ARTH 334 6388 Understanding movies

Arthur 7

Joseph Arthur

Garrett Chaffin-Quiray

ARTH 334

2/21/2021

FILM PAPER TWO

Part 1: Brief plot synopsis and comment

The film I chose for this essay is a Chinese film titled. Fist of Fury (Lo Wei, 1972). This film is centered on a martial arts student of the Chin Woo Athletic Association in Shanghai China, named Chen Zhen (Bruce Lee) who fights to defend the honor of the Chinese in the face of foreign aggression, and to bring to justice those responsible for his master's death. The film, which touches on sensitive issues surrounding Japanese Colonialism, features realistic combat choreography. It differs from other films in the genre for its historical and social references, especially to Japanese imperialism. On a rainy day after Chen Zhen returns to the Chin Woo Athletic Association martial arts school, he finds out his martial arts master Huo Yuanija is dead due to an illness and that made him really devastated. He runs to the burial ground and lies down on the grave and starts crying. The students try to stop him, but he refuses and finally he’s hit in the head with a shovel and becomes unconscious. So, during the funeral of his master people from Japanese dojo in Hongkou District arrive to taunt Chez Zhen and his fellow Jingwu students. Dojo is a hall or place for immersive learning or meditation. This is traditionally in the field of martial arts, but has been seen increasingly in other fields, such as meditation and software development. The translator and advisor for the Japanese dojo's grandmaster Hiroshi Suzuki (the villain of the film), taunts Chen by slapping him on the cheek several times and dares him to fight one of Suzuki's protégés. The people from the Japanese dojo present a sign to the Jingwu School bearing the words “Sick man from East Asia” simply to insult his master Huo Yuanija. Referring to the Chinese as weak people in comparison to the Japanese people.  Again, Chen Zhen and his fellow students are being taunted by one of Suzuki’s protégés who dares one of the students to fight him and promises that he will eat those words “Sick man from East Asia” if any Chinese here dares to fight him and defeat him. Chen Zhen wants to retaliate, but Fan Junxia, the most senior student in the school prevents him from doing so.

Shortly afterwards, Chen Zhen goes to the Hongkou dojo alone to return the sign that read “Sick man from East Asia”. He ends up fighting the Japanese students, defeated all of them, including their sensei, single-handedly. He smashes the glass on the sign and makes the students who taunted him earlier chew up the paper bearing those words.

References

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hi9B0u5ypJ4