Description

Book Synopsis
In the spring and summer of 1973, a wave of martial arts movies from Hong Kong – epitomized by Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon – smashed box-office records for foreign-language films in America, and ignited a ‘kung fu craze’ that swept the world. Fighting without Fighting explores this dramatic phenomenon, and argues that, more than just a cinematic fad, the West’s sudden fascination with – and moral panic about – the Asian fighting arts has left lasting legacies into the present. The book traces the background of the craze in the longer development of Hong Kong’s martial arts cinema. It discusses the key films in detail, as well as their popular reception and the debates they ignited, where kung fu challenged Western identities and raised anxieties about violence, both on and off screen. And it examines the proliferation of ideas and images from these films in fields as diverse as popular music, superhero franchises, children’s cartoons and contemporary art. Illuminating and accessible, Fighting without Fighting draws a vivid bridge between East and West.

Fighting without Fighting: Kung Fu Cinema’s

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    A Hardback by Luke White

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      Book details

      Publisher Reaktion Books
      Published 13 June 2022
      ISBN-13 9781789145335
      978-1789145335
      ISBN-10 1789145333
      Also in:
      Films, cinema Martial arts

      Description

      Book Synopsis
      In the spring and summer of 1973, a wave of martial arts movies from Hong Kong – epitomized by Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon – smashed box-office records for foreign-language films in America, and ignited a ‘kung fu craze’ that swept the world. Fighting without Fighting explores this dramatic phenomenon, and argues that, more than just a cinematic fad, the West’s sudden fascination with – and moral panic about – the Asian fighting arts has left lasting legacies into the present. The book traces the background of the craze in the longer development of Hong Kong’s martial arts cinema. It discusses the key films in detail, as well as their popular reception and the debates they ignited, where kung fu challenged Western identities and raised anxieties about violence, both on and off screen. And it examines the proliferation of ideas and images from these films in fields as diverse as popular music, superhero franchises, children’s cartoons and contemporary art. Illuminating and accessible, Fighting without Fighting draws a vivid bridge between East and West.

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