Bruce Lee Played Badminton Too

Directed by: Corrie Chen

Australia/14 mins

In this cute short film, Corrie Chen shows us Nic, a chubby teenager who is determined to play badminton and win the competition despite his father's negative comments about his weight and his ability in playing sports.  Well, Nic is a rare find, as he, unlike other teenagers, believes in his own ability and wouldn't let anything stop him.  Turns out, he is an impeccable badminton player and killed all the Chinese kids that are supposed to be good at playing badminton (racial stereotypes).  Even though he lost in the end to his crush and neighbor, Jenny, Nic has proved his ability to his father and the audience.  Someone big like Nic can play badminton, and can play extremely well.

Bruce Lee comes in as Nic's idol.  There are loads of posters of Chinese badminton players in Nic's room and the one that stands out most is the giant poster of Bruce Lee, with a badminton racket pasted onto his hand.  This is a juxtaposition, with a white kid having an Asian idol and living in a setting, a neighborhood of Asians in Australia.  The picture above shows Nic, a white kid, on one side of the bus station, and a group of Asian kids on the other side of the station. This highlights the contrast that the short film is trying to bring out.  Instead of having Asian/immigrants trying hard to fit it, Chen flips things over and have Nic, the white kid, jotting out weirdly among the Asians in the film.  

There is the scene in the middle of the short film where Nic's mother said, 'Being a champion is not about being the best in the game, sometimes the champion is someone who clears the way for the triumph of an idea'.  True, Nic doesn't have to win the match.  As cheesy as it sounds, Nic has already won by his his hard work and his proving of his capability, that he, as a chubby kid can play sports just as well as the rest.  

I find it particularly funny watching the Bruce Lee-esque movements of Nic's first component.  And the scene with Nic looking across the fence, peeking at Jenny is extremely cute.  Of course, being an Australian movie, it is quite natural (well, not really) to end the movie with a San Cisco song.  Cute.