Tae Guk Gi (The Brotherhood of War): Guns, Guts, and Dirty Commies!

March 30th, 2014

A is for America
B is for Bomb
C is for Commie
D is for Dirty Commie


    Tae Guk Gi is a film that begins shortly before the outbreak of the Korean war. We are given a pair of overly happy and inseparable brothers who seem to be the happiest people on earth. The elder gave up school to be a shoemaker so that he and the rest of his family may support the younger brother. The younger brother is still in school and has aspirations to attend college. As in life, what happens to good people? Bad things happen to good people, and in the case of these brothers and their family very, very bad things happen to them. War breaks out and along with it all hell. The North is invading and the south is being crushed. This prompts the South to implement a draft. Of course the brothers fall within the draft parameters and are shipped off to fight the "good" fight. This is another film that shows how good intentions can create both monsters and much suffering.

    All of this wrapped up in a war makes for a damn fine plot. There have been many observations and opinions made that if you enjoyed the film Saving Private Ryan then you will love this film. "But I haven't seen Saving Private Ryan" you say. Great I think it's better that a viewer hasn't so that way there is no preconceived notions or expectations about the Tae Guk Gi and how it relates to Saving Private Ryan. This way the viewer can take in the  film as it is and appreciate it for the masterpiece that it is. The are war movies and there are movies like Tae Guk Gi. Movies like Tae Guk Gi and Saving Private Ryan elevate the war movie genre beyond simply showing America whipping everyone's ass with a grizzled ape at the head of the pack. These movies show a kind of behind the scenes/maintenance of the war machine approach. Meaning that it isn't there for a propaganda kind of role. No "America! Fuck yeah!" vibes are trying to be conveyed in films like this. These films focus more on the individuals or what one may call cannon fodder and shows that war isn't just America kicking ass. These movies exemplify the universal and obscene amount of suffering that fuels the war machine without skipping on the brutal, gory, and down right "Oh shit" inspiring warfare. These films are like finding extra fries at the bottom of your Whataburger bag, you get what you're looking for and then some. That doesn't mean you may like it though, the fries at the bottom of your bag may be burnt.
 
  So if you dig a deep and dark story line filled with explosions and exploding people Tae Guk Gi should have a spot in your film collection. If people even have those anymore.

To Live or Not To Live: No matter how bad you got it, Fugui has got you beat.

March 30th, 2014

(Cannot remember original published date)

• FYI

   Fugui (You Ge) has got it all! Money, property, a beautiful and loving family yet he is unsatisfied. So what would any rich douche with prestige and money to burn do? Let that shit ride! Fugui has a bit of a gambling problem to say the least, he seems to have grown bored with life and sees this as a means of entertainment. Fugui has racked up a hearty debt no thanks to a shady "friend" of his named Long'er (Dahong Ni) who seems to be after something of Fugui's. This man single handedly ruins and saves Fugui and his entire family, in ways ranging from spiritually to financially.

• Non-Spoiling at its finest

   I will do my best to disclose as little about the plot while explaining why you should sit down and watch this, at times gut wrenching and at other times ironically hilarious film. Fugui is a man on a journey who is trying to right his wrongs from a previous life. Not because he wants to but because he has to, the future of his family depends on it. Fugui, contrary to his actions in a previous life, is actually the ultimate family man. He sacrifices everything he has and then some to keep his family as happy as he can. However, the world is not a perfect place and is hardly ever hospitable. As well as trying to keep his family alive Fugui must also keep himself alive. He and friends he has made along his journey get caught in the middle of a civil war between the Chinese Nationalist Party and the Chinese Communist party. The latter headed by who other than the most honorable chairman of our hearts Mao Zedong. We all know who wins, but what most of might not know is how much blood it took to water the now prospering kinda-commie/kinda-not politically economical bisexual rose that is the People's Republic of China or the PRC for short. Fugui and his rag tag group get caught right in the middle of these two war machines and they must survive so that they may return to their families and continue their role as head of it. Like many who have come before him and the many that will follow Fugui is full of good intentions, these good intentions however only attract the cruelest actions of the mistress known as fate. Time after time it strings along Fugui, showing dreams of prosperity and happiness when behind the golden veil is a rotted, festering fruit that is to be the meal of Fugui and his  family, and they must eat every bit of it as reward for every good intention gone awry.

• All bullshit aside 

    In all honesty this should be a boring and depressing film, a family that is plagued by life's misfortunes. Not in some incredible way but in a very common and every day occurrence kind of way. This film in my opinion mirrors life and the many bones that it's got to pick with a person. More often than not in life we get more sour than sweet fruit. Life makes us bite the curb while it kicks at the back of our head and we just gotta say, "Damn, this curb tastes good". Fugui does more times than you can count in this film, hell he's eaten a curb from every street corner in China, but the man refuses to give up. His story is like one I have never seen; being as young as I am i realize that doesn't constitute much but the meaning stands. If you like underdogs and you get a kick out of ironic and dark humor, plant your ass and this film a chance. You won't be disappointed.

Online Curations: A Quick Run Down that does not do Justice

Wednesday, February 12th

      In the first article found on the PBS website the reader may get the impression that what they are about to read will be a boring academic article full of sources and other facts. But after reading about halfway through the first paragraph the article begins to shift. It goes from being an academic article to being almost a heartfelt expression. This article speaks about art as a tool of expression, as the most powerful tool of expression.
      The second link was a video on the United Nations website titled Stories on Human Rights. The video was very simplistic, it used short clips of cultures from around the world to express words such as development, gender, and participation to name a few.

• The development section showed African villages growing fruit bearing plants, having healthy pregnancies, and an Indian woman who gets struck by a bus and the receives a cat scan. This section shows no matter where you come from everyone has the right to learn and develop both self and community. This clip expresses how younger generations are learning to care for crops from the elders, how they are exercising their right to pregnancy and learning how to be parents, and finally the Indian woman shows that every country has the right to knowledge and the right to use this knowledge to better their community. This whole clip was about every person's and every country's right to develop and to grow as a human beings. 
•   The Gender section showed two girls leaving school wearing shawls that covered most of their head except for their face. Once they were away from school the girls removed the shawls and found an old news  paper with the faces of two beautiful western women on it. The girls walked closely together holding the  news paper in front of them  wearing it almost like a mask symbolizing their want to look like the western  women with their hair blowing in the wind. This shows that everyone wants to feel beautiful in their own way  and be free to make themselves look exactly how they want. 
•          The next clip showed boys hunting birds with slingshots. A boy hits a bird but doesn't kill it. Once the  boy retrieves the bird and sees how he hurt it he decides to care for it instead of killing it. This shows that  compassion has no gender.  
•       The last clip shows a woman climbing a staircase with a rope wrapped around her and a man trailing behind her holding it. Suddenly she stopped and throws the rope off of her. The rope symbolizes societal norms, but taking off the rope this symbolizes the breaking of norms and the right to do what you want how you want. 
•        The Participation section shows children riding a mule and people enjoying travel. This clip emphasizes peoples right to do what they like. Be that riding donkeys, sailing, or visiting historical places. It is a right to be able to travel and experience new things. 

       The third link takes you to an Amnesty International page about the Ambassador of Conscience award. This article isn't really about the award but the human action of supporting human rights. This means that it is about people who went beyond just believing in human rights, these people and millions others just like them acted upon their beliefs. These actions spoke for other people who could not speak for themselves, the actions that got people the rights they deserve. The most exceptional activists were presented with awards to commemorate their courage and hard work.

Syllabi....syllabi everywhere!

Monday, February 3rd

 I enjoy learning learning about Asian countries such as China, Japan, Mongolia, and the Koreas. In high school my history classes never paid much attention to Asia so I pretty much jump at every opportunity I get to learn about it. All of my Asian courses so far have been focusing on china except for my current course, Japanese Ceramics. Other than that my background on East Asia is all Chinese. Chinese films are almost always depressing which makes them a bit of a drag, but their food definitely makes up for that. Most dishes are very simple, very good tasting, and typically very cheap. So Chinese food is a prime example of perfection, end of story. Between my 6th and 12th grade years of school I took a total of seven years of art. I am by no means an artist but I do love I do love art and can appreciate it in most forms. Art is a non verbal expression. Art has many forms but it all speaks the exact same language all around the world. In most cases art can say much more than words ever could. Art has no restrictions in anyway, art can be anything, anywhere, for any and all reasons. Art is almost like magic. People have the right to do whatever they like, however they like, whenever they like so long as none of that infringes on another person's rights; in a perfect world that is. In our world some people feel more entitled than others and therefore feel that they have every right to infringe on other people's rights. Modern government systems have set rules that take away certain rights in exchange for protection and the right to call the governed land their homeland. Art is the physical rendition of unalienable rights. As I stated before, art is an expression that can be anything, anywhere, anytime. When I stated that art is like magic what I meant was that art is that perfect world where anything can be said, anything can be done, anywhere in the world. Art is the ultimate freedom, it is the ultimate expression. I hope to gain a broader knowledge of East Asian countries and their cultures. I want to learn more about Japan and the Koreas as well other nations that are under the recent news radar so to speak.