What if people could run at super speed, leap to incredible heights, and take all kinds of punches without hardly flinching? This is the world of Stephen Chow's 2004 action flick Kung Fu Hustle, where the normal limits of the human body don't exist nor do the laws of physics. The action sequences are gratuitously excessive, but these sorts of over-the-top depictions of bodies and what they're capable of are exactly what appeal to audiences across the world.
The film's fixation with bodies is apparent from the start when we're introduced to the people of Pigsty Alley. Even the most unsuspecting residents like little boys and old people are revealed to have insanely strong bodies to a comical extent. However, it's not just those with visible muscles who are able to kick ass. One of the original top warriors was an effeminate tailor, and even the landlady has phenomenal physical abilities like running at super human speed and "the lion's roar". While most films depict the masses as ordinary folks who are generally boring, Pigsty Alley provides an alternative vision of reality in which practically everyone is physically powerful and able to fight off bad guys. Furthermore, Kung Fu Hustle challenges the notion set forth in The Incredibles that if everyone is special then really nobody is. Instead, viewers are likely to believe that the people of Pigsty Alley are indeed special, precisely because they are a mass of seemingly regular people who are actually anything but that.
The main character also has spectacular capabilities. In one humorous moment, his sidekick accidentally throws three knives in his shoulder, and soon after he is attacked by snakes. Just a few scenes later, though, our man is as good as new, shoulder and swollen lip completely healed. He later shows off his skills in kung fu and all of the acrobatics that come along with a well-choreographed fight sequence. The final showdown between him and the Beast is of course excessive. Both men do so many things that humans can't do in real life, but that's why audiences are watching.
Characters like James Bond, Captain America, and the people in Kung Fu Hustle use their bodies to pull off wild stunts and come out unscathed, and this language of movement transcends national boundaries. David Bordwell writes in one chapter of Planet Hong Kong: Popular Cinema and the Art of Entertainment, "In many movies, the chief pleasures are pictorial," which holds true especially in the case of action films (7). People don't go to gratuitously violent summer blockbusters for the dialogue; they go for the visual spectacle, including seeing bodies moving and acting on screen in ways that they can't in the real world. Regardless of what sort of cultural background we come from, we want to see the impossible become possible, and popular cinema allows us to do that.
Really important ideas here. I think a lot about the 'don't judge a book by its cover' saying during the scene where he is looking for people to fight to teach a lesson so to speak.
ReplyDeleteI love all of the descriptions you made of the abilities shown in this film. I agree that the reason why these types of films hold our attention is because they show things that we can't actually do.
ReplyDeleteThis is so insightful, I find it really interesting that no matter what it is doing people are drawn in by the human body. I wonder what the root of this is. Film loves to show off the body whether it is through action, sex, or bodily functions.
ReplyDeleteI think there's a sort of escapism inherent in wanting the impossible to be possible, as you put it. A subconscious desire by the viewer to escape the confines of the world we live in. Helps explain the monolith of Marvel these days, and plenty of other movies that deal with fantasy worlds in that manner.
ReplyDeleteYou have some very insightful ideas. I really like how in the first paragraph you capture the essence of Chow's cinematic world perfectly. I also really liked the references you made to pop culture and the descriptions you make about how the human body is manipulated in a comedic way in this film.
ReplyDeleteI like the connection you make to "The Incredibles"; the point that "if everybody's special then nobody is". I think it added to Chow's character in "Kung Fu Hustle" that he was the best out of a cast of great fighters.
ReplyDeleteI find what you were saying about body movement as acting very interesting. I think that seeing impossible things become possible through film is one of the largest reasons we watch action films and hero films sometimes. A kung fu movie has to do a lot for the audience to suspend their disbelief as to why a crowd of people can't take out a single person. But i love how this movie does this with over the top visual effects and story.
ReplyDelete(by billy)
DeleteThis is a really great blog and the points people raise are also really interesting. I agree that these films are driven by the things that you all outline here: a fascination with the body and a desire to make it be and do more.
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