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