On the eve of Bruce Lee’s 68th birthday, 50 episodes of the biographical drama "legend of bruce lee" (hereinafter referred to as "Legend") are now being broadcast on CCTV 1. As of November 2nd, the drama has reached its 44th episode. Perhaps it is because it is far from the imagination of many viewers. Since its launch, the drama has aroused heated discussion. Nevertheless, according to statistics, Legend still set a record of 12.32% for a single episode of CCTV, and the average rating of the first 16 episodes reached 8.82%. This shows the enthusiasm and concern of Chinese people for Bruce Lee and the drama. The deeper reason behind it is quite worth pondering.
In 1999, American magazine Time magazine selected the most influential celebrity activities in the 20th century, and Bruce Lee, as the only martial artist and Chinese, won the celebrity list in the category of "Heroes and Idols".
It is because of Bruce Lee that the word "Kung Fu" appears in foreign language dictionaries.
Bruce Lee was rated as one of the seven greatest martial artists in the world by the international authoritative martial arts magazine "Black Belt", and on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of Bruce Lee’s death in 2003, he specially released the 30th anniversary album of Bruce Lee’s death, the cover language of which was "The Man Who Changed the World-Bruce Lee’s Permanent Influence on American Wushu".
In 2001, Bruce Lee took the first place in the "Top Ten Martial Artists in the 20th Century" selection by Japanese mixed martial arts magazine.
In 2005, on the occasion of the 65th anniversary of Bruce Lee’s birth, there was another upsurge at home and abroad, and bronze statues of Bruce Lee were built in Hongkong and Bosnia and Herzegovina respectively.
A Chinese who was active in the 1960s and 1970s and died at the age of 32 could have such a great influence in the world. The direct reason may be attributed to his pioneering a new era of "China Kung Fu Film". However, things are far from limited to this.
As we all know, it was Bruce Lee who initiated a new era of "Kung Fu Films", and it was Hollywood who made Bruce Lee’s Kung Fu Films have a global influence. However, why did Bruce Lee, the only Chinese, successfully enter Hollywood? Its inherent essential factors are worth pondering.
The first is specific and unique background resources and experience. It is precisely because Bruce Lee not only has the inheritance of oriental culture and martial arts, but also is influenced by western culture, art and philosophy that the cultures of the east and the west have formed a convergence point in him, which has produced great sparks and bright spots. At the same time, the integration of martial arts and film art is another bright spot, and they all converge on Bruce Lee. Bruce Lee knows movies, which makes martial arts look so wonderful.
Secondly, Bruce Lee has always had a firm goal. Bruce Lee realized long ago that the propaganda and influence of film media is the best way to spread and carry forward China Kung Fu. After being frustrated by the racial discrimination against Chinese actors in Hollywood, he first established the strategic goal of developing in Hong Kong, winning the success of Hong Kong films, then entering Hollywood, and then becoming an international superstar from Hollywood.
Thirdly, his unremitting efforts-the spirit of "Walkon" supported Bruce Lee. In some information pieces about Bruce Lee, it can be found that there is a note in the obvious position of his study, which reads "WALKON", which Bruce Lee often uses to encourage himself.
Because of the charm of Bruce Lee’s personality, his disciples and a bunch of friends were willing to coordinate and introduce him, which also played a very important role in his success.
In 1971, with the premiere of "Tangshan Big Brother" filmed by Bruce Lee, China’s kung fu films entered a new era. Bruce Lee’s films brought Hong Kong Kung Fu movies from the traditional martial arts world to the modern Kung Fu world, and once set off a real Kung Fu craze. His films make Kung Fu films the most representative genre of China films. He broke the superstition that Americans generally believe that "China people can’t be the leading role in western films" and became the first leading role in the production of "enter the dragon" in Hollywood, which laid the foundation for Hong Kong-made film actors, directors and martial arts directors to enter Hollywood in the future.
As the most influential martial artist in the contemporary era, Bruce Lee showed the world the "martial spirit" of the Chinese nation through "Kung Fu movies". Bruce Lee completely changed the image of "China people are the sick man of East Asia" through his series of China "Kung Fu movies" and his strong image in the world martial arts. Thus, "BruceLee" has become a well-known hero image all over the world.
Japanese film critic Yukiya Utagawa once commented: "China’s films first entered the world’s field of vision, and Bruce Lee’s superb martial arts displayed in films such as Jingwumen and Tangshan Big Brother shocked the world, so far no one can beat it; China Kung Fu movies also triggered a cultural craze in China. Because the cultural connotation and martial arts spirit conveyed by China Kung Fu movies are exactly the masculine and radical side of China culture … Spreading overseas China movies not only touched the world with face of china, shocked the world with China Kung Fu, but also influenced the world with China thinking. ".
It can be said that it is Bruce Lee’s efforts that make Hollywood action movies more colorful, and Bruce Lee has become the symbol of China elements.
In recent Hollywood productions, China Kung Fu has shown its unique position and become an indispensable popular element. If people’s understanding of Bruce Lee in 1970s and 1980s and "Bruce Lee fever" only stayed in kung fu films and martial arts, then after 20 or 30 years, China elements such as China Kung Fu reappeared in the global cultural products, which made people feel the deep charm of Bruce Lee phenomenon across time and space.
Bruce Lee represents and embodies a spirit, which can be called "Dragon Spirit".
First of all, through his films, Bruce Lee has brought people awe-inspiring righteousness with a clear distinction between love and hatred. This spirit is a manifestation of oriental Confucianism. China’s martial arts practitioners all stress a kind of Shang Yong spirit, and what they ultimately pursue is a kind of "noble spirit". What Bruce Lee finally shows through film and television art is the profound connotation of such an oriental culture. Secondly, through his life’s hard work, Bruce Lee is embodying a spirit, that is, the spirit of going forward and working hard-the spirit of "Walk on". Thirdly, Bruce Lee’s philosophy of martial arts is no longer limited to martial arts cultivation itself, but the enlightenment of life philosophy.
Of course, Bruce Lee is not perfect. However, from the controversy caused by Legend, it can be seen that as an international movie and martial arts superstar, as a "hero and idol", Bruce Lee’s image and position in people’s minds are so stable that there is no room for "slander"-even artistic processing and creation. This is precisely the most difficult part of creating Legend. In fact, both the creator and the audience are active participants in Bruce Lee cultural phenomenon. If we can discuss communication from the essence of "Dragon Spirit", I believe we will find more consensus and resonance with each other.
(Zhong Haiming)