Course:ASIA321/2022/Jackie Chan

Jackie Chan in 2010.

Introduction

One of the most celebrated action stars of all time, Hong Kong-born Jackie Chan is known for his martial arts films, unique brand of slapstick humour and performance, and his various political and philosophical involvements in both the East and West. This Wiki aims to provide a critical analysis on his celebrity identity, including turning points in his life and career, an analysis of his performance in his breakthrough film Drunken Master (1978) and his contributions to the film industry, in addition to reviewing and discussing the critical literature about him.

This Wiki is targeted towards an academic audience within the realm of Chinese celebrity studies.

Biography

Jackie Chan, originally known as Chang Kong-Sang was born April 7, 1954, in Hong Kong. Jackie Chan was born into an impoverished family, where his parents strived to give him as many opportunities as they could to set him up for a life full of success. From the age of seven to seventeen Chan studied acrobatics, singing, martial arts, and mime-skills which equipped him to partake in job opportunities for professional tumbling which helped him land his first roles as a child. Chan was a child actor and later became a stuntman upon his graduation in 1971. Chan first broke into popularity after working as a movie stuntman and acrobat in the film Fist of Fury (1982), starring Bruce Lee who was Hong Kong’s biggest on-screen superstar. Chan gained a lot of traction in the Chinese film industry, as he continued to work in both Hong Kong cinema and Hollywood, although he was not pleased with the limitation Hollywood placed on the actors. Soon after Chan was able to bring kung fu movies onto the mainstream of American cinema by bringing his hazardous acrobatic stunts and engaging physical humour into his roles. After Bruce Lee died in 1973, Chan was expected to fill in his successor's shoes, and become the new “King of Hong Kong cinema.” Chan decided he wanted to break out of that mold and wanted to create an image and reputation for his own rather than shadowing Lee’s former career. As a result, Chan developed his own style of martial arts with a combination of screwball physical comedy which became a new genre in the film industry. With this new contribution to the film industry, Cahn soon became the highest-paid actor in Hong Kong and a huge international star throughout Asia.

Life roles

Having established an international star status across both Asia and the West, Jackie Chan holds a unique transnational platform allowing him to be involved in a number of ambassador roles along those that he holds in his personal life.

A native Hong Kong citizen, Chan was the one to spearhead the popularity of the kung fu comedy genre—a new genre that contrasted to the seriousness of previous kung fu films—in the Hong Kong film industry throughout the 1970s and 1980s, following the death of martial arts actor Bruce Lee. This allowed him to represent his native Hong Kong as he became a household name throughout Asia, growing the international audience for Hong Kong films. However, Chan’s identity has a Hong Kong icon has been in conflict with his explicit support of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)—China’s governing body, whose practices, laws, and values have historically clashed with the democratic views of Hong Kong’s citizens—since 2009 and his involvement in propaganda campaigns. Most significantly, this has included his denouncement of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests of 2019 and his support of the related security laws imposed by the CCP. In 2021, he similarly performed for one of the CCP’s events and indicated his “[jealousy of] the Party members … want[ing] to be a Party member” himself.

Abroad in the West, Chan has always been proud and evident of his Chinese identity. Since 2013, Chan has been appointed as a Chinese Cultural Ambassador for various countries, including Saudi Arabia, Romania, and the Philippines. With his popularity in Asia and clean reputation, he was also appointed as an Indonesian Tourism Ambassador in 2014 and an anti-drug ambassador for youths in Singapore in 2015.

Chan has also been rewarded for his many philanthropic involvements throughout the course of his career, having been added as a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1989 and given an Honorary Doctorate of Social Science by the Hong Kong Baptist University in 1996. His philanthropic efforts have also included establishing two foundations: The Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation in 1988, dedicated to offering scholarships to students of various practices in Hong Kong, and the Dragon’s Heart Foundation in 2004, to support children and the elderly in areas of remote China. Since 2004, he has also been a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and a WildAid ambassador for wildlife and climate change, amongst various commitments.

Chan’s personal life has seen a number of controversies against his clean, moralistic professional brand and humanitarian ambassador values. In 1999, Chan was embroiled in a cheating scandal with beauty queen Elaine Ng, who announced her pregnancy with their illegitimate child; at the time, Chan had been married to actress Joan Lin for 15 years with a teenaged son, Jaycee Chan. In 2014, Jaycee was also arrested for the crimes of possessing and using marijuana, in addition to hosting drug sellers in his home—something that directly contradicted Chan’s role as an official Narcotics Control Ambassador for the Chinese police in 2009. These family controversies would tie together through his 2018 autobiography, Never Grow Up, where Chan admitted to paying for prostitutes, drinking, and gambling during his marriage, in addition to hitting his son. The 2003 documentary, Traces of the Dragon: Jackie Chan and His Lost Family, separately revealed a long-hidden backstory to Chan’s family: he had four half-siblings, two from each of his parents’ previous marriages; his family name was not actually Chan but Fong; and his mother had been a gambler and opium smuggler in the Shanghai underworld and his father a Nationalist spy and gangland boss, which was also the reason why he was left alone in Hong Kong to train under the China Drama Academy, while they immigrated to Australia.

Screen roles

Chan's film achievements have landed him a spot in the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Since the beginning of his career in the 1960s, Jackie Chan has acted in over 140 films as a supporting character, a stuntman, and as the lead and holds production credits in over 60. Known as the Dragon of Hong Kong cinema, he is famous for establishing the kung fu comedy genre through his trademark performance style of slapstick humour, acrobatic martial arts, and behind-the-scenes stunt outtakes in the ending credits of his films—first established through his breakthrough lead roles in Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow (1978) and Drunken Master (1978). He later found roots in Hollywood through the American release of films such as Police Story (1985) and Rumble in the Bronx (1995), finding mainstream success in the Rush Hour action comedy series (1998, 2001, 2007).

Starting as a child actor in the 1960s starring in supporting roles, Chan’s career quickly progressed towards lead roles and action/stunt directing throughout the 1970s to the 1990s, and in the 2000s leaning more towards directing, producing, and voice acting. Below is a list of all films he has been involved in, categorized by decade, and a summary of his roles within each period.

Decade	Films	Summary of Roles
1960s	Big and Little Wong Tin Bar (1962) The Love Eterne (1963) The Golden Hairpin (1963) The Story of Ching Hsian-Lien (1963) The Eighteen Darts - Part 1 & 2 (1966) Come Drink With Me (1966) The Magnificent Monk (1969)	Supporting roles Child roles Extra
Early 1970s	Lady of Steel (1970) The Blade Spares None (1971) The Angry River (1971) A Touch of Zen (1971) First of Fury (1972) Hapkido (1972) The Brutal Boxer (1972) Game of Death (1972) Stranger from Hong Kong (1972) Enter the Dragon (1973) Facets of Love (1973) Not Scared to Die (1973) Police Woman (1973) Kung Fu Girl (1973) Little Tiger of Canton (1973) Freedom Strikes a Blow (1973) Ambush (1973) The Awaken Punch (1973) First of Unicorn (1973) Fist to Fist (1974) The Golden Lotus (1974) Supermen Against the Orient (1974) Village of Tigers (1974) The Young Dragons (1974) All in the Family (1975) No End of Surprises (1975) The Himalayan (1975)	Supporting roles Stuntman Cameos Lead role
Late 1970s	New First of Fury (1976) Shaolin Wooden Men (1976) Hand of Death (1976) Killer Meteors (1976) The Private Eyes (1976) The 36 Crazy Fists (1977) To Kill with Intrigue (1977) Snake & Crane Arts of Shaolin (1978) Magnificent Bodyguards (1978) Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow (1978) Drunken Master (1978) Spiritual Kung Fu (1978) Half a Loaf of Kung Fu (1978) Two in Black Belt (1978) The Fearless Hyena (1979) Dragon Fist (1979) Dance of Death (1979) Immortal Warriors (1979) Fists and Gusts Master with Cracked Fingers (1979)	Lead roles Action director Stunt coordinator
1980s	The Young Master (1980) The Big Brawl (1980) Read Lips (1980) The Cannonball Run (1981) The Gold-Hunters (1981) Dragon Lord (1982) Fantasy Mission Force (1983) Fearless Hyena Part II (1983) Winners and Sinners (1983) Project A (1983) Wheels on Meals (1984) Cannonball Run II (1984) Pom Pom (1984) My Lucky Stars (1985) The Protector (1985) Twinkle, Twinkle, Lucky Stars (1985) Heart of Dragon (1985) Police Story (1985) Armour of God (1986) Naughty Boys (1986) Project A Part II (1987) That Enchanting Night (1987) Police Story 2 (1988) Dragons Forever (1988) The Inspector Wears Skirts (1988) Rouge (1988) Painted Faces (1988) Miracles (1989) The Inspector Wears Skirts II (1989)	Lead roles Director Action director
1990s	Island of Fire (1990) The Outlaw Brothers (1990) Stage Door Johnny (1990) Story of Kennedy Town (1990) A Kid from Tibet (1991) Armour of God II: Operation Condor (1991) Angry Ranger (1991) Beauty and the Beast (1991) Center Stage (1991) Police Story 3: Super Cop (1992) Twin Dragons (1992) The Shootout (1992) Once a Cop (1993) City Hunter (1993) Crime Story (1993) Kin chan no Cinema Jack (1993) Drunken Master II (1994) Thunderbolt (1995) Rumble in the Bronx (1995) Police Story 4: First Strike (1996) Martin (1996) Mr. Nice Guy (1997) Understanding Time and Space (1997) Who Am I? (1998) Rush Hour (1998) Hot War (1998) An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn (1998) Mulan (1998) King of Comedy (1999) Gorgeous (1999) Gen-X Cops (1999) Tempting Heart (1999)	Lead roles Director Action director Writer Producer Voice actor
2000s	Shanghai Noon (2000) Dragon Heat (2000) Gen-Y Cops (2000) The Accidental Spy (2001) Rush Hour 2 (2001) The Tuxedo (2002) Shanghai Knights (2003) Vampire Effect (2003) The Medallion (2003) Around the World in 80 Days (2004) The Twins Effect II (2004) New Police Story (2004) Enter the Phoenix (2004) Rice Rhapsody (2004) The Myth (2005) Everlasting Regret (2005) House of Fury (2005) Rob-B-Hood (2006) Rush Hour 3 (2007) Air Diary (2007) Kung Fu Zeng (2007) The Forbidden Kingdom (2008) Kung Fu Panda (2008) Run Papa Run (2008) Wushu (2008) Shinjuku Incident (2009) Looking for Jackie (2009) The Founding of a Republic (2009)	Lead roles Producer Acton director Voice actor
2010s	The Spy Next Door (2010) Little Big Soldier (2010) The Karate Kid (2010) Kung Fu Panda Holiday (2010) The Legend of Silk Boy (2010) Shaolin (2011) Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011) 1911 (2011) Legendary Amazons (2011) CZ12 (2012) The Unbelievable (2013) Personal Tailor (2013) Police Story 2013 (2013) As the Light Goes Out (2014) Dragon Blade (2015) Who Am I 2015 (2015) Monkey King: Hero Is Back (2015) Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016) Skiptrace (2016) The Master: A Lego Ninjago Short (2016) Railroad Tigers (2016) Kung Fu Yoga (2017) The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature (2017) The Lego Ninjago Movie (2017) The Foreigner (2017) Zane's Stand Up Promo (2017) Bleeding Steel (2017) Namiya (2017) The Knight of Shadows: Between Yin and Yang (2019) Viy 2: Journey to China (2019) The Climbers (2019)	Director Producer Action director Cameo Voice actor

Substantive analysis of the celebrity's profession

A critical analysis of Chan in Drunken Master (1978)

Following his breakthrough role in Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow (1978), Drunken Master (1978) was Jackie Chan’s second Hong Kong box office hit—playing a critical role in cementing his celebrity status in Hong Kong while also establishing his unique brand of kung fu comedy. In the film, Wong Fei-hung is a talented martial arts student whose mischievous personality, pranks, and lack of decorum lands him in a series of events forcing his father, Wong Kei-ying, to punish him by undergoing the notoriously strict training of Beggar So. Following a number of personal trials, Wong Fei-hung eventually gains the approval of Beggar So and masters his secret martial arts style, the Eight Drunken Immortals. He returns home just in time to save Wong Kei-ying from an assassination attempt and defeats Thunderleg, whose powerful kicks he previously suffered a humiliating defeat by and earns the respect of his father.

While the plot of Drunken Master (1978) leans more fantastical than Chan’s personal life, the film illustrates a unique parallel between the narratives of Wong Fei-hung and Chan. The most evident parallel lies in the similarities of Wong Fei-hung and Jackie Chan’s origins: as a child, Chan was left under the tutelage of godfather Yu Jim-yuen to learn Peking opera at the China Drama Academy, his biological father immigrating to Australia for work. There, he and his cohort underwent Yu’s strict training, disciplinary approach, and were expected to adhere to a hierarchy of seniority. Failure to meet any expectations meant punishment through caning, extra hours of practice, or being beaten by older students: as a mischievous personality and being the adopted grandson of Yu, Chan was frequently subject to these punishments, known for putting in double the amount of effort, and recognized by Yu for his potential. Subsequently, Wong’s larger character narrative—being abandoned by his father to Beggar So, undergoing a tough training regime wrought with similar punishments if he slacked off, and eventually being acknowledged for his talents—directly reflects the events of Chan’s childhood. These narrative parallels are equally depicted through the different ways that they find their autonomy from their mentors. Wong, for example, escapes Beggar So’s harsh training only to suffer a humiliating defeat by the antagonist, Thunderleg; this becomes the catalyst he needs to restart his training with Beggar So to the Eight Drunken Immortals martial arts style. His choice to stay is juxtaposed by Beggar So’s abrupt goodbye after deeming Wong’s training complete. Chan, on the other hand, was not able to entertain running away as he had nowhere to go outside of the academy and continued training throughout his childhood. After building connections in the film industry, Chan chose to leave Yu as a late teen. Yet, this difference in choice, autonomy, and the way that both Wong and Chan separate from their masters run a full circle: in the ending scene of Drunken Master (1978), Wong pays a homage to Beggar So by utilizing an alcohol-spitting technique against Thunderleg as his master had previously done to him while training—acknowledging his master’s influence on him—while Chan has directly credited Yu as the “father of Jackie Chan [his on-screen persona]”.

Wong Fei-hung’s character also illustrates how Jackie Chan carved out a unique, yet adaptable identity of “humour and humanity” within the martial arts film category. The character Wong Fei-hung was traditionally depicted as a serious martial arts hero who adhered to Confucian ideals, a stark cry from the mischievous and sometimes shameful image that is shown in Drunken Master (1978). Regardless, this version of Wong is arguably the most human in his struggles while breaking the stereotypical masculine, stoic expectations of a hero figure in his climactic battle against Thunderleg: comedically using drunken feminine battle cries, gestures, and sways in his posture to ultimately win, gaining the respect of his father in the process. In the same way where Drunken Master (1978)’s Wong breaks down the traditional hero figure in martial arts, Chan’s brand of kung fu comedy often features bumbling, morally flawed characters partial to experiencing humorous accidents during serious moments. Adding to this is the inclusion of his behind-the-scenes outtakes in the end credits of every film, typically featuring mistakes and injuries that would occur during his stunts. Integral to his brand, these qualities are what allow Chan to deviate from the stereotypical image of the polished, dramatic, and masculine martial artist that predecessors such as Bruce Lee depicted—unveiling a more vulnerable and human quality to both his characters and himself.

Chan's contribution to the field of films and beyond

Chan, as a famed Chinese actor, being presented a memento at the inaugural Chinese Film Festival in 2013.

Jackie Chan has made huge contributions to his professional field through many of his achievements and advocacies. Chan changed the landscape of martial arts films, engraving the idea that it is possible to incorporate peace and laughter into action movies. Chan initially began to make his mark on the American market in the 1990s, soon becoming the first Chinese actor to receive an honorary Academy Award with the focus on his “distinctive international career.” One unique contribution Chan brought to film culture was his insistence on performing all of his stunts. Chan has admittedly broken every bone in his body throughout his career while performing his own stunts. An example of one of the injuries takes place in 1986 while filming Armor of God. By attempting to jump from the top of a building, Chan fell more than 40 feet only to land on a tree branch and fracture his skull. The fascination of Chan’s impressive ability to perform his own stunts landed him with the Guinness World Records for “Most Stunts By a Living Actor.” As a result of this, no insurance companies will underwrite Chan’s productions where he does all of his own stunts. Soon after he created his own sub-genre of martial arts movies which aided him in breaking out of the shadow of Bruce Lee. This new contribution to martial arts movies is called wu da pian which is a blend of martial arts, death-defying gymnastic stunts, and comedy. In addition to all of this, Chan became one of the first stars to exert total control over most of his roles. Starting in the late 1970s, Chan insisted on having complete artistic freedom in most of his movies. By taking on this responsibility he soon was given complete control over his stunt work, which opened the doors to him co-directing films and going on to direct, write, and produce films. Not only does he direct, write, produce, act, and do his own stunts, he also sings many of the theme songs for his films. Chan created his own formula to become a cinematic god. Due to these groundbreaking achievements and creating a new wave into the film industry, Chan received countless awards for his acting and stunt work. A few of these awards are in celebration of the innovation Chan has contributed to the industry such as; the Innovator Award from the American Choreography Awards, a lifetime achievement award from the Taurus World Stunt Awards and the Asia Pacific Film Festival, Best Actor from the Golden Horse Film Festival, Golden Rooster, Hollywood Film Festival, Hong Kong Film Awards, among many others. Chan single-handedly changed the industry while bringing the kung fu genre to the West.

Key forces that influenced Chan's career and public reception

An evolving political stance that affected his target audience and public reception

Jackie Chan is characteristically and proudly Chinese in his films and in real-life which appeals to the nationalistic pride of the Chinese audience. However, prior to constantly declaring himself as Chinese, Chan who largely starred in Hong Kong films and is a Hong Kong native himself used to ambiguously call himself a "Hong Kong-er" until his stardom took him to the international level and Jackie Chan began falling back on his Chinese identity and condemning Hong Kong’s search for independence.

Due to Chan’s previous portrayal in films such as Police Story (1985, 1988, 1992, 1996) and the Project A (1982, 1987) series where his character showed obsessive concern for Hong Kong as a loyal civil servant , Hong Kong citizens began to draw parallels between his on-screen persona and his real-life persona.  Such constant portrayal of himself as a Hong Kong citizen made the Hong Kong audiences feel as if Jackie Chan was someone who could represent them. Since then, Chan was even appointed as the Hong Kong Tourism Ambassador and dotingly referred to by the Hong Kong media as “Big Brother” as he resembled a paternal figure and a national hero in his on-screen characters as well as his off-screen persona.

However, as his fame rose in the West and as he took on more Hollywood Films, his stardom and following in China and Hong Kong started waning. This was because his previously established image of being a proactive national hero and civil servant was considered to be trampled by his new image in Hollywood films where he takes on submissive and humble roles. Such changes in the characteristics of his on-screen roles called for dissent from Chinese audiences who found his new selection of roles disgraceful to China and Hong Kong’s international image. Such a reaction from his Hong Kong and Chinese audiences may be what prompted him to start speaking out against the American entertainment industry and unabashedly declaring his nationalistic pride in his roots to defend his stardom in his native country.

It is at this time that Jackie Chan’s nationalistic expression began to take on a more political tone, as he ultimately decided to side with the Chinese Communist Party and begins introducing himself as Chinese and expressing desire to join the government party —something that is seen as abandonment by Hong Kong audiences which further enraged them. This political debate persists till this day as the people of Hong Kong and the mainland continue to argue over the legitimacy of Hong Kong as a territory under China’s control as well as Hong Kong’s freedom to protest against this control and their desire to be separated from China. This issue remains significant the popularity of various artists in either area is instantly impacted and reflected by the side the decide to speak for.

As Jackie Chan continues to participate in Hollywood films, his uncensored pride in his roots paired with provocative wording began to cause issues in his career. Such was the case when in 2013 he claimed in an interview that the US was “the most corrupt” country in the world . This interview comes following the debut of his new film at the time, CZ12, which also sparked controversies online due to the highly nationalistic and pro-communist dialogue shown in the film causing some critics discomfort in how they “sound[ed] like they were scripted by a government official” . This continues to be a trend in his works where he presents pro-communist ideals in his films and speaks out in defence of China unprompted while dismissing other countries, and his hometown Hong Kong, as he continuously denigrates Hong Kong’s civil liberties in comparison to the mainland and by 2012 he began to openly criticize Hong Kong and called them “a city of protest”, causing mass outrage as supporters of Hong Kong's freedom protest lambasted Chan as "fascist," "evil" and "racist". However, while such notions are unappetizing towards American and Hong Kong audiences as well as other democratic audiences, it garnered many support and favour for Jackie Chan in China where his now main target audience is, and the reception of Jackie Chan became a highly political indicator.

Contribution to charity

Jackie Chan has always been a contributor to charities, as he has done all kinds of charitable works and has put his own contribution of money and efforts throughout his career. Chan states that even when he is sleeping he constantly thinks about how he can help individuals who are struggling. In 1998, Chan founded the Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation where he offers scholarships to Hong Kong youths. What started off to be a small organization soon expanded to become a foundation to support disaster relief, medical care, and art performance. This was not the end of Chan’s charitable contribution as he founded the Dragon’s Heart Foundation in 2004. The purpose of this foundation was to help children and the elderly in impoverished areas of China who were in desperate need of help. The Dragon’s Heart Foundation built over 20 schools for kids, alongside building the schools they also equipped the kids with books, fees and uniforms. To optimize children of low-welfare backgrounds with educational opportunities, the foundation roasted millions of dollars to give to the children.

Chan is so passionate about this cause because he lived in poverty when he was a child, so he insists on being the saviour for these children that he needed when he was young and vulnerable. Chan’s dying wish is to give away all of his money to charity once he passes away so he can fulfil his dream of having no more poor people in China. He also has mentioned that his son Jaycee Chan will inherit nothing once he passes away, and his son's response to that is, “People’s support has got my father where he is today…. It’s reasonable to give back by doing charity work.”

Additionally, Chan is an ambassador for UNICEF, as he has campaigned for conservation and has fought against animal abuse. He has donated $36 million for people internationally. Once the Haiti earthquake struck, Chan donated $800,000 to help the victims. He has raised $29 million, bringing supplies to earthquake victims of Qinghai, China and helped with the drought relief.

Jaycee's drug scandal

Due to the nationalistic nature of Chinese netizens, in recent times Jackie Chan “enjoyed the highest favourability ratings” amongst surveys as Jackie Chan’s expressive patriotism garnered admiration from Chinese netizens who found pride in the fact that Jackie Chan’s international stardom and platform didn’t waver his love for his county. However, his appraisal took a dive in 2014 when his son, Jaycee Chan, was sentenced to 6 months in jail for drug offence. Jaycee Chan and Taiwanese movie star Kai Ko were detained in the August of 2014 at Chan’s home and tested positive for marijuana. While Ko was detained for 14 days for drug use, Chan was dealt a harsher criminal detention for drug use and “providing a shelter for others to abuse drugs” . This comes as harsh blow to Jackie Chan’s national and political image as Jackie Chan was named by the Chinese police force as the official “Narcotics Control Ambassador”.

Jackie Chan’s reply to the scandal, seeps with nationalistic sorrow, as he laments that while he failed to discipline his son, he is grateful that “the state is helping [him] discipline [Jaycee] and make him get rid of all the bad habits”. It is also at this time that Jackie Chan expressed his intentions to give his fortune away to charities instead of his own son, as a punishment for his wrongdoings and to give back to the people of China who have supported him throughout his life and propelled him to success.

Critical literature review

Early Stardom: The Drunken Master

Farquhar analyzed the rise of Jackie Chan’s stardom through the film Drunken Master/Zuiquan and his English-language autobiography, I am Jackie Chan (1998). Farquhar identified some similarities shared between the protagonist in the film and the actor himself in terms of their endless years of kung fu training. The paper provided extensive reading in the details of the film in which Farquhar concluded that Chan's style of kung fu comedy incorporates a range of theatrical forms and performance styles adapted from his childhood experiences.

The Star's Persona on Social Media

Lau argues that both the cyber fans and the celebrity’s publicity team participate in constructing and managing Jackie Chan’s celebrity persona on a social media platform, Flickr, where users can create topic-oriented groups, share photos and comment on other people’s posts. Through the analysis of three different photo albums on Flickr that highlighted Jackie Chan’s public image as a nationalistic Chinese that performed in LA and a Goodwill Ambassador travelled to Cambodia for UNICEF, Lau states that the official photographs released by the star management team emphasized Chan as a nationalist yet also a cosmopolitical conscious individual which was beneficial maintaining his transnational fame and counteracting any negative public opinions. The paper was produced in light of Chan’s politically controversial remark on the PRC, Hong Kong and Taiwan that took place in 2009. Thus, it is critical for us to include this article in studying Jackie Chan as it extends from his on-screen achievements to off-screen persona management which could not be neglected especially with his transnational fame under complex political context.

Box Office Success in the American Film Market

Shu conducted a comparative analysis between Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan in the context of their kung fu style, body image and individual beliefs portrayed in their movies to determine the contributing factors behind Chan’s success in the American film market. In contrast to Bruce Lee’s films that promote violence to fight against inequality, demonstrate a masculine Asian male body figure and advocate for a Chinese national identity, Jackie Chan’s portrayal of kung fu comedy is more down-to-earth and relevant to people’s daily lives. Rather than initiating fights to combat racial conflicts and embodying racial politics like Lee, Chan often tones down the racial tension by making racial jokes and ultimately transforming the opponent into a partnership, a pattern noticed in most of his movies. Thus, Shu concluded that Chan’s success in the American film market is largely due to his avoidance in implicating anything political and including multiculturalism in his movies that is more catered to his audience on a global scale.

Portrayal of Power and Masculinity

Szeto argues how Jackie Chan embodies a cosmopolitan brand persona through his comic displacement of hegemonic practices which is apparent in his comedic performance style. Through highlighting certain features in various films, Szeto points out Chan’s portrayal of a martial artist is deviant from the mainstream belief of power and masculinity. In contrast to Bruce Lee’s raw and direct hits, Chan’s portrayal of his characters falls down, gets hurt but fights back with great humour in which he incorporates and utilizes the appliances available in the setting. Thus, Chan not only builds on his own brand of kung fu comedy, but also distinguishes himself in the theme of power and masculinity from other action actors such as Bruce Lee and Jet Li by displaying momentary vulnerability. Szeto’s enhanced readings of Jackie Chan’s characters in multiple films provided better insight to Chan’s stardom.

Critical debates

Through the literature reviews, we have identified Jackie Chan’s unique brand persona as a Chinese nationalist with cosmopolitical consciousness which allowed him to succeed on a global scale. However, controversies still remain regarding his political stands especially under the complex political relationship with Hong Kong and mainland China where a slight difference in his word choice could result in consequences. Thus, this shed light to our further exploration on the relationship between government politics and celebrity in China.

To provide a recent update on China’s entertainment industry, despite the various allegations committed by multiple well-known celebrities including Kris Wu, Zhao Wei, Huo Zun, Zheng Shuang and many more, there remain some fans online who continue to support them unconditionally. With most of these idol’s fans being young and naive, oftentimes, they can get themselves involved in heated arguments either to defend or judge the celebrity; in some extreme cases, it can escalate to real life conflicts in which money and in-person relationships can be impacted. Thus, the Chinese government has launched an “Operation Qing Lang” (清朗行动) where they provided points of guidelines to target five major issues.

The five major issues are

1. Campaigns that advertise to the young adult to make excessive purchases on various items in support of their idols
2. There exists trolling, slandering, and cyber sleuthing within certain online communities
3. Competition within some fans to flaunt wealth which essentially drains the parents’ wallet
4. Fans hiring “water army” (水军) to manipulate the general audience with goals to defend their idols
5. The industry influences the public opinion during critical periods (social issues, news and important holidays) by buying “hot topics” tag on Weibo to redirect the attention to individual celebrities

Under the government’s strict reinforcement of the regulations to target the issues mentioned above, individual celebrities can now be easily “canceled” and removed immediately from the industry even when a slightest scandal has been reported. Thus, the current status is that the publicity management of a celebrity on social media platforms has to be low-key and restrained to avoid any attention from the government officials. This is a pattern identified uniquely in Chinese society where the government intervenes with the functioning of the industry while it is essentially absent in Western countries. According to Lin and Zhao, they suggest that China has a long standing history of 'celebrity as governmentality’, which refers to its use of celebrity as a messenger to deliver certain ideals and traits to govern its people to follow and adopt these values. For example, Confucius was a celebrity figure as an embodiment of his desirable moral values which helped govern his followers to follow his teachings and ultimately adopt the desirable traits as well.

Relating Lin and Zhao’s findings to the current situation of the entertainment industry in China, we suggest that the Chinese government hopes to reinforce the ‘celebrity as governmentality’ phenomenon again. By filtering out the celebrities with undesirable traits and offense, the government is setting foot in establishing the remaining ones as role models for the youth to follow.

Conclusion

As Jackie Chan continues to be one of the most celebrated action star of all time, his career journey and lived experiences as well as the public’s perspective of him serves as an invaluable source of information that sheds light on the celebrity culture in China as well as the international reception of Chinese celebrity culture. This Wiki provides critical analysis on his celebrity identity, status, milestones, contributions and controversies as well as insight on the political and social factors involved in Chan’s stardom.

Jackie Chan’s contribution the Hong Kong and Chinese cinema’s international image is irrefutable as he continues to be a household name when it comes to kung fu films. His style brought to the big screen a different image from the stereotypically polished and dramatic martial art that his predecessors depicted, which built a bridge between national and international audiences and gave kung fu films a new direction to grow towards as it evolves and adapts to modern tastes. This drastic change in the kung fu genre would not have been possible without Chan’s impressive ability to perform his own stunts as well as his artistic vision, as he became one of the first stars to exert total control over his roles.

However, Jackie Chan’s career became heavily entangled in political power struggles as he speaks out against various political stances that opposed the Chinese Communist Party. Such a decisions is what rallied greater support for him in China but also what waned his popularity in Hong Kong, as his popularity became split by political factors. His favourability also took a dive as his son, Jaycee, became embroiled in a drug scandal that led his son’s imprisonment. This led Chan to publicly appease the netizens by declaring that his fortune would go to charities in his passing instead of his son as he apologized on his son’s behalf and asks the government to help him discipline his child where he had failed.

Aside from his promise to donate his fortune to charity after his passing, Chan has always been an avid contributor to various charities, as he sought to provide education opportunities to underprivileged children as well as to support disaster relief, medical care and various other causes. Chan’s desire to help the people led him to establish the Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation in 1998, Dragon’s Heart Foundation in 2004, as well as working as an ambassador the UNICEF where he campaigned for conservation and fought against animal abuse.

Jackie Chan’s star persona is branded as an outspoken Chinese nationalist with cosmopolitical consciousness as well an actor with a unique artistic vision and humble work ethics, which propelled him to international stardom. However, his political stance remains a topic of debate where his provocative wording often leads to mass outrage and political scrutiny.

As the Chinese government launches “Operation Qing Lang”, where a strict guideline is laid out, the regulations act as a leash on celebrities’ star personas and what they can get away with. Thus, the current image of any celebrity including Jackie Chan, is one that is carefully molded to fit the regulations while they try to maintain their appeal towards the audience and to be authentically unique from others in the industry to avoid being blacklisted by the government or cancelled by the netizens. This may also be attributed to the long-standing history of Chinese entertainment industry as a representational extension of the government: “celebrity as governmentality” where the government shapes the celebrities to become favourable role models for society. How the current government’s deep involvement in reforming the Chinese celebrity industry affects youths and its unforeseen drawbacks or anticipated positive influences on society would be a compelling direction for future research, as would a direct comparison of the evolution of Chinese celebrity culture by comparing aspiring household names from the older generation like Jackie Chan against newer generation celebrities.

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