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Comment by TV Plus on October 10, 2022 at 10:45pm

The Impact of Kung Fu Movies on BreakdancingBy Eric Pellerin

Back in the mid-to-late 1970s, the earliest power moves of Breaking were created by B-Boy masters living in New York City. One of the biggest influences on the creation of moves like the “headspin” and the “windmill” was the Hong Kong kung fu movie. B-boys watched the amazing physical abilities of their favorite kung fu actors in films by Shaw Brothers, Seasonal Films, and Golden Harvest Studios. They imitated and expanded upon the ritualized combat they saw in these films, adding new moves to their dance.

These films were seen in the US, but only in a limited number of theaters in major cities.

In the book Kung Fu: Cinema of Vengeance (1974), Verina Glaser said, “The basis for the success of the kung fu films in the States was the same ghetto audience that carried the wave of ‘black’ Hollywood action films a year or so previously.” In New York City, the two places to see kung fu movies were 42nd Street and Chinatown. Kung fu movies placed the majority of importance on the action, and less time on character development and production values seen in Hollywood films.

There was a big parallel between Hong Kong and NYC. Hong Kong and New York were both densely populated, with a large divide between the rich and the poor. Both cities had high crime rates and tough ghettos. These films were made as escapist fantasies for the people of Hong Kong, and they ended up serving the same purpose for the inner city youth in the United States.

Ken Swift said “Every kung fu movie was like styles, people got they ass whipped, and they went back and got revenge, and it was cool, and that was like something maybe we saw this as kids in the hood, as something we dealt with every day in our lives, you know what I’m saying, dealing with the way we had to live, in school and at home.”

The year was 1971 and America got its first taste of the exciting and dance-like choreography of Hong Kong martial arts films with the Shaw Brothers production King Boxer (AKA Five Fingers of Death) starring Lo Lieh. At this time, Hip-Hop as we know it did not exist. Street gangs like the Black Spades and the Savage Skulls fought each other in the streets of the Bronx for control of turf. Eventually, the pre-rumble dance of these gangs would be incorporated into the Hip-Hop dance known as Up-Rocking.

Trac 2 of Starchild la Rock, a legendary b-boy crew from the seventies, related a story about the gang origins of Up-Rocking. He said that the night before a rumble, the gang leaders had a dance off with each other, one on one. This let everyone in the area know who was going to be involved in the real deal the next day, and anyone else should stay out of the way.

During the time that street gangs in the Bronx were at their peak, kung fu movies became enormously popular in America. After Five Fingers of Death, the films of Bruce Lee were released to great success. The popularity of Lee and his films created a demand for kung fu movies in the United States. Bruce Lee was the most popular kung fu star in the world, and Golden Harvest became the second major studio in Hong Kong. Along with the Shaw Bros. they produced the vast majority of martial arts films made in the British colony.

Comment by TV Plus on October 10, 2022 at 10:44pm

After the death of Bruce Lee in 1973, Hong Kong produced kung fu films that tended to be formulaic until Lau Kar-leung began directing in 1975. He showcased authentic kung fu techniques with films like Challenge of the Masters, Executioners of Shaolin, and The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (AKA Master Killer)

While Lau Kar-leung was directing his debut film Spiritual Boxer, Hong Kong street gangs in New York City were giving way to a more positive counterpart known as crews. Many of the gangs’ former members turned to dancing and block parties as an outlet for their energy.

The most instrumental person in this change was former gang member turned DJ, Afrika Bambatta.

Instead of fighting each other in the street, the B-Boy crews like Starchild La Rock and Rock Steady Crew battled each other with their dance, known as b-boying, breaking, or rocking. Like rival Clans seen in kung fu movies, B-Boys would test each other to see whose style was the best. On the jade screen it was Snake Fist vs. Eagle Claw or Shaolin vs. Wu Tang. On the streets it was the Disco kids vs. Starchild La Rock or Rock Steady Crew vs. the Floormasters. With competition heating up, the next generation of B-Boys took inspiration from different sources to up the ante. According to Trac 2, Latinos added their own flavor to top-rocking, and footwork. He said in 1978 the foundation for modern B-Boy power moves were laid down.

Around the same time in 1978, filmmakers in Hong Kong were revitalizing the kung fu film with sub-genres like kung fu comedy. These movies accentuated more acrobatic movement in their choreography, influenced by the actors and directors training in Peking Opera. Yuen Wo-ping, Jackie Chan, and Sammo Hung all graduated from sifu Yu Jim-yuen’s Peking Opera school and went on to make some of the late seventies’ most dynamic films like Snake In the Eagles Shadow and Knockabout.

Going to see kung fu movies on 42nd St. became a ritual for the youth of New York City.

B-Boys especially took to the films, with their physically dynamic choreography, which was closer to dance than actual combat. Bruce Lee in real life was a Latin dancer. He was the Hong Kong Crown Colony Cha-Cha champion in 1958. In his movies, he does a form of footwork that is very similar to top rocking.

While serious filmgoers denounced kung fu films, the B-Boys took to the films as their own. Ken Swift explains, “42nd St. was like ‘wow!’, these are subtitled, they’re putting these English voices over, these movies aren’t even made in the States, that’s even more like ’wow!,’ you feel like you’re really a part of something.”

The DJ’s, MC’s, B-Boy’s, and graffiti artists would go to see these films together, and it was a participatory experience. They would get so hyped up during the film that they would argue and fight with each other during the film.

After watching the movie, the B-Boys would leave the theater hyped off the energy they saw on the screen from movies like Mad Monkey Kung Fu, Mystery of Chess Boxing, Crippled Masters and many more. Trac 2 and his brother Danny said that kung fu movies are a fever you catch. After seeing martial arts on the screen, they wanted to try it themselves.

Some early B-Boys studied martial arts. Trac 2 took Shotokan Karate for two years. He said that a lot of the early B-Boys studied karate.

Bust most of them just imitated the movements they saw without any formal training. As Ken Swift states,

“Realistically, [we] leave the theater and just want to kick the shit out of people. I mean we would walk uptown and sometimes just kick somebody… You know, we would do a demo on somebody, and start doing exactly what we saw in the movie, not knowing what we were doing, but just imitating it to the max.”

Comment by TV Plus on October 10, 2022 at 10:43pm

Besides just imitating the kung fu by fighting each other with a Mantis Fist, Monkey style, or Crane style, the kung fu started to find its way into the dance. B-boy KWON of Swift Kids said, “As far as the martial arts goes, that gave a lot of b-boys ideas as far as doing things on the floor and expanding their ideas for movement and bringing out their character.” B-Boys appropriated visually dynamic movements they saw on the screen, and made them their own. The fight scenes in kung fu films were choreographed following a specific rhythm between the performers. The kung fu actors had to follow each other’s movements like dancers. You can see fight scenes being choreographed like this in Jackie Chan: My Stunts.

It was only natural that B-Boys would be attracted to these movements that were close to what they were doing already. Lil’ Lep explained how the kung fu movies directly effected the dance and his crew, the New York City Breakers. “Kung fu movies were important, because we learned from them. You know Flip (Flip Rock AKA Bobby Potts), he does a lot of flips, and they do a lot of flips in kung fu movies. You know my man Chino (AKA Action), he does a lot of flips too. My thing is my swipes, headspins.”

B-Boys would take certain movements they saw in the kung fu films and work them into the dance. Lep brought his own innovation to the headspin. Instead of doing it from a standstill position, he went into the headspin from footwork. He calls this the pencil headspin. In the movies Drunken Master, Killer Army, and Shaolin Temple there are moves when an actor will spin on his head ½ or a whole rotation. Ras, AKA Ray from Floormaster Dancers ( Brooklyn ) said, “Kung fu played a part in my life. You see the styles they had, they spin on their heads, like b-boying, they had windmills, they were doing the helicopter, which is the swipe. We looked at these things, we used it as dance.

Ray learned Aikido in the marines, and loved the way he could manipulate an opponent’s body weight with the Japanese art. It is hard to say if the influence was always direct, or if it happened because of repeated viewing of similar movements and was appropriated subconsciously..

One thing that Ken, Trac, and Lep all brought up when asked how the films influenced them was routines. The elaborate choreography of Hong Kong martial arts movies inspired the B-Boys to choreograph their own routines with two or more dancers. In kung fu movies and B-Boy routines, creativity and constant practice is what makes the choreography. I asked Lep about the choreography he was involved with in the New York City Breakers. “If we didn’t’t do it right, we would have to do it over and over until we got it right, you know, that’s part of being a professional dancer.”

The B-Boys that started out imitating their heroes on the big screen eventually got to be in movies themselves, performing their own footwork, kicks and flips in films like Flashdance, Wildstyle, and Beatstreet. Beatstreet features the rivalry between RSC and NYCB prominently in the story line. Kuriaki is doing footwork, and Powerful Pexter says, “You’re biters, all you’re homeboys are biters.” Kuriaki responds, “I ain’t never stole no moves from you, your moves ain’t’ worth to be bit, so what’s up with that, punk?” After this exchange of verbal confrontation, the two crews agree to battle each other at the Roxy.

Ken Swift talked about going to Japan to promote Wildstyle on the Wildstyle tour in 1982,”We took Japan by storm, I think they were shook, that movie Wildstyle, was like hard, rugged, rough Bronx. They show burnt buildings, the whole shit, and I think these people were just blown away by this shit that came from those conditions.”

Comment by TV Plus on October 10, 2022 at 10:35pm

Ken was amazed that in Japan , American culture had already impressed the Japanese in a big way. He saw 20 Japanese Elvis impersonators where they were previewing the movie. He saw Japanese rock groups including a Japanese Kiss. While the Japanese were emulating American culture,

American youth was appropriating from Asian culture, and showing the result to an Asian audience for the first time. Ken Swift, “We had to really show the influence of kung fu, martial arts, of kung fu movies in a dance piece, when we went to the Akasaka blitz, in Tokyo , and be in front of Asians, that was strange. We were like, ‘Yo, we’re inspired by these people.’ It was strange, we were concerned, we’re like, ‘how are they going to react to this. ’ I don’t know, the audiences are funny, they can be quiet as hell through the whole show and then at the end, just (claps), and you’re like ‘OK, OK’, you thought they hated it. Some of the audiences are very reserved, everybody really enjoyed it.

After Beatstreet B-Boying, or Breakdancing as it was known to the general public, became a nationwide phenomenon. Two West Coast movies were released, Breakin’, and Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo that featured popping and locking and some b-boying. These movies were produced by Golan Globus, who made movies like Ninja 3: The Domination and later Bloodsport with Jean-Claude Van Damme. Van Damme has a cameo in Breakin’ as a crowd member on the outside of the circle.

Breakin Movie 1.2 B-Boying’s popularity soared and “how to” books and records were released. The dance was exploited and mass marketed for two years, and became the “in” thing. Then in 1985, almost everyone stopped dancing. B-Boying was burnt out from overexposure. Diehard B-Boys kept dancing,

but to the rest of the country it was considered over. Co-incidentally, around the same time, production on traditional kung fu movies ceased in Hong Kong in favor of modern thrillers and comedies. One of the new films was a Breakdance comedy directed directed by Yuen Wo-ping, Mismatched Couples starring Donnie Yen. You can see the influence American culture had on HK at the time.

The moves that were inspired by HK cinema made their way back into the genre they came from in their American B-Boy form. B-Boying also shows up in Drunken Tai Chi and I Will Finally Knock You Down Dad, two of the last traditional kung fu films produced in the 80′s.

In the early 90s B-Boying and the traditional kung fu film both made a comeback. The movie that brought the kung fu film back was Tsui Hark’s Once Upon a Time in China starring Jet Li. The new wave of kung fu films following the success of this film featured different styles of camera angles and editing.

The choreography was enhanced with wirework, which allowed characters to fly. This style was previously seen mostly in swordplay films. Drunken Tai Chi / Once Upon a Time in China

While directors in HK were bringing the kung fu film back, RSC came together with the Rhythm Technicians and Magnificent Force to form Ghettoriginal. This unit produced and performed dance theater about their experiences in B-Boying. One production they performed was Shaolin Temple Hip-Hop that was part of the play Jam on the Groove in 1996.

Shaolin Temple Hip-Hop was a piece that Ghettoriginal put together not to educate people, but as Ken Swift said “It was a bug out skit, lets have fun with our inspiration, one of our favorite inspirations, as B-Boys, that meant so much to us coming up. ” 

Comment by TV Plus on October 10, 2022 at 10:35pm

They played with the themes in kung fu movies and recreated on stage what might happen in a kung fu film. The main character, Flo-Master (who is a Taekwondo stylist and has studied jiu-jitsu and kickboxing) wants to be like Jackie Chan. He falls asleep while watching a kung fu movie in a theater, and wakes up in his dream. In the dream he is a wanderer. Kung fu movies continued to directly inspire B-Boys in the 90s.

Ken Swift formed his own chapter of Rock Steady in 1996, RSC Seven Grandmasters, based on the Joseph Kuo movie 7 Grandmasters. RSC Seven Grandmasters was a battle clique. Ken Swift, “And that was the elite unit of Rock Steady that was all about win, lose, or draw, battling anybody, going out there to war, and it had the same concept as Seven Grandmasters, going all over the country, doing different styles, fighting and challenging, that’s a little what the movie was about.”

RSC Seven Grandmasters were Ken Swift, Honey Rockwell, Mr. Wiggles, Flo-Master, Gizmo, Orko, and Katsu. Representing in Europe were Bruce Wayne and Tony Zoom. Pending to get in at the time were Remind and Crumbs (SEC) and Wicket (Ren). All the members had to train in the other members’ styles and strong points. Kung Fu and B-Boying have many different styles. Each member of the Seven Grandmasters was an expert in their particular style of B-Boying.

Trac 2 told me that B-Boying has never been about an individual, but partners and crews. B-Boys need others to inspire them to advance their skill level and creativity.

The movie 7 Grandmasters also inspired Ken Swift to create a new move. “In the movie, the brother was on the floor, and he grabbed his hands and he pulled and he slid on his butt, and he kicked this dude, I have a forearm glide that I do, called ‘flowing downstream’ that was inspired by the film.”

On March 24, 2001 Koncrete Jungle’s 1st Wu-Shu and B.Boy/B.Girl Dance Challenge was held. The event was presented by the American Wu-Shu Society and Ken Swift Productions. Wu-Shu is the style of martial art practiced by Jet Li. One of Jet Li’s contemporaries from the Zhejiang Wu-Shu professional team, Hu Jianqiang, performed at the event. Master Hu was in Shaolin Temple and Kids from Shaolin.

There was an informal battle between some of the B-Boys and Wu-Shu athletes on the carpet. They were showing each other their skill in acrobatics, and trying to outdo each other. Also, some of the Wu-Shu athletes jumped into the circle to dance. One of the Wu-Shu athletes, Tsuyoshi Kaseda, entered the B-Boy competition and showed everyone his distinctive style. With events like this one, B-Boys and martial artists can exchange ideas and inspire each other in person.

Kung fu films are enjoying a renaissance on the big screen in America. The Chinese language film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, directed by Ang Lee won four Oscars at the Academy Awards and was awarded praise by both critics and fans. B-Boying has made a comeback appearing in numerous videos. Huge martial arts productions are coming to American movie theaters. Lau Kar-leung’s Drunken Monkey is a throwback to the kung fu films of the ’70s. Jet Li and Jackie Chan both have careers in Hollywood. Li’s Cradle to the Grave co-stars DMX. Hip Hop now directly influences an art form it was inspired by. Kung fu films have been with B-Boying from the very beginning, since the street gangs watched the films on 42nd street. Kung fu movies will always be a part of hip hop culture.  (Source: https://www.facebook.com)

Comment by TV Plus on October 10, 2022 at 8:40am

Film Review: Iron Fists and Kung Fu Kicks (2019) - Australia

Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critics Circle of Australia)

Australian director Serge Ou delivers the goodies in the latest Tribute to the origins of Kung Fu films and the influence of the once great Hong Kong cinema to not just Hollywood, but the rest of the world. In making the the in-depth documentary “Iron Fists and Kung Fu Kicks”, Ou presents more than a fan-boy service affair, but instead provide valuable insights for novice and long time genre fans alike.

For a good 30 minutes of the documentary, we get impacted by the power and passion of Bruce Lee. Lee is not only a pioneer, but one of the few bold faces to stand up against the powerhouse of Hollywood in the racist 60s and 70s. What made it more impressive is how Bruce became a legend and how Hollywood missed the original chance. There is also equal screening time for cinematic powerhouse Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest and how the former is a set formula that produces classics and fail to adapt and the later modernised the entire Kung Fu genre and evolve as per market needs.

Of course, no documentary is complete with a tribute to Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Master Yuen Woo Ping. These are masters that shaped and modernised Hong Kong Kung Fu genre into America and the world. “Matrix” showed the world how Hong Kong inspired one of the biggest Hollywood blockbuster in the 90s. It’s a shame that the documentary only glimpses past the contribution of Jet Li and Donnie Yen.

All in all, “Iron Fists and Kung Fu Kicks” is a well edited and produced documentary on a genre beloved by so many and inspired an entire race and generation to other creative channels never seen before. The 90 minutes breezes by in no time as we witness the former greatest of Hong Kong cinema once again and how it is now giving way to the “Ong Bak” and “The Raid” taking over the marital arts mantle. The final segment on Africa seems rushed and padded on to the film, in an otherwise wonderful documentary for long time genre fans to rejoice and new timers to learn about the history of the infectious art. (1.5.2020 https://neofilmshop.com)

Comment by TV Plus on October 1, 2022 at 10:38pm

The Growing Market of Malaysian Movies

Malaysian movie Mat Kilau has just broke box office records by collected over RM96 million after screening for 40 days. And now another Malaysian movie Don't look into the Demon is going to screen in 250 cinemas throughout North America. Both films capitalize Malaysian folk tales, a cultural creative effort that build itself up by marrying local good contents with sound talents. (Dr Tan Beng Huat, 1.10.2022)

Comment by TV Plus on September 19, 2022 at 5:42pm

Dr. Tan Beng Huat: Singapore, Our Natural Source of International Tourists

Few months ago, I had watched a series of documentary on Singapore's nation-building experience in Netflix Channel by the title "A Frame In Time". Many good stories are shared through their heritage of old paintings, photographs & black and white contents from TV archive. One of them, "A Quest For Unity In 1960s " is to explore Singaporeans' desire to learn Bahasa Malaysia in evening classes, attempted to be a Good Malaysian.......

Chua Mia Tee, National Language Class, 1959, Oil on canvas, 112 x 153 cm, Installation view at the National Gallery

As a young kid in Southern Johore then, Singapore to me is just our neighbour town where my aunt stay. Many people of my generation who opted for Singapore citizenship have just retired in recent years with reasonable or even good saving. It's natural for them to be a rich tourist to visit Malaysia, where their relatives stay.

In fact, all these years, Singaporeans make up around one third of our foreign tourists (excluding the excursionists who make daily trips across the JB causeway). After the Covid-19 close down, other than visit their relatives and Genting Highland, their destinations also include many Malaysian places that they have never considered before. Just to name a few, weekend city tour to Sibu, Sarawak, Off Shore Angling trip to Kuching, home-stay in Kuala Selangor......these were in fact my youngest sister's records with her family and family of my brother-in-law's siblings. Our nature and culture is a blessing to them too.

Beside family tour, to my Singaporen nephews and thier peers, our seas are their diving paradise. One of them even become a coral conservationist of our under-sea world with funding from Singaporen government.

Meaning? Before we go back to what we have in 2019 which have witnessed international tourism hit record high of 1.5 billion, of which China's contribution is 10%, our neighboring countries are our hope. Other than Singapore, the number of Vietnamese's outbound tourists to South-East Asia is also going up. Afterall, to Sabah and Sarawak, tourists from Penisular is a ready market yet to be fully tapped.   (18.9.2022)

Comment by TV Plus on August 15, 2022 at 1:48pm

陳明發《法律詩性》
美國名導馬丁斯科塞斯（Martin Scorcese，1942——，Taxi Driver等電影導演），在2022完成了Netflix 紀錄片《Rolling Thunder Revue：鮑勃·迪倫的故事》。在片中，為被誤判謀殺案而坐了20年牢的Rubin "Hurricane" Carter所唱的歌曲，在法律、詩性與反思之間建立起聯系，讓人想起「法律詩性」的問題，對冷冰冰的法律，我們是否可能借詩性智慧做出省思？（15.08.2022）

Comment by TV Plus on July 30, 2022 at 3:20pm

陳明發·東西交融～文化敘事提供的選項：大馬有文化人才，畢業于八打靈公教中学的美籍女編導陳風錐立足好萊塢，剛剛贏得多倫多影展大獎。她對本地媒體透露，其作品在北美重要影展中贏得“最佳恐怖片”，原因是它結合東西方靈異氛圍，呈獻了新穎的驚悚體驗。

陳風錐的電影美學說明了，在文化敘事裏，東西方不但可以不衝突，而且還可能找到融合的契機。

我們願意借助文化敘事途徑來促進彼此的了解嗎？

人類目前的處境是：選擇文化交融，或：軍火交易，然後交戰。

我們需要新的方法，重新認識本身的命運。文化敘事提供了一項有效的選項。

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