Reinventing the real: transfigurations of cinematic kung fu in the 21st century

Abstract

Kung fu is a cinematic genre investing on the discourse of the “real”.

From Kwan Tak Hing, Bruce Lee, Jacky Chan, Jet Li to Donnie Yen, cinematic

representations of kung fu are inextricably intertwined with realism – real

techniques, real fighting and real body.

This paper is a theoretical reflection of “real kung fu” as a cultural

imaginary and its transfiguration since the 1950s. The discussion will focus on

recent developments of the genre in two major industries – digitalization of kung

fu in Hollywood and recent return of kung fu masters in Hong Kong through coproduction.

Through a parallel analysis of kung fu productions in a global context,

this project outlines and predicts possible reinventions of the genre in the first

decade of the 21st century.

On the one hand, the notion of “real kung fu” is reinvented by digital

technology. By applying Jean Baudrillard’s idea of “simulacra and simulation” to

the context of kung fu cinema, Leon Hunt’s tripartite scheme of authenticity and

Edward Said’s Orientalist discourse are (de/re)constructed in an age of digital

production. Through a scrutiny of The Matrix (1999) and Kung Fu Panda (2008),

I will demonstrate that the convergence of digital cinema and digital gaming

creates a new spectatorship that redefines kung fu with an alternative

understanding of body, time and space.

On the other hand, the Ip Man trilogy (2008-2010) and Legend of the Fist:

The Return of Chen Zhen (2010) show that there is a possible return of kung fu

masters in local martial arts co-productions. Instead of a nostalgic return to the

established genre in the 1970s, these realist kung fu films reinvent the genre by

synthesizing different paradigms of realist styles and renegotiating the longstanding

difficult relationship between nationalism and modernity.