The Warrior
The entire world was quite crazy about his martial arts in the 70's.
The wire action from the Matrix series is totally different from the one in "House of Flying Daggers." They're interesting in their own ways.
As we have seen from the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and The House of Flying Daggers, some main elements of “the warrior tradition” are wire action, riding up walls and slashing the opponent’s throat with a silvery, shining dagger. We also see a lot of cartwheels and use of pressure points to paralyze the opponents. Nevertheless, the most distinguishing characteristic of Asian, especially Chinese, “warrior tradition” is that movements represent a form of art, which might be why we call it martial ‘arts’. Chinese fighters always involve certain poses that visually represent their chi and force their spirit on the opponents. It’s interesting how in western (mostly European) history, the victor is the one who slashes the other’s neck and puts the head on a stake first. This uniqueness in Chinese martial arts makes it even more elegant and subtle.
While captivated by the intense cling clang of the swords and fast-as-a-cheetah movements of the warriors, I usually didn’t take notice of the grand nature beyond the ‘petty’ fight (relatively insignificant). This time, however, I did pay attention and noticed a full moon (associated with good luck on Lunar New Year), tall bamboo trees and tall lush green-leaved trees, as well as, wide open vast of land and deserts. Also, I found it interesting that a lot of the time, fights between two warriors occurred at night, while large-scale battles happened during daytime.
It's isn't very common to see a man and a woman fighting side by side.
Gender roles are a rather unique aspect to martial arts because in western history, women weren’t even on the battlefield (perhaps, because of the bulky, floor-length dresses weighed them down). But in the Crouching Tigers, women are trained to be assassins and spies. In one of the fighting scenes on the open field, Jade Fox uses a rope trap to tie up one of the two men even before they had time to strike her. As her name “fox” suggests, she devises sneaky, deceptive plans to win. Many male fighters place their hands behind while they fight with such ease. I remember a scene when the master’s student stabs Jade Fox in her breast and smirks. He condescendingly looks down at her, in confidence that he has proved his male, masculine superiority to her. While most of the fights/battles suggests that male are physically more powerful and in control, I found it interesting that Fox’s disciple (forgot her name) named herself the Invincible Sword Goddess. The word “goddess” brings her to a totally different level, and definitely above mankind. Goddesses are invincible!
Apart from what I mentioned above, I also realized that very, very few people were killed, and warriors rarely use their swords. When they do, they never stab each other. The swords aren’t used to kill people, rather to show one’s martial arts movements and skills, again emphasizing the fact it is a form of art. In China, shame of a loss is much greater than a loss life, at least for the warriors and warrior tradition.
It’s a clip from Kung Fu Panda. Although this movie wasn’t produced by Disney, it contains some misleading characters that belittle the Chinese warrior tradition. Pandas symbolize luck and wealth in China, not some sloppy, sluggish character with a bulging belly. The prospect of a silly fat panda landing in the middle of a contest to find “the warrior” and being chosen as the one to save the entire village from the evil, powerful Tai Lung was a little strange. This movie might give a false impression that Kung Fu and warrior tradition can be mastered by anyone. I mean, in the end, the panda does rescue the village because it is not too serious and maintains a level of humor. Nevertheless, I will admit it was one funny movie, poking fun at the panda “warrior.”
