This article situates Bruce Lee’s films and star persona in the context of wider patterns in global genre cinema of the 1960s and 1970s. I argue for a connection between the Western reception of Lee’s films and those of the mid-century Italian sword and sandal films, beginning with the Colosseum fight between Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris that concludes Way of the Dragon (1972). From the dojo fights of Fist of Fury (1972), through the tournament structure in Enter the Dragon (1973), to his statistically led re-animation in the EA Sports UFC 3 (2018) videogame, Bruce Lee can be usefully considered as a gladiator. Bruce Lee, as fighter, performer and star persona, contributes to the enduring gladiatorial archetype that is an embedded feature in the Western visual imaginary. Furthermore, I argue that the gladiator archetype itself shifted because of Lee’s onscreen roles and the discourse that surrounds his star persona. In order to map these shifts and patterns of confluence, I chart three main points of impact that Lee has had on the gladiatorial archetype using his Western-facing roles on film and television, namely the television series Longstreet (1971–1972) and Enter the Dragon (1973). First, I consider the inclusion of martial arts and, second, the opening up of the field of representation to different models of masculinity, including a leaner body type and a non-White – in this case, ethnically Chinese – gladiator. The third point is the emphasis on a popular, or vernacular, stoicism. Ultimately, I elucidate the relationship between the gladiator, Bruce Lee, and philosophy, arguing that Lee embodies a vernacular stoicism that has become one of the defining features of the post-millennial gladiator and notions of heroic masculinity in popular culture more widely.
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