Intro The first genre before kung fu was the wu xia pian (hero films), which originated in the 1920s, In these films, the heroes possessed supernatural martial ans skills, They could control Weapons With their minds, fly and shoot “death rays” from their palms, It wasn’t until the late 19605. With the films known as gungrfu pian (kung fu films), that the fighting skills of the main character became more realistic and the fights themselves more believable. In the 19705, Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan pushed kung fu films to its limits. To examine how kung fu has gone from a Hong Kong culture to become a global popular culture through these two internationally acclaimed kung fu actors that have made an impact on the world With their style and brand of kung fu on action cinema.
I Will also be looking at how kung fu had influenced the Hollywood film industry. Bruce Lee Before Chuck Norris, Jean Claude Van Damme or Steven Seagal, there was Bruce Lee. He was one of the most influential martial artist and actor of the twentieth century. Being a Chinese born in San Francisco, he was a hybrid between the east and the west. “‘Chineseness’ as identity is represented by hybrid entities.” In 1959. Bruce Lee traveled from Hong Kong back to America and declared himself to be John Wayne or James Dean. At that time, America still have the stereotypical notion Where the Chinese were still View as meek house servants and they didn‘t pay much attention to them. Little did they know that this American-born Chinese will be taking over the world by storm through something he called kung fu. Bruce Lee‘s body was of pure muscular power.
His threatening stare and arrogant pointed finger was the redeemer, not only for the Chinese community but for all the geeks, dorks and pimpled teenage masses that washed up at the theaters to see his action movies. He was David, With spin-kicks and flying leaps more captivating than any slingshot. “Lee’s appeal lies here. A Chinese audience who sees him knows that Lee has done all Chinese proud” As an exceptional martial artist, Lee’s ability to synthesize various national martial techniques sparked a new trend in unarmed combat martial arts films, His talent shifted the focus from martial arts director to martial arts actor, Since Bruce Lee brought kung fu to America, it is on its Way to being a global popular culture. In 1960, Lee had opened his first kung lu school. At that time, kung fu was considered as a secret Chinese deathly Weapon and was never taught to outsiders.
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It was only strictly taught to Chinese. It was not even taught to other Orientals. Being brought up by the western education system, he didn’t see it that way, he was not able to grasp this concept and deem that everybody should be worthy of learning kung fu, Lee taught anyone who wanted to learn. His first batch of students turned up to be more like an international meeting than a kung fu class. There were Spanish, Americans, Japanese and Chinese. With all these different races. it had already become a global popular culture even though the martial arts school was in America, “Lee‘s heterogeneity in manial ans and hybrid indentity diasporic journey and metropolitan aura account for the special imaginary link between his figure and Hong Kong, a place colonized, marginalized, hybridized, and yet privileged by a modernity given rise in the ambivalent interaction with the colonizer and the western culture.”
The kung fu genre Was further make famous When he stared in the teleVision series ‘The Green Hornet’ his first of many unsuccessful steps of breaking into the Americans mainstream media. After the series, hrs career in Hollywood stalls. He went on to open his second martial ans school. His reputation brings him a flock of celebrity students, among them, James Garner, James Coburn, Steve McQueen and even NBA star Kareem Abdul Jabbar. He is also able to charge more for his lessons, After having repeated failures in the film and television industry, he realised that he has a lot of racial stereotypes going against him: he was discriminated against and face tremendous prejudice in Hollywood. He was not accepted on the basis of his talent but being looked at for just being another Chinese guy, Lee went back to Hong Kong where he Was to make the kung fu genre so internationally renowned that he himself could not imagine.
He went on to make ”The Big Boss” and “Fist of Fury.” in 1971, and “Way of the Dragon” and “Game of Death” (unfinished) in 1972. All these films were internationally recognised even up to this day. Since 1973, the year Bruce Lee died and his famous motion picture Enter the Dragon Was released, moVies have been the single most influential factor behind the groWing popularity of kung fu. Lee‘s Cinematic success spawned a global industry of kung to, schools opened and flourished worldWide. During the 19705 more students took up the study of manial arts than at any time before or since. To those involved in martial arts. the years from 1972 to 1975-»the height of Lee’s popularityuis often cited as the Bruce Lee era. The Legendary Bruce Lee.
Unknown in 1971, Two years later, became an international hero , and star of the biggest martial ans epic ever filmed, “Enter The Dragon” he alone brought the kung fu genre to heights that couldn‘t be imagined. And up to today, kung fu has remained as a global popular culture. Jackie Chan After the death of Bruce Lee, Hong Kong Cinema struggle to satisfy the public‘s demand for martial art films, A series of Bruce Lee imitators were rushed to the theatres With names like: Bruce Li (H0 Chung-Tao), Bruce Le (Huang Kuang-Li), Bruce Lei (Dragon Lee), Bruce Lai (Chiang Yi- Tao) and many others. However, none of the Imitators were able to capture the excitement of the original. The public was not interested in any imitations but a true martial arts experience, The movies needed a new star. another dragon.
Jackie Chan was to be the answer to that. He was going to be the next wave of kung fu to hit Hollywood and the rest of the world, He is going to do it With his own brand of comedy kung fu. exquisitely choreographed fights, directing and producing style. Hong Kong’s movie business was in decline after Bruce Lee’s death. Jackie Chan had to make films that are low budget and unappealing. Audiences branded this kind of film insincere and degrading. Jackie Chan’s big break came when he was loaned to the company Seasonal Film. Chan‘s first mowe With the company was ’Snake in the Eagle‘s Shadow‘ directed by Yuen Woo-ping in 1978 was a big hit.
He defined a new style of comedy kung fu that has single-handedly revitalized the Hong Kong martial arts movie industry. His approach was different from all the martial arts movie star of that time. He was more interested in entertaining the audience than simply just showing off his kung fu skills on camera. The new style of mixing comedy with kung fu proved to be a huge success in the local box office. This new style will later become his trademark even when he becomes an international star proclaiming kung fu as a global popular culture. It was not until 1980 when Jackie made his first Hollywood debut in the movie ‘The Big Brawl’, It was not as successful as he thought it would be but his later Hollywood films Will extend his success to international stardom, creating popular moVies such as blockbuster hits like Rush Hour, Shanghai Noon and Shanghai Knight.
Besides his new style of comedy kung fu, Chan appeals to the American and global community with his ways of filming fights, his editing techniques and the different tricks of the trade that will make an action film more powerful Chan has pioneered a few editing techniques that has since been copied by action director from all around the world. One of the famous editing techniques he often uses is the ‘double cut’ technique, It is to repeat the same shot but in different angles or different perspectives to create more impact to the scene. This technique is used very commonly by Hollywood’s action directors and action directors around the World. lwould like to compare the two versions of the movie ‘The Protector’. The first version was shot by an American director, James Glickenhaus. And the second one by Chan himself after Glickenhaus left Hong Kong initially, Chan was going along with Glickenhaus because he wants to suit the American market but when he saw the final cut, he wanted to re-shoot the whole thing.
Comparing the scene where Chan and karate champion Bill “Superfoot” Wallace was fighting, In Glickenhaus version, the scene was much darker and the two perform much slower compared to Chan’s version. He uses various tricks in the trade like putting ‘power powder’ on the clothes of the actors to increase impact of a blow or a kick Chan’s jerk back by invisible Wire is to enhance Wallace’s power in his kick. In the chainsaw scene, Chan puts himself closer and closer to the chainsaw to add further impact to the sequence. Surprisingly. it was Chan’s way for filming lights that appealed more to the American market then the American’s way. One reason why kung fu is Viewed as a global popular culture even today is because as Chan puts it during an interview in ‘Jackie Chan, My Story’, “the whole world speaks different languages but action is the international language”.
“The Hong Kong kung fu genre, however, is a strange animal: although produced primarily for consumption in the Asian market, it is also marketed heavily – and generally quite successfully – in the Wesl” Jackie Chan‘s films can be, on the other hand, quite disorienting for a western viewer. Western genres may be taken as the basis for most of them, but often they are used in a bizarre fashion. This may involve unexpected generic hybrids. as with Mister Canton and Lady Rose (also known as Miracles) which melds Chan’s action scenes into a plot that has come from Damon Runyon‘s story “Madame La Gimp” via Frank Capra‘s film Lady for a Day. This is a highly melodramatic story that would never feature in a Hollywood action film. Chan accidentally inherits control of a crime syndicate, the resources of which he then uses.
In an elaborate plot to convince a local flower seller‘s future in-laws that the vendor is actually a highly respected socialite (it’s hard to imagine Bruce Willis or Arnold Schwarzenegger‘s characters actually meeting a flower seller, let alone wasting valuable screen time helping them avert a domestic crisis). The end result is a highly sentimental tale that sits somewhere between Guys and Dolls and Enter the Dragon. Hollywood movies incorporate kung fu and are highly influenced by it. Before the arrival of martial arts, fighting in Hollywood movies was generally limited to fist fights and bar brawls. When the American public became aware of kung fu, karate, and judo, Hollywood became aware of the value of martial arts as entertainment.
Choreography fighting was incorporated. Hollywood would get light choreographers, directors, and actors from Hong Kong to merge the idea of kung fu into Hollywood. ‘While swordplay films verge on the realm of fantasy, kung fu films leans towards the realist mode (the cyber age Hollywood ‘kung fu’ fantasies of Mortal Kombat (1995), Mortal Kombat Z: Annihilation (1997), Street Fighter (1995) and the Matrix (1999) belong to a different category)” Behind all of the fight action in Matrix is one man’ The unassuming 58-year» old Chinese film director and martial arts choreographer, Veun Woo Ping.
He is a legend in his home in Hong Kong having being involved in numerous Hong Kong action movies like one of Jackie Chan’s most successful Asian films of all time, Drunken Master, and his directorial debut, “Snake in the Eagle’s Shadovv’, In this work he also created the now familiar blend of kung lo and comedy that is still produced today. Other action stars like Jet Li, who wowed international audiences in “Lethal Weapon IV,” and Sammo Hung who starred in the television series ‘Martial Law’ speak of the soft-spoken director in reverent tones. Mr. Yuen may be best known for his soaring fight scenes in the “Once Upon a Time in China” series in the 1990s. Over a hundred films have told the story of Wong Fei Hung, a fictitious Cantonese hero at the turn of the century, but these are the ones people remember.
Credit the breathtaking fight scenes and stunts, lavishly choreographed, using the high-flying Wire-action techniques that have become Mr. Yuen’s signature. The all-star cast of Matrix – stars like Keno Reeves (”Speed”) and Laurence Fishburne (What’s Love Got To Do With It”), plus producer Joel Silver are put through a challenging timetable that included months of kung fu training before the cameras even rolled. That makes “The Matrix” a seamless marriage of Hollywood filmmaking and Asian action movies. In conclusion, kung fu has been a global popular culture since the emergence of a figure like Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. Their impact on the world is so great that kung in has become globally popular. Be it a genre in mowes, a sport that is practiced or even Just away of life, it is through the movie industry and people in it that globalizes kung fu making it comprehendible throughout the world.
