Character Analysis of Dre Parker in "Kung Fu Dream"

Kristofer 2022-03-20 09:01:40


The opening of the Dre Parker film is interesting. The height mark on the doorpost also reveals when little Dre grew up, when he lost his first tooth and when he lost his father. Then little Dre had no choice but to add that they were going to move to China to live. The reason for this move is that the mother's job has been transferred to China. Little Dre leaves his best friend and neighborhood in Detroit and gets on a plane to Beijing. He is very resistant to Chinese, and subconsciously believes that everything in China is old and old, and all Chinese people know Kung Fu. Until now, the character of little Dre had the stereotype of China most Americans had. When he arrived in China, in the small park near his new home, he was bullied for no reason, and he was still bullied for no reason when he arrived at school. He finally broke out: "I hate this place." When he was bullied, little Dre showed Out of the extraordinary running characteristics. Mr. Han came to the rescue and accidentally got involved in a martial arts competition. With the help of Mr. Han, he learned martial arts, participated in competitions, and won the championship.
The above are all the plot trends of Dre Parker's characters. Judging from the effect of the final film, the character of little Dre has the following characteristics:
(1) The appearance is cute, handsome, vigorous, and humorous, which is largely due to the personal characteristics of actor Jaden Smith. His appearance is attractive to the little Chinese girl Meiying, and he couldn't help but want to touch his braids. He even consoled himself with poor basketball and table tennis skills. Jaden Smith's personal style. At this point, the character's first impression is likable.
(2) The psychological regret of losing the father's love. The film conveys the message that little Dre lost his father at a young age through a scene in the opening, and then does not say a word, or reveal that any little Dre is looking for traces of his father's love. Psychologically speaking, the absence of a father can be a big deal for a growing boy. The film does not directly describe this, but spends a lot of ink to show Dre's rational struggle when he was bullied by other boys, and his reaction after learning of Mr. Han's tragic history of losing his wife and children. Does this vaguely show little Dre's loss of fatherly love? Or did the writers just want to leave out the father role and leave little Dre without a father?
(3) Understanding of Kung Fu. Little Dre's idea of ​​learning kung fu was to resist the bullying of local children, and then he found a martial arts school, but found that the bully child Wang was in this school. After the sneak attack, Mr. Han apologized with little Dre, but he was forced to be involved in the martial arts competition by Mr. Li, the coach of Kid King: If he wins Kid King, Kid King will never harass Little Dre. Little Dre patiently accepted Mr. Han's inexplicable but profound training. Later, Dre was injured in the martial arts competition, but he still had to continue the competition. In this way, Dre's understanding of kung fu has a changing curve: all Chinese people know kung fu, kung fu can prevent themselves from being bullied, kung fu is everywhere in life, I use kung fu to defeat him because I don't want to be afraid anymore. This is a progressively deeper change curve. From a superficial and one-sided understanding of kung fu and even prejudice, it has changed to the specific use of kung fu for me. This is actually a very good way of interpreting Chinese Kung Fu, and it can dig deeper. But does this apply to this story, to this character? This is a 12-year-old American kid who was forced to live in China, and in order to put the line on this very special character, the adjustments made are a bit unconvincing for the audience, especially the Chinese audience.
(4) The most unconvincing thing for Chinese audiences may be the ignorant love of little Dre described in the film. I don't resist the scene of children kissing in the film, but it obviously makes me feel that it is kissing for the sake of kissing. The emotion between them lacks the motivation and foreshadowing of kissing, which only causes the effect of the picture and the uproar of the audience. I think it is necessary to have a girl character, but nowadays this character has no more role to promote the plot except for the abrupt love scene. I thought that Mr. Han always asked Dre to focus when he was doing kung fu, because he was afraid that Dre would be distracted by other things, such as the presence of Meiying, such as the opponent Wang Wang in front of him who threatened Meiying. In the end there was nothing but the inexplicable and inexplicable use of Taoist snake fist (I'm just describing what I saw) to defeat the opponent. This girl's character not only does not advance the plot, but also has no personal characteristics. Her words and deeds don't reflect the characteristics of a Chinese girl, but her parents who want a girl to become a phoenix have some typical meanings, but her attitude has changed 180 degrees too quickly, and everything is born for the plot at once.

Yet it's still a delightful movie because it's fully entertaining. There is the cuteness and persistence of Jaden Smith, the familiar and reassuring big brother Jackie Chan, good-looking kung fu and good music, the beautiful scenery and peculiar customs of China, and one that is untenable or even unconvincing. A positive story, this is a veritable Kung Fu dream. A movie is a dream (this question can open up a series of exciting inception discussions), just like our dreams, not every dream can stand up to scrutiny or even remember, but we will because we do To be happy living that dream because our subconscious needs are met. This movie is just that dream.

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Extended Reading

The Karate Kid quotes

  • Dre Parker: Mr Han's teaching me kung fu.

    Sherry Parker: The maintenance man?

    Dre Parker: It's China, mom. Everybody knows kung fu.

  • Mr. Han: Where is your jacket?

    Dre Parker: I was warm enough without it.

    Mr. Han: Go get it.

    Dre Parker: You want me to go all the way back just to get it?

    Mr. Han: Yes, all the way back where you hide it.