Martial Arts Cinema and Hong Kong Modernity

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Man-Fung Yip
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Martial Arts ◽  
Cultural Nationalism ◽  
Cultural Expression ◽  
Bruce Lee ◽  
Aesthetic Form ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Martial Arts Cinema

The martial arts film, despite being long regarded as a vehicle of Chinese cultural nationalism, can also paradoxically be conceptualized as a mass cultural expression of Hong Kong’s colonial-capitalist modernity. Moving beyond generalized notions of martial arts cinema’s appeal, this book argues that the important and popular genre articulates the experiential qualities, the competing social subjectivities and gender discourses, as well as the heightened circulation of capital, people, goods, information, and technologies in Hong Kong of the 1960s and 1970s. In addition to providing an original conceptual framework for the study of Hong Kong martial arts cinema and shedding light on the nexus between social change and cultural/aesthetic form, this book offers perceptive analyses of individual films—not just the canonical works of King Hu, Chang Cheh, and Bruce Lee, but many lesser-known ones by Lau Kar-leung and Chor Yuen, among others.

Body Semiotics

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Man-Fung Yip
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Martial Arts ◽  
The Body ◽  
Industrial Society ◽  
Historical Experience ◽  
Modern Industrial Society ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
A Site ◽  
Martial Arts Cinema

This chapter considers how the (male) action bodies in martial arts cinema of the late 1960s and 1970s, posed between mastery and vulnerability, served as a site/sight through which the aspirations and anxieties of Hong Kong people living in the flux of a rapidly modernizing society were articulated and made visible. Specifically, it identifies three types of action body—the narcissistic body, the sacrificial body, and the ascetic body—and discusses how each crystallized out of the changing social and ideological dynamics of Hong Kong during the period. As socially symbolic signs, these diverse but interrelated representations of the body are extremely rich in meanings, inscribing within themselves not only fantasies of nationalist pride and liberated labor but also the historical experience of violence, in the form of both colonization and unbridled growth, that lay beneath the transformation of Hong Kong into a modern industrial society.

In the Realm of the Senses

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Man-Fung Yip
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Martial Arts ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Affective Experience ◽  
The Real ◽  
Hong Kong Cinema ◽  
Industrial Modernity ◽  
The Senses ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S

This chapter investigates how, in the context of Hong Kong’s rapidly growing urban-industrial modernity of the 1960s and 1970s, the proliferation of sense stimuli and sense activities had radically altered the sensory-affective experience of the real. This, in turn, is shown to have a paradigmatic impact on the martial arts film, which was rapidly embracing a new, unprecedented level of sensationalism—or “sensory realism,” that is, a mode of realism grounded not so much in visual resemblance between image and world as in the correlations between a film’s sensory and visceral stimulations and the viewer’s real-life sense experiences. It is from this perspective that martial arts films of the period can be seen as bringing a “modern” or “modernist” style to Hong Kong cinema—a style predicated on speed, impact, and new forms of cinematic materiality and tactility.

Freedom and Repression in the 1960s and 1970s: Form, Ideology, and Gender

William Blake ◽  
2013 ◽  
pp. 124-144
Author(s):  
Sarah Haggarty ◽  
Jon Mee ◽  
Nicolas Tredell
Keyword(s):  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The 1960S

Hegemonic Masculinity and Beyond

2012 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeff Hearn ◽  
Marie Nordberg ◽  
Kjerstin Andersson ◽  
Dag Balkmar ◽  
Lucas Gottzén ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Hegemonic Masculinity ◽  
White Middle Class ◽  
The Status ◽  
History Of ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Men And Masculinities ◽  
Research And Policy

This article discusses the status of the concept of hegemonic masculinity in research on men and boys in Sweden, and how it has been used and developed. Sweden has a relatively long history of public debate, research, and policy intervention in gender issues and gender equality. This has meant, in sheer quantitative terms, a relatively sizeable corpus of work on men, masculinities, and gender relations. There is also a rather wide diversity of approaches, theoretically and empirically, to the analysis of men and masculinities. The Swedish national context and gender equality project is outlined. This is followed by discussion of three broad phases in studies on men and masculinities in Sweden: the 1960s and 1970s before the formulation of the concept of hegemonic masculinity; the 1980s and 1990s when the concept was important for a generation of researchers developing studies in more depth; and the 2000s with a younger generation committed to a variety of feminist and gender critiques other than those associated with hegemonic masculinity. The following sections focus specifically on how the concept of hegemonic masculinity has been used, adapted, and indeed not used, in particular areas of study: boys and young men in family and education; violence; and health. The article concludes with review of how hegemonic masculinity has been used in Swedish contexts, as: gender stereotype, often out of the context of legitimation of patriarchal relations; “Other” than dominant, white middle-class “Swedish,” equated with outmoded, nonmodern, working-class, failing boy, or minority ethnic masculinities; a new masculinity concept and practice, incorporating some degree of gender equality; and reconceptualized and problematized as a modern, heteronormative, and subject-centered concept.

scholarly journals Bruce Lee as gladiator: Celebrity, vernacular stoicism and cinema

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 348-361
Author(s):  
Lindsay Steenberg
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Television Series ◽  
Body Type ◽  
Film And Television ◽  
The Third ◽  
Bruce Lee ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Opening Up

This article situates Bruce Lee’s films and star persona in the context of wider patterns in global genre cinema of the 1960s and 1970s. I argue for a connection between the Western reception of Lee’s films and those of the mid-century Italian sword and sandal films, beginning with the Colosseum fight between Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris that concludes Way of the Dragon (1972). From the dojo fights of Fist of Fury (1972), through the tournament structure in Enter the Dragon (1973), to his statistically led re-animation in the EA Sports UFC 3 (2018) videogame, Bruce Lee can be usefully considered as a gladiator. Bruce Lee, as fighter, performer and star persona, contributes to the enduring gladiatorial archetype that is an embedded feature in the Western visual imaginary. Furthermore, I argue that the gladiator archetype itself shifted because of Lee’s onscreen roles and the discourse that surrounds his star persona. In order to map these shifts and patterns of confluence, I chart three main points of impact that Lee has had on the gladiatorial archetype using his Western-facing roles on film and television, namely the television series Longstreet (1971–1972) and Enter the Dragon (1973). First, I consider the inclusion of martial arts and, second, the opening up of the field of representation to different models of masculinity, including a leaner body type and a non-White – in this case, ethnically Chinese – gladiator. The third point is the emphasis on a popular, or vernacular, stoicism. Ultimately, I elucidate the relationship between the gladiator, Bruce Lee, and philosophy, arguing that Lee embodies a vernacular stoicism that has become one of the defining features of the post-millennial gladiator and notions of heroic masculinity in popular culture more widely.

scholarly journals The (Ir)Relevance of Science Fiction to Non-Binary and Genderqueer Readers

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-67
Author(s):  
Anamarija Šporčič
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Third Order ◽  
Fictional World ◽  
Gender Binary ◽  
Contemporary Science ◽  
History Of ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Gender Traits

As an example of jean Baudrillard’s third order of simulacra, contemporary science fiction represents a convenient literary platform for the exploration of our current and future understanding of gender, gender variants and gender fluidity. The genre should, in theory, have the advantage of being able to avoid the limitations posed by cultural conventions and transcend them in new and original ways. In practice, however, literary works of science fiction that are not subject to the dictations of the binary understanding of gender are few and far between, as authors overwhelmingly use the binary gender division as a binding element between the fictional world and that of the reader. The reversal of gender roles, merging of gender traits, androgynous characters and genderless societies nevertheless began to appear in the 1960s and 1970s. This paper briefly examines the history of attempts at transcending the gender binary in science fiction, and explores the possibility of such writing empowering non-binary/genderqueer individuals.

Woman Is Boss: Music and Gender in Trinidad’s Cultural History

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hope Munro
Keyword(s):  
Trinidad And Tobago ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
Musical Practices ◽  
History Of ◽  
Male Dominated ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Music And Gender

This chapter situates Afro-Trinidadian women within the complex ethno-history of the nation and highlights their roles as cultural agents over time. In the Caribbean, the music world and public culture in general has been male-dominated, and for the most part this continues to be the case. In the music scene of Trinidad and Tobago, however, there has been remarkable progress in achieving gender equality within certain expressive realms. Over the course of the cultural history of Trinidad and Tobago, musical practices that were based in communal spaces such as the gayelle and drum dances changed with the emergence of the professional calypsonians and became essentially male-dominated art forms. This chapter examines the ways in which gender and music intersected in Trinidad's cultural history, showing in particular how the prosperity, optimism, and relative liberalism of the 1960s and 1970s set up the conditions for women to (re)emerge in the country's expressive culture.

Tsui Hark’s Detective Dee Films: Police Procedural Colludes with Supernatural-Martial Arts Cinema

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth Chan
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
Martial Arts ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Close Analysis ◽  
Police Procedural ◽  
Martial Arts Cinema

Through a close analysis of Hong Kong director Tsui Hark’s Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (2010), this chapter argues that the film’s successful appeal to local and global Chinese audiences is based on a conservative reading of the familiar cultural trope of modernity versus tradition, as mirrored in the supposed tensions between the police procedural and the horror/supernatural elements in the wuxia shenguai genre. These tensions are problematic precisely because their narrative and rhetorical purpose is to shore up the deterministic logic of Chinese cultural history, the interpellative call of Chinese political power, and the cultural nationalist logic of being Chinese. However, the film is also capable to generating counter-readings of its politics by recasting itself as a global cinematic text of political irony and oppositional resistance.

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