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BBC Comedy Chinese Burn gets burned in the review for being racist and sexist.

Cow Mengde

Cow Mengde

Member
Oct 26, 2017
12,890
The show's co-written by the 2 costars trying to smash stereotypes of Chinese male and female. Instead becomes a 22 minute cringe-fest of racist sexist Chinese stereotypes. I saw the first few minutes of it, I couldn't make it any further. Like holy fuck, what were they thinking!?!

https://www.hongkongfp.com/2017/12/...-bbc-three-sitcom-chinese-burn-well-deserved/
https://nextshark.com/new-bbc-show-chinese-burn-sparks-outrage-extreme-racism-asians/

The synopsis reads: "Chinese Burn smashes all the stereotypes with a round-house kick… This show's stories are straight-from-the-dragon's-mouth, no-MSG, authentic."
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This is a seminal moment for East Asian representation on British television, which has become notorious for its persistent lack of British East Asian (BEA) stories on screen and on stage, particularly when compared with the US, which has made great strides to address this. The most notable examples include the much celebrated series Fresh Off The Boat and forthcoming feature films Crazy Rich Asians and Disney's Mulan.

For me, a mixed Chinese playwright, the constant setbacks and struggles come as no surprise. Like so many others, I hoped that this could change everything for the East Asian presence on mainstream British television. Unfortunately, this means the show would inevitably, and possibly unfairly, be scrutinised to within an inch of its life.

However, in its attempt to "break down stereotypes", Chinese Burn does nothing more than reinforce them – and at the expense of its female characters. This, in turn, results in a cynical, disparaging and downright miserable portrayal of the foreign experience in London. As Anna Chen states, the episode is "utterly retrograde".
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"We're Chinese girls in London bitches. And you're going to love us long time" (mock accent)

Holding camera phone to other main woman: "Nice Thai prostitute. Scream like a Korean prostitute. Scream like a Saudi prostitute. Are you really auditioning for a prostitute again?"
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firehawk12

firehawk12

Member
Oct 25, 2017
24,676
I'll have to watch this, but it sounds like a Canadian show that aired last year, Second Jen - take the Broad City concept but replace the Jewish leads with Chinese leads.
Second Jen was alright, even though no one watched it. But I guess this turned out to be a disaster. lol
 
AnansiThePersona

AnansiThePersona

Started a revolution but the mic was unplugged
Member
Oct 27, 2017
15,682
I gotta see this for myself. That all sounds ridiculous but I love me some terrible cringe humor.
 
Vas

Vas

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
4,016
I feel like they are trying to subvert stereotypes, but they are maybe just really bad writers. To me, the biggest crime is how corny it is. I watched the clip and cringed out fast, just because of how hack the writing was.
 
Broken Joystick

Broken Joystick

The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
1,932
England
It's pretty awful and incredibly low budget. Think it's iPlayer exclusive so one of those fringe shows that used to get on BBC3 but no one watched.
Chinese Burn follows the escapades of three 'normal' Chinese girls in London.

Ringleader Jackie is Beyonce to Destiny's Child. She's also a blunt, offensive force of nature who tears through life and deflects unwanted attention every 0.2 seconds. Jackie moved to London to further her reasonably successful acting career. 'Reasonably' because she's more likely to offend the director than actually land the job.

Elizabeth was destined to be a model-minority overachiever like her brain surgeon of a sister. But no amount of Latin lessons could save her from becoming a self-destructive, failure of a millennial, drawn to the wrong decision like a moth to a flame. Elizabeth moved to London to 'find herself' but found herself dressing up as a cup of Boba tea for a living and drinking on the job. As a wannabe sommelier, this is simply research.

And then there's Fufu. If Jackie is Beyoncé then Fufu is Phoebe from Friends. An oddball Buddhist on a cultural odyssey, viewing London through the eyes of an innocent child or an alien arrival. Fufu was born into Chinese new money, which means she's not only armed with a misplaced Buddhist quote for every occasion, but also a bank balance which reads 'infinite'. With Jackie and Elizabeth as a tour guides, what could possibly go wrong?

The girls navigate life in the capital together and attempt to overcome the trials of modern life; from sex to relationships, to failing careers, paying rent, getting drunk and getting in fights, all through the experience of being a visitor from a scary superpower.
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Hollywood Duo

Hollywood Duo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
43,265
"We're Chinese girls in London bitches. And you're going to love us long time" (mock accent)

Holding camera phone to other main woman: "Nice Thai prostitute. Scream like a Korean prostitute. Scream like a Saudi prostitute. Are you really auditioning for a prostitute again?"
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top_that_arrested_development.gif
 
Jackpot

Jackpot

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
1,827
Saw it pop-up in iPlayer recommendations. Looked terribad along with most of their digital only comedy shows (Ja'mie: Private School Girl, Jonah from Tonga, etc).
 
It’s Time To Go

It’s Time To Go

Member
Dec 2, 2017
20,776
What was the last really good BBC comedy anyway? They do a lot of great dramas and documentaries, but their comedy is severely lacking. That porridge and open all hours revival was fucking woeful.
 
deli

deli

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,367
I watched the pilot of this on iPlayer a couple of weeks back, it was not good.
 
lowmelody

lowmelody

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
2,101
Ah yes the "I'm going to subvert stereotypes and racism by making jokes out of them!"

Everything is so funny hahaha man I'm so glad nothing matters except entertainment. Why so serious, can't you just be unaffected like me?
 

bubbles

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
163
USA/Thailand
I am Thai and have been asked if I'm a prostitute multiple times in my life and I have never heard of this scream like a Thai prostitute thing. What even is that? I thought only the Japanese were known for how they scream or moan lol
 

Deleted member 14002

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
5,121
Kaseoki said:
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TLDR; Bad show is bad. Bad show attempts to tackle racial issues.

Yeah that's not great. The opening explains the intent of the show and imo the authors did succeed at their intent. I just don't think that they succeeded in being funny.

To reiterate:

That seems like standard millennial YouTuber tips humour with a race twist mixed in.

The OPs quote makes more sense in context but it doesn't forgive the work.
 

capitalCORN

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
10,436
QuicheFontaine said:
If you base your comedy on "Look at these stereotypes aren't they dumb", but then you don't really add anything to that...you're basically just showing a load of dumb stereotypes.

Also this thread just reminded me how much I hate the BBC3 logo.
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I was criticizing the clip. Considering the dearth of East Asian representation in social culture, to trot this shit out is insulting.
 
firehawk12

firehawk12

Member
Oct 25, 2017
24,676
Okay, this isn't that bad. It's very standard and I've seen this stuff on several other shows actually.

Are people just reacting to the intro? If you watch the episode, it's pretty banal Asian angst stuff - ABC (or would that be British Born Chinese? :p) + long time FOB + new FOB hang out, have cultural differences hijinks and deconstruct Asian identity.

Like this part:
"We're Chinese girls in London bitches. And you're going to love us long time" (mock accent)

Holding camera phone to other main woman: "Nice Thai prostitute. Scream like a Korean prostitute. Scream like a Saudi prostitute. Are you really auditioning for a prostitute again?
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It's about how British directors want her to speak in racist accents because that's all the British public wants on television.
 
fallengorn

fallengorn

Community Resettler
Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,390
New York City
firehawk12 said:
Okay, this isn't that bad. It's very standard and I've seen this stuff on several other shows actually.

Are people just reacting to the intro? If you watch the episode, it's pretty banal Asian angst stuff - ABC (or would that be British Born Chinese? :p) + long time FOB + new FOB hang out, have cultural differences hijinks and deconstruct Asian identity.

Like this part:


It's about how British directors want her to speak in racist accents because that's all the British public wants on television.
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Is there any better context to all the shit about Asian men? Because that seems pretty cut and dry.

I've seen stuff about casting handled better. See Master of None.
 
Principate

Principate

Member
Oct 31, 2017
11,243
firehawk12 said:
Okay, this isn't that bad. It's very standard and I've seen this stuff on several other shows actually.

Are people just reacting to the intro? If you watch the episode, it's pretty banal Asian angst stuff - ABC (or would that be British Born Chinese? :p) + long time FOB + new FOB hang out, have cultural differences hijinks and deconstruct Asian identity.

Like this part:


It's about how British directors want her to speak in racist accents because that's all the British public wants on television.
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BBC 3 is not shown on television anymore it was moved online. (Yes it was that unpopular).
 
firehawk12

firehawk12

Member
Oct 25, 2017
24,676
fallengorn said:
Is there any better context to all the shit about Asian men? Because that seems pretty cut and dry.

I've seen stuff about casting handled better. See Master of None.
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Not really, but the show is about how Chinese women navigate women and how they deal with the men who hit on them. One of the characters talks about how she's fucked up because she's not attracted to Chinese men, for example.

Honestly, like I predicted in my first post here, it's just Broad City with Chinese girls. This show is as anti-Chinese as Broad City is anti-Semitic when it comes to them talking about Jewish identity in NYC.

Principate said:
BBC 3 is not shown on television anymore it was moved online. (Yes it was that unpopular).
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Yeah, I know. lol
 

Deleted member 3815

User requested account closure
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Oct 25, 2017
6,633
Spaghetti said:
That's BBC3 for you.
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This pretty much, BBC3 is just gutter trash and there was a reason why it became an on-line channel.

CormoranStrike said:
What was the last really good BBC comedy anyway? They do a lot of great dramas and documentaries, but their comedy is severely lacking. That porridge and open all hours revival was fucking woeful.
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The Porridge revival just gave me a headache and Open all Hours just baffles me as it just nostalgia pandering for people who watched the original.

Honestly I want comedy I just go to Channel 4 as that's where they all seemed to have went.

Principate said:
BBC 3 is not shown on television anymore it was moved online. (Yes it was that unpopular).
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It also speaks volume that the highest rated show on the channel was Family Guy and American Dad, two show that isn't produced by the BBC.

Honestly I just watched BBC 3 for the Doctor Who reruns and Being Humans when it was airing, though I didn't watch the final season as I didn't like the first episode.
 
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