The Karate Kid: Multiculturalism Without a Race

If there was a movie that would reflect the ideology of multiculturalism, it would be Harald Zwart’s remake of the Karate Kid. Whether if it’s the film’s title (an instructional video of Karate is the only glimpse of the Japanese martial art), the non-existence of racial tension, or the homogeneity of the protagonists, the Karate Kid provides the misalignment that pervades multiculturalism.

Dre Parker, played by Jaden Smith, is a character that is displaced from his home of Detroit, Michigan to move to Beijing, China where his mother has found a new job. Throughout the whole film Dre encounters agencies of antagonism within language, culture, and the social. He cannot communicate with anyone because of ignorance towards the Chinese language, he is unaware of mandatory uniforms, and is perplexed by the channels on the television (Sponge Bob Square Pants in Mandarin). The breaking point for Dre is when he’s attacked by bullies who badly beat him when he attempts to talk to his love interest Mei Ying, played by Wen Wen Han.

With the utopian ideology of multiculturalism, the bullies never once confront Dre for being a foreigner or Black for that matter. This symbolic misrepresentation negates to realize an Other in relation to race but projects the placement of an Other that is completely dislocated to an actual representation besides possible teenage angst. This displacement is the ideological distraction of a false modus operandi to the viewer (males from the ages of 8-15), giving the semblance of a Symbolic, distanced from any realistic social antagonism (race, culture, sex, religion, gender, etc).

The cohesive mediator of the protagonists’ homogeneity is the coincidental comprehension of the English language. It could be argued that further alienation projected towards the antagonists is from their non-comprehension of the English language. This widens the gap of empathy and sets the ideological location of an Other.

Interestingly enough, Chakie Chan’s role as Mr. Han, the apartment complex's maintenance man, could be perceived as an ideological contradiction. Working class man that is disconnected from any social life due to a traumatic loss of his family yet is somehow fully fluent in the English language. Of course, it could be argued that he could have comprehension from working with Westerners but encountering even working class Chinese immigrants in America, this reality is pure fabrication. Nevertheless, it’s obvious that the importance of understanding the English language in film, closes the gap of alienation and further empathizing with any transgression displayed by the character.

Of course the perplexing nature of the whole film is the relation between Dre and Mei Ying. After kissing at the festival, in which all festival participants witnessed through their reflection from the puppet show, their action prompted anger amongst Mei Ying’s family, shunning any bond with Dre and Mei Ying. This displacement of anger was intentional and solidified the ideology of multiculturalism, negating any context of racial tension.

Furthermore, the Karate Kid still attached itself to essentialist connotations towards Eastern cultures with exoticism of the orient. This motif was presented when Mr. Han took Dre to the Mountains of Wudang, providing Dre further insight in the human psyche by viewing a relationship between a woman, played by Michelle Yeoh (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - who wasn’t credited) and a cobra snake, stating that the snake was emulating the woman, not the other way around (a metaphor of dislocation that is apparent throughout the movie).

The conclusion of the movie is when Dre is participating in the Kung Fu Tournament and like the original, is hurt until the deus ex machina (what Hollywood film is complete without one?) when Dre is saved by Mr. Han’s ability to heal through the art of fire cupping (further exoticism) and inevitably wining the fight (Eurocentricism exposed once again).

So what can be learned from the Karate Kid? Just as any ideology, multiculturalism with all its naiveté can instill a sense of moral righteousness at the same time persist on with a methodology of deception and coercion, creating an idea to something that really isn’t, just like the title, Karate Kid.