With the forthcoming “remake” of an 80s film very near and dear to my heart and many people who grew up in that generation -”The Karate Kid” – there is a cultural misunderstanding that needs to be addressed.

Not all Asians are the same. Chinese are not Japanese, Filipinos are not Taiwanese, and Vietnamese are not Koreans. It’s offensive to the other Asian cultures out there when you lump as all together. We might share common attributes and values but culturally we are completely different. In keeping with that line of thought, not all Asian martial arts are the same. Eskrima is not karate, hapkido is not gong fu, and kalarippayattu is not silat.

On the other side, you cannot ignore the fact that it is offensive for Asians to lump “white people” together because “you all look the same.” Is it not? Asians are not angels in this argument. Of course you could make this argument about anyone: stereotyping Americans, French people, English people, etc. There are some people who feed the stereotype and make everyone else look bad. But that is not the argument I am trying to make here.

This is an EXCELLENT opportunity to educate consumers from around the world. I call upon Overbrook (owned by star Jaden Smith’s father Will – yes THAT Will Smith) to acknowledge the differences between Chinese and Japanese martial arts and change the title. Rename it to “Kung Fu Kid” as “gong fu” will be lost on most audiences. It’s not too much to ask. It’s lazy racism when a production company funds a picture that takes place in China, lifts the plot from a movie from the 80s, and calls it a remake of “The Karate Kid” when – from the get-go – it’s incorrect. Is the production company doing themselves a favor by keeping the title “The Karate Kid”? Do they think no one will watch it unless they retain the title? I don’t know about you, but it looks like a great summer movie and I’m willing to shell out a few bucks to see it in the theater. Going to the movies is one of my favorite things to do. But just by watching the trailer, it’s clearly not the same as the original. “The Karate Kid” takes places in America; the remake takes places in China itself.

You even have America’s go-to guy for kung fu – Jackie Chan – to star in it. In his defense, Jackie did try and convince the movie’s producers to change the title throughout pre-production to post. Apparently, with the marketing that is coming down the pike, and that I have kept up with since it was announced, the name remains the same.

Don’t give me that dismissive bullshit that “it’s just a movie.” There are film studies programs all over the world that would disagree. There is an entire industry of people who would disagree. Every film has a message. It might come across as highbrow or lowbrow or completely invisible or unintentional, depending on the creator and the consumer. Any screenwriter worth their weight in gold injects a message in every script they write. Any director worth a grain of salt will pick up on it and expound on it throughout the film. It’s there. You cannot deny it even if you don’t see it.

Don’t get me started on the kerfuffle surrounding the racial revamp of 21, and the Chinese gangster in The Hangover (a movie I LOVED but it could’ve done without the stereotypical homosexuality of the character), among many others well documented on Wikipedia.

In fact, the most blatant form of racism in pop culture that is still accepted is that of yellowface, as seen in the casting of The Last Airbender, as well as the miseducation of Karl Lagerfeld.

“It is an homage to Europeans trying to look Chinese,” he explained. “Like in ‘The Good Earth’, the people in the movie liked the idea that they had to look like Chinese. Or like actors in ‘Madame Butterfly’. People around the world like to dress up as different nationalities.”

Due to anti-miscegenation laws of the time when “The Good Earth” and “Madame Butterfly” premiered, Mr. Lagerfeld, Asians were unable to be cast opposite white actors. The only way it would work is if these actors were white and pretending they were Asian. The producers of these films – as well as prevailing social norms of the time – did not want to support a picture where they see their white girls marrying Asian men. White women did not identify with a picture where their men were being romanced by an Asian woman unless she was evil (the “dragon lady” stereotype when she got her comeuppance in the end) or she was a whore (the “Suzie Wong” stereotype where he has to save her). Nor did Hollywood openly pursue Asian actors. There is the Flower Drum Song, but in the greater net of Hollywood films, there is not even a niche of Asian-dominated films in Hollywood right now or since.

This is the 21st century. These sort of things were acceptable in the 20th century but not anymore. Asians aren’t going anywhere. For many generations, we have remained as invisible as we possibly could in mainstream Western pop culture. The simple act of an accurate depiction of a martial art in film can help us educate the world over. As Americans of Asian descent, we have to fight against this blasé reaction from Western audiences any way we must.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 at 3:21 am and is filed under Commentary, Creative Writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.