User Comments - bababardwan

Posted on: Fast Cars and Shallow Women

"helzcurrah, you bring up a good point that the men in this dialogue are awful"

ok, helzcurrah stated it more strongly, but I'd just like to point out that I actually raised first:

"I'm not sure the males were portrayed any better in this either"

..and the only reason I point this out is because you've talked about a battle of the sexes. Certainly there was a battle of the sexes in the creepy guy lesson dialogue, but I didn't think there was much of a battle going on in the dialogue of this lesson as far as I could see...both sides were probably equally shallow, complicit and seemed to be getting on grandly. The guys were showing off and it was working as meimei was lapping it up. So really I can't help but think the battle of the sexes is more a reflection of your reaction to the lesson, that you see there is a need for a battle of the sexes, that you take exception if a woman is portrayed poorly and think its time for war...it's us vs them. I prefer to call a spade a spade and sex is irrelevent.

"And yet CPod saw fit to title the lesson "...and shallow women." "

...so? "Fast cars" were the guys fast cars, this bit represented them [heck, do we say they're not even humanised but equated with metal], and I think a two element title sounds better than a 3 element title, or a PC "shallow people" which sounds watered down. A title is just a title to catch our attention. I don't recall you complaining about the title of the creepy guy lesson, there being no mention of aggressive women [recall the pepper spray in the end], and nor do I think there should be such a complaint.

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good yurt, must be in want of a wife"

hehe, yeah, I enjoyed the yurt story too [but not in any mocking way, more in an isn't life and our interactions amusing]. Clearly mere displays of material wealth aren't going to cut the muster with educated women, but at the same time, the yurt story did make me think of cultural values and while I think it's natural that it's not going to impress, let's not be too harsh and judgemental of other cultures. I'm under the impression that in many cultures this sort of display of ability to provide is probably the standard approach in looking for a wife. Maybe all it's saying is "hey, I'm eligible" in a very straightforward way, that's there signal, whereas other cultures have other approaches to indicate eligibility, that you're single. Of course educated woman are going to be impressed by whit, charm, social skills etc, but lets not be too harsh, too scornful on folk who do not possess such skills. Perhaps they are poor and uneducated, or from a totally different culture with a very different viewpoint, approach to life.

getting back to the men being "awful" in this dialogue, I'm wondering if that too, is too strong a word. Certainly they were equally shallow, not sophisticated [they actually reminded me of unsophisticated teens, which seemed a little in contrast to their wealth, but I guess they are 公子], not your cup of tea, but on the other hand, they didnt seem to cause any offense to meimei. That's not to say others wouldn't find it a bit demeaning. I think there could also be something culturally interesting going on here, namely the calling out of 宝贝儿 ...most western woman would probably take umbrage at this, but I'm not sure it's used or seen in the same way in Chinese culture. In Spanish apparently it's considered normal and nice to call women friends "guapa" ...beautiful.

btw, I meant to mention that I too loved the puppy pic insert at the end of your original post, haha, a beautiful touch, it made me smile. I hope these debates aren't offputting for you because I do so love reading your posts. They are full of such originality, I learn heaps, they invariably make me laugh, and always make me think. 加油好朋友 ：）

Posted on: Fast Cars and Shallow Women

haha, very good Rachel. I'll have to pay that, like it even. I've been accused of overthinking stuff myself here, hehe, and this "PREMIUM MISINTERPRETATION SERVICE!" makes me feel good about it...maybe I could even apply for a job in your gig...

Posted on: Fast Cars and Shallow Women

Ma Nuo: "I'd rather cry in a BMW car than laugh on the backseat of a bicycle,":

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2000558,00.html#ixzz26QwDX7dJ

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_would_rather_cry_in_a_BMW

BMW "Be My Wife"

Posted on: A Classic Grand Slam Matchup

wangqiu 教练 [http://chinesepod.com/community/profile/wangqiu] lai kankan, 保存您的座位

Posted on: A Classic Grand Slam Matchup

Posted on: Fast Cars and Shallow Women

哇，你真是伟大，蔬菜伟大[而不是维吉麦]

Posted on: Fast Cars and Shallow Women

"no evidence in the dialogue alone"

...it was strongly implied by her dismissal of the guy with the po che and her sudden interest and tone of voice with the rich guys, and the way she seemed very impressed with their cars.

I'll have to pay number 2.

"Give me a poor man with a sense of humour and warm personality any day!"

haha, that's the spirit

Posted on: Romantic Movies and Real Life

天哪！ 那样太冷了

Posted on: Fast Cars and Shallow Women

Rachel,

I'm going to agree with you and disagree with you. Firstly it goes without saying that it's cool you've expressed your opinion. I agree with you that variety is good and if you feel a theme is being overdone then a request to explore other themes is good. Where I don't see eye to eye is that I think you're reading way too much into this. I guess it's possible that someone in the script writing department has had a bad experience [but even so, we've all had good and bad experiences in life...so what?, and actually writing from experience is good, though I think it's unlikely someone is venting their spleen]. If it's a gender thing and you feel females are being poorly portrayed, let's bring on more bad guys. But the point is, this is pure fiction, it doesn't reflect on you or the rest of the fairer sex [but even if it wasn't fiction, it still wouldn't reflect on you or others....take each person as they come I say, and not generalise....I don't see a need to feel defensive or personally criticised]. I don't think anyone should be extrapolating from this [ though like all social and cultural phenomenon, I don't think this should stop us from exploring just how rare or otherwise it is in reality]. I think it's hard to deliver entertaining lessons without having some colourful [exaggerated, stereotypical, rare or purely fictional non existent] characters. Of course CPod have proven that it can be done by delivering entertaining lessons on boring topics, but having some colourful bad role models every so often certainly helps. This lesson was just a bit of fun, and there was some new vocab in there [a clever way to introduce some car makes too....I enjoyed recognising the makes in Chinese before being taught...it was fun guessing correctly, and it sounds like expensive car makes are finding an increasing presence in China reflecting the increasing affluence in China, so if there is to be a message in this lesson that is it I think....some Chinese are becoming seriously rich, and of course with this can come some social changes, not all good, and sometimes traditional values can be challenged in some], the fun makes it stick a bit better, and while there was yet another bad female role model [I'm not sure the males were portrayed any better in this either or in several of the other lessons including the reference in the "creepy guy" lesson to several creeps even if I thought the main character in that lesson was misunderstood], I think it was not just the same as the other recent lessons. Anyhow, I don't care what the theme of upcoming lessons is, let's just keep them entertaining, and as that's a difficult task, I'm happy for CPod to go with whatever they can come up with that'll keep us tuned in.

Posted on: Fast Cars and Shallow Women

thanks mate :)