Enter The Dragon

As you can see from the title I couldn't quite think of a witty and humorous title for this blog post, but oh well cest la vie and all that. And yes this is due to be my second essay thingy in one week. And no I haven't gone mad. What I have done is realise how much longer we have of our 'summer holiday' left. A week essentially, well with a few extra days. So since stumbling across this rather depressing reality I though I still have alot of work to do so here I am, bored as hell on a sunday so Im going to do another post.

This one is on Enter The Dragon. It was directed by Robert Clouse and released in 1973. And straight away this film is special as it is the first co-made Japanese and American martial arts film. Being the first martial arts film to be made by an Hollywood studio is pretty damned big news. Now although this film is deemed American/Asain to most people it is considered to be predominantly Asain due to the location as the majority of it is set in Hong Kong, the actors as it mainly stars Asians, and the films star Bruce Lee even revised of the script and even directed parts of it. It was made with Golden Harvest, a Chinese film production studio and Lee's own film production company Concord.

So although this film does have a bit of America in it, it is Asian at heart, this is mainly due to Bruce Lee wishing to portray this film not as another mindless action film but as a wway of expressing his beautiful Chinese culture.

The plot of this film revolves around Bruce Lee's originally named character, Lee as a martial artist/monk type guy who is asked by some suits (the FBI or the government, who knows) to infiltrate a karate tournament on an island hosted by Han, as Han is thought to be a heroine/opium dealer. Needless to say Lee agrees and becomes enthralled in a masquerade of murder and martial arts until the film flash kicks its way to one of the most iconic climaxes in cinema, the mirror maze fight between Lee and the claw handed, Han.

You don't mess with the Lee

As the picture above shows the star of this film is the late and very great Bruce Lee. He died 6 dyas before the release of the film mysteriously making this his last film and most well known, influential, iconic and money making. Bruce had previously starred in films before this, most notable were his martian arts films with Golden Harvest Studios such as the film that catapulted him to fame Big Boss. Now this article is not on Bruce Lee, but it could quite easly be given that this film helped him to achieve fame in the US and in Europe. But this film did not just make Bruce a legend. The film it self was a box office legend taking in an estimated 90 million dollars world wide with only 850, 000 dollars for a budget, making this one of the most profitable films ever made.

As well as making Bruce a hit all over the world even after his untimely death, Enter the Dragon also as my hypotheses states, changed world cinema forever. Not only did it introduce the world to the brilliance that was Bruce Lee but it also introduced the world to the martial arts sub-genre. Before Enter, martial arts films were a massive niche market of films only really found in Asia at the time. Enter changed all that. The box office taking show don't you think. But it was not just in cinema that martial arts was making an impact, it made an impact on the whole world with martial arts themed shows such as 'Kung Fu' and songs such as Kunf Fu Fighting. Enter had changed media at the time. People every where were taking up martial arts inspired by the film. That along with the fact it sparked a sub-genre in itself is reason enough as to why this film is so influential and had such an impact on world cinema. But it also paved the way for modern films such as the money spinning Rush Hour trilogy.

Which conveniently allows me to move on to my next point. If launching a sub-genre wasn't enough and establishing Bruce Lee as a popular culture icon, but also launching the acting career of none other than Jackie Chan. Chan starred as a stunt man in this film as well as having many other minor roles, this lead to further association with Golden Harvest Studios and arguably the launching of Chans film career. Further acting on world cinema as Chan has starred in 94 films himself. Thsi can only snowball really as arguing that it paved the way for Jet Li as well. I think you see where im going with this. Enter the Dragon = alot for martial arts to be thankful for really.

A financial and critical extrodianre. One of hte most culturally significant and one of the greatest films of all time. Taken into accont all it has done for cinema that is not really a surprise is it.

It is also constantly referenced in popular culture. A list on wikipedia to long for me to type out on this. Bruce and the film are referenced in countless number of video games, inspiring characters and move sets. Inspiring scenes from other popular films such as Pulp Fiction and many many more.

According to wiki a remake is even said to be in the works.

Bruce Lee's wife once said that we shouldn't dwell on how Bruce died but rather remember how he lived. Enter the Dragon is a prime example of the man and one of the best martial arts experiences there is as the jewel in the crown of martial arts films.

- Alex x

Akira Akira.

In 1988 something happened that was to change the term 'cartoon' for ever as far as im concerned, the Japanese cult hit Akira (directed by Katsuhiro Otomo). A film adaption of a Manga Comic of the same name, Akira made mass waves all over the world.

In continuing with continuity of this series of critical research essays/blog posts on the films I shall do as I did with Godzilla and start with the story.

Right, the story, ermm... the story is well hard to explain. So I shall let imdb do it for me.

"A secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psionic psychopath that only two kids and a group of psionics can stop"

In a rather large nutshell that is basically it. This is by no means a classic Hollywood high concept film. As this film is based on a Manga (one that spans over 6 volumes) it is by no means going to be an easy and smooth translation to a two hour film. People who have already read the Manga will no doubt understand the story vastly more than others but doesn't stop this from being one heck of a film. The story revolves around a rebellious teenagers slow and rapid fall into psychological oblivion. With awesome cartoon bike chases to top it off. The story is hard to encapsulate is what I think im getting at here.

The film, in terms of visuals is a masterpiece. It is a lush and glorious depiction of a cyberpunk punk dystopian Neo-Tokyo. This fusion of psychedelic colours and bleak back drops consisted of over 150, 000 cels of animation, thats 3 times more than usual to me and you, equaling to alot of layers of awesome. The explosive 'Japanimation' is powerful enough to shudder even Disney's feathers as even to this day 20 years after its first release it is still considered to be a landmark in animation and even film, breaking previous anime trends such as cornet cutting (such as moving mouths and static faces). This visual approach to the film could be argued to be one of the reasons it is so damn popular. But there are obvious other reasons such as its stock fan base of loyal Manga readers who flocked to see their favourite Manga distilled into film(and it shows as it grossed over ¥6,346,343,871 in Japan, almost 50 million dollars, a number which is still probably rising in DVD sales). Also the films themes were popular of the time such as as it consisted of the destruction of Japan as well as its post-war revival (such as Godzilla).

Another reason for this films success would be the sound that accompanies it, it fuses together moderns synth sounds with classical Japanese instruments to create a delightfully futuristic sound. Also as the director often extracted the sound at key action orientated points in the film such as explosions to emphasis the emotion of the characters and then revving up the action again in the scenes after with a plethora of sounds and effects. Often attacking the viewers ears.

Artistically this is an amazing film. Critically and commercially with an averages score of 88% on RottenTomatoes its easy to say it was 10 million dollars well spent on a film. With its main criticism being that at times the story is too complex.

"Okay Alex, so its a good film, but how the hell is this changing world cinema??" Is what some people may say. Well let me tell you.

Akira is not just a landmark film cos its looks pretty. Its a land mark film because it is the one of most internationally successful and described as the "definitive anime film" as it is credited as being the first full length animated feature to play widely in cinemas out side of Japan. Injecting Manga into the western audiences as some would say. Before Akira cartoons were seen as childlike and well rather simple, but Akira opened their eyes with its apocalyptic tale of a teenager running amok in Tokyo who accidentally destroys it as well. In destroying neo-tokyo, Otomo lead the way for anime in the west.

Akira was followed by other works by Otomo such as Metropolis in 2001 and Steamboy in 2004. Although not as successful as Akira, they also effected cinema winning awards such as best Animation and builds on the foundations of Akira in catapulting Anime out of obscurity.

Akira had highlighted anime and created an interest in it which could be argued to be a reason for the ever growing popularity of the Studio Ghibli films post- Akira such as Howl's Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away which even won an Oscar for the best animated feature.

Akira is still popular till this day with a mass cult following surrounding its mainstream success it is often referenced in other media, most notably of late in Kanye West's video for 'Stronger' in 2007 with scenes of the film remade using CGI. Clips of the film were even in a Michael and Janet Jackson video called 'Scream' in 1995 and is even referenced in the British sitcom, Spaced.

So as you can see Akira didnt just do wonders for anime film it also changed world cinema for what I hope is, forever. As I dread that Akira will fade back into the obscurity of its predecessors. But it doesn't seem like thats going to happen thanks to the Hollywood remaking machine 2 live action adaptions are to follow with one in the summer of 2009. Great.

- Alex x

I are Gozilla, you are Japan.

Right, erm I have commented on the blog my hypotheses as requested and was going to initially wait for it to be published or ok'd in some way. But no activity on the school blog or any one elses blog I figure I will have to wait a fair bit for that.

But I assume its a fine hypotheses as I had talked it over and over with Mr White (=[) and Ms Ward and they were happy with it, plus I do not want to put this off any longer. So I figured I may as well start, going to have to some time.

So I am going to with my research into my first film: Godzilla. Dir - Inoshiro Honda

When I say Godzilla most people immediately picture a gargantuan lizard tearing through Tokyo (Or America depending on how clued up you are, but more on that later) like a chainsaw through butter. People do not typically think of a political film that has impacted the world of cinema almost like no other in certain genres.

'Nooo way' you say at that second statement, well as my hypothesis is on the impact of Asian films on world cinema, in my research I found that Godzilla was one of the most impacting.

Let us start with the story. Godzilla was released in Japan in 1954, 9 years after the first atomic bomb was released and the story tells of nuclear testing that awakens a slumbering Jurassic age reptile by the name of Godzilla. The following of the film consists of Japan deciding what to do with this new menace of massive proportions whilst Godzilla pops up and wreaks havoc on the mainland and islands off of it. All matter of military force is used to stop the monster from bullets to missiles to electrical fences but obviously none of it has any effect and Godzilla's path of destruction lengthens with each failed attempt. How ever a secret scientific prototype weapon developed by a lonesome scientist known as the 'Oxygen Destroyer' seems to be their only hope. How ever not only would it destroy the monster but all other life within Tokyo-Bay.

That is the jist of the story, an even shorter version would be 'a monster fucks shit up'. But I don't think the examiners would appreciate that. Now, the fact that this film was released almost a decade after the first Atom bombs were dropped on Hiroshima in JAPAN is no coincidence and as it was released at a time when science fiction films were used as a covert way to shoe horn political and social commentary into films with out offending people. Godzilla could be said to be the epitome of this as it is a metaphor for the nuclear age, which is one of the reasons why this film has gathered such fame and had such an impact on world cinema as behind the rubbery costume of Godzilla lies a cleverly crafted critique of modern science, war and its effect on post-war Japan. Not only was it a metaphor for the atomic bomb and Hiroshima but also of another tragic Japanese incident 5 years before involving the boat 'Lucky Dragon 5', which was aJapanese tuna fishing boat which was exposed and contaminated to American nuclear fall out, this is notable and obvious during the films opening as a fishing boat is destroyed by Godzilla's radioactive breath and a life preserver in the background of the wreckage has the number '5' on it.

The reason Godzilla acted as an allegory for the nuclear age was due to the state of the global post-war environment where opinions had to be hidden or not said at all, as to not upset the delicate status quo of the times that had been achieved at the end of WW2. Although Japan was seen as the victim to American aggression for Japan to openly criticise it was still unacceptable, so they did the next best thing and made a film about a Jurassic monster to voice their opinions.

Regardless of the some what controversial nature of the film at the times upon its first release it sold 9,610,000 tickets and was the eight most attended film of that year. It grossed approximately 152 million Yen ($2.25 million dollars). Also critics at first were dubious about the film and saw it as a mockery of the nuclear age but as time went on the film slowly gained more and more respected in its home country and is considered to be second only to another holy iconic Japanese film, Seven Samurai (more on that in due course).

The popularity of Godzilla had such an impact in world cinema that it prompted a joint American and Japanese release of Godzilla: King of Monsters in 1956 that was released a year after Godzilla's initial release in America and it consisted of original Godzilla footage with an American character in the mix of it as a reporter, reporting (duh) on the arrival of Godzilla. This change was to make American actors identify more with the film and it was thought that the original was still too anti-American due to the storyline which heavily focused on nuclear activities and its release to a mass American audience could have been damaging to the relations between the countries. How ever this was not the only spin off...

There are numerous amounts of scenes in Godzilla, not only the first one which sees the destruction of the fisherman ships, this also holds implicit meanings as Godzilla, the walking metaphor for the bomb is first spotted in the sea by Japanese fishermen. Other less monster-esque scenes that hold numerous implicit alter meanings are when the citizens of Japan are demanding information about the deaths by Godzilla from the government but are given the littlest information possible, also when Professor Yamane gives his hypothesis that Godzilla was awakened by nuclear testing he is told he cannot let the public know, this sparks a debate on the panels. This reflects how the government were about the Hiroshima incident and the war in general by not reporting losses to the people to maintain the illusion of victory. Information was leaked as the government saw fit, alluding to the idea that the government knew more than than they let on about America's plans to bomb them. A monstrous government?

Godzilla's carnage is also vital as he is often seen destroying roads, electrical towers, roads, bridges, hospitals, malls and cars, which are all signs of modernity and represent the nuclear bomb wiping out all signs of life in Japan. The fact that the film is shot in black and white is also noteworthy as it was intended to increase the audiences tension and represent the starkness, also Godzilla's roar was akin to the sound that accompanies the dropping of a bomb.

The 'oxygen destroyer' is noted by its inventor as a terrible invention that claims its destruction could be worse than that of the atomic bomb. This is a scene put in by Honda to give a face to the faceless by using the film Honda questions whether the inventors of the A-Bomb knew of its destructive capabilities. In doing this Honda confronts and questions complex ethical and moral questions.

Nom nom nom.

So there you have it, the low down on Godzilla and all the reasons as to why it had such a huge impact on cinema of Japan AND the world. But it also had a large influence on the science fiction genre and created a genre in itself, the monster movie genre (still popular today, a la, Cloverfield). Godzilla used state of the art special effects in order to do this and the success of the film allowed other films to take its concept and run with it. It also spawned many, MANY sequels;

• Godzilla (1954)

• Godzilla Raids Again (1955)

• King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962)

• Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964)

• Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)

• Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965)

• Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster (1966)

• Son of Godzilla (1967)

• Destroy All Monsters (1968)

• All Monsters Attack (1969)

• Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971)

• Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972)

• Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973)

• Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)

• Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)

• The Return of Godzilla (1984)

• Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)

• Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991)

• Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992)

• Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993)

• Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994)

• Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)

• Godzilla (1998)

• Godzilla 2000 (1999)

• Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000)

• Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001)

• Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (2002)

• Godzilla: Tokyo SOS (2003)

• Godzilla: Final Wars (2004)

If you beat the dead horse enough it'll still let out whimpers of life, above is the evidence of this.

Godzilla luha- Godzilla goes to Hawaii

The one most people are familiar with is the big budget American remake in 1998. How ever this lacked positive reviews from critics and fans alike.

But this all sparked from the original. A small cult film that is still not really that heard of by wide audiences of today (people often mistake it one of its many, manyyyy sequels) and in popular culture it is often seen as a joke due to those sequels, but Godzilla stands as one of the most iconic figures in film of all time. Also as it pretty much spawned a genre on its own show the impact that this film has had on world cinema, he even has a star on the walk of fame. The use of a Jurassic creature as a metaphor for the dawn of a nuclear age and for the future is rather bizarre and quite ironic and even in a sense comical, if it were not based on a disturbing reality.

- Alex x

Back.

Hey, It is 20 to 12 on the 5th of August and ive just got back from seeing The Dark Night for the second time and am eating Quaker Oats whilst waiting for Dara O'Briain to come on the television. Welcome to my summer holiday.

After a few initial weeks into my summer of relaxation and generally doing nothing (which I haven't actually done much of ironically) I have noticed everyone has been moved in to the 'slogs' section and no activity, from well, any one from media as of late. So to get back into the proverbial swing of things I thought id do a post. Now this post will not involve any critical research as the book I was using as research had to go back to the library as it was overdue :/

But! This post is going to act as a predecessor, a warning if you like to say that after this I will be back in my blogging ways and post some actual useful... stuff. On Japanese films. Soon.

Sometime by the end of this week soon. The posts will consist of a post by post look at the films I am researching, as you already know. Just thought id clarify.

.... :/


- Alex x


p.s. GO SEE THE DARK KNIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!