Why is Fast & Furious so Popular in China | Video Essay 

"Movies about nothing are not entirely worthless" This is going to stay with me for a long time.

Bro I didnt expect a vid about Fast’s mindlessness to get this deep and heartfelt. Not even in Fast’s stereotyped way either.

Billionaires become ultra rich because of labor exploitation, not through hardwork and "grind".

Coming from your neighbor India, I can relate a lot. A rapidly growing economy means everyone is chasing after wealth, people are tired of working their ass off for wanna be billionaires so films like RRR, Fast & Faurious, Transformers, et. Bring odd comfort, we can talk about what we liked and chat away the evening without a worry in the world. I really appreciate that you covered this topic since there's a section in the west that says Hollywood is making dumb movies to appeal to Chinese audiences as you mentioned too.

This hits the nail on the head, it is exactly why I enjoy watching the Fast and Furious movies. I get to turn my brain off and disconnect.

One of my favorite things about Accented Cinema is that we get insightful comedy into cinema and society in usually less than 15 minutes. That kinda rules. I watch more 3-hour video essay than Hollywood movies, but sometimes I just want something quick.

You've basically described every commercial Bollywood film ever. At least RRR has a storyline & plot worth following. Most, like the recent Pathaan, are all about the actors eye-f**king the camera in slo mo shots, performing "hairography" in slo mo shots, and utilizing middle aged actors for the nostalgia of better days of cinema, and even the younger actors aren't that young so they too harken to a bygone era for millennial. Sounds to me like F# series is Hollywood's own Bollywood film franchise.

I hate the concept of 9-9-6. My last job seemed to be bringing me closer and closer to that. Now I refuse to live by anything other than the three 8's.

F&F is also hugely popular in Brazil too. I guess for the same reasons, we are also overworking. We don't have stated here a term like 996, but I've seen my friend who works on tech beeing called at 4 a.m to resolve something.

In America it's 666

I have a story to share.

You know, in a rather sad way it's heartening to hear that for all the differences between the hemispheres dickhead billionaires and billionaire wannabe bosses are a constant. Some problems seem to be universal.

So, I have 2 stories to share with regards to this topic.

996 is truly dystopian and a real threat to stability in PRC. We've seen the CPC crack down on overburdening students by limiting homework and banning after school tutoring. We've also seen the CPC limit the amount of time kids can spend on video games and ban the most addictive and damaging "doom scrolling" algos on Chinese Social Media.

I'm reminded of a mindset I found myself adopting back in high school: "There's nothing wrong with liking low-quality media; like what you like." You put it well in your Captain Alex essay, but this really hammers it home.

Now that I think about it, "cinematic comfort food" might actually be a great descriptor for this kind of movie

This vid made me cry lol. You perfectly described the plight of overworked office workers around the world. It resonated with me strongly since I am in Hong Kong where employers seem to be trying to one-up the world in overworking. All our energy used in work and none left to enjoy life. Thank you for expressing our struggle so articulately.

I used to be a lot harsher on "popular" media such as Fast and Furious or Transformers movies or even stuff like the Minions movie that seemed to be a lot of nothing but still raked in a lot of money. However, as I get older and talk to more people about movies, I find that movies - or I should say, priorities when it comes to enjoying a movie - comes in two flavors that may align but often nowadays do not. These popular media that are all flash or bang or basically just surface level enjoyment - we can dismiss them for having poor story or nonsensical characters, but they are the perfect turn-your-brain-off movie. They bring quick visual satisfaction, short-term enjoyment. A lot of movies we consider the greats require more introspection and critical thinking, and though they may provide long-term enjoyment, they need time and effort on the viewer's part ... and not everyone's for that. People, especially as we get older, have busy schedules. No free time and too much going around them to devote mental space what is basically an exercise in thinking. I've come to appreciate the value of these popcorn movies a lot more, though I still don't like watching them any more than I did in the past lol.

With how big China is for US box-office, I wish there were more creators like you who can give the Chinese perspective. Keep up the great work 👍

There is also another important policy factor at play: 进口片配额, which means film import limit. The quantity of foreign films that can enter Chinese cinema has been restricted to 34 per year since the 90s as a brazen way of protecting the country's domestic film industry. Because of this, production companies aim to import those with the lowest risk and highest audience potential, which usually means lowest-common-denomenator blockbuster trash like Fast & Furious. In a way, the choice was made by greedy business executives from the start, so Chinese audiences get pretty much nothing but popcorn junk to numb their mind most of the time anyway. It's a vicious, self-reinforcing cycle. If you go to Douban, the Chinese IMDB, people obviously know what's good and what's bad but still watch anyway.