MI3

昨天和小Y打电话，她说正和劳工去看电影的路上，要看的是阿汤哥的MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 3，她说里面有在上海的镜头，我正处于去国怀乡的调整期中，今天就一个人去看了。

 

到的时候已经开始了。阿汤哥老了很多，身材倒是保持得很好，特技很火爆，MAGGIE Q没有照片上的好看。

 

当然我要看的是上海，我不明白为什么打着打着都跑到上海去了，和罗马瑰丽的教堂相比，展现在荧幕上的上海，是内衣晾在阳台上，是工厂废墟冒着烟，上海政府原先期待着MI3能够把上海最现代最强劲的姿态展现在世界面前，谁知道人家没有买帐，照例是按着自己的眼光来取景。据说这部电影在国内被无限期冷冻了，因为涉嫌“贬低上海形象”，呵呵。

 

确实是有些奇怪，我在看DIE IN ANOTHER DAY里面的香港街头追逐，在看The Bourne Supremacy中泰国小摊边的追杀，都觉得没什么，就是这样乱糟糟，热烘烘的，唯独看到了上海的时候，看到那昏暗肮脏的房间，就觉得陌生，即使是东方明珠，即使是延安东路高架，即使是地图上不断出现的熟悉的地名，都让我觉得陌生，这不是我十几天前还在生活着的地方。这是阿汤哥和美国人眼中的上海。

 

最后的决死厮杀是在西塘，长廊里阿汤夺命奔跑，我却忍不住被周围的景色分神，美国人对中国文化的理解已经根深蒂固了，每次触及到东方的东西，总要在昏黄的房间里，瓶瓶罐罐的中药之间，似乎这样才能标示出我们在东方哦。

 

不过还是值得一看的，看阿汤哥怎么跳过被炸断的大桥，怎么在城隍庙打得鸡飞狗跳，最后他抓住中银大厦玻璃墙的末端时，我和所有的观众都长吁一口气，然后继续喝可乐，吃爆米花，夏天的一部娱乐大片，就这样诞生了。

[落花飘零]

要说口音，卧虎藏龙里面，听着杨紫琼，周润发用普通话谈恋爱，我真的是有自杀的冲动。

刘天王能够成为仅存的天王，是有道理的，天道酬勤阿。我们要向他学习，呵呵。

[晓风残月]

落花，看到你写‘满口硬邦邦的生硬口音’，让我想起天下无贼里刘德华说普通话的那个认真劲儿，我还是很佩服他的。

[落花飘零]

香香，我一回来就去看过你的博客了，那首熟悉的法文歌，把我感动得的稀里哗啦的。
博客最近一直在调整，现在好像有很多模版可以挑了。我的是默认的，一直在变，每天打开都有惊讶，呵呵。
你把我想说却说不出来的意思说出来了。他们不是没有中国顾问，他们肯定是根本没有请，或者请的也是要说出符合他们自己意思的，何不请也没什么两样。那些中国演员肯定不是中国本土的拉，满口硬邦邦的生硬口音。这才符合他们印象中的中国打手。faint!

[我是香香]

落花J，其实我很早就知道你回来了，嘻嘻，那晚花了大半夜读你的回国日记，本来想今年回去一趟的，看了你的日记过了瘾，好象自己也回去过了，hehe。

你的博客很漂亮呀，怎么弄得呢？我那里糟透了，照片变得像豆腐干一样，还是觉得测试版好点。

MIP3我也看了，现在好象什么东西都要和上海搭点边才感觉时髦似的，嘿嘿，不算坏事。可是，美国有点傲慢，拍别人的国家总带点“歧视”和“偏见”，片子里的几个华人明显就是美国的福建移民，长得哪里像上海江南一代的人啊？还有那些歪歪扭扭的衣服，明显就是片场搭出来的场景，这个场景象万能药水一样，已经在N个描述中国城市的片子里出现过了。虽然是大片，但还是有些粗糙，难道好莱坞拍片就没有几个中国顾问嘛？

一直都佩服你的感性，真得很会写哦，我看得没话说了。^_^

[落花飘零]

wow，大皇兄弟的回帖质量越来越高了，谢谢你如此详尽地解释，虽然我看得有点糊涂，突然很佩服你认真的态度，呵呵。
我在美国生活学习总是试图不要太sensitive，就像你说的很多时候这个词语早已经没有了最原先的侮辱意味，只是沿用下来，但是在大多数美国人内心深处，那总是一个落后的地方，无可争辩，我也不想去争辩。

[黄大皇]

写完评论又查了查Chinese Fire Drill的确切意义，却又发现更多类似的习语：

Chinese fire drill
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
A Chinese fire drill is a prank that was popular in the United States during the 1960s. It is performed when a car is stopped at a red traffic light, at which point all of the car's occupants get out, run around the car, and return to their own (or other) seats. Chinese Fire Drills are sometimes executed when one needs to get something from the trunk of a car. People have reported its use as early as the 1940s, so it is likely that the phrase was current at the time, but simply was not written down that early.

The term is also used as a figure of speech to mean any large, ineffective, and chaotic exercise. In this usage, it is often shortened to just "fire drill", omitting the possibly-offensive "Chinese".

[edit]
Origins of the term
The term is alleged to have originated in the early 1900s, during an naval incident wherein a ship manned by British officers and a Chinese crew set up a fire drill for fighting a fire in the engine room. In the event of a fire the crew was to form a bucket brigade, drawing water from the starboard side, taking it to the engine room and throwing it on the 'fire'. Because water would accumulate in the engine room, another crew was to take the excess thrown water and haul it back up to the main deck, and then heave it over the port side (in order to bail it out).

When the drill was called the first moments went according to plan, but then orders became confused in translation. The crew for the bucket brigade began drawing the water from the starboard side, running over to the port side, and then throwing the water over, and so by-passing the engine room completely. Thus the expression "Chinese Fire Drill" entered our lexicon as meaning a large confused action by individuals accomplishing nothing. [1]

The term is traditionally explained as coming from a British tendency around the time of World War I to use the adjective Chinese as a slur, implying "confused, disorganized, or inferior". [2] Other "Chinese" slurs of the day included "Chinese national anthem" (an explosion) and "Chinese puzzle" (one with no solution). In this context it is related to the stereotype of the Chinese as being 'inscrutable', hard to judge, and difficult to understand, all relating to the British experience of a sophisticated but distinctly alien culture. There are earlier isolated examples which were based on ideas of the inferiority of the Chinese.

Several expressions in common use in aviation since World War I, such as Chinese landing 'a clumsy landing' and Chinese ace 'an inept pilot', derive from the English phrase One Wing Low, a legitimate technical description of flying and landing technique taken to resemble a Chinese name.

[黄大皇]

就好像“中国”在英语里可以代表很遥远的地方，西方人对中国，对中国人的理解已经沉积了几百年，已经成为当地文化的一部分。电影不这么拍，就没人相信是在中国拍的了。
你有没有听说过“Chinese Fire Drill"的说法？意思是一群人象没头苍蝇似的乱跑。虽然现在说这话的人未必真的歧视中国人，但是文化里已经存留了歧视的历史，很难抹去。

[落花飘零]

也不是这山那山的问题啦，学习的时候有动力很重要的，我以前也经常上网去看这种信息的，可惜我之前没有这样一个落花跟我说话阿，哈哈哈。

[粉妆玉琢的玉米]

谢谢你落花，我这个人就是这样，这山看着那山高．我也很气愤为什么美国人看不到现代的中国，就象crush里面的那个让人humiliated 的称呼一样．