A bloody and tearful history of Chinese immigrants.
When it comes to the most legendary Chinese Kung Fu movie star in the world, Bruce Lee does his part. As the so-called "always imitated, never surpassed", this is the most appropriate evaluation of Bruce Lee.
July 20 this year is the 46th anniversary of Bruce Lee's death. If he lived to this day, Bruce Lee would be 79 years old. Although the hero has passed away, Bruce Lee's heroic image has traveled through time and stayed in the film forever. Not only the Chinese people have not forgotten him, but even the foreigners have never forgotten him.
【Bruce Lee】
Over the years, in order to express their admiration for Bruce Lee, foreigners have turned "Bruce Bruce" into various film and television dramas, many of which are large production companies, such as the famous Marvel Comics. Last year, Marvel created the first Chinese superhero Shang-Chi with Bruce Lee as the prototype. At present, the film is in hot preparations, which is highly anticipated.
[Marvel's first Chinese hero gets angry]
This year, HBO, which has produced popular American dramas such as "The Sopranos", "Game of Thrones", and "Westworld", also made great efforts to launch an American drama "Warrior" related to Bruce Lee. Elements such as "fighting", "racism", and "yellow storm" have sparked heated discussions-long fans who haven't watched this American drama should pay attention, this drama has already been released, and if you want to appreciate Bruce Lee's style again, you might as well take a look at this drama.
【American drama "Warrior"】
Let's take a look at this drama in its entirety.
(1) Creative source: Bruce Lee's posthumous works reflecting the life of Chinese laborers
As we all know, Bruce Lee is not only great in kung fu, but also talented. In addition to the four semi-famous works of "Tangshan Brother", "Jingwumen", "Dragon Crossing the River", "Dragon Fighting Tiger Fight" and "Death Game", he also I personally researched and wrote some script projects, but unfortunately they were not completed due to my death. For example, the martial arts film "Xi Feng" is still in the script writing stage.
[Bruce Bruce's "Fine Phoenix" makeup photo]
Bruce Lee was very attentive in creating the script. Take "Xi Feng" as an example. There are many Bruce Lee's worldview and martial arts insights in the script. In order to make this play well, Bruce Lee drew a lot of sketches about the play in his notes, and took pictures of his makeup. Unfortunately, the filming was not started due to Bruce Lee's sudden death, which became a permanent regret in the hearts of dragon fans.
[Bruce Bruce's "Fine Phoenix" makeup photo]
"Warrior" and "Xifeng" are also Bruce Lee's unfinished script projects. It is said that Bruce Lee voted this script outline to Warner Bros., but the other party because the protagonist of this play is a Chinese and involves exposing the ugliness of American politics. He refused Bruce Lee's request due to sensitive factors. But they never thought that the name "Bruce Bruce" would be resounding internationally in just a few years, becoming a Chinese superstar respected by the world.
[Photos of Bruce Lee during his Hollywood audition]
After many years, Bruce Lee's daughter, Li Xiangning, stumbled upon this unfinished script while sorting out her father's belongings. The original name of the script was "One Bamboo Destined Gold Mountain". Bruce Lee kept only eight pages of manuscripts. In order to satisfy his father's last wish, Li Xiangning quickly contacted the production company, Cinemax, a pay TV station under HBO, hoping to enrich the script and complete the shooting.
[Bruce Lee's daughter Li Xiangning]
Due to the worship of Bruce Lee and the commercial value contained in the script, Cinemax immediately decided to take over the project and invited the famous Hollywood producer, Justin Lin, the Chinese director of "Fast and Furious 5", as the producer, Li Xiangning. He personally served as executive producer and consultant, and jointly created this American drama that reflects the experience of working in the United States.
【Chinese director Justin Lin】
This is also the first time that HBO has launched a Bruce Lee work. How to integrate HBO style with Bruce Lee elements has become a point of curiosity and expectation among dragon fans.
(2) Motivation for creation: biography for Chinese laborers who are struggling to survive
Looking at each of Bruce Lee's films, it contains Bruce Lee's worldview and values of longing for peace and opposing oppression, and "Warrior" is no exception. Like "Jingwumen", "Warrior" reflects Bruce Lee's strong spirit of opposing racial discrimination, but this time, Bruce Lee shifted his focus to the overseas Chinese groups who struggled to survive in America's Chinatown in the 19th century. Personal experience is inseparable.
[Chinese who struggled to survive in America's Chinatown in the 19th century]
In 1959, Bruce Lee, who was outspoken and skilled in martial arts, was sent to study in Seattle, USA for offending Hong Kong gangsters. However, the American society at that time was not friendly to Chinese people. Bruce Lee suffered all kinds of unfair treatment and cold eyes because of his black hair and yellow skin. This made Bruce Lee, who has a strong self-esteem, deeply dissatisfied.
[Bruce Bruce during his studies in the United States]
Not only in reality, but the United States also deliberately vilifies the image of Chinese people in film and television dramas. In the same year that Bruce Lee came to Seattle, NBC broadcast a TV series called "Bernanza's Cowboy", which involved a Chinese. Character - Chinese immigrant HopSing, the makeup team designed him to be a thin, braided, wretched image of the farmer.
There is also the well-known image of the Chinese monster "Fu Manchu" created by the British novelist Sax Romer, which was widely circulated in the Western world at that time.
[Fu Manchu, a Chinese monster created by a British novelist]
There are many historical reasons why Americans treat Chinese people as inferior.
The first event: the gold rush of the 19th century. At that time, the Westernization Movement was booming in China, but because of the corruption of the Qing court, it was unable to restore the country's declining power. In addition, three years of drought left the farmland with no crops, and the people were struggling to survive. On the other side of the ocean, there were many gold mines in San Francisco, which attracted Chinese people. They came here to pan for gold and settle down. This is also the first batch of Chinese immigrating to the United States.
The second event was the construction of the Pacific Railroad and the promulgation of the Chinese Exclusion Act. This is about the bloody history of Chinese workers immigrating to the United States.
As early as 1863, the construction of the Pacific Railway through the United States began. Due to the shortage of manpower, black-hearted businessmen aimed at the cheap Chinese labor market in China.
[China had a lot of cheap labor at that time]
At that time, not long after the Second Opium War broke out in China, many poor peasants embarked on a merchant ship to the United States to escape the war and support their families, and came to repair the railway to make a living. Unexpectedly, they embarked on a road of blood and tears.
【Chinese workers and white workers】
The treatment of Chinese workers was no better than that of black slaves. Many Chinese workers were trapped like slaves on the transporting merchant ships. After signing the contract, not only did he not have enough food and clothing, but he also engaged in the most arduous manual labor. He built the Pacific Railway next to the cliff, and accidentally fell into the abyss. According to statistics, there were 12,000 Chinese workers repairing the railway, and as many as 4,000 lost their precious lives.
【Scene of Chinese workers at work】
Thanks to the efforts of Chinese workers, the railway, which was expected to take 14 years to complete, was completed in just 7 years. Although Chinese workers have made great contributions to the United States, the American economy began to decline after the completion of the railway, which was blamed on the fact that there were too many Chinese immigrants, so that a strong anti-Chinese sentiment was aroused, and later a "discrimination against Chinese" was issued. The Chinese Exclusion Act, which restricts the entry of Chinese, is also the only racial-specific immigration law written into law in the United States. The law was not officially repealed until 2012, with an apology to our country.
【Chinese Exclusion Act】
At the beginning, a large part of these Chinese immigrants stayed in San Francisco (today's San Francisco), and formed a Chinatown (Chinatown) with Chinese characteristics through settlement. Due to the lack of legal supervision at the time, Chinatown was full of gangs and disordered, and the show "Warrior" took place in San Francisco at that time, in 1878.
(3) Plot: Genius Chinese fight against injustice and fight with their fists
The following is a brief introduction to the plot of "Warrior". "Warrior" tells the story of a mysterious Chinese martial arts expert, Ah Sahm (Ashan), who came to San Francisco in order to find his biological sister (Xiao Jing), because he would have good fists and feet, and was unfortunately involved in the bloody wind of gang fights in Chinatown. At the same time, I also experienced all kinds of unfair treatment of Chinese in the United States.
【Ashan comes to San Francisco】
The American TV series more carefully restored the chaotic situation of the confrontation between the three major classes in San Francisco at that time:
The first class is: white chaebols and dignitaries. They hold power and capital, collude with each other, fish the common people, make a fortune by opening factories, hire cheap coolies, and use the reactionary sentiments of the bottom whites against Chinese workers to maintain their rule subtly.
[Tier 1: White chaebols and politicians]
The second class is: white citizens (bottom whites). They are recognized by the state and have all the rights of legal citizens, but in fact they are also exploited by white chaebols and dignitaries.
[Second Class: White Citizens]
The third class is: Chinese coolies. Their lives are the most worthless, with low salaries, doing the dirtiest and most tiring jobs, without any dignity, and being abused by white people at any time.
[Third tier: Chinese coolies]
Their lives are like a must. Because of the competition, the white workers who are swept away by anger often slaughter Chinese coolies in the middle of the night.
【White people slaughter Chinese coolies】
Despite this, the white police turned a blind eye. In their eyes, the lives of the Chinese coolies were worthless, and when necessary, they would blame all the guilt on the Chinese coolies.
In this chaotic social situation, many gangs and brothels have emerged in Chinatown, and there are hidden transactions of drugs, firearms and gunpowder. A Shan, who had left his hometown, was unfortunately involved in this world of the weak, and it was precisely because of this that A Shan was able to use his fists and become a Bruce Lee-style hero.
[Chinatown is full of gangsters, brothels and hidden drug and gunpowder transactions]
At the beginning of the American drama, Ah Shan offered his help because he was dissatisfied with the humiliation of his compatriots by the white patrol officers.
【Bruce Bruce Flying Kick】
Due to his eye-catching performance, Ah Shan was sold to the gang by a cunning Chinese gangster and became a gangster's younger brother, which was regarded as finding a "job" in Chinatown to make a living.
【Ashan joins the local gang】
Next, Ah Shan, who has a chivalrous heart and a good kung fu, saw the cruelty and ugliness of the city step by step. The kung fu that could have been self-defense has also made him the target of public criticism many times.
【A Shan who likes to fight against injustice】
Because he couldn't stand white people humiliating Chinese workers, Ah Shan took action. As a result, he was arrested by the white police and imprisoned. He was also framed as the murderer of the murder case. Ah Shan was tortured in prison, but the Chinese gang he worked for did not want to go to this stall. muddy water.
[A Shan was tortured in prison]
In short, in this city where power, violence, money, and sex are intertwined, people have already lost their conscience in order to survive. Even the sister Xiaojing, whom Ah Shan is looking for, has also changed her innocent nature in the gang battle.
[Ashan's younger sister, Xiaojing, became the gang leader's Mrs. Yazhai]
How did Ah Shan find a way out in such a filthy and troubled world? Now the first season of this American drama has been completed, and the majority of Dragon fans can watch it by themselves, without too many spoilers.
(4) Highlights and slots: There is only one Bruce Lee, which can only be imitated and difficult to restore.
One of the highlights: the perfect retro style, the picture is well done. In order to restore the original appearance of San Francisco in the 19th century, the crew deliberately went to Cape Town, South Africa to build a scene of Chinatown (Chinatown). Go back to the class confrontation, chaos, disorder of San Francisco of 1878.
【19th Century San Francisco Chinatown (Chinatown)】
The second highlight: the male protagonist is exactly like Bruce Lee from the dress to the action style. Ah Shanyi's dark Tang suit at the beginning and the white tight top that he often wears later are the clothes that Bruce Lee often wears in the movies. At the same time, Ah Shan's classic movements of kicking and wiping his nose in the fighting scenes are all from the imitation of Bruce Lee. . The setting of these details makes the dragon fans feel like they are returning to the world of Bruce Lee's kung fu.
[Ashan's dress and action style are similar to Bruce Lee's]
These two highlights alone are enough to make the majority of dragon fans drink this nostalgic old wine, but "Warrior" also has some obvious grooves.
Slot 1: American dramas continue the pornographic style of Cinemax, with intensive scenes that are not suitable for children, so minors should watch it carefully.
[The film has a lot of inappropriate scenes]
Slot 2: The male protagonist Andrew Koji is not Chinese, but an English-Japanese mixed race. Many dragon fans believe that such a film and television drama with strong patriotic feelings should be played by Chinese people.
[British-Japanese: Andrew Koji]
Slot 3: The fighting scenes are not as exciting as Bruce Lee. Although Andrew Haoji played well in the play, he is still far from Bruce Lee Benlong. Of course, this is a regret that can never be made up, because there is only one Bruce Lee, and only one.
[Andrew Koji's fighting scene was complained that it was not as exciting as Bruce Lee]
However, judging from the plot design, the seriousness of restoring history, and the sincerity of paying tribute to Bruce Lee, this drama is still above the passing line, and it is worth watching by the majority of Dragon fans, and due to the enthusiastic response, HBO has officially announced the start of filming Let's wait and see for the second season.
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