Shapes and Bashers in the 90's and 2000's....

[lillippa328]

Ok, so what would classify as Shape films in these years and what would be bashers?

Would these films label as shapes?

Champions

Forbidden Kingdom

Drunken Monkey

Ong Bak 2

Ip Man

Tai Chi Boxer

And would these be bashers?

City of Violence

Legendary Assassin

Chocolate

Fighter in the Wind

or would they not catorgorize them like this anymore?

[Drunken Monk]

I don’t think they’re categorized this way anymore. I do feel as though certain movies, like “Ong Bak 2,” contain specific elements of old shapes movies, what with certain animal styles or drunken boxing being used, but I wouldn’t label them as such. Personally, I don’t really think bashers exist anymore as even when fights on non-shapes based they’re usually highly stylized. Just as with any genre, martial arts movies have evolved and shed old labels. It’s nice to see some try and rekindle elements of old school flicks (I believe “Champions” tries very much to be a shapes film) but all in all there just feels like there is much more to modern kung fu cinema.

[peringaten]

or would they not catorgorize them like this anymore?

They are we. These are just blanket generic terms, that don't say too much, other than give a loose idea of different old-school eras & timeframes; whether the films showcased rough basic punchy choreo or later, traditional martial styles & derivatives. Shapes is a bit of a nonsense term anyway - Champions wasn't trying to be a 'shapes' film other than it tried to present eagles claw styles & the like... There was much more to old school cinema than just 'shapes' - hung kuen, choi li fut, southern mantis, peking opera, wing chun. we people just blanketed them as "shapes"... I'm sure the filmmakers themselves think/thought in terms of martial styles & derivatives of that they know to work on screen from their own trainings & styles; we genericised this into shapes; bashers were before they got traditional... all these onscreen shenanigans go deeper than labels; they just give us the vaguest imaginable gist - traditional ma styles & opera acrobatics or early rough & punchy.