In your opinion, have things in the entertainment business gotten better for Asian and Asian American representation? What positive examples can you think of? What about negative? How unique do you think Morita's position was in the entertainment business back then as an Asian American? What kinds of challenges did he encounter that non-Asian American actors did not? How did Morita himself feel about being Asian in the industry? How did he navigate these challenges?ĭiscuss cultural appropriation and whitewashing. More Than Miyagi: The Pat Morita Story highlights Morita's start as a comedian then as an actor. Show moreįamilies can talk about race and representation in movies. cinema's history of whitewashing Asian roles and racist Asian characterizations and representations, like Mickey Rooney as Mr. There's also a brief section that nicely but briefly covers U.S.
The film also has a decent amount of historical covering that features footage and pictures from the Japanese internment camps and U.S. Watching his downfall is the saddest part of this documentary and yet another reminder of the dangers and tragedy of alcoholism that not only affect the abuser or addicted, but also everyone around them. Miyagi in The Karate Kid, Morita was decades deep in a lifelong addiction to alcohol. But by the time his career really took off with his Oscar-nominated portrayal of Mr. Many of his characters didn't have accents (Morita himself didn't have one and couldn't speak Japanese) but many did. Often times he leaned into it, playing with different Asian accents, like how his Chinese accent for Arnold was supposed to be for a character originally meant to be Japanese. Not so much an activist as a survivor always looking to be funny first, Morita nevertheless still encountered incredible forms, structures, and instances of racism throughout his life and career. There's so much great Pat Morita footage here that proves how compelling an entertainer he was. More Than Miyagi : The Pat Morita Story is a solid documentary about an Asian American entertainment pioneer. Some jokes of Morita's are slightly sexual in nature. A few sexist remarks like, "Are you a girl? Punch like a man!" and "The new Karate Kid has nicer legs" (about his new The Next Karate Kid co-star, Hillary Swank). Language includes "bulls-t" and "ass," but there's strong racialized language throughout, such as "Jap," "Nip," and "Yellow" and lots of jokes that capitalize on or target race. A few scenes of Morita smoking marijuana out of a large bong pipe.
There's a fair amount of footage and pictures that show Morita drinking, drunk, and/or behaving wildly. The documentary also doesn't hide from Morita's flaws, personal demons, and alcoholism. There's lots of discussion of the racial challenges in Hollywood Morita faced, his personal traumatic history through his long childhood hospital stay from age 2 to 11, and his experience during the Japanese internment camps. It's an intimate and at times touching biography of an Asian American pioneer, comic, and actor in a more White-dominated entertainment industry than today.
#Miyagi actor movie
Expect lots of footage, highlights, and clips from Morita's television and movie career, as well as a fair amount of personal home video footage from his later years. Parents need to know that More Than Miyagi: The Pat Morita Story is a documentary about the comic, actor, and star of The Karate Kid movies, Pat Morita.
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