The pride and power of representation in film | Jon M. Chu
TED Talks Daily
TED
4.1 • 12.1K Ratings
🗓️ 23 October 2019
⏱️ 14 minutes
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Summary
On the heels of the breakout success of his film "Crazy Rich Asians," director Jon M. Chu reflects on what drives him to create -- and makes a resounding case for the power of connection and on-screen representation.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This TED Talk features filmmaker John M. Chu, recorded live at TED 2019. |
| 0:09.0 | The Silicon Valley and the internet gave me superpowers. |
| 0:14.0 | Tools to go to battle with, a suit to take bullets with, |
| 0:20.0 | and a giant signal in the sky that told me when it was time to fight. |
| 0:25.6 | Now, I can't actually prove any of this. I am not a scientist. I don't have facts. In fact, my Rod Tomato score is running around 50% right now, so I'm not sure why they let me in. |
| 0:39.9 | But if we're talking about colliding with a power that's bigger than us, then I'm in the right place. |
| 0:46.9 | Because this last year, I had an interesting year with a movie called Crazy Rich Asians that I did. |
| 0:51.6 | Thank you, thank you. |
| 0:54.9 | And if we're talking about connections specifically today, |
| 0:58.2 | then I know my story is only possible |
| 1:00.6 | because of a collection of connections that happen throughout my life. |
| 1:05.0 | And so hopefully by telling a little bit of my story, |
| 1:07.4 | it'll help someone else find their path a little sooner than I did. |
| 1:10.0 | So my story begins when I opened the Holy Book for the first time. |
| 1:16.6 | The Holy Book of Gadgets, of course, sharper image. |
| 1:20.8 | Yes, those who know. It was a magical magazine of dreams and had things in there that you knew could not possibly exist, |
| 1:29.6 | but there was right there. You could order it. Come in the mail. And some things that probably |
| 1:33.7 | should have never existed, like Gregory, a lifelike, portable mannequin who deters crime by his |
| 1:40.0 | strong masculine appearance. This is a real thing, by the way. But my eyes were set on |
| 1:47.7 | the video edit Seema 2. This thing was so cool at the age of 10. You could connect all your VHS |
| 1:54.8 | players together and cut something together. So I call my parents and convince them to buy this |
| 1:59.6 | for me. But before I get into that, |
... |
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