#the tags are where the stupid shit goes
In regard to my previous post about Jackie Chan Adventures and The Medallion starring Jackie Chan. I made a remark about both of them having “circular dragon imagery” referring to Shendu in statue form and the titular medallion in The Medallion. Thing is, I hadn’t looked very closely at the medallion and just assumed that the two snakey things on it were Chinese dragons simply because dragons have long been the only Asian mythological creature you ever see in American pop culture. But after closer inspection I see it’s actually a snake and a fish. A very weird snakey fish.
It’s such an odd combination of animals that I have to wonder if there’s any deeper cultural significance to them. Not that I totally expect there to be anything. I wouldn’t usually expect cultural deep cuts from a 2003 movie. Heck, even a lot of the cultural references in Jackie Chan Adventures are bad. Like the Chinese vampire that glides instead of hops for example. I like to think that jiangshi have become popular enough in games and such that that’s fairly obviously wrong.
However, while I don’t know much about the production of Jackie Chan Adventures I do know that two of the three writers on The Medallion were Chinese so it seems possible that they might have injected some Chinese culture into the movie that wouldn’t have occurred to a typical American writer… like anything other than a dragon.
There might be some clues in the movie but it isn’t streaming anywhere and I just KNOW as soon as I pay money to watch it it’s going to become available to me for free (legally. Which is the only way I’ll watch it). And I’ve just recently spent a lot of coin on MP3s after deleting my Spotify so I don’t know if I want to spend more coin on a possibly not very good movie.
Ah- While we’re on the topic of coin, might as well bring up my Ko-fi. I’ll do a doodle on a post-it for you for just $3. And of course I’d be happy to watch the movie if someone specifically paid me to do it. But I’ll need at least $4 to cover renting it. Maybe a little more if you specifically want me to write about it or something. Hell! I’ll even review cultural references in Jackie Chan Adventures if you pay me for it. Though I can’t guarantee it’ll be that thorough or entirely accurate. Oh! And I also sell vinyl stickers that apparently no one wants.
