Mon Chinois by Cédric Villain

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I’m having an unforgettably fantastic time at Anima Mundi in Brazil. One of the films that picked up an award at the festival is Mon Chinois (2008) by Cédric Villain, which looks at how the Western world stereotypes Chinese people. The film does a good job of evoking both laughter and unease from the viewer. It’s in French, but I think you’ll be able to figure it out.

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  • http://blackwingdiaries.blogspot.com Jenny Lerew

    Please say hello to my friend Léa Zagury while you’re there, Amid. She’s an amazing artist and I very much miss her presence, especially at work.

    Envy your being there. I’ve always wanted go to Anima Mundi, initially because I knew that if Léa was involved it would be something else again.

  • Selvagem

    OMG thank you so much for that post Amid!

  • http://bibi.org/box Bibi

    It’s really great! I watched it 4 times in a row. I made a search for it as soon as I saw the winners. BTW, you can watch it on Villain’s site and turn on the English subtitles.

    PS.: see you tomorrow. I’m going to watch your Papo Animado on Anima Mundi. :)

  • Matt Sullivan

    Oh wahhh. That kind of stereotyping is never seen anymore. And how about all the racism from the east, from africa, australia…it exists but we’re made to believe us mean ol white westerners are so damn awful

    God! hate this kind of crap.

  • http://www.cedric-villain.info Cédric Villain

    Thanks for the post, honored to be there as I am a regular brew reader…
    There is a subtitled version of the film on my website (http://www.cedric-villain.info/defi12/)
    For MS, the film is meant to be hatefull; it is a film about ignorance… I guess…

  • Selvagem

    Very nice work Cédric .. totally a fan now. I particularly liked the reference to the 13th Arrondissement :D

  • John

    I’m not too sure about this… will people understand that this short is poking fun at those who stereotype Chinese people.

    I don’t fully understand, to be honest.

    Cedric, can you please clarify, that you are actually making fun of those people who believe in these stereotypes? Because surprisingly enough and unfortunately people actually do believe that some of these things are true.

    I just have a bad feeling people will watch this and agree with everything that is being said.

    and Matt Sullivan, are you serious when you said “That kind of stereotyping is never seen anymore” ….because if you really meant that you are an IDIOT.

  • Jorge Didaco

    “My Chinese is a Ghost”. That’s how Cédric ends the film, with a precise, just final cut. A violent one, in the bone. We may laugh, but that cut is what will remain. It’s clear for me; great short Cédric!

  • vzk

    Isn’t Australia part of western civilization?

    Anyway, this was cute. I’m not sure if this short is really poking fun at westerners for their views on Chinese or if the artist is actually being serious about it.

  • http://www.cedric-villain.info Cédric Villain

    Many stereotypes has a part of truth but yes, I wanted to show that the culture of the sixth of the world population is unknown to a great part of the western population (and I include myself), except a bunch of enduring clichés.
    I wanted to make an illustrated list of them, like the “I like chinese” song (© Eric Idle & the Monty Pythons), giving links on the net for those who want to know better this country and its huge and various population (clic on the title of the film on my website).
    No big deal, nothing to argue about, only a piece of limited animation…
    I am incredibly proud of the Animamundi popular price but really surprised too…

  • http://www.cementimental.com Tim Drage

    God! hate this kind of crap.
    Maybe you should stop posting it then?

  • Steve

    Cédric, what did you use to get the multiplane effects? 3:57 4:04 I don’t know an easy way to do it with flash. Toon Boom?

  • http://www.myspace.com/thetinyorchestra Half

    A concise telling of an honest idea. Very nice work and congratulations, Cedric.

  • http://www.cedric-villain.info Cédric Villain

    Steve, the short is done in Flash (animation) and After Effects (compositing), the multiplane effect is simply a layer animation in Flash.

  • http://dailygrail.com/blog/8389 red pill junkie

    “That kind of stereotyping is never seen anymore.”

    Well, what did you expect… from a French Villain? ;-)

    Great short.

  • http://www.mynameispj.com PJ

    I really liked it, I’m just not sure how I feel about lumping Tiananmen Square in with a bunch of stereotypes. To me, that’s something that deserves to be addressed in a different way than the rest of the content presented in the short.

    Maybe this is my perspective, but that event isn’t really indicative of how Westerners view the Chinese–that event is a pretty big mess all its own, especially considering the lengths the Chinese government has gone to forbid the topic from its own people. You can’t easily–or legally or safely–find information on it in mainland China. To me, that just makes it a different instance than the other topics Cedric touches on.

    That said, you did a magnificent job Cedric. Excellent use of the medium, and as a graphic designer I really appreciate how much you achieved with such a conservative, minimalist style. I especially liked the way you used the background negative space to create shapes in your characters throughout the piece. And the typography was beautiful. Bravo!

  • Mitch Kennedy

    They left out Cape Breton and PEI from their North American map!!

  • vzk

    Thinking about it, those stereotypes are pretty inoffensive compared to the ones Japanese nationalists have against Chinese and Koreans. There were a few mangas bashing those groups of people that became all-time bestsellers at Amazon Japan. They are on par with the racist depictions of Japanese in American WWII cartoons.