Crouching Tiger

I agree with some aspects of Ryan Howard’s theoretical frame while disagreeing with other aspects. I agree that Li Mu-bai represents the mind while Jade Fox represents the body. I disagree with his idea of Dark Cloud being the soul while Yu Shu-lien is the heart. In my opinion, the mind represents knowledge and wisdom while the body represents physically force and actions. The heart should represent love, passion, and consideration for others. Lastly, the soul represents the ideal and the good. In Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, these parts of self were unable to be kept in balance; as a result, Jen and all the other characters were destroyed at the end of the movie.

The body is the most fundamental part of self. Jade Fox represents this aspect of the self because she taught Jen how to fight and use physical force. When Jade Fox attacks the official who was hunting her down, one could see that she was using physical force without any strategy. She can only use force because she does not have the wisdom to think of strategy. This concept represents the downfall of the body. Jade Fox is unable to become more powerful because she cannot read the Wudang writings to obtain the true knowledge of each move. She is constantly defeated by Li Mu-bai, the mind, and this eventually leads to her death at the end of the movie. She strikes Li Mu-bai without a plan to escape and did not wear any armor to protect herself. If she had only thought for a moment of the possible outcomes, she could have prevented her own death. Therefore, a body without the mind is incomplete and brutish.

The mind, represented by Li Mu-bai, is the intellect or wisdom of the self. Li Mu-bai is able to become one with his moves because he understands the knowledge behind each move. In the movie, he defeats everyone he fights almost effortlessly because he has a swift mind. When he is fighting Jen, he is always shown a step ahead of Jen. Even though Jen initiates the fight, he is able to combat her move because he anticipates it. Jen is constantly running away from him, but Li Mu-bai always seems to reach the destination before Jen. The negative aspect of the mind is it is overly rational. The mind has little to no concept of emotions. Li Mu-bai repeatedly says that he is unable to achieve completely happiness even though he has so much wisdom. He cannot be completely happy unless he becomes less rational, but he would be removing his whole essence in life if he did so. He is not happy because he is unable to develop a romantic relationship with Yu Shu-lien since she was his best friend’s fiancé, and his best friend died saving him. He is never able to overcome his rational side until the end when it is too late.

On the contrary, Dark Cloud represents the heart that relies heavily on emotions. He brings out the passionate side of Jen and shows her what love is. At times, the heart can be considerate. In the movie, Dark Cloud tells Jen to go back to her family