Success of the Kong Hong Crossover Film

Success of the Kong Hong Crossover Film Chapter 1 Introduction Preface The purpose for this dissertation is to discover what is crossover film and what makes the crossover film a success. The cinema of Hong Kong has consider as the pioneer of chinese language movie. Especially between the 1970à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" 1990à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s, most of movie fans will be familiar with names like Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, John Wu from Hong Kong cinema. The reason why these movie star become so popular because they produce a lot of martial art film during that time. And then these martial art film brought to the western audiences. In fact, A lot of english speaking country or european start to aware of asian movie in that time. However, the English audiences might consider these martial art film as the crossover film. The English audiences think these martial art film as the crossover probably because these martial art film come with simple plot. The story are quite easy to understand for them such as the good and evil character. So the audienes are not nessesary to understand what the character speaking. Therefore, there is no language boundary when the english audiences watch it. In my research, these martial arts films in the past does not count as the crossover film. I would say the crossover film is relate to several elements which is culture references, co-production, company investment, audiences expectation, marketing, etc. Research background Back to Hong Kong cinema, The cinema of Hong Kong is one of the major movie industry in the Chinese language speaking cinema. Before 1997, Hong Kong was a colony of Britain and therefore Hong Kong had a greater freedom on economic and political than mainland China. Even in film industry, The censorship system in Mainland China have a very strHYPERLINK http://cdict.net/q/straightict rule. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“ Hong Kong filmmakers either steered away from criticzing China or did so in oblique ways à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“(Clara Lawà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Farewell China,1989. P.127: Bordwell, 2000). Therefore, the Hong Kong film maker can barely sell their film or have to re-produce another verison to adapt the market in China. On the other hand, the America or other Euro country censorship syetem are vary widely than China. And a lot of Hong Kong film producers try to sell their films to some western country. But I think it was not that easy for the very beginning because the western audiences probabl y havenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t seen any kind of asian movie before. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“European and North American audiences have never been particularly interested in Asian cinema, Apart from the occasional exotic import and anime.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? (D. Bordwell, 2003, P. 83) During the 1970s, the matrial art /Ku fung film become one of the major theme in Hong Kong. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Golden Harvest was the top studio, signing up Jackie Chan, the kung fu comedy actor-filmmaker who would spend the next twenty years as Asias biggest box office drawà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? (Chan and Yang, 1998, P.  164à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"165: Bordwell, 2000). However, during the 1990à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s. there was a industry crisis because of the Asian financial crisis and also the illegal copy and download over the internet. However, there was a few local film receive a huge success even it was a hard time for film industry by that period. Those are the film that I am going to cover in my research. Chapter 2 What is crossover film? 2.1 Chapter introduction In this chapter, I will be discuss how we define crossover film especially the film made in Hong Kong. Also, Hong Kong produced a lot of martial art or action movie during the late 1980à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s and early 1900à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s. And Thatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s probably relate to the politcal and society problem. It might be represent the identity of Hong Kong movie as the martial art film from the english audiences. And I want to find out why they have this thought. Apart from these martial art film, do they know other films that made in Hong Kong? 2.2 Hong Kong movie = Ku fung ? The Martial art movie can be chase back to 1930à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s originally. And the Chinese people called it à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Wuxiaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? film, the term à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Wuxiaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? is based on some fictional Chinese novel and always use of the old chinese dynasty as the background. The features of these à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Wuxiaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? characters always appear with sword as the weapon and come with superpower. The à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Wuxiaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? film probably the most popular genre in the early cinema of Mainland China. I think the Chinese audiences need this kind of topic in the cinema such as heroic and myth after the post-war period. However, the chinese government strongly disapprove à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Wuxiaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? film in China as the subject matter is over superstition and violence. And some Hong Kong movie producer try to bring action movie to Hong Kong audiences in the late 1930à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s. The reason is Hong Kong had a superior level of freedom as the social culture and economy development during the colony era. That was the competitive advantage for Hong Kong could produce some action film but Mainland China. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“In the British colony of Hong Kong, which had since 1950à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s transformed itself from an entreport to an industial city, the 1960à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s was also a period of rapid economic growth and social turmoilà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? (Po Shek fu and David Desser, P.71: Cambridge university press, 2000). Therefore, I believe the martial arts movie has became popular start by the late 1960à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s. The Martial arts movies still feature à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Wuxiaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? style in the early Hong Kong cinema. However, there was some significant change in the Hong Kong cinema during the 1970à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s. I think the first time to allow western audiences to get to know about Hong Kong movies is the master of martial arts Bruce Lee return to Hong Kong cinema. Bruce Lees career achievement as well as cultural aspects of the film have an influence, he not only open the gate for the Chinese to first enter Hollywood, but also created his own philosophy on martial arts Jeet Kune Do. And make Action movies become one of the mainstream genres in Hong Kong. The early co-production with hollywood (Warner Bros) and Hong Kong (Golden Harvest) was à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Enter the Dragonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? in 1973. It was also the first time Hong Kong attempt to break into western audiences market. The film combined the traditional Kung fu and James bond action style genres. It wasnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t really successful for the first breakthrough with western audiences because Lee dead in 1973. And then the action movie production seem to be lay low for while. This situation change until Golden Harvest studio sign up Jackie Chan as the action movie star. Jackie Chan as early as 1982 when it began to break into the Hollywood market, but he does not run smoothly into the international road. His first foray into the international market film called Cannonball Run. Unfortunately at the box office failure, And then after many years later Jackie took the first Hollywood movie Rush Hour which made him become popular in Hollywood. During the 70à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"early 90à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s, Hong Kong exported a lot of local movie to western country. In my opinon, I think the western audiences probably consider the early Hong Kong action movie as the crossover film. But I think these action movies just the films that made in Hong Kong. Therefore, I m going to look for the real definition for crossover film in next paragraph. 2.3 The definition of crossover film In fact, I canà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t find any book that mention about the term à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“crossover filmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? during my research. However, I found some other sourse over the internet to explain what is crossover film. Also I will use my own understanding to outline the definition of crossover film through the research. When I start typing the word à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“crossover filmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? on google search engine. I found this web blogger called Pardesi over the internet and talk about what he/she thinks about crossover film. This blogger Pardesi make a compare between two successful crossover films which is Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and Slumdog Millionaire in the blog entry. Pardesi suggest that the definition of crossover film à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Such films go beyond the traditional markets in the home country, or already exploited by films from the country, and usually end up making a lot of money.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? Pardesi, (2010). In my opinion, I think Pardesi only suggest c rossover film more concern by marketing way. However, I believe crossover film can be relate many different elements apart from marketing. Firstly, I think it can separate into two parts which is the crossover film itself and the production. The crossover film itself can develop to culture, actor, and audiences expectation, and narrative structure. And the production element can define as company investment, finanical, special effect, and film location or studio. I think culture represent a lot within the crossover film because it can show some of the local element to western audiences. Also, it probably involve different actor from different coutry or speak different language. And the most important one is audiences expectation, the western audiences might expect to see something where the local film specialize at , or something they probably wont see from the english movie. for example, Martial art, high population or modern city scene. The second part to define crossover film is about production. firstly, it might involve western company to invest Hong Kong movie and re-packaging the film to be come suitable western marketing. Even finanical support is key element as produce a crossover film. Some western film production company might already own their advanced technology to create some imaginary scenes. However, these are just the thoughts come from my research. I will be provide some evidences to proof these elements are relevant. 2.4 Chapter summary This chapter has mainly introduced the theories and article which relevant in this research. It can give some idea to the reader about the crossover film. Also have the primary understanding about the marketing side and production side of the crossover film. In next chapter, I will discuss more about the elements which make the crossover film success. Chapter 3 The Crossover films 3.1 Chapter introduction The purpose of this chapter is to use three significant crossover films as the example. And then I will discuss the key elements which bring them to become sucessfull around the global. The films I will be focus on Kung Fu Hustle(2004), The film saved Hong Kong film industrial during the global economic crisis and the local film industrial decline. The second film I will look at is Rush Hour (1998), see how the western audiences expectation change from crossover film. Finlly, I will discuss how cross-movies in the western region of Hong Kongs success, rather than in Hong Kong by using à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? 3.2 Crossover to international à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Stephen Chowà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“ Kung Fu Hustleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? During the late 90à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s, hong kong movie industrial met a several crisis. The internet technology was developing extremely fast. People start sharing the movie over the internet, or even purchase the illegal movie DVD copies rather than go to the cinema . Some movie production studio find it difficult to maintain the movie production as the box office decline. However, Hong Kong actor Stephen chow seem to be saved this crisis for Hong Kong movie industrial. Hong Kongs population is 7,061,200. As a small population and economic decline region, Some Hong Kong movie studio find it hard to survive. Therefore, they can only rely on producing some low budget film to maintain the business. Nevertheless, the cinema of Hong Kong still find the way to survive from mainland China and international market. Kung Fu Hustle 2004 is a one of the great successful example. The film recieve highly positive result. Before Kung Fu Hustle, there are several film which co-production with Columbria studio. Howeve, these film have failed at the box office because they remain a little local flavour. The western audiences probably more familiar with one of the most popular actor in Hong Kong Stephen Chow. He created his own comedy style on acting called à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Mo lei tauà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? , this term can be referred to à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Silly talkà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“During an interview with Stephen Chow for his 2006 Asian Invasion season, the BBCs film critic Jonathan Ross referred to the genre as Silly Talk, a label that Chow was happy to accept.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? (Wikipedia. 2011. Mo lei tau), the interview also avalible on YouTube(Asian Invasion Episode 2 Part 2) . Stephen Chow produced the first film à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Shaolin Soccerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? which break through the western market. However, the second film Kung Fu Hustle Stephen Chow became an international success. Columbia pictures impressed by stephen previous film Shaolin Soccer and wanted to provide finanical support to Stehpen. As a result, Stehpen came up the new idea on the film Kung Fu Hustle in 2004. Stephen Chow also is an actor himself, he started his acting career from a local television. In early 1990à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s, he began to making film with his Mo lei tau comedy style. But this kind of acting style only limited to cantonese speakers understanding. Therefore, Stephen tried not to put too much Mo lei tau acting style in Kung Fu Hustle, and used the CGI and pop culture references instead. In addition, Stephen co production with Columbria studio and several film studio in mainland China. In my opinion, I think such as this kind of collaboration with western movie studio is quite benefit to Hong Kong film industrial. The reason is western movie studio has already built up a very mature technique on film production. Also, they developed some advance computer graphic during the editing part. This is a great improvement on visual effect for the Hong Kong film, so the CGI technology can perform the scene that impossible become possible. For example, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Kung Fu Hustleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? refer a lot of superhuman ability combine with martial art. During the interview with BBC, Stephen said this kind of technology did a great help for his film, but he insist to put CGI graphic as the assistant role for the film. I agree what Stephen says because it wonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t lose the originality with martial art element. Also, the CGI effect just play a little role that make western audiences easier accept the film rather than produce the stereotype martial art movie. The western audiences probably have seen a lot different martial art film from the past. Furthermore, the Hollywood production system more focus on quality rather than quantity. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Hollywood directors count themselves lucky to make a film every three yearsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦In the late 1990s Andre Lau( Hong Kong director) was directing as many as 4 films per year.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? (David B, P.  117 2003). In such a condition, I think hong kong filmmaker can only produce some low budget film and lack of idea on creating some stunning story. Therefore, I reckon the collaboration between western film studio and Hong Kong film maker which is quite benefit to Hong Kong film to break through western market. Apart from big company support, Stephen Chow also wanted try some new element into the film such as put a several American pop culture in different scenes. These references including Road Runner à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Wile E. Coyote and Road Runnerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? , and a dance scene which refer to Amercian musical à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“West side storyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? and the horror scene à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“The Shingingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?1908. When I look at some Hong Kong movie in the past, I think they cant become mainstream movie in western country because the film is more focus on local audiences taste. Only some of the popular martial art or action movie can be sell to western. Beside, the western audiences only understand because these film content involve simple plot such as bad character get beat up by the good character. It might be already label that Hong Kong movie represent martial art or kung fu in some sence. Therefore, I believe the way to make western audiences re-consider Hong Kong movie not just another martial art or action film could be consider to put some western pop culture. This is not only reduce the language boundry, but also bring up some new element to the film. 3.3 Cultural cross-over movieà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? Rush Hourà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? Even Stephen Chowà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s gain a hugh success from western market. There is still some movie fans not quite fancy foreign film. Especially the film is based on chinese language. According to producer Terence Chang à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“A lot of Hong Kong films have things that I think American audiences canà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t accept.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? D. Bordwell (P.19 ,2000) In 1998, Jackie Chan finally arrived to Hollywood. Chanà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Rush hourà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? series become at Rank #1 at the North American box-office with a weekend gross of $33 million in September 1998 (figure on Appendix -1) Which is unexpected result for foreign film. I would say the Martial Art combine buddy movie opened the gate for crossover film. The movie applied the buddy film style like the hollywood film normally use. In Rush Hour, it is about a Chinese inspector and American detective. The character James Carter (Chris Tucker) keeps the American comedy element in the film, and Inspector Lee (Jackie Chan) remain his action scenes throughout the movie. I think the audiences have never seen the buddy film like this before which bring a lot of new visual elements to them. However, Jackie Chan reveal on his official blog that he didnt really like the film and he felt very disappointed. Chan Said, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“I felt the style of action was too Americanized and I didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t understand the American humor.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? Which I consider the film might suitable for western audiences rather than local audiences. In à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Rush Hourà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? series, there are a lot of jokes which based on minority racial stereotypes in Amer ican society. I think that makes the film easier to get accepted by majority white audiences. The two character portray totally different personality. Carter portray as a loud, speak with high pitch, impulsive, childish Black man who often causing trouble, Lee is a respectful Asian man who good at Kung Fu. According to King (2002) points out that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"reduce any threat created by the spectacle of a seemingly dominating Black characterà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ (p. 149).These features of both characters become likeable for the western audiences. In Bar fighting scene, Lee says à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Whats up my Niggerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? to the bartender because Carter said that to the African customer. But Lee doesnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t understand the wordà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?Niggerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? is a racist word to African. I think the director uses quite a lot this kind of jokes in the film to reflect the culture differences from society. In contrast with Jackie Chanà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s earlier Hong Kong action movie. He represented as a masculinity and tough character most of the time. But in à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Rush Hourà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?, character Lee who always wanted help the FBI to solve the case. And the FBI try to use character Carter to send Lee away. Altough White Character involved small role in this film. I think the director still want White character to portray as important position in the film. 3.4 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Crouching Tiger was very well received in the Western world, however Crouching Tiger was widely dismissed as just another wuxia film among many others in asia.) Chapter 4 Research Methodology 4.1 Chapter introduction The purpose of the primary research provide the basic level of understanding for the researcher. I will use questionnaire during the primary research. The questionnaire will be conducted ten questions which indicate the western audiences interest on crossover film. The result will indicate the future trends for crossover film. This chapter will be described how the methodology adopt and analysis research question. Furthermore, this chapter is going to explain the research design, research location, sampling design and data collection process, survey instrument, and ethical issue. 4.2 Research processes Primary research: Survey ÃÆ'  Questionnaire by Student/Internet users ÃÆ'  Collect from: Northampton/ linking the questionnaire on facebook ÃÆ'  Analyze results In primary research, it will be carry out a questionnaire research. According to Ticehurst, Gregory W (2000: P.135) defined a questionnaire survey is the way to collect information from individual by using a set of question. Therefore, I believe the first to do is focus on what type of information and respondent are looking for. Then start to think about an appropriate questions for the research. The primary research will only take 10% part of this dissertation. The reason is I am hoping to get about medium size of response rate from that. Here is the brief descript type of questionnaire survey will be use: Type of questionnaire Cost Length of questionnaire Response rate Street/University/Internet Low Short Medium 4.3 Research Location The questionnaire survey is taken place from the three locations in Northampton which are the Abbeyfield school , Northampton town center and University of Northampton. The reason of chosen these place to research because it can save time to traveling different places which far way from Northampton. Further more, it can widely spread collecting the data over the internet. 4.4 Survey Instrument Development The questionnaire (Appendix). There are 3 parts of the questionnaire. The first part is about personal information such as age, gender. this is designed to collect the demographic data of the respondents. Then, the second part is about the respondentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s knowledge on crossover film. That is to collect the information about how much respondent know about crossover film. Finally, the third part is about respondentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s interest on crossover film. And that is designed to what sort element the respondent like so I can provide the recommendation for the future crossover film. 4.5 Ethic Issue in Research The protection for the respondentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s information is one of the most important thing in the research. In à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Doing your research projectà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?, According to the Judith Bell (2005: 51) the researcher can follow two things to maintain the respondentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s right when they carry out a research. 1.) Keep the participant innominate. 2.) Treat all the information as confidential file which from the respondent. However, My questionnaire is based on personal opinion rather than personal details. Therefore, I suppose my research will not meet any ethical issue. Chapter 5 Conclusion 5.1 The future for the crossover film 5.2 Conclusion Appendix Part -1 Rush Hour Domestic Total Gross: $141,186,864 Distributor: New Line Release Date: September 18, 1998 Genre: Action Comedy Runtime: 1 hrs. 37 min. MPAA Rating: PG-13 Production Budget: $33 million 1998 Date (click to view chart) Rank Weekend Gross % Change Theaters Change / Avg. Gross-to-Date Week # Sep 18à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"20 1 $33,001,803 2,638 $12,510 $33,001,803 1 Sep 25à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"27 1 $21,202,929 -35.8% 2,643 +5 $8,022 $64,037,138 2 Oct 2à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"4 3 $14,492,122 -31.7% 2,701 +58 $5,365 $84,014,663 3 Oct 9à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"11 2 $11,105,465 -23.4% 2,701 $4,111 $98,382,886 4 Oct 16à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"18 4 $8,247,411 -25.7% 2,724 +23 $3,027 $109,911,590 5 Oct 23à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"25 6 $5,860,347 -28.9% 2,602 -122 $2,252 $117,284,969 6 Oct 30à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"Nov 1 6 $3,799,380 -35.2% 2,402 -200 $1,581 $122,428,446 7 Nov 6à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"8 10 $3,322,424 -12.6% 2,043 -359 $1,626 $127,044,896 8 Nov 13à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"15 11 $1,866,524 -43.8% 1,615 -428 $1,155 $129,829,673 9 Sources from: http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=rushhour.htm Part -2 I am a student from University of Northampton. I am going to conduct a survey about the Crossover film that made in Hong Kong. I would be grateful if you could finish this questionnaire. Your honest view is taken with highly to appreciate. All the information in the questionnaire will be kept confidential for analysis only. Thank you very much. (Please tick the appropriate box) Gender à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡ Male à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡ Female Age à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡ 15 ~ 25 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡ 25 ~ 35 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡ 35~ 45 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡ 45 ~ above Do you know any of these asian movie stars from below? à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡ Jackie Chan à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡ Bruce Lee à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡ Jet Li à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡ Stephen Chow à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡ Andy Lau à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡ Tony Leung à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡ Other ________________ Have you ever watched any other films that has been made in Hong Kong? à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡ Yes à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡ No à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡ Not sure if the film is made in Hong Kong 5. How often do you watch Hong Kong movies? à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡ Daily à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡ Weekly à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡ Monthly à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡ Occasionally 6. Do you think Hong Kong movies representing martial arts? à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡ Yes à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡ No à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡ Not sure Do you understand what the story is about when you watch crossover films? If the film is using original Chinese language, just subtitles. (such as these films for example) Shaolin soccer, kung fu hustle, Internal affairs, In the mood for love à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡Yes à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡No 8. Do you prefer to see the actor you familiar with from Hong Kong movie? à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡Yes à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡ No What sort of things do you expect to see when you watch a Hong Kong movie? à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡Kung Fu fighting à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡Action movie star à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡Local culture à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡Comedy Would you recommend friends to watch film that made in Hong Kong? à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡Yes à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡No Success of the Kong Hong Crossover Film Success of the Kong Hong Crossover Film Chapter 1 Introduction Preface The purpose for this dissertation is to discover what is crossover film and what makes the crossover film a success. The cinema of Hong Kong has consider as the pioneer of chinese language movie. Especially between the 1970à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" 1990à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s, most of movie fans will be familiar with names like Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, John Wu from Hong Kong cinema. The reason why these movie star become so popular because they produce a lot of martial art film during that time. And then these martial art film brought to the western audiences. In fact, A lot of english speaking country or european start to aware of asian movie in that time. However, the English audiences might consider these martial art film as the crossover film. The English audiences think these martial art film as the crossover probably because these martial art film come with simple plot. The story are quite easy to understand for them such as the good and evil character. So the audienes are not nessesary to understand what the character speaking. Therefore, there is no language boundary when the english audiences watch it. In my research, these martial arts films in the past does not count as the crossover film. I would say the crossover film is relate to several elements which is culture references, co-production, company investment, audiences expectation, marketing, etc. Research background Back to Hong Kong cinema, The cinema of Hong Kong is one of the major movie industry in the Chinese language speaking cinema. Before 1997, Hong Kong was a colony of Britain and therefore Hong Kong had a greater freedom on economic and political than mainland China. Even in film industry, The censorship system in Mainland China have a very strHYPERLINK http://cdict.net/q/straightict rule. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“ Hong Kong filmmakers either steered away from criticzing China or did so in oblique ways à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“(Clara Lawà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Farewell China,1989. P.127: Bordwell, 2000). Therefore, the Hong Kong film maker can barely sell their film or have to re-produce another verison to adapt the market in China. On the other hand, the America or other Euro country censorship syetem are vary widely than China. And a lot of Hong Kong film producers try to sell their films to some western country. But I think it was not that easy for the very beginning because the western audiences probabl y havenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t seen any kind of asian movie before. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“European and North American audiences have never been particularly interested in Asian cinema, Apart from the occasional exotic import and anime.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? (D. Bordwell, 2003, P. 83) During the 1970s, the matrial art /Ku fung film become one of the major theme in Hong Kong. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Golden Harvest was the top studio, signing up Jackie Chan, the kung fu comedy actor-filmmaker who would spend the next twenty years as Asias biggest box office drawà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? (Chan and Yang, 1998, P.  164à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"165: Bordwell, 2000). However, during the 1990à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s. there was a industry crisis because of the Asian financial crisis and also the illegal copy and download over the internet. However, there was a few local film receive a huge success even it was a hard time for film industry by that period. Those are the film that I am going to cover in my research. Chapter 2 What is crossover film? 2.1 Chapter introduction In this chapter, I will be discuss how we define crossover film especially the film made in Hong Kong. Also, Hong Kong produced a lot of martial art or action movie during the late 1980à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s and early 1900à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s. And Thatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s probably relate to the politcal and society problem. It might be represent the identity of Hong Kong movie as the martial art film from the english audiences. And I want to find out why they have this thought. Apart from these martial art film, do they know other films that made in Hong Kong? 2.2 Hong Kong movie = Ku fung ? The Martial art movie can be chase back to 1930à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s originally. And the Chinese people called it à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Wuxiaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? film, the term à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Wuxiaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? is based on some fictional Chinese novel and always use of the old chinese dynasty as the background. The features of these à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Wuxiaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? characters always appear with sword as the weapon and come with superpower. The à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Wuxiaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? film probably the most popular genre in the early cinema of Mainland China. I think the Chinese audiences need this kind of topic in the cinema such as heroic and myth after the post-war period. However, the chinese government strongly disapprove à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Wuxiaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? film in China as the subject matter is over superstition and violence. And some Hong Kong movie producer try to bring action movie to Hong Kong audiences in the late 1930à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s. The reason is Hong Kong had a superior level of freedom as the social culture and economy development during the colony era. That was the competitive advantage for Hong Kong could produce some action film but Mainland China. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“In the British colony of Hong Kong, which had since 1950à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s transformed itself from an entreport to an industial city, the 1960à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s was also a period of rapid economic growth and social turmoilà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? (Po Shek fu and David Desser, P.71: Cambridge university press, 2000). Therefore, I believe the martial arts movie has became popular start by the late 1960à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s. The Martial arts movies still feature à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Wuxiaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? style in the early Hong Kong cinema. However, there was some significant change in the Hong Kong cinema during the 1970à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s. I think the first time to allow western audiences to get to know about Hong Kong movies is the master of martial arts Bruce Lee return to Hong Kong cinema. Bruce Lees career achievement as well as cultural aspects of the film have an influence, he not only open the gate for the Chinese to first enter Hollywood, but also created his own philosophy on martial arts Jeet Kune Do. And make Action movies become one of the mainstream genres in Hong Kong. The early co-production with hollywood (Warner Bros) and Hong Kong (Golden Harvest) was à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Enter the Dragonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? in 1973. It was also the first time Hong Kong attempt to break into western audiences market. The film combined the traditional Kung fu and James bond action style genres. It wasnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t really successful for the first breakthrough with western audiences because Lee dead in 1973. And then the action movie production seem to be lay low for while. This situation change until Golden Harvest studio sign up Jackie Chan as the action movie star. Jackie Chan as early as 1982 when it began to break into the Hollywood market, but he does not run smoothly into the international road. His first foray into the international market film called Cannonball Run. Unfortunately at the box office failure, And then after many years later Jackie took the first Hollywood movie Rush Hour which made him become popular in Hollywood. During the 70à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"early 90à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s, Hong Kong exported a lot of local movie to western country. In my opinon, I think the western audiences probably consider the early Hong Kong action movie as the crossover film. But I think these action movies just the films that made in Hong Kong. Therefore, I m going to look for the real definition for crossover film in next paragraph. 2.3 The definition of crossover film In fact, I canà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t find any book that mention about the term à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“crossover filmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? during my research. However, I found some other sourse over the internet to explain what is crossover film. Also I will use my own understanding to outline the definition of crossover film through the research. When I start typing the word à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“crossover filmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? on google search engine. I found this web blogger called Pardesi over the internet and talk about what he/she thinks about crossover film. This blogger Pardesi make a compare between two successful crossover films which is Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and Slumdog Millionaire in the blog entry. Pardesi suggest that the definition of crossover film à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Such films go beyond the traditional markets in the home country, or already exploited by films from the country, and usually end up making a lot of money.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? Pardesi, (2010). In my opinion, I think Pardesi only suggest c rossover film more concern by marketing way. However, I believe crossover film can be relate many different elements apart from marketing. Firstly, I think it can separate into two parts which is the crossover film itself and the production. The crossover film itself can develop to culture, actor, and audiences expectation, and narrative structure. And the production element can define as company investment, finanical, special effect, and film location or studio. I think culture represent a lot within the crossover film because it can show some of the local element to western audiences. Also, it probably involve different actor from different coutry or speak different language. And the most important one is audiences expectation, the western audiences might expect to see something where the local film specialize at , or something they probably wont see from the english movie. for example, Martial art, high population or modern city scene. The second part to define crossover film is about production. firstly, it might involve western company to invest Hong Kong movie and re-packaging the film to be come suitable western marketing. Even finanical support is key element as produce a crossover film. Some western film production company might already own their advanced technology to create some imaginary scenes. However, these are just the thoughts come from my research. I will be provide some evidences to proof these elements are relevant. 2.4 Chapter summary This chapter has mainly introduced the theories and article which relevant in this research. It can give some idea to the reader about the crossover film. Also have the primary understanding about the marketing side and production side of the crossover film. In next chapter, I will discuss more about the elements which make the crossover film success. Chapter 3 The Crossover films 3.1 Chapter introduction The purpose of this chapter is to use three significant crossover films as the example. And then I will discuss the key elements which bring them to become sucessfull around the global. The films I will be focus on Kung Fu Hustle(2004), The film saved Hong Kong film industrial during the global economic crisis and the local film industrial decline. The second film I will look at is Rush Hour (1998), see how the western audiences expectation change from crossover film. Finlly, I will discuss how cross-movies in the western region of Hong Kongs success, rather than in Hong Kong by using à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? 3.2 Crossover to international à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Stephen Chowà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“ Kung Fu Hustleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? During the late 90à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s, hong kong movie industrial met a several crisis. The internet technology was developing extremely fast. People start sharing the movie over the internet, or even purchase the illegal movie DVD copies rather than go to the cinema . Some movie production studio find it difficult to maintain the movie production as the box office decline. However, Hong Kong actor Stephen chow seem to be saved this crisis for Hong Kong movie industrial. Hong Kongs population is 7,061,200. As a small population and economic decline region, Some Hong Kong movie studio find it hard to survive. Therefore, they can only rely on producing some low budget film to maintain the business. Nevertheless, the cinema of Hong Kong still find the way to survive from mainland China and international market. Kung Fu Hustle 2004 is a one of the great successful example. The film recieve highly positive result. Before Kung Fu Hustle, there are several film which co-production with Columbria studio. Howeve, these film have failed at the box office because they remain a little local flavour. The western audiences probably more familiar with one of the most popular actor in Hong Kong Stephen Chow. He created his own comedy style on acting called à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Mo lei tauà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? , this term can be referred to à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Silly talkà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“During an interview with Stephen Chow for his 2006 Asian Invasion season, the BBCs film critic Jonathan Ross referred to the genre as Silly Talk, a label that Chow was happy to accept.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? (Wikipedia. 2011. Mo lei tau), the interview also avalible on YouTube(Asian Invasion Episode 2 Part 2) . Stephen Chow produced the first film à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Shaolin Soccerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? which break through the western market. However, the second film Kung Fu Hustle Stephen Chow became an international success. Columbia pictures impressed by stephen previous film Shaolin Soccer and wanted to provide finanical support to Stehpen. As a result, Stehpen came up the new idea on the film Kung Fu Hustle in 2004. Stephen Chow also is an actor himself, he started his acting career from a local television. In early 1990à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s, he began to making film with his Mo lei tau comedy style. But this kind of acting style only limited to cantonese speakers understanding. Therefore, Stephen tried not to put too much Mo lei tau acting style in Kung Fu Hustle, and used the CGI and pop culture references instead. In addition, Stephen co production with Columbria studio and several film studio in mainland China. In my opinion, I think such as this kind of collaboration with western movie studio is quite benefit to Hong Kong film industrial. The reason is western movie studio has already built up a very mature technique on film production. Also, they developed some advance computer graphic during the editing part. This is a great improvement on visual effect for the Hong Kong film, so the CGI technology can perform the scene that impossible become possible. For example, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Kung Fu Hustleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? refer a lot of superhuman ability combine with martial art. During the interview with BBC, Stephen said this kind of technology did a great help for his film, but he insist to put CGI graphic as the assistant role for the film. I agree what Stephen says because it wonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t lose the originality with martial art element. Also, the CGI effect just play a little role that make western audiences easier accept the film rather than produce the stereotype martial art movie. The western audiences probably have seen a lot different martial art film from the past. Furthermore, the Hollywood production system more focus on quality rather than quantity. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Hollywood directors count themselves lucky to make a film every three yearsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦In the late 1990s Andre Lau( Hong Kong director) was directing as many as 4 films per year.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? (David B, P.  117 2003). In such a condition, I think hong kong filmmaker can only produce some low budget film and lack of idea on creating some stunning story. Therefore, I reckon the collaboration between western film studio and Hong Kong film maker which is quite benefit to Hong Kong film to break through western market. Apart from big company support, Stephen Chow also wanted try some new element into the film such as put a several American pop culture in different scenes. These references including Road Runner à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Wile E. Coyote and Road Runnerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? , and a dance scene which refer to Amercian musical à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“West side storyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? and the horror scene à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“The Shingingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?1908. When I look at some Hong Kong movie in the past, I think they cant become mainstream movie in western country because the film is more focus on local audiences taste. Only some of the popular martial art or action movie can be sell to western. Beside, the western audiences only understand because these film content involve simple plot such as bad character get beat up by the good character. It might be already label that Hong Kong movie represent martial art or kung fu in some sence. Therefore, I believe the way to make western audiences re-consider Hong Kong movie not just another martial art or action film could be consider to put some western pop culture. This is not only reduce the language boundry, but also bring up some new element to the film. 3.3 Cultural cross-over movieà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? Rush Hourà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? Even Stephen Chowà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s gain a hugh success from western market. There is still some movie fans not quite fancy foreign film. Especially the film is based on chinese language. According to producer Terence Chang à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“A lot of Hong Kong films have things that I think American audiences canà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t accept.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? D. Bordwell (P.19 ,2000) In 1998, Jackie Chan finally arrived to Hollywood. Chanà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Rush hourà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? series become at Rank #1 at the North American box-office with a weekend gross of $33 million in September 1998 (figure on Appendix -1) Which is unexpected result for foreign film. I would say the Martial Art combine buddy movie opened the gate for crossover film. The movie applied the buddy film style like the hollywood film normally use. In Rush Hour, it is about a Chinese inspector and American detective. The character James Carter (Chris Tucker) keeps the American comedy element in the film, and Inspector Lee (Jackie Chan) remain his action scenes throughout the movie. I think the audiences have never seen the buddy film like this before which bring a lot of new visual elements to them. However, Jackie Chan reveal on his official blog that he didnt really like the film and he felt very disappointed. Chan Said, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“I felt the style of action was too Americanized and I didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t understand the American humor.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? Which I consider the film might suitable for western audiences rather than local audiences. In à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Rush Hourà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? series, there are a lot of jokes which based on minority racial stereotypes in Amer ican society. I think that makes the film easier to get accepted by majority white audiences. The two character portray totally different personality. Carter portray as a loud, speak with high pitch, impulsive, childish Black man who often causing trouble, Lee is a respectful Asian man who good at Kung Fu. According to King (2002) points out that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"reduce any threat created by the spectacle of a seemingly dominating Black characterà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ (p. 149).These features of both characters become likeable for the western audiences. In Bar fighting scene, Lee says à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Whats up my Niggerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? to the bartender because Carter said that to the African customer. But Lee doesnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t understand the wordà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?Niggerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? is a racist word to African. I think the director uses quite a lot this kind of jokes in the film to reflect the culture differences from society. In contrast with Jackie Chanà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s earlier Hong Kong action movie. He represented as a masculinity and tough character most of the time. But in à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Rush Hourà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?, character Lee who always wanted help the FBI to solve the case. And the FBI try to use character Carter to send Lee away. Altough White Character involved small role in this film. I think the director still want White character to portray as important position in the film. 3.4 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Crouching Tiger was very well received in the Western world, however Crouching Tiger was widely dismissed as just another wuxia film among many others in asia.) Chapter 4 Research Methodology 4.1 Chapter introduction The purpose of the primary research provide the basic level of understanding for the researcher. I will use questionnaire during the primary research. The questionnaire will be conducted ten questions which indicate the western audiences interest on crossover film. The result will indicate the future trends for crossover film. This chapter will be described how the methodology adopt and analysis research question. Furthermore, this chapter is going to explain the research design, research location, sampling design and data collection process, survey instrument, and ethical issue. 4.2 Research processes Primary research: Survey ÃÆ'  Questionnaire by Student/Internet users ÃÆ'  Collect from: Northampton/ linking the questionnaire on facebook ÃÆ'  Analyze results In primary research, it will be carry out a questionnaire research. According to Ticehurst, Gregory W (2000: P.135) defined a questionnaire survey is the way to collect information from individual by using a set of question. Therefore, I believe the first to do is focus on what type of information and respondent are looking for. Then start to think about an appropriate questions for the research. The primary research will only take 10% part of this dissertation. The reason is I am hoping to get about medium size of response rate from that. Here is the brief descript type of questionnaire survey will be use: Type of questionnaire Cost Length of questionnaire Response rate Street/University/Internet Low Short Medium 4.3 Research Location The questionnaire survey is taken place from the three locations in Northampton which are the Abbeyfield school , Northampton town center and University of Northampton. The reason of chosen these place to research because it can save time to traveling different places which far way from Northampton. Further more, it can widely spread collecting the data over the internet. 4.4 Survey Instrument Development The questionnaire (Appendix). There are 3 parts of the questionnaire. The first part is about personal information such as age, gender. this is designed to collect the demographic data of the respondents. Then, the second part is about the respondentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s knowledge on crossover film. That is to collect the information about how much respondent know about crossover film. Finally, the third part is about respondentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s interest on crossover film. And that is designed to what sort element the respondent like so I can provide the recommendation for the future crossover film. 4.5 Ethic Issue in Research The protection for the respondentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s information is one of the most important thing in the research. In à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Doing your research projectà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?, According to the Judith Bell (2005: 51) the researcher can follow two things to maintain the respondentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s right when they carry out a research. 1.) Keep the participant innominate. 2.) Treat all the information as confidential file which from the respondent. However, My questionnaire is based on personal opinion rather than personal details. Therefore, I suppose my research will not meet any ethical issue. Chapter 5 Conclusion 5.1 The future for the crossover film 5.2 Conclusion Appendix Part -1 Rush Hour Domestic Total Gross: $141,186,864 Distributor: New Line Release Date: September 18, 1998 Genre: Action Comedy Runtime: 1 hrs. 37 min. MPAA Rating: PG-13 Production Budget: $33 million 1998 Date (click to view chart) Rank Weekend Gross % Change Theaters Change / Avg. Gross-to-Date Week # Sep 18à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"20 1 $33,001,803 2,638 $12,510 $33,001,803 1 Sep 25à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"27 1 $21,202,929 -35.8% 2,643 +5 $8,022 $64,037,138 2 Oct 2à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"4 3 $14,492,122 -31.7% 2,701 +58 $5,365 $84,014,663 3 Oct 9à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"11 2 $11,105,465 -23.4% 2,701 $4,111 $98,382,886 4 Oct 16à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"18 4 $8,247,411 -25.7% 2,724 +23 $3,027 $109,911,590 5 Oct 23à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"25 6 $5,860,347 -28.9% 2,602 -122 $2,252 $117,284,969 6 Oct 30à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"Nov 1 6 $3,799,380 -35.2% 2,402 -200 $1,581 $122,428,446 7 Nov 6à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"8 10 $3,322,424 -12.6% 2,043 -359 $1,626 $127,044,896 8 Nov 13à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"15 11 $1,866,524 -43.8% 1,615 -428 $1,155 $129,829,673 9 Sources from: http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=rushhour.htm Part -2 I am a student from University of Northampton. I am going to conduct a survey about the Crossover film that made in Hong Kong. I would be grateful if you could finish this questionnaire. Your honest view is taken with highly to appreciate. All the information in the questionnaire will be kept confidential for analysis only. Thank you very much. (Please tick the appropriate box) Gender à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡ Male à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡ Female Age à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡ 15 ~ 25 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡ 25 ~ 35 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡ 35~ 45 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡ 45 ~ above Do you know any of these asian movie stars from below? à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡ Jackie Chan à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡ Bruce Lee à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡ Jet Li à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡ Stephen Chow à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡ Andy Lau à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡ Tony Leung à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡ Other ________________ Have you ever watched any other films that has been made in Hong Kong? à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡ Yes à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡ No à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡ Not sure if the film is made in Hong Kong 5. How often do you watch Hong Kong movies? à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡ Daily à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡ Weekly à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡ Monthly à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡ Occasionally 6. Do you think Hong Kong movies representing martial arts? à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡ Yes à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡ No à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡ Not sure Do you understand what the story is about when you watch crossover films? If the film is using original Chinese language, just subtitles. (such as these films for example) Shaolin soccer, kung fu hustle, Internal affairs, In the mood for love à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡Yes à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡No 8. Do you prefer to see the actor you familiar with from Hong Kong movie? à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡Yes à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡ No What sort of things do you expect to see when you watch a Hong Kong movie? à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡Kung Fu fighting à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡Action movie star à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡Local culture à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡Comedy Would you recommend friends to watch film that made in Hong Kong? à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡Yes à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ ¡No

Emotional intelligence: The rapprochement of reason and emotion Essay

The past few decades have seen increasing interest in emotion research. Although much remains to be learned, agreement is beginning to emerge regarding the way emotion should be viewed. Emotions provide a unique source of information for individuals about their environment, which informs and shapes their thoughts, actions, and subsequent feelings, and there is a growing view that emotion information can be used more or less intelligently. A notion central to emotional intelligence theory is that individuals differ in their ability to perceive, understand and use emotional information, and this ability significantly contributes to intellectual and emotional well-being and growth. Emotional intelligence as a concept has prospered, in part, because of the increasing personal importance of emotion management for individuals in modern society. Indeed, researchers have commonly claimed that emotional intelligence predicts important educational and occupational criteria beyond that predicted by general intellectual ability (e.g. Elias & Weissberg, 2000; Fisher & Ashkansy, 2000; Fox & Spector, 2000; Goleman, 1995; Mehrabian, 2000; Saarni, 1999, Scherer, 1997). Furthermore, the chief proponents of emotional intelligence appear to have made strides towards understanding its nature, components, determinants, effect, developmental track, and modes of modification (Matthews, Zeidner & Roberts, 2001) Since Goleman’s (1995) best-seller, Emotional Intelligence, popularized the concept, researchers have used an extensive number of attributes or abilities drawn from psychology to define emotional intelligence. Goleman’s book contains definitions and descriptions of what he identifies as the five key components of emotional intelligence: knowing emotions, managing emotions, motivating oneself, recognizing emotions in others, and handling relationships. Goleman attributes varying sets of personality attributes to each component, the final effect being that most of personality is covered by his definitions. Towards the end of his book, he claims â€Å"there is an old-fashioned word for the body of skills that emotional intelligence represents: character† (p. 285). As such, variations in the manner with which people think, feel, and act are ostensibly ascribed to differences in â€Å"disposition† and â€Å"style†. The notions of disposition and style however do not accommoda... ... of the Southeastern Psychological Association, Atlanta, GA. Thorndike, E.L. (1920) Intelligence and its use. Harper Magaazine, 140, 227-235. Thoits, P.A. (1985). Self-labelling process in mental illness: The role of emotional deviance. American Journal of Sociology, 91, 221-249. Vagg, P. R. & Spielberger, C. D. (1998). Occupational stress: Measuring job pressure and organizational support in the workplace. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 3, 294-305. Van Maanen, J. (1973) Observations on the making of a policeman. Human Organization, 32, 407-417. Walt Disney Productions. (1982) Your role in the Walt Disney World Show. Orlando, FL: Author. Watson, D. & Pennebaker, J. W. (1989). Health complaints, stress, and distress: Exploring the central role of negative affectivity. Psychological Review, 96, 234-254. Welbourne, T.M., Johnson, D.E., & Erez, A. (1998). The role-based performance scale: Validity analysis of a theory-based measure. Academy of Management Journal, 41, 540-556. Weisinger, H. (1998). Emotional intelligence at work: The untapped edge for success. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Woodsworth, R.S. (1940). Psychology (4th ed.) New York: Holt.

Book Review Psychology Theology Spirituality in Christian Counseling

Prof. Mark R. McMinn, Ph. D. , at Wheaton College Graduate School in Wheaton, Illinois, directs and teaches in the Doctor of Psychology program. A representative in Clinical Psychology of the American Board of Professional Psychology, McMinn has thirteen years of postdoctoral experience in counseling, psychotherapy, and psychological testing.McMinn have authored some very useful books to his credit these include The Jekyll/Hyde Syndrome: Controlling Inner Conflict through Authentic Living; Cognitive Therapy Techniques in Christian Counseling; Making the Best of Stress: How Life's Hassles Can Form the Fruit of the Spirit; and Christians in the Crossfire (written with James D. Foster). Book review: Psychology Theology and Spirituality in Christian Counseling Mark McMinn evidently accomplished his aim through the book â€Å"Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling.† That is, he has sketched the definitions, similarities, and differences between these three o verlying subjects for his readers, specifically Christian counselors, pastors, and students. Keeping in view the deviating thoughts on these issues, everyone will not agree with his explanations. Nor will they conform where he sketches the lines of overlap. And perhaps even less with his stance on incorporation or non-integration of these three subjects. Dr. McMinn uses relational cognitive therapy from a Christian perspective. All psychotherapies begin with particular worldview theories—typically a complex amalgam of science and metaphysics.A Christian theology hypothesize that God created and loves human, and all features of our world are stained by the influences of sin, and that God is energetic in curing and renovating that which is broken. From a Christian perception, Relational cognitive therapy can be used with a large range of clients, irrespective of their theological thoughts. The aim is not theological relationship, but psychological growth and spiritual knowledge . Like all psychotherapies, this approach begins with certain worldview theory that may influence clients' beliefs and norms in psychotherapy.These worldview theories should be revealed to clients early in therapy during the informed approval process. This therapy can be used with a broad range of clients, but not by a broad range of therapists. Therapists use this method need to have preparation in cognitive and relational therapies as well as an obvious consideration of a Christian worldview. â€Å"After many years of providing psychotherapy and studying the scientific literature on its effectiveness, I am convinced that good therapy works because it is a place that emulates grace.It is a place of acceptance and mercy, a place where sin and the consequences of sin can be openly explored without the fear of judgment. This frees people to look honestly at themselves, to become more open in their other relationships, and to move forward into richer and deeper connections with those they love. †¦ A place of grace needs to be a place of open exploration and acceptance, where both sin and the consequences of sin can be named and grieved. † (McMinn, 2004, p. 49) This book provides counselors the up to date techniques, theory, and general knowledge that is important to their field.This book explains the vitality of the spiritual subjects in psychotherapy. It assists counselors to put together the biblical principles of rescue, plea, mercy, recompense, and prayer into their counseling tactics. Generally masses are more theological than psychologists, so it is rational to anticipate that clients more probably will bring up theological ideas in therapy. Irrespective of the therapist's individual theological and spiritual beliefs, it is significant to have a fundamental perception of major theological worldviews in order to comprehend clients' faith perspectives.Secondly, many people in psychological pain seek the assistance of clergy rather than psychologis ts. As many as 40% of possible counseling clients look for help from clergy, and only a minimal percentage of these are recommended to mental health professionals. (McMinn & Dominguez, 2005) Thirdly, psychologists have displayed scientific interest in spirituality in last years, and have explored points of conflation in the languages of science and faith.(Tangney & Dearing, 2003) One comparatively undiscovered area in psychology has to do with the Christian structure of sin. This scripture proposes that all humans are stained and injured by misbehavior of their own and of others. A few psychologists and psychiatrists have endeavored into this area, such as Menninger (1973), Mowrer (1960), and McMinn (2004), but majorly psychologists have not thought about the concept of sin in human understanding and behavior.In the most initial treatment procedure, the patient starts to use words like good and bad, and it is our inclination as therapists to minimize the concentration of these words since they are relevant to a value system within the individual which has led to the current state of stress. †¦ We have jointly done an excellent job of minimizing the demonstration of good and bad and a very poor job of substituting these theories with satisfactory explanations which permit the personal self-acceptance and peace. (Graham, 1980, pp.370–371) This book is not a biblical psychology text (it is not a theology of the human soul), infect it never was projected to be such. Nor is it a history of spirituality (again, not its purpose). Nor is it a tactic for daily practice. Its capability, to sketch the concerns that one must think through when considering the possible relation of these disciplines, is its core importance. Therefore it is function as a catalyst. References Graham, S. R. (1980). Desire, belief, and grace: A psychotherapeutic paradigm.Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 17, 370–371. McMinn, M. R. (2004). Why sin matters: The surp rising relationship between our sin and God's grace. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House. McMinn, M. R. , & Dominguez, A. D. (Eds. ). (2005). Psychology and the church. Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science. Menninger, K. (1973). Whatever became of sin? New York: Hawthorn Books. Mowrer, O. H. (1960). â€Å"Sin,† the lesser of two evils. American Psychologist, 15, 301–304. Tangney, J. P. , & Dearing, R. L. (2003). Shame and guilt. New York: Guilford Pres

Jasmine essays

Jasmine essays In the novel Jasmine, by Bharati Mukherjee, Jasmine is determined to become Americanized while at times displaying acts of desperation. Jasmine first expresses that she wants more of an education than what she had in India even though that is not her main reason for leaving. Coming to the United States would provide her that opportunity for an education. Once in America, Jasmine runs into very difficult situations and feels she needs to fit in with the rest of the Americans in this foreign land. She feels the need to find a lover and from there start a family. While Jasmine pursues these ambitions, she must face the fact that she is illegal to America, therefore forcing her into some acts of desperation. Shortly before Prakashs death, he and Jasmine talk about him going to Florida for an education. One day in April, Prakash said, very casually, Well, it came through. Your looking at a bona-fide student to be of the Florida International Institute of Technology(90). They then go on to discuss how to obtain a visa for Jasmine. Unexpectedly, Prakash is killed right in front of Jasmine. This triggers her to fulfill Prakashs dream of gaining an education in the United States. I turned everything over to my brothers, along with my plan. They were stupefied. A village girl, going alone to America, without a job, husband, or papers? I must be mad(97). This is Jasmines first act of desperation. She makes a wild decision in coming to America by herself. Her decision to come to America is not only to fulfill Prakashs dreams, but her own dreams as well. She wonders, I know, why I left. I tell her Education, which is true enough(16). While Mother Ripplemeyer and Jasmine talk, t hey discuss the reason that Jasmine comes to America. Jasmine reveals that one of her reasons for coming to the United States is to seek an education, a quality in which most Am...

Free Essays on Philosophy My View

â€Å"What is Philosophy?† -My View- This semester I have learned that philosophy is many things to many people. From a means of influencing thought and behavior, to a looking glass into the soul, philosophy is a discipline of critical thinking, human interaction, and speculation. Philosophers attempt to answer age old human questions such as, â€Å"Where did we come from?† and â€Å"Where are we going?† However, a thinking mankind yearns for more than just history explained and reliable predictions of future, we want to know what makes a â€Å"good† life, what is beauty, what is justice, and how might we live our lives in a most satisfying way. And since the answers to such questions are based in perspective, one must be willing to examine the foundations of perspective in order to reach an unbiased, true answer. This is where the field of philosophy comes in to its own. Most would agree that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but what differentiates one eye from another? Simply put, we see things as we know them to be, whether we just think we know them innately, as the young man Socrates met outside the courthouse knew piety, or we have devoted considerable thought to, such as Descartes’ â€Å"I think, therefore I am.† philosophy helps us to legitimize the knowing of all things, and by knowing all things we know the one thing we have true power over, our way of life. Our way of life always seems to come down to the decisions we make, and the decisions we make always seem to come down to our perspective. Where do we get our perspectives? Our perspectives are our philosophy, we have learned experiences that shape our outlook, and in turn how we look at and deal with life itself. The eyes we behold with can only see things we focus on, how and why we focus on things is the fod der for the ! philosopher’s cannon. This semester we have studied many different philosophers, with as many different philosophies, but one common th... Free Essays on Philosophy My View Free Essays on Philosophy My View â€Å"What is Philosophy?† -My View- This semester I have learned that philosophy is many things to many people. From a means of influencing thought and behavior, to a looking glass into the soul, philosophy is a discipline of critical thinking, human interaction, and speculation. Philosophers attempt to answer age old human questions such as, â€Å"Where did we come from?† and â€Å"Where are we going?† However, a thinking mankind yearns for more than just history explained and reliable predictions of future, we want to know what makes a â€Å"good† life, what is beauty, what is justice, and how might we live our lives in a most satisfying way. And since the answers to such questions are based in perspective, one must be willing to examine the foundations of perspective in order to reach an unbiased, true answer. This is where the field of philosophy comes in to its own. Most would agree that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but what differentiates one eye from another? Simply put, we see things as we know them to be, whether we just think we know them innately, as the young man Socrates met outside the courthouse knew piety, or we have devoted considerable thought to, such as Descartes’ â€Å"I think, therefore I am.† philosophy helps us to legitimize the knowing of all things, and by knowing all things we know the one thing we have true power over, our way of life. Our way of life always seems to come down to the decisions we make, and the decisions we make always seem to come down to our perspective. Where do we get our perspectives? Our perspectives are our philosophy, we have learned experiences that shape our outlook, and in turn how we look at and deal with life itself. The eyes we behold with can only see things we focus on, how and why we focus on things is the fod der for the ! philosopher’s cannon. This semester we have studied many different philosophers, with as many different philosophies, but one common th...

In this Paper You Will Discuss and Analyze an Aspect of Film Essay

In this Paper You Will Discuss and Analyze an Aspect of Film - Essay Example Hence, the aspects of culture that are portrayed in these films have been seen as a depiction of American culture. Many people who are not American Citizens but do watch this depictions always believe that what is portrayed is the American culture as it is. This paper seeks to shade more light by discussing aspects of American Film and Cultural theory. Through class readings and a number of films as a source of material, that text will discuss three major films that have made a worldwide audience. Hollywood is the biggest producer of films in the world. Most of Hollywood’s production finds a worldwide audience. The storyline of most of Hollywood’s production that touch the Middle East has elicited strong reactions both locally and internationally. Scholars, film theorists and cultural theorists have always repeatedly claimed that Hollywood has been used to misrepresent the Middle East while promoting the US wider agenda of expansionist. For the purposes of these discuss ions, this paper will reflect on three such films that have elicited strong reactions from the Middle East. These are, The Kingdom, Syriana and One Day in September. The first film that this paper will reflect upon is The Kingdom. The Kingdom is a film by Peter Berg produced in 2007. It features Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Chris Cooper and Jason Bateman. The story line of the film is the usual most common American agents searching for Terrorists in the Middle East. The film traces the storyline of Agent Ronald Fleury and an elite team of four operatives who hunt down a terrorist in Riyadh. The team’s main task is to destroy the terrorist cell, which has killed Americans working in Saudi Arabia.While in the Saudi Capital, the team finds itself in a culture shock as the Saudi culture is quite knew to them. The corrupt politicians and the law enforcement agencies that hinder their quest become an obstacle. However, one Saudi police officer helps the team in their quest for just ice and destruction of the terrorist cell. The second film that this paper will apply in the discussion is Syriana. Syriana is a film that was produced in 2006 by Stephen Gaghan. Syriana transcends a geopolitical theme with petroleum and oil industry politics at its center. The film centers around four major characters who are a central intelligence Agency operative, an energy analyst, a Washington attorney, and a young and unemployed Pakistani worker. The film employs multiple story lines top tell the experiences of the four people who feel the effect of politics in the oil Industry. The stories of the four men are the ones that form the basis of interpretation in this essay. The last Film that this essay explores is the movie One Day in September. This is a 1999 documentary shot and directed by Kevin McDonald. The film documentary reflects on the 1972 terrorist attack on the Munich Summer Olympics that left 11 Israeli Athletes dead. In this documentary, the veteran actor Michael D ouglas provides a light narration as the storyline unfolds. The historical events of Munich 1972 are brought into play as the film revolves ion the events that took place. The Palestinian terrorists and their agenda are well covered in the film. The documentary also shows that lax security by Germany security led to the death of the Israel Athletes. The widow of the Israeli coach taken hostage is interviewed while one of the remaining and surviving terrorists is also interviewed. Robin Bernstein in his article titled Dances With

Communicable Diseases Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Communicable Diseases - Essay Example â€Å"Infectious diseases† have affected man at every stage of his evolution, but it is only recently that he has begun to understand that these diseases are not the result of â€Å"invisible† enemies, but rather microscopic ones. Communicable diseases are a group of infectious diseases â€Å"that are capable of being spread directly (through contact with bodily secretions) or indirectly (through contact with inanimate objects) transmitted from person to person† (Ilyas, p. 520, 2007). Common diseases such as influenza, measles, tuberculosis, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and AIDS come under this heading. Their prevalence in a community however depends on the degree of defensive power of the body against that infectious agent. Communicable diseases can be termed epidemic â€Å"if the number of susceptible individuals is very large in a community and the disease is likely to spread rapidly, or if it occurs for the first time in an area where it was not previously present† (Ilyas, p520, 2007). However, â€Å"if the immune and susceptible individuals are equal in a community, the disease continues to smolder and is always present in that community, it is said to prevail in an endemic formâ⠂¬  (Ilyas, p520, 2007). A pandemic form is one in which â€Å"the susceptibility of the whole world or a country is increased for a particular organism† (Ilyas, p520, 2007). Some communicable diseases have been known for centuries. For example, Tuberculosis has been mentioned in literature by the name of â€Å"phthisis† or â€Å"dried up† by Hippocrates around 460 B.C. (Hippocrates, n.d.). Some diseases however, have only recently surfaced, but in short time have led to major global health problems. For example, the Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) was first discovered in 1981 in the US, when five homosexual men with a special type of pneumonia were tested