“Wish Dragon” was hilarious from beginning to end, but the ending left me with a bad aftertaste.
1. Self sacrifice because of loyalty/brotherhood vs freedom and self-agency (I know, I know, very wuxia, but still. This goes BEYOND laying down your life for your bro.)
2. Upward mobility is okay, but only up to a certain level. (Otherwise you’ll get smacked back down.)
3. The young couple’s reconciliation at the end to me read as:
3a. You’re my father’s 救命恩人 (life-saving benefactor). I’m grateful to you and will pay back this life-saving grace by dedicating myself to you.
3b. Our families now have the same socio-economic status again, so we can now be friends (or maybe more) once again.*
4. When an older generation “steps down” and extends an olive branch, you’re supposed to go along with it and reconcile the relationship, even though they almost accidentally killed you just a few days ago.
Am I overthinking things? Maybe.
P.S. I watched the movie in Chinese (Putonghua) with English subtitles. Some of the language is more loaded in Chinese than English, true.
* Minute 54:20. In Chinese (Putonghua - spoken in Mainland China), she specifically said their families are 相当 (xiāng dāng, equivalent). In Chinese (Guoyu - spoken in Taiwan), it’s even more loaded: she said 门当户对 (門當戶對, mén dāng hù duì), which is an idiom that means “the families are well-matched in terms of social status.” And also (of a prospective marriage partner) “an appropriate match.”
kaledo-art
areudirty
dededos
theartofmadeline
dailybridgerton
