Cool War Hero: Bruce Lee’s Master, Cinematic Capital, and Hong Kong’s Final Fight

Cool War Hero: Bruce Lee's Master, Cinematic Capital, and Hong Kong's Final Fight

 

Professor James Steintrager

(University of California, Irvine)

 

4pm – 5.15pm

26^th November 2014

Room 0.14

Bute Building

JOMEC, Cardiff University

 

Abstract: Since 2008, five films based on the life of Ip Man have been released and another is currently in the works. Why has Bruce Lee's master become an icon of Hong Kong cinema of late? And why has his success—as opposed to that of his celebrated pupil—barely registered in world cinema while enjoying considerable regional success? Beyond the not inconsiderable power of the franchise as a key production model in what might be called "neoliberal" cinema, I examine how and why Ip Man has become a hero for cool-war times in China and a function in a complex negotiation—at times a battle—among film legacies, linguistic differences, disparate temporalities, and political cultures.

 

Bio: James A. Steintrager works at the intersection of literary and visual studies and intellectual history, focusing on the radical edges of philosophical discourse, on gender and sexuality, and aesthetics. His current book project investigates the triangulation of Hong Kong, French, and Hollywood cinemas around the turn of the milleneum—that is, the age of Y2K threats and fizzles, dot.com booms and busts, the final throes of colonialism, and the globalization of finance capital. He is Professor of English, Comparative Literature, and European Languages and Studies at the University of California, Irvine.

 

Contact: Paul Bowman: BowmanP@cardiff.ac.uk