CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Ip Man is the semi-biographical story about the legendary martial art teacher of Bruce Lee. He is the one who taught Wing Chun, which is a concept-based Chinese martial art and form of self-defense. Ip Man 2 is the story when Ip Man went to Hong Kong in the early 1950s after escaping from Foshan. At that time, Hong Kong was governed by British colony. There is the occasion when British people planned to hold a boxing competition, but it was ruined because the boxer insulted Chinese and one of the Chinese was killed.
The way this movie portrays British and Chinese people has raised the writer’s eagerness to analyze it further using post colonialist approach. As it has been known in the theory of Orientalism by Edward Said, there are the stereotypes between the Orient and the Occident. In this movie, the Orient is represented by Chinese and the Occident is represented by British. The reason for choosing this topic is because of the portrayal of British and Chinese that deconstructs the common stereotype build through binary opposition can be seen in this movie. Therefore, the writer wants to find out the problem of how east and west are represented in this movie through the theory of post colonialism.
Postcolonial theory focuses on the oppression of those who were ruled under colonization. According to Said, because of the colonial domination, the universal standard is created based on the Occident’s perspective, and the representation of the Orient is inferior or negative in relation to Western culture. It can be summarized through the binary opposition that put the Orient in the negative side like irrational, feminine, strange, lazy, weak, and immoral. Through post colonialism it can be analyzed how the Occident and Orient are represented, and through deconstruction it can be seen how the stereotype can be broken through the binary opposition. Post colonialists also celebrate hybridity.
CHAPTER 2
ANALYSIS
In this chapter, the writer will analyze the representation of the Occident and the Orient through binary opposition which is associated with the stereotype based on the postcolonial theory by Edward Said. There will be the brief explanation of West and East first as the introduction. The analysis will be seen from the Occident and Orient’s point of view. The last is the analysis of hybridity which is uphold by the post colonialists.
2.1 West & East
The West is represented by British colonial. There are some characters here, such as Wallace, the greedy policeman and some government personnel who organize boxing competition, and the boxer named Twister. There are also many western people as the audience of boxing competition. The West is portrayed as cruel, deceitful, and arrogant here. However, they have their own perspective of the East, as the weaker and inferior side.
On the other hand, The East is represented by Chinese. The main character of this movie is Ip Man who will defeat Twister in the end, and supported by many other characters such as Master Hong who at first helps to organize the boxing competition, Fatso the police, the newspaper director, and many Chinese audiences. The East also has their own point of views in the stereotype and those are represented as the contrary of West’s perspective. Therefore, the analysis below will present how the West sees the East and vice versa in some situations.
2.2 The Binary Opposition of Stereotype
The stereotype of the Occident and the Orient has been constructed since long time ago. Some of them are Self / Other, Masculine / Feminine, Rational / Irrational, Strong / Weak, Mind / Body, and many more. The writer will present and categorize the situations to the binary opposition and analyze them through the point of view of West and East.
2.2.1 Masculine / Feminine
When Chinese shows their martial art as the opening, Twister does not like it and challenges the Chinese to punch him. The Chinese punches him and he still stands up, then Twister punches the Chinese back and he falls down. Then Twister said, “Now that is power!” to show how boxing should be, powerful and strong.
Twister: “What's all this, some pantomime? Why are they dancing and screaming? So this is Chinese boxing? You should stick to dancing.” [01:05:00]
West: This is stated by Twister when in the boxing competition. It can be seen from the way Twister, the British boxer, insult the Chinese Kung Fu. The Occident categorized them as masculine which represent activity and domination, while the Orient is associated with femininity. Through masculinity the Occident conclude that they are better than the Orient.
By insulting Chinese Kung Fu looks like dancing, explicitly can be concluded how British associates Chinese with femininity. For them, Kung Fu is like dancing because there are regular and identical motions. On the other hand, boxing represents great power and strength, and is associated with being macho. The West believes that Chinese is just weaker than them, and all of these perspectives can be found in the stereotype indeed. The binary opposition is masculine / feminine and superior / inferior.
East: However, for Chinese, their Kung Fu is not weak at all. That is not dancing, but the art inside their motions contains power. They also believe that scream out loud can raise their spirit and strength.
2.2.2 Logical / Illogical
When Twister injures the Chinese, Master Hong as the Chinese Martial Art teacher says that Twister has to apologize for injuring his students, but Twister rejects it, because he thinks he wins, and the winner never apologizes.
Twister: “What is this some stupid Chinese tradition, that winners have to apologize to the losers? If I have to do that, I'd be apologizing everyday!You want an apology from me, old man?
Then you beat me in a fight right now, then I'll apologize.” [01:07:31]
West: The Occident thinks that they are superior to the Orient, and they have the better quality like stronger, smarter, wiser, and everything in the better way. It can be seen from this scene how Twister sees Chinese as the illogical one. How come the winner has to apologize to the loser? He mentions ‘stupid Chinese tradition’ which symbolizes how in the West point of view, they believe that Chinese’s tradition is stupid and illogical, on the contrary to the West who always uses rational thought. It reflects the stereotype which has been formed so far, that Chinese is stupid and illogical, because they cannot think rationally, in the West’s perspective.
East: On the other hand, for Chinese, it is not that they cannot think rationally. They ask apology because Twister has ruined their performance and injured the Chinese without reasons. The East is portrayed as the one who does not let other people cross out their honors and national dignity. Therefore, Master Hong accepts Twister’s challenge in order to bring back Chinese’s dignity.
2.2.3 Strong / Weak
After asking for apology, Twister challenges Master Hong to beat him in the competition. If Master Hong wins, Twister will apologize. When the boxing begins, Twister beats Master Hong mercilessly, and Ip Man has tried to convince Master Hong to stop due to his health, but Master Hong insists to continue the duel until his last breath. When Master Hong finally dies tragically, the West sees this as the proof that the East is weak. They then hold the conference.
Wallace: “There had been a lot of rumor in Hong Kong recently. This is due to a boxing competition that had been arranged.Unfortunately, a Chinese boxer rather over-estimated himself and challenged our champion.” [01:19:05]
West: From this scene, it can be seen how the West assumes the East as cad and pusher people who do not know their own capabilities. They believe that Chinese is weaker but Chinese does not realize that and still challenge their champion, Twister. Therefore, the mistake is in Chinese, not British.
East: Whereas, the fact is Twister who challenges Chinese first. It is not that Chinese over-estimates himself but they only want to get fair treatment. It is the West who creates the problem in their country and Chinese do not want to be underestimated. Master Hong says “We were demonstrating Chinese martial arts. If you didn't like it, you could have left” [01:06:59]. Therefore, it can be seen from East’s perspective of how the West acts arbitrarily by turning the fact upside down in the conference.
Wallace: “Twister reluctantly accepted the challenge, and although he held back during the fight. Unfortunately the Chinese boxer was so weak that he couldn't stand up to Twister's fists.And after a few punches, he tragically died.”
[01:20:24]
West: It is stated by British in the conference that Chinese boxer is weak and that is the only reason why Chinese loses and dies tragically. The West also says, “after a few punches, he tragically died” which means the East is so weak that they are not able to stand up to a few punches. In West’s perspective, they are the strong one because while Twister does not use his full-strength, they are able to make Chinese dies.
East: On the other hand, it is portrayed that Master Hong dies tragically because he has asthma and he hasn’t drunk his herbal medicine yet. Therefore, it can be said that West is stronger. Moreover, Master Hong is far older than Twister.
Wallace: “We are sorry for this regrettable accident. To quell this riot and give Twister justice, I have decided to organize a Chinese-western boxing competition. Twister will fight the Chinese people in a fair manner on the stage.” [01:20:40]
Twister: “In order to protect my name and reputation, I've agreed to fight any Chinese person. Now from what I hear, the Chinese like to use this! And I would like to stick to that tradition. So I've agreed to fight any challenger for as long as this thing burns!” [01:21:26]
West: From the West’s perspective, it can be seen how the underestimates the East. Twister mentions that he will stick to the tradition of using joss-stick. In Hong Kong, when someone wants to be a master of martial art, they have to fight the challengers until the joss-stick is burnt all. If until the end, they can survive on the table without being knock-out of the table, they can be master. While showing that he wants to follow this rule, Twister is laughing, because he thinks this is silly. Moreover, Twister uses a very big joss-stick which reveals how he feels he can survive no matter for how long and how many challengers he has to defeat. Twister also says that he will not hold back and Chinese will have no boxer at all later because he will kill them all. It symbolizes how the West sees the East as weak and has no ability to defeat the West, because they are superior. Later, Twister also says that he even doubt that there will be any Chinese who has guts to fight him. It shows how the West not only sees the East as weak but also coward.
East: However, the Chinese can show that they are not weak. Through Ip Man, the East can break the stereotype that they are inferior and weak by showing how they can win with their Kung Fu. First, Ip Man comes as the challenger to the boxing competition. Twister says, “It should be like a piece of cake, I can finish you off in two punches.” However, Ip Man finally defeats Twister after struggling and he can prove that Chinese can win. This condition has turned the situation around and makes the East as the stronger ones, because they can win.
2.2.4 Calm / Wild
In the stereotype, the East is associated as wild while the West is the calm one. Due to the fact that the West can think rationally, they consider themselves as dignified people while the East is primitive and undignified. It can be seen from the scene when Master Hong helps Wallace, the British policeman to arrange the boxing competition. At the moment, Wallace takes all the benefit for himself and Master Hong asks some money because his students who work for organizing the competition need to eat.
Master Hong: “You can refuse to pay, but my men need to eat, so you better pay.”Wallace: “Don't discuss money with me now.”
Master Hong: “What else can I discuss with you? Love?”
Wallace: “Who do you think you are?”
Wallace: “Do as I say, you are not qualified to make deals with me!” [01:00:20]
Twister: “Will somebody get this yellow piece of fat out of here! You're making too much noise!” [01:00:48]
West: They associate the East with wildness because in their perspective, the East is still primitive and cannot think logically. They believe that Chinese is indolent, thoughtless, and demented. It can be seen from the way Wallace looks down to Master Hong. He wants to take the money for himself and he thinks that Chinese is easily tricked. However, when Master Hong does not get tricked and still demands for his right, Wallace and Twister get angry.
East: From East perspective, as it can be seen in this movie, the British is the one who represents wildness. West is represented as like to cheat in East’s point of view. They take all the money and do not want to share it. Wallace even threatens Master Hong to close his fish stalls if Master Hong still insists asking for money.
They also use violence to solve problem with Chinese, as it is portrayed in the scene when the newspaper reports British’s bully. Wallace catches the newspaper director and put him into jail, and abuses him by hitting his hand and threatens him not to write such news anymore.
Wallace: “You'd better remember that this is what happens to people who mess with me. Hold his hands!”
The man: “No...”
Wallace: “Hold him tight!” [01:18:49]
In the competition, the West also cheats for several times. First, they make the rules suddenly in the middle of competition that kicking is prohibited. As it is known, Kung Fu is the combination of hands and legs. In Western boxing, kicking is prohibited because the rules only allow hand’s punch.
However, it cannot be fair because in western boxing, they wear boxing-gloves, while in Kung Fu they fight with naked-hand. The West does not care about this situation, they just realize if Ip Man still uses his ability with kicking, he will win, and the West does not want it, so they prohibit kicking.
Third, when the bell has ringing and it is time for break, Twister punches Ip Man so hard while he does not pay attention, and it makes Ip Man gets hurt so badly. These dishonest actions have led the West as the cheater and wild people; because they cannot be as calm as the stereotype they have created by themselves. Exactly, in these situations, the West is represented as the bad and negative side because they like to cheat, abuse and bully. They are portrayed as the people who will do anything to get what they want.
On the other hand, East through Ip Man’s character is represented as calm and dignified. Ip Man tends to solve problem in peaceful way. He does not like to be arrogant and show off his strength and skill.
2.3 Celebration of Diversity & Hybridity
Post colonialist celebrate diversity and hybridity as the goal they seek. It can be seen in this movie that the goal has been achieved through the portrayal of both sides, the Occident and the Orient. In one side, the Occident see themselves as superior to the Orient, but somehow the Orient manages to show that the stereotype which puts them in negative side in binary opposition is not true, and they can prove how they can be superior to the Occident, too. It means that this movie supports post colonialism which believes that the stereotype can be broken and no one is better than the other, that each nation or race has their own good quality.
It can be mentioned as the celebration of diversity and hybridity because although the movie is made from the Orient’s point of view, the Occident is not always portrayed as bad all the time. First, in the end finally Wallace gets arrested by the head of the police who is an Occident, too. “Your actions embarrassed the entire Hong Kong Police Force! Arrest him!” [01:40:22]. It means that there is still good and fair Occident there.
Second, the celebration also can be seen when Ip Man wins the competition. He declares the celebration of hybridity by saying “Hello! By fighting this match, I'm not trying to prove that Chinese martial arts are better than Western boxing. What I really want to say is, though people have different statuses in life, I hope that from this moment on, we can start to respect each other” [01:41:26]. By stating that statement, Ip Man shows how he doesn't believe that one person's integrity is worth more than another's. The audience of boxing competition, both the Occident and the Orient, also agree and clap their hands. This statement has emphasized that Ip Man as the main character represents what post colonialist seek, the one who can respect diversity and do not think himself or his race is better than the other. Overall, it can be concluded that this movie has broken the stereotype through its binary opposition.
CHAPTER 3
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, this paper is divided into three parts. The first is introduction about the West and the East in Ip Man 2 movie, in which the West is mainly represented by Wallace the policeman and Twister the boxer, while the East is represented by Ip Man and Master Hong. The second is about the stereotype seen through the binary opposition throughout the movie. It can be seen how the West sees the East as the feminine, inferior, illogical, weak, and wild. On the other hand, the East shows that they can break stereotype. They can prove that they are strong, calm, not feminine, not inferior, and not illogical. In the end, it can be seen that both sides have their own good and bad quality. This movie also represents the celebration of diversity and hybridity by the declaration that although people have different statuses in life, they can start to respect each other no matter what race they have, it is not supposed to differentiate each other.
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