Ming Dao, King of Adventure, in New Zealnd
In the first instalment I posted about the adventures of friendly, naïve Ming Dao in New Zealand, our hero arrives in Bluff and pays a visit to an oyster processing plant. It is here that he meets a girl who becomes an immediate fan. In their interaction the interested viewer might be able to get an inkling of the kind of charm that, given its proper setting the following year, would make this lad from a desperately poor Taiwanese family rich and famous beyond his most outlandish expectations.
Taking up the story, MD approaches a table in which the finished product is displayed—Bluff oysters packed by the dozen into plastic tubs. A cheerful, rubenesque young woman called Catherine (the manager’s daughter?), challenges him to scoff an entire tub. He tries and fails. ‘There’s still more a bit more in there,’ she teases. He prises out the last oyster or two with his finger, shoves them in his mouth, and chews noisily. ‘Where’s your wife?’ Catherine adds. ‘It’s an aphrodisiac’.
If Ming Dao does not understand the word, he certainly catches the right signals from Catherine’s cheeky smile.
Catherine informs Ming Dao of the aphrodisiacal properties of oysters. 'Too many!' reads the subtitle.
The next shot is of Catherine’s humble abode: a stand alone, weatherboard cottage with a tiled roof. In her modest kitchen, flanked by a little dark eyed daughter, she and MD companionably go about preparing three dishes involving oysters: raw with lemon and vinegar, in chowder, and in batter. They array the feast on the table, MD pulls out Catherine’s chair and then, sitting side by side with his arm draped over her shoulder, they sample the dishes. Before long, Catherine invites her boyfriend, John, a tough-looking, strongly built fellow with short hair, to join the party. John takes no apparent offence at the presenter’s cuddliness. The final shot is from outside, capturing the convivial domestic scene through the window as the crepuscular light fades the edges of the scene.
Catherine from Bluff: a proto Ming Dao fan
So what is at the heart of Ming Dao’s appeal that in 2003 saw him cast as a romantic lead in Heaven’s Wedding Gown , a groundbreaking television drama series, and as a singer in 183 Club, Asia’s most glamorous boy band? As is so evident in this episode, he is very friendly and open and wants to include everyone in the fun. He never stands aloof or in judgment of the society around him; he has no stiff or formal etiquette and is cheerfully vulgar. And he seems to enjoy all the new sights and experiences with genuine enthusiasm and wonderment. He is tremendously game and will try everything from extreme adventure experiences to exotic foods. And he is attractive in an inoffensive, boyish way. Over three episodes he hugs and kisses a lot of New Zealanders, often breaching antipodean notions of personal space and gender roles, but everyone forgives him. Maybe having grown up poor and ill (his legs were in braces for a number of years) he has a strong sense of gratitude for this fortunate turn his life has taken. And this attitude is very contagious.
Crepusculario in Bluff
Readers of my series of short articles on Ming Dao may wish to revisit my first post: I have added some screencaps from the King of Adventure.
Photocredits here.
