Kung Fu hastle is a movie describing Hong Kong in the 70s where the city was dominated by the Gangs' power. There is a big contrast between the city and the country side.
Corruption is a serious problem in the city of materialism, because of money, even police officers would listen to the gangs. There were no social orders, it's all about money and women in the city, there are night clubs, people dressed nicely, loved to show off, stronger one would bully the weaker, the society was controlled by the gangs. People would try to stay far from troubles and choose not to give hands even they witness crimes or unfairness.
Like Steven Chow in the movie, even though he wasn't a bad guy, with low education level, he has no choices but to follow what the gangs did, to become a robber or thief in order to survive, as that was the norms of the society in that period.
The countryside was less affected by materialism. People could stay away from the city and live a simple and peaceful life. There are no nightlife, and people dressed simply; they relied and help each other in a small village.
The Kung fu fighters lived humbly at the countryside. Even they know kung fu, they would never show off or intimidate the weaker ones. They just wanted to live peacefully to be ordinary citizens.
Kung fu is not useful anymore, whoever used to be the most powerful and famous had faded out in the modern society and replaced by the gangs groups. These fighters chose to stay away from the society, their stories and Kung fu became legends that were unrealistic. Different kinds of kung fu menus were printed and only child would believe in them.
The ending of the theme showed that the bad guys were defeated by the good ones. That implicate that as far as the good ones are willing to stand out for the unfairness or crimes, the good guys will always win, which is always true in movies and what people believe.
Different from the previous "mo lei tau" series movies, instead of having nonsensical humors and rapid comic banter, "Kung Fu hastle" embedded with more meaning and messages reflecting the social problems. We can tell that Steven Chow is trying to breakthrough from his movie styles.
I really like the idea of the bad guys being lost by the western ideals and kung fu being an estranged art. Great point.
ReplyDeleteI think that's a very interesting point you bring up, in how Chow may be showing how Kung Fu is an estranged art. He does, however, also show how Kung Fu was the answer in the end. This is an interesting parallel to his previous film, Shaolin Soccer, in which people saw Kung Fu as useless, but at the end he demonstrates how useful it can be.
ReplyDeleteI never approached this film with the thought that Stephen Chow implied that Kung Fu was an estranged art. And even now that you bring it up, I cannot fully agree with you although it is an interesting point. Kung Fu has been a major part of the Chinese culture so I feel that is almost blasphemy for Stephen Chow to to make this point.
ReplyDelete