Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Why am I not surprised?

I started teaching a new class yesterday - boot-strap English for a bunch of local government officials.

One of the questions they asked me in our initial 'getting to know you' session was what did I think of Avatar? Ahem, I had to rein myself in a bit.

Apparently, they had all seen it. And almost all of them had enjoyed it deliriously.


There is often a disturbing lack of sophistication in Chinese aesthetic values, I find; especially in their consumption of 'Western' culture.

2 comments:

Max said...

Given Avatar's worldwide box office, I guess Chinese people aren't the only ones with a "lack of sophistication."

You stuck-up prick.

Froog said...

Nothing "stuck-up" about being able to appreciate Avatar is - in most ways - a piece of shit.

Agreed it's not only a Chinese weakness. But most people I've talked to about it concede they watched it because of the hype, but found it was a piece of shit. Most Chinese people I've talked to about it weren't aware there was any "hype" and thought it was the most moving cinematic experience they had ever seen. That's "a lack of sophistication" on a whole different level to what we find in the multiplexes back home.