{"title":"“一切都在反思中”:约翰·卡彭特的霍克斯式喜剧《小中国的大麻烦》","authors":"Nikolas Matovinovic","doi":"10.3998/fc.3609","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"This article argues that the cult success of Big Trouble in Little China is a product of the successful synthesis of Carpenter’s fantastic sensibility and the filmmaking philosophies of Howard Hawks. Operating not only as a parody of Hawks’s western films and Hong Kong martial arts cinema, BTiLC uses the pre-existing structure present in Hawk’s comedies to produce a film that is able to convincingly portray Jack Burton (Kurt Russell) as both the hero of the film and the incompetent comic relief; thus positioning its Asian American characters as its functional heroes, without this inversion ever seeming condescending or mean-spirited. This framing of the film consequently highlights the differences between BTiLC’s use of genre and Reagan era masculine heroism and the more reactionary elements of their contemporaries.","PeriodicalId":42834,"journal":{"name":"FILM CRITICISM","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1000,"publicationDate":"2022-12-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"“It’s All in the Reflexes”: John Carpenter’s Big Trouble in Little China as a Hawksian Comedy\",\"authors\":\"Nikolas Matovinovic\",\"doi\":\"10.3998/fc.3609\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"This article argues that the cult success of Big Trouble in Little China is a product of the successful synthesis of Carpenter’s fantastic sensibility and the filmmaking philosophies of Howard Hawks. Operating not only as a parody of Hawks’s western films and Hong Kong martial arts cinema, BTiLC uses the pre-existing structure present in Hawk’s comedies to produce a film that is able to convincingly portray Jack Burton (Kurt Russell) as both the hero of the film and the incompetent comic relief; thus positioning its Asian American characters as its functional heroes, without this inversion ever seeming condescending or mean-spirited. This framing of the film consequently highlights the differences between BTiLC’s use of genre and Reagan era masculine heroism and the more reactionary elements of their contemporaries.\",\"PeriodicalId\":42834,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"FILM CRITICISM\",\"volume\":null,\"pages\":null},\"PeriodicalIF\":0.1000,\"publicationDate\":\"2022-12-14\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"FILM CRITICISM\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"1085\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://doi.org/10.3998/fc.3609\",\"RegionNum\":4,\"RegionCategory\":\"艺术学\",\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"0\",\"JCRName\":\"FILM, RADIO, TELEVISION\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"FILM CRITICISM","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.3998/fc.3609","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"FILM, RADIO, TELEVISION","Score":null,"Total":0}
“It’s All in the Reflexes”: John Carpenter’s Big Trouble in Little China as a Hawksian Comedy
This article argues that the cult success of Big Trouble in Little China is a product of the successful synthesis of Carpenter’s fantastic sensibility and the filmmaking philosophies of Howard Hawks. Operating not only as a parody of Hawks’s western films and Hong Kong martial arts cinema, BTiLC uses the pre-existing structure present in Hawk’s comedies to produce a film that is able to convincingly portray Jack Burton (Kurt Russell) as both the hero of the film and the incompetent comic relief; thus positioning its Asian American characters as its functional heroes, without this inversion ever seeming condescending or mean-spirited. This framing of the film consequently highlights the differences between BTiLC’s use of genre and Reagan era masculine heroism and the more reactionary elements of their contemporaries.
期刊介绍:
Film Criticism is a peer-reviewed, online publication whose aim is to bring together scholarship in the field of cinema and media studies in order to present the finest work in this area, foregrounding textual criticism as a primary value. Our readership is academic, although we strive to publish material that is both accessible to undergraduates and engaging to established scholars. With over 40 years of continuous publication, Film Criticism is the third oldest academic film journal in the United States. We have published work by such international scholars as Dudley Andrew, David Bordwell, David Cook, Andrew Horton, Ann Kaplan, Marcia Landy, Peter Lehman, Janet Staiger, and Robin Wood. Equally important, FC continues to present work from emerging generations of film and media scholars representing multiple critical, cultural and theoretical perspectives. Film Criticism is an open access academic journal that allows readers to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, and link to the full texts of articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose except where otherwise noted.