Is everybody Kung Fu fighting? Indian popular cinema and martial arts films

IF 0.5 0 FILM, RADIO, TELEVISION

Transnational Screens Pub Date : 2020-12-01 DOI:10.1080/25785273.2020.1823075

Clelia Clini

{"title":"Is everybody Kung Fu fighting? Indian popular cinema and martial arts films","authors":"Clelia Clini","doi":"10.1080/25785273.2020.1823075","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Hong Kong’s martial arts film have been popular in India since the 1970s (Srinivas 2012, 66) and they have had a profound influence on the Hindi action films of the 1970s-1980s, as martial arts were progressively integrated into their narratives. This article investigates the appeal of Hong Kong martial arts films, and of the figure of Bruce Lee in particular, with specific reference to the social, cultural and political context of reception in India. The context within which Bruce Lee made his entrance on the Indian screens was in fact critical for his success. In particular, the article examines the appeal of martial arts, and their incorporation in the Hindi action films of the 1970s, in relation to (post)colonial discourses of Asian masculinity. Drawing upon Yvonne Tasker’s examination of the ‘anticolonial narrative’ embedded in Hong Kong martial arts films, the analysis discusses the incorporation of a martial arts style of combat within Indian popular films as a response to colonial and orientalist tropes of Asian effeminacy and softness and argues that martial arts allowed the 1970s Hindi action hero to articulate an alternative, anticolonial, version of Asian masculinity.","PeriodicalId":36578,"journal":{"name":"Transnational Screens","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.5000,"publicationDate":"2020-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Transnational Screens","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/25785273.2020.1823075","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"FILM, RADIO, TELEVISION","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 1

Abstract

ABSTRACT Hong Kong’s martial arts film have been popular in India since the 1970s (Srinivas 2012, 66) and they have had a profound influence on the Hindi action films of the 1970s-1980s, as martial arts were progressively integrated into their narratives. This article investigates the appeal of Hong Kong martial arts films, and of the figure of Bruce Lee in particular, with specific reference to the social, cultural and political context of reception in India. The context within which Bruce Lee made his entrance on the Indian screens was in fact critical for his success. In particular, the article examines the appeal of martial arts, and their incorporation in the Hindi action films of the 1970s, in relation to (post)colonial discourses of Asian masculinity. Drawing upon Yvonne Tasker’s examination of the ‘anticolonial narrative’ embedded in Hong Kong martial arts films, the analysis discusses the incorporation of a martial arts style of combat within Indian popular films as a response to colonial and orientalist tropes of Asian effeminacy and softness and argues that martial arts allowed the 1970s Hindi action hero to articulate an alternative, anticolonial, version of Asian masculinity.

查看原文本刊更多论文

每个人都练功夫吗?印度流行电影和武侠片

自20世纪70年代以来，香港武侠片在印度一直很受欢迎(Srinivas 2012, 66)，它们对20世纪70年代至80年代的印度动作片产生了深远的影响，因为武术逐渐融入到它们的叙事中。本文考察了香港武侠片的吸引力，尤其是李小龙的形象，并特别参考了印度的社会、文化和政治背景。李小龙在印度银幕上亮相的背景对他的成功至关重要。特别是，本文考察了武术的吸引力，以及它们在20世纪70年代印度动作电影中的结合，与(后)殖民时期亚洲男子气概的话语有关。根据伊冯·塔斯克(Yvonne Tasker)对香港武侠片中嵌入的“反殖民叙事”的研究，该分析讨论了印度流行电影中武术战斗风格的结合，作为对亚洲女性柔弱和柔弱的殖民和东方主义隐喻的回应，并认为武术让这位20世纪70年代的印度动作英雄表达了另一种反殖民的亚洲男子气概。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Transnational Screens Arts and Humanities-Visual Arts and Performing Arts

CiteScore

0.60

自引率

0.00%

发文量