In a film full of action and emotion, restraint and discipline are often overlooked. “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon” was a fight fest with scene after scene of amazing martial arts demonstrations, special effects wizardry and wild battle scenes. Once the Green Destiny was stolen, the main characters seemed to be either battling or on their way to a battle. Broken alliances and narrow escapes by criminals made sure the action never slowed. There were a variety of fights from one vs. one to one vs. many; from friend vs. foe to friend vs. friend to friend vs. enemy/lover. Amidst this chaos it is those who show calm that come out on top. By analyzing the main characters, an uncommon behavioral pattern is found. Usually it is men who rush blindly into situations without thinking while the women remain behind to ponder the best plan of action. The main characters in this movie, with the exception of Yu Shu Lien, display the opposite behavior. In a reversal of norms, men show discipline and restraint while women act rashly and emotionally.
Li Mu Bai, the warrior, and Lo, the bandit, are quite different people and they live on different sides of the law but they’re connected in one way. They are both greatly affected by governor’s daughter, Jen, and they both show great restraint in dealing with her fiercely independent personality during their quests to change her and shape her views of them from negative to positive. Lo has a love/hate relationship with her while Li Mu Bai has a master/student relationship. These are different relationships but they must still use the same methods to gain her trust. They exercise great restraint by letting her do whatever she wants. When Lo is in the desert he steals her comb. It seems harmless stealing a comb from a soft looking girl, but he finds out quickly that she really wants the comb. She sets out on a chase after him while shooting arrows at him, fighting him hand-to-hand, hitting on the head with a rock, and stabbing him while he sits there unmoving. He also has to save her from death twice. Eventually she realizes she likes him and the feeling is mutual and then she realizes why he put up with her attacks and they fall in love. Li Mu Bai uses the same passive methods of restraint to sway Jen and reclaim the Green Destiny but he has an extra obstacle to overcome – Jade Fox. Jade Fox has continually pounded into her the belief that Wudan warriors like Li Mu Bai are evil and should be killed. He works on Jen by showing her how she is good, but not as good as she could be. This point is amply demonstrated when he fends her off by fighting with a stick while she has a sword. He then fights her again in the trees and again defeats her easily. At the end of the battle in the trees, Li Mu Bai shows restraint by not flinching as Jen feints a swing to lop off his head. That nearly wins her over and he succeeds in taking back the Green Destiny. This demonstration of how powerful discipline and restraint can be almost sways her but Jade Fox’s influence still remains. When Jen’s forced with choosing between being Li Mu Bai’s disciple and keeping the sword she stole all by herself, she chooses the sword, and in doing so rejects being restrained to a life as a student. Li still pursues her, though, but when he finds her she is once again in Jade Fox’s grasp. Li Mu Bai then proceeds to kill Jade Fox but he is killed in the process by taking a poison dart intended for Jen. She tries to save him but can’t get the antidote in time. When Jen sees how she ruined the lives of so many people she finally learns that her impulsive, wild ways were the wrong way, and Li Mu Bai succeeds in teaching her. The deaths of her mentor (Jade Fox) and the man who tried to save her and gave her a way for her to reunite with Lo, were what it took for her to finally realize the error of her ways. She then exercises discipline on herself and jumps off a mountain in order to right the wrongs she caused. Even in the end we see Lo restraining himself and not doing a thing to stop her.
The martial arts in this movie were somewhat unrealistic, with the characters leaping and flying and walking on water, but the close combat was still the same. Li Mu Bai easily defeated the self-taught, undisciplined women. Time after time he showed his prowess - fighting with a stick for a sword, picking darts out of midair, slicing swords in two, deflecting a hail of poison darts with his sword - with barely any signs of effort or emotion. It’s sadly ironic that during the one time he shows emotion – a yell during his fight to end Jade Fox’s life – he is caught by a dart that ends his own life. Still, the most restrained and disciplined fighter was the greatest master of the martial arts. In fact, the order of martial arts skills from best to worst was parallel to the amount of excitement shown during battle. In descending order of skills it goes Li Mu Bai, Yu Shu Lien, Jen, and Jade Fox.
During the discussion of restraint and discipline, Yu Shu Lien must be presented as an example of a woman who was on the opposite side of the spectrum from the two other women. She may even have shown more restraint than either Li Mu Bai or Lo. In a scene at her house, she explains to Jen how she is being ungrateful towards and ruining the schemes of Li Mu Bai and herself, who have done nothing but protected her and looked out for her best interests. Jen then has the deviousness to break off their friendship and fight her right there. Yu Shu Lien is seen to be the master but she resists from killing Jen, even after she has her arm gashed. Later, when Lo is shouting for Jen to run away with him, Li Mu Bai stops Lo. Before he kills the bandit, Yu Shu Lien steps in and saves him, thereby gaining useful information from him and again looking out for Jen.
A few final examples of the merits of restraint and discipline are the policeman who hunted Jade Fox and the band of thugs that sought out Jen. The policeman, in his fervor to kill Jade Fox, recruited the help of Bo, the guard, thinking three against one would tip the odds more in his favor. He neglected to think about how they had never fought beside Bo before. He and his daughter may have been good enough to kill Jade Fox, but she used the trio’s inexperience fighting together to work for her. She used one as a shield while fighting the other and used both of the close-quarter fighters to hide from the policeman’s daughter’s darts. Ultimately she used the policeman’s own weapon to kill him. The band of thugs that sought out Jen had similar problems. The man who sought her teaching didn’t like being said no to. He acted manly and he unthinkingly attacked Jen, whose skills were great. She made sure he saw this, but he still persisted and she proceeded to work the entire group and destroy a hotel in the process. These are two good examples of rushing into conflict without thinking, and paying for it.
At the start of the movie Jen asks Yu Shu Lien about a warrior’s life. She wonders how exciting it must be to have endless freedom to act however you please and go where you want. Yu Shu Lien quickly dispels this myth and describes the dedication and hard work it truly takes to be a warrior. She, Li Mu Bai and Lo later reinforce this statement during the events of “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon”, which reaffirm the fact that calm is better than turbulence, thought is more effective than action, discipline is worth more than zeal, and restraint will win over passion any day.
