Post#8 Analysis of a 1970s Hollywood Film: Enter The Dragon

This film was created and released in 1973, which would be the last film to ever be released presenting Bruce lee before his untimely passing. Analyzing this movie, I noticed how many of the techniques applied from the Hollywood Trick of lights were still maintained here as presented through unique camera angles and perspectives, manipulating tensions and feelings with light and shadows. Our protagonist "Lee'' is a trainee as well as a teacher in his own right in the Shaolin temple, a martial arts expert, who eventually gets recruited in a operation to take down an narcotic dealer named Han, who not only "perverted" the teachings from the temple, but has garnered an island that practices many illegal activities: brothels, drugs, human experimentation, or as Han would say "a business of corruption". All while taking a stand against Han who was responsible for the death of his sister. It is a rather notable motif that I noticed throughout the film the very visible choices of colors utilized; yellow, white, black, red, and gold. These colors represented well in juxtapositioning the differences between Han, Han's men, Lee, Williams, and Roper. The more colors the more drowned the character seems in luxury, such as Mr. Han basking in his status as the audience can see based on his clothes, while the henchmen wore white clothing, and martial art participants wore yellow, and Bruce lee wore mostly black. 

 There is also an unforgettable note that touches upon classism and social issues in the film by showcasing the process of how both Roper and Williams had to go through in order to head to Hong Kong. Roper is held up by three thugs demanding a debt to be paid, but he knocks them out and takes off, whereas for Williams before heading to the airport for Hong Kong, he is stopped by policemen, who try to harass him or arrest him without any grounds resulting in the Williams to defend himself while flashily getting away with their car. As both parties arrived in Hongkong Williams has one bag with him, and we see Roper traveling with many suitcases. Once again portraying the contrast between these two martial artists and their lives as a black man and a white man in the seventies. In chapter six of Grazian states for the need for blockbusters "As one can see, at the input and output boundaries within this organizational system, industry professionals are required to make multiple decisions in a context of uncertainty, in which success is virtually impossible to predict with any reliability." This was a film created by one of the biggest production companies, Warner Bros. Keeping that in mind, when we are referring to Grazian when he enters the discussion for the need of blockbusters, he describes a formulaic plan that is used constantly “The drastic overspending on such film projects only increases the need among studios to produce windfall profits to simply break even, which generates an even greater demand for blockbusters. Taken to its logical conclusion, this cycle of  bet-  raising resembles an endless round of  no-  limit gambling,” Despite the passing of the main protagonist, at the end of the day, chapter six highlights the importance of profit when creating a successful earn back from the production to equal to their money’s worth. But what does that mean for the audience? Upon hearing the promotion of “Enter the Dragon” many people showed up to watch the film , Big companies manipulating the viewers emotions who come to support and invest into watching a legacy that has been left behind. But that does not mean that the film in its entirety lacks its meaning, but rather as Grazian has noted in this chapter it’s a consideration to remember who was behind the production and what were the intentions they have, a love letter to honor a past talented individual or to milk the presence of someone as much as they can for profit.