What's the (better) story?
Koh Juat Muay 许月妹, AMIPRS
President Institute of Public Relations Singapore
The headline: "Chow Yun Fat didn’t ask Singaporean wife for help with English for new film because 'she speaks Singlish'."~ CNA Lifestyle
A well-known, well-loved actor returns to the screen after a five-year hiatus. He gives an interview on his movie and gets this headline. What is the movie about? Why did he decide to take it on? What does the movie hope to achieve?
I am sure Chow touched on all the above in the interview but what made its way into the article was that his wife spoke Singlish. Why was this point more important than the rest of the interview?
The headline hints of a lesser status that his wife spoke Singlish and therefore not suited to help him with English. Did he intend for this? Unlikely.
Singlish is a treasured spoken artform for Singaporeans, no doubt about that. I love it as a culture and that sometimes, Singlish just cuts it when you want to put a point across. "You got go or not?" just sounds fun when the occasion calls for it to be used.
I digress. Coming back to what I think is a better story angle for the article is to know what Chow said about the movie, his role, the other characters in the movie and the movie's ambitions.
Harvard Business Review Advisory Council Member | Leading with Mindfulness | Strategic Communications Director
2 周Koh Juat Muay 许月妹, AMIPRS Your “story” made me look this up… and not only CNA but 8 days, AsiaOne and some other local publications picked the “Singlish” bit in their headline. I feel this was clever way to attract us “singlish lovers” even if we weren’t Yun Fat fans! I was unlikely to watch the movie but now I am a bit curious.