It's also worth noting how recent a lot of 'traditional' martial arts are. Tae Kwon Do was similarly a nationalist project in post war korea. Jigoro Kano founds Judo in the late 19th century partly after reading western books on wrestling, where he adapts the fireman's carry
-
-
Replying to @Cybren @dreamingnoctis and
My understanding is that the lineage of Chinese martial arts has the *least* bullshit in it but there's still a lot of bullshit As in, "Shaolin-style kung fu" is at least a thing that there's historical attestation for earlier than the 19th century
2 replies 0 retweets 5 likes -
Replying to @arthur_affect @Cybren and
There are sources about how the fanciful idea of the "wuxia" is based on a real thing, that there was a tradition of close-quarters combat training developed by people working security for merchant caravans traveling through lawless regions of southern China in the Qing Dynasty
2 replies 1 retweet 4 likes -
Replying to @arthur_affect @Cybren and
But yeah all of that history is drenched in layers of bullshit Historically significant bullshit, sure, but still bullshit The "boxing" the Boxer Rebellion built their ideology around was, I mean, a real thing they learned but it didn't work as advertised
2 replies 0 retweets 5 likes -
Replying to @arthur_affect @Cybren and
I guess what complicates the sneering people have about weeaboos etc is that a lot of the bullshit is homegrown Like, the absurd stereotypes of "samurai" and "ninja" we have were *already there* in Japanese culture before we got wind of it, which doesn't make it any more real
2 replies 0 retweets 4 likes -
Replying to @arthur_affect @dreamingnoctis and
Yeah Bujinkan ninjitsu is mostly a load of bullshit about pop culture concepts of what ninjas are, from what I understand, but it's also an entirely japanese organization founded in the 70s
2 replies 0 retweets 1 like -
Replying to @Cybren @dreamingnoctis and
It's like how people in America were somewhat upset about The Last Samurai with Tom Cruise because it's "cultural appropriation" but people in Japan were VERY upset about it because it was far-right fascist propaganda
2 replies 0 retweets 9 likes -
Replying to @arthur_affect @Cybren and
And it's kind of condescending that the American filmmakers didn't realize that what they were doing was far-right fascist propaganda because they could only see it through a Western lens, "Those poor oppressed Japanese who've had their ancient cultural traditions diluted"
1 reply 0 retweets 5 likes -
Replying to @arthur_affect @dreamingnoctis and
Don't you feel bad for this class of warrior-nobility who have lost their place in a rapidly modernizing society, though?
1 reply 0 retweets 5 likes -
Replying to @Cybren @arthur_affect and
Yeah, it's kind of like if someone from another country did a sentimental film about the confederacy or something. Like Last Samurai really is a romanticized "lost cause" narrative. God, in a weird moment of anticipatory awfulness it even references effing Sparta FFS.
3 replies 0 retweets 4 likes
I like how there's literally a scene basically saying it's not only wrong but cruel to put weapons in the hands of ordinary peasants because they lack a true warrior spirit
-
-
Replying to @arthur_affect @Cybren and
It's also part of the weird Bush era arrogant toughness of the film. They're bringing in "warriors from America". Who fought native Americans. But to assuage audience guilt SOMEWHAT he KINDA feels bad about it sort of.
2 replies 0 retweets 2 likes -
Replying to @dreamingnoctis @arthur_affect and
Yeah, though like, at that point, it's basically the same myth in two different continents. Not for nothing does Westworld also have a Samurai World, where they literally use the same storylines.
0 replies 0 retweets 1 like
End of conversation
New conversation -
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.