My question is this: what do you all think is missing in the martial arts' representation in the media these days? My opinion is that ever since Bruce Lee's death, there has never been anyone who was concerned with the actual philosophical elements of MA. Even before his death, most of the philosophical content was lost: "Game of Death" was turned from a philosophical analysis of martial arts styles to a stupid cut-and-paste bruce lee film with most of the original content torn away. "The Silent Flute", which from what I hear was going to be his most profound film, detailing the story of self-discovery of a martial artist, never got made due to lack of interest and financial support, primarily due to hollywood racism (same reason Bruce wasn't in the series "Kung Fu").
Ever since he died, martial arts movies have been all about looking cool, with a focus on finding "the next Bruce Lee", without taking into account any of the moral or philosophical content... and now we have a rash of stupid films like "The One", coasting by on a complete lack of display of any martial skill whatsoever, focusing instead on using trendy, over-used "Matrix"-ripoff special effects. In fact, the Matrix was the last film to have any semblance of depth or maturity whatsoever, and even that was due to the storyline, not with reference to the martial arts in any way.
Gone are the days when Burce Lee would display a need for justification for the violence, where the protagonist would be forced into a situation where there was a need to defend one's situation, regardless of the fact that you get carted off by the police at the end of the story. What we have instead is a series of daft, badly-coreographed, amoralm, childish punch-ups using silly wirework and tired special effects, with no plot or reasoning whatsoever, where everyone just gets off scott free, even if it's involved killing off police officers or whomever happens to be in the area.
Ever since he died, martial arts movies have been all about looking cool, with a focus on finding "the next Bruce Lee", without taking into account any of the moral or philosophical content... and now we have a rash of stupid films like "The One", coasting by on a complete lack of display of any martial skill whatsoever, focusing instead on using trendy, over-used "Matrix"-ripoff special effects. In fact, the Matrix was the last film to have any semblance of depth or maturity whatsoever, and even that was due to the storyline, not with reference to the martial arts in any way.
Gone are the days when Burce Lee would display a need for justification for the violence, where the protagonist would be forced into a situation where there was a need to defend one's situation, regardless of the fact that you get carted off by the police at the end of the story. What we have instead is a series of daft, badly-coreographed, amoralm, childish punch-ups using silly wirework and tired special effects, with no plot or reasoning whatsoever, where everyone just gets off scott free, even if it's involved killing off police officers or whomever happens to be in the area.
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