John Woo: from Hong Kong to Hollywood, the Killer and Face/Off

In his book, More Than a Movie: Ethics in Entertainment, F. Miguel Valenti examines nine “hot buttons” of violence – “creative elements that filmmakers use to manipulate viewers’ reactions to onscreen violence.” (99) These elements, posited by researchers conducting The National Television Violence Study (Valenti, 99) are “choice of perpetrator, choice of victim, presence of consequences, rewards and punishments, the reason for the violence, weapons, realism, use of humor, and prolonged exposure” (Valenti, 100) .

 The film looks at masculinity through numerous stereotypes involving athleticism, careers, crime, medias, intimacy, and bullying. Newsom effectively delivers her message through interviewing a variety of people. Not only through professionals like psychologists, pediatricians, educators, sociologists, political scientist, psychiatrists, athletes, actors, and writers. But also through community

The perception of masculinity within Australian films is a reflection of our society’s views and opinions of what it is to be considered masculine. It is continually reinforced in our society by the constructions of the male character in movies, just like Archie and Frank, in Gallipoli and particular male figures within our nation’s history, such as Ned Kelly. Peter Weir’s reflection of masculinity through the use of his two main characters Archie and Frank, in his 1981 film Gallipoli, helped to perpetuate this construction of the Aussie male stereotype

This is a man’s movie all the way to the core. Look at Wyatt Earp; he was a MAN if you know what I mean. I definitely think that is why I enjoyed the movie so much myself. It just gives you a glimpse of what it means to manly and tough. We have it easy these days in not having to battle for our own dignity whenever someone calls you out. I forgot how good this film is seeing how that is had been a long time since the last time I watched it, but I had never observed in the way I did to complete this paper. This process has given me a new appreciation for the little things I enjoy subconsciously in movies, but never have the opportunity to really express in words. I would recommend this film to anyone who has not seen it yet in a heart

Nevertheless, Asian-American stars are recognized extremely played prototypical roles offered to them – model minority, sexualized the female or masculine women. There is much argument within the Asian American community whether to consider Liu as a protagonist or a hateful. In playing highlighting sexuality roles such as Ling Woo on Ally McBeal, a role who is a ‘self-described “tramp” … simultaneously addicted to casual sex and uses sex to have her way with men’ (Goldsea.com 2008). Is she bolstering the sexploitation of Asian females, or is she an Asian image who plays her strong points? Moreover, there are already some problems in the critical writing as to whether Liu is to be considered an action star or an actor. Some argues that, in Charlie’s Angels

    In society today, masculinity is seen as never crying or feeling pain. Emotionless zombies who show no sympathy and have no care in the world are the manliest of them all. Media portrays masculinity in his skewed way. Fight Club is known for its extreme display of the masculine identity. Conformed middle aged men break out of their shells by fighting their peers and proving themselves worthy of

The movie surveyed a wide array of the troubles faced by boys and men as they try to navigate the realm of masculinity. A common theme was the command “be a man” and the cultural baggage that comes with living up to that ideal. To “be a man” means to not cry, to not be sensitive, to not let people mess with you, to respond with violence, to be angry, to drink, to womanize.

When a man fails to live up to other’s expectations of being a “real man,” he is diminished and criticized for being a “woman.” Thus, starting at young ages, boys are fall into the misleading idea that respect is acquired by force. In fact, younger boys look up to men who display uncontrollable rage because these men evoke fear to those around them. Boys are taught that fear is equivalent to respect, and society’s perception of belligerent men only fuels their drive for violence. The phenomenon of posing - creating a false depiction of what men are truly feeling - showcases that this widespread performance of masculinity does not just stem from the media. The explanation of this projection of masculinity is oversimplified, and identified as cause and effect relationships between imitative violent acts from video games and movies. However, the actual truth is that the problem does not only lie in these few few places. It is everywhere, embedded deeply in

The issue at the heart of the David Fincher film, Fight Club, is not that of man’s rebellion against a society of “men raised by women”. This is a film that outwardly exhibits itself as promoting the resurrection of the ‘ultra-male’, surreptitiously holding women accountable for the decay of manhood. However, the underlying truth of the film is not of resisting the force of destruction that is ‘woman’, or of resisting the corruption of manhood at her hand, but of penetrating the apathy needed to survive in an environment ruled by commercial desire, not need. In reality, Fight Club is a careful examination, through parody, of what it means to be a man; carefully examining the role of women in a society busy rushing towards sexual

In The Killer, there are two ways that Woo expresses gloomy and painful male, one has mentioned in previous content, which is physical pain that audience can directly feel it, for example, Sydney beaten by Weng and Weng's gangsters. Another is inner pain which focusing on emotion sadness. For instance, Lee is a dedicated police and he recognised hidden criminal on a bus, so Lee killed that criminal decidedly when a woman catches as a hostage. However, that hostage dead for shock and Lee complained by hostage’s families and investigate for criminal responsibility because he didn’t warning hostage before he shot and that hostage has heart disease. It is unconscionable because he knows the criminal has homicidal tendencies, and the hostage may

I would like to state the importance of an actor performance and mise-en-scene of the male hero to portray the representation of masculinity in this film. Connells (1995) addresses that Bruce Wayne’s character is the definition of the hegemonic representation of masculinity which embraces and exploits the over exaggerated standards of masculinity of them being serious, unnaturally strong, wealthy and cool. His facial expressions also help contribute to this

Chinese constructions of Masculinity have been redefined accordingly to the political events. The concept of ‘wen-wu’, currently serves as an overarching pillar of what is currently expected of men in Modern China. By placing less emphasis on the ‘Wu’ and more on the ‘Wen’ we can see these concepts incorporated and adapted to the modern perception of masculinity through the leadership and teachings of Mao Ze Dong, during the Cultural Revolution. At the same time, more popular representation of Chinese masculinity, accommodating the lens of westerners, is the ability to excel in martial arts which is popularly portrayed by Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee. The roles they play, interrelates by exceling both in the physical aspect, ‘wu’ and their philosophical intellect of ‘wen’. Since the cultural revolution, China places emphasis on the ‘Wen’, immediately becoming the ideal construction of men, as they are more aware of their values and how they are presented to the world. Unlike Ancient China, where the ideal man was a warrior, Chinese entrepreneurs, male of high intellect who is conscious of the Chinese way of living and has strong desire to lead the world’s economy, serves as the modern definition of masculinity. Despite this expectation, although China continues to grow their military and economic power, the

How does John Woo produce remasculinisation of male hero by combine traditional Chinese value of true man and western technique of expression in The Killer? 'Doing' genre that Woo used in The Killer also accord with wu, which is one of binary features of traditional Chinese masculinity. Wu represent moral principle of Chinese hero, and one major element of wu is loyalty (Louie, 2009, p.10). In The Killer, the scene from 87'' to 92'' shows how Sydney loyal to Jeff by keep his promise to get Jeff's money back from Weng. In this scene, director used montage editing style to combine Jeff's idea of true friend and Sydney's action in order to complete Sydney's masculinity in terms of loyalty. For example, Sydney required Jeff's money after he walked

Masculinity, a seemingly simple concept. Yet, when examined more closely, it is clear that masculinity is constantly changing in its definition as well as in its most basic essence. Throughout the years, one can see this evolution firsthand by looking back at the men who have been portrayed in popular media in the United States of America. From the suave Don Draper types of the 1950s to the more casual, educated, and easygoing men- with perfectly chiseled abs, of course- that are portrayed in media today, the difference is clear. This drastic, yet unsurprising, shift in ideals, as well as the exponential increase of media consumed every day, has led to a change in how “masculinity” is perceived, as well as how it is enforced by society in the modern day. Alarmingly, this trend has led to the birth of so-called “toxic masculinity”, a bastardization of the original ideas behind masculinity which has created an enormous, detrimental effect on society as a whole. As defined in the article The Difference Between Toxic Masculinity and Being a Man, toxic masculinity is “manhood as defined by violence, sex, status, and aggression. It’s the cultural ideal of manliness, where strength is everything… where sex and brutality are yardsticks by which men are measured,” (O’Malley) This is a clearly displayed truth, and it’s astounding to see how even from a young age boys are taught not to show emotions other than anger, conditioned to believe that being “like a girl” is the worst possible

David Fincher’s Fight Club, 1999, contains strong themes of masculinity and enforced gender roles. It is subjective, however, whether or not the gender narrative within the film complies with modern feminist values, or serves as nothing more than masculine empowerment. The two critical texts I have chosen to study are Masculinity in Crisis and Private Satisfactions and Public Disorders: Fight Club, Patriarchy, and the Politics of Masculine Violence, both of which analyse Fight Club through a feminist lens. My first critical text views the film as a feminist statement on the toxicity of masculine violence, while my second text finds more faults with the gender roles in the film.