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This paper was presented at the Association for Education in Journalism and
Mass Communication in San Antonio, Texas August 2005.
If you have questions about this paper, please contact the author
directly. If you have questions about the archives, email
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(Feb 2006)
Thank you.
Elliott Parker
====================================================================
Hong Kong Cultural Identity
in Jackie Chan's Hong Kong and Hollywood Movies
Jun Wang
Affiliation: Graduate Student, University of Minnesota
Mailing address: 111 Marquette Ave. S. Apt. 2004, Minneapolis, MN 55401
Tel: 612-964-8978
Email: [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask]
AV needs: Should the paper be accepted, I want to present it in
Microsoft PowerPoint format.
*Submitted to the International Communication Division
Abstract: By studying Jackie Chan's four movies, two from Hong Kong
(Project A and Who Am I?) and two from Hollywood (Rush Hour and
Shanghai Noon), this article attempts to compare how Hong Kong
cultural identity is represented differently in Hong Kong movies with
that in Hollywood movies. The method of framing analysis is used and
seven frames are identified. They are: insignificance of cultural
origin, exoticness, uptightness, subservience, ignorance, disrespect
and downplaying heroism.
Hong Kong Cultural Identity
in Jackie Chan's Hong Kong and Hollywood Movies
Submitted to the International Communication Division
Abstract: By studying Jackie Chan's four movies, two from Hong Kong
(Project A and Who Am I?) and two from Hollywood (Rush Hour and
Shanghai Noon), this article attempts to compare how Hong Kong
cultural identity is represented differently in Hong Kong movies with
that in Hollywood movies. The method of framing analysis is used and
seven frames are identified. They are: insignificance of cultural
origin, exoticness, uptightness, subservience, ignorance, disrespect
and downplaying heroism.
Hong Kong Cultural Identity
in Jackie Chan's Hong Kong and Hollywood Movies
Introduction
In the past two decades or so, there has been a flow of Hong Kong
film talents into Hollywood. Especially since the mid-nineties, Hong
Kong stars and filmmakers have been involved in more and more
Hollywood productions and in different genres.[1] As a result, they
have gained popularity among mainstream American audiences. The most
outstanding figures include, John Woo, who has stabilized his place
in Hollywood by directing big hits like Broken Arrow (1995), Face/Off
(1997), Mission Impossible 2 (2000) and The Paycheck (2004); Jackie
Chan,[2] with Chris Tucker, finally really made himself known in
Hollywood through Rush Hour (1998);[3] the "action queen" Michelle
Yeoh, who played the leading heroine in Pierce Brosnan's James Bond
movie, Tomorrow Never Dies (1997); Sammo Hung, who appeared in the
CBS drama Martial Law every Saturday night for three seasons; Yun-Fat
Chow,[4] who appeared with Jodie Foster in Anna and the King (1999)
after two consecutive roles in The Replacement Killers (1998) and The
Corruptor (1999) (Chow's recent appearance in The Monk (2003) further
solidified his Hollywood stardom); Jet Li,[5] whose stunning fighting
style in big-budget hits like Lethal Weapon 4 (co-starred with Mel
Gibson) and Romeo Must Die (2000) has made him popular among US
moviegoers; and Wo-Ping Yuen, who choreographed Keanu Reeves and
designed action sequences for The Matrix (1999), and he also
choreographed Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu in Charlie's
Angels (2000).
The primary reason behind this flow, as Fredric Dannen and Barry Long
(1997) point out, is an uneasy transition concerning Hong Kong's
postcolonial situation. The Hong Kong movie industry enjoyed an
extended dynamic financial success through the 1980s and early 1990s.
Around 1993, with the Asian financial crisis, which seriously
affected Hong Kong's economy, and the uncertainty about Hong Kong's
future upon being returned to China after a 150-year British colonial
rule, movie industry leaders, including many directors who had filmed
on the mainland and had complained about its censorship, bureaucracy
and corruption, considered emigrating to the United States. The
political situations, however, was not the only reason of the drain
of Hong Kong film talents into Hollywood. Commerce played an
important role as well. In the movie industry, Hong Kong is called
Dongfang Haolaiwu, or "the Hollywood of the East." Being a movie
capital and a major money center in Asia, Hong Kong produces
mass-appeal entertainment, particularly action films and comedies.
These movies, which are produced fast and inexpensively,[6] may lack
the high-mindedness (or intelligence and philosophical depth) of many
mainland China and Taiwan movies,[7] but as French fries are to the
American "fast food" culture, so are the Hong Kong movies to certain
genres of Hollywood cinema.
To an extent, the Hollywood and Hong Kong film industries are taking
advantages of each other.[8] In fact, John Woo has been quoted as
saying, "It is ironic that Hollywood began to imitate Hong Kong
movies in the late eighties and nineties because Hong Kong films (to
a certain degree) are imitations of Hollywood films, so Hollywood is
imitating Hollywood!" (quoted in Stokes and Hoover, 1999: 309). This
comment hints that Hong Kong filmmakers, in order to make a
breakthrough into Hollywood, duplicate Hollywood acting style. To put
it in another way, the representation[9] of Hong Kong culture in
Hollywood films has succumbed to the hegemonic[10] stereotype[11]
recognized by the West.
During this cross-cultural or transnational process, Hong Kong actors
have more or less lost their unique Hong Kong cultural identity. But
what was the Hong Kong cultural identity and how did it get lost as
the Hong Kong film talents were incorporated into Hollywood movies?
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the translation of Hong Kong
cultural identity in Hollywood movies. The ways Hong Kong culture is
depicted in both Jackie Chan's Hong Kong and Hollywood movies were studied.
Nationalism, National Cinema
When film was invented, the cinema seemed to be a transnational
medium. This was due in part to the fact that early cinema was silent
and the meaning was conveyed through images. Benedict Anderson, in
Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of
Nationalism (1991), defines modern nation as "an imagined political
community—and imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign." He
further argues that "print-language is what (originally) invents
nationalism." However, many scholars do not agree with Anderson. Alan
Williams, for example, says that during cinema's first decade, a
"foreign" version of a film was made by simply putting new subtitles
in the target language (2002: 2) and the message could still be
understood by people worldwide.[12] Therefore, he suggests, "national
barriers would definitively arrive only with (recorded) speech." It
is the sound recoding in different languages that segregates films
into different nationalities and sets up national boundaries. Viewers
who do not speak the language used in a certain film (without
translated subtitles) need knowledge of cultural background and
interpretation of the film's message. With this said, one may wonder
if the US, the UK, Australia and New Zealand—countries that share
language—have the same nationalism, or France and Quebec, for that
matter. But Anderson argues that two sets of circumstances are
required for identifying nationalism. While there has been a relative
decline of the great cultural systems of the religious community and
the dynastic realm, print language created inclusive, extendable
communities, and a new way of thinking of history—as taking place in
"homogenous, empty time" (p.26). With emergence of the modern
calendar, the nation can be
conceived as a solid community moving steadily down (or up) in
history. An American will never meet, or even know the names of more
than a handful of his 240, 000-odd (sic) fellow Americans. He has no
idea of what they are up to at any one time. But he has complete
confidence in their steady, anonymous, simultaneous activity (p.26).
Nationalism is not necessarily determined by nationality. In fact,
cultural, political, historical, geographical and ethnographical
factors are significant in nationalism. For example, when a
thirty-something Chinese young man emigrates to Canada, he may still
refer to himself as Chinese. But a Chinese-Canadian who was born and
raised in Canada may distinguish himself from the new
immigrant—although they have the same ethnicity and citizenship—as
Canadian and Chinese. For another example, a bilingual person may
find his/her nationalism more complicated than a monolingual person,
since he/she understands and shares a portion of the culture in both
his/her first language country and second language country.
It is in this sense that Andrew Higson, a film studies scholar, calls
it inappropriate to use the term "national cinema" to describe the
films simply made within a particular nation-state. In fact, "the
parameters of a national cinema should be drawn at the site of
consumption as much as at the site of production of films…in other
words, that focuses on the activity of national audiences and the
conditions under which they make sense of and use the films they
watch." Higson discusses four approaches to study of cinema: the
production-centered industry in economic terms, the creation of film
texts, the exhibition-led market, and the criticism-led
traditions.[13] He writes:
to identify a national cinema is to specify a coherence and a unity;
it is to proclaim a unique identity and a stable set of meanings. The
process of identification is thus invariably a hegemonizing,
mythologizing process, involving both the production and assignation
of a particular set of meanings, and the attempt to contain, or
prevent the potential proliferation of other meanings. At the same
time, the concept of a national cinema has almost invariably been
mobilized as a strategy of cultural (and economic) resistance: a
means of asserting national autonomy in the face of (usually)
Hollywood's international domination (pp.53-54).
Again, it is important to bear in mind that national cinema,
"which functions as part of a web of economic and cultural
institutions within a recognisable and bounded society" (Chu, 2003:
xi), does not necessarily mean it is confined within the boundary of
a nation-state. This seems especially true with Hong Kong.
Hong Kong Cinema
Although Hong Kong lacks some attributes of a nation and its cinema
may not fit conveniently into the concept of national cinema, Hong
Kong cinema has certain characteristics of a national cinema. As
Yingchi Chu (2003) states, Hong Kong cinema has played such a role:
"[I]t provides local employment, attracts overseas investment,
contributes taxes and export earnings and, at the same time,
participates with the community in the construction of a Hong Kong
cultural identity, both in political and cinematic terms" (p.xi).
Besides, Hong Kong, currently a SAR (Special Administrative Region)
of China, has so many unique features in its history, geography and
politics that it can be regarded, at least, as Chu (2003) claims, a
"quasi-nation" (p.xii). In light of this, Chu argues, Hong Kong
cinema should be studied as a national cinema.
Before the official return of Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty on
July 1, 1997, a triangular relationship existed between the British
colonizer, the Chinese motherland and Hong Kong in determining Hong
Kong's political and economic system. Chu suggests defining the term
"nation" in three ways: as a political unit, as an "imagined
community" (as defined by Anderson, 1991: 26) or as a combination of
the two. As a political unit, Hong Kong, enjoying a high degree of
autonomy from both Britain and the motherland in the triangular
relationship, developed a distinctive way of life and culture. It is
recognized both internationally and locally as a political unit.[14]
It is in this sense that Chu says Hong Kong was a "quasi-nation."
Hong Kong was a society that was ethnically Chinese but governed by
the British. Hong Kong can be regarded as a quasi-nation also because
its culture was associated with China and as part of the Chinese
national community. Hong Kong citizens were actively involved in many
mainland events.[15] Thus, in one way or another, Hong Kong had the
characteristic of a dual cultural identity as Hong Kong and as part
of China. After the reunification on July 1, 1997, the
bi-relationship[16] between the mainland and Hong Kong did not change
the political and economic system fundamentally because the Chinese
central government promised that Hong Kong could continue its
capitalist system for at least another fifty years. This was one of
the main crucial measures intended to maintain the stability and
development of Hong Kong.
Hong Kong cinema, therefore, can and should be studied as a national
cinema. However, this national cinema, as defined by Chu as a
quasi-national cinema, is both different from and related with the
Chinese national cinema in many ways.
Hong Kong Cultural Identity[17]
A cultural identity always originates from and is constructed by a
particular national community within a particular culture. According
to Stuart Hall (1991: 41-81; 1990: 222-37; 1989: 69), a cultural
identity can be understood from two perspectives. The first approach
is to assume that a cultural identity is the essence of one's true
self. It is fixed, cannot be replaced, and is "hiding inside the many
other, more superficial or artificially imposed 'selves,' which
people with a shared history and ancestry hold in common" (1989: 69).
Therefore, the cultural identity of Hong Kong is always essentially
Chinese in the discourse of the true self, for the production of a
cultural identity tends to tighten the connections between the
existing self (Hong Kong) and what is regarded as one's "authentic"
or "original" culture (Chinese). The second approach is a denial of
the existence of any authentic cultural identity. With changed
political, economic and social environments, cultural identity
changes as well. Culture is not static, but is always in process.
Adopting Hall's second perspective on cultural identity, Chu points
out that "the production of cinematic cultural identity in Hong Kong
since the inception of the industry has always fluctuated between
Chinese national identity, Cantonese regional identity, and Chinese
Mandarin cultural identity." As mentioned before, he generalized the
cinematic cultural identity as quasi-national.
In her article "Are All Latins from Manhattan? Hollywood,
Ethnography, and Cultural Colonialism," Ana M. López (1991) argues
that "the classic Hollywood cinema was never kind to ethnic or
minority groups." Whatever ethnicity, "Hollywood represented ethnics
and minorities as stereotypes that circulated easily and repeatedly
from film to film. Most significantly, minorities and ethnics were
most noticeable by their absence in classic Hollywood films. Rarely
protagonists, ethnics merely provided local color, comic relief, or
easily recognizable villains and dramatic foils. When coupled with
the pervasiveness of stereotypes, this marginalization or negation
completes the usual 'pattern' of Hollywood's ethnic representation
and its standard assessment as damaging, insulting, and negative" (p.195).
The key word "negation" in this statement implies that Hollywood
seldom represents the correct images of minorities. In fact,
Kwai-Cheung Lo further develops this idea into a notion of "double
negations." He states, "the cultural identity of (Hong Kong), which
has been extensively grounded on and largely represented by its local
cinema, undergoes tangible changes, thus showing a stronger awareness
of its deeply ambiguous, contingent and precarious character of
existence…The so-called remaking of Hong Kong cultural identity in
Hollywood films could also be understood in terms of a double
negation, which means that: (1) there are two negations that happen
simultaneously; and (2) a negation of negation." By that, he means
that there always exists a distance that "separates the simple
identification of the stars with their characters in the Hollywood
films…, suggesting that the subject named 'Hong Kong' in western
media is primarily reserved for the so-called real external
portrayals but almost excluded from the fictional diegetic world.
Therefore, Hong Kong identity formed in Hollywood is never simply a
given-being but a negation of itself as other than this given."
(pp.466-467) That is the first layer of negation.
Lo further explains that in Hong Kong cinema, "the formation of local
identity is connected to a certain negation of Chineseness, though
such negation is still very much confined to the Chinese cultural
symbolic realm. Besides this local and more immediate negation, Hong
Kong's transnational crossing to Hollywood initiates another negation
that negates the very symbolic realm common to Chineseness" (p.467).
Therefore, in local Hong Kong movies, the Hong Kong film industry has
always tried to establish the uniqueness of Hong Kong cultural
identity. Does this uniqueness still maintain in the Hollywood movies?
The purpose of the paper is to discuss this question through study of
the transformation of Hong Kong cultural identity in the Hollywood movies.
Methodology
Among all the Hong Kong film stars that are working in Hollywood,
Jackie Chan is by far the best known both in America and
internationally. With straightforward story plots, fast-paced scenes,
interesting dialogues, funny acting and, of course, spectacular
fighting stunts, Chan's movies are never dull. Watching Chan's movies
is enjoyable because one needs never worry about the ending—the
"good" guys always win over the "bad" guys. Such elements are the
deciding factors in the commercial success of Chan's movies. With at
least one movie made in America every year and year round TV
cartoon—Jackie Chan's Adventures, Jackie Chan has become a household
name in the United States. The ages of his fan base range from 7 or 8
to over 50. However, Chan has never given up his Hong Kong market. He
keeps making movies in Hong Kong while working in Hollywood.
Therefore, his movies are good sources for study of questions posted here.
Four of Jackie Chan's movies, Project A (1983), Who am I? (1998),
Rush Hour (1998) and Shanghai Noon (2000)[18] were selected for
study. The former two movies were produced in Hong Kong and the
latter two in Hollywood. Project A, based on a historical period, is
one of Chan's early typical Hong Kong movies; Who Am I?, being
relatively new, was aimed at the international market; Rush Hour, a
typical American "buddy movie," is perhaps Chan's first successful
Hollywood movie in terms of both box office and stardom establishing
in the United States; Shanghai Noon, another "buddy movie," is a
satire of the famous American western movie High Noon. These four
movies, although a small sample, show the range of Chan's Hong Kong
and Hollywood movies.
To study these movies, framing analysis was used.
In mass communication studies, framing refers to "the way events and
issues are organized and made sense of, especially by media, media
professionals, and their audiences" (Reese, 2001: 7). Framing
analysis explores ways reporters put complex material into
understandable forms.[19] Entman (1991) says that the essence of
framing is sizing, the magnification or reduction of elements within
a story that makes them more or less pronounced to an audience.
Iyengar (1990) explains, "The importances of framing effects on
public opinion are clear. Political stimuli are inherently ambiguous;
in matters of principle or fact, political issues are characterized
by a multiplicity of interpretations and perspectives" (p.20). Gamson
and Modigliani (1989) say how journalists contribute to the framing
of political events by drawing on ideas and language from other
forums, frequently paraphrasing or quoting their sources. "At the
same time, they contribute their own frames and invent their own
clever catchphrases, drawing on a popular culture that they share
with their audience," Gamson & Modigliani wrote in 1989 (p.3).
Although the aforementioned literature devotes mostly to political
communication and print media, the concept of framing, as Reese
points out, is crossing "disciplinary lines" and "national
boundaries" (2001: xiii). In fact, many scholars use this method to
conduct researches in almost all forms of communication.[20]
Framing analysis, therefore, concerns how information is presented
and how the message behind the phenomenon is interpreted. This goal
is achieved by generalize "a core set of concepts" (Hertog and
McLeod, 2001: p.139) from a cluster of phenomena. These concepts,
known as "frames," when approached culturally, construct "central
ideas and more peripheral concepts—and a set of relations that vary
in strength and kind among them" (Hertog and McLeod, 2001: 141).
Hertog and McLeod further argue that these ideas, concepts and
relations are widely recognized within a culture. They have
"tremendous symbolic power" (p. 141) and strong cultural implication.
Applying Hertog and McLeod's approach, the concern in this research
is how Hong Kong cultural identity is presented in Chan's Hong Kong
and Hollywood movies respectively. Scenes and shots were taken from
the four movies for study. In other words, by analyzing the internal
structures of the text and discourse,[21] I tried to decode the
encoded culturally-embedded meanings and assumptions in the movies.
For example, I would put several scenes from the four movies
together, analyze their content, and draw on a frame from the
analysis. In total, seven frames were identified. They are:
insignificance of the cultural origin, exoticness, uptightness,
subservience, ignorance, disrespect, and downplaying heroism.
Findings and Discussions
Insignificance of the Cultural Origin
In many American TV shows and movies, the cultural origin of ethnic
characters is largely ignored. For example, in the current program
called That 70's Show, the home country of the foreign character has
never been clarified. He is simply the "foreign kid whose pants are
too tight and who wears too much cologne."[22] In fact, his name,
Fez, symbolically and ironically stands for "Foreign Exchange
S(Z)student." The situation is not better in Chan's Hollywood movies.
As Lo (2001) puts it, "Hong Kong stars in Hollywood films are
generally portrayed either as aliens from China or generic Chinese
whose cultural origin has no significance to the plot of the film" (p.470).
Shanghai Noon, set in the late 19th century in both Beijing, China,
and Carson City, Nevada, U.S.A., is a fictional story about a Chinese
imperial guard, Jiang Wen[23] (Jackie Chan), who goes to Nevada and
tries to save the kidnapped Princess Pei Pei (Lucy Liu). During the
process, he befriends a local outlaw, Roy O'Bannon (Owen Wilson), and
eventually, both of them become marshals.[24] The title Shanghai Noon
would not make any sense to audience other than American. One needs
to be familiar with the history of American western films and know
the famous movie High Noon that starred Cary Cooper and Grace Kelly.
Having nothing to do with Shanghai, the movie was named Shanghai Noon
purely in order to rhyme with High Noon and arouse American
audience's interest in going to the theater (Jackie Chan's
character's name, Jiang Wen, also rhymes with John Wayne, the famous
cowboy actor who appeared in a lot of western movies). After Jiang
tells his partner O'Bannon that he's from Beijing instead of
Shanghai, O'Bannon keeps calling him the "Shanghai kid." To O'Bannon,
both cities are within the "mysterious" China context. This China
context later expands to an oriental context when O'Bannon says
"Sayonora," which means "Good-bye" in Japanese, to Jiang.[25]
The same intermixing of cultural origins happens in Rush Hour. When
the Hong Kong Detective Lee (Jackie Chan) and the LAPD office Jimmy
Carter (Chris Tucker) brag about how great their fathers were.
Carter, being irritated, says to Lee: "My dad'll kick your dad's ass
all the way from here to China or Japan or wherever you are from. All
up the Great Wall, too." In fact, the main plot of this story is
unstable.[26] To both mainland China and Hong Kong audience, it would
seem extremely strange or impossible for a Chinese Consul to send for
a Hong Kong policeman to save his kidnapped daughter. Another example
is that in front of the consulate, there is only China's national
flag but lacks of Hong Kong's regional flag. Considering the time of
the making of the movie (1998, right after the return of Hong Kong to
China), it seems that Hollywood ignored all the historical and
political facts. In a sense, Hollywood also ignored the unique Hong
Kong cultural identity, which is different from the Chinese cultural
identity. Instead, the two identities are treated the same.
In the Hong Kong movies, however, Chan pays great attention and
respect to history and to one's cultural origin. In fact, Project A
is based on a true story and seeks to reveal that period of history
in an accurate and responsible manner. In Who Am I?,[27] a story
about losing and regaining identity, Chan gives everybody a chance to
identify their cultural origin in a scene on the helicopter, the ten
agents introduce themselves to each other before the aircraft crashes.
Exoticness
If one has watched enough of Jackie Chan's Hong Kong and Hollywood
movies, one may get the impression that in the Hollywood movies,
Jackie Chan looks more Chinese than he does in the Hong Kong movies.
In fact, Lo (2001) claims that "Hong Kong actors and actresses in
these Hollywood productions have to prove themselves more Chinese
than the mainland Chinese they are playing" (p.470).
In the Hong Kong films Project A, in which he plays a marine officer,
and Who Am I?, in which he plays an agent, Chan fits into the
environment. That is, he is regarded as "one of us" by his peers, be
it the other marine officers or the other agents respectively. In
other words, he does not stick out among those around him.
However, in the Hollywood movies, he is portrayed as an extremely
exotic oriental figure—adaptation that fits the stereotype of Western
perceptions of the East. For example, in many American people's eyes,
Chinatown is the accurate representation of China itself. Hence, In
Rush Hour, this "accurate" representational image—the LA Chinatown—is
heavily highlighted as a dangerous, high-crime-rated, noisy and dirty
community. Even the restaurant's interior decoration is an overtone
of Chinese tradition. For another example, in Shanghai Noon, Chan's
Qing Dynasty attire and long ponytail ( or, as he himself calls it, a
"queue") stand inharmoniously against the wilderness of the desert
and the cowboy crowd in the tavern of Carson City, Nevada, in late
19th century. When he gets rid of the "dress" and is dressed by
O'Bannon with the typical cowboy hat, bandana, belt and pants, his
long braid continuously reminds him and the audience of his
mysteriously strengthened orientalism.
This exoticness, or Chineseness as Lo puts it in this case, may send
a wrong message about the real Hong Kong culture to both American and
Hong Kong audience, and, in turn, distort the real Hong Kong cultural
identity. Yet again, as long as the exoticness appeals to the
audience and garners good money, Hollywood will keep on the track.
Uptightness
In his Hong Kong movies, Chan's roles are always funny, easy
going, and his "babyish Beatles haircut and casual outfit" emphasize
his "agility, dynamism and vitality (Lo, 2001: 477). Watching Project
A, the audience cannot help laughing at the wittily choreographed
bike-chasing scene, or the bathing scene in which a bunch of nude
soldiers throw calabash ladles at their captain. In Who Am I?, scenes
like petting the cub, being chased by the mother lion and climbing to
the top of the tree, or the making of the coconut IV, or the fighting
scene on the streets of Rotterdam are not just highly entertaining,
they also portray Chan's characters as having great personalities.
But Chan's Hollywood movies differ. In Rush Hour, he takes on
"an ordinary bourgeois middle-aged look" (Lo, 2001: 477), always
wearing a black suit and a tie. Even his hairdo looks ridiculous with
too much gel on it. In Shanghai Noon, he is preoccupied with the idea
of saving his princess and does not know how and when to relax.
That's why when he tells his first joke, O'Bannon insists on drinking
to it. In both movies, Chan is constantly nervous, rigid, and shows
that he feels awkward in new environment—an image of Chan that is a
far cry from his images in Hong Kong films.
Subservience
Generally speaking, in Hong Kong movies, the roles that Jackie
Chan plays convey an image of an independent, decisive and fearless
character. He never hesitates to challenge authority when he thinks
what he does is correct. The following conversation from Project A,
between him (Officer Ma) and a Hong Kong authority (Inspector) illustrates:
Ma:
I'll prove this is not a slander.
Inspector:
I order you to apologize to Mr. Zhou. Do you know the consequence of
disobeying your authority?
Ma:
I didn't! Now I do! I've decided to quit. I don't have to obey your
order anymore.
Inspector:
How dare you?
Ma:
You always get the credit.
Then Ma takes off his badge, throws it on the floor and rushes
upstairs to get the criminal. Also, when he confronts the highest
Hong Kong police authority, the representative of the British
colonizers, Colonel Mei, he dares to yell, "You shut up!" after being
told to "Shut up." This shout may symbolically mean a fight against
the Western rule. In Who Am I?, he suffers short-term amnesia and is
desperate to find out his true identity. Still, not until he makes
sure of everything does he trust anybody.
However, it seems that all these characteristics are lost in his
Hollywood movies. In Rush Hour, Chan is an extremely polite, obedient
and sometimes even stupid policeman, always dressed in a formal,
uninteresting black suit. As Lo argues, "[T]he action comedy plays on
the naiveté, stupidity, and childlikeness of their characters"
(p.473). His unnatural loyalty to Consul Han reveals a relation
between a Hong Kong detective and a People's Republic of China's
consul is "probably 'normal' as Hollywood would suppose that China
has become Hong Kong's legitimate father again after 1997"(p.473).
Again, this is not true in real situation. Also in Rush Hour, Chan
tries to point out the FBI agent's mistakes, but when he is ignored,
he does not insist and the bomb explosion caused the deaths of a whole team.
The portrayal of his submissiveness is extreme in Shanghai Noon,
in which he is portrayed as a mindless slave to authority, be it the
twelve-year-old emperor "whose balls haven't even dropped"[28] or
Princess Pei Pei who is both his love and protectee or even O'Bannon
who constantly makes fun of him. In the opening scene, he kowtows to
Princess Pei Pei with all four limbs on the ground, a symbolic
gesture of devotion to authority. Although he kowtows to a Chinese
princess, if one takes Lucy Liu's identity—a Chinese-American
actress—into consideration, he is actually kowtowing to the American
culture. That is, he is giving up his Hong Kong cultural identity, at
least part of it if not the whole, to American cultural identity.
Perhaps the most vivid example of his subservience is in a chasing
scene in Rush Hour, when he hangs his life tight to the sign of
"Hollywood" on a Los Angeles street.
Ignorance
In both Project A and Who Am I?, Chan's roles are depicted as
smart, quick-witted and sophisticated characters. For example, in Who
Am I?, when he suffers amnesia and finds himself located in a tribe
in South Africa, he quickly learns the local dialect, customs and
habits to blend in. Scenes like making coconut IV in Who Am I? and
disguising himself to get into the pirates' headquarters in Project A
show his intelligence and correct judgment on the environment.
On the contrary, he is often depicted as a slightly ignorant
character in his Hollywood movies. First, his incompetence in the
English language is exaggerated. For example, in Rush Hour, when
Carter goes to the airport to pick up Lee, he yells at Lee word by
word: "Do you understand the words coming out of my mouth?" Or in
Shanghai Noon, when Jiang scolds that O'Bannon has given him "bad
directions," O'Bannon teases: "No, I gave you wrong directions."
Also, his misunderstanding of the local culture makes him a laughing
stock in many situations. In Rush Hour, Lee causes a riot in the bar
when he tries to befriend the African-American with his newly learned
"What's up, nigger?" from Carter. In Who Am I?, his funny outfit,
accented "Howdy, partner" and "Yee-Haw," make him seem like a clown
who is eager to please the American audience. He is probably still
funny in the Hollywood movies, but the funniness is not spontaneous
or interesting. Rather, it is at the expense of being a misfit in the
new culture.
Disrespect
Chan always shows great respect for other cultures in his Hong
Kong movies. For example, in Who Am I?, when the natives see Chan
off, find the belongings of Chan's dead peers and decide not to go on
anymore, Chan crouches down, says to one little boy face to face: "I
know this (witnessing and touching dead people's belongings) is bad
luck for your culture. I'll go on alone." So he does, although he is
in great need of help. His respect for the natives wins him a gift, a
bracelet, which later helps him escape narrow from his enemy.
On the other hand, Hollywood seems never hesitate making fun of
ethnicities. In Rush Hour, Carter, when arguing with Lee, calls Lee
"you sweet-and-sour-chicken ass." He also refers to Chinese food as
"greasy shit." When lee tries to warn the FBI agent that there might
be a bomb in the building, the agent says: "Get the clown out of here."
There are more examples in Shanghai Noon. (1) O'Bannon never
learns how to correctly pronounce Jiang Wen's name. Instead, he calls
him John Wayne for convenience's sake. (2) When O'Bannon sees Jiang
pee on the shirt and make it wet, he says in a sarcastic tone: "I
don't know what that means. With the wet shirt, you bend the bars.
That's the pay off. Don't waste my time with stuff like that. A
2000-year-old civilization and that's all you can come up with? Shame
on you, shame on you. Come on, stop, please. It's embarrassing." In
fact, it is O'Bannon who fails to realize how smart Jiang is. Jiang
uses the wet shirt as a lever to bend the jail bars to make more room
to get out. O'Bannon's comment shows not only his ignorance and lack
of circumstantial intelligence, but also, in a larger sense,
Hollywood's arrogance when confronting other cultures. That is, it
criticizes and looks down upon other cultures before understanding
it. (3) In the whorehouse, when the prostitute Fifi asks O'Bannon
whether he has made friends with a Chinaman, O'Bannon answers: "He's
not a friend. I mean, he's a Chinaman." What he really means remains
unclear, but his disrespect and despise of China and Chinese people
in the tone is obvious.
To many American audiences, these details may be thought funny
and laught at, but not by sensitive audiences. Jackie Chan is a great
action star, but his Hollywood productions show less respect for
ethnic cultures than his Hong Kong ones.
Downplaying Heroism
Hailed as the successor to Bruce Lee as a kung fu master, Chan
is "vigorous but solemn, strong but flexible, solid but mobile" and
"basically an acrobatic character actor who emphasised versatility in
play-acting, displaying facets of both clown and master" (Teo, 1997: 122).
One may, however, notice that the "master" facet is emphasized
in Chan's Hong Kong movies and the "clown" facet is stressed in his
Hollywood movies. In most of his Hong Kong movies, Chan is the
absolute hero. In Project A, the whole story plot is developed around
him. In Who Am I?, when all of his peers have died, he
single-handedly accomplishes the unfinished task. Also, his
spectacular stunts are fully revealed in many fighting scenes in both
movies. In fact, the fall from the bell tower in Project A and
sliding off the lopsided glass and steel floor[29] in Who Am I? are
two of the ten most dangerous stunts in his career. However, in both
Rush Hour and Shanghai Noon, he is only one part of the combination
of the "physical comedy" and the "verbal comedy." And in many cases,
the verbal comedy outweighs the physical comedy. In Rush Hour, Lee's
opinion is ignored and mistrusted. In Shanghai Noon, his unusual ways
of handling situations is a laughingstock among the Western audience.
Also, in both movies, his stunts are less exciting and accentuated
with a lot of special visual effects. One reason, it is said, is the
concern about the aging actor's safety. But could it be that
Hollywood downplays Chan's heroism so that it will not present a
threat to Hollywood's main theme?
The low profile of Chan's heroism is also shown through the
downplaying of his masculinity. In most of his Hong Kong movies,
there is always at least one girl that waits to be rescued and
protected. She loves Chan with all of her heart and soul. However, in
Rush Hour, there is only the 11-year-old girl, who can hardly be his
lover, and when Princess Pei Pei in Shanghai Noon becomes his lover,
it is more like a reward for his loyalty than true love.
Limitations
This research has many limitations. First of all, the sample is
too small. If more movies were included, the findings would be more
reliable. Further research could include more literature, especially
in Chinese. Besides, some findings and discussion are based on
personal interpretation.
Conclusion
Scenes from four Jackie Chan movies, Project A, Who Am I?, Rush
Hour and Shanghai Noon, were studied for how the Hong Kong cultural
identity has been transformed from Chan's Hong Kong movies to his
Hollywood movies. Seven frames were identified: insignificance of
cultural origin, exoticness, uptightness, subservience, ignorance,
disrespect and downplaying heroism. Through these frames, which are
far from exhaustive, it is obvious that some changes have been
undergoing in Hong Kong cultural identity from Chan's Hong Kong
movies to Hollywood movies. On the commercial level, the purpose of
these changes is likely to appeal to American audience. On the
ideological level, they strengthen Hollywood's stereotypical
portrayal of minorities and maintain the "Hollywood domination." If
this situation continues, it might pose a danger to the diversity of
cultures in the long run, for eventually, no cultures will be really
understood beyond the Hollywood context.
These changes mean at least partial negation of Hong Kong's own
cultural identity. As Lo (2001) argues:
The negation of ones own local identity in the case of Hong Kong film
talent making their way to Hollywood may be interpreted as a
conscious and cunning use of negative representation that
gesticulates an imaginary transgression of an imaginary subjectivity. (p.478)
Teo says that Chan "should be admired as one of the best of the
purely physical performers in world Cinema, … (and) his combination
of grace and derring-do have shown a face of Hong Kong cinema that is
utterly irresistible" (1997: 134). But Chan's contribution to Hong
Kong cinema, or world cinema for this matter, far proceeds being a
kung fu master. His movies function as "an instinctive but
disciplined art linked to a cultural and national identity" (Teo,
1997: 122) his characters portray a positive image of intelligent,
hard-working and independent Hong Kong people. Chan said that he had
considered giving up action movies due to his age and injuries.
Nevertheless, the flow of the Hong Kong film talents into Hollywood
will probably continue for a while. Chan's followers should have more
say in the productions and try to maintain more of Hong Kong's
cultural identity, for as they say: "The more local, the more international."
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Appendix I
Jackie Chan was born in Hong Kong on April 7, 1954. He spent most of
his childhood at a Beijing Opera School, where he received strict
training of traditional martial arts. At the age of 10, he began to
appear in dramatic films as stuntman. At that time, Bruce Lee was the
unquestionable No. 1 Kung-fu master on the silver screen. When Jackie
Chan started to earn his fame, he was reluctant to be called the
"next Bruce Lee." Instead, he wanted to be the "first Jackie Chan."
In 1978, Jackie Chan made his first big hit, Snake in the Eagle's
Shadow. Together with a later one, Drunken Master, he firmly
established a sub-genre
—"comedy Kung-fu." From then on, he gradually distinguished himself
from other action stars through his unique style: the slapstick
antics of Buster Keaton and chivalrous grace of Fred Astaire. In his
movies, he always does his own stunts, which are trademarked of using
the surrounding props such as tables and chairs; he seldom uses
weapons, and his big smile is simply impressive. Also, almost all of
his roles are ordinary guys, such as a chef, a taxi driver or a
cop.He has never played the role of world savior like Arnold
Schwarzenegger has. In an interview with Tony Page, a Hong Kong-based
reporter for a U.S. magazine, Chan said: "I'm not a big, violent
person. I like playing underdogs, little humble people. I'd like to
be seen as a Dustin Hoffman who can fight. If I win, I'm lucky."
However, this does not mean that his movies are boring. On the
contrary, the never repeated stunts make each and every one of his
movies a must for action movie lovers. Chan dedicated himself to two
principles—innovation and authenticity. "I'm always trying to imagine
funny and dangerous stunts," he told MAMA fanzine writer Caroline
Vie, "I always think of the stunts first and of how many I'll be able
to put in the film." The stunts are the biggest selling point.
Another important factor of the success of his movies is the theme of
the movies. That is, the good guy unexceptionally wins out at the
end. Thus his movies have become a fascinating combination of
ordinariness and incredibility, almost like adult fairy tales.
In early 1980s, he tried to break into Hollywood. However, at the
beginning, American marketers did not know how to promote the 1980
Warner Brothers' release The Big Brawl. His later tries, Cannonball
Run (1981) and The Protector (1985) also failed due to the poor
promotion and his poor English skills. In these movies, he had little
say in choreograph, which would never happen in his Hong Kong movies,
of most of them he was either the director or the stunt designer.
Critics said that The Protector was "a waste of both his comic and
martial arts abilities." But this movie also witnessed the beginning
of Chan inserting outtakes into his films. Despite the box office
failure, he got to know the procedure of filmmaking in Hollywood,
which laid a solid foundation for his later attempt.
While he was trying to start a career in Hollywood, Chan never gave
up his Hong Kong market. With big hits like Project A, Police Story,
City Hunter and Twin Dragons, Chan's name became the guarantee of box
office in Hong Kong and many other countries and regions in Asia.
However, he still had to succeed at what proved to be his toughest
feat: to become a Hollywood star. He hired a private tutor for two
years to improve his English. As the unique style of his films
matured, Hollywood was ready to accept him. With the Americanized
reedit of his 1995 Rumble in the Bronx, Jackie Chan has become a
household name ever since. Costarred with comedian Chris Tucker, the
1998 New Line release Rush Hour not only garnered an income of $244
million, but also engraved Jackie Chan's name as the "universe's
action star." 2000's Shanghai Noon, with Lucy Liu and Owen Wilson,
was also considered to be a great success for Chan. Rush Hour 2,
which was released by New Line in 2001, received critical and
commercial praise as well. His other Hollywood movies include Mr.
Nice Guy, The Tuxedo, Shanghai Knights and Medallion. He is also the
main character of an animated series, Jackie Chan Adventure, both on
Kids WB, aired every Saturday at 8AM ET/7AM PT and weekdays at 3PM,
and Cartoon Network at 8 from Mondays through Thursdays and 8:30 on Saturdays.
Appendix II
Filmography
Big and Little Wong Tin-Bar (1962)
The Love Eternal (1963)
Come Drink with Me (1966)
A Touch of Zen (1968)
Fist of Fury (1972)
The Little Tiger of Canton (1971)
The Heroine (1971)
Police Woman (1972)
Hapkido (1972)
Not Scared to Die (1973)
Enter the Dragon (1973)
The Young Dragons (1973)
Golden Lotus (1974)
The Himalayan (1975)
All in the Family (1975)
The Dragon Tamers (1975)
Hand of Death (1976)
New Fist of Fury (1976)
Shaolin Wooden Men (1976)
Dance of Death (1976)
Iron Fisted Monk (1977)
Killer Meteor (1977)
To Kill with Intrigue (1977)
Snake and Crane Arts of Shaolin (1978)
Half a Loaf of Kung Fu (1978)
Magnificent Bodyguards (1978)
Spiritual Kung Fu (1978)
Dragon Fist (1978)
Snake in the Eagle's Shadow (1978)
Drunken Master (1978)
Fearless Hyena (1979)
The 36 Crazy Fists (1979)
The Odd Couple (1979)
Fearless Hyena II (1980)
The Young Master (1980)
The Big Brawl (1980)
Cannonball Run (1981)
Dragon Lord (1982)
Fantasy Mission Force (1982)
Ninja Wars (1982)
Winners and Sinners (1983)
Cannonball Run II (1983)
Project A (1983)
Wheels on Meals (1984)
Two in a Black Belt (1984)
My Lucky Stars (1985)
Twinkle, Twinkle, Lucky Stars (1985)
Pom Pom (1985)
The Protector (1985)
Heart of Dragon (1985)
Police Story (1985)
Armour of God (1986)
Naughty Boys (1986)
Project A II (1987)
I Am Sorry (1987)
Dragons Forever (1987)
Police Story II (1988)
Rouge (1988)
Inspector Wears Skirts (1988)
Inspector Wears Skirts II (1989)
Miracles: Mr. Canton and Lady Rose (1989)
Stagedoor Johnny (1990)
Armour of God II: Operation Condor (1990)
Island of Fire (1991)
Twin Dragons (1991)
A Kid from Tibet (1991)
Police Story III: Supercop (1992)
Once Upon a Time in China II (1992)
Actress (1993)
City Hunter (1993)
Project S (1993)
Crime Story (1993)
Drunken Master II (1994)
Rumble in the Bronx (1994)
Thunderbolt (1995)
Police Story IV: First Strike (1996)
Mr. Nice Guy (1997)
Burn Hollywood Burn: An Alan Smithee Film (1997)
Who Am I? (1998)
Rush Hour (1998)
Gorgeous (1998)
The Accidental Spy (1999)
Shanghai Noon (2000)
Rush Hour 2 (2001)
The Tuxedo (2002)
Shanghai Knights (2003)
Medallion (2003)
Around the World in 80 Days (2004)
Appendix III
Project A (1983, Media Asia Group)
A Marine named Dragon Ma (Jackie Chan) gets assigned to the police
force when a pirate gang destroys his fleet. Despite being stuck on
land, he's still intent on capturing the pirates. Frustrated by the
lack of support from his superiors, which were made of, symbolically,
both the British colonizers and the local government, he joins forces
with a gambler (played by Samo Hung) and a rookie cop (played by Yuen
Biao) and finally has accomplished his task.
On a historical note, this movie takes place at the turn of the
century, a time when the harbors of the South China Sea were filled
with pirates and other unsavory types. Project A is the name of a
real plan the Chinese government implemented to try and get rid of them.
It might be interesting to know that in this film, besides the famous
clock-tower jump stunt, there appeared a bicycle chase scene, which,
according Chan, although might not be able to compete with the
bicycle scene in the concurrent E.T., might inspire Steven
Spielberg's motorcycle chase in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
Who Am I? (1998, Golden Harvest)
Jackie Chan played an agent attempting to bust some smugglers, who
have obtained a set of stones that can be used as the key ingredient
for a new kind of weapon of mass destruction. While trying to hunt
them down, he gets dropped from a plane, and finds himself lost in a
jungle without any memory. While trying to figure out who he is, he
gets mixed up with the smugglers again, and follows them from South
Africa to Holland.
The most spectacular stunt in this movie, or in the film history for
that matter, is Chan's twenty-one-story slide down the side of a
building in Rotterdam. Also, this film is a good metaphor of his Hong
Kong identity getting lost in the globalization and transnationalization.
Rush Hour (1998, New Line Pictures)
When the daughter of a Chinese diplomat, Consul Han, is kidnapped in
Los Angeles by Triad bosses, he sends for his friend, a Hong Kong
police officer named Lee (Jackie Chan), in order to save the little
girl. He partnered with James Carter (Chris Tucker). But the fact is
that the FBI just wants them both out of the way. Somehow, despite
Carter's fast-talking antics and Lee's lack of understanding of
American culture, they rescued the hostage, defuse a bomb, and end up
flying back to Hong Kong together for a much-deserved vacation.
In an interview with Andy Klein in December 2001, Jackie Chan said:
"So I made Rush Hour. And, even with Rush Hour, I thought, 'Nah,
another bad movie,' because a lot of the jokes I didn't understand.
And I really didn't get to shoot what I wanted because of so many
controls over me. I finished Rush Hour—bye-bye—and went back to Asia
to make an Asian film. But somehow—boom!—the movie was so successful
in America. That really surprised me."
Shanghai Noon (2000, Touch Stone Pictures & Spyglass Entertainment)
An Imperial Guard, Jiang Wen (Jackie Chan), or as Owen Wilson later
calls him, John Wayne, of the Qing Dynasty is sent to Nevada, America
to recover the kidnapped Princess Pei Pei (Lucy Liu). He meets an
outlaw, Roy O'Bannon (Owen Wilson) and together, they got the
princess back and, ironically, both of them became the local
lawmen—the Marshals.
One thing notorious about the movie is the buddy relationship between
Chan and Wilson, and between Wilson and a Native American.
(More detailed introduction to Jackie Chan, his filmography and the
synopsis of the four films can be found in Jackie Chan with Jeff
Yang, I am Jackie Chan: My Life in Action. New York: Ballantine
Books, 1998, 1999.)
[1] Marita Sturken and Lisa Cartwright (Practices of Looking.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001, p.356) defined genre as "the
classification of cultural products into particular types with
different intents and formulas." In television, for example, genres
include situation comedies (Friends, Will and Grace, That '70s Show,
etc.), soap operas (One Life to Live, etc.), news magazines (ABC
News, etc.), and talk shows (Tonight Show, etc.), among others. In
cinema, genres include the western, the romantic comedy, science
fiction, and the action adventure. While most of the Hollywood movies
in which Hong Kong talents are involved are action flicks, these
actors, directors and choreographers also go beyond the confinement
into other varied genres like horror and romance comedy.
[2] For a brief introduction to Jackie Chan and a list of his
filmography, see Appendixes I and II.
[3] Rush Hour amassed US$84 million in its first 17 days of release,
and US$244 million in total. It's one of the year's top ten blockbusters.
[4] Yun-Fat Chow was proposed by the Newsweek article one of the
several Asian actors as sexy idols. His fansites describe him as
"Cary Grant of Hong Kong," "God of Actors," "The Coolest Man Alive,"
"the most sumptuous Babe" and so on. In People's Magazine of November
1999, Chow was voted "Sexiest Action Star."
[5] Jet Li is originally from mainland China. But most of his
well-known movies were produced in Hong Kong and Hollywood.
[6] For further discussion on the migration talent, see Fredric
Dannen and Barry Long's Hong Kong Babylon: An Insider's Guide to the
Hollywood of the East, New York: Hyperion, Miramax Books, 1997,
pp.5-9 and Poshek Fu and David Desser's The Cinema of Hong Kong,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
[7] For instance, Raise the Red Lantern, Ju Dou, To Live and The
Hero by mainland China's Zhang Yimou; Farewell My Concubine by
mainland China's Chen Kaige; A City of Sadness by Taiwan's Hou
Hsiao-hsien; Eat, Drink, Men, Women, Sense and Sensibility and
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon by Taiwan's Ang Lee.
[8] For instance, as mentioned before, many Hollywood movies use
Hong Kong choreographers and import Jackie Chan (or Jet Li, or
Michelle Yeoh)'s stunts. On the other hand, plots of Hollywood
pictures are stolen quite often. For example, Jet Li's Bodyguard from
Zhong Nanhai was originated from Kevin Costner's The Bodyguard.
[9] Marita Sturken and Lisa Cartwright define representation as
"Representation refers to the use of language and images to create
meaning about the world around us. (It) is …a process through which
we construct the world around us,…, and make meaning from it" (2001:
12, 14). Although here "language" may refer to a specific language
like English and "images" still images like photography, the
definition still applies to movies, which are a combination of
flowing conversations and moving images.
[10] Andreas Bieler and Adam David Morton define hegemony as "an
expression of broadly based consent, manifested in the acceptance of
ideas and supported by material resources and institutions, which is
initially established by social forces occupying a leading role
within a state, but is then projected outwards on a world scale"
(2004: 85, 86).
[11] A stereotype is usually an oversimplified, generalized, biased
and incorrect perception held by a group towards another group.For
example, "dumb blonde" is a widely recognized stereotype, "Irish
people love to drink" is another one.
[12] Indeed, take, Charlie Chaplin's many silent movies, for
example, audiences with moderate education from all over the world
can enjoy flicks like The Great Dictator, Gold Rush and The Modern
Times with intertitles in their respective languages.
[13] To generalize, the four categories deal with the following
questions respectively: 1) Where, how and by whom are the films made
and distributed? 2) What are the films about? What social reality do
they construct and what meaning (world view) do they try to convey?
3) The ethnography of the audiences and the issue of cultural
imperialism (According to Sturken and Cartwright (2001), cultural
imperialism refers to how an ideology, a politics, or a way of life
is exported into other territories through the export of cultural
products.) and 4) The cinema as a high culture rather than one that
appeals to the desires and fantasies of the popular audiences. For
this and further discussions on nationalism and national cinema, see
Alan Williams (eds.) Film and Nationalism. New Brunswick, New Jersey,
and London: Rutgers University Press, 2002. See also Yingchi Chu's
Hong Kong Cinema: Coloniser, motherland and self. London and New
York: Routledge Curzon, 2003.
[14] For instance, any flights between the mainland cities and Hong
Kong are regarded as international flights. Hong Kong can also
represent itself in international sports games, conferences and organizations.
[15] Examples include that they celebrate when China's athletes won
Olympic Gold medals; they donated a lot of money and equipments when
China suffered natural disasters; they were in support of the 1989
Tian'an'men Square Students Movement, etc.
[16] Well-known as such policies as yiguo liangzhi (one country, two
systems) and gangren zizhi (Hong Kong citizens govern themselves).
[17] For a detailed discussion on Hong Kong cultural identity, see
Chapter 6: Hong Kong films: Cinematic constructions of Hong Kong's
quasi-national identity in Yingchi Chu's Hong Kong Cinema: Coloniser,
motherland and self. 2003: pp.91-118.
[18] See Appendix 3 for synopsis of the four stories.
[19] For a detailed explanation of framing analysis, see Gainson and
Modigliani, 1989.
[20] In the book "Framing Public Life: Perspectives on Media and Our
Understanding of the Social World," there are many examples of using
framing analysis in various forms of mediums, including newspapers,
magazines, books, television, and the Internet.
[21] Here in the movies, the "text and discourse" would be the
historical background and plot of the stories, dialogues, costumes
and acting of the characters.
[22] Transcription of character Kitty Forman's words.
[23] Unless otherwise indicated, all the Chinese names in this paper
are given in the Chinese way. That is, family name goes first before
the given name.
[24] For a more detailed synopsis, see Appendix III.
[25] Same things happened in the sequel Shanghai Knights, in which
Jiang was disguised as an Indian maharaja.
[26] See a detailed synopsis of this film in Appendix III.
[27] See more detailed synopsis of both films in Appendix III.
[28] O'Bannon's words in the movie.
[29] Twenty-one floors and more than sixty feet of very thin air.
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