THE MAN WHO MADE DEDICATION SEXY
Back in the ’70s, a friend from school got himself into big trouble. His hapless maths tutor came into his room and was greeted by a foot flailing in front of his face. And a feline wail that was meant to strike fear into the human heart. Apologies, explanations and punishment followed. But my friend was not entirely to blame.
He had just returned from New Empire movie hall, where he had watched Enter the Dragon. For the third time.
This was the one film (other than Sholay) that moved that entire generation. Sadly, when we view it now, it seems the most predictable kitsch. But that does not matter. What matters is that we do watch it. Again. And then again.
Because of the charisma of one man. Li Jun Fan. Bruce Lee. Born in San Francisco (1940 – he would have been 78 now!). Raised in Kowloon. Street scrapper in Hong Kong. Studied drama and philosophy at Seattle Central Community College. Journeyman in Hollywood. Became a star making martial arts movies in China. But by the time Enter the Dragon made him a global superstar, an Asian icon, he wasn’t there. While we as teens tried to copy his moves, he was long gone (although in that era before the Internet, we were not really sure for years). The ultimate contradiction – a man whose superlative skill kept him alive in our minds even after his death.
Then the story grew. From saga to legend to myth. That he could punch so fast that it could not be captured by a camera shooting at 24 frames a second. That he had knocked out a 10th Dan karate grandmaster (Vic Moore – a disputed account). That he had a “one-inch punch” that could kill a man. Even, as recently viral on social media, that he could play table-tennis using a nan-chaku instead of a racquet. Which is unfortunate, because when myths are debunked, the truth is also discredited. And the truth about Bruce Lee is quite impressive even without the myth factory.
What made the legend of Bruce Lee?
Part of it he made himself. He was in his own way a narcissist, and a fair to middling self-publicist. But he was also a man of quite stunning focus, discipline, dedication. He was a movie star, but he knew his stardom was based on his martial arts prowess. His early training was in Wing Chun, a version of kung fu developed and practised in South China. But his learning also came from the mean streets of Kowloon, where as a teen he fought in the street gangs. The myth holds that he beat up a gangster’s boy and had to escape to the USA, but quite possibly his parents thought he was running with the wrong crowd and sent him away from Hong Kong. His street-fighting days built his belief in the practical aspects of self-defence, stripped of the flowery philosophy and mysticism of the traditional schools. But again, the contradiction… this was a man who studied philosophy in college, and made famous typically Oriental lines like “Flow like the water” and “Focus is like a finger pointing to the moon”.