i see lucy as a racist film that plays on negative stereotypes while hiding behind the cover of (white) feminism.
all this film has done is switch out the white man for a white woman. it’s still a film about a white person getting violated by the evil poc, then gaining power and wiping them out.
here’s 2 of my favourite scenes from the trailer:
from top to left to right:
KEEP CLEAN 保持清潔，APPLE 蘋果，ONION 洋蔥，GRAPE 葡萄，CHAIR 椅子，TOMATO 番茄
traditional chinese is an actual written language used by millions of people, not symbols to be thrown around at the whim of set designers because they look cool and idk, serves to create a menacing asian atmosphere. this is so disrespectful, and made even worse by the fact that this film in set it taipei, taiwan where the official written language is traditional chinese.
it doesn’t matter that this film caters to a primarily “white” audience who won’t be able to read it, the language and culture of taiwan isn’t something for you to twist and use as you deem fit because it’s “exotic.”
lucy shoots a guy for not being able to speak english.
she l i t e r a l l y shoots this taiwanese taxi driver, in taiwan for not being able to speak english. she’s in taipei and she’s shooting people as they are of no use to her because they don’t speak english.
just think about the sort of message that’s sending out. she’s not being “bad-ass strong female character who takes no shit,” she’s saying that english is useful and better. this is the type of harmful ideology that stretches all the way back from when western countries were colonising and forcing their language and customs on other countries.
let me explain with a real life example. i was born in new zealand to two taiwanese parents. i am fluent in english, but mandarin is conversational at best. my friends in taiwan say that i am “so lucky” to speak fluent english, when they are fluent in mandarin and their english level is no worse than my mandarin. they tell me that they want to perfect their english but in the same breath tell me that mandarin isn’t worth perfecting because i have english and that’s “enough”. they also tell me how pretty my white friends are when they see pictures.
this is the type of neo imperialism ideology that they’ve grown up buying into. it honestly hurts and frustrates me that they belittle their own culture like this, honestly believing that the western world is superior. this is the type of neo imperialism ideology that this film (hopefully unintentionally) promotes: white people are better and will save the day.
if they wanted to film a movie about a white women getting back at those who had violated her, why not film it in a western country? if they wanted to film it in taiwan, why not find an asian lead actress?
i do agree that we need more women protagonists in action/superhero movies, but not like this. its not okay that the female lead needs to be kidnapped and have her body cut open without her consent in order to gain her powers, and those said those powers do not make any of this racist bullshit okay.
i am just so tired and angry of poc always being brushed off to the side as either props or villains in mainstream media.
as a poc, it’s so frustrating to see that the of the standard of beauty still white women when we live in multi-cultural societies and a diverse world.
feminism is about equality. a film in which poc are presented as evil and inferior before being killed off by a superior white woman does not promote equality.
The even stupider thing about Lucy is that with a quick edit of the film (that does not even affect the plot) all of these could have been avoided. That wall? It’s a cell block. It doesn’t need any text.
The “Shot for not speaking english”? Show a 5 second segment where Lucy MAGICALLY learns to say Chinese by glancing around the crowd and hearing them talk. In fact it makes her super powers seem even more awesome.
Actually, the fact that Lucy doesn’t know basic conversational Chinese is even more stupid as in the start of the film she is stated to be studying in Taiwan. Most schools in Taiwan conduct lesson in Chinese. Heck, you need a bit of Chinese to be able to conduct your day to day life there. Why wouldn’t she even know a BIT of chinese to be able to butcher a “帶我去醫院”? Why set it in Taiwan at all if you are going to have TWO people (Lucy and her roommate) state “Who wants to learn Chinese anyway”.
But no, let’s go with nonsense text and English is superior.
