Category Archives: paper

Individual Pop-osition

BRUCE LEE REPRESENTED A CHARACTER AGAINST IMPERIALISM AND REPRESENTED CHINESE CITIZENS, INCITING OTHERS TO TAKE ACTION

In the book, the chapters talked about specifically Bruce Lee and the movies he starred in and how they represented a struggle that is personal to Lee. It’s revealed in the reading that Lee’s childhood was spent partly spent during the occupation of Hong Kong by Japanese forces during World War II. Having witnessed the brutal tortures and conditions the Chinese citizens faced under Imperial Japan’s control, Lee developed somewhat an anti-Imperial Japanese stance when it came to his movies.

For example, in Fist of Fury the main antagonist is the teacher of a Japanese dojo named Suzuki, whose students insulted Lee’s character, Chen Zhen, and his deceased master. Wanting to prove that Chinese people were not “sick Asians”, Zhen goes to their dojo and defeats every student there. Distraught, Suzuki sends his students to attack Zhen’s school. After witnessing the aftermath of his fellow students defeated, Zhen confronts Suzuki and defeats him in one-on-one combat.

The imagery here is focusing on the movement of Imperialism and the forces under it. Here Zhen represents the Chinese citizen, being called out as “less” than the Japanese. Lee tries to prove they can just be as equal when he confronts them at their own turf, taking them down all alone. Suzuki, the teacher of the dojo, represents Japanese Imperialism since he is trying to establish a form of superiority by keeping the students of the Chinese dojo down. This alludes to the occupation of the Japanese on Chinese citizens during World War II.

Another example of confronting Imperialism is in his other movie Way of the Dragon, in which Lee fights a Caucasian martial artist played by Chuck Norris at the end. Lee admits that his small physique is not quite as strong as Norris’ character, but he reassures Norris by saying that “speed and flexibility” can overcome strength. This can be seen as a representation for the Chinese citizen being able to survive what comes their way, whether it be occupational forces or opposition in a new nation, the Chinese have been through the rough and made it, regardless of how powerful their oppositions were. Chuck Norris’ character also symbolizes a Western form of Imperialism, specifically the thought of America conquering culture and land alike.

Bruce Lee’s fillms inspired many Asians, specifically Chinese, to start speaking up in important matters rather than being passive. For example, during a martial arts tournament in Japan, the champion was a Japanese kick boxer who defeated all the challengers from Thailand and claimed “kick boxing” was a Japanese martial arts . Many college students in Thailand thought this couldn’t believe this because kickboxing, or Muay Thai, is a marital arts they created, not the Japanese. In response, the students called foul and thought the fights were fixed, while the same time they urged the Japanese to admit “kick boxing” isn’t really a style made in Japan. Like in the Slanted Screen, these movies gave Asian men the confidence to be proud being Asian. This confidence thus allowed Asians and Asian Americans to voice out their own opinions and matters, instead of letting it slowly fade away without so much as a thought.

Kato

          Bruce Lee’s low-key political statements throughout his career were genius. You would not know that his anti-imperialistic, anti-globalization politics were present in kung-fu films unless …

Poposition 4

I was not there on Tuesday to talk about these pop-ositions, but I can agree and support the popositions that group 4 has presented.

Music Video’s and Readings

Watching music videos and connecting it to the “Cibo Matto” chapter made me think about a lot of music artists. The Black Eyed Peas represent the “power 4″ of races with Asian, Mexican, African, and European. Relating it back to the chapter, Cibo Matto was seen as “kawaii” or “cute” when in reality, that is not what they wanted. So yes, their first album was about food mostly because their english was limited; however, their songs evolved into more meaningful things about government and their social standing. Other music artists like Black Eyed Peas, Blue Scholars, and Kanye West are seen as like “pop” or catchy artists, but their songs hold a lot of hidden struggles. For instance, Black Eyed Peas “Where is the love?” or Kanye West’s “New Slaves” songs represent the struggles of living in todays society. Overall, the chapters we talked about on Thursday covered the idea of what society from these artists compared to how these artists want society to see them.

“Pop-osition” Blog; Bruce Lee in Kato

Pop-osition (Group 3): BRUCE LEE REPRESENTED A CHARACTER AGAINST IMPERIALISM AND REPRESENTING CHINESE CITIZENS, INCITING OTHERS TO TAKE ACTION

Bruce Lee was, and arguably still is today, a phenomenon because he broke stereotypes, and brought something completely new to the table. How did Bruce break these stereotypes? He did this by refusing to play stereotypical roles, accepting roles that were a metaphor for being against Japanese imperialism in China, being in control over fight scenes and weapons used in films, and applying his own personal philosophy to his acting roles/characters.

Roles against Japanese imperialism in China: Special emphasis on Fist of Fury- represents anti-imperialism, and The Way of the Dragon- represents contemporary Asia under Japanese and American neo-imperial hegemony, and kung fu revolution.

“The triangular image complex- bu, judo, and katana deployed in Fist of Fury thus captures the fundamental aspects of the culture of Japanese imperialism with sobering accuracy from the viewpoint of Chinese and Asian people in general” p. 38

Control over fight scenes and weapons used in films:

“Consistent with his pedagogic activities in the field of martial arts, Lee also demonstrated various forms of kung fu from diverse schools, such as Praying Mantis and White Crane, on the screen. His demonstration also included what appeared to be quite eccentric movements to unfamiliar eyes, the theatrical movements of the warrior and scholar figures of the Cantonese opera” p.  9-10.

Katana vs. nunchaku in Fist of Fury. Lee chose to use the nunchaku weapon in the film Fist of Fury.

“According to Linda Lee, Bruce Lee had done research on various weapons for his choreography: “His library contained many books about weapons, both ancient and modern, Oriental and Western, and he saw the nunchaku as historically justified….” In persing history of nunchaku, one would ineluctably come into contact with the history of Okinawa, or Ryuku.  Two aspects of the history of Ryuku have particular elevance to the formation of its martial arts, tou-di, and to the development of nunchaku as a weapon of self-defense. One is the history of cultural exchange between China and Okinawa, fostered through their tributary relationship, and the other is their shared history of colonial conquest by Japan.” p. 41-42

Personal philosophy:

“The pursuit of freedom in action—expressed through the mind and body in their totality- thus became the paramount agenda of Lee’s artistic expression” p. 49

“…Lee’s philosophical system, which views combative art as a means to realize selfhood.  The ultimate combat, therefore, is with one’s ego or institutionalized selfhood” p. 58

“…Watch, but don’t stop and interpret, “I am free” then you’re living in a memory of something that has gone. To understand and live now, everything of yesterday must die” p. 60

 

 

 

Week 6, Tuesday. Pop-ositions and Kato readings, Chpts 1&2.

Poposition:  The use of vernacular in pop culture by means globalization by turning certain words into buzz words,.  Examples; merci, voila, skosh/sukoshi, sayonara, and various tattoos (such as kanji on those who do not know kanji).

I’m choosing this one of our our four pop-ositions because it was influenced by a chapter I wrote a previous blog entry on, so instead of focusing on that again I chose to focus on the vernacular of this book and how the book takes the subject of pop culture (which some might argue as lacking substance) and place it into the academic realm (which has a high level of importance placed onto it).

First,  the language of this book, as discussed in class, is heavy with culture theory words. Occasionally, some of these words are turned around  be seen as negative or condescending. For instance, how “privilege” has become a word around Evergreen that some use to make fun of how “PC” people are. On the other side of this, however, is that the book’s “vernacular” in other realms, such as blogs, creates a barrier between those who are only venturing into the blog to “troll” (internet language) and who will be deterred by the language. Of course, this backfires, as it also lowers its accessibility to those could highly benefit from the material. This somewhat mirrors the way that vernacular among people of color also keeps them safe because it allows them a voice that is their own an which creates barriers that keep others out. However, as mentioned in the proposition, those words can be caught ono as a catch phrases or buzz words and then appropriated or misused.

A common theme throughout the first 2 chapters of Kato’s From Kung Fu to Hip Hop was the wide-spread student riots that were taking place, something that combined both youth culture vernacular and academic speak. This sort of cross between cultures allowed students to speak for the families and cultures they were from (such as the Chican@ movement or the Black Power movement) while creating a new vernacular that was deemed “safe” because it was within the “intelligent” community. It also created a bridge; if you’re coming from one side, the bridge becomes accessibility by using vernacular into political academia while the other side leads into representation of themselves. To have a pop culture representative was another way in which youth and entertainment culture merged with activism in a way that was accessible (and subconscious through representation) an another instance as to why Lee was so beneficial to the social revolution of the 1960s and 1970s.

 

– “Pop-osition” from Kato

In my group, we concluded the pop-osition from Kato that “the Kung Fu cultural revolution ignited transnational resistance against Japanese cultural imperialism.”

Before I read this book, I didn’t care the difference between Kung Fu and karate. However, reading this passage; “The base of tou-di was formed through the cultural exchange between China and Okinawa, since they entered a tributary relationship in the fourteenth century” (Kato, p20), I knew that karate was from Kung Fu originally. Although now they are recognized as different kinds, they used to be from the same. I suppose that because of globalization, Kung Fu became to know as karate in Japan and then they became one of popular cultures in the world. So, in my opinion, the relationship between globalization and popular culture is ordinary relationship. In this book, the author said that there was resistance between Japan and China as karate became popular in China. Because of globalization, popular culture would exist all over the world. It’s sad that popular cultures from globalization like Kung Fu and karate won’t always bring happiness, but I’m sure that these popular cultures’ problem are be able to resolve with researching their connections and backgrounds.