Jackie+Chan

Jackie Chan

Overview
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Since 1960, Jackie Chan has acted and choreographed in hundreds of films. Chan was known for his style of fighting; most fighting scenes contained Chan’s improvised weapons and stunts. He is known as a Mandopop and Cantopop singer; he has sung the theme songs of Walt Disney’s song, //Make a Man out of You// in the Chinese version of //Mulan// and //Endless Love// in //The Myth//.



Early Life
Chan Kong-sang, known as Jackie Chan, was born on April 7, 1954 in Victoria Peak, Hong Kong. He failed his first year in primary school, and his parents withdrew him. Later on, his father immigrated to Canberra, Australia, for his job as the head cook for the American embassy. During this time, Chan was enrolled in China Drama Academy, which was run by Master Yu Jim-yuen. As Chan progresses in his intense training, in 1962, he was an eight year old who appeared in the //film Big and Little Wong Tin Bar.// Around ten years later, Chan excelled in acrobatics and martial arts and was good enough to become a part of the Seven Little Fortunes, which was a performance group made of the school’s best students. Yuen Lo became Chan’s stage name in honor of his master. Chan made lots of friends and became close friends with his colleagues, Yien Biao and Sammo Hung. They were known as the //Three Dragons// or the //Three Brothers//. When Jackie Chan was seventeen, his stunt work was put into use as Bruce Lee’s films, //Fist of Fury// and //Enter the Dragon//. In 1976, Jackie Chan joined his parents in Canberra and attended Dickson College and worked as a construction worker. One of the workers, named Jack, made Chan an apprentice, and Chan earn the nickname of “Little Jack.” Later on, Chan took Jack, shorten it to Jackie and used Jackie Chan ever since.

Steps to Fame
In 1976, Chan receive an offer of a role from Willie Chan. Director Lo Wei wanted to model Jackie Chan after Bruce Lee in the film, //New Fist of Fury.// This film was a failure because Jackie Chan could not mimic Lee’s style. In 1978, in the film //Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow//, Chan made a major breakthrough; the film displayed Chan’s style as a comedic kung fu performer. This role led him to the movie, //Drunken Master//, which guide him to mainstream. After several comedic kung fu genre films, Chan returned to Lo Wei’s studio. As Willie Chan left the company, he asked Chan if he wanted to join him or stay. As a result, Chan broke his contract and left the company. Lo Wei blackmailed, by threatening both Jackie Chan and Willie Chan with triads because they left Lo Wei’s studio. Director Jimmy Wang Yu helped Chan out by letting him join Golden Harvest which resolved the dispute.media type="youtube" key="ZjkSC4SQORw" height="349" width="425" align="right"

As Willie Chan and Jackie Chan become closer friends, Willie became Jackie’s personal manager and has been so for over 30 years. Willie Chan helped Jackie Chan in his international career and in 1980, introduced Chan to American Film industry in his first American film, //Battle Creek Brawl//. In 1981, //The Cannonball Run// made over $100 million worldwide. In his present movies, Jackie Chan’s films usually have a bloopers or outtakes in the closing credits. This was a device used in Burt Reynolds’ films, and Chan adopted it. The movie, //The Protector,// failed and Chan gave up on the US market and returned his focus on Hong Kong films. //The Young Master// and //Dragon Lord// let Chan out-performed Bruce Lee’s films, and Chan gained the title of Hong Kong cinema’s top star. In the //Dragon Lord//, this movie broke the record of most takes for a single scene with more than 2900 shots. In 1982, Jackie Chan married Lin Feng-Jiao.

In 1988 in //Dragon Forever//, Chan starred with his fellow graduates of China Drama Academy, Yuen Wah and Sammo Hung. In the nineties, Chan starred in numerous of films that won multiple awards, such as Hong Kong Film Awards. He was even listed in __Time Magazine’s__ All-Time Best 100 Movies. He made over $16 million between Rumble of Bronx and Police Story 3: Super Cop. Chris Tucker co-starred with Chan in Rush Hour, which movie made over $130 million in the United States alone! Chan became a film star in Hollywood.

After Chan’s last film for Golden Harvest, //Who Am I?,// in 1999, he help Shu Qi in //Gorgeous//. In 2000, PlayStation created a game that starred Chan called //Jackie Chan Stuntmaster//. From 2000 to the present, Chan has starred in many multi-million dollar movies that co-starred Owen Wilson (//Shanghai Noon// and //Shanghai Knights//) and Chris Tucker (//Rush Hour 2// and //Rush Hour 3)//. Movies, such as //The Tuxedo// and //The Medallion,// had a lot of special effects that helped the films become successful. Chan also started his own film production company, Jackie Chan Emperor Movies Limited, which was associated with Emperor Multimedia Group. Movies such as //New Police Story, The Myth// and //R////ob-B-Hood// were more dramatic than previous films.

In 2008, Jackie Chan starred in //The// //Forbidden Kingdom// which starred Chinese actor, Jet Li. In the same year, Chan did the voice of the Master Monkey in Dream Works //Kung Fu Panda// and //Kung Fu Panda 2//. Movies such as //Shinjuku Incident//, //The Spy Next Door// and //Little Big Soldier// were also major movies that were created during this time. In 2009, Chan starred in //The Karate Kid//which won him a Nickelodeon’s Kids’ Choice Awards.

Other Info
Jackie Chan holds a title in the Guinness World Record for "Most Stunts By A Living Actor” because he has performed all his stunts by himself. Movies such as //Armour of God// and //Rumble in the Bronx// almost killed him due to his injuries. In //Armour of God//, Chan fell off a tree which fractures his skull. Chan also had his own TV show that ran until 2005 called //Jackie Chan Adventures//.

Influences
Some may refer Jackie Chan as a hero. Each movie that Jackie Chan starred in had a lesson that taught viewers, especially children, that violence is bad, and that violence doesn’t always come in hand with action. This trait shows Chan was a man who enjoys and wants peace in the world, was an influential figure for others and tries to help stop the violence in the community through movies, shows and charity work.

Firstly, Chan was a man who performed for others to see, and he knows that what he does will influence his audience. In the 1990s, an actor named Stallone who starred in Rambo asked Chan to play a role in Rambo IV. The role Stallone offered was the Good Bad Drug Dealer which was an antagonist and later on side with the protagonist. Chan had no problem with this role, but his fans sent him fan mails that states that he shouldn’t play as a Drug Dealer in the movie because it would break that perfect image of one of the greatest roles models of all time. As a result of numerous fan mails denying this role, Chan listened to his fans and turn down the offer from Stallone. To keep his fans happy, he would turn down movies than make a lot of money.

Throughout his lifetime, Chan has done numerous of charity work because he believes in helping others and giving them an opportunity that he did not get. When he was young, he could not read or write very well due to poverty. As he grew up, he still holds those memories of his past and reflects on it to create programs, such as The Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation that Jackie Chan founded in 1988, and Dragon’s Heart Foundation that Chan founded in 2004. These charity programs can help disasters struck in multiple places in the world, such as the earthquake in Haiti. Once the earthquake hit Haiti, Jackie Chan immediately goes to Haiti to help those victims in Haiti. He also donated 5 million RMB (Renminbi, which is the currency of China) or 732,000 USD (United States Dollars). He also helped China with droughts by raising 29 million USD. Individuals, such as Leonardo Pagampao, became a hero because he performed the Heimlich Maneuver to save a student form choking on a piece of candy. Who sponsored? Jackie Chan Charity Foundation did and the student was put in the American Red Cross records.

Every stunt that Jackie Chan did was influential because he had no stunt double to do these dangerous stunts. He is a man who does things on his own, and he teaches his audience to be yourself and show the world your true colors. Movies, such as Drunken Master, brought out Chan’s talents and self-directed choreographing skills which made him famous back then and even until now.

Chan is also a firm believer in exercise. He believes and states that “If there is an opportunity for exercise, I’ll take it,” and advertisement commercials that Jackie Chan starred in, The Mountain Dew ads, displays this belief he believes in. This is probably the result from extensive training when he was young while he attended the opera school in China. Everybody in the world has a purpose and a motivation, but to get motivated, one must have an inspiration. Chan’s inspiration for his characters in movies he directed were inspired by the characters Donald Duck and Dustin Hoffman. He states that although they are not as tough or like heroes, yet in the end, the people like them. As a result of these two characters, Chan use these traits for years after years of making comedic action-packed movies as the recipe for creating the underdog of the film. In the movies that Jackie Chan starred in, he adds an outtake which is bloopers at the end of the credit. What got him to use this method was from Burt Reynolds’ films which displays outtakes at the end. From then till now, Chan has been using outtakes as an essential part of his movies.

Stereotypes have been around since who knows whenever. A theory in America called the Melting Pot tried to weave races together as a homogeneous nation. Although this sounds like a good idea because it might resolve some problems, it can also stir more problems. Jackie Chan is one of several figures in the world that is use as a stereotype for people with East Asian descendants. From the big hit Drunken Master to the present Karate Kid that both starred Jackie Chan, it is natural for people to believe that Asians knows kung fu or martial arts at some extent.

In many games and shows from 1978 when Drunken Master was release till present, series such as Dragon Ball, Tekken, Dead or Alive, Jade Empire, The King of Fighters, Virtua Fighter, Rumble Fighter and Guild Wars, all have characters and fighting styles of drunken fist which is indirectly connected to Jackie Chan because Chan is one of the most famous for using such styles in movies.

In this final analysis, I believe Jackie Chan is an influential person who teaches lessons and diplays unique talents, skills and morals in his movies and shows, taught others that even though ones opportunity is slim, one can still find some hope to raise from barriers that holds them back, is admirable due to his charity work for caring for those who are in need of help.

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