Anyone notice this??

[NoKUNGFUforYU]

I started watching some of really old Shaw and Cathay movies, and before Chang Cheh, I noticed something. Everyone is pretty covered up. There can be nudity in the movie, but as far a walking around, the Wu Xia guys are covered, head to toe almost, like a muslim, same, of course, with the women. Then, you see Chang Cheh, and the guys wear these open chested outfits, etc. I have a feeling people were pretty uptight, so they covered themselves very modestly, and Chang's whole bare chest lads thing was a modern invention. However, it is fricking hot in southern China, so who knows?? Any historians out there? Were people more free with their dressing then some of the movies show? Or was Chang just creating an alternate universe, that was imitated and set the standard.

[paimeifist]

There were definitely some breast shots (Chinese Boxer comes to mind) before Chang Cheh began the bare chested man thing though. I do see what you're saying, although I had never thought about it before you pointed it out.

I would also assume people were just more modest. The stars of the earlier films (Wang Yu, Lo Lieh) probably didn't have the physique that the Ti Lungs and Venoms of the world had either, although I dont think that had anything to do with it.

[Cold Bishop]

Well, there's the other interpretation, but it just feels like a natural progression of the "yanggang" aesthetic, away from a female-dominated cinema of more reserved males and further into unapologetically macho and virile screen personas. It's only a matter of time before those shirts pop off and the muscles flex.

Another important factor is probably Mr. Abs-and-Fitness himself, Bruce Lee. Of the many marks he left on cinema, one was bringing an aggression and fury to the Chinese leading man. I always felt an interesting source of comparison was The Chinese Boxer: there Wang Yu is still a calm, stoic figure, while the Japanese, with their yelling and sheer brute strength, come off as maniacal. Enter Lee, and suddenly it's the hero who is wooping and hollering and letting the veins protude from his neck and just destroying people. It was a definite shift from even that already undertaken by Chang Cheh (and I've always suspected the sudden promotion of Chen Kuan Tai from extra to lead, and the rushed production of Boxer from Shangtung to be as much a defensive response against Lee as it was for Wang Yu's Furious Slaughter).

[ShawAngela]

You're right regarding Chen Kuan Tai ; it's clearly mentioned in a French book about kung fu cinema that he was chosen by the Shaws to counter attack the Golden Harvest after the success they got because of Bruce Lee.