As a Chinese, I felt offended. Millions of Chinese were massacred and enslaved when Genghis Khan invaded and took over China as part of the Mongol Empire.
What will you guys feel if you saw a show that Hitler as the good guy?
I don't think we're really supposed to be "rooting" for them.
I know this is an old thread now, but I felt Season 2 got into those grey areas better than Season 1 did. That the Khan is the bad guy to a lot of people, that Marco's loyalty is closer to Stockholm Syndrome, and that all the players on the board do horrible things to either hang onto power or just survive.
But really, this show is meant as an Eastern version of Game of Thrones. I don't think anyone thinks the Lannisters are good people either.
The way Kublai ordered Chinese prisionors to be butchered was without a doubt one of the most valiant and courageous things in the show. It takes a hard man to make hard decisions, most people don't comprehend this. I surround myself with hard men, very hard men. Soft men make me sick, soft tiny men are not capable of doing the big hard things that God calls certain upon certain men to do. Hard men always get it done, for some men it takes years to get hard while others require merely moments. I've never known any man to be born Hard, making a man hard requires experience in being a hard man and the grit to make soft and weak into strong and hard.
Kublai surrounds himself with hard men because he needs hard men to help him get hard whenever he may feel placcid.
Anyway, if the world had always been ruled by men like Kublai Kahn we'd all be much better off. People interpret being hard as offensive in todays society. It's a shame because getting hard is one of the most rewarding things a man can do for himself and others.
"What will you guys feel if you saw a show that Hitler as the good guy?"
Well, I personally thought Downfall was an excellent movie. I didn't "root" for Hitler, but I found the portrayal of him to be fascinating and definitely not sanitized, and Bruno Ganz's performance was extraordinary.
Kublai is a highly complex character, and Benedict Wong gives a masterful performance. Nothing about the show gives off the vibe of the sort of pro-Mongol bias you are accusing it of having.
Similarly, Roman-era period pieces are popular in the West just as Dynastic-era period pieces are big in China. The Romans would have definitely been considered "bad guys" by a lot of people they ruled over and fought against, but this doesn't mean Rome as a show isn't worth checking out.
Every moderate to big sized ethnicity has committed some sort of atrocities towards other ethnicity during the history of mankind. Your not supposed to root for anyone. The show is just depicted from Mongol viewpoint. From one side they were very brutal but at the same time they were rather innovative. The history is full of struggle and violence and only those who were willing to do whatever it takes were successful. No reason to hold grudges over what happened in distant past.
shareI hope your immaturity is not representative of Chinese people in general.
In the Godfather we root for evil mafiosi.
In Der Untergang we root for evil Nazis.
In Das Boot we root for Evil Nazis.
In Silence of the Lambs we root for an evil serial killer.
In Vikings we root for evil barbarian hordes.
In Rome we root for evil empirialists and slave owners.
The history of film is filled with evil protagonist. And only an absolute moron would confuse siding with a protagonist in a movie with real life morals.
lol #triggered much?
Your people, serious? Are you in any way a chinese person that lived hundreds of years ago? No? So just shut up and enjoy this work of fiction.
...but they hung him anyway.
Hanged, Ami. Your father was not a tapestry.