A question for Bruce Lee fans

[Kante]

I read this page about Bruce Lee here:

http://www.fightingmaster.com/masters/brucelee/brucelee.htm

And to be honest, it kind of made him look really bad in a way. As if he used to worship money.

If you have the time please read it and give me your insight on this.

I absolutely worship this guy but this page about him is kinda giving me mixed feelings about him and his personality. Which of course is an awful thing especially since he has always been my hero/idol.

[bushido_man96]

Reading the article on the page when it comes up (I assume that is the one you are addressing), I don't see anything that jumps out at me to suggest the things that you are saying. More than anything, Bruce wanted to be the best at whatever he did, I think. Therefore, the measuring stick when it came to movie making is revenue. In this case, dragging in the most money meant that you were making the best movies. Perhaps that is the case.

The reality is that all of our heroes are (usually) human, and all humans have faults. We all want to know everything about our heroes, so we can try to emulate them. Then, something comes out into the limelight that we don't like, and then we start to question our choice. Humans make mistakes, and our heroes are no different. It makes them human, and in the end, closer to us than we would originally believe.

[Kante]

Reading the article on the page when it comes up (I assume that is the one you are addressing), I don't see anything that jumps out at me to suggest the things that you are saying. More than anything, Bruce wanted to be the best at whatever he did, I think. Therefore, the measuring stick when it came to movie making is revenue. In this case, dragging in the most money meant that you were making the best movies. Perhaps that is the case.

The reality is that all of our heroes are (usually) human, and all humans have faults. We all want to know everything about our heroes, so we can try to emulate them. Then, something comes out into the limelight that we don't like, and then we start to question our choice. Humans make mistakes, and our heroes are no different. It makes them human, and in the end, closer to us than we would originally believe.

That is completely true. People do tend to have an above human image of their heroes and I suppose that nothing can hurt more than to get that image taken away.

But what I meant by the money thing is that they make it sound like as if that is all he ever was (An actor who can do two finger one handed push-ups) which I suppose is the reason am having those thoughts.

[bushido_man96]

Watch the interview posted in this thread, and see if you still feel that way: http://www.karateforums.com/bruce-lee-the-lost-interview-vt31705.html

[Kante]

Watch the interview posted in this thread, and see if you still feel that way: http://www.karateforums.com/bruce-lee-the-lost-interview-vt31705.html

I've already seen it ages ago. Either ways, it was foolish of me to make this topic as the whole matter is that I've encountered a page about Bruce Lee that didn't do him justice and I took it too seriously. Because the thing is, unlike all the other masters they've written about, they seem to have covered everything about Bruce Lee's life except for the most important thing and that is his philosophy.

[shift]

I don't think it was only about the money to him but a man had to make a living as a minority in a time when Minorities had it more difficult than now.

He started his first gung fu school out of neccessity for money. There are things people need to fulfill in life. basic needs

First on the list is food, clothes and shelter, some where in the middle is belonging and up top is self actualization.

He went through all those phases until he eventually attained self actualization. He started a movement, he addressed certain issues in his films like in the chinese connection he address the racism between Japanese and Chinese. Yes it was a cheesy MA movie but at the time it was a master piece.

My personal favorite was the way of the dragon. Enter the Dragon was a blockbuster...not particularly a good movie but it was hot and still is as a classic.

Game of death was another big thing for him, to preach cross training eventually leading up to MMA.

So yes he was about money, but he was human and in the end it became less and less about money.

[mantis.style]

Why on earth do you worship him?

[Takusankage Soke]

Well, I didn't make him seem to be in love with money, however I think that it did over exaggerate his ego. Bruce Lee always seemed to be very humble in my opinion. There were parts of this article that seemed to instigate that he was a jerk. Overall not a bad article though.

[bushido_man96]

I think Bruce did walk with a bit of an air about him. Not cocky, but confident almost to the point. Hey, we all have faults.