What's with all the bearded women in "Shaolin Soccer"?

July 17, 2006 10:35 PM

What's with all the bearded women in Stephen Chow's movie "Shaolin Soccer"?

There's a bearded makeup lady and an entire bearded female soccer team. Any cultural significance? In-joke?

posted by ostranenie to Media & Arts (4 answers total)

I think they're just girls posing as guys to be on a soccer team. The two actresses who play the role of the "bearded women" star in his other movies, "King of Comedy" and "Kung Fu Hustle", and most likely others (as he has been involved in over 40 projects).

He has a habit of casting many of the same actors in his films (his friends?), for instance, one of the punks who tries to fight him in Shaolin Soccer (he looks younger) also plays a punk in King of Comedy, and in Kung Fu Hustle he is the main bully in the childhood flashback.
posted by mhuckaba at 10:47 PM on July 17, 2006

Best answer: What mhuckaba said. I think its part women pretending to be guys to play in a men's league (a la stoning in Life of Bryan). It might also be that these women are so "manly" that they have beards.

That said, I thoroughly enjoy Stephen Chow's movies. I can't wait for the next one.
posted by Atreides at 4:38 AM on July 18, 2006

Actually, neither of those actresses on the soccer team (Cecilia Cheung and Karen Mok) is in Kung Fu Hustle. The were the two leads in "King of Comedy" though. To answer the question, it's just Chow's sense of humour -- why is it funny that a fat guy's fat jiggles? Any cultural significance? In-joke?
posted by Big Fat Tycoon at 5:37 AM on July 18, 2006

If I remember correctly they are famous in China for their beauty, so the beards might be to down play that.
posted by drezdn at 6:37 AM on July 18, 2006