The Chinese Historical Society of America in San Francisco has this great exhibition going on. It is called We Are Bruce Lee-Under the Sky, One Family.
Lee was born in San Francisco but raised in Hong Kong. Lee was a martial arts expert but also had to (sadly) face racism and cultural stereotypes in Hollywood. After playing Kato in The Green Hornet, Lee developed the concept and pitched a series to ABC and was he rejected because of his ethnicity. The show was retooled and David Carradine became the star of Kung Fu.
Lee went back to Hong Kong and got access to those in power and made the The Big Boss which became his big breakthrough. Sadly he passed away in 1973, two years after his big breakthrough and became a legend:
 |
| Original artwork by Bruce Lee for Enter the Dragon |
And some other artifacts:
 |
| NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was Lee's student and friend |
Bruce Lee was more about martial arts. Lee was about embracing the rights of humans and social unity. The Chinese Historical Society did a great job in telling his story.
What a neat collection.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting. I didn't realize he had faced so much racism. :-(
ReplyDeleteI thought he was most amazing. I would love to see this in person.
ReplyDeleteThank you for joining the Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop.
Have a fabulous Wordless Wednesday, Patrick. ☺
Good post and interesting too :-)
ReplyDeleteHave a tanfastictastic week 👍
Whoa Dude, HIIIIII YAAAAAAA My kids went nuts for him for a while, and then moved on to somebody else...hahahaha I think the next guy was Spiderman not sure! lol Anyway, come on you know kids having some yourself... I had 2 boys 2 girls. Then there was that Kung Fu man too they liked for a while. Oh fun, and now I have the grandchildren playin' the same thing and soon it will be great grandchildren. I have 3 of those now! OH FUNNNNN! HAVE A GREAT rest of your week & weekend my friend! Great job here... I'm surprised you didn't post his son's movie too! I think he only had one, right? Oh well, that's a different story! Have a great rest of your week & weekend!
ReplyDeleteI don't know that I watched any of Bruce Lee's films. I was always fascinated with marital arts as a kid, though. I watched the TV series Kung Fu with David Carradine and loved it but it puzzled me that they didn't use a Chinese lead for the part. Yeah, the show told the backstory of how the character studied the arts and traveled the world as a loner stopping evil men in their tracks but it would've been better to have a genuine karate expert such as Lee casted for the role. I love Jackie Chan's popular films such as Rush Hour. He's not only an amazing marital arts but his comedic style makes it crazy fun to watch. It's just sad people can't see beyond a person's skin color. Unfortunately, this has been with us almost since the beginning of time. Once people began populating the earth then for whatever reasons, one culture thought they were more superior then another. Thankfully, God doesn't see us with human eyes. He's sees each persona a wonderful, unique creation. No two the same but all equal in His sight. Thanks for sharing the Bruce Lee exhibit. That would be really cool to see. :)
ReplyDeleteI loved him in The Green Hornet - the actual Green Hornet was useless, even with a gun. Kato was all over it. Very handsome man too! #Allseasons
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this great exhibition and video clip with us at #weekendcoffeeshare.
ReplyDeleteThis is so interesting. I'd never heard of him, honestly, but I definitely do think more should be done to raise awareness of the marginalization of ethnic minorities past and present. It's so tragic he died quite young too.
ReplyDeletePatrick, thanks for visiting and promoting our 5 year WE ARE BRUCE LEE exhibition in San Francisco Chinatown, the birthplace of Bruce Lee. I loaned many of the artifacts from my personal collection and am the main docent tour guide. I usually give personal tours every Wednesdays & Saturdays.
ReplyDeleteI remember the movies. My boys always liked watching. Was sad what happened to him. Glad they have this exhibition for his remembrance.
ReplyDelete