New Research materials

While looking for research materials about martial arts films, I found some really interesting resources. It turns out there are are more books and research papers on martial arts films than I thought, and many of them are quite interesting. Some good resources I have found to be useful are of course google scholar, and the USC library database.

The first book I saw which I was instantly drawn to is called "Fight Choreography: The Art of Non-Verbal Dialogue" by John Kreng. It is a comprehensive book detailing many different dimensions of fight choreography. Chapters include Definitions and Terminology, Physical Elements of a Fight Scene, Technical Elements of a Fight Scene and Narrative Structure of a Fight Scene, just to name a few. The book uses hypothetical real world examples of fighting, as well as listing recommended books and movies on the subject. The book even details differences between sport, self defense and screen performance in the martial arts, which any avid cinema fan will know is an important factor when choreographing captivating fight scenes. This book seems like an excellent resource for aspiring choreographers as well as those fans interested in gaining a more in depth knowledge of how screen fighting works.

A second resource I found very interesting is a lengthy essay called "Bruce Lee and the Anti-Imperialism of Kung Fu" by Vijay Prashad. In this paper, the author theorizes that martial arts films, and the martial arts in general are a common ground that facilitate cross-cultural activity and break down racial barriers. He cites the popularity of Bruce Lee among all during the 1970s - even in a scene of the film "Saturday Night Fever." This theory is an interesting one and with martial arts movies seeming to become more and more popular all the time, this seems like a very viable theory and an interesting and positive one to explore.

These sources are both very different, both in form and content, but this is what is so great about martial arts films: what many don't realize is that they are really so multi-dimensional, just like martial arts disciplines themselves. There are so many aspects that go into them, and the repercussions in popular culture, art, sports, etc are also huge. These resources, among others, help explore and deconstruct everything that goes into the modern martial arts film.