Pai Mei
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- For information on the historical Pai Mei, see Bak Mei.
Pai Mei (Chinese: 白眉; Wade-Giles: Pai Mei; pinyin: Bái Méi; literally White Eyebrow) is a character from Kill Bill (2004), a film by Quentin Tarantino. The character is based on Bak Mei, a historical martial artist from China. Pai Mei (played by Gordon Liu) is presented here as the master who taught Beatrix Kiddo, Bill, and Elle Driver; ironically, Gordon Liu previously starred as the hero fighting Pai Mei in Hung wen tin san po pai lien chiao (1980). Kill Bill 's version of Pai Mei is significantly less villainous than in the other movies, where the character is portrayed as ruthless and traitorous to his country. It should however be noted that he is still a ruthless, foul tempered and brutal individual with little compassion or respect for human life.
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[edit] Character history
[edit] Bill's retelling
Bill reveals to Kiddo that Pai Mei was a:
| ... White Lotus Priest who was famed to be one of the greatest martial artists. Once upon a time in China, some believe, around the year one double-ought three, head priest of the White Lotus Clan, Pai Mei was walking down the road, contemplating whatever it is that a man of Pai Mei's infinite power contemplates - which is another way of saying "who knows" - when a Shaolin monk appeared, traveling in the opposite direction. As the monk and the priest crossed paths, Pai Mei, in a practically unfathomable display of generosity, gave the monk the slightest of nods. The nod was not returned. Now, was it the intention of the Shaolin monk to insult Pai Mei, or did he just fail to see the generous social gesture? The motives of the monk remain unknown. What is known are the consequences: The next morning Pai Mei appeared at the Shaolin Temple and demanded of the Temple's head abbot that he offer Pai Mei his neck to repay the insult. The Abbot at first tried to console Pai Mei, only to find Pai Mei was...inconsolable. So began the massacre of the Shaolin Temple and all 60 of the monks inside at the fists of the White Lotus. |
Bill then tells Kiddo of Pai Mei's "Five-Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique," used to literally explode the heart of the opponent. Five pressure points are hit in the chest area surrounding the heart, and when the opponent takes five steps, his heart will explode and he will die. Bill reveals that Pai Mei is the only known user of the technique, and has not taught anyone the deadly attack — not even Bill himself. However, later in the movie, Kiddo reveals Pai Mei did eventually teach the technique to someone... herself. She utilizes the attack on Bill, much to his surprise, and kills him.
[edit] Pai Mei's "cruel tutelage"
Initially, Pai Mei did not want to train Kiddo, harboring a hatred for women (especially Caucasians and even more, Americans). However, Bill convinces him after an apparent fight. When she first meets Pai Mei, he starts off insulting her Mandarin and her Cantonese and then the "exquisite art of the Japanese samurai sword", which she explains she excels at. She quickly becomes angered by Pai Mei's remarks, but keeps her anger in, knowing full well Pai Mei would kill her for the slightest of outbursts. However, he senses her anger anyway and then instructs her to take a sword from his sword rack and fight him with it, while he remains unarmed. It is here Kiddo learns firsthand of Pai Mei's incredible power and skill; with little effort, he defeats her and tells her she must obey his every word and command "like a dog."
[edit] Death
While Elle Driver was undertaking training from Pai Mei, she insulted him, calling him a "miserable old fool". Pai Mei instantly plucked her right eye out for her disrespect. Driver got her revenge by poisoning his dinner of fish heads, killing him.
[edit] Age
According to Bill's narration, the incident in which Pai Mei kills the monks of the Shaolin Temple occurs in the year 1003. However, David Carradine claims to have flubbed the one-double-aught-three line, mistakingly pronouncing the year 1883. As Pai Mei claims to be 150 in the original script, this explanation seems likely.
The mention of the date is subtle, as is the cinematic tie between Bill's telling of the legend and the modern training Kiddo undergoes — handled as both a separate chapter and a flashback within a later story arc. It may also be that Pai Mei is only a title and that there have been other head priests of the White Lotus Clan with the title of Pai Mei over the centuries and that he may not be immortal after all.
[edit] See also
- Eagle Claw, the kung-fu style of Pai Mei.
