LEE, BRUCE.   Term Paper ID:26854 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Life, career, appeal, skills, major films of martial arts film star.... More...

5 Pages / 1125 Words 5 sources, 13 Citations, MLA Format $20.00 Return to List of Papers

Paper Abstract: Life, career, appeal, skills, major films of martial arts film star. Paper Introduction: The career of Bruce Lee (1940-73) is one of the most interesting cases of cultural influence in the history of film. Lee's career as an actor in Hong Kong martial arts films--which he pursued after finding only minor success in American films--was one of the most successful ever. He revitalized action films in Hong Kong and, for the first time, Asian films were seen by large audiences in the United States. In part, Lee's appeal to Western audiences was simply based on the kinetic power of the wild, vigorous films that placed a premium on action and did not concern themselves to a great extent with the story, acting, and technical values that made Hollywood a major center of film production. Another factor in the appeal of the films was their simple exoticism. They were unlike anything American audiences had seen and offered a truly 'foreign' experience in many Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Honolulu: U of Hawaii P, 1997. Available http://egret .stanford.edu/cgi-bin/hkqueryDannen, Frederic. "Jackie Chan and the Cultural Dynamics of Global Entertainment." Transitional Chinese Cinema. Online. Chan recognized the central importance of Lee's elegant skill to hisgreat success. Lee was neither director,writer, nor producer on the film and yet he was the person primarilyresponsible for this sudden turnaround in Chinese film. . This was thepredominant style of Hong Kong action film up through the late 196 s. S.market on a wave of low-budget action films (blaxploitation and otherwise)that found a market niche especially among young, urban African Americanand Latino audiences" (242). In part, Lee's appealto Western audiences was simply based on the kinetic power of the wild,vigorous films that placed a premium on action and did not concernthemselves to a great extent with the story, acting, and technical valuesthat made Hollywood a major center of film production. Born Lee Jun Fan in Oakland California, while his father was on tourwith the Cantonese Opera Company, Bruce Lee Grew up in Hon Kong working infilms as a child actor--very often as a fighter of one sort or another. although the hero is often a kung-fusuperman, he remains, however tenuously, within the realm of physicalpossibility" (Williams). What he does not mention, however, is how the comic eye-rolling and slapstick replaced the mood that also made Lee a great star.For, in taking martial arts seriously and making the art itself the focusof the film, Lee also raised kung fu to a somewhat mystical plane. Fists of Fury) and it revolutionizedfilm making in Hong Kong as it went on to "net Golden Harvest a return offive hundred times its investment" (Dannen 32). Certainly the quasi-spiritual element played a major role in thesuccess of the films. . Translations." Variety, 1995 23 Oct. The film was The Big Boss (U. The Hong Kong film industry blossomed in the 192 s and, after thePeoples Republic of China nationalized the Shanghai film industry, theBritish Protectorate of Hong Kong became the principal source of Chinese-language films as the four Shaw brothers established "the largest studiocomplex ever built in Asia" and began turning out popular fare at anincredible rate (Dannen 31). But his own serious devotion to the martial arts, which was conveyedby the intensity of his precise, extraordinarily skillful athleticperformances, also placed him in the broader Western category of Easternsage, the source of mysterious hidden knowledge--an unlikely role he shareswith figures ranging from the Buddha and Confucius to Gandhi and DalaiLama. S. Lee,who had become a martial arts champion and an influential teacher (whoopened his classes to non-Asian students), looked for work in Hollywood andwas cast as the supporting character of Kato in the Green Hornet televisionseries which premiered in 1966. 1995, 3 +Fore, Steve. But the experience of his core Americanaudience was quite different. But the exoticism went beyond a simpletourist's look at the unknown. Herevitalized action films in Hong Kong and, for the first time, Asian filmswere seen by large audiences in the United States. Lieu Shiao- Teng. S. During a return trip toHong Kong in 197 , in response to the overwhelming Asian success of theshort-lived Green Hornet series Lee was signed by Raymond Chow to star inhis first adult film featuring himself as a martial arts hero. One of these, the Wu Xia Pian or "hero"film, has been made in China since the 192 s and featured "a strongsupernatural element, with people flying, shooting death rays out of theirhands, and displaying deadly mental powers" (Williams). Works CitedBrodie, John. And, as Wang goes on to discuss, there are thousands ofpractitioners of karate, kung fu, and other martial arts who trace theirinterest directly to Bruce Lee's revitalization of the Hong Kong kung fugenre. "Hong Kong's Chopsocky Stars Try U. As Oliver Wang says, he remembered"leaping, snapping and kicking my way down the hall afterwards, living outthe adolescent fantasy of being a one-man martial arts machine" (Wang 5).But there was more going on for many viewers and "weeks of Kung Fu Theateron Saturday afternoons would, inevitably, school us to the legend of theShaolin Temple" which, "from Bruce Lee to Jet Li . Lee died very young, at the pinnacle of hiscareer, and, as his subsequent fame has shown, his American fans weretaking something more than simple, passing enjoyment from his films. The extent of the revolution caused by Lee can be gaugedby the fact that the biggest star in the world now is Jackie Chan, who didnot connect with audiences until, as he puts it, he began to wonder "howcan I get rid of the Bruce Lee shadow and be Jackie Chan?" (quoted inDannen 33). What Lee offered was thespectacle of the truly accomplished martial arts expert whose skills werethe star of the films. 25 Oct. Online. Available http://www .delphi.com/sflit/novaexpress/toc-14.html The career of Bruce Lee (194 -73) is one of the most interestingcases of cultural influence in the history of film. As Fore notes, the Lee films "rode into the U. Ed. At the time Leereentered the world of Hong Kong films the action film was not aboutsingular skill in the martial arts. The power of Lee's presence andthe inherent threat in his physical performance might have made himentirely unacceptable to these audiences otherwise. In 197 one of the Shaws' producers, RaymondChow, formed the Golden Harvest production company and set about the taskof carving out his own niche. 239-261.Wang, Oliver. Lee's career as anactor in Hong Kong martial arts films--which he pursued after finding onlyminor success in American films--was one of the most successful ever. Internet. Internet. has been deified asthe only source of 'true' kung fu, so mythical a place it could rivalAvalon" (Wang 5). But every school childused to be familiar with the expression, "Confucius say," which precededwise sayings or mock versions of wisdom; this was one of the primarystereotypes of Asians. Thus the hidden knowledge of the masters, often presented inmysterious parables, could only be attained by becoming adept in the art.This was the running theme of the Kung Fu television series and a part ofthe presentation of the Western film heroes. As Williams notes, there are severalgenres of Chinese action film. "Hong Kong Babylon." New Yorker 7 Aug. Lee, it has been said, starred in "revisionist" kung fu films but therevisionism in his approach was not to take the art of film any fartherthan it had already gone in Hong Kong (Fore 242). 1997, 5.Williams, Walter Jon. Lee'sfilms might be credited with creating the stereotype of the Chinese actorwho flings himself about the room destroying everyone and everything in hispath. Lee wasinterested, therefore, in the Gung Fu Pian (kung fu films) which were"comparatively realistic . "Old Man, Your Kung Fu Is Useless!" Nova Express 14 (1997). . These movies may have owed someof their success, and much of their longevity, in the West to the fact thathis proselytizing for kung fu--in addition to his skills and his presence--made him more accessible to Western audiences who were able to "place" himamong the collection of stereotypes with which they were familiar and whichallowed them to deal with the Asian other. The Kung Fu television series, which began in late1972 (and was revived in the early 199 s) and the immensely successfulcareers of such Western martial arts stars as Jean Claude Van Damme, ChuckNorris, and Steven Seagal featured the mystical side of kung fu quiteprominently. Another factor inthe appeal of the films was their simple exoticism. 1999. . And, as Wang explains, itowed its great popularity to Lee's films. 1999. Its importance as an aspect of Lee's persona can also be seenin the fact that Chan largely excludes this aspect of martial arts from hisfilms. Shaw was a martial arts fan and when he hadthe good fortune to sign Bruce Lee his company was made. And itwas this particular aspect of his films that increased their appeal forAmerican audiences. But Chan, who has cited Buster Keaton as a secondgreat influence, also made sure that his films were "mind-bendingly violentbut laced with slapstick," thereby adding a comic ease and an everymanquality that audiences in East Asia were drawn to immediately (Brodie). 25 Oct. "Notes on the Run: 'Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting." International Examiner 15 Jul. Hereturned to the United States in 1959, in time to claim his Americancitizenship, and attended the University of Washington in Seattle. In one fan's description of the experience of seeing the films, thebasic young male reaction is clear. Lee, like Confucius, had a great deal to say andthe rough action films of Hong Kong provided him with the opportunity tosay it in a way that has enabled hundreds of thousands of Americans to thepresent day to listen to him. He went about the task by viewing all of Lee's films andnoting that it was the sheer proficiency of the moves and the startlingintensity of his presence that marked Bruce Lee off from his successors.Thus Chan decided to simply stop competing in that particular sense anddeveloped the style, called Wu Da Pian ("fight films with martial arts"),"featuring incredible athleticism, martial arts, and highly dangerousstunts" (Williams). They were unlikeanything American audiences had seen and offered a truly 'foreign'experience in many respects. ButLee's fame at the moment he returned to Hong Kong was based on his karateskills as displayed in The Green Hornet and in karate competition. In previous kung fu films the skills of the actorsand bit players had been important, but Lee raised the art of kung fu to anew level where audiences were as much amazed by the individual performeras they were by the "fantastic and extravagant" extent of the violence andaction (Brodie). The films were usually shown in "truncated,badly-dubbed English-language versions" that "came to bear the mark of purecamp" for many viewers (Fore 242). Throughout the 196 s Lee had also builthis reputation in the martial arts but, while he got roles in a number offilms and series he was progressing too slowly. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.