ASIAN RELIGION IN THE KARATE KID
In this modern world everything that is presented to us through popular culture we believe it to be true. The American audience first came to know of the Asian Religion through mass media for most of the cases and even though Asian community and its religious practices gained popularity within the American people, the information mediated was only through media. This, however, led to formation of patterns in the media and certain racialized nations of Asianness and Asian religiosity[1]. These Asian religious figures portrayed to the American audience through mass-media played a significant role in determining on the role social effects of the society, leading to things such as stereotypes[2].The movie Karate Kid included many religious themes of how American audience views Asian religions to be like.
As many of you might know The Karate Kid franchise includes movies from 1984-2010, in this website my focus will be on the The Karate Kid (2010), nonetheless, I will be using references from original versions to make my argument. The movie revolves around a young kid named Dre, who moves to Beijing after his mother transfer jobs. After facing bullies for a long time, he is saved by Mr. Han who tries to resolve the dispute by talking to the bully’s kung fu teacher. But when, the teacher refuses Mr. Han agrees to train Dre to compete at a kung fu tournament.
Oriental Culture’s religious practices are believed to be spiritual, involving someone who helps other to become wiser and find peace. The most common spiritual aspects one can find in The Karate Kid are borrowed from Buddhism, Zen and Confucian ideas. These ideas and religious practices are most highlighted through various visits of Dre and Mr. Han to important locations and temple in China. In one of the school trips Dre and his classmates visit the Forbidden City which resided many Chinese emperors, introducing us to the culture. They go on a journey through the WuDang mountains so Dre can discover spiritual origins of kung fu. He is supposed to climb hundreds of flights of stairs to drink from the “Dragon Well” the temple at the peek of the mountain is the Golden Summit, and near the Nanyan Temple Dre witnesses many monasteries, academics who teach and practice meditation. Mr. Han teaches Dre hard lessons forcing him to step back from his ego and being more considerate.
Some religious beliefs the oriental cultures mentioned above, follow and are found the movie are:
Peacefulness,
Self-Restraint,
Righteousness,
Honesty,
Loyalty,
Etiquettes,
Love for the family and the dear ones.
These religious teaching can be seen throughout the movie, Mr. Han not only help Dre become a more confident, righteous person, he helps him mend his relationship with his mother and being honest to her. Mr. Han is also portrayed as a God figure in the film[3]. He helps Dre transform when he was suffering, and he believed he had no one else to lean onto. He is an important figure in Dre’s life, he helped him become a better person and was always there in times of need. Moreover, Mr. Han gives him wisdom and teaches him his religious values. Mr. Han teaches him “There is Kung Fu is Everything” when making him do daily chores, which he later reveals to him that he was actually learning defensive techniques by strengthening his muscles memory and strength when he thought he was suffering.
[1] (5) Iwamura, Jane Naomi. Virtual Orientalism: Asian Religions and American Popular Culture, Oxford University Press USA - OSO, 2011. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.qe2a-proxy.mun.ca/lib/mun/detail.action?docID=1678702 .
[2] (6) Iwamura, Jane Naomi. Virtual Orientalism: Asian Religions and American Popular Culture, Oxford University Press USA - OSO, 2011. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.qe2a-proxy.mun.ca/lib/mun/detail.action?docID=1678702 .
[3] Wilson, Naomi. “Transformational Suffering and The Karate Kid.” bethinking. https://www.bethinking.org/culture/transformational-suffering-and-the-karate-kid
However, we can argue about the biggest mistake of the movie, its title The Karate Kid. In the movie Dre is being taught Kung fu and throughout the movie it is mentioned as the same, so why call it The Karate Kid? Were they trying to undermine the fact that they are two things from two different regions? Karate’s origins are linked to Japan, whereas, Kung Fu to China. Even though, they belong to the same continent they are two very different and rich cultures. This also shows the effect of popular culture on the interpretation of religion and culture.
Nonetheless, the creators did a good job trying to represent Asian Religion in the movie. They presented their audience with the true values and religious teaching of the culture. One can even argue the values taught to Dre in the movie are somewhat similar to what is found in the Old Testament. What seemed to be the unimportant tasks play a vital role in the development of Dre, as he later
realizes.[4]
[4] Seah, Jean Elizabeth. “The Old Testament and the Karate Kid.” Ignitum Today. 28 November 2017. https://www.ignitumtoday.com/2017/11/28/old-testament-karate-kid/
Nod to Hinduism
Another very interesting representation of Oriental Religion is in the scene from the original movies is The Karate Kid 1984, where Mr. Miyagi is in his garden working and Daniel comes and starts singing a very popularized Hinduism representative. Here's a clip of the
Scene.[5]
[5] “Colonizer, colonized, and the Karate Kid.” Asian Religions in American Culture, WordPress. 23 February 2015. https://uarel371.wordpress.com/2015/02/23/colonizer-colonized-and-the-karate-kid/
.