Today, the film title translation has attracted many scholars attention because of its importance. So, the various kinds of academic periodicals are emerged. We find out through these periodicals that the studies on the film title translation are not antiquate and comprehensive enough. Given this reason, it is necessary for me to make some theoretical explanations by examples which are taken from original and published, and finds out the methods and strategies of the film title translation according to the Functionalism theory.
1.2 Brief Introduction to Chinese Martial Arts Movies
Chinese Martial Arts movies is a sub-genre of action movies in which fights between characters are usually of great entertainment value and most appealing. The scenes often tell the conflicts between justice and evil and the solution to deal with that is always fighting. Most scenarios are set in the ancient times. They frequently use surroundings such as Kung Fu training centers, rings for martial arts contests and others where fights may happen. Bare-hand fights together with stunt works, chases, and gunfights are included in the films.
Chinese Martial Arts movies have been a good medium to show Chinese martial arts to the world. “The Burning of Red Lotus Temple” was shot around the 1920s, when there were only silent films. During the 1950s, “Once Upon A Time in China”, directed by Hu Peng in Hong Kong, achieved great success. From then on, Chinese Martial Arts movies started to make a difference in the field of film. A little later, “The One-Armed Swordsman” directed by Cheh Chang and “Come Drink with Me” by King Hu caused great sensations in this field. In the 1970s, Bruce Lee, a world famous Kungfu master and film star, successfully introduced Chinese martial arts films to the world with “Fists of Fury”, “The Way of the Dragon” and others. Nowadays, “Hero” directed by Zhang Yimou and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” by Ang Lee are highly spoken of throughout the world.
In current Chinese Martial Arts movies, fights for fairness and justice are still the mainstream. Generally, Wing Chun, Shaolin Martial Arts, Hung Kuen and other skills are well performed to the audience. Jackie Chan, Jet Lee, Donnie Yen and some other actors played many great masters’ characters with their real skills.