Masculinity In The Police Story Essay

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Police Story 3: Super Cop is the third installment of the Police Story franchise, where Jackie Chan, playing Chan Ka-Koey, stars as a Hong Kong-based police who is working undercover for the Chinese police to arrest a drug warlord. The story contains Jackie Chan’s usual hair-raising gamut of death-defying stunts, flights, and explosions. He battles against the villains atop moving motorcycle, train, cars, speed boat, trucks, and helicopter. This exhibits the concept of masculinity of Chen. However, he does not fit in every definition of masculinity. Masculinity in modern film heroes consists of physically dominate individuals with tough exteriors and rigid movements. Yet, Chan comes off as quite the opposite. He looks feeble, flexible, and is not physically dominant. On the other hand, Michelle Yeoh, who stars as Inspector Yang contradicts the stereotype film outlook on women, which is usually related to a damsel-in-distress stereotype. Mostly, women are depicted stereotypically in positions of weakness, but Yang is physically dominant and daring. The director almost overcompensates for the inadequate masculinity of Chan, the main character, through cinematic effects and stylized movement. Chan shows toughness and daring maneuvers in stunts, while his stature and demeanor is not consistent with his on-screen achievements. This paper examines how masculinity and femininity stereotypes are contradicted in the movie Police Story 3: Super Cop.
Police Story 3: Super Cop emphasizes the use of cinematic effects, action effects, and stunt work to bring out the masculinity of its characters in this Hong Kong Drama. The stereotype of action heroes is that they are supposed to be tough daring, and brave. For example, Chan Ka-Koey jumps onto ...

... middle of paper ...

...pitched movement. The movie lends itself to analysis along different topics. However, gender comes to the fore. This film contradicts the predominant outlook on femininity and masculinity. For example, while most movies cast their male heroes as totally masculine men who are rigid but tough, Chan in Police Story 3: Super Cop is not masculine in his stature and posture. He looks too friendly, nimble, and also makes too many flexible movements. He does not represent the toughness that is required by his maneuvers and stunts. His lack of masculinity is compensated for through daredevil maneuvers and daring exploits. Yang, on the other hand, defies the stereotypical outlook on the demeanor of women as subservient and damsels-in-distress. In the movie, she takes up combat and manly roles. These characteristics may be explained through the yin and yang Chinese Philosophy.

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