Bruce Lee Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

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This article argues that Bruce Lee revolutionized kung fu cinema not only by increasing its authenticity and combativity but also by revealing its inherent connection to wuyi (武意), or martial ideation. Martial ideation refers to a... more

This article argues that Bruce Lee revolutionized kung fu cinema not only by increasing its authenticity and combativity but also by revealing its inherent connection to wuyi (武意), or martial ideation. Martial ideation refers to a specific negotiation of action and stasis in martial arts performance which contains a powerful overflow of emotion in tranquility. Since the early 1970s, Bruce Lee's kung fu films have been labeled "chop-socky," offering only fleeting visual and visceral pleasures. Subsequently, several studies explored the cultural significance and political implications of Lee's films. However, not much attention has been paid to their aesthetic composition-in particular, how cinematic kung fu manifests Chinese aesthetics and philosophy on choreographic, cinematographic, and narrative levels. In Lee's films, the concept of martial ideation is embodied in the Daoist notion of wu (nothingness), a metaphysical void that is invisible, nameless, and formless. Through a close reading of Laozi's Daodejing (道德經), it is possible to discover two traits of nothingness-namely, reversal and return-which are characteristics of Lee's representation of martial ideation. The former refers to a paradigmatic shift from concreteness to emptiness, while the latter makes such a shift reversible and perennial via the motif of circularity. The discussion focuses on films in which Lee's creative influence is clearly discernible, such as Fist of Fury (1972), The Way of the Dragon (1972), and the surviving footage intended for The Game of Death featured in Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey (2000). These films shed light on the complicated relationship between the cinematic (action and stasis), the martial (Jeet Kune Do), the aesthetic (ideation), and the philosophical (Daoism). The goal is to stimulate a more balanced discussion of Lee's films both from the perspective of global action cinema and Chinese culture.

libro de Chinese Gung Fu de bruce lee

Using the Chinese cosmological understanding of “shadow and soul” or ying hun (影魂), this chapter seeks to frame innovations in holographic technologies that facilitate the stereoscopic re-projections of departed Hong Kong- and... more

Using the Chinese cosmological understanding of “shadow and soul” or ying hun (影魂), this chapter seeks to frame innovations in holographic technologies that facilitate the stereoscopic re-projections of departed Hong Kong- and Taiwan-based transnational Chinese celebrities such as Bruce Lee, Wong Kar Kui and Teresa Teng. It argues that the rising popularity of such presentations in concerts and advertisements stems not just from the visual spectacle of these unprecedented animated holograms. Instead, audiences may be held by latent beliefs of the immanence of departed stars whose presences have been maintained by media technologies from the analogue phonogram of the past, to the digital performance capture and holographic representation of contemporary convergent media. Such developments provide new platforms for the ying hun of these personalities to be replayed and resurrected.

This essay builds from an analysis of the philosophical underpinnings of Bruce Lee's jeet kune do to an analysis of the current state of academic scholarship generally and martial arts studies scholarship specifically. For the sake of a... more

This essay builds from an analysis of the philosophical underpinnings of Bruce Lee's jeet kune do to an analysis of the current state of academic scholarship generally and martial arts studies scholarship specifically. For the sake of a more comprehensive understanding of the philosophical underpinnings of jeet kune do, and in particular its affinities with a philosophical tradition traced by Stanley Cavell under the heading of perfectionism, this essay brings the philosophical writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Ayn Rand into contact with Lee's writings during the time that he spent formulating his martial arts philosophy. Additionally, this essay uses the philosophical insights of Emerson, Rand, and Lee to challenge longstanding academic dogma vis-à-vis poststructuralist philosophy, the methods of academic intervention, and the nature of philosophical argumentation. Though pitched as a debate regarding the content and the status of Bruce Lee and his combative philosophy, this essay endeavors to inspire scholars to (re)examine their conceptions of Bruce Lee, martial arts, and martial arts studies.

La Habilidad en las Técnicas, todo referente a artes marciales

La mejor enseñanza que Bruce Lee le dejó a Jackie Chan. Cierta ocasión a Jackie Chan se le hizo la propuesta de ser el doble de Bruce Lee en la filmación de la película Operación Dragón, por lo que era necesario estar en la mejor forma... more

La mejor enseñanza que Bruce Lee le dejó a Jackie Chan. Cierta ocasión a Jackie Chan se le hizo la propuesta de ser el doble de Bruce Lee en la filmación de la película Operación Dragón, por lo que era necesario estar en la mejor forma posible, tener buena condición. Y para eso era obvio que debía entrenar lo suficiente como para estar a la altura de Bruce Lee. Él; Jackie Chan, nunca imaginó lo complicado que sería estar a su nivel. La historia narra que Bruce Lee tenía la costumbre de correr al menos tres millas diarias a un ritmo mucho más allá del que comúnmente lo haría un atleta normal, corriendo todo ese tramo en alrededor de veintiuno a veintidós minutos. No obstante; con su experiencia, Bruce Lee hacía un tiempo de dieciocho minutos en las tres millas cuando corría sólo. Un día común, Bruce Lee le dijo a Jackie Chan:-Esta vez vamos a correr cinco millas, al momento de llegar a las tres millas vamos a aumentar un poco la velocidad, sólo serán dos millas más, ya verás que lo vamos a lograr-. Entonces Jackie Chan le contestó:-Está bien, lo haremos-. Ya cuando estaban corriendo y en la tercer milla, iniciaron la siguiente; la cuarta milla. A los tres minutos de ir corriendo Jackie Chan ya se sentía muy cansado. Entonces le dijo a Bruce Lee:-Ya me cansé, siento como si el corazón se me fuera a salir del pecho, es lo más que puedo dar. Si sigo corriendo yo creo que me va a dar un infarto de miocardio y me voy a morir-. A lo que Bruce Lee le respondió:-Entonces muérete-. Jackie Chan se enojó mucho y ese enojo le sirvió para terminar las cinco millas corriendo. Al rato, Jackie Chan fue a donde estaba Bruce Lee para hablarle del por qué le había dicho que se muriera.-¿Por qué Bruce me dijiste que me muriera?-Lo que le respondió lo dejó impactado. Le contestó: manuelverdugo.com

This article argues that creativity in martial arts can be linked to moments of crisis. It does so on the basis of a comparative analysis of Bruce Lee’s martial artistry – specifically, his creation of jeet kune do – in relation to the... more

This article argues that creativity in martial arts can be linked to moments of crisis. It does so on the basis of a comparative analysis of Bruce Lee’s martial artistry – specifically, his creation of jeet kune do – in relation to the earlier development of bartitsu and the more recent example of xilam. All three of these arts were founded by experienced practitioners who
took personal and social crises as stimulus for creativity. Lee’s own crises can be understood as: (i) Separation, in terms of his geographical distance from his wing chun kung fu school; (ii) Fitness, in terms of his dissatisfaction with his physical condition following a now (in)famous duel; and (iii) Injury, in terms of
the injury he suffered to his lower back in 1971, which resulted in chronic back pain for the remainder of his life but which also allowed for the technical, supplementary and philosophical basis for his personal way towards combative excellence and overall human development. On the basis of comparing these three cases, I propose a theory of martial creation, which I invite other martial arts studies scholars to test and explore further.

Published in Farrer and Whalen-Bridge (eds.) *Martial Arts as Embodied Knowledge* (2011)

The importance of Galloway's Gaelic clans (or kindreds) on the medieval and later history if south-west Scotland has been neglected. The research presented here re-assesses their importance and significant influence on the history of the... more

The importance of Galloway's Gaelic clans (or kindreds) on the medieval and later history if south-west Scotland has been neglected. The research presented here re-assesses their importance and significant influence on the history of the region.

Keynote at 2018 Martial Arts Studies Conference, Cardiff University

In the decade after Bruce Lee's death in 1973, film-makers from around the world produced numerous films starring imitation Bruce Lees with names like Bruce Li, Bruce Le and Dragon Lee. This article suggests that any understanding of the... more

In the decade after Bruce Lee's death in 1973, film-makers from around the world produced numerous films starring imitation Bruce Lees with names like Bruce Li, Bruce Le and Dragon Lee. This article suggests that any understanding of the discourse of Bruce Lee as a star is incomplete without consideration of the ways in which the ‘Bruceploitation’ industry appropriated the star image of Bruce Lee and repackaged it for a transnational audience in the waning years of ‘kung fu fever’. By analysing the films’ narratives and marketing, the article argues that these films are not mere ‘clones’ of the ‘real’ thing, but rather imitations with a self-conscious difference. These films present ‘conjectural Bruce Lees’ that expand the familiar Bruce Lee image in order to maintain fan interest. As a result, ‘Bruce Lee’ as a discourse became increasingly flexible and sticky, hybridizing across cultures and genres. This view of ‘Bruce Lee’ beyond Bruce Lee asks that scholars approach stars not simply as discrete actors, but also as disembodied star-functions that transform across time and space.

definitive written statements given by Bruce Lee on the subject of what he wanted to teachnamely a revolutionary approach to martial arts that he called "Jeet Kune Do". It is important to note this because, since his death, Lee"s name has... more

definitive written statements given by Bruce Lee on the subject of what he wanted to teachnamely a revolutionary approach to martial arts that he called "Jeet Kune Do". It is important to note this because, since his death, Lee"s name has been attached to the wholesale and indiscriminate posthumous publication of selections from his notebooks, college essays, journals and jotters, and these include many unattributed but readily traceable quotations from other thinkersall of which ultimately make Bruce Lee seem to be a barefaced plagiaristas if he himself made the decision to publish "his" words in that form, after he died. We will return to this, below. But "Liberate Yourself from Classical Karate" was signed and signed off by Bruce Lee. It is his manifesto for "Jeet Kune Do".

No consideration of Bruce Lee -or indeed of the beyond of Bruce Lee -can overlook his importance as a muse, an inspiration, and an educator. I have followed the likes of Meaghan Morris and Davis Miller before in foregrounding this... more

No consideration of Bruce Lee -or indeed of the beyond of Bruce Lee -can overlook his importance as a muse, an inspiration, and an educator. I have followed the likes of Meaghan Morris and Davis Miller before in foregrounding this dimension of Lee's legacies, and want to do so again in this paper, because of the fundamental and perennial significance of this topic for studies of Lee, of martial arts, and indeed of culture tout court. So, in this paper, I return to key examples and instances of Bruce Lee (and) pedagogy, in order to set out and then to move beyond the established ground, and into some vexed debates about philosophy, ideology and cultural translation. So, the paper begins with a discussion of Bruce Lee's philosophy of Jeet Kune Do, before moving into reconsiderations of the relations between film and philosophy, culture and ideology, as well as politics and ethics. It draws Lee's oeuvre and intervention into relations with (other) Western popularisers of Zen, Taoism and Buddhism, as well as with thinkers such as

This article endeavors to understand the work of Bruce Lee, particularly his appearance on the US television series Longstreet (1971)(1972), with reference to the philosophical concept of perfectionism. Although in extant scholarship Lee... more

This article endeavors to understand the work of Bruce Lee, particularly his appearance on the US television series Longstreet (1971)(1972), with reference to the philosophical concept of perfectionism. Although in extant scholarship Lee has often been presented as an anti-Confucian figure, this article reexamines Lee's Confucian connections vis-à-vis perfectionism. By virtue of an investigation into the centrality of the concepts of character, volition, and self-actualization in Confucianism, in conjunction with an analysis of their prominence in Western (specifically, Aristotelian and Emersonian) philosophy, this article situates Lee between Eastern and Western perfectionist traditions. This article then examines Lee's work on Longstreet in an effort to elucidate the perfectionist ethos that fueled Lee's philosophy of Jeet Kune Do and, by extension, his media pedagogy regarding teaching and learning martial arts. Ultimately, this article argues that Lee represents a quintessential perfectionist pedagogue and that the most important lessons to be learned from Lee involve such perfectionist hallmarks as building character, cultivating virtue, and self-actualizing.

One of the most supposedly controversial features of the work of the poststructuralist philosopher Jacques Derrida was that his work (deconstruction) sought to demonstrate that borders between realms and practices were not only... more

One of the most supposedly controversial features of the work of the poststructuralist philosopher Jacques Derrida was that his work (deconstruction) sought to demonstrate that borders between realms and practices were not only artificial, conventional and constructed. This is only half the story. The second dimension to Derrida"s focus on border construction is that instituting and maintaining borders actually works to institute and maintain hierarchies, value systems and prejudices: policing mechanisms which organise what is "acceptable" and what is "unacceptable". To refer to only one famous example, Derrida often sought to show that the borders between philosophy and literature are far from clear cut. They are not natural

This article situates Bruce Lee at the heart of the emergence of 'martial arts'. It argues that the notion 'martial arts', as we now know it, is a discursive entity that emerged in the wake of media texts, and that the influence of Bruce... more

This article situates Bruce Lee at the heart of the emergence of 'martial arts'. It argues that the notion 'martial arts', as we now know it, is a discursive entity that emerged in the wake of media texts, and that the influence of Bruce Lee films of the early 1970s was both seminal and structuring of 'martial arts', in ways that continue to be felt. Using the media theory proposition that a limited range of 'key visuals' structure the aesthetic terrain of the discursive entity 'martial arts', the article assesses the place, role and status of images of Bruce Lee as they work intertextually across a wide range of media texts. In so doing, the article demonstrates the enduring media legacy of Bruce Lee-one that has always overflowed the media realm and influenced the lived, embodied lifestyles of innumerable people the world over, who have seen Bruce Lee and other martial arts texts and gone on to study Chinese and Asian martial arts because of them.

Talk given on 1st February 2016 at the China Institute, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. This talk poses the question of Bruce Lee’s national identity. Of course, the facts of this matter are widely... more

Many studies and narratives about Bruce Lee end in disappointment. This disappointment, I intend to show, is a specific consequence of the approach which is characterised by nostalgia. This nostalgia takes many forms. Here are some of the... more

Many studies and narratives about Bruce Lee end in disappointment. This disappointment, I intend to show, is a specific consequence of the approach which is characterised by nostalgia. This nostalgia takes many forms. Here are some of the most common narratives: Bruce Lee once politicised ethnic, subaltern and postcolonial consciousness, but this energy dissipated; Bruce Lee smashed certain Orientalist stereotypes about Asian males, but this ultimately intensified other stereotypes; Bruce Lee diversified and ethnicised the previously white realm of international film and the associated global popular cultural imaginary, but the effects of this achievement were limited by the subsequent easy pigeonholing of ethnic Asian characters as martial arts 'types'; Bruce Lee introduced a uniquely Asian cultural phenomenon into global discourse, but this was quickly 'lactified' or appropriated and hence 'whitened' by Euro-American martial arts actors; Bruce Lee's models of masculinity proposed new paradigms of maleness, yet these never caught on or at least were quickly supplanted; Bruce Lee 'bridged cultures', yet these encounters have now come to seem less like new multicultural conduits or establishments, new hybridised cross-cultural enclaves or settlements, and more like brief forays, smash and grab raids, appropriations and expropriations of and from different cultural repositories; Bruce Lee spearheaded the possibility of inter-ethnic identifications and crosscultural mobility, but this soon became thoroughly depoliticised; Bruce Lee was the exemplary a hegemonic masculinity with normative masculinity, thereby providing a more complex masculinity that upholds violence and power over other men as markers of manhood while denying an exaggerated heterosexist assumption. (Chan 2000: 379-380)

This is an epub file, use other apps to read it! This book is posted so you could be more next to Bruce personal thoughts and life, and also to clarify what really happened between Ip Man and him, which did not happen like the movies but... more

This is an epub file, use other apps to read it! This book is posted so you could be more next to Bruce personal thoughts and life, and also to clarify what really happened between Ip Man and him, which did not happen like the movies but it happened by other eans, the true fact is that Bruce arrived back to China when his master died of cancer and he really saw the coffin and etc. The book shows that that the letters of his master were wrote, but not sent...

Reflections on the scapegoat of the origin narrative of Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do, Wong Jack Man

Schedule for the 2018 Martial Arts Studies Conference, Bruce Lee's Cultural Legacies

This is a first draft. The paper addresses the question of whether the emergent field of martial arts studies might be regarded as trivial. In doing so, it explores possible rationales and raisons d'être of the field in terms of a... more

This is a first draft. The paper addresses the question of whether the emergent field of martial arts studies might be regarded as trivial. In doing so, it explores possible rationales and raisons d'être of the field in terms of a reflection on the legitimation of academic subjects, especially those closest to martial arts studies and from which martial arts studies can be seen to have emerged.

esta Dedicado a los Artistas de las Artes Marciales, Libres y Creadores Toma lo que sea útil y desarrolla a partir de ahí.

The Joe Rogan Experience is one of the most popular podcasts on the web, reaching 10s of millions of viewers per month. Rogan discusses a wide variety of topics with a variety of guests, some of them friends who appear regularly: martial... more

The Joe Rogan Experience is one of the most popular podcasts on the web, reaching 10s of millions of viewers per month. Rogan discusses a wide variety of topics with a variety of guests, some of them friends who appear regularly: martial arts, comedy, nutrition and health, conspiracy theories, psychedelic drugs, and a variety of science topics. In this paper I discuss several specific podcasts, with: Steven Pinker (his latest book, Enlightenment Now), Michael Pollan (psychedelic drugs), Neil deGrasse Tyson (moon landing), Howard Bloom (music, altered states, space program), Joey Diaz (Bruce Lee and martial arts), and Elon Musk (AI). I also include an annotated transcription of the Joey Diaz conversation.

Ha sido un personaje mítico que años después de su muerte sigue muy presente entre nosotros. Le bastaron pocos años (murió a los 33) para popularizar las artes marciales en Occidente. Bruce Lee es uno de los íconos más admirados en Asia y... more

Ha sido un personaje mítico que años después de su muerte sigue muy presente entre nosotros. Le bastaron pocos años (murió a los 33) para popularizar las artes marciales en Occidente. Bruce Lee es uno de los íconos más admirados en Asia y uno de los actores más influyentes de la segunda mitad del siglo, aunque su carrera fue breve. Pese a que su calidad artística fue muy discutible para algunos críticos, Bruce Lee tuvo el mérito de impulsar en Occidente las artes marciales y de ofrecer un ejemplo de tenacidad para superar las adversidades.

This article seeks to illuminate and overcome certain limitations in the influential 'post-Marxist' discourse theory of Ernesto Laclau. It does so by way of examining two apparently simple but perhaps unexpectedly complex case studies.... more

This article seeks to illuminate and overcome certain limitations in the influential 'post-Marxist' discourse theory of Ernesto Laclau. It does so by way of examining two apparently simple but perhaps unexpectedly complex case studies. So, after introducing Laclau and Mouffe's influential theory of discourse, the article first exposes aspects of this theory to a reflection on some famous ideas about martial arts as disseminated by the kung fu film star Bruce Lee in the 1970s. It then justifies this case study by situating Bruce Lee as a key dimension of some wider macro-cultural discourses. After doing so, the article turns to a more recent but connected example: the 2002 Hollywood film, The Bourne Identity, which turns out to be an unexpectedly 'cross-cultural' filmic text. The point of this exercise is to illustrate that although fields such as film studies and cultural studies have traditionally imported many of their notions and understandings of 'politics' and 'the political' from texts such as the political theory of Laclau and Mouffe (1985), there are in fact limits to what such paradigms and approaches are able to 'see'. Consequently, the article seeks to clarify how and why fields outside of political theory ought not to simply rely on the terms and concepts developed within and by political theory, and reciprocally to indicate some of what political theorists might learn from film and cultural studies approaches. Ultimately, the article aims to reiterate the significance of Laclau and Mouffe's key critical contributions to wider understandings of politics and the political, whilst at the same time revealing the limitations of this paradigm of analysis. The hope underpinning the orientation of the article is that cross-disciplinary dialogue across such fields as political studies, film studies and cultural studies might enrich

This paper reads the emergence of ‘Oriental style’ in Hollywood (Park 2010) as an exemplary case of what Rey Chow calls ‘cultural translation (Chow 1995). The paper explores the intimate yet paradoxical relationship between ‘Oriental’... more

This paper reads the emergence of ‘Oriental style’ in Hollywood (Park 2010) as an exemplary case of what Rey Chow calls ‘cultural translation (Chow 1995). The paper explores the intimate yet paradoxical relationship between ‘Oriental’ martial arts and the drive for ‘authenticity’ in both film choreography and martial arts practices; plotting the trajectories of key martial arts crossovers since Bruce Lee. It argues that, post-Bruce Lee, Western film fight choreography first moved into and then moved away from overtly Chinese, Japanese, Hong Kong or indeed obviously ‘Oriental style’; a move that many have regarded as a deracination or westernisation of fight choreography. However, a closer look reveals that this apparent deracination is actually the unacknowledged rise of Filipino martial arts within Hollywood. The significance of making this point, and the point of making this kind argument overall boils down to the insight it can give us into how ‘cultures’ and texts are constructed, and also into our own reading practices and the roles they play, sometimes in perpetuating certain problematic ethno-nationalist discourses.

n the concluding chapter of Primitive Passions (1995), in a chapter entitled "Film as Ethnography," Rey Chow asks the question of the relationships between ethnography and the complex matter of visual media representations. She asks this... more

n the concluding chapter of Primitive Passions (1995), in a chapter entitled "Film as Ethnography," Rey Chow asks the question of the relationships between ethnography and the complex matter of visual media representations. She asks this because by and large any serious consideration of the impact and implications of filmic, TV and other media representations have traditionally been excluded or subordinated in the conceptualization and construction of the classical anthropological ethnographic "scene." The ethnographic scene is a scenario most commonly formulated as being a situation involving an ethnographer and a native subject (or group). The presence and role of all manner of media are not normally immediately considered in this scenario. Yet the contemporary world is, and has been for well over a century, saturated with media-and moreover with a range of mediated images that often claim to testify to some kind of insight into other cultures, in a quasianthropological way. There are also types of media text that seem to constitute, precipitate or otherwise relate to one or another kind of cross-cultural encounter, and so on. (I have written about this in Bowman 2010.) The documentary film is perhaps the exemplary contemporary form of media genre that has closest affinities with anthropology; just as the wide variety of texts that seem to represent "other cultures," however falsely or fictitiously-such as action films, set in "exotic" locations-can be numbered among the media which may precipitate various forms of cross-cultural encounter. Both have, to a significant extent, superseded earlier media forms, such as the newspaper report and genres of travel writing, which had been popular for hundreds of years, and that had provided "information" and ideas about different cultures and societies.