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Now that Cobra Kai has a bigger Netflix platform, its whiteness is even more glaring as a TV series rooted in East Asian


https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2021-01-08/netflix-cobra-kai-season-3-diversity

Cobra Kai has no Asian lead actors or any writers of Asian descent. It's especially glaring with the show now revolving around three white men while being rooted in and deeply indebted to Eastern tradition. “Except for the Latino character of Miguel, all the other people of color are outside of that main cast, so it actually doesn’t show as a diverse show in a sense,” said Ana-Christina Ramón, co-author of UCLA’s annual Hollywood Diversity Report. “The thing I’d like to see them do is to go beyond this suburban idyllic space, this white pocket dimension, more deeply,” adds writer and podcaster Jeff Yang, the father of former Fresh Off the Boat star Hudson Yang, who has covered Cobra Kai for Quartz. “What if they actually did encounter people who embraced martial arts not just to overcome bullying, but because it’s part of a larger tradition that exists within people of color communities?” The lack of Asian representation among the writers and lead actors is also notable considering two of Cobra Kai's co-creators, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, were responsible for writing the groundbreaking Asian-American film franchise Harold & Kumar, starring John Cho and Kal Penn. Hurwitz and Schlossberg and fellow co-creator Jon Heald say they're aware of the criticism. "Having made Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle we’ve been particularly sensitive to Asian American representation in movies and television," says Schlossberg. He also made it clear that for story elements such as Gōjū-ryū karate and certain Japanese details, they relied on actors Yuji Okumoto and Tamlyn Tomita, who reprise their roles from Karate Kid Part II, and stunt coordinator Hiro Koda and original Karate Kid screenwriter Robert Mark Kamen. “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,” says Heald. “But 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.”

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This isn't 1950. The show doesn't need East Asian writers all because there's some beginner level karate. The show is awesome btw.

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(It's especially glaring with the show now revolving around three white men while being rooted in and deeply indebted to Eastern tradition)

No they are not indebted. Nobody owe anybody anything. Asians are not the only ones who practice martial arts. The original movies had Mr. Miyagi as the the no.2 protagonist, but since he's not alive anymore he can't be in the show. However the show is called Cobra Kai not Miyagi Do. Cobra Kai was started by a white dude(John Kreese)Johnny Lawrence was a student of Cobra Kai, and he's the one who brought it back. Chozen and Kumiko were back briefly, and maybe they will be back more next season. Also Kreese has an Asian student now. Does there really need to be a secret Miyagi son who awkwardly enters the picture? Miyagi already considered Daniel to be his son. Daniel and Chozen both continue to honor his legacy

This article is silly, and is trying to make issue out of nothing

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No, it is not silly and you are part of the problem. Maybe reveal Kyler is related to Miyagi somehow. Maybe Miyagi did have a secret child? Hopefully season 4 gets more diverse

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Maybe Kyler was born a girl, right? That is to say, a "non spunk producing individual" ...or whatever the current medical term is.

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It would be interesting to explore the topic in season 4

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This is one of the reasons my college professor wishes I never watched. He brought up this same very thing. Maybe now that Daniel and Johnny have teamed up, they will both apologize for their white privilege at the dojo with all the students

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You're either a complete troll or complete fool. I'm gonna give you the benefit of the doubt and go with troll, because that shit is funny lol

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Neither. Im the best student in my professors class. Social justice is no laughing matter by the way

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Damn. I wish I could get the A+++ that your Social Justice course doles out to their students. I hear some even get S grade depending on how supremely woke one can get. This is why my teacher teaches me to never watch a TV series until they release the whole series just so I know if it has diverseness or not. Why waste watching a few seasons only to find out it wasn't diverse? Waste of time. Then you gotta make the complaint to them to be more diverse. Your teacher was right. Next time I suggest waiting until the whole series is complete before you contemplate even watching it. Saves you the trouble and agony. I had to go to my safe space so many times not noticing any diversity in it.

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Oh go boil your head. The whole thing started out as a story about teenagers in an area of the US that was populated mostly by (gasp!) white people. So it has white main characters. Shocker! And did you somehow miss that the wise mentor who trained Daniel was Japanese? Or that the whole second movie in the franchise was set in Okinawa and Daniel was practically the only white character in it?

Take your indentity politics and buzz off. It's not helpful, it's divisive. Most of us don't care about this stuff, we just want entertaining stories. We're sick and tired of being preached to. If I want a sermon I'll go to church.

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Also Ralph Macchio is of Italian/Greek heritage ...

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It's set in Karate culture in southern California, which in reality is populated by people of all races, but mostly white, like in the show. The Japanese emigrant Mr. Miyagi is revered on the show like a god hovering over the whole thing. But Miyagi and the actor who portrayed him are dead. The fact that the show is a continuation of the movie's stories, with Johnny and Daniel as protagonists, is valid and uncontroversial. That's what the entire Karate Kid/Kobra Kai saga has been about. If somebody wants to make a movie or tv show about Japanese or Japanese-American practitioners of Karate, great! But that's not what the Karate Kid franchise has ever been about. It's for entertainment, not social commentary or quota fulfillment.

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Please...just stop. My god. This stuff is beyond pathetic at this point.

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STFU

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stop whining

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