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Bruce Lee's daughter disheartened by Tarantino's portrayal of father in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood

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Sweeney Swift

Sweeney Swift

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https://www.thewrap.com/bruce-lee-daughter-mockery-once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood-shannon-lee/ (Note that there are descriptive Plot Spoilers in the second paragraph of the article in the link for those who haven't yet seen, but still want to see, a film by a long-known abusive racist piece of shit. They're not included in this post for that reason)

"I understand they want to make the Brad Pitt character this super bad-ass who could beat up Bruce Lee," Lee told TheWrap. "But they didn't need to treat him in the way that white Hollywood did when he was alive."

"It was really uncomfortable to sit in the theater and listen to people laugh at my father," Lee added. "He's the one with all the puffery and he's the one challenging Brad Pitt. Which is not how he was."
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"What I'm interested in is raising the consciousness of who Bruce Lee was as a human being and how he lived his life," she added. "All of that was flushed down the toilet in this portrayal, and made my father into this arrogant punching bag."

She said she understood that many characters in the film are caricatures, but noted that the film didn't make fun of Steve McQueen, who is played by Damian Lewis.
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She said she didn't take issue, however, with Moh, the serious Bruce Lee fan who plays him in the film. She said he did a good job with some of her father's mannerisms, and his voice.

"But I think he was directed to be a caricature," Shannon Lee said.
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Bruce Lee biographer Matthew Polly commented further on the matter in a podcast linked in the article:

Given how sympathetic Tarantino's portrayal of Steve McQueen, Jay Sebring, and Sharon Tate is, I'm surprised he didn't afford the same courtesy to Lee, the only non-white character in the film. He could have achieved the same effect–using Bruce to make Brad Pitt's character look tough–without the mockery.
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Tagyhag

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Someone correct me if I'm wrong (Haven't watched the movie yet) but isn't the scene in question someone that Brad Pitt's character makes up in his mind as a power fantasy?
 
wenis

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Tagyhag said:
Someone correct me if I'm wrong (Haven't watched the movie yet) but isn't the scene in question someone that Brad Pitt's character makes up in his mind as a power fantasy?
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it didnt come off that way when I saw it. you could have all the right intentions going into a scene like this, but even so the way they had their Bruce actor cartooning around and genuinely acting foolish felt extremely off compared to how other characters from history were treated.
 
Garble Slew

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Tagyhag said:
Someone correct me if I'm wrong (Haven't watched the movie yet) but isn't the scene in question someone that Brad Pitt's character makes up in his mind as a power fantasy?
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No, it's a flashback.

Edit: That scene got the most laughs from the audience I was with. It definitely felt like the movie swerved into a comedy during that scene so I can understand his daughters frustration.
 
Blackflag

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I thought this part of the movie was weird too. Bruce Lee wasn't like that and said publicly that Ali would probably smash him so I thought that whole part was weird. It was a good scene if that person was some rando and not Bruce Lee.
 

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Caricature? He got portayaed as a bit of Hollywood phony. I didn't think caricature so much as a Hollywood actor.
 

JDSN

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Oh shit, they turned that Evilore "I could beat Bruce Lee" post into an scene? Classic Tarantino.
 
Timbuktu

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I haven't quite figured out Tarantino with that Bruce Lee scene. I mean, one would think he respects Bruce Lee and Hong Kong cinema with movies like Kill Bill and Reservoir Dogs. Still, this scene didn't feel like he got that.

I'm not sure if there is a commentary on Hollywood's exploitation of Asian cinema, when it also showed a scene of Sharon Tate beating Nancy Kwan using Bruce Lee's choreography, or if it is part of that exploitation. As with Kill Bill, Asian marital arts only works in Hollywood when the white protagonists come out on top, besting Asians along the way.

The movie pays respects to Tate by using actual clips of the real person, but at the same time turns Bruce Lee into a caricature only there to serve Brad Pitt's character.
 
Tagyhag

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wenis said:
it didnt come off that way when I saw it. you could have all the right intentions going into a scene like this, but even so the way they had their Bruce actor cartooning around and genuinely acting foolish felt extremely off compared to how other characters from history were treated.
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Garble Slew said:
No, it's a flashback.

Edit: That scene got the most laughs from the audience I was with. It definitely felt like the movie swerved into a comedy during that scene so I can understand his daughters frustration.
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Ah ok, then yeah that's just silly. Bruce was known to be confident but not arrogant.
 
Masoyama

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cagey said:
Caricature? He got portayaed as a bit of Hollywood phony. I didn't think caricature so much as a Hollywood actor.
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Bruce Lee wasn't a phony but he also wasn't a fighting expert. A combination gymnast and actor that was interested in the their behind effective bfighting is much more accurate representation of who he was.
 
Disco

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Meh it was just a cartoonish scene set to foreshadow just how much of a physical threat Brad Pitt was

Anyways Mike Moh rocked as Bruce Lee, was uncanny at times. And also Lee's daughter is a producer on the TV show Warrior, which everyone should check out since it's some of the best action media going right now and one of the best TV shows all year
 
mojo

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Don't worry y'all Tarantino has put black people in his movies before so there's no way he had any racist intent here is what I've been told.
 
valuv

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Tbh, I took the scene as being Pitt's character's version of the memory of what happened. Painting himself as this cool, tough hero while beating one of the most famous people who also performed stunts at the time. Meanwhile you have flashbacks to Tate remembering him as a gentle, patient and supportive teacher. He existed to contrast how the two performers (Tate and Cliff) saw themselves in hindsight. Showing two extremely different versions of Lee in those memories existed entirely to paint the picture of Cliff's inflated self image and Tate's humble image.
 
Dreezy

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The only part of the movie that felt sloppy considering Tarantino's care with other actual people.
 
CopperPuppy

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So we got a movie with only white actors except

A humiliating caricature of Bruce Lee

and jokes about Mexicans

Smh Tarantino
 

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I think it's very weird that whenever a Bruce Lee thread pops up there are always dudes who insist that he's not a martial artist and try to implicitly state that they can take him but nobody ever talks about being about to outfight Chuck Norris, outlift Arnold Schwarzenegger, or outshoot Keanu Reeves.
 
wandering

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Masoyama said:
Bruce Lee wasn't a phony but he also wasn't a fighting expert. A combination gymnast and actor that was interested in the their behind effective bfighting is much more accurate representation of who he was.
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He grew up participating in martial arts and boxing competitions and fought in the streets. He also had a prolific career as a martial arts instructor.
 
Disco

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Einchy said:
I liked this scene because it's the first time I've seen his mythological status get pointed out.
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Yeah it was a pretty funny subversion. Plus that manslaughter line was great

We have plenty of other media like Dragon the Bruce Lee story or his years of influence to hold him up so I dont really see a problem in this scene. It was nice to have something different here. They ended up being evenly matched anyways. Fight ends in a draw
 

foggy

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Bruce Lee was very much a blowhard who flaunted his legend. It was honestly a fairly refreshing look at him, albeit tongue in cheek given the fight.

He saw the tea leaves of where martial arts was heading(mma) and he was a volcano of charisma, but it also doesn't mean he wasn't calculating about cultivating his legend.
 
J75

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Kinda shitty that Lee's family was clearly not consulted for the making of the film. That and the fact that Lee is the only non white character with a speaking role? Wtf. Pass.
 
Nightwing123

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Yeah, heard about this scene and now I'm learning about the fact that this depiction of Bruce Lee is the only POC with speaking lines in the movie. I'm glad I did not watch this movie opening weekend.
 
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