The Heroes of Pig Sty Alley
From Stephen Chow’s 功夫
(Kung Fu Hustle)
I won’t lie, I still get goosebumps/choked up. Possibly the best fight scene of all time.
These aren’t attractive young loner dudes with stubble murdering people because they’re rebels and bad-asses. A coolie (we don’t ever learn his name), a gay middle-aged tailor, and a balding guy who makes noodles for a living write their own death sentence by defending their neighbors against a vicious gang, not for glory, or romance, or wealth, but because it’s the community that they live and work in.
Most westerners only know “Kung Fu” films, and don’t realize there are many genres of Kung Fu films. Kung Fu Hustle is a Wuxia 武侠 or “martial heroes” film.
In Wuxia, heroes are often mask their true strength (I.E. the terms “crouching tiger” or “hidden dragon”) and live as common people until oppression forces them to stand up. It’s like a whole genre of Robin Hood stories, where heroes use martial power in order to defend the poor and powerless against the oppression of Warlords, Tyrants, Gangsters, Police, and the Nobility.
Wuxia is inherently radical and anarchistic because its heroes are almost always facing an enemy in the government, police, or ruling class. The heroes are almost always either Daoists or Buddhists, often women, and often live at the total fringes of society.
Unfortunately, Marxist and Nationalist values are often forced into the films because Chinese film censors love that shit. Nevertheless—next time you watch one of these films—look for the radical.
Interesting. I’ve never watched a Kung Fu film at all, so where would be a good place to start in general, and then in the Wuxia genre?
I think Kung Fu Hustle is sort of a tongue-in-cheek love letter to the genre, though, because it keeps going further – after these three, more and more characters are eventually forced into revealing they’re some legendary figure – eventually you realize that anybody in this universe who appears ordinary-to-ridiculous is probably a super-badass who’s hiding their powers because they renounced violence many years ago. And they’re all played by actors from the classic Kung Fu movies of the 1970s (which probably telegraphs the plot twists to fans, so this is where being a novice helps).
Mooncustafer 