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https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3a/IpMan3.jpg
Ip man 3 is a martial arts film released on 24 December in 2015, which the whole film series is based on the life stories of Yip Man, the Wing Chun grandmaster. Ip man, casted by Donnie Yen was living in Hong Kong with a low profile life at first by producing his techniques on a wooden dummy. One day, he was challenged by Wing-sing, the person who claims to be the Grandmaster of Wing Chun.
The genre used in IP man 3 is action/adventure which helps to attract people who are into martial arts and can help people to reflect back on the Wing Chung grandmaster Yip Man’s interesting life stories. According to Abercrombie, part of the reason that makes a movie is enjoyable involves knowing what the genre rules are and knowing that there are problems that need to be solved by the protagonist [1]. When the audience find out that their predictions of genre framework matches with their expectations and that they are always being surprised with what happens next will create satisfactions amongst the audience.
Moreover, Ip man 3 is a cultural production as it not only talks about Yip Man’s life but it also brings out the culture of martial arts. The theme of Ip man 3 is different from the previous which it focuses on “life”, whereas the Ip man 1 and 2 are more about how Yip Man survived and ways he used to make a living. Different themes help to produce an audience appeal and shift the pre-sold expectations. Nationalism is a popular theme used in most Hong Kong movie directors which is also a theme that is used by Wilson Yip, the director of Ip man 3. Yip Man is a cultural nationalism that he helps to reflect the Chinese culture of martial arts. On the other hand, Donnie Yen is more of an acrobatic character who emphasizes more on play-acting.
Director of Ip man 3, Wilson Yip, is proven to be a talented director with his technical competence. According to Sarris, auteur theory is very important to every film production and is what makes a film appealing to the audience [2] The first element of the auteur theory is to be able to give directions and promote professional photographical, editing and acting skills. A good director is said to be able to produce a criterion of value from his technical competence. The second element is that a director has to be able to produce characteristic of style with his own signature. In Ip man 3, the audience can relate to the way that the director thinks and feels from how the camera moves as the movie is filmed. To carry out an interior meaning from the tension between the director’s personality and the film is the third element required for the theory. In Ip man 3, the director brings out the message with Ip’s remark – “what’s most important are the ones closest to us”, not the competition of who is the Grandmaster.
References:
[1] Chandler, D. (1997). Introduction to genre theory. Retrieved from http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/intgenre/chandler_genre_theory.pdf
[2] Sarris, A. (1992). Notes on the Auteur theory in 1962. In L. Braudy, & M. Cohen, (2004). Film theory and criticism: Introductory readings. (pp. 561-564). New York: Oxford University Press.
Jim Wai Yu Julia
(BA in Communication Studies)
21620504
Dear Julia, There is application of a wide range of concepts covered in class though the essay is a short one. The understanding of these concepts and the analysis with the use of them are both accurate. The weakness is the lack of a clear theme in the writing as it includes a bit of everything. My advice is to fine tune the the third and the fourth paragraph so that they are all about how a genre film can target at particular niche but with the use of cultural nationalism embodied by Kung Fu.
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