Kung Fu Hustle is a humorous film directed, produced, and starring by Hong Kong’s international superstar Stephen Chow in 2004. The movie sets in Shanghai in the 1940’s when various gangs compete for power. In the absence of law enforcement, only the people in the poor countryside could live peacefully areas which did not appeal to the gangs. However, one day a wannabe ‘bad guy’ named Sing (Stephen Chow) comes across Pig Sty Alley in the outskirts of the city pretending to be one of the members of the most dreaded gangster squad known as The Axe Gang. His intention to frighten the country people fails, which only attracted the real gang to the scene. To fulfill Sing’s wishes, he gets recruited into the Axe Gang in an attempt to defeat the locals at Pig Sty Alley. After a close battle with the land lord lady (Yuen Qiu), Sing discovers his true heroic fate as a Kung Fu Master.
The comedy film is an original and refreshing approach to Kung Fu that is unlike any other martial arts movie. Stephen Chow creates his own new genre of film that brings a simple, brainless, and comical culture into Asia. It allows the audience to see Kung Fu in a different light. The humorous film moments in the movie includes the fast forward running scene, exaggeration of the lips being swollen, a man going to the bathroom in public, the killer turning into a frog, and Sing turning into a butterfly from a cocoon. Integrating these cartoon-like elements into the movie makes it a big crowd pleaser and action-packed movie that allows people to laugh throughout the entire film.
Nevertheless, it is evident that the movie portrays the people living in Pig Sty Alley as the ‘good guys’ and the Axe Gang as ‘bad guys’. Chow introduces the people from Pig Sty Alley as living a stable life that was peaceful, happy, and routine. On the other hand, the city people representing the Axe Gang were involved with materialistic things such as money, gambling, girls, nightlife, which led to lots of corruption and violence. This indicates an economically growing China becoming infiltrated with consumerism and materialism that is dangerous to the society. Nonetheless, the country people just want to be left alone and become ‘ordinary citizens’ in order to live in peace and free from corruption from the city.
Chow is never seen killing anyone in the movie although he wishes to become the #1 feared bad guy known. The movie indicates that people are innately good and has the potential to do good things only if we try and carry a pure heart. Like a cocoon evolving into a butterfly, Sing gets a new chance to become a good person and do good deeds for his community which he eventually does by killing the Axe Gang. Consequently, Chow opens up a candy store which is a reminiscence of his childhood. It reminds the audience of a time when things were still simple and innocent- something we should all learn to cherish.
Your analysis of the candy shop as a reminder of simpler times is a good point. As a child, having that one piece of candy could make or break the day. A piece of candy is a much smaller, more straightforward and simple request in comparison with the myriad of issues adults face.
ReplyDelete"Chow is never seen killing anyone in the movie although he wishes to become the #1 feared bad guy known. The movie indicates that people are innately good and has the potential to do good things only if we try and carry a pure heart."
ReplyDelete: I believe that Chow's movie originally aimed for evoking sympathy and some sort of epiphany at the end, that his movie actually delivers a good lesson.