Film genre
Kung fu film
(
Chinese
:
功夫片
;
pinyin
:
G?ngfu pian
;
Jyutping
:
Gung
1
fu
1
pin
3
) is a subgenre of
martial arts films
and
Hong Kong action cinema
set in the contemporary period and featuring realistic martial arts. It lacks the fantasy elements seen in
wuxia
, a related martial arts genre that uses historical settings based on
ancient China
.
[1]
Swordplay is also less common in
kung-fu
films than in
wuxia
and fighting is done through unarmed combat.
[2]
Kung fu films are an important product of
Hong Kong cinema
and the
Western world
, where it was exported.
[3]
Studios in Hong Kong produce both wuxia and kung fu films.
History
[
edit
]
The kung fu genre was born in
Hong Kong
as a backlash against the supernatural tropes of
wuxia
.
[4]
The wuxia of the period, called
shenguai wuxia
, combined
shenguai
fantasy with the martial arts of wuxia. Producers of wuxia depended on special effects to draw in larger audiences like the use of animation in fight scenes. The popularity of shenguai wuxia waned because of its cheap effects and fantasy cliches, paving the way for the rise of the kung fu film.
[5]
The new genre still shared many of the traits of wuxia. Kung fu protagonists were exemplars of chivalry akin to the ancient
youxia
, the knights-errant of Chinese wuxia fiction.
[6]
The oldest film in the genre,
The Adventures of Fong Sai-yuk
(Part 1: 方世玉打?台; Part 2: 方世玉二卷之胡惠乾打機房), is a 1938?39 two-part movie about the adventures of folk hero
Fong Sai-yuk
. No surviving copies of the film exist.
[7]
A series of films that dramatized the life of
Wong Fei-hung
, a historical Cantonese martial artist, was another early pioneer of the genre.
[8]
The first two films of the Wong series, directed by Wu Pang and starring
Kwan Tak-hing
, were released in 1949.
[9]
The major innovation of the Wong Fei-hung films was its focus on realistic fighting or
zhen gongfu
, a departure from earlier wuxia films. The fights were still choreographed, but were designed to be more believable.
[10]
Jet Li
played Wong in a later revival of the series in 1990s,
Tsui Hark
's
Once Upon a Time in China
, and also Fong in the movie
Fong Sai-yuk
.
[11]
Resurgence in the 1970s
[
edit
]
The kung fu genre reached its height in the 1970s, coinciding with Hong Kong's economic boom.
[12]
It overtook the popularity of the new school (
xinpai
) wuxia films that prevailed in Hong Kong throughout the 1950s and 1960s.
[13]
Wuxia had been revitalized in the newspaper
serials
of the 1950s and its popularity spread to cinemas in the 1960s.
[14]
It displaced the kung fu dramatizations of Wong Fei-hung and brought back the supernatural themes of traditional wuxia cinema.
[15]
The rivalry between the
Shaw Brothers
,
Golden Harvest
, and Seasonal Films studios stimulated the growth of kung fu movies in the Hong Kong film industry.
[16]
The Chinese Boxer
(1970) directed by
Wang Yu
and
Vengeance
directed by
Chang Cheh
in 1970 were the first films of the resurgent kung fu genre.
[17]
[18]
The new wave of kung fu films reached international audiences after the financial success of
Bruce Lee
's first feature-length film,
The Big Boss
, in 1971.
[19]
[20]
Lee spent most of his childhood in Hong Kong where he learned
wing chun
martial arts and performed as a
child actor
. He left for the United States, his place of birth, and continued his martial arts training as a high school student. In America, he created
Jeet Kune Do
, a martial arts style inspired by wing chun, and briefly worked in
Hollywood
as a film and television actor.
[21]
He returned to Hong Kong and performed his breakthrough role in
The Big Boss
, followed by five more films. The movies of Bruce Lee began a trend of employing genuine practitioners of martial arts as actors in martial arts films.
[22]
Kung fu films were internationally successful and popular in the West where a kung fu fad had taken root.
[23]
The anti-imperialist themes of his films held a broad appeal for groups that felt marginalized and contributed to his popularity in Southeast Asia and the African-American and Asian-American communities of urban America.
[24]
[25]
Audiences were sympathetic with Lee's role as a minority figure struggling against and overcoming prejudice, social inequality, and racial discrimination.
[26]
Kung fu comedies
[
edit
]
The genre declined after Bruce Lee's sudden death in 1973. In the same year, a
stock market crash
brought Hong Kong into a recession.
[27]
During the economic downturn, audiences in Hong Kong shifted to favoring comedies and satires.
[28]
In the late 1970s the kung fu comedy appeared as a new genre, merging the martial arts of kung fu films with the comedy of Cantonese satires.
[29]
The films of
Lau Kar-leung
,
Yuen Woo-ping
, and
Sammo Hung
followed this trend.
[30]
Yuen's
Drunken Master
in 1978 was a financial success that transformed
Jackie Chan
, its leading actor, into a major Hong Kong movie star.
[31]
The mixture of slapstick comedy with martial arts reinvigorated the kung fu genre. Jackie Chan was the first significant
action hero
and martial arts performer to emerge from Hong Kong after the death of Bruce Lee.
[32]
The films of Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung integrated techniques from
Peking Opera
, which both had trained in prior to their work as stuntmen and extras in the Hong Kong studio system.
[33]
[34]
They were students of China Drama Academy, a
Peking opera school
operated by
Yu Jim-yuen
, which brought elements of combat and dance from Beijing into
Cantonese opera
.
[35]
The Peking Opera-influenced martial arts of kung fu comedies were more fluid and acrobatic than traditional kung fu films.
[36]
In the 1980s, Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung transitioned to kung fu films set in urban environments.
[37]
Modern kung fu films
[
edit
]
The realism of the kung fu genre has been blurred with the widespread use of
computer-generated imagery
(CGI) in the industry. Technology has enabled actors without martial arts training to perform in kung fu films.
[38]
Wuxia films experienced a revival in recent years with the films of
Ang Lee
and
Zhang Yimou
.
[39]
Kung fu comedies remain popular staples of Hong Kong cinema and the kung fu films of
Stephen Chow
have been box office hits. His 2001 film
Shaolin Soccer
combined kung fu, modified using CGI, with the sports and comedy genres.
[40]
Chow's 2004 film
Kung Fu Hustle
, choreographed by martial arts directors Sammo Hung and Yuen Woo-ping, was a similar mixture of kung fu and comedy that achieved international success.
[41]
Donnie Yen
, who emerged during the early 1990s in Jet Li's
Once Upon a Time in China II
, is currently Hong Kong's highest-paid actor, starring in several films which helped him achieve international recognition, such as the
Ip Man
trilogy
and
Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen
.
Global influence
[
edit
]
The competing
Shaw Brothers
and
Golden Harvest
studios entered Western markets in the 1970s by releasing dubbed kung fu films in the
United States
and
Europe
. Films like
The Big Boss
(
Fists of Fury
) and
King Boxer
(
Five Fingers of Death
) were box office successes in the West.
[42]
By the 1980s and 1990s, American cinema had absorbed the martial arts influences of Hong Kong cinema.
[43]
The Matrix
, directed by
the Wachowskis
, was choreographed by martial arts director
Yuen Woo-Ping
. Martial arts stars like
Jackie Chan
and
Jet Li
left Hong Kong to star in American films, but occasionally returned to Hong Kong.
[44]
Notable actors
[
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]
Notes and references
[
edit
]
Citations
[
edit
]
- ^
Teo 2009, p. 6
- ^
Teo 2009, p. 5
- ^
Teo 2009, p. 5
- ^
Teo 2010, p. 104
- ^
Teo 2009, p. 58
- ^
Teo 2009, p. 59
- ^
Teo 2009, p. 59
- ^
Teo 2009, p. 58
- ^
Teo 2009, p. 60
- ^
Teo 2009, p. 70
- ^
Teo 2009, p. 60
- ^
Li 1996, p. 708
- ^
Teo 2009, p. 70
- ^
Teo 2009, p. 87
- ^
Teo 2009, p. 86
- ^
Szeto 2011, p. 26
- ^
Teo 2009, p. 78
- ^
Szeto 2011, p. 25
- ^
Szeto 2011, p. 25
- ^
Li 1996, p. 708
- ^
Teo 2009, p. 75
- ^
Li 1996, p. 708
- ^
Szeto 2011, p. 26
- ^
Teo 2009, p. 77
- ^
Szeto 2011, p. 27
- ^
Szeto 2011, p. 28
- ^
Li 1996, p. 708
- ^
Li 1996, pp. 708?709
- ^
Li 1996, p. 709
- ^
Li 1996, p. 709
- ^
Li 1996, p. 709
- ^
Szeto 2011, p. 28
- ^
Szeto 2011, p. 29
- ^
Li 1996, p. 709
- ^
Szeto 2011, p. 29
- ^
Szeto 2011, pp. 29?30
- ^
Li 1996, pp. 710?711
- ^
Teo 2010, p. 104
- ^
Teo 2010, p. 109
- ^
Klein 2010, p. 193
- ^
Klein 2010, pp. 193?194
- ^
Teo 2009, p. 77
- ^
Szeto 2011, p. 25
- ^
Teo 2009, p. 159
Bibliography
[
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]
External links
[
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]
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