Jackie Chan's Who Am I?
“See, these guys can copy my moves, but they can’t copy my inspiration.”
-a juggler, on people copying his moves
-a juggler, on people copying his moves
The other day, I was trying to think about what things I drew inspiration from. Some answers came easy: musical theater and hip-hop have been my more recent passions, but I tried to dig deeper, I realized that as a child, I really loved Kung Fu movies - Jackie Chan movies, specifically.The best thing about Jackie Chan movies are, of course, the fight scenes. They really are so well choreographed. I remember having an argument over who was better: Jackie Chan or Bruce Lee, and I would always say Jackie Chan because his fight scenes were always more entertaining to watch, even though Bruce Lee's fight scenes were technically "more real."
The thing I love about Jackie Chan's fight scenes is how they seamlessly blend action and humor. They have a good rhythm to them, and they never stay in place for very long. I think that's a key element in Jackie's fight scenes: they always change location and each new location changes the way the fight plays out.
Of course, the movie itself wasn't spectacular. The plot was thin and the acting was horrendous. But what do you expect? It's a Hong Kong action movie!
P.S. Jackie Chan always talks about how much he is influenced by slient movie actors like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, so I decided to look up a few clips:
Buster Keaton in "Hard Luck"
Charlie Chaplin in "Pay Day"
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