Chinese martial arts films

Film is generally regarded as a universal medium of entertainment. This is true so far as it goes; however, films are in a very important sense, culture-specific as well. One aspect of this connection between cinema and culture is the way how certain genres have come to be identified with particular countries and cultures. For example, Westerns are a characteristically American form. The work of John Ford and others served to popularize this genre. Although, later, other culture began to make Westerns, it is indubitably a genre that bears the unmistakable stamp of American culture. The romantic musical fantasies, that are generally referred to as Bollywood films, bear the distinct flavor of Indian culture. Similarly martial arts films constitute a genre that is closely associated with Chinese culture.

In recent times, Hollywood filmmakers such as Quentin Tarantino have been moved to make films based drawing on the genre of martial arts films. Moreover, action filmmakers like John Woo of Hong Kong made use of certain codes, conventions and choreography of violence associated with martial arts films. These have shared the vocabulary of action films in general. As a result, Chinese martial arts films have begun to attract the attention of film scholars .In recent times, martial arts films such as Ang Lee's 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon', Zhang Yimou's 'Hero' have generated worldwide interest.

Most film-goers associate martial arts films with Hong Kong cinema. As with any film genre, one can discern different sub-categories under the general rubric. In the case of martial arts films, there are films devoted to sword fighting, hand to hand combat, comedies, techno- fantasies and so on. It is evident that martial arts films have evolved during the past nine decades responding to newer challenges and creatively assimilating newer influences. They also have evolved into sites that reconfigure commercial imperatives, he national imaginary and the dynamics of transnational cinema.

The martial arts film is a distinct film genre in the way that Westerns, musicals, film noir, and horror films are individual genres. The martial arts films are vitally connected to the deepest wellsprings of Chinese culture. Originally the tem kung fu, which signifies a very important aspect of martial arts films, designated not a type of martial arts but the undertaking and successful completion of daunting tasks. It focused on the disciplining of the body and mental restraint. According to legend, the Indian Bodhidharma who was instrumental in propagating Buddhism in East Asia came to the famous Shaolin monastery. It is here - a monastery famous for the translation into Chinese of Buddhist scriptures - that martial arts took root; what this legend indexes is the deep religious and cultural roots of this art form

As far as cinema is concerned, china began to produce martial arts films in the 1920s. at first, these films engendered a great deal of enthusiasm among movie-goers, ushering in a new sense of excitement. This new art form, for a short period of time, dominated Chinese cinema. in the initial stages, understandably enough, martial arts films were deeply inflected by the aesthetic codes and conventions governing stage plays. However, this new found enthusiasm began to evaporate quickly. The sentiment gained ground that these films were instrumental in promoting a retrogressive glorification of feudal values as opposed to those tied to social advancement.

While martial arts films lost their luster on the mainland, they began to proliferate with great gusto in Hong Kong. Martial arts films were invested with a new vibrancy and sense of purpose in the late 1069s and 1970s, the work of king Hu, Zhang Che playing a central role. King Hu's 'A Touch of Zen' which won a prestigious award at the Cannes film festival displayed strengths and the poetic possibilities of this genre. In the 1070s, Bruce Lee, who is widely known in the west, gave an added impetus to martial arts films by invigorating them with a transnational appeal. He sought to make martial arts films that held a relevance to modern society by infusing them with facets of modernity even as he chose to underline the centrality of patriotism and Chinese uniqueness.

The emergence of Jackie Chan arks the next stage in the development of Hong Kong martial arts movies. He succeeded Bruce Lee who died in 1973 at a comparatively young age. Chan was able to introduce a note of comedy into martial arts films that was largely absent in earlier work. This self-deprecating humor had a great appeal to cinema audiences. Films such as drunken master and snake in the eagle shadows display his signature cinematic traits.

Today martial arts films have assumed the shape of a worldwide phenomenon, kindling an interest among film-goers in America, Europe, Asia and Latin America. There are martial arts film clubs in different locations such as south India, United States, East Africa. A significant fact associated with the influence of martial arts films is that they have begun to inflect the vocabulary of action films the world over. The more recent spectacular successes of Ang Lee's crouching tiger, hidden dragon, and Zhang Yimou's hero testify to the international appeal. Interestingly the dynamics of martial arts films are now being assimilated by Hollywood filmmakers, and works such as the Matrix, Tomb raider and Charlie's Angel reinforce this fact. The well-known director Quentin Tarantino played a major role in gaining western visibility for Hong Kong martial arts and action films, and his works like kill bill I and ii serve to illustrate this.

There are several important turning points in the forward movement of martial arts films in Hong Kong in the 1990s. The swordsman series produced by Tsui Hark is one such point. The making of once upon a time in china series by Tsui hark can be considered another. 'Once Upon a Time in China' is a beautifully made film that combines imaginatively the resources of the martial arts genre and new technological developments in cinematography to reconfigure issues of imperialism, colonialism, modernity and nationhood and the inherent complexities associated with nation-building. The third significant turning point is the release of Wong Kar- wai's anti-martial arts film ashes of time, which I will discuss later. This is indeed a film that has received much scholarly attention. I have myself written an entire book on this film, which was published by Hong Kong university press, 'Ashes of Time' is a martial arts film with a difference.

The director has exploited the codes, conventions, representational strategies, the markers associated with the genre and its authority to undercut it and unsettle it from within .the protagonist of the film is Ouyang Feng, and he is very different from the normal run of martial arts heroes. In a normal martial arts film, the protagonist is heroic ad has the interests of his community at heart. He is motivated by lofty goals and is unafraid to fight social injustices whatever the costs may be. The hero of 'Ashes of Time', on the other had, is a death-broker; he has no noble aims other than making money; it is apparent that he is guided solely by crass self-interest. He has no heroic ambitions and sees heroic acts as meaningless. Clearly, then, in terms of the protagonist and his ambitions, 'Ashes of Time' is a different kind of martial arts film.

There are other points of dissimilarity between martial arts film in general and Wong Kar-wi's work. In most martial arts films, time is filled with heroic and noble action; acting which is palpably daring and it is projected in stylized registers. Indeed, the heroic deed is the narrative anchor of these films. Action is time, time is action. The protagonists seek to define themselves in relation to action and spend their time pursuing their destinies through action. In the case of ashes of time, the contrary is true; Ouyang and the other characters spend their time waiting for action; much of the film's length is made up of waiting. In the vat majority of martial arts films, there is a vital interplay between space and time - physical space becomes a site for action through time. On the other hand, in ashes of time, there is a different understanding of space an time. Both signify the dead weight of time and inaction.

The idea of community constitutes another point of dissimilarity between 'Ashes of Time' and other martial arts films. The obvious heroism that pervades martial arts film protagonists arise from, and is significantly linked to the idea of community - the idea of a group of people inhabiting a common space and sharing common values, life styles and traditions. These heroes, for the most part, incarnate the privileged values that forge unifying bonds in the collectivity. The heroes of ashes of time represent the antithesis of this phenomenon. They are unhinged from the community, and each has resolved to pursue his own private goals and destinies.

Martial arts films, for the most part, operate at the level of a morality play which stages an unambiguous clash between the forces of good and evil, the protagonist almost always emblematizing the good. In Wong Kar-wai's film, on the contrary, there are no noble protagonists as traditionally understood; all of them are represented as highly vulnerable creatures who are victims of past errors of judgments and miscalculations. Wong is too thoughtful a film director to submit to such an easy duality. In addition the radical disjunction he establishes between word and image, narrative and spectacle, action and reaction compound matters further.