Wasp and Orchid
Presented by d. g. eng
Be the Pink Panther, and let your loves be like the wasp and the orchid, the cat and the baboon.
- Deleuze and Guattari
The immense influence of Asian films on American cinema is both readily apparent and often overlooked. Especially in the contemporary, CGI-saturated, sleek superhero vein (i.e. X-Men, Superman, etc.): the explosive, stylized violence, the action flashes of jump cut editing, the choreographed dance of combat, whirlwinds of limbs delivering and deflecting blows with hyper-real speed and dexterity. All these qualities can be traced back to the earliest kung fu films (Shaw Brothers, King Hu) as well as the pioneering work of Hong Kong action cinema (Ringo Lam, John Woo), whose approaches to the depiction of conflict assumed bold and idiosyncratic perspectives.
This film series will focus principally on martial arts choreography, providing examples of the practice in its most inspirational and innovative forms. Primarily we’ll be viewing the assemblage art of wu shu, which is the broad term for all the martial arts combined (popularized here in the States by actors such as Jet Li), and it’s unique utilization in each of the movies to be shown. Over the course of the series we’ll be screening films from China, Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia, as well as a few made in the U.S., in order to represent the wide range of influence in Hollywood and beyond.
Second seminar: IRON MONKEY
SATURDAY May 22, 8pm at BETALEVEL
First seminar: SHAOLIN SOCCER
SATURDAY April 23, 8pm at BETALEVEL
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WASP and ORCHID
martial arts choreography film seminar
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* About the logo:
The “Wasp and Orchid” logo was originally used by the Institute of Oriental Studies at the Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil [formerly here]. They had apparently failed to probe the deeper implications of the image until a clogged server [courtesy boingboing] made them wake up and smell the roses.
As an example of cultural interpenetration and the painful pleasures of translation, Superbunker is pleased to pull this logo out of its memory hole and stick it where the sun don’t shine — the Wasp and Orchid martial arts choreography series!
