Description: A wide-ranging study of the star personae and cinematic and cultural contexts of Hong Kong's most influential martial arts cinema stars, from Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan to Zhang Ziyi and Michelle Yeoh.
Brief description: Kyle Barrowman is a media and cinema studies lecturer at DePaul University, USA. He received his PhD from Cardiff University. He has published widely in and between film studies and philosophy, on subjects ranging from authorship, genre theory, and camera movement to skepticism, perfectionism, and ordinary language philosophy.
Review Quotes:
"The book broadens our vision of the cinematic universe beyond the traditional focus on Hollywood through its excellent series of essays on stardom in the martial arts cinema of Hong Kong. They provide answers to the central question: what makes an action actor into a star?" --Stephen Teo, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
"There is no way of fully understanding the glories of the Hong Kong Martial Arts cinema without appreciating the centrality of its magnificent stars. And there is no better way to appreciate its stars than this discerning, scholarly and engaging collection." --David Desser, University of Illinois, USA