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Violence and Masculinity in the Films of John Woo

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Violence and Masculinity in the Films of John Woo "Getting Away With It" Violence and Masculinity in the Films of John Woo "In a John Woo movie, bullets kill people. Lots of them … extras do not get up rubbing their heads after being shot … (n)or does the flying lead miraculously avoid innocent bystanders. But even in these hyper-sensitive times, he gets away it" I Violence in the cinema has always been the subject of much debate. Whether it is the effect scenes of violence will have upon an audience or how graphic such scenes should be, it seems that the discussion will continue endlessly. Yet it is interesting that on screen violence can be reacted to in many different ways. For example Reservoir Dogs (Quentin Tarantino, Miramax, USA, 1991) caused an outcry when it was released. The torture scene in the film has been described as ‘ ...unwatchably graphic’ii. But the only real act of violence in that scene (when somebody’s ear is sliced off) actually takes place off camera, lasting a few seconds at most with the total sum of violence in the film adding up to no more than 3 minutes. In contrast Lashou shentan / Hard Boiled (John Woo, Golden Princess Film Production Limited, Hong Kong, 1992) has a finale, lasting around 40 minutes, in which numerous people are brutally killed (including innocent hospital patients), newborn babies are threatened and a Hospital is blown up. Here the violence is described as " … unbelievable action sequences that are bloody, comic and hypnotic"iii. It seems that John Woo can indeed "get away with it". But why is this? What can make one form of violence unwatchable whilst another form is pleasurable? I think Woo is especially interesting to look at in terms of this question. Whilst being famous for his breathtaking depictions of gunplay and action he is also considered by many to be a romantic filmmaker dealing with notions of love, honour and friendship. Is it perhaps these sensibilities that Woo uses to make his violence pleasurable? Here I will examine the factors that make up the violence in Woo’s work and attempt to ascertain how these can fit in with the idea that he is a romantic. More importantly I will try and show exactly what it is about his presentation of violence that could make it pleasurable as opposed to repulsive. I think that it is initially important to examine the themes that run through Woo’s films in order to understand better his use of violence. According to Stephen Teo the theme that runs throughout Woo’s films is concerned with the Japanese code of yi: "Yi postulates a system of brotherhood, honour and justice binding all within a … a fraternity, whether criminal or otherwise"iv This can be seen in many of his films. For example in Diexie Shuangxiong / The Killer (John Woo, Golden Princess Film Production Ltd, Hong Kong, 1989) Jeff Chow (Chow Yun-Fat) is a professional killer whereas Inspector Li (Danny Lee) is a cop. Yet they are both similar in the moral codes that they follow. When Jeff saves the life of a small girl during a gun battle, Li is impressed by his actions. There are points when Woo visually matches Jeff and Li making us question how similar both cop and killer actually are. We ask the same question again when ,in Hard Boiled, Tequila (Chow Yun-Fat) walks down amongst the bookshelves of a library where a murder has been committed. This is intercut with scenes of Tony (Tony Leung) doing exactly the same thing whilst planning the murder. Initially then the characters in a Woo film would seem to be ambiguous. Who is actually ‘good’ and who is ‘evil’? This ambiguity is prevalent in Face/Off (John Woo, Paramount, USA, 1997) when Sean Archer (John Travolta / Nicholas Cage) and Castor Troy (Nicholas Cage/ John Travolta) swap identities so that hero and villain become almost interchangeable. It is in fact this almost simplistic ideal that informs much of his work: the identification of good and evil and the battle between those two forces. Jeff may be a killer, but he is ultimately shown to be good. It is not the profession that defines him but more the moral code that he lives by. Woo, in reference to The Killer, has said: " A killer and a cop represent two extremely different worlds but inside they have the common values of nobility and chivalry … I tried to convey that a good person is often misunderstood by society … a true knight has no need for recognition from those around him because his actions are the most important thing"v This is seen in Hard Boiled . Tony is revealed as an undercover cop, infiltrating the operation of an arms dealer. Tequila, with no knowledge of this, has no idea where his loyalties lie and, for much of the film, neither do the audience. At one point he exclaims "So busy being a gangster, I don’t know which me is real". It is only when he joins up with Tequila in the final shoot out, and dies in the process, that we can finally be sure of where he stands. His last words before death are "I’m a cop". Therefore, in Woo’s films, it can be argued that it is only via their actions (which is chiefly violence) that we can truly define the morality and identity of a character. Therefore if it is violence that defines who is ‘good’ and ‘bad’ then couldn’t there also be violence which is coded as ‘good’ and that which is coded as ‘bad’. Woo often claim that he directs the action scenes in his films as " … one would cheoreograph a musical"vi, a "Busby Berkeley of Bullets" if you will. In keeping with this analogy of the musical I think that it is interesting in Woo’s work if we examine the violence in terms of its spontaneity. In a musical you are given characters who will spontaneously burst into song no matter where they are. In a John Woo film you will have characters who will spontaneously engage in a gun battle no matter where they are. The spontaneity in Woo’s films is something that is meant to be a good quality, and brings pleasure to the audience. For example there is a scene in The Killer in which Jeff is left without a gun. Seeing one, he kicks over the table on which the gun is lying to cause it to go spinning through the air. He grabs it and, in one smooth motion, dispatches the rest of his opponents with ease. Visually, we get pleasure from this as we see the gun flying through the air in slow motion and the smoothness of Jeff’s movements. Perhaps we also admire him for his quick thinking. The visual aspect of the violence immediately makes us empathise with the character: we get pleasure from the violence he commits. Woo can then use this empathy and tie it in with the themes that he is attempting to explore. It seems Woo deliberately codes this spontaneous violence as being ‘good’ and associates it with ‘good’ characters. For example, the opening of Face/Off has Castor Troy preparing to kill Sean Archer, as he rides on a merry-go-round with his son. Castor lies in the bushes with his gun, and calmly sips from a drink. He then takes aim and shoots. Sean and his son fall to the ground. Whilst the fall is in slow motion there seems nothing particularly graceful about it. Similarly when Johnny (Anthony Wong) kills a room of patients in Hard Boiled the violence is quick and brief without any recourse to beautiful visuals. We immediately then have a sense of this kind of violence being coded as ‘evil’. It ends in the death of innocents and does not have the visual intensity of that which is coded as ‘good’. It is cold and calculating whereas the ‘good’ is spontaneous. Thus those who are good do not cause the violence, merely react to it. Those who are evil are the cause. Again notice how at the beginning of The Killer, when we are unsure about his character, Jeff causes the violence (by carrying out his assassination and accidentally blinding a nightclub singer). The first time we see him actually react to a violent situation (an attempt on his life on a beach) he saves the life of a little girl. We admire him because he doesn’t have to think, he just has to act and by now his actions have meant that we realise that he is good. As Teo says: "In Woo’s films it is the code of yi which helps to confer meaning and moral ?justification, changing the beast’s fundamental nature into one of knightly ?gallantry"vii I think that in his films, Woo creates a symbiotic relationship between violence and the code of yi. One informs the other. I think that linked in with this idea of spontaneity is the notion of control. According to Jason Jacobs: "Mastery and power … are directly contrasted with the loss of control over the ?body, the messy exit of blood and the involuntary convulsions"viii Certainly, this is the way in which the hired gangsters die in Hard Boiled: we see them writhe as blood flies and they involuntarily fire their guns at the floor. Often slow motion is used during these deaths. Here, I think it is important to note that Woo never actually flinches from the consequences of violence unlike many films (i.e.
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