Matthew Wrather hosts a panel including Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, David Shechner, and special guest “Al” to wrap up Karate Kid Week, including:

• A final word on the racial message of The Karate Kid
• An extremely detailed look at LA’s San Fernando Valley
• The 1987 Ford Tempo
• Digressions into Barbie, Spaceballs, and Winnebagoes
• Some more about the geography of Los Angeles
• The Coming Remake (reboot? travesty?) of The Karate Kid

As always, email us at podcast AT overthinkingit DOT com with your comments, or call 20-EAT-LOG-01 (that’s (203) 285-6401) to leave a voicemail.

Download Episode 24 (MP3)

[Karate Kid Week continues with another--more lighthearted--look at Mr. Miyagi, this one from guest writer Trevor Seigler. Let us know what you think in the comments; our guest writers are perpetually entered in the All-Valley Blogging Tournament of your approval (and your favorites might attain the Elizabeth Shue of membership in the elite cadre of OTI staff writers.) --Ed.]

A lot of Asian-Americans have issues with Pat Morita’s portrayal of Mr. Miyagi in the “Karate Kid” series. He’s a crude stereotype who conforms to the idea of the noble savage in that he’s steeped in a foreign and alien culture but able to help out the white man and thus become a “credit” to his race.

All that is true, but I think Mr. Miyagi is guilty of another crime altogether: He’s Yoda in blackface. 

Word comes today (via Defamer) that the coming remake of The Karate Kid set to star Will Smith’s son Jaden will be less a remake and more–um–a fucking travesty.

It seems that due to the financial participation of the China Film Group, the film’s location will be moved from the San Fernando Valley to China, where a Chinese mentor will instruct young Jaden in the ways of a martial art other than karate. Will Smith is at pains to explain that this is in fact a good thing:

“Fortunately, karate is originally a Chinese art form, so that’s the area we’re playing around in.” (Ed. Note: Though karate was developed in Japan, it is based upon Kenpō, a Chinese fighting style.)

I’m not sure I’m willing to grant that adverb… “Fortunately” implies that we should somehow be glad that the source material needed slightly less lube before violation (or, rather, “playing around”). As if she deserves it for dressing in such a skimpy gi.

We’ve had some spirited debate on the site this week about the racial implications of a character like Mr. Miyagi who, for better or worse, became a kind of pop-culture mascot for American perception of its rising Asian population. Kidding aside, I can’t help but think that taking such a monumental change (can they even call it The Karate Kid anymore?) so lightly conceals the insidious racism that minimizes real differences in customs, history, and culture among Asian peoples because, after all, they all have slanty eyes.

In other words: “Those martial arts all look the same to me.”

I think one of the things that makes Miyagi so cool is that he’s largely an enigma. Does anyone know how he made the money to afford all those antique cars? And if he’s so rich, why’s he working as a handyman? Then, there’s the allusion to his military service. Personally, the idea of Mr. Miyagi at war always fascinated me.  He’s an unstoppable badass as an old man; how much ass could he have kicked in his prime, if he had something to fight for?

About three years ago, I decided to write a WWII action movie. One of the characters is a young private named Kesuke Miyagi. He’s fighting in Italy when he hears that his wife has died in childbirth. Furious at America for keeping her in an internment camp, he deserts his unit to go drown his sorrows. When the Military Police try to take him in, he lashes out and almost kills one of them. He’s court-martialed and sentenced to death. But a Major who’s familiar with Miyagi’s karate skills offers him a deal: go on a dangerous mission behind enemy lines, and maybe you’ll get a pardon. (Yes, I’ve seen The Dirty Dozen, what of it?)

In the scene below, the Major and Miyagi take advantage of an air raid in Munich to barricade themselves in a bomb shelter with a group of military wives, who they hope can lead them to their target. And now, without further ado, here’s an excerpt from The Man Who Killed Hitler.

I’m the only Asian American writer at OTI, and I’m one of those Asian Americans referred to in the previous post Reclaiming Miyagi that has beef with this character. Specifically, mine is with that (in)famous phrase, “Wax On, Wax Off”:

In a fit of Angry Asian Male Rage, I did a little video editing and voice-over to see what would happen if Mr. Miyagi lost the Asian Accent. See the remix, and what inspired it, after the jump.