Hello all. This is my first non-test post, so bear with me.
I had a question about Asian cinema, and I didn’t know where to post it (since I’m a newbie). I have noticed a type of scene or theme when a master of martial arts faces off against fighters who are obviously inferior that he breaks or bends their weapons. After the inferior fighters realize they are out-matched they temporarily retreat and have an embarrassed / frightened look on their faces. Is there a name for this or is there a peculiar origin of this? If I should post this in another location please tell me.
I don’t really have any evidence for this observation, but I was watching “Hero” the other day, and the first fight scene made me think I had seen something like that many times before.
IANA Mod but I’m pretty sure your placement was spot-on. The action you describe sounds too general to me to have a name. It seems like the typical single hero against many henchmen type scene. But IANA asian cinema expert either.
Well, it sounds like it’s a generic convention (that is an element that’s common to most, if not all, films of a given genre, like the femme fatale in noir, the silent hero of the spaghetti western, the promiscuous soon-to-be-murdred coed in horror movies), so there probably isn’t a name for that technique the same way you would have a name for deep focus cinematography, Dutch angles, etc.
So, “generic convention” would be the term you’re looking for IMO, although I don’t think there’s a specific name for the old-guy-beats-up-locals thing.
Yeah, it’s more of a noble hero convention than a martial arts convention, and it predates martial arts movies. You’ll see plenty of period pieces from the 20’s and 30’s with a master swordsman who is so good he disarms his opponent by knocking away the opponent’s weapon without harming him.
I wonder if this aspect of a noble hero convention predates even those movies, say, in early 20s stage plays, dime novels or Horatio Algier type stories?
I’m sure you can find examples in western lit all the way back to Mallory, and beyond. You know how it goes: Sir Lancelot encounters a knight blocking his path, they decide to take a few charges at each other, the other knight shatters his lance and respectfully yields the bridge. It’s all typical Noble Warrior stuff.
