In his essay "A Dirty Job" Jackie Chan's claim that Hong Kong movies elevated .
the stars, but relegated the stuntmen to marginal status proves that in show business, hard .
work is irrelevant to a person's success, which is based upon popularity and credibility.
Jackie Chan's motivation was not based on the fame given to the actors he .
worked with. Instead, he"d pride himself with hard work and determination. Chan was .
not an actor; he was a stuntman who was filled in for actors featured in the movie. The .
only recognition he was given was toward the end of the credits, but by the time they .
popped up, the audiences were already long gone from the theater. Besides being .
determined by their downgraded status, Chan and his fellow stuntmen had a .
phrase or philosophy that was a huge motivator. This phrase was known as lung fu mo .
shi, or "dragon tiger"(521). This not only was a phrase; it was a state of being. You could .
obtain lung fu mo shi by "trying an amazing stunt, fail, and get up smiling, ready to try it .
again."(521) This helped Chan with more than just the stunts. It created a mind set for him that .
carried over into his every-day life as well as his promising career.
The essay is definitely a critique of the class system. It clearly shows through .
Chan's accounts that stuntmen are a lower class community in the movie industry. They .
are not appreciated enough, as it show's through the stuntmen's frustration. When the .
stuntmen, and in Chan's case is doing a stunt in a movie for someone else, that actor that .
Chan's portraying should be right there next to him during the scene coaching and .
encouraging him on, because he is representing what that actor will look like on screen. .
So that actor should be right there, alongside, not on the side flirting with the other .
actresses.
.
Chan's essay also reflects other professions who face the same scrutiny as the .
stuntmen. A perfect example for this and which is almost a mirror image of what .
