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In this century colonization is accomplished by the eye. At least that is its more subtle and “peaceful” form. —Joyce Nelson Robert Clouse and Francis Ford Coppola, two Hollywood directors involved in the early phase of transnational film production, both confessed that their productions were besieged by the phantom of war. Being at the frontline of transnational ventures, their shared experience of a haunting war betrays the nature of transnational production. Its exploitation of the land, people, and culture of the Philippines and Hong Kong for the production of exotic imagery entails the antagonistic undertaking of a “silent” war. Perhaps the intensive nature of film production translates the overall contradiction of the transnational recolonization of human and natural resources in a condensed form cognizable as a warlike experience. As much as the directors’ perceptions of war reveal the nature of global capitalism, the culture of kung fu memorializes the history of the people’s resistance and subversion that defied colonial subjugation. Despite the transnational media conglomerate’s attempt to transmute kung fu into a global commodity, the spirit of kung fu haunted every phase of the making of Enter the Dragon and rearranged the transnational project. Throughout every phase of production, the Enter the Dragon project critically hinged upon a native martial artist who would engage in real-life kung fu, both in a symbolic and physical sense, not only with the representatives of the transnational media corporation and its local collaborator, but also with the image that they sought to impose on the genre of kung fu film. 113 CHAPTER FOUR ENTER THE DRAGON, Power, and Subversion in the World of Transnational Capital One of the characteristics of the transnationalization of kung fu film is the nullification of the antagonism between natives and the foreign power in the narrative composition. Our first step, therefore, is to trace the antagonism that was displaced from the narrative, which is to be found in the production process, or in the sphere of the real. The antagonism did indeed erupt in an incident in the production process, wherein the most dramatic “kung fu” took place. It crystallized the discontent of the native workers against the transnational management along the line of colonial antagonism.This subversion in the transnational factory, in turn, created an autonomous narrative domain—the narrative of decolonization—within the construct of the global commodity. Real-life kung fu therefore transferred the antagonism back to the narrative structure, thereby imploding the framework of the transnationalized kung fu narrative. Through the lens of this space of autonomy, the entire structure of Enter the Dragon can be critically reexamined. Seen from this vantage point, the normally elusive contour of transnational power is grasped in concrete form as the official narrative structure and aesthetic paradigm. By identifying the dominant narrative and aesthetic form, we will be able to discern the contestation made by the subversion in the production process that altered the dominant form in the final product. I will thus delve into the process of the alteration of the film’s transnational framework affected by the autonomous “kung fu” in the production process, as well as by Lee’s artistic expressions, which represented the autonomy of Hong Kong sweatshop workers. To see the subversion of the transnational aesthetic paradigm requires as much sensitivity to Lee’s performance as Angela Davis applied to her study of Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday. Davis found an articulation of feminist consciousness by these artists in the way they transformed the dominant lyrical content that is generally bent on male supremacy.1 Through the emotional content of their delivery and subtle nuances (e.g., melancholy, solemnity, ambivalence, playfulness, and sarcasm) articulated in their performances, they were able to transform the overt patriarchal content of the lyrics into critique while achieving a “state of autonomy and control” over their artistic expression as women.2 For example, Davis points out that Billie Holiday was capable of producing “an independent meaning for her vocals out of their relation to the instrumental accompaniment and apart from the literal signification of the lyrics.”3 Likewise, Bruce Lee’s performance reorganized the transnationalized aesthetic form with his kinetic self-expression, creating an autonomous kine-aesthetic narrative as a critique of the dominant aesthetic form. When the real-life kung fu pervades into the realm of fantasy designed by the transnational media conglomerate, the generative process of space of From Kung Fu to Hip Hop 114 [3.139.72.78] Project MUSE...

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