From Overseas Press

Lessons from the new "Karate Kid"

(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-06-29 13:52

A 1984 American movie talked about the US' leading role in the world, while its 2010 remake reflected "the end of the American century" and how "the world's center of gravity" has shifted to China, said an article in the Washington Post on June 27.

The article explained that America was "a land of exterior allure and interior motion" in the old version of the movie "The Karate Kid." The country was "a superpower at the height of its Cold War influence" and a "melting pot at its most potent." The two main characters in the movie were a Japanese karate master and an Italian American kid, which reflected America's concern about import, trade deficits and currencies with Japan in the 1970s and early 1980s.

However, in the new version, which stars Hong Kong kungfu star Jackie Chan, Japanese elements have disappeared from the story because of the country's stagnated economy. Instead, the movie seemed to be "a two-hour-plus advertisement" for China, featuring Beijing's "stunning landscapes, smog-free skies and a Forbidden City void of police."

In this movie, "America is no longer the land of opportunity," so that the boy protagonist has left the economic mayhem of the US with his mother, to a presumably thriving factory in China.

It analyzed that the move reflected a "full-blown inversion of the immigration patterns that defined the modern global economy." "If the United States is no longer a beacon for ambitious immigrants-and indeed is exporting bright young families-maybe it is in decline."

On the contrary, China seemed to be the future, from the movie's perspective. The boy was "awed by the sparkling Olympic village, the cute young women, the parks buzzing with activity-tai chi, soccer, basketball and music."

Besides these plot lines that featured China's development, the article also pointed out that the kungfu master in the movie was a man with an "environmental conscience." He told the new American immigrants to switch on the water heater before using and turn it off after showering. "Put in a switch, and save the planet," he said.