Hey just watch this documentary called Art o Action: Martial Arts on the encore channel with comcast and they was discussing the different types of martial arts films and genres in the 1980's and 70's. I just thought for a minute about class and the different types of genres we talk about, just thought i would post this because i learned a lot through this documentary about Asian films and the use of martial arts, storytelling, characters to design a martial art film style. They discuss heroes, vilians and the way they are depicted in the films and the roles they play plus the role of a female character in these films, well I'm off to bed....
I was lucky enough to have had the chance to take a Hong Kong cinema course when I was in graduate school. I have also watched my share of films from Japan & China, although there are MAJOR gaps in my knowledge. There's a whole world of film out there to explore.... Just getting deeper into Jackie Chan's HK output is a treasure trove, and from there who knows where you'll go....
ReplyDeleteAlso Thai filmmakers are starting to get more known for their martial arts films. Tony Jaa is probably the Jackie Chan equivalent in Thailand. So far he's only made a couple movies (Ong Bak, and Tom Yum Goong/"The Protector" and maybe a couple others) but the fight scenes were amazing. Tom Yum Goong even got the Quentin Tarantino seal of approval to "Present" the movie. Definitely worth checking out. The movies themselves are pretty terrible narrative wise but they're probably the greatest martial arts fight scenes I've ever seen.
ReplyDelete-Bobby Miquel
While watching a recent martial arts movie with Jackie Chan, I found all the same pieces are apparent in the film as you had mentioned. What makes the genre of martial art films? It was easy to follow and apply to all the theorists we learned about in class specially with the hero/villian character break down theory. Oh by the way the movie was the forbidden kingdom and if anyone likes those types of martial arts/action films I would certainly recommend it!
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