Kung Fu Movies, Where They Came From And Where They Are Going
January 28, 2011The genre of action cinema known as martial arts films is disappearing. Versions of these highly stylized films will continue to be made, but digital and computer techniques are bringing down the curtain on the actor as stunt man that, in the opinion of many, is the principle attraction of the genre. What were once truly Kung Fu movies are increasingly produced through the agency of technology rather than human dexterity and daring.
These days, the most authentic element in the martial arts is the training sequences common to the genre. For fans, the knowledge that human beings were actually performing the stunts on screen gave these low budget features an edge. That edge began to be blunted in the last decade of the 20th century.
Wire work involves the use of harnesses under the costumes of the actors. Wires connect the harness to a system of overhead pulleys. These allow the actors or stunt persons to seemingly defy gravity by leaping long distances or even stopping in mid-air. When done in front of a green screen, digital technology allows martial arts film makers to insert the stunt person in scenes that would otherwise be impossible to film.
Adding digital film making technology allows filmmakers to digitally erase all trace of the riggings. Wire work was appropriate by Hollywood toward the end of the decade. In the west, the mass market received its first exposure to the wonders of wire work combined with digital technology in 1999s The Matrix. Hong Kong martial arts choreographer Yuen Woo-ping was the genius behind the movies wire sequences.
This tradition was brought to the silver screen way back in 1928. A 27 hour martial arts movie was filmed and then edited into eighteen episodes and released as serial over the next three years. The actors in the film were trained acrobats and Kung Fu experts. Needless to say, special effects were non-existent.
The action genre commonly pays little attention to the narrative devices common to mainstream entertainment. Plots are devices for the presentation of fights. Character development is minimal, with the characters more caricature than anything else. The plots are no more or less what western audiences came to expect from cowboy movies, simple moral tales of good versus evil. With a few exceptions, the target of the genre is the engagement of visceral lower brain functions rather than an intellectual engagement.
The late Bruce Lee was the foremost practitioner of Kung Fu in martial arts films. Kung Fu is Chinese in origin. Kung Fu combines a number of different fighting styles. This makes it an ideal subject for story purposes because it allows the lead character to fight in any number of styles.
A principle part of the attraction of traditional martial arts movies made in the Far East is, because they are low budget, real martial artists are used as actors. The gives the action sequences a credibility they could not achieve otherwise. With the development of computer generated effects and digital filming, there is a danger that this authenticity will soon be lost forever. Kung Fu Movies, in the traditional since of the word, may soon only exist in the same dusty bin as Hopalong Cassidy, Roy Rodgers and the Lone Ranger.
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