The Chinese Martial Arts Film

Stereotypes are had to overcome. Women struggle in a man’s world, constantly trying to get respect and to be treated as an equal. Different cultures are being discriminated against because of how they look, talk, and are perceived as being stupid. Do they give up or fight? Could they ever be satisfied with who they are or will they let others define who they should be?

In late 2002 the Oscar nominated Chinese Wuxia film ‘Hero’ directed by Yimou Zhang hit cinemas all over China before spreading internationally over the next few years. Yimou Zhang presented this tale that presents the legendary reign of the Qin Emperor and a nameless hero played by Jet Li tasked to assassinate the emperor. Zhang is known for creating films that present the rich Chinese history. This film is no exception. The film presents the culture of China during the Qin Dynasty through many different components. The costume, setting and music present the time period perfectly. Yimou also uses colour as symbolism in the film to present major plot points. As well as symbolising a part of a scene, for instance pink for love during the sex scene and red later on as death. As shown throughout the film, two of the characters Broken Sword and Flying Snow are both dressed in red hanfu robes which are a rich component in the progression of

Perhaps, the powerful storyline of the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was what encouraged one of the greatest cinematic martial arts directors Ang Lee, to make a film out of the Chinese novel. In this film, Lee’s primary function is not only to portray skillfully choreographed fighting scenes, but also to connect powerful sequences of events that touches upon the emotional complex human condition that is associated with both the Taoist and Buddhist belief systems. By not allowing action to be the sole guiding force of the narrative of Crouching

Despite the fact that Asian Americans have been in Hollywood for decades, there are very few positive representations of them in film. More often than not, they’ve been depicted as stereotypical caricatures, and more specifically, as foreigners who can’t speak grammatically correct English. Moreover, the negative representations of Asian Americans in film has perpetuated certain misconceptions about their culture. Chan is Missing (1982) calls for more genuine representations of Asian American identities through its cast of complex characters and defiance of Asian stereotypes. The film also urges its viewers to critically think about their own notions of identity through the use of several recurring themes and filmmaking techniques.

Movies produced in the later half of the twentieth century still suffered from stereotypes set by films from years ago. In Year of the Dragon (1985), Tracy Tzu, despite being a professional newscaster, was also portrayed as seductive and mysterious, “manhandled and dominated by the Caucasian hero, Stanley White, as he overpowers her and carries her off to bed like a trophy” (Rajgopal, 2010, p. 149). These stereotypes of Asian women in film feed into the stereotypes of Asian women offscreen, and being perceived as exotic and submissive contributes to a higher risk of sexual assault, as if they are somehow “asking for it” (Rajgopal, 2010). The portrayal of Asians matched with the progression of history showed America was projecting its fear and othering Asians through media. If Asians are not portrayed in a stereotypical role, then they are given no role at all, rendered invisible by Hollywood and the masses. Because the West was not hugely exposed to the East, “the easiest way to generalize Eastern people was to build fictional characters of an extreme” (Wang, 2010, p. 86). Asians were not talked about, and when they were, it was through caricatures and

Kingston in The Woman Warrior is largely figuring out what it means for her to be a Chinese-American women by way of considering the lives of great Chinese women before her: her nameless aunt, her mother Brave Orchid, the warrior Fa Mu Lan, her aunt Moon Orchid, and Ts’ai Yen. This is a coming-of-age story and a memoir of girlhood. Issues involving motherhood, daughterhood, sisterhood, child-rearing, child-bearing, wifehood, and patriarchy are explored.

Asian and Latino women, are also ethnic minorities who are predominately portrayed in mainstream media as sexualized and or exotic (Brooks, 2006). Particularly in film, Asian women are frequently represented as passive characters, whose sole purpose is to be of service to men, especially White men. Asian American’s have been described as being the ‘model minority,’ and are often portrayed as nerdy or associated with technology (Mastro, 2015). Once more, the racial representations of Asian Americans influence audiences’ perceptions and can take misinformation about the group or culture as the truth (Brooks, 2006).

Development and adaptation of the western genre has occurred throughout the twentieth century in relation to the shift in context, this is still relevant. Stereotypes of a western genre and the context are determined by the time in which the film is being produced. The time in which they were produced determine how social construction, gender ideas, values and attitudes, the setting and SWAT codes are demonstrated. I have chosen to present this speech by looking at the film studied in class, and a film of my choice and how the difference in context has changed in the tie of these two films.

Maxine Kingston wrote The Woman Warrior: A Memoir of a Girlhood Amongst Ghosts as a non-fictional story that relates the common Chinese folktales (or “talk stories” as she calls them) she was familiar with from her youth combined with her own personal experiences as a Chinese-American. Each chapter is given to a separate woman who influenced Kingston’s life in a memorable way. The theme of silence and voice comes up frequently throughout the text, but is increasingly evident in the first page, as the novel opens up with the narrator speaking, “you must not tell anyone” (Kingston 1).

Although she has the typical Disney body type, she breaks the gender and cultural stereotypes. In the Chinese culture

In subsequent years following the establishment of the People’s Republic of China came a revolutionary new approach to not only producing films, but also film’s very role in communist society. During this period the state gained complete control of the filmmaking industry, decreeing that the utilitarian functions of art and literature were to become a powerful weapon in serving the revolutionary struggle. In an otherwise artistically stifling period in which socialist realism pervaded all creative outlets, Xie Jin managed to retain some autonomy and emerged as one of the cleverest Chinese directors in the early 1960s. In his 1961 film Red Detachment of Women, Jin provides a classic revolutionary melodrama, yet also displays elements of formalism so that the viewer becomes conscious of the manipulations of his film technique. To analyze this film, I will use Mao Zedong’s 1942 “Talks at the Yan 'an Forum on Literature and Art,” clip #10 “Landmark 2,” and clip #6 “We are joining the red army” to elaborate on the major themes and cinematic style that distinguish Xie Jin’s work from his contemporaries.

Ang Lee’s Crouching tiger Hidden Dragon is probably one of the most successful foreign films to ever be screened in America. Being the number one film of the year in 2000. On the other hand it was reportedly considered a flop in China. While it was influenced by American film styles, it still kept true to many aspects of its Chinese film heritage. With very apparent love story, it lacked the Extreme amount of Kung Fu fight scenes eastern audiences have come to enjoy. This is a stunning love story between a monk and widow. While it does have its share of over the top fight scenes, when you start to dig deeper the films many social implications become apparent. With ties to subjects such as religion, martial arts, philosophy, love, and even gender issues. This film is a representation of the modern era and how long practiced traditions are being challenged. Each character and plot line allows a glimpse into the Social and Traditional understanding of a culture.

The Mai Jing is also known as Pulse Classic, this text is one the most historical surviving books on pulse examination. Sometime in the second century A.D in the late Han Dynasty Pulse Classic it was written by Wang Shu-He (Shu-he, 1997). The information from this book was a compilation of 10 chapters with discussion of 24 different patterns of pulse diagnoses.” Wang Shu-He was once the chief doctor of the royal family’s private medical center”, also it was said “he was an expert in every branch of Chinese medicine, acupuncture, and Chinese literature” (Shu-he, 1997). In the Tang and Song Dynasties the Mai Jing was a course that was mandatory in the curriculum at the Imperial Medical Academy (Shu-he, 1997). As the years went by this book gradually

How is gender and gender roles socially constructed? Soulliere states that gender is a cultural creation that is frequently developed by and represented through popular cultural media such as advertisements, music, sports, and entertainment television (Soulliere 2006). The article “Wrestling with Masculinity: Messages about Manhood in the WWE” by Danielle M. Soulliere (2006), examines messages about manhood revealed by televised professional wrestling (Soulliere 1). Messages concerning masculinity and manhood were investigated and compared to the cultural version of masculinity (Soulliere 2006). Soulliere’s research proves that the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) depicts messages, which supports the dominant hegemonic form of masculinity (Soulliere 2006). To further grasp and understand Soulliere’s hypothesis, we must first examine her research methods and outcomes.

There are many existing literatures on women and weightlifting. This research will be focusing on how hegemonic masculinity has set ideas of gender roles and how these women challenge the social discourse that they face being a muscular or look ‘manly’.