Outline for the Second Term Paper

Intro:

A. The principle of action/reaction is often broken in movies in order to enhance dramatic scenes.

B. Films that especially take advantage of this are traditional Chinese kung-fu movies, such as Stephen Chow’s CJ7, Shaolin Soccer, and Kung Fu Hustle.

C. Although greatly unrealistic, directors of kung-fu movies have created a genre that is entirely dependent on breaking the laws of physics in order to create great action sequences.

Body Paragraphs:

1. The fight scene between the large girl and the bully in CJ7.

- The bully throws a giant tank of water at the girl from several hundreds of feet away, but the girl manages to catch it with little effect on her body.

- Girl exerts enough energy to crush the tank of water.

- Bully runs at her but she manages to catch him without taking a single step backwards.

- Displays a lot of action force happening on a person without any reaction from said person.

2. The scene in Shaolin Soccer where the main character is first introduced.

- Breaks sticks attacking at him using his feet, with no recoil in either direction (main char is not affected, nor are the villains - the only reaction are the sticks breaking).

- Main char kicks a soccer ball into one of the other characters, which sends him shooting backwards with his feet scuttling on the ground.

- Main char kicks ball into pile of sticks with enough energy to send them several feet into the air.

- Displays a character putting a lot of force into an action without any reaction.

3. The casino fight scene in Kung Fu Hustle.

- Two characters attack a single character from two sides, but the character does not even move.

- Character lands heavily, breaking the floor but the characters around that area barely react.

- Character releases an insurmountable amount of energy into a cone but has no recoil.

- Displays a lot of action happening on a character with no reaction. Also displays character releasing a lot of energy into an action without any reaction.

Conclusion:

A. Stephen Chow’s stylistic movies display the principle of action/reaction consistently broken in his CGI fight sequences.

B. This principle of physics is deliberately broken in order to give his films a specific look that caters to kung-fu movie lovers.