Kara, Maggie, Brian, Antai, and I have been invited to Mike's house at 8PM to watch Mulan.
No, not the Disney animation with a tiny dragon. I mean the live action one MADE IN CHINA:
Inspired by one memorably dramatic scene we happened to watch while waiting around the Super 8 Chinatown center, Mike had bought the DVD during our Canada trip.
Brian, being the awesome and generous baker he is, had brought chocolate banana bread for all to share.
Maggie, Kara, Me: *GASP* what is this?!
Brian: It's chocolate banana bread.
Maggie, Kara, Me: YAY! *takes a piece each and happily nom* IT'S SO GOOD!
If Lianna was the awesome friend and baker in Prague, in Ann Arbor, there was Brian. Oh, you wonderful bakers, what will we do without your delicious baked goods.
After Mike got everything set up, and Antai arrived, and Mike's other roommates and their friends retreated to another room to play FIFA WORLD CUP 2002 or what have you, the living room lights were dimmed, and the Xbox whirred as the DVD started to play.
Mike, being the owner of the DVD and already having had a previous movie night session with the other half of the Kendo Club members, boasted his knowledge.
Mike: You know what happens in the beginning? There's a white guy singing opera.
Everybody else: What?
But there was, indeed, a Caucasian man with a white fur coat apparently singing in the opening credits.
Everybody else : What?! Who is he? Why is he there?!
The Caucasian guy turned out to be an eunuch of the "bad guys" side, apparently captured somewhere around what is currently Russian territory, but ANYWAY, BACK TO THE MOVIE.
After the Rouran decide to invade China, the pace of the movie was surprisingly fast, with Mulan's father being drafted, Mulan taking her father's armor and leaving in his place within a span of what seemed like ten or fifteen minutes. Apparently, it wanted to get us to the point quickly and focus on the war.
If there is one thing I realized during the movie night, it is that we collectively had the ability to make a serious, semi-sad movie a little too entertaining. Granted, some of the scenes had a narm quality to it, but it was still a movie that should probably be watched in a serious, sober manner.
First of all, we were probably cheering for the wrong things:
----
*Mulan's feelings for Wentai ends up killing a lot of her soldiers*
Mulan: If you were me, you would have done the same!
Wentai: ...
Everyone: You should say "no" and leave! No time for romance in war!
Wentai: Your father was right, you should not develop feelings during war. I would have not done that. *leaves*
Everyone: YES!!!
Passerby (I can't recall if he was a roommate or friend, and I can't remember his name. SORRY!): You guys are mean.
---
Secondly, we were making unnecessary observations in dramatic scenes.
---
*Mendu beats up one of his men with a wine kettle. Kettle is bloody and dented*
Kara: He wasted a perfectly good kettle!
---
Lastly, we were having too much fun with tragic scenes.
---
*Mulan's men are trapped in a canyon with no supplies, Mulan is injured. Wentai feeds her his blood because they ran out of water*
Maggie: Ancient Chinese lipstick: your boyfriend's blood!
Kara: "Baby, I feel pretty today..."
---
*Many of the soldiers are about to be killed, Mulan's men have no choice but to watch, they start to sing the funeral song*
Everyone: Chinese propaganda!
---
*Rouran soldiers start to kill Chinese soldiers one by one while they are standing and singing*
"They're just killing them while they're standing!"
"It's like a harvest!"
"LOL."
"It's Farmville! It's been eight hours, harvest your eggplants!"
Mike: I am not watching sad movies with you guys again.
---
Of course, there was the MEMORABLE scene, where Turtle runs to save the men but is repeatedly shot with arrows instead.
Tiger: Turtle!
Turtle: Tiger!
Tiger: Turtle!
Turtle: Tiger!
Everyone: Turtle! Tiger! Turtle! Tiger!
I swear, that scene alone have almost become a meme among us.
After the war, Mulan returns to the village to live with her father, and Wentai, who was secretly the son of the emperor, has to marry the Rouran princess to maintain peace in the country.
"After all that, she only gets to return home?"
"Chinese propaganda!"
"So it's kinda tragic since they can't be together."
"The princess can kill rabbits for him now!"
"Will you be my rabbit killer?"
"You know, Mulan's village looks depressing, everything's dry and dying."
"So only the princess got what she wanted! She wanted to be a queen!"
"Um, her brother almost tried to marry her, though. And her father was killed."
All in all, the movie was entertaining, and the movie night was lots of fun.
Although I feel quite guilty that I missed kendo practice today.
I was tired and I'd been sick all week... is my justification. (I still feel guilty. Although I was starting to recover, although I needed the rest and was tired to the point that I couldn't even get up on time this morning.)
well, er, THE END!
