I LIVE!!! And I give you my opinion!
Ok, so it’s been awhile. I admit that. I could make the normal excuses of life, the universe and everything getting in the way. But the short version? I fell out of my writing groove for awhile there and let my own blocks get in the way.
I feel that I’m getting back into it though. I had sent to (extremely) rough draft of my story out to several betas and have gotten all the responses back. While waiting I did manage to work on other projects, including the next Idiotorial. XD So while I get back to work on “A Dragon Unborn” I hope you’ll all be satisfied with my editorial of the recent film “The Karate Kid.
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The 2010 remake of the cult classic “The Karate Kid” received a fair bit of teasing over the movie making use Kung Fu instead of Karate, however it is only the American release that is titled “The Karate Kid”. The film’s original title was “The Kung Fu Kid” and will be released under that title in Asian theaters. The film gained widespread approval by fans of the 1980s franchise, grossing over $50 million during its opening weekend, and a sequel has already been approved by Sony Pictures.
The new film shows respect to the original franchise in several ways. There are numerous nods to some of the classic scenes, but all are changed enough to make them humorous. There is no “wax on, wax off” of the broken down car in Jackie Chan’s home. Instead Chan spends the first two acts of the film fixing the car, only to take a sledge hammer to it at the start of the third act. Conversely, the infamous line of “Sweep the leg!” is subverted in the final fight scenes, where Jaden Smith’s leg is injured in an attempt to make him forfeit the tournament.
Both Chan and Smith make their talents clear in this film, both as actors and martial artists. Smith makes it clear that, despite his age, he is able to stand on his own talents rather than relying on his parent’s fame. The young actor trained diligently for the role, and it shows. Much of the physical work he did himself, and his skill shows through his character. The audience can feel the sense of displacement and confusion that the twelve year old character is going through as he tries to survive his new life in China.
Chan embraces the role of reluctant mentor in this film even more than he did in “Forbidden Kingdom”. Now in his mid-fifties, Chan is no longer leaping over cars and dropping down clock towers. He has only one actual fight scene in this film, and even that is done on a much lower key than his more famous fights. And why should it not be? As Chan has evolved as an actor, so has he evolved as a martial artist. Taking on the role of aged mentor is a completely natural point for his career, and it is not only commendable, but impressive how well he takes to it. His experience as both an actor and a martial artist is clear in the way he brings his character to life.
So why does “The Karate Kid” qualify for an Idiotorial. The plot is strong, the acting is fantastic throughout the cast, and even with a few holes in the script the writing itself is top notch. Well, the reason I’ve chosen to write about this film is because of the way it treats language, specifically the process of learning a new language.
The film opens with Smith’s character, Dre, and his mother moving to China because her job has been transferred overseas. The fact that they are moving is not what I want to draw attention to, nor the fact that her job has transferred her. These types of transfers happen all the time regardless of whether the person is single, married, or has a child. But there is almost always a program in place for the employee to develop at least a working knowledge of the language first. Dre and his mother board the plane while she is still learning how to greet someone and he, with the petulance of a pre-teen, is refusing to try.
Upon arriving in China, Dre meets another American who lives in the same apartment building. Even when the other boy repeats the fact that “you live in China, you might want to learn the language” Dre is still dismissive. His stubbornness is only reinforced by the fact that everyone from his Assistant Principal, the school bully, and even his romantic crush all speak English. This gives him no real motivation to learn Chinese.
I want to be clear that I’m not criticizing the character, but the script. It is realistic that a child who has been uprooted and forced to move to a country he doesn’t understand would resist any efforts to acclimate him, and Smith shows that with some very real talent. What is unrealistic is the way the script allows the character to continue to do this. Dre lives in China, attends a Chinese school, even watches Spongebob Squarepants in Chinese. But he doesn’t learn the language?
The character spends the bulk of the film training with Chan to learn Kung Fu, and while an exact timeline is never given, it is implied that this process goes for a few months at least. The fact that Dre has been 100% immersed in the Chinese language for this amount of time, but that he can hardly ask someone’s name is what is unbelievable. What happens at school? Does his teacher repeat the lessons in English for him?
All that being said there is one scene where the issue of language is treated correctly. Before the film’s climax, Dre goes to the home of Mei Ling, his romantic interest whose father has forbidden her to interact with him. Dre asks for help in translating what he wants to say so that he can be sure he says it correctly. This is one of the strongest scenes of the film. Dre knows that Mei Ling’s father is very traditional, that he has already cast a bad light on himself, and that he needs to make a good impression. He reads off his translation, and through his tone and body language you can see the respect that he is trying to show, credit to Smith for that. He succeeds, then it is revealed that Mei Ling’s father speaks English. But the scene works because of that, because Dre treated the man and his language with the respect deserved.
In closing the film is very strong. It has a good plot and more importantly, a fantastic cast. The script has some holes and the pacing drags at times. But the pros outweigh the cons. If you can ignore the way language is ignored, then you’ll enjoy the movie as much as I did. Now, before anyone says the obvious, yes I do know the film was produced for Americans so of course it will be in English. My critique is not on why English is the primary language, but the fact that Chinese is given as much treatment as it could have been. Had they included that additional aspect of language, I feel it could have made the film that much stronger.