the hustle of chinese cinema

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Kung-Fu Hustle (2004, Stephen Chow) is all about the extravagant and gratuitous nature of popular Hong Kong Cinema. This is a challenging area to identify because the idea of Hong Kong Cinema as an independent identity is nuanced. They experienced British influence (belonging to the British Commonwealth) and periods of colonization by Japan. And eventually, China 'reclaimed' the land which caused many to flee to the United States in order for their voices not to be hindered by the communist formula used by contemporary China. 


Chinese cinema, again, a very nuanced term, has a very large global reach. This global reach is not just in geographical terms but also in terms of appealing to a massive audience base. The martial arts and fighting choreography has become the global language of action in the film industries. I know I have touched on this topic before; not being able to communicate clearly enough across cultures to express ideas. Especially since different cultures experience different types of alienation. 


In Kung-Fu Hustle we get to laugh and understand the trope of comedic action films. The film history of this cinema starts in 1913, which is very early in the film history timeline. Hollywood took much longer to develop in terms of its industry, while Hong Kong Cinema blossomed rather quickly.


Comments

  1. Ethan Swanson11/14/2020

    It really is incredible that such a small island has had such an incredible effect on global cinema, basically redefining action.

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  2. Holly McDonald11/15/2020

    I never really thought about how quickly the Hong Kong film industry developed and caught the attention of audiences worldwide. While I agree that on screen hand-to-hand combat is a sort of global language that all kinds of people enjoy, it's also neat to see how many Hong Kong action movies revolve around kung fu and other East Asian martial arts. These films manage to have a global appeal that's still rooted in a fighting style that arose from that specific locale.

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  3. Tania Sosa11/15/2020

    I really how you touch on the global impact the Honk Hong film industry has had on a large global audience. I also really like how you pointed out that not all cultures experience the same "types of alienation" and I too thought it was very groundbreaking for Hong Kong cinema to be able to reach across border with their innovative use of martial arts and setting the blueprint for western action films.

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  4. eddy11/16/2020

    YES!! The global impact of the Hong Kong industry is certainly phenomenal, and it goes to show how little it takes to completely define or redefine what a certain part of film means.

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  5. Kanyon Beringer11/17/2020

    loved the blog, I never thought about how china's cinema grew exponentially compared to America's

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  6. Amy11/29/2020

    I think part of the reason Hong Kong cinema became such a global phenomenon so quickly is because it speaks through a language of the body rather than complex narrative or plot structures. The embodied popular cinema of Hong Kong speaks through movement and action and that is a language that travels easily across borders. Other forms of cinema from Hong Kong dont travel as well or have the global popularity even though they may be more sophisticated cinematically.

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