{"id":105,"date":"2016-09-14T17:35:13","date_gmt":"2016-09-14T21:35:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/willchinda.com\/blog\/?p=105"},"modified":"2016-09-14T17:36:15","modified_gmt":"2016-09-14T21:36:15","slug":"your-style-is-a-cage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/willchinda.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/14\/your-style-is-a-cage\/","title":{"rendered":"Your Style is a Cage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Learning styles are dumb, and I\u2019ll explain why. But first let\u2019s talk about Bruce Lee.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"bruce-lee\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve never really cared for Bruce Lee and I only recently just watched Enter the Dragon. Yes – you read that right – it took me 35 years to watch my <\/span>first<\/span><\/i> Bruce Lee movie.<\/span><\/p>\n

Aside from repeated childhood viewings of Karate Kid, I\u2019ve never been into martial arts movies. Growing up Asian American meant constantly being reminded by other kids of my otherness, so I think I spent much of my childhood trying to disassociate myself from everything Asian. And yes, on more than one occasion, someone has yelled out, \u201cHey, Bruce Lee!\u201d when trying to get my attention. <\/span><\/p>\n

That kind of thing breeds resentment.<\/span><\/p>\n

So I was a bit surprised to be so deeply affected by a recent visit to a Bruce Lee exhibit at the Wing Luke Museum<\/a> here in Seattle. While I\u2019ve seen TV shows and documentaries on Bruce\u2019s influence on how Asians are perceived in American culture, I\u2019ve never really understood it until I walked through this exhibit. One of the most profound juxtapositions was seeing antique depictions of Asian American men as bizarre, sexless aliens in contrast with the ripped badassery of Bruce.<\/p>\n

<\/a>
How America pictured Asian Americans, pre-Bruce.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The exhibit was also full of handwritten letters and journals, giving insight not only into how he built his film career, but also his martial arts philosophy of Jeet Kun Do. One sentence in particular jumped out at me (I\u2019m almost certain I\u2019m remembering this wrong) – \u201cI want to fight without style.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

This seemed an odd aspiration to have. Fight without style? Isn\u2019t martial arts all about picking your style and becoming a master at it? After some brief Googling, though, it became clear to me that this idea of operating without style was central to <\/span>Bruce\u2019s philosophy<\/span><\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI have not invented a “new style,” composite, modified or otherwise that is set within distinct form as apart from “this” method or “that” method. On the contrary, I hope to free my followers from clinging to styles, patterns, or molds.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In speaking of the benefits of this way thinking, he writes:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you do not have a style, if you just say: Well, here I am as a human being, how can I express myself totally and completely? Now, that way you won’t create a style, because style is a crystallization. That way, it’s a process of continuing growth.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n