LONDON , England ( CNN ) -- Western cinema 's relationship with martial arts has been a rocky one . Like many genres , kung fu has drifted in and out of fashion , but it has never regained the same popularity as its glorious heyday in the early 1970s . There 's nothing funny about either Bruce Lee or Chuck Norris . And they 've got the fists to prove it . After breaking into the United States and Britain with TV hardmen like The Saint and The Green Hornet duffing up the occasional bad guy , the revolution really kicked in at the cinema . When Bruce Lee -- who had already made waves in America as the Green Hornet 's karate chopping sidekick , Kato -- appeared in the Chinese-made `` Jing wu men , '' or `` Fist of Fury , '' he established himself as the genre 's poster boy . Lee found initial success in his native China , but with his next movies , `` Meng long guo jiang '' ( `` The Way of the Dragon '' ) , which pitted him against U.S. karate champion Chuck Norris , and the classic `` Enter the Dragon , '' he became an international star . The plots of his films all followed a set structure : our gifted hero pursues a path of revenge or tough justice , accompanied by a stiff dose of morality . In this way his characters became representatives and protectors of the less powerful who have been unjustly treated . At the same time , the U.S. TV show `` Kung Fu , '' which started in 1972 , raised the profile of martial arts , and , through the lead character Caine , built an image of the patient , wise man , who uses his skills in combat as a last resort when reasoning fails , and again , is motivated entirely by his unshakeable morals . The reluctant hero is n't a new concept : he 's shared by the Far East and Wild West . The lone gunman in a western , too , tends to be loath to kill , and acts as the moral enforcer in a lawless place . But while the gunman in an isolated western town still commands the same respect from movie audiences as he lays down the law , our wise eastern mystic has almost entirely disappeared from Hollywood . The biggest martial arts stars today -- with the notable exception of Jet Li , who continues to take on a mix of serious art movies in China and gang-war films set on the streets of urban America -- are either laughed at or laughed with by western audiences . Kung fu superstar Jackie Chan has the impressive reputation of being almost indestructible . He does his own stunts and puts himself in some incredibly dangerous situations . But Chan is essentially a comedian . His stunts are used , in a very similar way to Chan 's cinematic hero Harold Lloyd , to amaze and amuse an audience . We are shocked that someone could do the things he does , hanging off moving buses with a walking stick , leaping across buildings . He is almost superhuman , but it 's done mainly for laughs . The other major kung fu stars have become figures of mockery . The Internet was awash with Chuck Norris gags pointing out just how strong he is ( `` Chuck Norris does not sleep . He waits . '' ) while Steven Seagal has done himself no favors by appearing in some of the worst films ever made . Hollywood does n't take them seriously -- and nor do we . Directors have also mocked the 70s obsession with kung fu that gripped the western world , with heroes from films such as `` Boogie Nights , '' `` Austin Powers '' and `` Starsky and Hutch '' fighting with cod seriousness while displaying laughable skills . So what has changed ? Kung fu is not inherently funny . No matter how many times you watch `` Enter the Dragon , '' it never ceases to be awe-inspiring . Perhaps the answer is simple : we Hollywood film junkies have grown cynical . There is no room in our modern world for an unexplained , almost supernatural power against pointlessly evil adversaries . Have we have lost our ability to suspend our disbelief ? So what can a real fan do ? Are we condemned to trawling the movies of the 1970s in order to get our kung fu hit , harking back to a time when Chuck Norris really was feared and respected everywhere he went ? The answer is no . While Hollywood seems to have dumped its one-time darling , kung fu is alive and flourishing in Asia , where it all started . Jet Li puts out some great offerings in China , and there is a rising star in the form of Tony Jaa , a Thai actor with amazing technical skill , whose films like `` Ong Bak '' have wowed audiences across the world . While Hollywood misses a trick and spends all its time laughing at its most skillful martial artists , the industry in Asia is doing what it has always done : bringing us all the high kicks , karate chops and spinning nunchucks we could ever want . E-mail to a friend .
Kato has never regained its 70s popularity in the Asia . The genre has been mocked in movies like `` Austin Powers , '' `` `` Starsky and Hutch '' '' But fans know the genre is alive and flourishing in West .