Falling Out of Love with Jackie Chan

In this video essay I talk about the internet’s complicated relationship with Jackie Chan and his complex legacy as both an actor, a father, and as one of the most well known representations of China and Chinese people in the U.S. and Hollywood.

Timestamps:
Intro 0:00
Part 1: The Rise of Jackie Chan and China’s Soft Power 1:25
Part 2: The Allegations - Falling Out of Love 5:55
Part 3: Adored Abroad, but Hated at Home 15:01
Conclusion 20:45

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[bombomb]

not excusing his behaviour whatsoever but his parents being like "oh you failed one year of grade school? hope you like 10 years of rigorous chinese opera academy" is insane and kind of explains why he's so addicted to work and making money.

[restingsadface]

the biggest moment for me was finding out he’d purposefully humiliate his girlfriend in front of her colleagues because of his ego & spending thousands a day on his bros while two women were raising his children in a completely different continent

[ryancarless]

Sad to hear Jackie Chan isn’t the hero we thought he was. It’s important to remember actors are not their characters. This was a well researched video

[ZZ-qymv]

Since I was little, he reminded me of my Chinese dad. His smile felt so real and genuine. He could be silly and jolly. But right around the corner was his anger and cruelty. No one was allowed to disobey him.

[FatFilipinoUK]

I befriended a Chinese girl at university that said she did not like Jackie Chan, and that baffled me, because I thought EVERYBODY liked Jackie Chan. I was ignorant. It turned out she knew more about the actor's shenanigans than I did.

[evren]

I knew about some of this stuff (mostly the stuff w his daughter) but what I feel like really cemented his human fallibility in my mind was Michelle Yeoh calling him a male chauvinist. It’s so clear in that original interview that she’s not joking, she’s being 100% honest, and she’s not even trying to be harsh; she makes her respect for him as an experienced performer and a peer in her field clear, but it’s obvious she has no intention of not calling him out just because they’ve known each other so long (something a lot more people in those industries could stand to do!). Whenever she brings it up, the interviewers are always SO clearly uncomfortable, but she’s got so much poise in those moments. She’s careful about what she says but she’s not holding back, either. The fact that someone who knows him so well and even has some amount of affection for him can be that upfront about his behavior always spoke volumes to me.

[restingsadface]

it really sucks because jackie had such a family friendly persona i loved him so much as a kid. he was always a comfort-actor for me because of his roles that emphasized his love for children and fatherly nature. finding out the way he treated his family completely broke my parasocial image of him since my early childhood.

[lauren]

A year ago I did a deep dive on him when news of his paternity and the inheritance he was NOT leaving his children spread. He also flung his 2 yr old across the room in a drunken stupor I was baffled. He's no different than all the other abusive, adulterous and alcoholic men in Hollywood.

[LorenzoDoesntExist]

It's possible to like his work and not like him as a person. All these people defending his behaviour need to grow up.

[ChunLo]

As a Hong Konger, it is always bewildering to see people on the internet hold Jackie Chan in such a high regard because (for us) him being a horrible PERSON has been public knowledge for years now

[deep_cuts]

You’re dead on about Jackie Chan seeming goofy and harmless to Americans, who dehumanize and infantilize him due to the cheerful persona and accent. That’s what I always did anyway. I’m trying to unlearn some biases recently

[adam-l]

I remember seeing a Conan O’Brien interview and he talked about being sent off to the opera house school ( it was promoting his book, My Life In Action) and how his parents only showed him affection after he became wealthy, not excusing anything JC has done, but no wonder he’s a bad parent.

[grapeshot]

Yeah, like I was once told by my mom. Don't meet your heroes.

[Zipperskull_]

Jackie chan is a perfect example of not fixing with whats broken, has all this money, but doesn't have the energy to spend quality time and support with his kids. Even at his age, he aint even wise. Smh

[WouldntYouLikeToKnow-]

I remember seeing a short video of him complaining that his son doesn’t respect him as much as he likes when he’s at home. It set off warning bells in my head and I was wondering if he was an absent father. Pretty sad to see that it’s true

[remi]

Michelle Yeoh was such an integral part of Everything Everything all at Once

[charl]

As an immigrant, it's always sad to see people who share the same type of struggle as you in the US not reach the standards you impose on yourself to seem worthy of living here. But that shows that you shouldn't overvalue one person as the perfect image of what an immigrant should be. I love this video!

[Thayora]

tbh I think what really soured me on Jackie Chan in recent memory was him filming a movie in a part of war torn Syria
edit: youtube won't show my replies, but luckily someone else also explained, but just in case: Syria is in an active civil war where its regime overwhelmingly targeted civilians with extensive proof of war crimes. The place where jackie chan filmed Home Operation was on top of the rubble of destroyed civilian homes of Damascus which is currently in the control of the regime.

[minnie]

great video. I think you’re so right that people infantilize him and just see “funny asian guy” with nothing below the surface - it’s super racist - this was very illuminating

[LydiaKrow]

Jackie Chan became popular in the US due to a well-crafted public persona. He would talk about his old-time Hollywood heroes (including vaudeville actors and silent film stars like Buster Keaton) and had Hollywood friends talking about his demands on film sets as just him being a "hard worker." He never spoke of his home life or political beliefs, just focused on entertaining and went out of his way to build this reputation as a happy-go-lucky guy that was a friend to everybody. I do remember when his son had the drug bust and it was almost universally reported as a nasty, spoiled brat thinking he could do whatever he wanted because he had a famous dad. All we saw from Jackie Chan was him being humble and regretful that it had happened, playing the part perfectly. If you wanted to see anything real about him, you had to be either in the industry or enough of a superfan to read his books because no one would talk about him. Jackie Chan was untouchable, as many Hollywood stars could be if they worked hard enough at suppressing the truth. That said, I find it better never to know the real lives of celebrities, as it will ruin any enjoyment of the entertainment they produce.