Daughter of the Late Pat Morita Protests Karate Kid Remake

By jozjozjoz | Thursday, June 10, 2010 | 8 Comments

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Quentin Lee’s FilmHustler blog published a great interview with Aly Morita asking her thoughts behind her protest of the new Karate Kid movie that opens this weekend.

While Edward criticized Aly for passing judgment on a film she hasn’t seen, I believe Aly does a great job in expressing her thoughts and reasoning of why she does not support The Karate Kid. She says, “My issues are based from my point-of-view as an Asian American, and my stake is mostly Asian American. I feel that the remake is a blatant disregard of Asian American issues and concerns. The most obvious fact is that they interchange Kung Fu and Karate.” She also points out the flaws of the original film– including her struggles with the Mr. Miyagi character who her father portrayed– and says that the remake simply rehashes many of the same themes which were problematic with the original 1984 film. Much more poignantly, she gives us insights to her father’s acceptance of the role and how much influence Pat Morita had in creating Mr Miyagi as an icon.

[FilmHustler]: How did you feel about you dad’s success as Mr. Miyagi?
I was embarrassed by my dad playing Mr. Miyagi in the height of his 80s’ popularity. I was constantly having problems with it as my own identity politics grew. Eventually I was able to separate my struggle and my dad’s struggle.

My dad fought fought tooth and nail for that role. He struggled and struggled as an actor. After Happy Days, he got his own TV series developed but it got canceled. He went into depression and came from the bottom when Karate Kid happened. He was ready for it and knew he had to work hard for it.

The role of Mr. Miyagi could easily have been a two dimensional character. But it was really the chemistry between Ralph Macchio and my dad that made it so special. A lot of those one-liners and jokes were very much my dad’s. He poured his heart and soul into that role.

While it may be interesting to discuss and debate the flaws of the Mr Miyagi character 25 years later, what cannot be denied are a few points:

Pat Morita was an Asian American actor and the original Karate Kid made him a star in the true sense of the word, even garnering him an Oscar nomination for the role.
The Mr. Miyagi character was an Asian American– and even included aspects of Asian American history like being a decorated veteran of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.
The success of the original Karate Kid was groundbreaking because an Asian American was the hero of a film, showing for the first time that a film with an Asian American lead actor and character could be not only a true blockbuster, but a beloved one, as well.

Though the inevitable comparisons between Pat Morita’s Mr. Miyagi and Jackie Chan’s Mr. Han will likely be about the character’s lines and teaching styles, I wonder how many people will remember that former is Asian AMERICAN and that the latter is (essentially) Asian. For those of us who identify as Asian American (and not Asian from Asia), this happens to be a big difference, but one that many will likely be swept under the rug.

I don’t know how much traction her Facebook campaign to Boycott the Karate Kid Remake is going to garner, I admire Aly’s convictions and willingness to speak up and to share her personal reasoning for her stance. (For the record, I personally am NOT boycotting this film; I have not joined the above-mentioned FB page.)

Photo credit: FilmHustler

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Colleen Tracey

I miss Pat ! I always had liked him, but when they introduced the new movie , I though that was an insult to his memory, I think Hollywood should start looking elsewhere to get stories instead of re doing classics!

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Krantzstone

Actually, I haven't watched that (I've never seen the original 'Wild Wild West' so it didn't hold any great appeal for me), but I heard it was pretty bad. The story of the giant mechanical spider as told by Kevin Smith made the whole movie sound like some misguided producers messing about where they shouldn't.

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bigWOWO

The original was a classic. Miyagi may have been a stereotype on the surface, but as Aly correctly mentions, what made the original a classic was the relationship between Daniel-San and Miyagi. You had the fatherless boy from New Jersey who was dealing with teenage angst and bullying at the same time, and you had the solitary older man who was looking for meaning. It was a great story. Did it have some problems with stereotypes? Yes. But overall if you look beyond the surface, there was also an endearing story there.

Aly is right in calling for people to avoid this in the theater. It's exploitation, and Will Smith is using his star power and nepotism to rake in the money at the expense of the original production. He's jumping on the China bandwagon since China is all over the news and will continue to be in the news with Red Dawn. I haven't seen the movie yet--and I don't intend to see it, in the theaters or otherwise--but I've found that I usually have problems with American movies set in Asia where the main star isn't Asian; usually the Asians are just scenery to help make the story for the White (or in this case, black) protagonist. It's exploitative because Asian Americans in Hollywood don't yet have the sway that others like Will Smith do; we have less agency in our own portrayals. About the other post--Jackie Chan SHOULD be second billing since he's a lesser character behind Will Smith's son. Hey, he signed up for it, so no sympathy here.

I tend to agree with some of the commenters on bigWOWO (two of whom are African American) that this one was better left alone:

http://www.bigwowo.com/2009/11/african-american...

It might be less racial with an Asian American lead, but it would still be bad. The original Karate Kid is a classic that will last forever, but it was also a product of its time. The story is old, and it was created at a time before MMA (where violence is all over) and George W. Bush (who showed how violence creates bad karma for years.) Show Pat Morita and Ralph Macchio some respect. Let their work stand without making a cheesy remake.

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ErnieAtLYD

"But really, it should not have to be stated that Will Smith should not be allowed to remake things."

Awww, you didn't like the re-imagining of "Wild Wild West?"

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Krantzstone

Yeah, I was kind of annoyed when they blatantly rode the coattails of the popularity of the original "Karate Kid' movie name yet even in the trailer, Jackie Chan mentions that what he is teaching is kung fu. It may seem all the same to some people, but I'm sure to the people who actually practise these martial arts that there are huge differences and that kind of mishmash conflation of all things Asian is yet another example of non-Asians not knowing (and not caring to know) the very real differences between various Asian nationalities and cultures.

I suppose it could have been worse, with Jackie Chan having to pretend to be Japanese-American or something, or just whitewashing the entire cast like 'The Last Airbender' and 'Prince of Persia', but I can see how someone related to the man who played the role that arguably defined the 'Karate Kid' movies might be more than a little annoyed to see a movie come out which not only steals the plot of the original movie but the title as well, yet leaving out some of the most important aspects of the original (such as the very character of Mr. Miyagi and his ethnic and cultural background, tying into the internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII).

But really, it should not have to be stated that Will Smith should not be allowed to remake things (Tom Cruise neither): his 'adaptation' of I, Robot was anything but faithful, and not particularly entertaining at that. He's a fun actor to watch, but I wish he could just keep his mitts off any more remakes if he's not going to do a faithful remake of the original, or at least an interesting reboot.

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Edward Hong

I'm down for making the superior version of this film, with an Asian American kid and an Asian/Asian American mentor. But wait, that would mean it would be another remake...

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Aly_Mo

Thank you for posting this, JozJozJoz (!?). :-) I appreciate all that you've written. I replied to Edward's post that I want to make it clear to everyone that I am simply asking people to not pay to see the movie in theaters. Wait for it to come out on DVD or Netflix. As I wrote on his post, I'm sure the remake is a thoroughly entertaining film and I don't have to see it to know that it will be. The "Karate Kid" story is charming and timeless and Will Smith knew this when he bought the franchise for his son to star in. The flagrant display of Hollywood nepotism is also what I find problematic about the remake and I hope that others will recognize it, too. I'm just asking that people think about where their money is going and to consider the ongoing lack of concern or respect for Asian American issues.

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