Cine Tv Contest: Drunken Master (1978)
"Drunken Master," is a movie directed by Yuen Woo-ping and starring the legendary Jackie Chan. It is a martial arts comedy picture that has gone down in cinema history as one of the best from the Chinese movie industry. The motion picture was bursting with energy, sophisticated battle sequences, and a hint of inebriation, it also tried to exhibit Jackie Chan's humorous talent and inventive martial arts choreography.
In the movie beer and alcohol were incorporated and while beer and alcohol play a modest role in comparison to the action, they contribute to a pivotal moment and lend a different kind of flavor to the narrative of the movie making "Drunken Master" a vibrant and memorable viewing experience.
A Little Plot.
The plot of the movie centres around Wong Fei-hung (Jackie Chan), a youthful, vibrant martial artist who was also noted for his mischievous temperament and lack of discipline in 19th-century China. When his disobedience became too much for his father to tolerate, he sent Wong Fei-hung to train with the famed martial artist Beggar So (Yuen Siu-tien). Beggar So, being an unconventional master, practices the Drunken Boxing style, a unique and unpredictable method of martial arts that involves the usage of alcohol.
Beer And Alcohol In The Movie
Beer and alcohol drinking were prominent in "Drunken Master" like during the training sequences in which Wong Fei-hung was being introduced to the art of Drunken Boxing. Beggar So, believes that the technique with alcohol unlocks buried potential, giving its practitioners fluidity, unpredictability, and an uneven advantage over their opponents. Beggar So's method of fighting involves ingesting beer which gives him strength to display his unrivaled skills, employing fluid motions and astonishing moves that appear to be both disoriented but awe-inspiring. These humorous scenarios and sequences embodied the essence of Drunken Boxing and provided the groundwork for Wong Fei-hung's road to the mastery of Drunken boxing.
Not just to the Master Beggar So, beer also became an important stimulant for Wong Fei-hung's progress. Beggar So unconventional teaching methods, ended up forcing Wong Fei-hung to perform powerful martial skills when intoxicated, because he is hesitant to ingest beer.
At first Wong Fei-hung was hesitant on the kind of fighting techniques of his master, but when he took on the ways of his master it made him overcome his initial doubts about the effects of beer on his martial skills and abilities. With alcohol or beer Wong Fei-hung learned to harness his power of Drunken Boxing and unlock his true potential as a martial artist by embracing the liberating features of inebriation.
In the plot of "Drunken Master," the unconventional principles of Drunken Boxing, beer and alcohol become a metaphor for human growth. With the drunk depiction of the action and battle scenes played by the characters in the movie giving it a humorous tone, with comedic timing and physical comedy used only to entertain us the viewers. Characters engaging in alcohol-related activities provided a sense of fun and deep sense of unpredictability to the story, increasing the whole viewing experience.
It is also important to note that beyond the training routines, drinking and inebriation was just a playful thread, an ingredient woven throughout the movie "Drunken Master" and should not in any way be taken seriously. The use of alcohol in the movie serves only as a dramatic element meant to just highlight the beauty and physicality of the Drunken Boxing style. So It should not be in any way misinterpreted as an encouragement to binge drinking or as a true reflection of actual martial arts training practices.
The presence of beer and alcohol in the movie was only to add depth and complexity to the martial arts scenes and also the relationships between the characters. Beer in this context only served as a catalyst for the transformation in Wong Fei-hung's physical abilities as well as his self-development as a seasoned and disciplined martial artist.