posted by Matthew Wrather on Monday, December 14th, 2009 at 1:15am
The Overthinkers answer listener email, touching on ethnic stereotypes in sitcoms, OTI muse Tilda Swinton, what’s so reliable about the Starship Reliant, how to Overthink something not worth Overthinking, and book recommendations from listeners.
Since this is a listener feedback show, we put our our monthly plea that you support us with donations and by shopping at Amazon using our affiliate link. (What to buy there? Glad you asked.)
Tell us what you think! Leave a comment, use the contact form, email us or call 20-EAT-LOG-01—that’s (203) 285-6401.
posted by Matthew Wrather on Monday, May 4th, 2009 at 12:04am
Mark Lee hosts as he, Peter Fenzel, John Perich, Ryan Sheely, and Matthew Wrather (what what?!) go through some listener feedback, pick on the host, talk racial normativity, and engage in an epic rap battle on the merits of Kanye.
Tell us what you think! Email us or call 20-EAT-LOG-01—that’s (203) 285-6401. If you haven’t yet, take the very short survey! And… spread the overthinking by forwarding this episode to a friend.
posted by lee on Thursday, December 11th, 2008 at 8:56am
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.
posted by fenzel on Tuesday, December 9th, 2008 at 12:40pm
“Hey, wax on, wax off! Hey buddy, wax on, wax off!”
If I’d heard that all the time as a kid, I’d probably get pretty damned tired of it, too. Especially if I were hyper-aware that I was hearing it because I was an Asian kid. And not Japanese either, Goddammit! I’m not, but I sympathize.
There’s no question that Kensuke Miyagi occupies a special place in the pantheon of Asian-American stereotypes, and that he’s a locus of cultural antipathy, especially among Asian-Americans.
But that antipathy is unfortunate. Not just because it is born of pain, but also because Mr. Miyagi as he appears in The Karate Kid (and not as he appears in the larger cultural phantasmagoria, or for that matter, the latter Karate Kid sequels), is not nearly so narrow or offensive a caricature.
A defense of Miyagi, and more on why that defense is important, follows…
“Hey, wax on, wax off! Hey buddy, wax on, wax off!”