Bruce Lee vs. Gary Elms

[lkfmdc]

It's hard to know what Bruce Lee really "thought" or even what he claimed. He died young, and most of his public efforts were towards his ACTING CAREER...

Pretty much all of the Bruce Lee body of work comes through the filter of his estate and his students, both of which had a very vested interest in him....

Whether it was just love for a dear friend they lost, or the fact a guy who was a phys ed and driving teacher became one of the richest men in the world, there is an interest at work

It is a touchy subject even in the so called "JKD world"... where half of them moved on the more progressive training while the other half has fallen into their own "classical mess"

But a few facts are apperent; (1) He wasn't the super fighter people want you to believe he was. Nor were his skills all that astounding. There were much better, real fighters in his days. His bag clip is sad. (2) Tons of people believe the ideas he stole were indeed his. And the estate backed that falsehood until they were forced to acknowledge it after losing legally (3) The claim that Bruce Lee or his ideas produced anything is hotly debatable. Bruce himself never produced many students. HIs ideas produced a generation (or two) of "Jeet Kune Do people" who have now split into widely divergent camps.

[mickey]

Greetings,

Bruce Lee wanted to provide for his family and he tried to achieve that through acting. It was not the stardom nor celebrity that he was seeking.

mickey

[boxerbilly]

Greetings,

Bruce Lee wanted to provide for his family and he tried to achieve that through acting. It was not the stardom nor celebrity that he was seeking.

mickey

Actually, I believe he very much wanted stardom and celebrity. He did say, he was going to be bigger than McQueen. That caused a falling out with those 2. Yet, McQueen still pallbeared for his friend/instructor.

[Jimbo]

It's not really 'out of the blue' that BL wanted to be an actor. His father was an actor in Cantonese opera and in movies. So BL was exposed to the performing arts long before he began training martial arts. Lots of actors' kids want to become actors themselves.

I do believe BL wanted to be a big star. He had written out a list of goals, one of which said he would be a superstar (or millionaire?) by 1980.

[MightyB]

[mickey]

Greetings,

There is no evidence that Bruce Lee pursued acting in America before Ed Parker made the connections for him, resulting in a screen test and his being cast in the Green Hornet. McQueen and Coburn were his students; so, there was a competitive aspect, I agree. His desire to provide well for his family was a strong one-- to the point where he had considered opening a chain of martial arts schools. And this was before he went back to Hong Kong. Steve McQueen was a top box office draw at the time. For Bruce Lee to focus on outdoing Steve McQueen was, in my opinion, healthy goal setting.

In "providing well" for his family, it may be that Bruce wanted his family to live with some comfort, like his parents did/tried to do for him.


mickey

[bawang]

lol "prividing for family"

his dad was rich as fuk and his mom was a 1/2 german trophy wife.

bruce lee was a rich boy who bragged publicly about beating up a chinatown restaurant waiter who prolly ate one meal a day