I am not what you might call a huge television guy. On average, I probably watch less than an hour or so of television shows and/or television straight up on a typical day. Perhaps it was all those warnings, back in the eighties and nineties, about the perils of growing addicted to television. Or perhaps I just instinctively tread with caution whenever there are cultural trends that I tend to feel some suspicion towards, for better or for worse.
A television show really has to have stood out in some way for me to decide to go ahead and begin watching it, and even then, it is usually with some hesitation. After all, people hype a lot of shows that, frankly, I have absolutely no interest in watching so much as a single episode of. That show about the tiger man is one of the most recent examples. A whole slew of so-called “reality TV” shows would be another example. Sorry, but I do not have any interest in “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” or in “The Bachelor,” and very little interest in shows that even some people close to me like, such as “America’s Got Talent” or similar shows. It seems often that people are talking about them, and I have no real interest in pursuing them, and even then, I find myself having no desire to start watching.
Usually, it is only when a show gets a lot of positive press, and when people I really like and respect speak highly of it, as well, that I finally go ahead and opt to That was the case with The Walking Dead, and then Game of Thrones. I kept hearing about them, again and again, and still resisted. After a while, though, they seemed good enough to committing to finally see them, and I was glad when I did, especially with Game of Thrones.
There have been some other shows that intrigued me, and one of them was Cobra Kai. There were a couple of reasons for this. First of all, I really did enjoy those old Karate Kid movies. Secondly, they were offering the first two episodes for free on Youtube, which seemed to be a bit of confidence in the product.
So I tuned in, and sure enough, the episodes were pretty intriguing, and I wanted to keep watching. Now, I have seen every episode for all three seasons, and look forward to the fourth season, as well.
But that is not what this is about.
Recently, the show received some serious criticism for being too politically incorrect, in terms of diversity.
Here is one of the criticisms that began to make news recently:
The Los Angeles Times ran a profile on the show that traced its journey through development and the transition from YouTube to Netflix, before calling out creators Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg by saying the following:
“There are now three white men at the center of Cobra Kai, a franchise rooted in and deeply indebted to Eastern tradition. After 30 episodes on two platforms, Cobra Kai has yet to cast an Asian lead.”
The creators of the show responded to the criticism:
“We would have loved if there was a Miyagi son or daughter that was floating around in the lineage and the canon of the movie to play with. We inherited the story that felt like the natural continuation, where for better or worse you are dealing with Johnny and Daniel as your protagonists.”
One thing that I have to say: I thought that this show actually displayed considerable diversity in so many respects, and that this helped to revive the story behind those old Karate Kid movies, giving it a new, modern twist. It surprised me on some level that the show would garner such criticisms, although I am not sure that this is not a case of someone going out of their way to find a problem.
Yes, I guess you can say that, when looked specifically through the prism of this particular viewpoint pushed forward by the New York Times, it does seem that three straight white men are in charge of things on the show. And indeed, that might offend some. But the whole idea behind the show was simply to kind of revive those old movies and use the original cast of characters that were available, and place them in modern times. That would be difficult to do without, well, the actual original characters, and the three main surviving actors/characters from the movies happen to be straight white men, for better or for worse.
The show features the main characters from the original franchise, which also featured Pat Morita, who played the iconic character Mr. Miyagi. Unfortunately, he died some years ago, and so was not going to be available. And short of CGI, there was not going to be any way to bring him back. Surely, I cannot be the only one thankful that they did not reintroduce him using CGI.
Now, I guess indeed, the idea that three straight white men would be in charge might be deemed offensive to some. And before I go further, it should be disclosed here that I also am a straight white man. That said, it feels to me like the Los Angeles Times is trying to create a problem where none existed until now. Again, the show actually features a diverse band of characters that cross the racial spectrum. There are prominent Hispanics and African-Americans, and quite a few female students, as well. The idea that the show seemed to be going for was passing down the gift of Karate, both as a philosophy and, yes, as a technique for self-defense, down to a new generation. And it would be difficult to do that without the old characters from the original movies.
That is to say that, quite frankly, it seems that maybe the Los Angeles Times should not necessarily take the liberty of establishing itself as some kind of diversity police. The show is enticing for the sometimes brilliant mixture of drama as well as for the nostalgia that the show offers, and which was the main draw to begin with. You do get interested in the characters (and not just the three white guys, either), and you do want to tune into the next episode to see what happens. Many of the characters have gone through interesting story arcs and faced fascinating dilemmas that have altered the nature of the characters, for better and, in some cases, for worse. Some serious issues have been addressed, including substance abuse, depression, bullying, peer pressure, popularity, class divisions, and perhaps some others that are not immediately coming to mind. All of this has added to the intrigue that the show offers.
Focusing too narrowly on satisfying someone's idea of purity when it comes to the diversity police can stifle that kind of creative energy. If the writers suddenly are going to be worried about the perception that the show promotes the facade, or at least some vestiges, of white supremacy, when I think an argument can be made that it actually feels to me like it promotes diversity, it may risk stagnating many of the wonderful ideas and writing that has been going on with the show. And that would be unfortunate.
Now, I am not what most people would consider a FOX News kind of guy. I absolutely loathe Trumpism, and always felt that Trump promotes intolerance and a passive-aggressive form of white supremacy. But that said, I think that we risk going too far the other way at times. FOX and the Trump crowd love to talk about cancel culture, and even though I think that those criticisms tend to be exaggerated and self-serving when they claim victimhood, it nevertheless can be quite problematic when we too blindly try to promote some kind of strict diversity quota, without any recognition of context.
Bill Maher, who I sometimes agree with, and sometimes intensely disagree with, made a valid point recently in this regard. After a similar kind of controversy regarding movies and enforcing someone's ideas of promoting diversity as a prerequisite for consideration to winning some of the industry's prestigious awards Maher argued that such a blindly strict quota will likely stifle creativity and trigger constant fears about offending people instead. He suggested that there would be a serious degree of irony by suggesting that a movie like Schindler's List perhaps might not able to be made today specifically because the makers of the movie would be fearful of offending someone else's ideas of promoting racial diversity. It seems to me that he has a point here.
Yes, I am all for diversity, and yes, I guess after it as specifically pointed out, you can indeed see the show as tacitly promoting some antiquated ideas, with three straight white men being the most powerful characters in the series. That said, however, I also think that there is a serious danger when some people, like those in the Los Angeles Times, go out of their way to find problems where, for the most part, no serious problems exist, such as the problems they see with this show. Are there not enough serious and obvious examples of blatant racism and sexism and xenophobia in this country to go around, that those people from the Los Angeles Times had to specifically find a reason to start picking on a show that, to my mind's eye, seems to have actually been a stellar example of promoting diversity for our modern times?
Cobra Kai Coming Under Fire For Lack Of Diversity by Scott Campbell, January 2021:
https://wegotthiscovered.com/tv/cobra-kai-coming-fire-lack-diversity/?utm_source=zergnet.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=zergnet_6163934
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