April 28, 2014Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon

“a China that probably never existed except in my boyhood fantasies.”

Ang Lee Director

Wuxia = Martial Arts Genre The wuxia novel is a

Chinese novel genre, which features martial arts heroes, i.e. swordsmen and those related to them, with the plot dedicating to the intricate relationships of honor, loyalty, love and hatred between individuals in the world of martial arts.

There's usually a thread of martial arts practice and demonstration running through the plot.

Wang Dulu (1909-1977), originally named Wang Baoxiang, was a Manchurian from Beijing. His early works were mostly romantic novels. In the mid 1930s, however, Wang Dulu redirected his focus to wuxia novels, opening a whole new world of the genre with his romantic style of writing.

Author = Wan Du Lu Wang's works stood out for

tragic swordsman stories that are characterized by the portrayal of the complex inner-heart contradictions, the struggle of human nature as well as interwoven feelings of love and hatred of heroes in the martial arts world.

At the same time, the author adopted traditional writing skills, with nostalgia for classical Chinese social culture. The novel themes bear the hallmarks of traditional Chinese culture.

Wang Dulu's novels hold an important position in the development history of wuxia novels. His signature works include novels like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Jen and The Bride

Lu Mu Bai and Jen Yu

Yu Shu Lein and Jade Fox

Distant Times and Places  Do Now: think of examples of

stories set in distant times and places that have been changed to bring the stories closer to contemporary audiences. 

Activity: View scene from the Missing. What is the distant time and place? Excerpt from The Penelopiad

Connections to female epic heroes or Monomyth journey.

Write an essay about the contemporary telling of an old story which answers the following two questions: Does changing the time, place, or details such as the style of dress in the "updated" story affect the main elements of the story, or the story's message?·       

Does changing the time, place, or details such as the style of dress in the "updated" story affect the main elements of the story, or the story's message?

Why do story tellers (including movie directors) change the story to bring it closer in time and space to its audience?

Closure: What topic will you write about?