I never thought that Jet Li would return to our field of vision with such news.
November 29, 2023.
Jet Li revealed when promoting the new book that he had already explained the aftermath to his wife Li Zhi, and he would not erect a monument or hold a funeral after his death.
And at this time. It has been less than a month since the last news of his "death" came out.
In our impression, Jet Li has never been such a "fragile" person, he is the emperor of kung fu, the youthful Jueyuan, the righteous and awe-inspiring Huang Feihong, the eccentric Fang Shiyu, the affectionate Chen Zhen, and Huo Yuanjia who asks "who is the number one in Tianjin" all day long.
But the reality is that on the Internet today, rumors such as "Jet Li is disabled", "Jet Li spends the second half of his life in a wheelchair", "Jet Li died" and so on will break out every once in a while.
to be killed" too many times.
So much so that people wonder: Why is only Jet Li constantly rumored to be "dead"?Why have you been deceived by rumors so many times, and everyone will feel nervous when they see such news?
So in the past few days, Sir has revisited some representative Jet Li movies.
Especially "Once Upon a Time".
When he was a child, many people would regard him as an idol and a national hero.
But when I rewatched the movie today, I realized that there are so many action stars, and Jet Li's most special thing is actually:
The distance between him and us.
In his new book, he has a sentence: "It doesn't matter at all whether I exist or die. ”
Do you look down on life and death?
But since it is a book and an expression to the public, there is another meaning contained in this sentence:
"It doesn't matter at all. ”
In 1983, Jet Li, who was only 19 years old, once wrote a letter to Ah Cheng's father, Zhong Xintong.
In the letter, he talked about his definition of kung fu films:
Only by invigorating the prestige of China, strengthening the ambition of the nation, and teaching people's hearts to move upward, can they be called kung fu films", while others "can only be called fighting films".
The rhetoric is intense.
You can almost see the spiritual temperament when he starred in "Once Upon a Time" 8 years later.
What was Huang Feihong like in the past?
In the history of Hong Kong films, the actor who has played Wong Fei-hung the most is undoubtedly Kwan Tak-hing.
This is the closest to the historical image of "Huang Feihong".
He is elegant, playing Nanquan, he is not a kung fu master, but focuses more on teaching apprentices, and even sometimes encounters rude treatment, he will be indignant.
Kwan Tak Hing version of Wong Fei Hung.
Realism is indeed realism.
But in the eyes of later generations, it is inevitably pedantic.
Just like in 1974, in the reboot of "Huang Feihong Shaolin Boxing", Huang Feihong blindly endured and emphasized "convincing people with virtue", until the apprentice died tragically, he had to take action.
This makes modern audiences unbearable.
And then what. Jackie Chan's "Drunken Fist" series is not so much about reshaping the image of a "lively" teenager Huang Feihong, but rather that he is just using Huang Feihong's popularity to experiment with his kung fu comedy route.
Huang Feihong here is not a generation of grandmasters.
It's a gangster with a sense of justice.
Jackie Chan's version of Wong Fei Hung.
Liu Jiahui's "Martial Arts", ostensibly it is a product of Kwan Dexing and Jackie Chan's version of "synthesis", which is about the brave and ruthless teenager Huang Feihong's path to the grandmaster.
But let's be honest. Huang Feihong in the film is not important, and director Liu Jialiang only wants to say the word "rules".
Liu Jiahui version of Wong Fei Hung.
It was only when Jet Li arrived that everything suddenly became clear.
It abandons Wong Fei Hung's common shortcomings, such as pedantic and impulsive, and instead gives him the image of a traditional Confucian intellectual, wearing a long robe, with a sense of distress, in line with modern aesthetics, and even more historical reflection.
Tsui Hark placed it in a troubled world.
It has constructed a humanized image of a "national hero" with modern consciousness.
This is, of course, inseparable from Jet Li's personal image.
Jet Li is very "positive" when he is young.
Sword eyebrows and starry eyes. In the upright facial features, there is also a sense of delicate immaturity.
Coupled with his status as a five-time national martial arts champion, his movements and postures are chic and beautiful, which is actually very in line with the imagination of the Chinese people for the word "chivalrous".
Once Upon a Time" opens.
With the ** of "Men Should Be Self-Improvement", Huang Feihong led the militia to practice martial arts at the beach.
Inexplicably, it makes people feel like a grandmaster.
But more importantly.
In fact, it is still Jet Li's consistent spiritual temperament.
Just like the letter mentioned at the beginning, in him, you can see a sense of mission that you can't explain.
He was a good student in the sports school, patiently taught the younger generations, he was a good actor when he entered the film industry, and he was determined to promote Chinese martial arts.
He always seems to have a bigger pursuit.
This reminds Sir of the dialogues at the end of "Shaolin Temple", which are the conversations between the senior monks in the monastery and Jueyuan.
There is a sentence in it, it is the old monk who asked Jueyuan: The end of the life, no, can you hold it today?
Jueyuan looked back at the shepherdesss who leaned out from behind the pillar, and replied in a trembling voice
Yes. Doesn't he like shepherdesses?
Like. But in the face of greater pursuits, in the face of family and country feelings, he can only sacrifice small love.
Isn't this our ideal image of a national hero?
Especially for mainland audiences in the 90s, there is a great sense of identity, that era was full of vitality, and the acceptable "chivalry" will not be a pedantic old gentleman (too old-fashioned), nor a stubborn gangster (too stingy).
The traditional chivalry, under the reprocessing of film and television, has become the dominant symbol of contemporary ideology.
Just like Jet Li later recalled, after playing Huang Feihong at that time, as soon as he arrived in Hong Kong, some people called him Master Huang.
Huang Feihong is Jet Li, and Jet Li is also Huang Feihong.
The first three parts of the "Huang Feihong" series all have Douban scores of more than 8 points.
Why is it so high?
Because in it, you can not only see the image of the martial arts master created by Jet Li, but also see an allegorical of the times, as well as a national reflection sandwiched between China and the West.
And all these thoughts fall on the image of Huang Feihong.
The story of the three films in the series takes place, from Foshan in the first part, to the provincial capital Guangzhou in the second part, and finally to the capital Beijing in the third part.
The pattern is gradually expanding.
Step by step closer to the center of power.
The first film is set in the aftermath of the Opium Wars, when China signed unequal treaties with Western powers.
What kind of times was that?
The movie uses a specific scene to show it.
In a downtown restaurant, musicians were playing Chinese music, and the sound of a foreign missionary leading a group of Chinese youths with pigtails singing "Hallelujah" was heard.
Musicians, symbols of traditional Chinese culture, try to amplify their own playing to overwhelm the onslaught of foreign powers.
When the two parties were secretly competing, the monks on the side were also chanting Amitabha Buddha in a low voice.
But. Their voices were still not as penetrating as a whistle from a steamer in the harbor.
The industrial age that has arrived is breaking the door to the traditional feudal society.
And what kind of social order was it at that time?
In the movie, a bully wants to find a backer and find an official governmentNo. He said:
The people are afraid of the yamen, and the yamen is afraid of devils.
In the words of the textbooks, it is called "semi-feudal and semi-colonial society".
But for ordinary people.
Foreigners and officials are the two mountains above their heads, and they are also two roads.
In addition to being a martial artist, Huang Feihong also has a more traditional label: traditional Chinese medicine.
The method of treating people in this medical center is traditional Chinese medicine.
And his traditional identity is equally ironic that a distant relative with whom he is not related by blood is divided into his elders by generation.
He called this person "Aunt Thirteen", just because Aunt Thirteen called Huang Feihong's father a brother-in-law.
What is even more ironic is that Huang Feihong's "elder" stayed abroad and became the guide of Huang Feihong's modernization and enlightenment.
The heroes created by many kung fu movies are to let the audience find national self-confidence.
The difference in Once Upon a Time is:
Kung Fu is the power of the self, but also the crisis of value.
In the first part of the movie, the villains Yan Zhendong and Huang Feihong are compared to kung fu.
Yan Zhendong, who did anything to get ahead, was defeated.
But did Huang Feihong win?
At the end of the movie, Yan Zhendong was shot to death by foreign devils outside the door.
Before he died, Yan Zhendong said to Huang Feihong:
No matter how good our kung fu is, we can't beat foreign guns.
Oh, yes. At this time, should Huang Feihong laugh or cry?
The title of "Martial Arts Grandmaster" seems to have become some kind of stubborn spike.
This shows that sooner or later the new will replace the old, even for the "first generation of grandmasters".
So, doesn't Huang Feihong use martial arts?
In the second part, Huang Feihong uses the old to deal with the old.
Use kung fu to deal with kung fu.
One of the villains is the White Lotus Sect leader Jiugong Zhenren, who preaches that believers can resist foreign cannons and foreign guns after Xi "divine skills".
The goal is to wipe out all foreigners and things.
But when playing against Huang Feihong, the flaws of the real people of Jiugong were seen through by Huang Feihong at a glance.
That is: not down to earth.
The world is about to change, but these people are deceiving themselves in their methods of resistance.
The White Lotus Sect's so-called immortal "divine skills" are just ghost tricks to instigate people's courage.
In such a changing era, if kung fu is no match for foreign guns and cannons, this set of ghost tricks can't.
And the other villain is Nalan Yuanshu played by Donnie Yen, who knows that he is a Manchu nobleman when he hears the name.
No matter how young and promising he is, no matter how outstanding his martial arts are, his Manchu identity determines that he can only be a slave and shed the last drop of blood for the stormy Qing Dynasty.
Therefore, Huang Feihong can't give up martial arts, because kung fu has become a means of resistance at this time, and it is a means to pry the mansion of Qing **.
Even Wong Fei Hung represents the old, and that is also a kind of nostalgia for the old.
In the third part of the movie, Wong Fei Hung broke the old and made a new one, because he knew that the world had really changed.
Not only did he use the camera to start making small movies, but he also used the steam engine to produce medicine for Bao Zhilin, and he also learned English from Aunt Thirteen.
And what about Qing **?
He also wants to hold a lion king competition to show the country's prestige, so as to revitalize martial arts and defend against foreign enemies.
Huang Feihong wants to break the old and create the new, but his "breaking" is not to destroy everything.
Because when he knew that someone had assassinated Li Hongzhang in this lion king competition, Huang Feihong chose to save him.
He saved an old man.
If you want to say which side Huang Feihong is on, Huang Feihong actually doesn't stand on either side.
He saved Li Hongzhang, but at the end he advised Li Hongzhang:
In the opinion of the small people, we should not only practice martial arts to strengthen our bodies and resist foreign enemies.
More importantly, it is necessary to broaden the wisdom of the people and integrate wisdom and martial arts.
That is the way for the country to be rich and the people strong.
Whether a mere brand can change the fortunes of the country, please think twice.
This gold medal will be left for you as a souvenir.
Farewell. He provided help to Sun Wen and Lu Haodong, but did not go with this group of revolutionaries.
He is not a foreigner, nor is he a local bully.
Wong Fei Hung does not have any factions.
Because his image belongs to every Chinese.
He hung the pot to help the world.
On the other hand, he was numb to the disappointment of the imperial court and worried about the national disaster.
The lion king competition is to "wake up the lion", and the real "lion awakening" is to wake up the sleeping lion of China again and let the people wake up.
As a "chivalrous" Jet Li, we are familiar with it. But what is the distance between Jet Li and us?First of all, there is time. Nothing is worth the separation that time brings. Jet Li used to be majestic, chic and charming.
movie "Zhongnanhai Bodyguard", but the taller his image in our minds. The more difficult it is for the public to accept the change every time he appears in front of the camera: he is old. Haggard.
Heroes are afraid to see white heads. But distance, is it all passive?
Speaking of today, it is a rumor of "death" that has been hyped at every turn. Jet Li rarely has new works, and he almost no longer appears in public, and almost all of his topics are filled with hatred. Look through the latest reviews. Many people have already condemned Jet Li as a sinner because of the divorce from his original partner and the change of nationality: every rumor of "death" is also the time for some people to applaud.
These two points may be excusable for ordinary people. But Jet Li can't:He was once an icon, a symbol of a national hero, and he had to be perfect. Many of Jet Li's movies partially overlap with him. But when it comes to the closest thing to Jet Li so far, Sir thinks it's a movie he hasn't starred in:"Assassin Nie Yinniang".。Who is Nie Yinniang?She is a peerless master of martial arts, a sheep's horn dagger, killing people like probing for things.
But in fact, she didn't know who she was. She is Tian Ji'an's childhood sweetheart;It was the killer sent by Princess Jiacheng to kill Tian Ji'an again;She is still the daughter of the Nie family, and she bears her mother's instructions to her.
Princess Jiacheng is for **, Tian Ji'an represents the town, and the family is where she comes from. Behind every identity, there is a force that drives her to accomplish some kind of "legitimate" mission. But no one ever asked what she was going to do. She's just a murderer who doesn't need to think.
Jet Li. His martial arts are also for different tasks, and they have to complete great functions. Since childhood, he has been a martial arts prodigy. In the 70s, his beautiful skills added lubricant to the friendship between China and the United States.
Kissinger shook hands with Jet Li cordially in Hong Kong and Hollywood, and he became the emperor of kung fu on the screen, which was the absolute guarantee of the movie box office. In the hearts of the Chinese public, he is the sustenance of self-confidence and glory. Jet Li and Nie Yinniang's common predicament is not an opponent. It is precisely that they have no opponents. Because they are "big material", then they must be "big use". But after being used up by others, what is left for them?Jet Li once talked about what real kung fu is: if a person's martial arts reach the top level.
But if he doesn't understand responsibility in his heart.
If you don't understand this side of human nature.
Friendship, affection, love, family.
No matter how high his martial arts are, he is no different from an animal.
He was just a tool of attack and defense that he was commanded.
When Nie Yinniang was released, there was a promotional song called "A Man Has No Kind". When Nie Yinniang put away the dagger and refused to complete the assassination task. She's not leaning on one side or the other. She was falling to herself. And for Jet Li. The distance between him and us is precisely that he is facing himself with all kinds of expectations and missions. He didn't want to be a dagger that would hit a hundred shots in someone else's hand. A dagger, I also want to think about why I came out of the sheath. In 2005, Jet Li's "Danny the Wolf Dog". Written by Luc Besson, co-starring Morgan Freeman and Bob Hoskins, and Yuan Heping served as the action director.
For Jet Li, this film allows him to complete the most authentic self-expression: "I have played the hero who saved the world in 31 films. I really like the character, which depicts a child with a serious brain injury who is being trained to grow up like a dogThe message is anti-violence and positive. ”However, the film has not yet been introduced. Just because Jet Li put on a dog collar, he provoked countless accusations: kneeling and licking Americans, scandalizing Chinese.
What dogs refer to in the movie is almost beastly violence. What the film wants to express is Danny's self-redemption and spiritual growth through friendship and understanding. However, the word "dog" is enough to make many people furious. And who wants to talk about the movie itself?
Jet Li's scolding and his alienation came from his failure to fulfill the public's expectations to play the "glorious and great" tool man. What everyone wants to see is moral perfection.
But he had to follow his own heart, divorce and remarry. What everyone wants to see is a national hero raising the prestige of our country.
But he said something that doesn't sound pleasant today: But when Chinese are bullied by foreigners.
We felt it was an insult.
But a lot of our action movies make a mess of foreigners.
Never said insulting people.
So how big of a heart do we have?
To confront the culture of the world.
Jet Li did not reach the peak of fame and fortune further, and gradually faded out of the field of vision of the film industry and mainland audiences, not because he can no longer fight physically.
The biggest reason is again:
A good tool has to grow its own will. Some are private and emotional. For example, he resigned from "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" because his wife Li Zhi was pregnant at the time, and Jet Li refused to leave her.
Some are broader ambitions. For example, the establishment of one **, such as the new book "Beyond Life and Death" to convey his perception of life and the world......
And once he had so many halos, those grand missions and everyone's expectations that he had carried. What to do?
Jet Li would say, "It doesn't matter at all." Because what is really important, everyone should do it themselves, and not pin this desire on someone else to fulfill.
Everyone has something important to them.
We saw Jet Li's "distance", in fact, he took the first step.
This article** is from the Internet.