Me, Bruce Lee and I
I’m embarrassed to say that I didn’t know that Bruce Lee was born on November 27, 1940. He would have been 67 this past Tuesday. He is arguably the most famous Asian American man (or woman) and martial artist in history. There were probably legions of Asian American folks (okay, probably mostly boys) who idolized Bruce Lee when he was young. To be honest, when I was young, I didn’t really think much of him. For one thing, he died a few years before I was born. And secondly, the fact that people admired him for his aptitude in gong fu and wushu actually made my life more difficult. When I was in elementary school and middle school, a few people thought that I knew “karate.” Of course, I did not and I really didn’t have a desire to learn it, though I thought that maybe that I should learn it, in order to be more “Asian.” I doubt that any non-Asians ever have to think about this issue.
I’m also embarrassed to say that most of my knowledge about Bruce Lee comes from the ridiculous, Hollywood-produced movie “Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story.” (I have a feeling that they made the movie to rewrite history. They often rejected him for leading roles. Now, they’re making money off of him. Stupid Hollywood.) I took much of the film’s contents as fact. For example, I came to believe that there is this Triad-funded secret society in San Francisco’s Chinatown that hosts wushu grudge matches in dark, dank basements. What a naive idiot I was.
Given my complete lack of knowledge of Bruce Lee, I thought I’d do some Internet reading and Googling. There are many good biographies about him which I have already placed on my “To Read” list. Anyway, using the Internet, I have learned that Bruce Lee and I have/had a few things in common. Here’s what I learned.
- Bruce Lee and I both attended the University of Washington. Of course, he was studying drama and philosophy and he did not graduate. Unlike me, he is listed in a UW publication listing 100 great alumni of the 20th century. (The movie “Dragon” never shows Bruce Lee attending the University of Washington. Something is wrong with that. Seattle is where he met his wife, started his gong fu school. He is buried there. Seattle is a beautiful city. Why did they not show it? Stupid Hollywood.)
- Bruce Lee and I both were born in the Year of the Dragon. Maybe that’s why his parents called him “Little Dragon,” or Xiao Long. But his official name is Zhen Fan. Of course, he was born 36 years before I was.
- Bruce Lee and I both learned martial arts. While it is no surprise that Bruce Lee learned martial arts, it is probably some surprise that I tried. In my first year at the University of Washington, I took some wushu, Shaolin style. It was me and some white people. Guess Bruce Lee might have inspired them. Honestly, I was not a very dedicated student and I probably had no talent. I was probably wise to quit, but I’m still not sure why I even tried to learn in the first place. Was I trying to be more “Asian?”
- Bruce Lee and I both report our height at 5 feet 8 inches where in reality, we are/were probably closer to 5 feet 7.5 inches. Despite his physical prowess, might he have been insecure about his height? Maybe that is an Asian thing.
I found some other interesting facts about him which are not true for me. For one thing, he was hapa! His mother was of Chinese and German ancestry. And I’m still appalled that Hollywood jacked around with him. For example I’m appalled that producers chose David Carridine, of Kung Fu fame, over Bruce Lee for the role of the Shaolin monk in the Wild West. Why? Because the studio believed that a Chinese leading man would not be embraced by the American public. Humph. Some things haven’t changed.
If you forgot to wish Bruce a happy birthday, here is your chance. Happy Birthday Bruce. May you rest in peace.
Last 5 posts by eugene
- Yet another post on the supratarsal fold - May 12th, 2008
- Famous Asian Americans I Want to Meet - May 6th, 2008
- As I Am: Asians In America Goes National - May 4th, 2008
- East Meets Words Welcomes Conchita Campos - April 27th, 2008
- Boston Independent Film Festival 2008 - April 21st, 2008
Tags: Commentary, News.
in fact bruce was born in seattle.
i actually really like the movie “dragon” altho i am aware most of it is factually way incorrect. thought jason scott lee did a good job in a not very biopic way.
Really? Most online sources say San Francisco.
I enjoyed the movie Dragon too. And I wasn’t aware that it was factually incorrect until recently. Apparently, Bruce’s daughter had a cameo.
oh shit i think you’re right, i think he was born in san francisco. my bad.
bruce lee is a whole interesting case study, like, he made these movies where he beat all these people of other races/nationalities up to instill pride in chinese viewers. but in truth, these dudes were all his friends…
anyway, i could talk bruce lee for a month. holla…
there’s a really cool statue of him in tsim sha tsui in hong kong by the harbor that i just saw.
for some reason i thought that they showed bruce and linda meeting each other at uw, or at least at some unnamed university somewhere. also his studio was in oakland not sf, wasn’t it?
Hmm… Well, you’ll just have to fire up the Dragon DVD again I guess. His studio was in Seattle, on the Ave. But that’s what I thought.
mm i dug jason scott lee’s portrayal too. dude was intense! i didn’t see him in the jungle book though, so i don’t have much to compare it to.
“come to america! the mountain of gold! it’s for everybody!
yeah, it’s for everybody white.
but they don’t tell you that, you gotta read the small print.
if you can read.”
that’s some expert scriptwriting son.
thats some interesting stuff, E.
I was born in the year of the dragon too, hence LONG!! CHEA!
Really? Wow! I guess that makes me 12 years older than you. Am I that old?
no, long is that young