Login
So, yeah: I mean, it does promise to be a better movie than “Rocky”, right, (although that is how I found it: same director; I’d hate to write somebody off after 90 minutes of exposure to them, right)—“Rocky” was some serious sucking up, right—[edit] and yeah: the title character kid, does seem like a bit less like the Generic White American, than I was expecting, right. He lives with a single mother; he’s sour; he isn’t gleeful, just to be within the literal state borders of California, right…. I think I’ve seen worse than this, right. [edit ends]
[And yeah:] I know that people get tired of hearing me mouth off about a John Tolkien, right: (smiles) But [edits] Eh: I’m in a good mood—forget about it. [edit ends].
…. Yeah, better than “Rocky”, or the Peter Jackson Saga, you know: just like I thought…. Better than I thought, actually. It’s cute; it’s subtle…. God, I’m actually watching a movie: and I don’t feel like I’m being indoctrinated by the Fun-Loving SS, you know…. The fascist ‘party’, you know….
God, the karate guy is an Asian repairman, right! Gosh, why don’t I learn how to repair things! It’s a useful skill! Girls like it better than fucking military history trivia night, right?….
…. You know, for a basic story, this is not a bad romance plot: pretty girl, of course; she likes how the guy looks, not that he fucking purchases her for sex slavery and drudgery, (1); there’s light crudeness from the guys for realism, but the hero is relatively decent, ‘because guys should be decent, not “boys”’ (2); they bond over soccer, a sport played by both boys and girls (3).
It’s really fully non-terrible, right.
…. And the antagonist is (a) a human being and not an “orc”, right: “this year I’ll behave right in school; I’ll change”; even though he immediately (b) embodies the fault of male possessiveness, an actual problem in the world, right.
…. —The call to adventure: a feud with somebody’s bully ex-boyfriend, entirely competent.
—implied that studying from books is possible, but personal instruction is preferable (+)
—the hero tries to buy the girl’s affections, even though he has no money and she likes him, even when he appears foolish (-)
—a military veteran might be an antagonist (or your teen antagonist’s teacher) (+)
—your mom, a woman, might become a manager, but that doesn’t really do anything for you (-)
—you can talk about girls with your mom, albeit in this absurd “blonde is beautiful” kind of way (+)
It’s funny how I feel like I’m scoring a baseball game or something, but it is very simple, very cute, and very mixed: all three.
…. “I don’t understand the rules.”
“Get off my case.”
He does seem to blame the girls/women in his life, for getting beaten up by the other male, right. I wonder if the Mysterious Asian Man can help with that, right? (They can borrow the Time Machine from Back to the Future and watch “Crazy Rich Asians”, right, learn about gender issues.)
He is a bit like a typical whiny pop music male, almost: less tough than other males, whiny, demanding and/or avoidant with girls, right. (chuckles) And that’s what makes him beautiful—he doesn’t know he’s beautiful. (winks) (laughs)
I’m not sure what this tells about the director; I don’t know how America wants us to see it, right.
…. Visualization for Gardening as a Hobby by Mr. Miyagi (thumbs up)
…. The Halloween Dance plus the fight
That was all pretty weird, lol…. Pretty, weird…. (laughs, shrugs) But I’ll allow it.
…. This is actually a pretty good movie. Much better than those British Empire Hero movies, right…. Growing up, I didn’t realize what an important supporting character the girl is, or how it’s actually a more-or-less credible look at American racism, right. (Which I guess tells you something about my life growing up, right?)
…. And there is such a thing as physical learning, right. The way that the karate school teacher carries himself, right: that says a lot more about American racism than any crazy thing they can have him have them say, right: or any label you could put on him, or any way I could describe it with words. It’s just sorta the way he carries himself. It’s not the shape or color of his face: but it’s in his body, like some sort of toxin from processed meat or something, right.
…. ~It’s more about the fight than the victory, kid. The victory is giving it heart, giving it fight, not the result. ~translated into fluent vernacular English, lol
It’s too bad that the California Kid got three movies, and the girl, the so-called Next California Kid, right, (needs a girl singer-songwriter song about liars, lol), only got one…. Although a number of years later, they started making Karate Kid movies with prominent Black talent, right….
But aside from that, it’s not a bad story. It really isn’t, right…. (sighs) Life is strange. It really isn’t about the result, you know.
…. And now we’re into the “training scene(s) segment(s), just like “Rocky”, lol…. Kinda better than Rocky, kinda the same….
I like the idea of commitment being the “deal” though, right. Karate-craft, if you will, any craft…. You decide what you do in life: but you decide to do it well, right.
…. (narrating to himself) I mean, sure, I coulda told her my mentor had my back, but I figure it’s more of a male thing to be a lying macho pig: and then smile, you know. Yeah, the Smiling American….
And then, wow: 1980s white middle class parents; that’s rough…. That’s just a lot, right.
And yeah: it’s all fun and games, until someone makes a joke about money, right. “Make joke, money: no forgive. America. Hai!” (the other Japanese guy he’s gossiping with considers this carefully, while silently stirring tea, right)
…. It’s hilarious how learning Asian fighting culture is the same as learning to be a repairman, right.
(John G. Avildsen) Imagine what we could do if only we believed in ourselves, (accidentally says out loud) and all that other shit, people pretend to believe, etcetera, etcetera….
“What do you suppose the action step associated with that would be?”
(John A.) (writing check) (looks up) I’m sorry, what was the question?
Although I have to admit, I do like them better when they pretend to try, right. “Balance good. Karate good. Everything good.” Everything good: that’s a change of pace, right; not something Rocky would say, right….
Although, yeah: it’s also hilarious that, even though there are occasionally movies about white guys beating the crap out of Black guys, right—did this guy ever make a boxing movie, right?—when white guys decide to become pacifists, it’s almost always because people of color have entered the chat, so to speak, omg….
~and omg: white middle class 1980s fathers, holy…. Wow! (shakes head) We should call the United Nations, right? Being-rights have been violated; (Hollywood Japanese-English) Horse have right. Horse choose, right. Horse no want father, take mate away. Hai! (bows)
…. (the cover) Did they really dress the protagonist in white, and the antagonist in black? Wow: anti-racism in 1984, right: anti-racism, with a wink….
I have kinda a long sitting, for me, if I were to finish it: but I feel like shit; maybe I could get it all in…. I do, though: I feel almost physically ill, because I finally figured out the lies I’ve told about love: wow: figuring out your life = bad decision, lol…. Yeah: when life is hard, entertainment-propaganda helps, omfg….
(starts sitting) (Mr. Miyagi: teaching/humiliating/laughing uproariously)
Bro: God is a karate teacher: I am not joking, right now. Okay.
…. “I’ll decide if we dance, thanks. I’m bigger than you are.”
If there were any justice in the world, it wouldn’t have taken them ten years to make Karate Girl: the Movie, and there would have been a goddamn sequel, right.
…. (Karate Kid: Stolen Date, Stolen Kiss)
That shouldn’t have to happen, right. She wouldn’t even have to win the fight with her ex-boyfriend, like in fucking boxing-match-scores terms, right. All she has to do is embarrass him until security arrives, and then, when security arrives, whatever happens: nobody is going to be bloody dancing, right.
But nobody teaches girls how to take up space, right.
…. (drinking with his dead wife)
That was a great fucking scene. I know it’s only “The Karate Kid”: but that one scene—was outstanding. Film matters.
…. And Daniel has a friend. It’s good.
…. (shaming the disloyal rich girl)
OMG…. Just stop…. (And on and on: the reconciliation) Just stop being, an American male, you know…. (shakes head) I just hate how that’s what they’re being told to accept—you know, by, (DVD), John G. Avildsen, right: why would anyone want to accept that, right? Wouldn’t anybody in that situation want to have a little self-respect?…. (he lets her drive: but he tells her how to drive) God, that’s how my dad is with his second wife, right; it irritates the shit out of me…. It’s like…. Excuse me, I exist? Please act like people, both of you, thanks?…. (chuckles) It’s like, no one can take that forever, you know. Eventually you become a bad person, you know?
…. It’s like “The Power of One” book, right. I suck; I’m crap…. Just kidding: I’m the god of war, (cranks music, fighting montage fast-forwards, right).
…. (montage ends) I’ll admit it: fighting is amusing…. The Morrigan (I asked her through tarot, lol) was right, that one time: it has its place, even in me…. It’s funny, American football is over the top, it doesn’t seem real, so it doesn’t bother me; but soccer it’s like, they really hurt each other, and it seems real, you know…. But it’s like: learning a lesson, right—a physical lesson. This is how you survive, you know…. I don’t know how to explain it.
…. (the final part) It’s a weird story…. Not a bad story, though. Better than the “Power of One”, book, though…. The internet rumors must have been right: there was a lot of illegal stuff about those fights at the end….
There is a lesson. I don’t know that I know it in words…. It’s like….
It’s like, the lesson is, you’re still standing at the end of it, you know. You don’t feel sorry for yourself. Pride, you know. Pride is a dangerous, necessary, thing, you know….
…. Although it is curious: how they showed you how it would have been if he had “lost”, right: very much losing with an asterisk on his loss, and the other guy’s win, right; and no one even suggested, that there was any dishonor in it for Daniel, that being the “end”, right. It’s really not a bad movie: not uncommon, but nothing seriously dishonorable about it, in that sense. Very competent.
….. After-note: And I swear to god and Fate: when I was finishing editing the review for auto-mis-corrects, right: this was the song playing:
“And they’ll tell you now you’re the lucky one;
Yeah, they’ll tell you now you’re the lucky one:
Can you tell me now you’re the lucky one?
Oh, oh, oh….
It was a few years later, I showed up here,
And they still tell the legend of how you disappear:
How you took the money and your dignity and got the hell out!
They say you bought a bunch of land somewhere,
Chose the, rose garden over Madison Square:
And it took some time, but I understand it now….
Cause now my name is up in lights:
But I think you got it right—
Let me tell you now, you’re the lucky one!
Let me tell you now, you’re the lucky one!
Let me tell you now you’re the lucky one: oh, oh, oh….”
And that is not from some bloody country album, right…. But yeah: for me, the gods are entirely worthy of worship—because they explain things to me, right; a god is just like a director; the divine art is juxtaposition, right: it is just like making film….
~But yeah, this movie is fine. It’s not really a lie; what more do you rationally hope for, right?
…. But yeah: it’s funny, the body is a lesson, right. Words have importance, but…. I mean, it is true that the Cobra Kai head coach’s character is revealed at the end, through his behavior (speech), right. But it’s there in his kinda body-speech as soon as he’s introduced. Not his verbal speech, to the same extent. Some people say “no mercy”, but they don’t mean immorality by it. They mean no pity, no patronizing, no weakness: be strong, right. The presence of honor is often ambivalent from the analysis of rationality and words. But the way he holds himself: you know, on some level, even if you don’t realize it consciously, that he’s saying, “I will break the rules, if it’s the only way to ‘win’”, right. No one is really surprised by his behavior, and that is largely because of his body-speech, right.
