I was watching The History Channel the other evening and saw a trailer for their 2 hour documentary, How Bruce Lee Changed the World which premiered this weekend.
Profiling Lee’s influence on popular culture in fitness, cinema, music, sport, design, fashion, philosophy and other realms, the film showcases some rare family archival footage owned by the Bruce Lee Foundation, together with in-depth interviews with individuals who have cited inspiration from Lee, including Jackie Chan, comedian Eddie Griffin, rappers LL Cool J and RZA, Marvel Comics’ Stan Lee, and renowned film directors John Woo and Brett Ratner.
Growing up in the 80’s, I was my share of times if I knew kung fu or karate, and I am sure this is due to Bruce Lee’s fame. Watching Enter the Dragon, I wondered if what Lee was doing was real, and if the bad guys in the film were really being pummeled by Lee or everything was just choreographed very well.
It’s kind of shocking to think that Lee only lived to be 32 years old when he died in 1973, yet is still such an iconic figure today. Even one of the most popular Asian American blogs, Angry Asian Man, has a Bruce Lee action figure on its front page. It’ll be interesting to see how this documentary highlights Lee’s influence and I’m sure will make us ponder how much more Lee would have accomplished if he had not died so prematurely.
[Editors Note: John wrote this post last week, but due to technical difficulties we were not able to get this published until after the series priemere this weekend. 8Asians regrets the error.]
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7 Comments to “How Bruce Lee Changed the World”
justinslot wrote:
Technically that’s not Bruce at AAM’s site–that’s Quick Kick from G.I. Joe, quite possibly the only Asian-American to exist in 1980s children’s programming (and certainly the only one to have a romantic relationship with a white woman.)
Anyway–thanks for the heads up on the documentary. Though I somehow doubt that Smilin’ Stan has thought about Bruce Lee for more than ten minutes in his life.
Posted on 19-May-09 at 10:23 am | Permalink
Jason wrote:
I think that’s actually a GI Joe figure. Quick Kick.
Posted on 19-May-09 at 10:34 am | Permalink
John wrote:
Yes, my mistake. It is Quick Kick.
On the actual blog page:
http://www.angryasianman.com/angry.html
the image in the upper-right hand corner is supposed to be Bruce Lee or Bruce Lee inspired?
Posted on 19-May-09 at 12:27 pm | Permalink
cindy wrote:
thanks for the 411. i’m gonna tivo.
i need to watch enter the dragon.
i’m not a “fan” but i do have to say he
is definitely an icon, and i find him
entirely fascinating.
Posted on 19-May-09 at 3:32 pm | Permalink
8Asians.com » Ana Julaton Joins Manny Pacquiao as Another Filipino Boxing Champion wrote:
[...] Daly City, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. In this article, she cites the influence of Bruce Lee as an [...]
Posted on 12-Oct-09 at 5:29 pm | Permalink
8Asians.com » Battling to Make Bruce Lee a Lucrative Brand wrote:
[...] in the year I blogged about How Bruce Lee Changed the World. And now Shannon Lee — Bruce Lee’s daughter — is trying to expand and profit [...]
Posted on 26-Oct-09 at 6:01 am | Permalink
8Asians.com » American Martial Arts Culture’s Roots in the African-American Community wrote:
[...] Lee has been particularly influential. In the documentary “How Bruce Lee Changed the World,” a number of African Americans, like Wu Tang Clan rapper and producer RZA and actor and rapper LL [...]
Posted on 12-Nov-09 at 5:02 am | Permalink
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