The Fascinating Viewpoints between Hollywood and Hong Kong Films - Essay Example

?The Fascinating Viewpoints between Hollywood and Hong Kong Films Introduction Creating movies, making scripts for dialogues, acting out the characters--all started when knowing somebody else’s life is what keeps every person interested. Having to depict life in movies is not just about entertainment but conveying life-learned messages to as many people as possible. Today, there are two great names when it comes to the genre of filmmaking: the famous Hollywood and the fierce HK Cinema. Hollywood films are known otherwise as the American films while Hong Kong films, basically the HK Cinema, are those films that originated in the East. Each has its own history of arriving at the state of what they are now--which has to require more readings to fully trace both origins. However, the concern of this paper is to determine the areas where in these big movie industries have shared each of their own perspectives. The Exchange of Talents In the late sixties to early seventies, when “American” movies have flourished--depicting great despair over events such as violence, crime, and assaults, were the days when Hollywood films started to reign supreme among all other movie industries (Wood, 2003). On the other hand, although “HK” flicks were also being made at that time--lasting for a decennium now, it was not later than the emergence of the changes brought about by iconic “HK” artists like Jackie Chan, Jet Li, and the legendary Bruce Lee--to name a few, that eventually paved way for the recurrence of Hong Kong movies intended not just for domestic viewing (Eber, 2004). It has been accepted that the “flow” of things is generally from West to East. However, due to Hong Kong’s obvious breakthrough--claiming their throne next to Hollywood, the gap between the two was reconnected based on the sharing of ideas and concepts necessary in their own filming. The impact of this change makes it possible for both movie industries to some sort of “exchanges,” example, the exchange of the “Chinese and American” film head and artists (The Chinese University of Hongkong, n.d.). Now, it has been an inevitable factor to star Asians to American films assuming that the movie will surely hit not just to their original audience but also to the Eastern part of the world. Even the Chinese people excelling in script writing, directing, and filming are increasingly dominating Hollywood. An example of this can be associated with the movie entitled Hero. Hero is a Chinese movie released in 2002, with Ying Xiong as its original title, but was translated in English when it premiered in the United States two years after. The people behind this movie were all Chinese, and it was even shot only in China, but it became widely popular across western countries. It was directed by Yimou Zhang starring Jet Li and Ziyi Zhang of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Aside from being shot in beautiful sceneries, and the effects and choreography of the fighting scenes, it is the story itself that captures the audiences. It is about being able to decide to do the right thing even if it means sacrificing one’s self. Basically, the movie had brought the different side of the East closer to the hearts of the West. The Influence of Martial Arts When it comes to impossible one-versus-many-assassins setups, almost-flying sword-fighting scenes, and intense without-armour battles, it was the Hong Kong films that originally take the credit. Yet, that seems to be wrong these days because even the Hollywood films are having those takes. This is another breakthrough--enough to be justified with Bruce Lee’s influence, which has been shared now by both movie industries. It was the martial arts in most of Bruce Lee’s movies that intensified the craving for action. However, during the time of Bruce Lee’s appearances in the worldwide screen, many discussions of Bruce Lee being a movie star in the West and at the same time having the looks definitely from the East--and so many others, tend to rise and soon, debates never seem to stop. It has always been an issue of “ethnicity” that makes it intriguing (Bowman, 2010). Furthermore, such thoughts of Bruce Lee being granted to play the role of the whites were unending. Given that his origin was rooted from having Chinese parents and was raised and taught acting by his father, and had learned “gung fu” in Hong Kong (Bruce Lee Foundation, 2006); therefore, Bruce Lee should not become one of them. It was, after all, his passion to martial arts--teaching and embodying them with his love of philosophy that landed him of his acting career and has helped him surpasses all the issues. Even with the “absence” of Bruce Lee in the films today, the influence of Hong Kong movies to Hollywood can still be seen on how Hollywood films, such as Kill Bill, made use of the skills and theories regarding martial arts. With this, the supposed role of Bruce Lee was replaced by American actors such as Jean Claude Van Damme of Street Fighter, and even Uma Thurman of Kill Bill. As follows, Hollywood had shown that even if one is not born with the skills--pertaining to those Westerners, like that of the East being naturally inclined to martial arts, he/she can still be able to defend through constant practice, self-perseverance, and with the help of at least one “Asian” (Bowman, 2010). This is a typical imagination of the Americans about themselves, while for the Chinese, they are the most superior when it comes to martial arts. The Prevailing Trademark Seeing these things took place in the movies nowadays is quite a remarkable feat. However, having to create an image derived from other industries does not mean there was no difference between the two. Each industry has its own trademark--the taste of Americanness to Hollywood films and the touch of Chineseness to Hong Kong films, but some of the modern movies are not to be blamed for having a mix of both. The sense of being playful and artistic especially in the effects is the American side while being intense and alive through pure action and combat is from the Chinese side. A movie, having the mixture of both, is like a little daughter of one’s dad--it is special. On the other hand, no matter how special these movies were, otherness--where conflict arises due to differences, cannot be totally eradicated. For example, in the movie Kill Bill, the lead character played by Uma Thurman has seeked for an advice from a very strong Kung Fu teacher who eventually had taught him; thus, making her capable enough to destroy and kill Bill. Nevertheless, the movie portrayed that the Chinese--who were mostly Thurman’s enemies, can be easily defeated although it was the East people who were very good in martial arts, not the Westerners. Having different views of themselves, there was the tendency for the movie to defeat the imagination of the Chinese to satisfy its own imagination of being American. Conclusion Hollywood and Hong Kong films have been producing their own brand of movies lately now, and each of their movies has proven their ability to capture the hearts of their targeted audience. Whether it goes down to the point of having to tell whether the movies are of Americanness or Chineseness in nature, or to determine some portrayals of positive and negative otherness, movies are still subjected to general criticisms. Being able to identify the purpose of each Hollywood or Hong Kong film in what it is designed to be is critically important. It will then matter on how one sees the movie and its purpose, since it is not really on what kind of movie to watch, but the thought and lesson one can learn out from it. References Bowman, P., 2010. Theorizing Bruce Lee: film-fantasy-fighting-philosophy. In: E. Mathijs & S.J. Schneider, eds. 2010. Contemporary Cinema. New York: Editions Rodopi, pp.3-247. Bruce Lee Foundation, 2006. Biography. [Online] Available at: http://www.bruceleefoundation.com/index.cfm/pid/10585 [Accessed 6 July 2012]. Eber, D., 2004. Hong Kong action cinema: an introduction. [Online] (Updated 31 Mar 2004) Available at: http://www.fortressofshadow.org/hk/intro.php [Accessed 3 July 2012]. The Chinese University of Hongkong, n.d. Television and orientalism. [Online] Available at: http://www.com.cuhk.edu.hk/project/ericsite/academic/tv.pdf [Accessed 4 July 2012]. Wood, J.M., 2003. Once upon a time in America. MovieMaker: The Art and Business of Making Movies. [Online] 26 March, Issue 50. Available at: http://www.moviemaker.com/directing/article/ once_upon_a_time_in_america_3228/ [Accessed 3 July 2012]. Read More