The film mainly tells the story of Los Angeles real estate developer Stan Minton who was charged with fraud and was sentenced to five years in prison, suspended for six months. Fearing his future prison life and being violated by other inmates in the prison, Stan decided to learn martial arts under his apprenticeship. After learning karate from a martial arts instructor named "Master Zhou" (Oriental, most likely Chinese) for nearly a week, Stan, who felt that he had not made any progress, contradicted Master Zhou and was immediately kicked out by Master Zhou. On the way home, Stan meets a self-proclaimed "master" who is a master and invites him home as his martial arts instructor.
Under the strict instruction of the master, who often wears Tang suits, or cultural shirts with Chinese characters in seal script, and strings of Buddhist beads, Stan's skills have grown rapidly. Six months later, on the night before he went to prison, Stan, who was already a stunt (from the film, Stan's every move basically belongs to Chinese martial arts), gave "Master Zhou" a hard lesson.
Stan went to prison, a prison with very chaotic management and many felons at the same time. The warden only wants to sell the land of the prison as an asset and make money from it; the prison guards also allow the prisoners' violent behavior; and the criminals inside are divided into many gangs, fighting and fighting all day long.
Stan decides to establish his authority on his first day in prison, and a fight inevitably ensues. Without a doubt, Stan emerged as the winner. The opponents Stan defeated were convicted of making counterfeit money, black people who were sexually violent, black people who committed rape, neo-Nazis in Europe, Asians, and (which Americans always hated) Mexicans... Only there are no Americans! Stan himself was unscathed. He achieved his previous declaration-style speech in his own home: "I am not to be violated."
Since then, Stan has been called "Big Stan" (meaning the boss) by others. With the strongest strength, he has become the de facto administrator of the prison. Changed and became a civilized prison. At this point in the film, the image of the "world police" repeatedly promoted by the Americans has been revealed unabashedly: Stan, who represents the United States, has entered the small world of prison with unmatched strength, and has rectified the original chaotic environment. , the results are remarkable. Under the management of Stan, people all over the world live in an orderly and civilized way... Isn't this the ultimate goal of the so-called American-style democracy?
Later, because Stan ruined the warden's plan, the warden hired an Asian "Tang" who also learned from the "Master" to kill Stan. As a comedy, the ending is of course that Stan kills the Tang. Defeated, foiled the warden's conspiracy, and finally the warden was imprisoned. What I want to add here is the image of Tang in the play: dressed in black, with fierce eyes, wretched words, and nondescript Chinese characters such as "Hell's Hydrogen Bomb Rain and Acid Death" pierced on his fingers...
At the end of the film, the introduction did not forget to look at his own country. Put gold on it. After serving three years in prison, Stan was released early due to good behavior. On the day they were released from prison, all the prisoners came to see Stan off, and all said that they would never forget what Stan did.
What I want to focus on here is the ambivalence of contemporary American society towards Eastern culture, especially Chinese culture, as shown in "The Hero in Prison". Fu Manchu, who believes that Chinese people are all evil, satirizes, belittles, and even demonizes Chinese people in shaping literary and artistic images. Master Zhou and Tang in the film are such examples;
secondly, it is the fear of China's rapid rise. This is well reflected in a small detail in the film: After Stan just learned that he had six months to go to jail, he went to the black market to buy three bottles of banned drugs that stimulate the secretion of male hormones, which he planned to use to strengthen himself. The muscles of these banned drugs are printed in English: "China Olympic Swimming Team" in big characters, the intention of the choreographer is obvious;
Third, because Americans do not understand China, they have a sense of mystery. The idea of "Oriental mystery" is directly reflected in the minds of Americans as the worship of Chinese Kung Fu, the love for Tang suits, or the distortion of Buddhism. understand.
Of course, "The Hero in Prison" is not only about this, but also the American grassroots hero, self-improvement against evil, inviolability of human dignity, justice ultimately defeating evil, and love that maintains family relationships, etc. good performance.
"The Hero in Prison" is just one of many films that can reflect Americans' ambivalence toward China, but it is also evident from this.
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