David Carradine---wassup with him?

[I Hate Ashida Kim]

Mr. Miyagi didn't really have an accent?

[sanjuro_ronin]

Mr. Miyagi didn't really have an accent?

Pat Morita spoke without an accent, yes.

[I Hate Ashida Kim]

Pat Morita spoke without an accent, yes.

brb, checking youtube.

[I Hate Ashida Kim]

You weren't kidding!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoBe...eature=related

[sanjuro_ronin]

In the TV series Ohara, Pat speaks without an accent.

[Jimbo]

It's ridiculous in the vid's comments section, the ones who thought Pat Morita couldn't speak English, or they're so surprised he could. Like all people who happen to have Asian ancestry can't speak English, or can only speak it with some 'funny' accent. In this day and age, there's no excuse for such ignorance.

[Kellen Bassette]

No intention of speaking ill of the dead via auto-erotic asphyxiation...but if people are commenting on an 11 year old post, for what it's worth; I trained under Shi De Ru for a while. Not sure when or where, but according to him, Carradine came to train with him at one point.

I mentioned his name in front of Shifu once and he got mad. He started yelling about how David Carradine doesn't know Kung Fu, he doesn't know anything! I also heard from other students he was very upset at how bad Carridines' Kung Fu was, while he was out representing it....not sure the details, just what I heard...

He was at a Karate tournament I went to as a kid, signing autographs with Cynthia Rothrock...had no idea who either of them were at the time...For the record, I still love the series Kung Fu, Kwai Chang Cain was an awesome character, even named a dog Cain, after him.....

[I Hate Ashida Kim]

It's ridiculous in the vid's comments section, the ones who thought Pat Morita couldn't speak English, or they're so surprised he could. Like all people who happen to have Asian ancestry can't speak English, or can only speak it with some 'funny' accent. In this day and age, there's no excuse for such ignorance.

Orrrrrrrrrrr it could just be that for many people born between 1970 and 1985 or so, especially living in the midwest or south, the Karate Kid was the first exposure they had to Asians and Karate, and it was imprinted in their head that Mr. Miyagi had an accent.

It's not that anyone is shocked that someone of "Asian ancestry... can only speak [English] with some 'funny' accent."

It's that growing up we watched that movie 100s of times, and Mr. Miyagi had an accent.

Mr. Miyagi had an accent.

Mr. Miyagi had an accent.

Best defense is no be there.

Mr. Miyagi had an accent.

It's ingrained in our minds.

And then we see Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita, but it's still Mr. Miyagi to us because we have him typecasted as Mr. Miyagi) speaking without an accent?

WHAT?

We've never seen that before.

It's not that we've never seen an Asian speak without an accent before

It's that we've never seen Mr. Miyagi speak without an accent before.

Ever seen a white person speak Chinese without an accent? It has a similar "wtf" effect the first few times you see it.

Way to imply racism in your post, though.

[PalmStriker]

I watched Kung Fu as a teenager, was waiting the whole series to have the camera actually show someone really kicking ass. Billy Jack movie, slightly better but no cigar. Thank God (but mostly Buddha) for Shaw Bros. Action packed asskickin' full length features with ancient asskickin' scripts, Chi-Babes, cool sound effects, cool costume/wardrobe, etc. The only place back then to see real kungfu action. , asskick. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5vDp...eature=related

[Jimbo]

Orrrrrrrrrrr it could just be that for many people born between 1970 and 1985 or so, especially living in the midwest or south, the Karate Kid was the first exposure they had to Asians and Karate, and it was imprinted in their head that Mr. Miyagi had an accent.

It's not that anyone is shocked that someone of "Asian ancestry... can only speak [English] with some 'funny' accent."

It's that growing up we watched that movie 100s of times, and Mr. Miyagi had an accent.

Mr. Miyagi had an accent.

Mr. Miyagi had an accent.

Best defense is no be there.

Mr. Miyagi had an accent.

It's ingrained in our minds.

And then we see Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita, but it's still Mr. Miyagi to us because we have him typecasted as Mr. Miyagi) speaking without an accent?

WHAT?

We've never seen that before.

It's not that we've never seen an Asian speak without an accent before

It's that we've never seen Mr. Miyagi speak without an accent before.

Ever seen a white person speak Chinese without an accent? It has a similar "wtf" effect the first few times you see it.

Way to imply racism in your post, though.

I did not say racism, I said ignorance. While racism is ignorance, ignorance in and of itself is not always racism. The guy who says "he talks good English" appears to be Chinese by his handle.

[sanjuro_ronin]

The Miyagi character was suppose to be an Okinawan that had imigrated to the US pre-WW2 and that had fought for the USA in WW2.
The accent, which was very typical of that generation, was in character.
The sensei that Miyagi was based on, Fumio Demura who was also his stunt double, had an accent also so I think there was that influence also.
Funny thing is that while Miyagi was obviously Goju, Demura was a ****o-ryu expert and the Choreographer, Pat Johnson, was Tang soo Do I think.

[Faruq]

I watched Kung Fu as a teenager, was waiting the whole series to have the camera actually show someone really kicking ass. Billy Jack movie, slightly better but no cigar. Thank God (but mostly Buddha) for Shaw Bros. Action packed asskickin' full length features with ancient asskickin' scripts, Chi-Babes, cool sound effects, cool costume/wardrobe, etc. The only place back then to see real kungfu action. , asskick. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5vDp...eature=related

I agree. The gong fu in the pilot episode of Kung Fu was the illest gong fu of the whole series (Wasn't the pilot choreographed by Ark Y Wong?)!

[sanjuro_ronin]

I agree. The gong fu in the pilot episode of Kung Fu was the illest gong fu of the whole series (Wasn't the pilot choreographed by Ark Y Wong?)!

I believe the choreography was by Praying Mantis master Kam Yuen (SP?)
In all fairness to whoever did it, they were working with David Carradine, enough said.

[Jimbo]

The Miyagi character was suppose to be an Okinawan that had imigrated to the US pre-WW2 and that had fought for the USA in WW2.
The accent, which was very typical of that generation, was in character.
The sensei that Miyagi was based on, Fumio Demura who was also his stunt double, had an accent also so I think there was that influence also.
Funny thing is that while Miyagi was obviously Goju, Demura was a ****o-ryu expert and the Choreographer, Pat Johnson, was Tang soo Do I think.

True.
My parents were Nisei (second-generation), and my father, his brothers, along with many of his generation, also had a somewhat distinctive speech pattern, not like Miyagi, but which I'm reminded of when I've heard some older Native Americans speak.

Back to Kung Fu, IMO the very best part of the whole thing was the temple demo sequence in the pilot, with Ark Wong, Kam Yuen(?), and some others. But the pilot, and probably the earlier episodes, were choreographed by David Chow.

[sanjuro_ronin]

True.
My parents were Nisei (second-generation), and my father, his brothers, along with many of his generation, also had a somewhat distinctive speech pattern, not like Miyagi, but which I'm reminded of when I've heard some older Native Americans speak.

Back to Kung Fu, IMO the very best part of the whole thing was the temple demo sequence in the pilot, with Ark Wong, Kam Yuen(?), and some others. But the pilot, and probably the earlier episodes, were choreographed by David Chow.

Yes, that flash back scene to the shaolin temple was very good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78GUyVESgqk