Mo lei tau

Mo lei tau ( Chinese无厘头/无厘头) is a form of Chinese- Cantonese humor. Used elements of slapstick, puns and parody references to pop culture. This form of humor through the films of Stephen Chow and Wong Jing became well known.

Origin

Before they were known, were Chow and Wong fans of Japanese anime. Especially like they looked at and decided the exaggerated contortions of cartoon characters, this is built into their live action movies. The audience should be brought to laughter by this slapstick -like, absurd Visual effects.

Wong rewrote the reactions of the audience with the mo lei tau Cantonese exclamation gau (无厘头 尻). This is an exclamation of strong surprise and is about with " What's that? " Translatable. The last character尻( Jyutping: gau1 ), however, indicates a Fäkalausdruck why this term was shortened to mo lei tau (无厘头). This means in Cantonese "nonsense."

The humor is based on a phonetic feature of the direct sound in Cantonese, which is the similar sound of words with different meanings, and the " ability to produce with slight variations weighty mistakes. " The resulting puns are only partially translated into English or German, mo lei tau films why lose parts of their humor in the translation.

Description

HKfilm.net called Mo lei tau " comedies nonsense " and provides the features, " hectic actions, high content of physical humor ( slapstick ), parodies, pop culture references, and strong use of Cantonese slang " out. The Chicago Reader describes mo lei tau further than the approach that " every logic of a situation by visual and verbal reversals and logical fractures to destroy. " The BBC called Mo lei tau " Silly Talk" and it turned out that Mo lei tau particularly of slapstick and the absurd contrast between dialogue and action alive. Were mentioned as examples:

• The Mafiaboß, before all have killer fear turns out to be an elementary school teacher
• Destruction of a killer robot by the use of a microwave oven
• Rejection of the last wish of a dying man because you do not understand Chinese
• Reciting an ancient Chinese poem amidst a slapstick scene
• With toilet humor interspersed dialogue in the midst of an action scene

As a reference of the mo lei tau applies actor / director Stephen Chow, whose films Sixty million dollars Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle Man are strongly influenced by this kind of humor.

Social significance

Mo lei tau applies in the Chinese -speaking world as very popular. The popularity is due to perhaps also the fact that it contains tendencies of escapism. The Chicago Reader states that mo lei tau Chinese see as a means to make " good face on the matter ," ie, harsh realities of everyday life ( the pressure to succeed in professional life, the SARS epidemic ) to accept with an ironic or nihilistic shrug.