Chun Li is a classic Street Fighter character with a known beef. She hates M. Bison with a passion. Her hate is understandable as he killed her father; but what has living in hate done for her? The spoilers are coming folks.
In the new movie, we find her being played by Callina Yiang and working for Bison, the man she hates. We first meet her as she scowls the world looking for fighters for his new fighting tournament. She seems to be comfortable working for him and collecting fighters for his event. She brings in Ken, Ryu, Guile, Dahlsim and Zangief and others. As the movie progresses, we find her on a phone call with a man at Interpol. He turns out to be a colleague of hers. She is undercover trying to get close to Bison to bring him to justice…or just kill him. Her anger seems more and more to be about revenge as the movie goes on.
What I found most disturbing was that she willingly took a brand, as in a mark burned on her skin, to get close to him. His symbol burned on to her hand. Of course he had his Dolls, or his female bodyguards around, so she didn’t get to attack him there. She gets a knife and plans to use it to attack him while sitting next to him at the tournament which goes awry as he decides not to attend his own event.
When she meets up with her colleague from Interpol, he takes her to their boss who wants her off the table. He knows she is going off the rails. Not that she would stop, of course. She fights him and the agents accompanying him; knocking them out so she can go back after Bison again.
If you allow yourself to be branded with the mark of your enemy, physically knock out your boss, and go after said enemy alone, are you overwhelmed with vengeance? Yes, yes, you are. If Street Fighter characters were to join the various Lantern corps she would fit for a Red Lantern, as they are all filled with rage and that is guiding her.
Anger is a normal response to such an evil as a murder of your father. It is even justifiable to a degree, but how does that affect our hearts? How was her heart affected by this? She only wanted to kill him. No thought for her own safety or even her relationships with anyone.
Jesus told us that murder and anger are just two steps on the same ladder.
“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca, is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.”
Matthew 5:21-22
Hatred leads to murder. Both literally and in our relationships. Our hatred breaks down friendships, family ties, and even marriages. The word for anger here in Greek is “orgizomenos”. The first part “orgi” means upsurging and has a very impulsive nature. Bibleportal.com says this: “This is a tragic element in drama, since it inclines people to decisive acts. A demonic excess of will combines with fate to bring disaster.”
Disaster is what we get. Bison does fight Chun Li, but only after she has fought his underlings, and he defeats her rather easily, having taken power from Ryu. Then Akuma arrives on the situation not to kill but to turn Ryu into a demon like him. Not all of this disaster is her fault; but her head-first attitude that the anger develops in her does contribute to the chaos.
How well have you processed your anger? Do you let it lead you or do you control it? James 1:20 tells us that “…human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.” Anger in and of itself is not necessarily evil, but uncontrolled and released it will destroy a person and people around them. When you feel anger it is more important than ever to take a step back, delete that angry text, and process your emotions and the situation. Find ways to calm down so you can handle the situation with a cool head. Don’t make big decisions in anger. Find someone to talk who will help you process but not exasperate it.
When we learn to handle anger well, we become more mature. When we choose not to handle it well, both we and others around us get KO’s that require a long recovery.