who ran away from home years ago.


That's right, this is a Speed Racer post. And contrary to what</a> Liza andKyla have written here, I do not approve of this movie.

First, some background. I don't like cars. I don't like car movies. So I'm not your stereotypical "guy" in that respect. But I do like me some anime (provided it is good quality - I won't watch something just because she's a witch (and she makes fire!) despite the fact that the story is crap.) If I have any vice, it is towards large robots that transform into jets (see Macross.) I am currently watching Macross Frontier, Bleach, Naruto Shippuden, and Gundam (the original, I've never actually watched the original.) And, for the record, I do enjoy Speed Racer, the anime/American cartoon adaption. I think mostly because of the over the top acting and excited conversational patterns, including the narrator reminding the audience for the 100th time that Racer X is really Rex Racer, when it is so freaking obvious that Speed consistently comments about it throughout the serious until finally in the 50th episode (out of 52) Speed confronts Racer X only to get punched in the stomach, then while Speed unconscious, Rex reveals himself. Classic.

Where was I? Ah, right, Speed Racer the Movie. First, this was a kids movie. I can't speak for the marketing blitz in the States (since I don't live there), but if this movie wasn't marketed as a kids movie (which I get the feeling it wasn't), then people should be angry. As a kids movie, I think this works. It definitely pushed the boundaries about what visuals a kids movie can provide. Unless of course you are prone to epileptic seizures. That's fine, if the film is able to appeal to adults at different levels. Unfortunately, I think that the movie failed in that regard. Sure, there was the adult-ish plot with racing being linked to corporate takeover and whatnot, but there really wasn't much to that. I never felt any tension in the movie. Good movies build tension. This one didn't. It was very, very predictable. It always felt like Speed was going to win. (Of course he is going to win, but the appeal of a good movie is that you aren't sure that he actually is going to win.)

I have another issue with set design. As much as I love nice computer graphics (see Iron Man), the graphics should fit into the movie. They should be seamlessly integrated, and not detract from the movie experience. For me, filming in front of a green screen then adding everything else together layer by layer is not my idea of a good movie. (For an even bigger offender in this regard, see Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.) The world, though bright and cheery and whatnot, screamed fake to me. "But Kevin, it's a fucking real life anime. It's supposed to look something in between real and fake." True, but the colors and patterns were just too overwhelming for me. Maybe it was too much sixties. Instead of drawing me in, it make me want to look away (when I wasn't about to start having a seizure.)

A lot of the scenes, especially at Royalton Industries, reminded me of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, another movie that didn't really do it for me. That type of live action/animation integration was too much for me. I'm a believer that animation is best when it is kept to a minimum. The goal of special effects are to make something look real. If that illusion is broken, it ends up ruining the entire movie to me.




The movie remained true to the characters, almost too true. Again, this is the complaint about this being a kids movie. There are two groups of people who can relate to Speed Racer. There are the kids from the sixties who grew up watching this show, and there are the kids from the 80s who caught the show on reruns or on cartoon network (where I'm assuming most of you saw the show.) Perhaps they were trying too hard to maintain the 1960s feel. Because Chim-Chim and Spritle fucking pissed me off. I'm sure that if I was a kid, they would have been fucking hilarious.

Speaking of which, as a kids movie, this is really, really long. I normally don't have a long attention span, but this movie, coming in at over two hours, must of driven some of the kids insane. Unless of course the barrage of colors and lights was designed to keep them occupied. Which it very well might have been.

Lastly, we come to Rain. RRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!
Liz mentioned that the actors for this movie were perfect. I have to disagree. Some of the actors were very much out of place (Christina Ricci fucking got on my nerves every time she spoke. The real Trixi was never that annoying. Thank god they covered up her massive forehead.) But my biggest problem came from the casting of Jung Ji Hoon (Rain), Yu Nan and Hiroyuki Sanada in three of the bigger supporting actor roles. Incidentally, these are three big actors in South Korea, China and Japan, respectively. Sanada has done some good movies before (anyone see Sunshine? He was great in that - the movie was great too for the first hour or so, until it devolved into a standard horror flick), and it is based on a Japanese anime, after all. So people from Japan will at least theoretically be interested in seeing this movie. But this was Rain's and Yu Nan's US movie debut. The Wachowskis specifically grabbed people in order to make this movie a bigger hit outside the US. After all, Japan and Korea and the 2nd and 3rd largest movie markets outside the US. .

Normally, I don't have a problem with that. If the actor is a good actor, and the movie is good, then so be it. (However, when the movie is bad, like Memories of a Geisha, there is going to be a backlash when the vast majority of the actors in the movie aren't Japanese.) But when a movie has this whole anti-corporate greed message, then does something underhanded like pandering to foreign audiences in order to gain more views than they would have before. For example, check out this picture of Rain:

In my last post, I mentioned the use of the Korean folk song Arirang. I thought I'd mention some of the importance of this song has in Korean society.

Here are the "basic" lyrics to the song. Know that there are many different versions of this song, but this is the one that is most commonly associated with the song in South Korea:

Hangul

아리랑, 아리랑, 아라리요... 아리랑 고개로 넘어간다. 나를 버리고 가시는 님은 십리도 못가서 발병난다.

Romanization

Arirang, Arirang, Arariyo... Arirang gogaero neomeoganda. Nareul beorigo gasineun nimeun Simnido motgaseo balbyeongnanda.

This is something that I've come across recently that I have found extremely interesting. It started when Esther, Suejin, Tom and I went to eat at Olive Farms, an all you can eat restaurant. After a big meal, we were walking out, and I noticed a sign for 유도 (pronounced Yudo, aka Judo.) The thing that struck me was that there was a giant Korean flag in the background of this poster. It seemed to me that whatever school was teaching in Judo wanted to reaffirm their Koreaness by inserting a large Tae guk gi to cover up the Japanese martial arts of judo. Interestingly enough, closer to my apartment, I saw an ad for another judo class, this one called Arirang Judo. Arirang is the title of a very traditional Korean folk song, which can be found everywhere. I even sang it at school in front of the student body. It is about as Korean as a person can get.

Just as I was pondering this desire to make something Japanese, like judo, and surround it with strongly Korean symbols, I came across this post at Frog in a Well. It talks about the colonial police in 1938 and the practitioners of Japanese martial arts. Surprising, despite the overwhelming numbers of Japanese people in the force, it was the Korean police officers that actually had more "black belts" than the Japanese.

The article also touches upon the colonial legacy and martial arts, which I've copied below:

"The relationship between Korean martial arts and Japanese martial arts is usually a touchy one. This is because, like the history of so many other things in modern Korea, it is susceptible to what I like to call the “Colonial Death Touch.”

The Colonial Death Touch works like this. Any practice which can be demonstrated to have its origins in the Japanese colonial period, was reborn during the colonial period partly out of inspiration or imitation of some Japanese practice, or was significantly influenced by similar Japanese practices is ruled to be inauthentic. Inauthentic things, of course, cannot be authentically Korean, and thus risk, at the very least, losing its place in the national cultural or historical repository. At most, it can destroy any popularity such practices might enjoy.

The Colonial Death Touch is sometimes delivered by, for example, Japanese nationalists who want to anger their Korean neighbors. However, it is also often used domestically. For example, practitioners of Korean martial art X might claim that they are superior to martial art Y because they are “pure” Korean while martial art Y is soiled by its evil Japanese roots. I’m sure many readers familiar with Korean martial arts can think of some examples of this.

These sorts of exchanges, whoever their participants might be, are silly childish games of nationalist mudslinging. They depend on a simplistic idea of authenticity, a laughable faith in cultural uniqueness, and a conception of the colonial period as cultural and economic black hole out of which only the bright shining light of Korean national resistance can possibly shine.

One martial art that became popular during the colonial period which remained popular in the postwar period is 검도(劍道, J: Kendō) or swordsmanship. In recent years, perhaps partly due to the ever present threat of the colonial death touch, the martial art has undergone some degree of “Koreanization” while other innovations in technique, uniforms, etc. probably are more simply attributable to the evolution of all such arts across time."

And like that, my answer regarding the patriotic use of Korean symbols with Japanese martial arts has been found. But this did get me wondering about Taekwondo, that most Korean of martial arts. While looking for the date of Taekwondo's inclusion as an olympic sport (using the 100% reliable wikipedia), I noticed something about the history of Taekwondo, which I will copy from the article here (and if you want to see some of the controversy that occurs when trying to say anything from modern Korea comes directly from Japan, take a look at the talk page here.)

"During the Japanese occupation (1910-1945), the practice of tae-kyon was banned.^[4] Although the art essentially vanished^[5], some aspects of taekkyeon may have survived through underground teaching and folk custom. As the Japanese colonization established a firm foothold in Korea, the few Koreans who were able to attend Japanese universities were exposed to Okinawan and Japanese martial arts, and some received black belts in these arts. Koreans in China were also exposed to Chinese martial arts.

After World War II and the liberation of Korea, several Kwans (schools) arose. They included: Chung Do Kwan, Moo Duk Kwan, Jidokwan (or Yun Moo Kwan), Chang Moo Kwan, Han Moo Kwan, Oh Do Kwan, Jung Do Kwan, Kang Duk Won, Kyun Hyung do Kwon and Song Moo Kwan. All taught Japanese-influenced systems.^[6] Most were based on Japanese Karate, most notably Shotokan Karate. As these arts began to be taught openly by Koreans who had learned it in Japan, they were taught under such names as kongsudo and tangsudo. According to Steven D. Capener^[7]:

'This process of development can be broadly outlined as follows: Japanese karate called kongsudo or tangsudo was introduced to Korea just after liberation from Japan by Koreans who had learned karate in Japan. Upon returning, these Koreans opened karate gymnasiums promoting what they were teaching as karate, much like the process followed by the early Judo instructors. Well after these schools became established, the need to "Koreanize" was felt. The process of Koreanization consisted of three main aspects. The first was the selection of a new, non-Japanese name. The second was the creation of a system of techniques and training which was distinctly different from that of karate, and the third was the attempt to establish t'aegwondo's existence and development within the historical flow of Korean civilization.'

In 1952, at the height of the Korean War, South Korea held a massive show of patriotism, including a martial arts display where all the Kwans of Korea displayed their skills. Major Nam Tae Hi stole the show when he smashed 13 roof tiles with a forefist punch. Following the demonstration, President Syngman Rhee instructed General Choi Hong Hi to introduce the martial arts to the Korean army.^[11]

By the end of the Korean War, nine schools of martial arts had emerged, and South Korean President Syngman Rhee ordered that the various schools unify under a single system. A governmental body selected a naming committee's submission of "tae-kwon-do". Following the submission of the name "taekwondo" on April 11, 1955 by General Choi Hong Hi, the name was unanimously accepted.^[12]"

If you read the entire entry, it does seem that Korean martial arts have a long history, and that their modern forms are very distinct from modern Japanese forms. However, current Taekwondo may have originally been based on Karate. Despite this, modern taekwondo is vastly different to karate. Taekwondo is as Korean as apple pie is American (or something.) But even mentioning any Japanese influence can lead to arguments with strong supporters of Korean nationalism and of Taekwondo. I personally just find it funny that some places in the States call Taekwondo "Karate" because they believe that it will attract more students.

 

I haven't been writing much. I've been tired and stressed, worried about both the now and the future. There's been some topics I've wanted to write about, but I just had an incident that I think was really... I don't know what.

Myself and two Irish friends (Ciara and Niall) are heading off to Japan on Saturday for a quick weekend stomp around the country. Due to a series of unfortunate events (not the books nor movies), we lost our hotel. Luckily, due to some quick thinking by Niall, we were able to find a capsule hotel in Osaka for about $25 a night. I made the reservation, using my credit card, and everything seemed great.

But then, my bank never processed the payment. It was under pending authorization in my account, then suddenly nothing. I was worried. I quickly checked online, and there were no other available hotels for the weekend. I called my bank, and they hadn't seen any record of the transaction. I was told to call the hotel. This of course presents a difficulty. My Japanese is rusty to say the least. Granted, I'm using it far more here than I ever did in the States. This, combined with my irrational fear of speaking on the phone, has had me worried for practically the entire day. I couldn't sleep well last night I was so worried about making this call.

Not 15 minutes ago I finally bit the bullet and called. The call was so easy. There was a kind old lady with who I had no problem checking my reservation (still there - Thank God.) Compared to the difficulties I have with talking to Koreans everyday, this was a welcome relief.

I think that for some reason, I've become very comfortable with Japan, in a way that Korea will never be able to duplicate. There are certain features of the culture that I seem to connect with more than I do here. (Though, on a quick aside, almost every one of my Korean friends or co-teachers has exclaimed at one point or another how truly Korean I behave.) And it has to do with more than just the language gap. Politeness is something that I highly value, coming from a very polite family myself. In Korea, the standards of what is considered polite are different than back in the States. It is not uncommon to be walking in common places and have people bump into you and not even bother to acknowledge you. Not even a cursory "sorry" is offered. In fact, despite my being here two months, I don't know what the Korean equivalent to excuse me is. (Well, I do - Sillye jiman - But it's not used the same way as sumimasen.) People just tend to push their way past you. Other annoying manner issues - throwing trash on the ground (everyone does it), spitting (not nearly as bad as China, or so I've been told), people crossing streets in front of cars (simply dangerous, I saw a girl from my school get hit by a bus) and cars not obeying traffic signs (running red lights and swerving in and out of traffic like they were Jason Bourne being chashed by the Russian equivalent to 'The Jackal' .)

Will I miss Korea? You bet a will. I have orientation for Georgetown around August 20th, so I'll be out of here around August 15th. That means I have three months left in the country. I plan to enjoy myself and travel as much as possible. Maybe I'll even get to go to China, or Jeju. I'll definitely see all of my Korean friends at least one more time. But will I eventually have the same nostalgic feelings for Korea that I have for Japan? I don't really think so.

Then again, when I left Japan I was so ready to leave that country I swore I'd never go back. Go figure.