If you're wondering how orientalist this is, the first line begins with "there is an old Chinese proverb" while flute music plays
This is so weird. Really portrays the Feds as doing entrapment if you read between the lines.
We watched you become a compromised asset. You could have been blackmailed by the Chinese, so instead we will either co-opt you pretty much the same, and if you back out, you end up a felon. American Justice system so good!
“there is an old Chinese proverb”
That accent reminds me of watching Yuji Okumoto play Chozen in Kobra Kai thinking "is he trying to do an authentic Japanese accent, or is he trying to do an impression of Trey Parker doing the stereotype accent?"
I aint watching that, but I will read a writeup of the "true story" it's supposedly based on.
i skimmed the wikipedia article on him and the tldr is that he studied abroad in china and was allegedly approached by MSS agents who encouraged him to get a job at the state dept or the cia or something in order to pass secrets to them. he accrues like 70,000$ from agents paying him throughout the whole process which ends up being part of the problem because he came back to the US and didnt declare a shitload of cash he was traveling with. then he was arrested and was in jail for 4 years or so.
Surprised they didn't go all in and animate the proverb coming out of a fortune cookie.
I'm 20 seconds into a 28 minute video and I already have like a dozen questions.
Why is it talking about chess in ancient China? Are they talking about xiang qi? Because it's clearly showing a chess pawn and xiang qi pawns don't look like that. Also, "sometimes you have to sacrifice pawns" isn't a proverb that's just like... the basic rules of chess.
Oh actually I think they're referencing, "Sacrifice the plum tree to save the peach tree" (sacrifice something low value to save something high value). But that's not really from board games so much as something that could also be applied in a board game. I guess they just decided to strip away all the cultural context and put it into a Western cultural context because racism, but like... why would you show an image of a chess pawn? Doesn't that just really highlight the contradiction?
Ok I think I've finished processing the first 20 seconds.
Ok they just showed a guy playing on a chess board and it was in fact chess and not xiang qi. Whoever made this seems to unironically think that Western chess was a part of ancient Chinese culture :bruh-moment:
Pausing the video at 2:38 so I can get the link and follow his career path :galaxy-brain:
Please Xi I promise I will write papers I will infiltrate the CIA I promise I won't pussy out at the polygraph please give me a scholarship and forty thousand dollars this whole deal sounds fucking awesome.
Also I know the difference between chess and xiang qi and even wei qi! I have more intelligence on China than the whole FBI!
Edit: I just realized, the whole "Sacrificing pawns" thing didn't even come into play in the entire story. The guy was sloppy and got caught. It's not like the Chinese sacrificed him or even cut him loose. All that hackneyed bullshit had no relevance to the plot at all.
Also not gonna watch the whole thing, but I'm actually like 80% sure either this film or one with the same actor and similar was forced on me when working for a company that sold special orders to the military. Had no idea it was CIA then but makes sense
At the behest of Chinese intelligence, Shriver unsuccessfully applied for jobs with the US State Department and CIA
He didn't even get hired! If he had kept his mouth shut nobody would have been able to prove anything, this is why you don't talk to cops.
edit: okay he also fucked up trying to smuggle cash through the airport
a guy with a chinese accent said you're a pawn in china's schemes bro, are you just gonna take that?
Is it attributing insectoid traits to chinese people? That’s usually very common in this kind of media.
