{"id":5194,"date":"2018-10-30T14:36:39","date_gmt":"2018-10-30T18:36:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.chinacenter.net\/?p=5194"},"modified":"2023-04-07T09:30:48","modified_gmt":"2023-04-07T13:30:48","slug":"the-wolf-warriors-films-a-single-spark-a-prairie-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chinacenter.net\/2018\/china-currents\/17-2\/the-wolf-warriors-films-a-single-spark-a-prairie-fire\/","title":{"rendered":"The Wolf Warriors Films: A Single Spark. A Prairie Fire?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Wu Jing, 44, the director and action star of <em>Wolf Warriors <\/em>(2015) and <em>Wolf Warriors II <\/em>(2017), did not set out to make China\u2019s highest-grossing film in history. He reportedly had to take out a second mortgage on his apartment to produce the first <em>Wolf Warriors <\/em>film. His foremost concern was \u201cWhy couldn\u2019t China have one?\u201d One being a \u201ctough guy\u201d on the big screen. As tough as Bruce Willis, Stallone, Schwarzenegger, or Tom Cruise.<sup class='footnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.chinacenter.net\/2018\/china-currents\/17-2\/the-wolf-warriors-films-a-single-spark-a-prairie-fire\/#fn-5194-1' id='fnref-5194-1' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(5194)'>1<\/a><\/sup> A tough guy with a Chinese face.<\/p>\n<p>Leng Feng, the Chinese special ops soldier played by Wu, has since become China\u2019s new favorite action hero. Leng follows his own honor code, gulps\u00a0<em>maotai\u00a0<\/em>liquor, flirts with his boss, and leaves behind piles of enemy bodies. The enemies are merciless drug dealers plaguing China\u2019s southern border, pirates at sea, foreign mercenaries, and African insurgents. But Leng is always smarter. He is also cooler, dodging kicks, arrows, bullets, grenades, and tanks. And he magically recovers from an Ebola-like virus overnight, becoming fit to fight again.<\/p>\n<p>Chinese audiences have fervently embraced these two thrilling action flicks. If Leng\u2019s heroism appears too clich\u00e9d and implausible, the director and star suggested, one should blame Hollywood. \u201cIn Hollywood, the hero can take on a whole army. Why can\u2019t my character take on a dozen mercenaries?\u201d Wu said in an interview with NPR.<sup class='footnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.chinacenter.net\/2018\/china-currents\/17-2\/the-wolf-warriors-films-a-single-spark-a-prairie-fire\/#fn-5194-2' id='fnref-5194-2' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(5194)'>2<\/a><\/sup> On his controversial use of the Chinese national flag in <em>Wolf Warriors II<\/em>, he argued, \u201cAmerican movies can raise the flag, but if my character does it, I\u2019m Red China. Why?\u201d<sup class='footnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.chinacenter.net\/2018\/china-currents\/17-2\/the-wolf-warriors-films-a-single-spark-a-prairie-fire\/#fn-5194-3' id='fnref-5194-3' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(5194)'>3<\/a><\/sup><em>Wolf Warriors II <\/em>was China\u2019s official submission to the Academy Awards in 2017. It is deeply ironic that a Chinese variation of the white savior trope was sent to Hollywood for approval. In Wu\u2019s version, the hero single-handedly saves Chinese and African civilians as well as a Chinese-speaking American woman in a fictional African country plagued by an epidemic and a civil war.<\/p>\n<p>Wu\u2019s movies are neither subtle nor apologetic in expressing patriotism. The ancient Chinese phrase \u201cWhoever offends China will be wiped out no matter how far away\u201d is articulated several times, conveying an increased level of confidence in China\u2019s military prowess. One of the last utterances of Leng\u2019s nemesis (played by Scott Adkins) in <em>Wolf Warriors <\/em>is: \u201cThe Chinese army is not as lame as I have thought.\u201d In <em>Wolf Warriors II<\/em>, Big Daddy (played by Frank Grillo) dies only after Leng reclaims agency in history. \u201cPeople like you will always be beaten by people like me. Get used to it. Get fucking used to it!\u201d Big Daddy hollers, pressing a sharp dagger on Leng\u2019s throat. A furious Leng lunges back, grabs the dagger, and kills Big Daddy in a frenzy of stabs, before he has the final words, \u201cThat\u2019s fucking history!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For decades the patriotic feelings expressed in Chinese cinema have taken on the forms of victimhood and anxiety. The humiliation of the Opium Wars in the 1840s has been imprinted in the Chinese public mentality. Many films portray Japan\u2019s brutal occupation of China during WWII. The legitimacy of the Chinese government partly depends upon fomenting this type of resentment. The <em>Wolf Warriors\u00a0<\/em>films, refreshingly, capture \u201ca new, muscular iteration of China\u2019s self-narrative.\u201d<sup class='footnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.chinacenter.net\/2018\/china-currents\/17-2\/the-wolf-warriors-films-a-single-spark-a-prairie-fire\/#fn-5194-4' id='fnref-5194-4' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(5194)'>4<\/a><\/sup> The films construct China as not only militarily capable but also diplomatically prevailing. \u201cStand down! We are Chinese! China and Africa are friends!\u201d China\u2019s ambassador to the African country where <em>Wolf Warriors II <\/em>takes place calmly declares to a crowd of red-scarfed rebels pointing guns at them. The crowd then reluctantly retreats. \u201cChina is a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council and I need them on my side if I\u2019m to take political power,\u201d the rebel leader cries later on in the film, scolding his mercenaries for having killed a Chinese doctor in a China-bonded hospital in his country. Plenty of dialogue in the films evokes the feeling of being given a lecture about China\u2019s greatness.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cChina has never seen such a moment, when its pursuit of a larger role in the world coincides with America\u2019s pursuit of a smaller one,\u201d <em>New Yorker <\/em>writer Evan Osnos points out in explaining why some Chinese audiences gave <em>Wolf Warriors II <\/em>standing ovations and sang the national anthem after the screenings.<sup class='footnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.chinacenter.net\/2018\/china-currents\/17-2\/the-wolf-warriors-films-a-single-spark-a-prairie-fire\/#fn-5194-5' id='fnref-5194-5' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(5194)'>5<\/a><\/sup>Rachel, the Chinese-speaking doctor whom Leng rescues in <em>Wolf Warriors II<\/em>, tries to call the U.S. consulate for help after bloodthirsty rebels have occupied the hospital. \u201cWe are sorry. We are currently closed!\u201d is the voice message she receives. To Osnos, it is not coincidental that the films became a hit in China during an age of \u201cAmerica First,\u201d when Trump withdrew from the TPP and reduced U.S. contributions to the U.N. while China\u2019s Belt and Road initiative has expanded the country\u2019s global impact to an unprecedented extent. With a fatter budget, <em>Wolf Warriors II <\/em>drives home its thinly disguised political message even more effectively in a new-colonial context. The film prominently sentimentalizes China\u2019s economic and humanitarian presence in Africa while, as some have critiqued, portraying \u00a0African lives as disposable through numerous sensational scenes of massacre and epidemic outbreak against the exotic African landscape. An African boy called Tundu, Leng\u2019s godson, begs Leng to rescue his mother, who is stuck in a China-sponsored factory taken over by rebels. Leng promises to get her back safely in 18 hours. Leng has to complete the mission alone because the Chinese Navy has to get U.N. approval before they can take action. The message is clear. China is a powerful player that strictly abides by international law and executes only perfectly moral actions. A Chinese viewer\u2019s words best summarize the intended response: \u201cIt feels good to be on the side of justice.\u201d<sup class='footnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.chinacenter.net\/2018\/china-currents\/17-2\/the-wolf-warriors-films-a-single-spark-a-prairie-fire\/#fn-5194-6' id='fnref-5194-6' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(5194)'>6<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<p>The hybrid of Rambo-style heroism, John Woo-style sentimental violence, and Chinese mainstream-style nationalism reaches its peak at the end of <em>Wolf Warriors II. <\/em>Leng wraps a Chinese flag around his arms and leads wounded Chinese and African citizens through an active war zone. The film closes with the shot of a Chinese passport, poignantly captioned with the announcement, \u201cTo the citizens of the People\u2019s Republic of China: When you find yourself in danger in a foreign country, never give up hope. China\u2019s strength will always support you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe patriotic kindling in people\u2019s hearts has been dried as far as it can be, and I, Wu Jing, have taken a small match or spark and dropped it on, lighting up all of you,\u201d the director said in an interview with a Chinese website.<sup class='footnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.chinacenter.net\/2018\/china-currents\/17-2\/the-wolf-warriors-films-a-single-spark-a-prairie-fire\/#fn-5194-7' id='fnref-5194-7' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(5194)'>7<\/a><\/sup> The metaphor of a single spark igniting a prairie fire dates back to a Confucian classic but has been most widely known through Mao\u2019s letter in 1930 intending to boost the morale of the Red Army.<\/p>\n<p>The <em>Wolf Warriors <\/em>films have provided a model to combine patriotic spectacle and box office miracle. The first movie cost $12 million and took in $90 million in China. The second, with a worldwide gross of more than $870 million, is not only China\u2019s highest-earning film but also the \u201conly non-Hollywood movie to crack the world\u2019s 100 highest-grossing movies of all time.\u201d<sup class='footnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.chinacenter.net\/2018\/china-currents\/17-2\/the-wolf-warriors-films-a-single-spark-a-prairie-fire\/#fn-5194-8' id='fnref-5194-8' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(5194)'>8<\/a><\/sup>For decades many Chinese audiences, the movie market on track to be the world\u2019s largest, have preferred Hollywood over domestic productions. Thanks to <em>Wolf Warriors II<\/em>, domestic films \u201cfor the first time prevailed over foreign imports in terms of combined box-office receipts,\u201d reaching almost 55 percent of the total gross in 2017.<sup class='footnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.chinacenter.net\/2018\/china-currents\/17-2\/the-wolf-warriors-films-a-single-spark-a-prairie-fire\/#fn-5194-9' id='fnref-5194-9' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(5194)'>9<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<p>Having risen to be a superstar, Wu has gained the political capital to build his <em>Wolf Warriors <\/em>franchise. Chinese government-sponsored cultural offices, film associations, and film research institutions have hosted symposiums to study Wu\u2019s success, in the hope of replicating\u00a0the box office miracle, using films to promote the \u201cChinese Dream,\u201d and boosting China\u2019s global soft power. More than 500 reports, interviews, essays, and articles on the films have been published in China. Collaboration between film producers and military bases\u2014the first <em>Wolf Warriors\u00a0<\/em>film was sponsored by the Nanjing Military Base, where Wu shadowed for 18 months\u2014has been identified as a new model of producing breathtaking blockbusters with military themes.<sup class='footnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.chinacenter.net\/2018\/china-currents\/17-2\/the-wolf-warriors-films-a-single-spark-a-prairie-fire\/#fn-5194-10' id='fnref-5194-10' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(5194)'>10<\/a><\/sup> It is reported that the script of <em>Wolf Warriors III <\/em>has been submitted for approval.<\/p>\n<p>Can the <em>Wolf Warriors <\/em>films be considered \u201ca turning point for China\u2019s movies to go global?\u201d<sup class='footnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.chinacenter.net\/2018\/china-currents\/17-2\/the-wolf-warriors-films-a-single-spark-a-prairie-fire\/#fn-5194-11' id='fnref-5194-11' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(5194)'>11<\/a><\/sup> While <em>Wolf Warriors II <\/em>ticket sales were overwhelmingly from China and overseas Chinese communities, Wu does not reject the idea of making films for global audiences. <em>Wolf Warriors II <\/em>employed prominent Hollywood talent, including Joe and Anthony Russo as consultants, Sam Hargrave (\u201cCaptain America: Civil War\u201d) as stunt director, and Joseph Trapanese (\u201cTron: Legacy\u201d) as composer.<sup class='footnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.chinacenter.net\/2018\/china-currents\/17-2\/the-wolf-warriors-films-a-single-spark-a-prairie-fire\/#fn-5194-12' id='fnref-5194-12' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(5194)'>12<\/a><\/sup> \u201cAs Americans working in the China market, you have to be really respectful of their storytelling,\u201d Joe Russo said.<sup class='footnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.chinacenter.net\/2018\/china-currents\/17-2\/the-wolf-warriors-films-a-single-spark-a-prairie-fire\/#fn-5194-13' id='fnref-5194-13' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(5194)'>13<\/a><\/sup> Evidently Wu knows how to make his Chinese audiences \u201cfeel good.\u201d And he believes action movies can transcend linguistic and cultural barriers and become universally appealing. In October 2017, Wu met Vin Diesel (\u201cFast and Furious\u201d) who later uploaded a Facebook video with himself beside Wu. \u201cSo the world, I want you to say hello to my friend,\u201d Diesel wrote.<sup class='footnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.chinacenter.net\/2018\/china-currents\/17-2\/the-wolf-warriors-films-a-single-spark-a-prairie-fire\/#fn-5194-14' id='fnref-5194-14' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(5194)'>14<\/a><\/sup> To really be a friend, Wu will have to work hard to make his Western audiences \u201cfeel good\u201d too. The practical question is whether he can actually do so without losing his Chinese base in the era of tariffs and threatened trade wars. The existential question is whether he is still himself if he makes Western audiences feel good.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wu Jing, 44, the director and action star of Wolf Warriors (2015) and Wolf Warriors II (2017), did not set out to make China\u2019s highest-grossing film in history. He reportedly&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":122,"featured_media":5203,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[888],"tags":[793,909,908,906,904],"topic":[1050,1060],"journal-year":[1070],"coauthors":[890],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Wolf Warriors Films: A Single Spark. 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