Ip Man 4 tells the story of the titular master
on his trip in San Francisco Trying to get his son into a private school He faces prejudice Punches racists in the face And also deals with hostility from local Kung Fu masters If that sounds familiar That's because it is practically a beat by beat retread of Ip Man 2 Instead of moving to Hong Kong, it's San Francisco Instead of Master Hung, it's Master Wan Instead of a racist boxer It's a racist marine gunny Instead of a cocky student that invites trouble It's a cocky student who invites trouble... For this reason I did not enjoy the film when I first saw it But then... The world as we know it came to an end Suddenly, I find myself scared of walking out of my house Not just because of the pandemic But because... I am Asian If you know what I mean In preparation for this episode I rewatched Ip Man 4 again This time with a... very different mindset And I find myself pondering so much more Because of how similar the two films are It gives us a good opportunity to compare and contrast And see how the two films talk about their shared central theme Racism Ip Man 2 is a product of its time Back when it genuinely felt like racism had become a minor problem Punch a racist like you punch a nazi "F*ck off, Hitler" Problem solved Well... It didn't work in real life, did it? So, Ip Man 4 took a much more... mature approach A nuanced But still entry-level exploration On how hatred manifests itself In the mind of oppressor As well as the oppressed How we can identify racism And how we should combat it Suddenly, I find Ip Man 4 to be a far superior film to Ip Man 2 So, let's talk about that Let's see what changed And How Ip Man 4 writes a racist Let's start with the main villain "You are lucky enough to come to America" "Set foot on our soil" The marine corp gunnery sergeant Played by Scott Adkins Don't worry, we'll get to him in a bit His Ip Man 2 equivalent would be the British Boxer Twister Here is how Ip Man 2 tells you that this man is a racist "Will somebody get this" "Yellow Piece of Fat" "Out of here" Twister has no depth He acts one way And only one way "So this is Chinese Boxing?" "You should stick to dancing" Within ten seconds You pretty much know everything you need to know about him "Now, from what I hear" "The Chinese..." "Like to use these" He is a comedic character Who exists for the sole purpose of being hated By the audience He's a punching bag you love to hate To do that, the film shoves as many bad qualities onto him as possible Even the way he sits is ridiculous But all that bad manners have an unintended consequence His comes off as less of a... hateful racist And more just a general egocentric asshole "I can finish you off with two punches" We'll come back to that in a bit Compare that to Ip Man 4 Here is how the gunny is introduced "I'm not racist" "See, I don't hate you because you are coloured" "I hate you" "Because you are a cowardly coloured" The gunny doesn't even believe he is a racist At least, he didn't start off that way But when the staff sergeant attempts to bring Chinese kung fu Into the Marine training program The gunny doesn't just say no and let it go Or even punish the staff sergeant for disruption He chooses to punish every single Chinese person in the camp "Because of the staff sergeant's stupidity" "All you Chinese will run an extra 30 laps today" And burn the wing-chun dummy In a visual allusion to Well... But after the staff sergeant convinces their superior That Chinese kung fu can be useful "This brochure has a brief introduction" "And here is a transcript that I prepared" This is the gunny's reaction "He convinced our commanding officer" "That his bulls*t Kung Fu" "is more effective than our Karate training" This line is significant in three ways First, when facing Chinese Kung Fu Twister's reaction is mockery stemming from his confidence His racist action isn't racially motivated "The winners have to apologize to the losers?" "If I have to do that, I'll be apologizing every day" Given the chance He probably is just as big of an asshole to his white opponents Even if we never see that in the film The gunny's response is that of hatred and disgust He will conspire with other people To eliminate Kung Fu from his territory In other words, for Twister, it is "I'm better than you" "I can finish you off with two punches" And for gunny, it is "We are better than you" "He convinced OUR commanding officer" "That HIS bulls*t Kung Fu" "Is more effective than OUR Karate Training" The gunny has a belief An ideology "You're lucky enough to come to America" "Set foot on OUR soil" That leads to the second significant point The "us vs. them" mentality "I just crushed all of THEM" "You are the only one left" "I need to fight you" When Twister is spouting his racist rant It's fairly clear that everyone Even his fellow white folks are taken back With some pretty hilarious faces The gunny, however Works with others Even when there is a conflict of interest He can still be polite Simply because he's talking to someone who shares his race and belief For the gunny, there is an "us" And there is a "them" The outsiders I know that because The staff sergeant never once suggests that Kung Fu is in any way superior to Karate He wants to introduce Kung Fu to the training program With implication of co-existing But to a racist Any ground gained by "them" is ground lost by "us" The introduction of Kung Fu into the camp to him Is equivalent to the introduction of immigrants to many real world racists "If you are not happy" "Then go back to Asia" "This has been our land for generations" When an immigrant says they want to co-exist All racists hear is "replacement" of their culture "Don't even think about bringing your filthy cultures to my marine corp again" "Is that understood?" And that brings us to the third point The gunny's "culture" In this case, Karate The gunny is an avid practitioner of Karate A Japanese martial art Never once did he acknowledge the origin of the martial art He acts as if it is part of his cultural identity Because, it is Here is the thing, though Kung Fu can also be his identity If he is open to practicing it His acceptance of one but not the other shows that The line between "us" and "them" is wholly arbitrary If you hate it It is part of them If you like it It is part of us Sometimes Mexicans are white And sometimes the Irish are not In short, the hatred comes first "She doesn't deserve it" "She changed the routine all on her own" And a thin veil of rationality comes later "This has been our land for generations" The rationale has to be there Because everyone believes they are a good person Which is why he doesn't even think he's a racist So with all that in mind Let's talk about how racism manifests on the other side This is Master Wan Head of the Chinese Benevolent Association And a Tai Chi practitioner In the film Ip Man needs a recommendation letter from Wan In order to get his son into a local school But Wan does not agree Due to the fact that Ip Man's student, Bruce Lee Is out and teaching White people Kung Fu Chinese Kung Fu films with racial theme often have a Chinese bad guy Fist of Fury has the caretaker and the translator The Way of the Dragon has the restaurant owner and the translator Ip Man has the northern fighter and the... Translator? And Ip Man 2 has Master Hung The vast majority of these examples are an archetype known as Han Jian Traitors who are all too happy to benefit from the suffering of their Chinese brethren More often than not, by siding with foreign invaders Master Wan, however, skews heavily into the opposite direction He does not seek profit or benefits He hates the oppressors "Don't kneel to these outsiders" To a point where he basically hates all white people Hence why he is opposed to anyone teaching Kung Fu to white folks He is, without mistake, racist Just like the gunny He and his fellow Chinese masters believe their hatred is justified "You student" "He is too arrogant" They think of white people learning Kung Fu As "them" making ground, and "us" losing ground "Animals will never be grateful" And he also draws lines around "us" in the same arbitrary manner Master Wan's daughter is a cheerleader A form of acrobatic that is usually associated with Americana A fact that doesn't seem to bother the master one bit But there is one additional detail The gunny, being an active racist Treats other white people fairly well But Master Wan, being a reactionary racist Doesn't treat all Chinese with the same courtesy He would cast out Bruce Lee for being friendly with White people And then cast out Ip Man for being friends with Bruce Lee The in-group of "us" is ever shrinking The "us" in this case Is defined by their shared hatred towards a common group of people To him Anyone who doesn't hate White people is the enemy This is especially intriguing Because Master Wan is otherwise a very likeable And respectable person When Ip Man is at a disadvantage due to a prior injury He continues the fight with only one hand To level the playing field It goes to show that even the best of us Are not immune to the temptation of hate It is tempting to believe Master Wan is correct Many Chinese people do think that way Because, even the film seems to suggests that You can't change a racist's mind The day of a boxing match ending the cold war is long gone "Everybody can change" In Ip Man 4, the end of the final fight is... cold Somber As if to let you know This fight wouldn't change a thing Because we know the gunny is not going to
change Hatred requires continuous commitment He's not going to suddenly just realize he has been wrong That would be acknowledging that he has been a racist all along That he was a villain all this time "I'm not racist" How can that possibly be? Everyone believes that they are a good person But here is the thing The gunny doesn't represent America The film rather subtly inserts a lot of non-racist people They don't act virtuously They simply act like... normal people They are teachers who judge you fairly High ranking officers who are interested in foreign culture Martial artists who act like assholes for fun And give you a thumbs up after a good battle Because it is not a all or nothing game It is, how the world should be, by default "What's up, man" With hindsight We know Bruce Lee was right all along He single handedly opened so many people's eyes To the world of Chinese culture And by extension Made Chinese and Asian people much more accepted in the west It is the same line of thoughts that has kept this channel going Although I fear every day that this channel may be brigaded I have been accused of pro-China I have been accused of anti-China Sometimes under the same video In those times I look to Bruce Lee And now I look to this film For answers That is perhaps the greatest value this film brings to the table Replacing the childish notion of what racism looks like With a mature, sincere discussion on how and why it is so terrible I do believe I'm doing the right thing Because there are good people in the world There are good people who are watching this video right now People who don't judge my ethnicity People who don't judge my accent People who, only occasionally Diss my piss poor sense of humor I like Ip Man 4 And with each passing day I appreciate it a bit more It guides me to a road of introspection To warn me not to indulge in hatred And gives me courage to continue doing what is right In dark times like this We all need a bit of Ip Man
IP Man 4 is a pretty good action film addressing racism and being Chans/Lus in the West. Donny Yen is pretty woke. Give it a watch peeps!
This guy's video are good. Always entertaining.