In Memory of Bruce Lee

I remember Time Magazine publishing a hack piece on Bruce Lee in a special about influential people around the world in 1996. I remember being severely annoyed by the author, Joel Steinn, who not only didn't understand Lee's legacy but insulted Asia at the same time. It was difficult to accept that the Time Magazine editors would allow such an unprofessional, poorly researched and politically incorrect piece to appear on print.

Mr. Lee is one of those rare celebrity icons who has grown more popular as the years go by. Unfortunately, the kids and people today who have only discovered Mr. Lee have a misplaced image of this fantastic iconoclast. In many ways, his true identity and ideas were severely marred by countless books, "students" and "acquaintances" who allegedly knew him and thought they understood his teachings. It's easy for Westerners to gloss over Mr. Lee's nationalism, his arrogance and violent temper. It's also easy for everyone to assume that everything researched about Mr. Lee is true. Mr. Lee as seen today is a Photoshopped image expertly edited and sharpened using filters. Fighting arts enthusiasts and Bruce Lee fans gush about his kicks and punches when they had no idea who the man really was. No one really did, not even at the height of his career in the 60s. Why should people assume they understand him any better now? He died early, just like some of the greatest thinkers and performers in history. Most of his thoughts were unwritten and even his next film was left undone.


All screen captures from Enter the Dragon (1973)
 

Mr. Lee's contribution to the world cannot be fully measured and it's sad that so many people worship him only for his devotion to the fighting arts, his movies and the media published by the Lee estate (which allowed books Mr. Lee himself would more likely not have approved of). On the other hand, modern skeptics can easily criticize and question his legacy as irrelevant, little understanding that the 60s and 70s were a different time and our standards don't apply.

As much as I liked reading and watching his films while growing up (and tolerating the ridiculous references to him in other films and shows), my favorite experience involving Bruce Lee wasn't watching his fight scenes or legendary scowl. In my opinion, he was at his best during a black-and-white interview where he attempted to share his thoughts on fame, fighting and living. Unlike the vacuous celebrities of Hollywood today, that interview (which was collected in a documentary and later entitled "In His Own Words") gave viewers a peek of an extremely intelligent and effusive gentleman who understood something but couldn't quite put a finger on it. In that short clip, Mr. Lee was charming, mesmerizing, smug, eloquent and a total show-off (he demonstrated a straight leading while seated in front of the interviewer). Many of the words he said in that interview are repeated and quoted out of context today. In fact, I have a notion that if Bruce Lee had survived a few more years he would be furious about all the misconceptions, inaccurate books, and martial art schools devoted to him - a sad, unfortunate consequence of being a legend.




Rest in peace, Mr. Lee.

Note: The world is currently celebrating the 40th anniversary of Bruce Lee's death.