The Bush 43 administration and Hong Kong Cinema

(What could the connection be you ask?)

This semester I am auditing two classes at my alma mater. Tonight I was at my ‘fun’ class – “Hong Kong Cinema”.

The class is fun and a nice break from reading and thinking about news of the day. I have audited a few other classes with this professor and I really enjoy her teaching style. A bonus to this particular class is that I am viewing films that I would not normally watch without a reason to sit down and discuss it.

Tonight we watched “Drunken Master” the first in the Drunken Master series with Jackie Chan. I am in no way a fan of Kung Fu but this was enjoyable. However, no matter how escapist the film - serious thoughts prey upon my mind.

For those of you who have not seen the film this is sure to include spoilers. For those of you who have seen the film bear with me…

In watching the film I started to make mental connections between the Jackie Chan character and President G.W. Bush.

A brief synopsis of the film – Jackie Chan is a young man whose father is a Kung Fu master (Bush 41). The master has an early run-in with an evil assassin (Saddam Hussein) and beats him soundly. Jackie Chan (Bush 43) is a young man with little discipline who wants to be a kung fu master like his father. However he needs to get over his conceit and buckle down to learn from a great master. The father sends Jackie Chan to the master who taught him (The part of the teacher represents Ronald Reagan and the members of his administration now in the Bush 43 administration). This master is tough and Jackie runs away. Unfortunately he has a run-in with the evil assassin on his own – Jackie soundly beaten by the assassin in the fight (Bush 43 being outmaneuvered by SH at the UN). Jackie realizes the importance of discipline and returns to his teacher for some hard lessons. The key lesson is ‘Drunken kung fu’ a style where you appear to be drunk and therefore lull your opponent into thinking that you are unable to fight (the affable fool persona cultivated by Eisenhower, Reagan, and Bush 43). After his year of training Jackie returns home to find his father fighting that same evil assassin again. Jackie uses the training he received from his master to defeat and KILL the evil assassin.

The key is the “Drunken fighting” technique. Lull everyone into thinking you are not a threat – then pounce. I think that President Bush does not mind the fact that everyone keeps harping on the fact that they don’t think he is smart. That means that they are not spending time actually fighting the substantive goals he is working towards.

Clearly I have too much time on my hands or read way too much on current events. I actually think that this reading of the film makes sense.