Shakespeare’s Hamlet exemplifies the British contribution to the global mindset. It is all about procrastination and is billed as a tragedy because of that. If only he had acted sooner, we tell the world, then things would not have turned out so bad. But secretly we British know that in reality this long-winded meandering play full of suicidal impulses, sexual innuendo, and an improbable incursion of off stage pirates, has a very different meaning. The real message is that if Hamlet had thought about his options a bit more he could have gone back to university, dismissing ghosts as mere signs of stress, and put faith in rationality, due process, fact checking, and risk assessment, biding his time for when he could make his play for the crown. After all, his mother did not seem likely to produce another heir and he would have had a very legitimate claim. Instead he was shamed into acting like a half crazed idiot by comparing himself to the “Don’t think, do” machismo of the likes of Laertes! Which is probably why Basildon’s cinema was packed out with people watching “Top Gun: Maverick”, among them, myself.

The reason why cultural tropes continue is not because of a face value promotion of heroically blowing stuff up, but because of the hint that it is self-destructive. Top Gun shows that Maverick has paid an enormous price for his dedication to the art of combat. If one dips into the “Western Narrative” as produced by America, it hardly paints a golden glorious image of America. It is a source of constant social commentary and criticism. In it the cops are mavericks who shoot first, ask questions later. Politicians are corrupt. Businessmen are conmen. Gangsters and gunslingers are heroes. Film directors are monsters. Actors are egomaniacs. Excessive behaviour is the rule and winner takes all. This is how American rocks and rolls, if the TV and Movie world tells us anything. And we like it that way. And dream of heading to America to live the dream, or feel damned superior if we don’t. Though either way, we prefer it all to stay on the screen so that the thrills are without spills.

As an Englishman I occasionally cringe at America’s flag waving. But I am brainwashed by the “Western Narrative”. I must be. Tom Cruise is a short arsed, big nosed, white guy who looks unnaturally fit for a sixty year old, and for some reason has never made a film that is less than entertaining. Or that is, I am somehow fed the lie that he is entertaining by the constant drip of the mainstream media conspiracy that brainwashes me. Our aesthetics are political constructs are they not? Or is there something we all respond to because we are, basically, the same kind of ape and thus genetically programmed to get excited by madcap heroics? If one removes all the craziness, the good guy as bad guy, bad guy as good guy, and replace it all with one dimensional heroes of the perfect state, nobody wants to go and watch it.

Could this be why most of us in the west are not watching Chinese movies despite them being available? I understand that Wolf Warriors was a big hit in China and that concerned a story about a special military mission in some unspecified African country. Come to think of it, it’s plot sounds somewhat similar to Top Gun’s? For that matter a lot of Top Gun seemed familiar. The old British propaganda film “Dam Busters” comes to mind. And the dogfights of another that went by the title: “The Battle of Britain!” Not to mention Star Wars! I believe the attack on the Death Star was shot in a style paying homage to the same British movies. And the Star War’s catch phrase, “May the force be with you” is not too dissimilar to Tom “Maverick” Cruise’s line, “Don’t think, do.” But Chinese propaganda is not full of the moral ambiguity of Western propaganda, even when the Stars and Stripes are waving in a less than subtle manner. That’s probably why we don’t consider the Western Narrative to be propaganda.

I can think of another land where the government does not allow one to write stories where any cop does not follow strict procedure or salute the flag. I wrote TV shows in Singapore about the lives and loves of firemen and was always called upon to change the script if the firemen did anything so selfless as rush into a burning building to rescue screaming terrified children without requesting the authority to do so. For that matter, fires did not happen that much because proper fire regulations are always in place. Finding stories in this fantasy world was thus a tough call. Most Singaporeans just watched YouTube and Netflix instead of the local TV channels despite my best efforts to apply at least the basic rules of the Western Narrative: make ‘em laugh, make ‘em cry, make ‘em wait!

My Facebook feed, being a rather broad multi-national arena, frequently throws up terms like The Western Narrative in a pejorative manner. The Western Narrative apparently peddles demonization of China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, Venezuela, Syria and probably a few other much-misunderstood dictatorships. It takes a holier than thou attitude by hiding its true warlike intentions behind a fake democracy, whereas the said maligned have nothing but peace and harmony as the reason for handing all power to men of genius.

Now I have to say that our democracies are flawed, some more than others, and a constant drip of half witted politicians, wars and interference in other people’s politics does give fuel for this critique. But the fact is, one is free to hurl around as much criticism as one likes. For instance, despite the UK Queen’s 70th year as the head of state, and a whole lot of flag waving events before cheering crowds, one could just as easily have stood on the streets singing “God Save The Queen, She Aint No Human Being!” No body would have arrested you for the sentiments, and there are those who have built a half decent music career on such a performance. And on TV we have pundits saying things like, “I have nothing against our Queen, but it is about time we didn’t have one and instead should vote David Attenborough in as our ceremonial Head of State.” I cannot help but think that if one stood on the streets of Moscow yelling “Fuck Putin, he’s a right daft ‘apeth!” one would have been poisoned with some hideous toxin.

The great Chinese nation would happily watch Top Gun despite it being about Americans saving the world from some unspecified evil country building atomic weapons equipped with, for some reason, American F111s, which must have been bought from America… all of which should alert even the wokist of critics that the politics of Top Gun are nonsense! The plot is creaky, and the characterisation is as thin as the 11inch American Letter format paper it is written on. But despite that, or maybe because of it, it delivers iMax action of a spectacular and exciting kind that makes one take Tom Cruises advice, and not think too much about it and go along for the ride. The Chinese, if allowed to watch it, would lap this up and apart from booing any sign of a Taiwanese flag on Tom’s jacket, would see it all as just fiction. “China” is not exactly synonymous with the Chinese. A quick dip into China would soon disabuse one of the idea that this is a regimented brainwashed nation. Politically apathetic maybe, but anarchy is not far beneath the surface. China, that is, the department of censors, might not want to go on Tom Cruise’s ride but there will be plenty of pirated editions floating around, some of which will appear on large cinema screens for private viewings. I know China well enough to know that if the government bans something, someone somewhere will just see this as an opportunity to make a fast buck. Censorship and copyright piracy have a symbiotic relationship.

I have to admit that I do watch the odd Chinese movie, especially crazy Hong Kong movies, which are nothing if not morally ambiguous, and I also watch Korea’s remarkable output of features and TV soap operas; and then there is Turkey’s drama series, “Magnificent Century”, which managed to grip me through hundreds of sub-titled episodes. I obviously have nothing better to do with my life, but my point is that I do not really think there is any real difference between the Western Narrative and the Eastern Narrative if one eliminates too much government interference.

So when people start declaring how corrupting the “Western Narrative” is I cannot help but feel that this is just ignorance and prejudice. It is Americanophobia! And it lumps the UK in with that, despite our sense of our own superiority to Americans. A good story is essentially much the same whether it is produced by the east or the west, and it has to be said that American movies, especially with English actors and directors, do have a good handle on this.




Maybe my belief that the east and the west are not that different is because my student days reading “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” have exposed me to the state of “No Mind” and a penchant for oriental cultures, hence all the work on Chinese scripts and Singaporean TV shows. Asian values was the watchword but I have read Myamoto Musashi’s “Way of The Sword” and it definitely extols the benefits of not over thinking anything. Hardly a single Samurai film passes without a moment where training and instinct rather than thoughtfulness has to take over. It may be a sure way to get yourself killed but there is a moment in all stories where one has to risk all in order to become a hero. And this did not seem to be at odds with anything one finds in Western movies.

Which brings me back to the English Heresy: Hamlet shows what a disaster it is to give way to this all action machismo which is why a hero is not a hero but a psychopath if he is not a reluctant and unlikely hero. The call to adventure, as the scriptwriter's story template, “The Hero's Journey”, has it, is always turned down before reasons beyond the heroes control force them to undertake their quest, a quest they hate, a quest they struggle against, a quest they constantly question. The easier they take up the mission, the more simple and mindless the character is, and thus nobody is that interested. And of course lurking in the depths of those reasons that push the hero on, are the sources of all our nightmares.

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