37. BRUCE LEE: Be water, my friend
BRUCE LEE WEEK: PART 1, PART 2
This is Bruce Lee’s most famous quote and conveys his most important fighting philosophy: adaptability. He believed that a great fighter must be ready to adapt to whatever situation he faces, to flow like water around and through an opponent. If one way doesn’t work, a fighter should be prepared to adapt and find a way that does.
Lee decided that the best way he could showcase his skills was through a television or movie career, and was encouraged by his celebrity martial-arts students like Steve McQueen and James Coburn. Before he moved to America, he was a famous child actor in Hong Kong, so he was no stranger to being in front of the cameras. He auditioned for a Hollywood producer after being spotted giving a demonstration at a Karate tournament (watch the audition – his charisma already oozes off the screen). This eventually led to his role as Kato on the series The Green Hornet in 1966. The show only lasted one season and over the following years Lee got bit-parts in other shows but nothing substantial. His only other major role during that time was on the TV series Longstreet, where Lee basically played himself, a martial-arts instructor. It was in this role that he says the famous water quote (Watch it here. He later recalled his lines in this more well-known interview.) Lee’s big break was meant to come in a starring role for a TV show he spent a long time developing called The Warrior. He would play a shaolin monk who would wander the land getting into adventures. But mainly because the Hollywood producers were racist assholes, they instead gave the role to David Carradine (a white guy playing a Chinese monk! WTF?) and the show eventually became Kung-Fu.
Rejected and almost broke, Lee returned to Hong Kong to get away for awhile. He was surprised that he was famous there thanks to his role as Kato, and was soon given a movie deal. Lee went on to make three insanely successful movies in Hong Kong: The Big Boss, Fists of Fury and Way of The Dragon. Each one broke the previous film’s local box-office record, and Lee became a hero thanks to his roles as strong, ass-kicking Chinese men who fought for his oppressed people. Hollywood eventually caught wind of this and decided to give him the leading role in a big-budget Hollywood movie. So Lee finally got to showcase his amazing skills and philosophy to a worldwide audience in Enter the Dragon. It was the culmination of 10 years of struggling to break into the business and a lifetime of martial-arts training. A culmination of blood, sweat, tears and never-ending hard work. And you know what happened next? HE DIED JUST BEFORE IT WAS RELEASED! Argh! It still makes me upset just typing it. Enter the Dragon would go onto to be massively successful and catapult Lee into instant mythic status. Imagine being a kid in 1973 who was used to watching cowboys duke it out on the big screen, and then being shown this opening scene in Enter The Dragon.
What sometimes gets overlooked is the impact Lee had on action cinema. His fight with Chuck Norris (best fight scene ever, and it showcases his ‘be like water’ philosophy) could be inserted into any movie today and it would still hold up. It was filmed 40 years ago! He choreographed all of his fight scenes and had a natural talent for knowing what audiences would like, which angles to shoot and when to add dramatic pauses in the middle of sequences. And not only did you know he was a real fighter, but he could act too! Sure, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Donnie Yen etc are great in fight scenes, but they’re not very good actors. There will never, ever be another Bruce Lee.
- I tried to make this piece look like an old Chinese scroll painting with the quote being a fable spoken amongst two wise, old sages. If I had to explain that, it probably didn’t work.
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i don’t really love the font but i love the picture so much. it’s so different and refreshing from your previous style !
Another great one, Gav. I enjoy these interpretations very much. Always look forward to the next one.
Greg
You should make this one of your Free Posters, or at least share it on a higher res so that we may print this out and frame it! This pic would go very nice in my office!
I will pay good money for a poster of this. Keep up the always excellent work.
Thanks – I’m going to try and get in touch with the Lee family to ask permission to sell these as prints
Third on the prints. This one is absolutely gorgeous; my favorite art in any of the Zen Pencils so far. Not only is it gorgeous in and of itself, but it is a breathtaking homage to the art of Chinese scrolls. Awesome. Amazing.
Gavin, a comic like this NEEDS to be made into print. you’ve outdone yourself (yet again)…keep up the fantastic work!
I love this quote. I heard it like this:
http://youtu.be/PEI6N51LT7Q
yeah i saw that too, pretty cool
Really love your work. Great going. I hope you can add some Indian Heroes to the list as well.
I think you’ve just ctapured the answer perfectly
The artwork here is wonderful.
Thanks a lot for this Bruce Lee week! I actually never really watched any of his stuff but he seems to have been a highly interesting person by what you showed us past week. Any book you can recommend on him?
greetings, Jan
Hey Jan, ‘The Bruce Lee story’ by his wife and ‘Fighting Spirit’ by Bruce Thomas are pretty good. You could also probably find some documentaries on YouTube
I also would be willing to pay for a print of this. If you haven’t looked into a way of selling prints, I highly recommend it. You’d have two customers already for this print alone it looks like
Thanks Joel, oh i’m looking into it, don’t worry about that
Nice work Gav. Sounds very Tao Te Ching. This series has really increased my respect for Bruce Lee. I wonder what he would have done had he lived longer.
you should check out bruce lee’s quotes, if you haven’t already. i too was amazed at the depth his philosophy touches
Love this one! Such a Kung-fu Inspiration poster.
ah, my favorite bruce lee quote. I was wondering when this one would come up. beautiful drawing, good work as always. good luck getting permission to sell
is that Bin Laden sharing tea with Moses?
what’s that font?????
It’s calling SPRING, and I traced over it with a brush pen
Thanks for sharing man! I’m really glad to see that peoples words of wisdom haven’t been forgotten. The world could use a little more this.
Compliments for this idea. Could you give me a few info about the method you used for coloring (Do u use a computer or draw with traditional technique such as watercolor)? Thanks
I’ll be posting an extensive colour tutorial … i’m not sure when though
That would be great! Cheers!
I love your work. But I’d love this more with punctuation marks. n_n
there is so much harmony in this picture – form the rough texture of the background to the beautiful tree branches snaking down to the blossoms at the end of the branches to the old men so serene to the font. AND what is written. thank you !!
Hello GAV,
Awesome art. I love it all.
Have you got rights to make this particular one available on print? I would more than love to have this in my room.
This so needs to be a quote. A lovely way to present it too… *readies the credit card*
into the fray please!!
Actually I think it was Stirling Siliphant who wrote this famous line.
The Bruce Lee vs. Chuck Norris video got taken down for copyright reasons. Here’s another:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqzQ2qrtBeg
Thanks Graeme, I’ve fixed the link
Hey this is great. This one go in well within my workplace as a piece to add to my focal environment. Great message too. I love it, great work.
Bruce was a great master sure enough. His philosophy was Daoist in its outlook and he applied it to his martial arts. When I look at this – the two fellows drinking tea – I see Lao Tzu and Zhuangzi and although they never really met this is a great dream of how I imagine them together.
Some of the videos in the comment don’t work! Alas!
Updated the links
Very nice post. I just stumbled upon your blog and
wanted to say that I’ve truly enjoyed browsing your blog posts. In any case I’ll be subscribing to your rss
feed and I hope you write again soon!