Expertly Written Literature Review On The Influences Of Bruce Lee To Follow

I first became aware of Bruce Lee as a child. At that time, for some reason, several of my friends and I had become interested in martial arts. Our interests included reading, watching and playing martial arts related comic books, video games, television series and movies. While I had heard of Bruce Lee, during that initial phase of interest, I did not have the chance to actually see him in action. That opportunity came a few months later during a holiday Bruce Lee movie marathon on TV. The first of his film’s that I saw was Enter the Dragon. After that, in succession I watched The Big Boss, Return of the Dragon, and Fist of Fury. The next day, I ended the movie marathon by watching The Game of Death. In a word, I was fascinated. Not only was I mesmerized by this martial arts skills and ability but also by his approach. Needless to stay, watching those movies started an interest and following of Bruce Lee that remain with me to this day.
As I understood it, the characters that he played were always, kind, patient, diligent and had humility but would always be willing to fight the good fight if necessary. Those characters in their attitudes towards life were tremendously inspiring to me as a child. Other martial art heroes that I had been exposed to at that time were more of what I would later understand to be anti-heroes. That is to say, they were bad or not necessarily good people that were forced to do good or take heroic actions. Bruce Lee’s characters, on the other hand, here basically good people standing up to evil. After watching those movies, whenever my friends and I would pick a character to emulate in our play, I always pick Lee or Tang Lung from his “Dragon” movies because they had the purest characters and personalities. Some people want to “be like Mike” but I wanted to be like Lee.
Although those characters were not actually Bruce Lee, in my mind, at that time, they were, or at least, they personified my idea of who Bruce Lee was as a person. As time passed, however, I found that Bruce Lee the man was actually very similar to the characters that he played in the films. My deeper understanding of Bruce Lee the man began after watching Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story. While the story told in the film was naturally made for the movie going audience, it did reveal some aspects of his life that I had not known such as the fact that he really was called dragon. Most importantly, that film led me to find out more about Bruce Lee. Through my research I came across a wide range of other materials such as old interviews that he recorded, books about him, books about his philosophy of martial arts as well as Jeet Kune Do, the martial art that he created. The more I learned about him, the more interested that I became. Moreover, the more I understood that he was a very complex but extremely innovative person. Most importantly, the more I learned the more I realized that, outside of family and people that I personally know he is perhaps the most inspirational person to me in terms of who I want to be and how I will go about or work to achieve my goals.
One of the primary aspects of Bruce Lee, the man, that is inspiring to me is his discipline. Throughout his life, Bruce Lee was constantly challenged by physical and social barriers that might normally convince others to give up their dreams or desires. For example, when Bruce Lee was young he was not the healthiest boy, or the fact that despite his interest in acting in the United States, the social situation at the time was not welcoming of Asian actors. Bruce Lee, however, was able to break though these barriers by dedicating himself to take the necessary steps, however long and painful that they might be, to eventually succeed where he in the past had failed. Indeed, his life-long advocacy for physical fitness, martial arts, and healthy living made him one of the most physically fit persons of his time. Moreover, after spending years making movies in Hong Kong; the U.S. film industry eventually took notice. To be sure, Bruce Lee is now, not only one of Hollywood’s most well-known stars but his is also a global movie sensation. I have tried to integrate these lessons of discipline and dedication to achieve a goal despite numerous barriers into my own life. For instance, since I was young, I always wanted to learn how to swim. However, I never learned. A few years ago, I asked a friend of mine to teach me to swim. After numerous sessions, I eventually learned how to do the breast stroke. For nearly a year after learning, I went to swim every weekend. At first I needed to use floatation devices on my arms and then I could only swim 10 feet at a time. Eventually, I did not need the floatation devices and could swim 50 feet without stopping. Now I can swim 20 minutes at a time without stopping. Most recently, I taught myself how to swim freestyle by watching videos on YouTube. A large part of the reason that I can now swim is due to the disciple and dedication that Bruce Lee exhibited in his approach to life.
A second inspirational aspect of Bruce Lee that has influence me was his innovativeness. I once read that in creating the underlying philosophy that fortifies Jeet Kune Do, he said that what he wanted to do is take all the good parts of other martial arts and include them in his martial art. Originally I considered that idea a bit strange. In my mind, there is never an “all-good” product or service, there is always some good and some bad. But as I go older, I think his idea is genius. Why stay with something that does not work. It makes no sense. It is much better to take what works and combine it with whatever else that works. In other words, approach life as Bruce Lee philosophized about. This is one of the key aspects to how I approach almost all activity in life including this paper. I experiment, I test out, I try. What works out well, I keep or remember. What does not, I disregard. For example, I found that adding a little salt to coffee and some sugar make the coffee sweeter than adding more sugar. This is principle is commonly used in making cooking but not for drinking coffee or tea. However, it is a process that works and is more effective, in drinking coffee or tea than the traditional custom. I do get some stares when I do it but it works every time.
Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, the most influential aspect of Bruce Lee that has inspired me was his insistence on continually self-improvement. Throughout his life, Bruce emphasized the benefits of pushing oneself to be better. He not only preached “continuous iteration”, he also practiced it. Indeed, Bruce Lee went from college student to martial arts teacher, to movie star, to martial arts founder, to global influence. He never stopped learning or trying to learn. I also have tried to incorporate continuous self-improvement into my own life. I am always open to learning something new, travelling to a new place or obtaining a new experience. Some of my family and friends feel that I may lack focus but the reality is the opposite. I have focus on the primary areas of importance in my life but I do not want to restrict myself completely to those areas. Accordingly, any area that I feel I have a weakness in or that I have a desire to improve, such as swimming, I am willing and able to at least attempt an improvement.