Okay I need to go in on this. I know Richard James Havis is a “name” critic and I’ve read his stuff in the past, but the idea that wuxia movies prior to Crouching Tiger all “subordinated women” and failed to showcase empowered female leads is preposterous.
sc.mp/uls3d
CROUCHING TIGER CAME OUT IN 2000!! This is a wild erasure of the body of Hong Kong cinema from the 80s through the 90s, which included an amazing array of wuxia films starring the likes of Brigitte Lin, Maggie Cheung, Angela Mao (briefly mentioned) and yes, Michelle Yeoh herself.
It’s an even more bizarre erasure of the pioneering 60s/70s films of the legendary King Hu, which were DIRECT INSPIRATION for CROUCHING TIGER!
Without Cheng Pei-Pei in COME DRINK WITH ME (and later, Chang Cheh’s GOLDEN SWALLOW) and Hsu Feng in A TOUCH OF ZEN, you don’t get CTHD.
And of course that’s why Chang Pei-Pei is Jade Fox in CROUCHING TIGER. It’s an homage to her iconic past swordswoman roles...all of which could stand equal with Zhang’s performance when it came to empowerment.
I also think that as much as I love the movie, Chinese people would go into hysterical laugh spasms at the idea that CROUCHING TIGER is “unique”
scmp.com/lifestyle/ente…
Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.
A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.