultural ignorance).

Not related to kung fu, but as a Japanese film fan I’m pretty quick to correct people when they confuse pink films and roman porno. There’s a whole different history, company culture, production values, distribution venues etc. that have influenced on their general and critical perception and how the films shaped up… In the lack of a better example, the mistake is somewhat similar to confusing Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest. If you evaluated individual films on their own merits, I think it may not matter, but if you’re looking it from film historical perspective as a whole as I try to do, these details can become very noteworthy.

[OpiumKungFuCracker]

Yes because I'm one of them. @ThunderScore can vouch for me, hahaha

[Koravec]

20 hours ago, Drunken Monk said:

And I guess you're right, opinions are opinions and, in places, you are going to have those people that think The Big Boss is the greatest kung fu film of all time or that Billy Blanks is superior to Jackie Chan.

But Big Bossis the greatest kung fu film of all time. Then again Im not even familiar with Billy Blanks, tf do I know.