The 'branding' of Shaolin
Hollywood's connection to the Hong Kong film industry goes back to the late 1960's. Warner Bros. had already successfully began distributing Kong Kong made kung fu movies in the US as well as exploring the possibilities of joint film projects. The ABC produced pilot and series was not only known and noticed by the Hong Kong film industry but in-fact triggered the hasty dubbing and adapting of Hong Kong martial arts movies for 'West' - to take advantage of the opportunity of it's success.
Through out the 70's the Hong Kong film industry produced many
"shaolin films" It was during this period the kung fu craze hit America. (This is not to take away any credit from Kwan Tak Hing and his earlier Wong Fei Hung films.)
Shaolin's sudden and remarkable popularity in the PRC at the tail end of the cultural revolution was very much driven by the western style entertainment / fad phenomena. The investment and world wide marketing of Shaolin by the PRC is no accident. We saw the same sudden phenomena in the USA 10 years earlier. Although Hong Kong movies were already part of a the sub-culture in the US, the series was the real start of successful mass marketing of Chinese martial arts in the US. First aired in early in '72 by 1973 it literally became the no. 1 TV series in the US over night.
The PRC's decision to invest in Shaolin was clearly influenced by a similar phenomena and marketing opportunity, i.e.. the Jet Li film. By the time the young Abbot came on the scene, the fad was well under way in the PRC.
That this fad bewildered and confused the few surviving old monks is understandable, but confusing Abbot Yongxin? . . . I don't think so.
Where will this (fad) will be in the next 5 to 10 years? Well. . . a few die-hards will still be around. Aging die-hards :-))))
r.
Western influence on Shaolin
The western market, the US specifically, played a really minor role in the distribution of HK film. Sure, there was a wave of dubbed Shaw brothers movies and such, mostly to ghettos and thrid run theaters (remember this was before video), the whole kung fu wave in the wake of Bruce Lee, but it was minor in comparison to what happened in Asia. Places like India and and Indonesia were much closer and more accessible markets. Now I'm not saying that the US/HK film didn't have some effect, but it was negligible and even moreso, the effect of the Kung Fu TV show. When it came to US TV show imports, Hong Kong was more into the Green Hornet.
Shaolin in cinema was more an effect of Shaolin in literature. References to Shaolin were quite common in late Ming literature - from classical tales to pulp fiction wuxia. This persists until today - just look at the impact of Jin Yong.
If anything, I think the Kung Fu TV show was more of an effect - or symptom - than it was a cause. It had tremendous impact here. But it's a bit ethnocentric to think it had much impact over there, especially when no one really knows it over there at all. Look at that Carradine documentary again, when he goes to talk to Jackie Chan. Jackie tries to give Carradine some face, but it's obvious from his priceless expressions that it's a challenge, even for Jackie.
why have kungfu movies????
if nothing else, it promotes the arts for others or non practioners............
BM : are you sure the Jackies and Jets had no influence on your interest as a boy????...........