Bruce Lee Mythology
What does Bruce Lee have to do with it?
We found a recent blog post on creating an exercise program without gym visits or weights. The elements of the workout were fine on their own, but the author brought Bruce Lee into the mix saying that Lee seldom used weights and never set foot inside a gym. Site comments noted some of the inaccuracies. What caught our attention were the physical feats attributed to Lee: he could perform 50 reps of one arm chin ups. He could hold a V position for half an hour. He could even catch a grain of rice, midair, with chopsticks. It stimulated our thoughts about about myth and reality. What makes something, or someone, legend?
Symbols
We need heroes. Extraordinary skills and achievements amaze us, inspire us. In all cultures, ancient to modern, some need resides deep within us to elevate certain individuals to mythic status. We shape flesh and blood into a carved and crafted symbol. What compels us to exaggerate and embellish upon their accomplishments? Jung saw our need to order the world around us and identified the archetypal symbols we create, onto which we project our ideals, values and dreams. Like Hercules, or Achilles, Bruce Lee is a symbol.
Keeping it real
How do you separate fact from fiction? And what happens when the screen character is a martial artist master portrayed by an actor who is a famous martial artist? Things become convoluted. Many people confuse Bruce Lee’s celluloid martial art heroics with the flesh and blood martial artist. We thrill to his swirling nunchuks and his taking out 20 opponents – beautifully, single handed. We don’t see the outtakes. We get so caught up with the persona, we lose sight of the person. The stuff that legends are made of…
Whether or not he could catch rice grains with chopsticks (he couldn’t) or beat up Mike Tyson (sheer conjecture) is irrelevant. Bruce Lee was a phenomenon. He was the first to bring martial arts into the mainstream through his screen presence, charismatic personality and innovative approach to tradition. This was also abetted by his confident articulation of Chinese thought. Dying young makes the symbol even more powerful…Lee is captured in a moment in time, forever young.
Bruce Lee is the mythic icon for martial arts. But the breadth and depth of the martial art tradition is thousands of years old, with its many systems and great masters who came before him and those yet to arrive. With this in mind we ask you: is Bruce Lee, as some claim, the greatest martial artist ever? Please leave a comment.
Lawrence Tan & Toni Josephson
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I agree with you on this, mostly but not all. Yes, Bruce Lee couldn’t catach grains with chopsticks. I only remember his kick on the shoot of Game of Death. He practiced this kick 300 times before shooting it. I think this is true because me and you can do that too. There is nothing extra human about it, just dedication, which 95% of the population lacks.
2nd, I agree that Chinese Martial-Arts tradition is much more dense and older that Bruce Lee himself. I, myself found people which are as good (or may be better) than Bruce Lee but they never came to light. Just read about Huo Yuanjia, the Mizongyi master. He was a patient of Asthama since his birth but he mastered Mizong Luohan, or read about Gama, an Indian wrestler who kept an opponent (two times bigger than his size) beneath himself on ground for straight 2.5 hours and the opponent whould hardly move. Gama was the most amazing thing I have seen. He died in 1910.
We never hear about these people. Also we never hear about the hashish Bruce Lee took sometimes. Even after all this, I still say he was a great Martial-Artist.
I want to ask you a question. Was Bruce Lee the first one who invented the idea of having no style but being practical to the current fighting situation. Was he the first and ony one who created the core of JKD, being shapless and styleless, that man as a human being is more important than any established Martial Art ?
I am seeking the answer to this question from a much longer time.
Arnuld, thank you for your thoughtful questions and observations. Please see the 3/30/09 No Style post in answer to you question.
RE: “is Bruce Lee, as some claim, the greatest martial artist ever? ”
It’s hard to say, you need to define what a “martial artist” is.
If you mean the greatest fighter ever, then I would have to say no.
However, I would have to say he is one of the most recognizable and influential figure in martial arts to both the lay person and martial artists.
Your comment is as real as you can get.