Kaiju-Sized Mistake As Monster Hunter Movie Premieres With Offensive Slur [Up: Threadmarks for explanation, Capcom's Response, & MC Jin's response]

[Deleted member 17207]

I don't even understand why a writer, or anyone surrounding that writer - would think this is even something worth putting in dialogue. Like....offensive or not (of course it is) - this "joke" just isn't even funny lol.

It reminds me of something I would've heard in the playground in the mid-90s or something.

This doesn't even make me want to avoid the movie because of any sort of offensiveness it might carry - it just seems fucking terrible already lmao.

 

[DigitalOp]

It's a dumb rhyme based on phonetics; not sure how it is offensive though. Why would a joke based on English phonetics be offensive in China? Surely the pronunciation is completely different?

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Why would a joke that dunks on a group of people be offensive to that group of people??

how fucking dense

 

[Deleted member 24052]

I've heard this rhyme growing up in the states, but as it's a children's rhyme I haven't heard it in decades.

But yes, it's racist.

 

[vixolus]

I remember when I was a child in the 90s in the UK.
Kids would have rhymes which starts with "Chinese, Japanese"

They would pull the edges of their eyes up and down when saying it.

Seems like in America they say they have dirty knees.

This is a racist joke. The person writing will 100% know it's a racist joke.

Why are people in this thread saying "oh no it's just a silly rhyme"

Well done! 👍 You've identified that some racist jokes have plausible deniability.

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What? I have never heard anything about dirty knees in America..

 

[JT60564]

How is this movie real

 

[8byte]

I'm not sure y'all have ever seen a Paul W.S. Anderson film (good on you if that's the case):




That is not a joke edit. It's aggressively awful like that on purpose.

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I've never seen the Resident Evil movies, and this trash can of footage has convinced me I made the right choice. Lord.

 

[808s & Villainy]

I remember when I was a child in the 90s in the UK.
Kids would have rhymes which starts with "Chinese, Japanese"

They would pull the edges of their eyes up and down when saying it.

Seems like in America they say they have dirty knees.

This is a racist joke. The person writing will 100% know it's a racist joke.

Why are people in this thread saying "oh no it's just a silly rhyme"

Well done! 👍 You've identified that some racist jokes have plausible deniability.

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Wtf are "dirty knees"? In my 31 years of life in the US I've never heard that

 

[Vinegar Joe]

I'm not sure y'all have ever seen a Paul W.S. Anderson film (good on you if that's the case):




That is not a joke edit. It's aggressively awful like that on purpose.

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Thanks for the instant migraine, Anderson.

 

[RetroMG]

I'm mad at the racism, but also at the lousy humor. It reminds me of Seinfeld:

"I think my friend converted to Judaism for the jokes!"
"And that offends you as a Jewish person?"
"No, it offends me as a comedian!"

 

[Slaythe]

Wtf are "dirty knees"? In my 31 years of life in the US I've never heard that

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The funny thing is that Anderson is from the UK.

 

[tobascodagama]

"People love when Michael Bay puts random offensive shit in his movies, maybe I should try it." -- Paul W.S. Anderson, maybe

 

[RailWays]

It's like they purposefully want this movie to fail.

 

[JT60564]

Seems like in America they say they have dirty knees.

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In the US I heard a lot of racist and homophobic shit growing up, but I never heard this one. 🤷🏻‍♂️

 

[Castamere]

I'm not sure y'all have ever seen a Paul W.S. Anderson film (good on you if that's the case):




That is not a joke edit. It's aggressively awful like that on purpose.

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The laser wall coming back for the finale is the equivalent of the portals in Endgame. That's deep lore. Im genuinely impressed.

 

[SilentPanda]

Doing a quick search on google

This is the joke and it is a visual joke. It is also a requirement to sing it in a pseudo-Asian style of music and sing it in an annoying high-pitch voice.

Chi-i-nese - "eyes slanted up using your fingers"
Jap-a-nese - "eyes slanted down doing the same"
Dir-ty Knees - "slapping your knees with your hands"
Look-at-these - "pulling your shirt out with your fingers, making you appear that you have a big set of boobies."

And various example in picture and video form.

It's racist.

 

[Necromorph]

I'm not sure y'all have ever seen a Paul W.S. Anderson film (good on you if that's the case):




That is not a joke edit. It's aggressively awful like that on purpose.

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That movie it's so hard to watch, the camera cuts can be the most disgusting to see ever.

 

[admiraltaftbar]

2 1/2 hours of a depressed, giant Gwyneth Paltrow roaming the countryside being pursued by a depressed, tiny Luke Wilson in a headband. She's finally brought down by a giant cannon that fires explosive Gene Hackmans.

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Can't forget that the spirit that leaves paltrows body is.... Tilda Swinton

 

[rebelcrusader]

Ah signal boosting daniel - hes the dude who loves explaining away Chinese Muslim slavery and instead pointing fingers at the US

 

[lobdale]

People shouldn't be tellin' racist jokes but ya know, this is a movie and characters can say and do whatever they want... they're characters, not paragons of best behavior. It's offensive and that's probably the point? It's "two military dudes being a little crass" so ... there it is

 

[lunarworks]

I haven't heard that stupid rhyme since grade 3 recess in the schoolyard.

But yeah, what were they trying to accomplish here?

 

[Rosebud]

It's racist, unfunny and it seems like they wanted to make a Call of Duty movie, because that's not Monster Hunter.

 

[Deleted member 8852]

Probably a 100% realistic depiction of the US military though.

 

[RestEerie]

I am ethnic chinese. I don't get it. What's the joke? Am I missing something?

 

[Mona]

I mean what else should I have expected from a Wes Anderson

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Not surprised. Inherent Vice was full of offensive shit like this.

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moar

 

[Chief Malik]

... what???

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[SilentPanda]

I don't even get what the joke is supposed to be here.

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I don't even get the "joke"

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What are "Chinese" knees? I'm a bit lost.

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Sounds like someone wanted to make a dumb joke because aha the "-nese" at the end of Asian country nationalities sound like knees, but didn't realise the nationality that was the aspect of the joke would find it offensive.

I mean what else should I have expected from a Wes Anderson "wife must be in the film" and will also get a stunt actor maimed, to not fact check this.

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It's a dumb rhyme based on phonetics; not sure how it is offensive though. Why would a joke based on English phonetics be offensive in China? Surely the pronunciation is completely different?

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What? I have never heard anything about dirty knees in America..

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Wtf are "dirty knees"? In my 31 years of life in the US I've never heard that

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In the US I heard a lot of racist and homophobic shit growing up, but I never heard this one. 🤷🏻‍♂️

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People shouldn't be tellin' racist jokes but ya know, this is a movie and characters can say and do whatever they want... they're characters, not paragons of best behavior. It's offensive and that's probably the point? It's "two military dudes being a little crass" so ... there it is

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This is the joke and it is a visual joke. It is also a requirement to sing it in a pseudo-Asian style of music and sing it in an annoying high-pitch voice.

Chi-i-nese - "eyes slanted up using your fingers"
Jap-a-nese - "eyes slanted down doing the same"
Dir-ty Knees - "slapping your knees with your hands"
Look-at-these - "pulling your shirt out with your fingers, making you appear that you have a big set of boobies."

I was the only Chinese-American kid in my class in the suburbs.

In school, other children occasionally did the slanted eyes chant – you know the one where you lift the corners of your eyes up and down and say, "Chinese, Japanese, Dirty Knees, Look at These". I heard that chant in sing-song voices throughout my childhood and still don't know what it means (though I'm sure the original intent was probably not only racist but also sexist – if you know this chant you might recall what "these" referred to).

The taunts punctured my soul. Each incident highlighted the fact I was inescapably different.

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https://www.patheos.com/blogs/whatshesaid/2012/02/dirty-knees-look-at-these/

the problem is white people are deciding what is racist, and it is not up to them to decide, as stated by Jerry Afriyie, one of the founders of the Dutch anti-racist organisation Kick Out Black Pete.

 

[L Thammy]

People shouldn't be tellin' racist jokes but ya know, this is a movie and characters can say and do whatever they want... they're characters, not paragons of best behavior. It's offensive and that's probably the point? It's "two military dudes being a little crass" so ... there it is

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No one is learning important lessons about racism from a Monster Hunter movie, my friend.

 

[Odeko]

Doing a quick search on google

This is the joke and it is a visual joke. It is also a requirement to sing it in a pseudo-Asian style of music and sing it in an annoying high-pitch voice.

Chi-i-nese - "eyes slanted up using your fingers"
Jap-a-nese - "eyes slanted down doing the same"
Dir-ty Knees - "slapping your knees with your hands"
Look-at-these - "pulling your shirt out with your fingers, making you appear that you have a big set of boobies."

And various example in picture and video form.

It's racist.

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Thanks for this. With this context, the whole thing makes a loooooot more sense.

Yeah I can understand why people would be pissed

 

[JT60564]

.

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huh, interesting. I did not doubt it was said, and that it was racist, I just had never heard of it before.

 

[My Blue Heaven]

People shouldn't be tellin' racist jokes but ya know, this is a movie and characters can say and do whatever they want... they're characters, not paragons of best behavior. It's offensive and that's probably the point? It's "two military dudes being a little crass" so ... there it is

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it's just lazy writing and promoting some old racist schoolyard rhyme, seems unnecessary.

 

[Timbuktu]

Isn't Tencent one of the companies bankrolling this movie?

 

[hey it's that dog]

I think the only people who will get this "joke" are people who remember that old-timey racist kids rhyme...

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I think that if you are unaware of the rhyme, you'd just assume the character is Chinese (is the character Chinese??) and making one of the dumbest puns of all time.

 

[KillstealWolf]

The only justification for this would be if the characters were obviously presented as bad guys saying this and mid-way through the joke they get eaten by a Deviljho.

And even then I don't think it's justified.

 

[Slayven]

The hell?

Might as well put it on DVD and start stocking Walmart bins, cause .....

 

[Bus-TEE]

Urgh.

Truly dreadful.

Good job, guys.

 

[Zodzilla]

Doing a quick search on google

This is the joke and it is a visual joke. It is also a requirement to sing it in a pseudo-Asian style of music and sing it in an annoying high-pitch voice.

Chi-i-nese - "eyes slanted up using your fingers"
Jap-a-nese - "eyes slanted down doing the same"
Dir-ty Knees - "slapping your knees with your hands"
Look-at-these - "pulling your shirt out with your fingers, making you appear that you have a big set of boobies."

And various example in picture and video form.

It's racist.

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Yep. This is what I grew up hearing as an 80's Chinese American kid in a predominantly upper class white neighborhood.

 

[ParanormalFupa]

Nothing about that clip makes sense. Shit, nothing about making a Monster Hunter movie makes sense.

 

[RowdyReverb]

I'm not sure y'all have ever seen a Paul W.S. Anderson film (good on you if that's the case):




That is not a joke edit. It's aggressively awful like that on purpose.

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This video makes me dizzy

 

[Miniature Kaiju]

Monster Hunter giving kaijus a bad name.

 

[Nerokis]

Thanks for this. With this context, the whole thing makes a loooooot more sense.

Yeah I can understand why people would be pissed

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There is still a (small?) leap being made, though. The dumb, unnecessary joke in the clip is "my knees...are Chinese! lololol" with no actual reference to dirty knees or whatever, as far as I can tell. It's bad writing but I can easily imagine no one was trying to evoke the rhyme in question.

Still, this is their fault for writing in awkward, racialized quote unquote military humor in the first place. Just...why?

 

[spookyduzt]

Maybe someday Capcom will stop giving this douchebag their IP.

 

[SapientWolf]

This actually does seem like American callous military racism, but some one on the writing team should have had the common sense to not do this in a fictional move about killing big ass monsters with equally big ass weapons.

Even attempting to isekai army folks was a bigger mistake than Deviljho

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You would be beaten with soap if you said something that lame and cringey in the American military.

 

[JimD]

C'mon people, if your first instinct when seeing a thread about an offensive joke is to:

1. Ask others why it's offensive instead of doing the work to research it yourself.
2. Explain why it's probably not intended to be offensive.
Or
3. Explain why it's ok that it's offensive.

Maybe take a second and reconsider.

 

[Odeko]

There is still a (small?) leap being made, though. The dumb, unnecessary joke in the clip is "my knees...are Chinese! lololol" with no actual reference to dirty knees or whatever, as far as I can tell. It's bad writing but I can easily imagine no one was trying to evoke the rhyme in question.

Still, this is their fault for writing in awkward, racialized quote unquote military humor in the first place. Just...why?

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Right, but it's still evidence that the Chinese->Japanese->Knees pun has been used for racist humor in the past, which is enough of a reason to not make the joke.

It's like how there's really no "good" way to joke about a black person enjoying watermelon, even if the joke you're making now has been stripped of all the aspects of the old reference that were especially offensive at the time.

 

[JT60564]

Wait, what's the offensive bit? What's the joke? What are the proverbial 'these' in the actually offensive rhyme?

Why are there US soldiers in a... Monster Hunter movie?

I think I'm just gonna leave.

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[Adulfzen]

how fucking stupid do you have to be to write a racist joke targeted at the country your movie is debuting in

 

[Strafer]

Fuck off Paul

 

[Gunny T Highway]

I have not heard that racial phrase in years. Who the hell on the production team thought it was okay?

 

[purseowner]

Stunned at the idiocy on display here.

 

[L Thammy]

In general, racist nursery rhymes are a thing.

Like, a big thing.