Is it an homage or a mockery, as the LA Times puts it.
One of the things that Bruce Lee fought for was the inequality in Hollywood. The stereotype of only white lead male actors, and the use of minorities as side kicks, humor elements, and derogatory stand-ins. Lee had to leave Hollywood and make it big in Hong Kong in order to get the respect he was looking for, and he did it.
Tarantino applied the same set-backs by including Bruce. He made it so that Bruce still gets thrown against a car, getting injured on his back. He made one of his lead protagonists literally wipe Bruce off. The scene is played so that each one won a round but with an implied understanding that "Cliff" was the superior fighter.
Bruce was injured on his back but from weight training. Bruce was in the Green Hornet but it was over by 1969.
Jen Yamato, the staff writer for the LA Times, even uses, intentionally or not, a rephrasing from Lee's iconic movie, Enter the Dragon, "You have offended the Shaolin Temple and you have offended my family."
Yamato writes, "The scene has offended fans of Lee, and it has offended his family."
Mike Moh, the actor who portrayed Lee, states he did it as an homage.
I think a lot of Bruce Lee fans came to the moving expecting an homage. The director used Bruce's popularity by including him in the trailers yet ribbing him in the final cut, placing Lee as a comedic effect, a periphery to the White dominated Hollywood.
One of the things that Bruce Lee fought for was the inequality in Hollywood. The stereotype of only white lead male actors, and the use of minorities as side kicks, humor elements, and derogatory stand-ins. Lee had to leave Hollywood and make it big in Hong Kong in order to get the respect he was looking for, and he did it.
Tarantino applied the same set-backs by including Bruce. He made it so that Bruce still gets thrown against a car, getting injured on his back. He made one of his lead protagonists literally wipe Bruce off. The scene is played so that each one won a round but with an implied understanding that "Cliff" was the superior fighter.
Bruce was injured on his back but from weight training. Bruce was in the Green Hornet but it was over by 1969.
Jen Yamato, the staff writer for the LA Times, even uses, intentionally or not, a rephrasing from Lee's iconic movie, Enter the Dragon, "You have offended the Shaolin Temple and you have offended my family."
Yamato writes, "The scene has offended fans of Lee, and it has offended his family."
Mike Moh, the actor who portrayed Lee, states he did it as an homage.
I think a lot of Bruce Lee fans came to the moving expecting an homage. The director used Bruce's popularity by including him in the trailers yet ribbing him in the final cut, placing Lee as a comedic effect, a periphery to the White dominated Hollywood.
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