Beyond Bruce Lee - by Paul Bowman (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

In order to understand Bruce Lee, we must look beyond Bruce Lee to the artist's intricate cultural and historical contexts. This work begins by contextualising Lee, examining his films and martial arts work, and his changing cultural status within different times and places. The text examines Bruce Lee's films and philosophy in relation to the popular culture and cultural politics of the 1960s and 1970s, and it addresses the resurgence of his popularity in Hong Kong and China in the twenty-first century. The study also explores Lee's ongoing legacy and influence in the West, considering his function as a shifting symbol of ethnic politics and the ways in which he continues to inform Hollywood film-fight choreography. Beyond Bruce Lee ultimately argues Lee is best understood in terms of "cultural translation" and that his interventions and importance are ongoing.

Review Quotes

Beyond Bruce Lee provides nuanced, often brilliantly provocative readings of Bruce Lee as a cultural icon and event. Drawing on a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches, this groundbreaking study performs Lee's injunction to create something new and true by crossing, mixing, and remixing boundaries. In the process, it also gives the reader a fantastic crash course in cultural studies.--Jane Park, University of Sydney

As the titles suggests, this volume takes us 'beyond' Bruce Lee to debates around postmodern and the postcolonial, martial arts philosophy, and popular culture both translated and performed. But Lee is no mere pretext for this fascinating volume--this study also reminds us how exciting and transformative his cultural emergence was and what a complex legacy he has left. Whether your interest is in Zizek or Jeet Kune Do, you'll find something here that will make you think again about this major figure.--Leon Hunt, Brunel University

No one writing today has a keener eye for delineating the logic of contemporary cultural politics than Paul Bowman. In Beyond Bruce Lee he powerfully demonstrates how and why Bruce Lee matters to a whole host of fields (cinema studies, cultural studies, politics, philosophy, sociology) without ever limiting himself to writing from the narrow perspective of any one of those disciplines. Regardless of where you position yourself in or out of any of those fields--whether you think you already know Bruce Lee or think you couldn't care less about Bruce Lee--you still must read this book.--Samuel Chambers, Johns Hopkins University

About the Author

Paul Bowman teaches cultural studies at Cardiff University. He is author of numerous books on visual culture, cultural politics, and popular culture, including Post-Marxism Versus Cultural Studies, Deconstructing Popular Culture, and Theorizing Bruce Lee. He is editor of many collections on film, cultural studies, postcolonialism, and poststructuralism.