Watchmen? Faugh! I Have Netflix!

[bloodyrosemccoy]

So Kung Fu Panda’s overall story was disappointing. While I like the old “magic feather” part—that everyone is special if they know how to look—I didn’t like that he came in and with one six-month training montage managed to steamroll the abilities of the six characters who spent their lives learning kung fu. I had an entire childhood to hear about my Innate Specialness; I am still having difficulty grasping how hard work, practice, and effort fit into the big picture of Getting Good At Things.

On the other hand, it has some fabulous animation in it. Good character design,* a very cool choice to have the tiger be a tigress, and holy damn what fabulous action sequences. It was total eye candy—Tai Lung’s escape from prison, the bridge battle, the practice, all of it made me want to do it myself.

Which means I ought to start doing tae kwon do again—work my way back up to be worthy of that black belt. At this point I think I’ve probably slid back down to, say, green or yellow. And this is where the effort part really cheeses me off—I am not good at tae kwon do. I hate moving, I have no stamina, I either fall asleep or start making up stories when I’m supposed to meditate, I am spatially unaware to the point where I got forms mixed up after weeks of practice.

Plus, I’m a bit puffier than I was back then.

So I worked for that belt. And if I want to get back up to speed again, I’ve got to work again. Accepting who you are is important, but working to add to who you are is a worthwhile goal, and I think we need to balance these messages out more. I’m inspired by the movie, but not by the protagonist. Work hard, kids, and you can be just like me.


Also, if you have the DVD, HOLY GODDAMN HELL watch the feature about Mr. Ping’s Noodle House.**


*We have decided that Master Shifu is the actual incarnation of Dustin Hoffman’s soul: a dignified master of his craft who is so damn cuddly and fluffy that you just want to give him a big old hug.

**Except, hey Bean: Alton Brown? Really? He's irritating. How d'you stand him?

Comments

[tay421.livejournal.com]

Since I first saw this film, I've come to notice Dustin Hoffman more and more in other films... and he is a brilliant actor. And I do love Master Shifu. He's so cute and tiny and I could just play with his ears all day long.

But I agree, I was a bit disappointed, too. Partly because of how quickly Po picked up everything, yeah, but also partly because the movie kinda made kung fu look like some kinda magical ability thing. I don't really know much about martial arts, but I think it's funny that with movies and cartoons it always turns into some kinda magical or spiritual thing instead of just going through the movements. But, that way, it's interesting, I guess.

It's a cute and funny movie regardless, though. And I did enjoy the animation, artwork, and color very much.

I only rented the movie... I don't remember if I saw the noodle house bit. Unless that was the thing about chopstick usage?

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

The noodle house bit was when Alton Brown went to a noodle house to film a pro noodle chef who picked up this blob of dough and was like *flip bounce stretch NOODLES!* It was spectacular.

Well, martial arts are traditionally meant to be tied to a philosophy, and Eastern philosophy often has elements of mysticism. Generally, though, the philosophy is more about how grueling hard work helps you achieve inner peace. Or something. I dunno; I wasn't any more peaceful, but it felt good being able to do something like that.

Dustin Hoffman is my hero, and I'm not entirely sure why.

[tay421.livejournal.com]

Darn, I somehow missed that. XD I like Alton Brown... not entirely sure why, either.

[bean-bunny.livejournal.com]

Alton Brown's on the DVD? Holy snapballs he's rocking!

I just think of Alton as a modern day Beakman. But, yanno, without the rat.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Oh, he's there for like five minutes, to commentate on a chef who does this THING that turns dough into noodles. It was AWESOME.

[childthursday.livejournal.com]

Knowing Alton Brown is on there has just become a reason for me to watch the DVD.

[fenmere.livejournal.com]

"We have decided that Master Shifu is the actual incarnation of Dustin Hoffman’s soul: a dignified master of his craft who is so damn cuddly and fluffy that you just want to give him a big old hug."

I completely agree with this!

[westrider.livejournal.com]

Alton Brown irritating? HERESY! ;)

I'm totally with you on the message thing. I really want to see more stories telling kids that yes, they're special, but they're still going to have to work their butts off to get the full potential of it.

I really wish I could find a good place to do Karate again (and afford it :( ). My skills are still in halfway decent shape, but I've forgotten most of the Kata and my conditioning is completely gone.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

*grin* Right now "starting up again" may entail doing it myself in the basement with forms printed off the internet. But you know. Still gotta try.

[westrider.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I never thought of that. I should look and see if I can find copies of the classical Kata I knew online.

[gwalla.livejournal.com]

Best Dustin Hoffman movie: Tootsie.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_wastrel/]

Yeah, I do like to see hard work valued and I actually got annoyed at that scene in the Matrix when they just download everything into Neo's brain. A lot of people don't realize that training isn't just about developing physical abilities and acquiring knowledge but about developing a new perspective about adversity, willpower to break through mental barriers and about everything you come across while you're looking for something else. Not everything can come in button mashing or pill form.

I'd have liked the 5 animals to have been less mean to Po, even though I understood their frustration, to show they'd developed the virtue they were meant to represent, but at the same time I figured the movie was trying to make a point about not letting technical skill become an excuse for looking down on those who have less of it. I kind of noticed what you said, but tried to rationalize it to myself as saying not that hard work isn't necessary, but that even though Po had been looking at and interested in kung fu for his whole life, he'd never gone to the trouble of doing that hard work because he hadn't integrated a "carrot-following" positive reinforcement system that engaged his unconscious, but that's like the Borg retro-con rationalization in Enterprise in that I realize it's only charitable fan-tweak.

That said, the movie certainly didn't disappoint me from a visual kung fu point of view, and boy did it make me want to get back into training again. I never got as far as you did, and I probably won't in a class capacity for a while if ever, but on my own, at least. Recently I've been thinking of doing other martial arts videos to music like that other one, but with furry elements and the kung fu animal styles, but I'm not sure whether that'd be a good idea or not.