Kung Fu Hustle Film Analysis
Critical Analysis & Write Up
Stephen Chow’s film Kung Fu Hustle goes down as one of my favorite movies of all time. It is a light-hearted, action-packed, entertaining movie that has audience members feeling a variety of emotions from anxious for the protagonist to rolling on the floor laughing at the different jokes embedded throughout the film. This film is considered successful as it has made $17 million domestically and $83 million abroad. Kung Fu Hustle intrigues me as it is drastically different from most Western films I am used to seeing. It’s manipulation of visual comedy in comparison to the West’s dialogue comedy as well as the structure of the story provided a breath of fresh air in the unoriginal waves of films I have been watching over the past few years. Because of this, I have decided to analyze this brilliant film and discuss the filmography and what makes this film a “good movie”. While what is considered “good” is subjective, in this media project, I discuss the different aesthetics, techniques, and factors used to maximize cinematic appeal. To effectively demonstrate the aspects that constitute Kung Fu Hustle as a “good” movie, I have chosen to use a video essay as a medium to make my case. Through the use of a video essay, my audience can hear my argument while seeing the evidence on screen from the film. Different clips from this movie as well as other films to compare can be paused, zoomed in on, and analyzed when utilizing a video essay as a medium.
While using video essay format, I did encounter a few complications. It was difficult to download video clips legally or get access to a downloadable file of the full film. I contemplated purchasing the film and maybe even try to finesse some sort of downloadable version but as a college student, I quickly realized that whenever you have presented the opportunity to save money, take advantage of it. I searched the web on a quest for a downloadable version of Kung Fu Hustle encountering many different websites and probably even got a few viruses on my computer from doing so. However, I finally overcame my obstacle of getting an mp4 file of Kung Fu Hustle by finding different clips on YouTube from the film that I deemed useful or related to my argument and used a YouTube MP4 downloader that allowed me to easily import the clips to my computer and Final Cut Pro X video editor.
As an Asian American filmmaker who longs to succeed in the film industry, this film is important to me as it is a source of inspiration and proof that Asian stories starring an Asian cast and be prosperous abroad and within America. As many Hollywood studio films lack the Asian representation, it is oftentimes discouraging as an American Born Chinese filmmaker when I think about how realistic it is for me to succeed in this industry without compromising my integrity. However, Stephen Chow creates a masterpiece that brings Chinese culture to America intriguing Western audiences and profiting greatly. For me, analyzing this film was not just merely a class project but rather an in-depth search for the factors that will empower me in my future career. This project was eyeopening as I realized the different cinematic, historical, and business aspects to allow this film to succeed.
This page has paths:
- NATHAN XiA ASPA PORTFOLiO Nathan Xia