Did you know that… children were forbidden to imitate a mythical Bruce Lee character

Although Bruce Lee’s 1960 film ‘The Orphan’ was a tremendous success, this achievement had unfortunate repercussions. in adolescent boys. In 2018, Matthew Polly’s biography Bruce Lee: A Life revealed the negative effect of Lee’s success on teenagers trying to imitate him. The biography also related the strict measures that the teachers had to take to put a stop to it.

Lee played a controversial role in the movie The Orphan. He played the role of Ah Sum, a rambunctious orphan who befriends and enrolls in the school principal. Lee’s character in the film is also a pickpocket who steals things for a living. Disrupting the normal school routine, Ah Sum also smokes in the film. So what were the students imitating so that the teachers had to forbid them from performing?

Matthew Polly’s biography tells how the character of Ah Sum affected the minds of the students so much that they tried to imitate how Lee smoked cigarettes. This indicates the immense popularity of ‘The Orphan’, which became Hong Kong’s first internationally acclaimed film, breaking previous box office records. In addition, the biography recounts how the students attempted to copy Lee’s cha-cha dance routine in the film. In the movie, when the director tries to help Ah Sum, Lee’s character dances the cha-cha and ignores the director.

Later, the biography also mentions the severe measure a principal recommended to prevent students from emulating Lee. According to the principal, a banner had to be put up at the entrance of the school to prohibit students from emulating Lee’s character, Ah Sum.

‘The Orphan’ was not the only Little Phoenix movie to become popular. Another of Lee’s films that achieved great fame was ‘Enter The Dragon’ (1973). One scene that became well known around the world was the climax, fought between Chuck Norris and Lee in the film. Norris once shed light on the true story behind this climax scene.

The denunciation of Lee’s imitation by young adolescents raises an important debate about whether movies like ‘The Orphan’ should be screened for very young audiences. What do you think should be done to prevent the negative effects of movies on young and impressionable children? Share your opinion in the comments section.