I was watching Jet Li in the movie
Fist of Legend last Thursday when I realized something which was of a rather large influence in America and I had never really given it much notice. It had just then really hit me about how big the influence Chinese martial arts movies and their star actors had in the US. Both the movies and the characters tend to have a large fan base, although the acting is not always the greatest, the movies sometimes are even dubbed in English, and the plots are usually pretty thin.
Usually Americans are not too cool with things that are foreign to them, i.e. – Chinese, martial arts, and a lack of huge explosions due to two shots from a pistol. It is amazing to me that through the rough translations, bad voices, and weak plots that we as Americans still love a movie that is just an all out martial art brawl. Actually,
Fist of Legend is one of my all time favorite movies and ironically the first time I saw it, the movie did not even have subtitles. The fact that little Jet Li in all his glory could beat a man of any size down, due to his incredibly quick and precise moves and not brute strength completely blew me away!
Another thing that I believe appeals with Americans who watch this genre of movies is that, not only is it a completely different type of action from the run of the mill shoot ‘em up action movies here, but also, the movies usually take place somewhere in East Asia, which attracts those who are sick of the norm. It is a nice change of pace to see a movie with a completely different culture, background, and ethnicity of people.
[posted for Nick by CH]
