DISCLAIMER: Before I start this post proper, I would like to start off by saying I mean no ill against autistic people, I know some autistic people first hand and I treat them fairly and don't mock them or anything. This post is not about that. They are real people too. And some of them are awesome. This post was written in a light-hearted manner and should be read in the same manner. If you are easily offended, don't read on.
Now, if you haven't already heard of Zhou Jie Ming, you either don't watch Channel 8 or don't use Twitter (currently #2 trending in SG!)
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| ZJM = dude on the right |
Zhou Jie Ming (going to call him ZJM for short) is an autistic person played by actor Elvin Ng in the current 9PM series on Channel 8. I don't watch it but my mom does, so I can hear the dialogue when I'm using the computer nearby.
ZJM has a habit of speaking of himself in the 3rd person (e.g. "ZJM wants to eat chocolate!") and has certain peculiar habits such as eating chocolate at fixed times. This makes it extremely annoying, almost as annoying as in Tong Xin Yuan when Pierre Png's character was chanting 'Mei Ren Yu' non-stop. (don't tell me you forgot this already)
I think anyone continually speaking of himself in the 3rd person is very annoying, unless you are The Rock.
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| "Hey noobs, bet you can't do the arched eyebrow like The Rock can do. Yea, The Rock owns all you people with The People's Elbow even though it is the most ridiculously fancy but tame move in wrestling" |
Try it. Go one week replacing all your 'I's with 'yourname'. You'll have no more friends by the end of the week.
So the question lies - WHY is ZJM so famous and well-liked?
A quick Google search turned up a few forum topics on him:
"I want to buy Zhou Jie Ming home and sayang him!!!!" (WTF??)with some hilarious comments such as :
"Hope he remain like that in real life"
"i going to carve him into my new dining table"
While I don't watch the show, I have caught occasional scenes such as when I am just stoning at my computer so I'll glance over at the TV and see what's going on. I heard Jeanette Aw's acting is horrible that show (even though the shameless ad showing 'impromptu' interviews of passerbys all say that her acting is phenomenal, blabla) I have no comment about that, but after watching Elvin Ng portray ZJM, I have one thought:
He is PERFECT for the role!
If we look at the surface, Elvin is a pretty dashing young man.
| hamsome |
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| with a nice body. Don't lie now, you'd give anything to have that body too. |
However, anyone who has been watching Channel 8 serials for awhile and have actually seen Elvin (try to) act as a normal person will know this - HE CAN'T ACT FOR NUTS.
I don't know where to begin - His utterly fail enunciation of Chinese words, his mumbling, his expressionless eyes/face... If he could actually act, he would be ten times more famous than he is now, given his good looks.
So why does he fit the role of ZJM so well? Well, as ZJM, he mumbles incoherently, he doesnt articulate his words properly, and his face is constantly expressionless, all these in portrayal of an autistic person I suppose. Oh wait.... PERFECT MATCH! (Read the previous paragraph and this one again)
You have to admit he does a pretty good job as ZJM - the way his eyes keep shifting and he doesn't maintain eye contact with anyone, how he mumbles his lines in a child-like manner. In fact, if this was the first time you saw him act, you would think he is a pretty damn good actor!
Thus, my hypothesis is this -
Elvin Ng is actually an autistic person.
There's no other explanation! He has been like this since a long time ago, and the shocking revelation is this: He is REALLY ACTING when he portrays those 'normal' characters he has played in the past, but in this role, he just has to 'be himself' and he fits it perfectly!
What do you think?
P.S. I realised I didn't really answer the question 'Why ZJM is famous' in this post. Oh well.
P.P.S. We found out that ZJM was trending because people believed a rumor that he was the 6th member of some boyband /and he was the brother of Jay Chou
hey, I'm autistic myself, and while I'm not offended by what you say but I most certainly am by his acting. In fact I daresay the whole show should, not can, burn in hell instead of being rewarded like in april's star awards.(see i watched the whole show and it was undebatebly the worst channel 8 show ever. damn my completist habit of seeing everything to the end! Apparently, working at channel 8 is like being in topsy turvy town where the crappier your work, the better the reward/award). As i watch it more, i can dare say he stops being autistic and goes to full retard, which by just watching the show the director, scriptwriters etc. dont know or care about to diffrentiate and just lump such "conditions" together. just to repeat my earlier statement, I so hate the whole show altogether, but its zjm that really gets on my nerves because i am an offended minority party. I see this no different if there was some american show that portrays asians as racist stereotypes and totally getting away with it. And here we are, with him winning the award for favorite character, appartently, our society enjoys having a ((very)misinterpreted)character type to make fun of and laugh at. Sorry to unload all this to you , but i dont have that many people to let this out on, it could have gone longer, but i dont think its worth it. If i ever meet elvinng, i would be more than happy to give him a piece of my mind and we'll see if he dares to taunt me with his zjm impression in public ( somehow i dont see him as a nice guy in public). I hope you read this despite it being months since your post.
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