11.27.07

Bruce Lee Would Be 67 Today

Posted in Activism and Empowerment, Media and Entertainment at 12:38 pm by telly_wong

Bruce Lee, The Man

On this day in 1940, Bruce Lee was born at the Chinese Hospital in San Francisco’s Chinatown. He would be 67 today.

I wish I could say “I have nothing to say about Bruce Lee that hasn’t already been said” but that’s very, very far from being the case. Unfortunately, not enough has been said about this incredible and fascinating individual — particularly within the so-called “Asian American community” (and especially those APA psuedo-academic farts) who much too often dismiss Lee as a chop socky relic and kitsch idol. Instead, these misguided jackasses celebrate and worship any self-proclaimed “artist” or entertainer who manages to pass off their narcissistic pursuits of wealth and fame as some kind of community service that’s part of a “movement”…or something. You know who you are.

But before the next APA awards event honoring any two-bit celebrity with a half-Asian grandmother and hosted by an out-of-work actor who guest-starred on some TV show that was canceled 20 years ago, here’s a brief overview of a real Asian American artist, entertainer and hero:

Bruce Lee was born during the Hour of the Dragon in the Year of the Dragon and was given the name Lee Jun Fan by his mother and christened “Bruce” by the attending doctor. When Lee was three months old, his parents brought him to Hong Kong where he spent his childhood and adolescent years. At the age of 6, he made his big screen acting debut in the local film My Son, Ah Chung (aka The Kid), where he played a pint-sized street punk who carries a gigantic knife. In the next twelve years, Lee would appear in over 20 local productions under the Cantonese stage name Lee Siu Loong (”Lee Little Dragon”). At the age of 12, Lee began studying gung fu under the supervision of wing chun master Yip Man and proved himself to be a martial arts prodigy.

The Little Dragon: A six-year-old Bruce Lee (left) in My Son, Ah Chung

In 1959, Lee returned to the States and eventually wound up in Seattle where he majored in philosophy at the University of Washington. After getting married to Linda Emery in 1964, he was soon discovered by a television producer and cast in the role of Kato in the weekly ABC series The Green Hornet, which was canceled after only one season. In the years that followed, Lee found himself unable to find steady acting work because of his refusal to accept roles which he considered degrading to Asians. To support his wife and two young children, he gave private gung fu lessons to the likes of Hollywood A-listers Steve McQueen, James Coburn and Roman Polanski.

However, despite rubbing elbows with and gaining the respect of some of Tinseltown’s biggest names, Lee still couldn’t land that proverbial “big break”. Fed up with the Hollywood system, in 1971, he accepted a two-picture deal with then-burgeoning Hong Kong movie studio Golden Harvest. Following the release of his first film, The Big Boss (aka Fists of Fury), he became the biggest movie star of all-time in Asia and subsequently released two more record-breaking blockbusters, Fist of Fury (aka The Chinese Connection) and Way of the Dragon (aka Return of The Dragon).

Only two years after his meteoric rise to stardom, he died under mysterious circumstances in Hong Kong on July 20, 1973 at the age of 32. After the posthumous release of his American film Enter the Dragon, he became a global phenomenon and, ultimately, a legend.

For this American-born Chinese, Bruce Lee was much more than an ass-kicking Asian guy with awesome abs; he was a pioneer and a revolutionary on a never-ending quest for self-knowledge and self-realization, which martial arts were simply an extension of.

In the midst of “Red China” and the Vietnam War and decades before you could buy tofu at Pathmark, Lee was on a mission to bridge cultures and encourage citizens of the world to seek their own truths and realize their own potential. But don’t take my word for it, here are Lee’s own words:

“…the best way of learning is not through the computation of information. Learning is discovering, uncovering what is there in us. When we discover, we are uncovering what is there in us. When we discover, we are uncovering our own ability, our own eyes, in order to find our potential, to see what is going on, to discover how we can enlarge our lives, to find the means at our disposal that will let us cope with a difficult situation.”

I encourage anyone who is even remotely interested in Asian American history, spirituality, philosophy or Truth to read some of Lee’s writings (there are a number of books available that feature his musings, poetry, letters and interview transcripts). They are truly profound and remarkable works that offer surprising new dimensions to a man we think we know.

But if you’d rather spend your money on clothes, at least take a moment to watch this 1971 interview with Lee on a Canadian television program hosted by Pierre Berton, one of the most condescending pricks I’ve ever seen. Instead of shattering this guy’s teeth, notice how Lee keeps his cool and uses his wits to turn the tables on Pierre.

And yes, I’m fully aware of the many rumors and controversies that dogged Lee’s life, death and legacy. However, I never said he was perfect –and neither did he– but there’s no way he could’ve been. After all, he was a human being and not a superhero.

But he came pretty damn close.

Happy Birthday, Bruce.

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