Steven Seagal & Orientalism | Video Essay
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- Опубликовано: 28 сен 2024
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Accented Cinema - Episode 123
While writing this script, I find myself constantly sidetracked by his numerous allegations, lies, political controversies, and everything else surrounding him. There exist an entire Seagalogical sub-genre on RUclips, that's how much of a meme Steven Seagal really is.
But alas, the video is only 10 minutes, and I can only take so much self-inflected mental abuse.
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How does Space Ice do it? His movies are Infuriating!
Commitment is Key!
What are talking about wat the F is space ice
@@edisongexha5881a humorous channel who makes funny reviews about seagal's trash movies. Take a look at it, it's great
@@edisongexha5881 It's one of those channels where a guy does a goofy voice and summarizes a movie, scene by scene. I've never been able to get past the fake voice.
EDIT: Basically, he's like the Nostalgia Critic, but lazier.
He eats the poison so we don't have to😂
He’s at one point, Japanese, Mongolian, Taiwanese, Cambodian, Italian, Russian, Tibetan,Chinese, Black American, Native American…. He single handily man handled racism 😂
So, Mr International then?
@@garibaldibritann1240Mr.WorldWide aka Pitbull
taiwanese and Chinese are the same thing.
Playing Racism Bingo 😅
@@edwardsnowden8821here we go again
Segal showing himself as a sensei is like the "going native" trope in westerns where the white savior becomes a "better" Indian than actual Indians
Bro is so deep into it he refuses to be acknowledged as white. He said he’s Mongolian in his interview when Scott Adkins called him white lol
There are a few seagal movies I can think of where Seagull actually plays an Indian dude or a white dude raised by Indians
yes, but thats nothing new in anyone's cinema. You can see this easily in portrayals of Americans outside of America, too (and inside it too, to a certain extent) but for some reason, expecting that parity to get acknowledged is somehow asking too much. Segal's twist is he tries to live like it too, not just in the movie fantasy.
@@themadmallard _"It was always wrong"_
~Duncan MacLeod, of the clan MacLeod, 1592-1998
@@themadmallard Are you saying that the white savior narrative/complex exists in all cinema everywhere or are you saying that cinema elsewhere features non-whites outdoing whites at their own thing? Because if you're saying the former, then I think you're right (and I agree that Asians often deny it, see Japan and their denials of catering to whites in their videogames and anime) but if you're saying the latter, then I haven't really seen it. There's the concept of "the mysterious outsider" coming in and saving the day which isn't necessarily tied to the white savior complex, but that's not what the OP is talking about.
I'd have to see the movie where a black/latino/asian/arab guy becomes part of a group of Vikings, Spartans, or whatever other white equivalent cultural group, becomes their best warrior, and saves them (while possibly romancing a prized woman in the process). Western movies are replete with examples that happening with white heroes in Japan, America's frontier past, the Middle East, etc.. I don't think it happens the other way around, and if it has, definitely not to the same degree.
It amazes me how anyone once engrossed in a culture is able to willingly publicly misrepresent it. It feels wrong on an internal level at that point, at least it should.
if you don't actually care about anyone else's perspective, you'll never really try to understand or learn from them. and seagal is narcissistic as hell
Exactly, Seagal is an example of a person who imposes their own perspective and considers it the truth, but if you just take time to talk with the people and understand them@@icecreambone
Narcisstic Personality Disorder.
That's just your opinion. He probably has his reasons, or isn't as awed by human practices from another part of the globe.
@@lorenzomizushal3980 Made millions just from ability to promote himself, with little to know other skill or knowledge. He's just a cinema version of a typical US corporate manager.
Steven Seagal has declared himself “one million per cent” Russian after receiving an award from president Vladimir Putin. Nuff said.
Probably from the Asia part of Russia 😂😂
I'd be very curious to see a companion piece to this video about Seagal's pivot to Eurasia (i.e. the Russian Empire) from someone who understands it (and isn't a Russian troll.)
That's impossible. No one can be more than one hundred percent anything. By definition, one hundred percent is the most anyone can be.
@@SpyHunter89 it's a hyperbole, Einstein.
@@SpyHunter89And that attitude right there is why you will never be a 7th-dan Aikido master.
How this man got where he is now is still one of mankind's weirdest mysteries.
From what I heard, two Hollywood executives were having a dick measuring contest and were trying to see if they could make someone with absolutely no charisma into a super star, and that’s how Steven Segal’s career was born.
He was a big dude in his young days and he lucked out on movies where he got to work with incredibly talented actors who could carry the entire movies (Keith David, Tommy Lee Jones).
The thing that really made me side-eye him other than his IPV was when the rumour mill said stunt-people hated working with him. If you know a lot of people in Vancouver, you get celebrity gossip. Nothing special; like we can be caterers & still hear the beefs (pun unintended). & stunt-people are insular + clubby but also usually straight-shooters who are chill. If them or the makeup people don't like someone it's a red flag. Anyways, rumour mill says Seagal is a jerk to do stunt work with & he often really tries to hurt people he works with. That's just sick.
He laundered lots of money for Yakuza. This is almost public information by now
He is a fat slow “fighter” in straight to dvd garbage movies where he is often doubled. Don’t think it’s much of a mystery.
A family friend of mine used to be a martial arts weapons distributor. He ran a little shop that sold weapons, books, clothes and more to the public and to stage and film productions. The owner used to be the one who supplied Steven Seagal's movies and personal collection...until he tried to not pay him. The man is a piece of shit on so many levels
I don't know if it is true, but I've seen stories where he purposely hurts people on set. Just to show dominance, I suppose.
@@recoil53
It is true.
Sean Connery, DMX, William Forsythe, John Leguizamo and several stuntmen have been injured by *SS* on various film sets over the years.
There is something seriously wrong with him.
@@adamkane7513 What an ass. It's worse than that, but what an ass.
All stunt work, including pro wrestling, is built on a certain amount of trust in the other people. They all basically left themselves defenseless against assault.
@@adamkane7513 He hurt Sean Connery? When did he do that, and did Connery retaliate?
@@hautakleightontam771Seagal was in charge of teaching Connery some aikido for Never Say Never Again, apparently Seagal grabbed Sean by the wrist and broke it
So basically the only things Seagal did worth mentioning: Fathering Ayako Fujitani and his very first movie, Above the Law. Nothing else is worth even thinking about.
And Ayako Fujitani hasnt talked about Fat Vader in public much. If at all. Anyone might die of embarrassment too of they mentioned Seagal as a relative.
One thing I hate about Steven is that he showed Aikido as a deadly martial art which Ueshiba Morihei didn't intended to be..."overcoming one's self instead of promoting violence and aggresiveness."
I never see that in Steven's movies.
Given that a successful technique (outside of a fight of last resort) involves nobody being harmed, and seagal has reportedly hurt multiple actors and stuntmen and not cared, it doesn't seem that he has respect for the martial art either
thanks for putting a good light on aikido, it's one of the most shat on martial arts, no thanks to Segal and a lot of other phonies who misrepresent it
@@greg_mca How can a martial art that is based on no one being harmed be useful for self-defense?
@@NotaPizzaGRL He didn't say that, did he? He said Aikido is not to be used aggressively and violently. Not that it shouldn't harm anyone.
@@NotaPizzaGRL I'll explain, but TLDR, it is not based on nobody being harmed in an actual fight, though that is a desired outcome. It can fuck people up if needed, but ideally it isn't. What I said before about a proper technique harming nobody is primarily for training and demonstration. You can easily convert the throws and locks into stretches for example, however in an actual fight (as emphasised by instructors when teaching) all it takes is slight changes to turn a stretch into a broken joint. This is partly why it isn't a good competitive sport, because if you did the techniques in a self-defence style, it would cause much more damage and prevent competitors from fighting for a long time while their bones heal. There are accounts of Chiba Sensei (one of the first generation of instructors) breaking 4 people's wrists in 4 consecutive techniques during a demonstration, so it's still dangerous when performed with intent, even when nobody should have been hurt. And in a real fight, there are no rules, and in self defence anything goes. The other half is the underlying philosophy is about not causing harm: good instructors emphasise that the best way to deal with a fight is to stay out of it if you can, running away or cooperating if need be, and if you can't, to deescalate and talk down opponents before any fight begins. Ie, no harm done. If a fight is unavoidable, then ending it without hurting your opponent is the ideal outcome. My instructor framed this in 2 ways, the moral and the practical. The practical is that if you get attacked and you put them in hospital, you could lose your legal argument of self defence by potentially escalating the fight. There may be no rules about fighting in the moment, but there are laws. The moral side is that you could put someone in hospital or even unintentionally kill them (head hitting a curb is a classic example here), because they were drunk or had a bad day and were taking out their anger in an unhealthy way. It's hardly a just punishment, and while it's their fault, calming them down, even if that means holding them in a joint lock with their face pressed into the street, is better than knocking out their teeth or giving them an injury that could ruin their life. It could also be that you need to detain someone who is a danger to themselves, or who needs to be stopped but hasn't hurt anyone, so again, causing no harm is the best outcome. Aikido has a lot of philosophy in it, and a noble goal, but it fundamentally recognises that if things go wrong you should still be prepared. You could pin someone, but if they're really trying to kill you, then you can always break their arms
Someone I knew worked on set with Mr. Seagal. During the filming of a fight scene he changed what they had choreographed to surprise the stuntman because he felt it would look better. That stuntman wound up being hurt as he was unprepared for the assault. Seagal didn't care because he felt he was defending himself from an attack.
What a psycho
Dang...There are a lot of stories about that. Seagal has a notorious reputation of abusing stuntmen. Like what you shared, when a stuntmen gets hurt, he mostly blame it on them. So when the story of him crapping his pants while fighting the respected Gene Lebell ( Bruce Lee's trainer), every stuntmen cheered in joy. Now, no one is sure if that actually happened but it was a popular urban legend among the stuntmen community. It was like they finally had justice for all the bullshit they had to deal with.
@@melodybaoin1425look no further. There is actual proof and eyewitnesses. Van Damme actually challenged Seagal in Stallone's party when Seagal was talking shit about him. After Seagal excused himself, Van Damme tracked him to a club for that fight.
I should point out that JCVD is an actual fighter. This dude competed in kickboxing and karate fights and has an actuall win-loss record. Now, regardless of who was in the right, Seagal backing out against a legitimate martial artist says a lot about his character
@@melodybaoin1425That story was proven false by actual eyewitness accounts. Gene and Seagal never fought each other. Also, Gene was NEVER Bruce Lee's trainer lol.
@@AztecUnshaven not true, Gene spent a summer tapping Bruce Lee out every day in his back garden and taught him Judo.
This is a consistent issue in Tibetan Buddhism: for some reason, reincarnations of high lamas and emanations of Mahakala or Vajrayogini always turn out to be people who are financially or politically important to the lama aristocracy, from warlords who strengthen the office of Dalai Lama to wealthy westerners who will agitate for a free Tibet.
Ah, religion corruption and politic ties, a tales as old as time itself.
We have the same shit in Thailand also
Hey thats just religion, including cults of personality. I cant single tibbet out there.
@@marocat4749well only tibetan buddhism is relevant to this video
It seems like he was never really popular in Cantonese speaking regions - At least in Korea (and I think in Japan as well) he was famous during Under Siege era when he was a legitimate Hollywood action star, and was kind of in the same group as JCVD.
But I don’t think I’m alone if I say that Seagal has aged ***the worst*** of all 90s action stars. In the end it all falls down to him exploiting Asia as a freak show to fulfill his ego in front of the camera.
He was def popular culturally and his early movies were very lucrative. Fist of the north Star is obviously heavily influenced by his movies as well as a bunch of other 80s action flicks
@@FencingMessiah Seagal's first movie "Above The Law" came out in 1989, while Fist of the North Star was in 1983, so there's no way Seagal's films could've influenced FotNS and the action films of the 80s.
@@blutryforce762 Yes, FotNS is inspired by Bruce Lee and Mad Max
I am from Eastern Europe and we actually had a Steven Seagal Korean movie arrive here.(I call it Steven Seagal movie but he was there for little bit at the end and a rare thing happened where Steven got hit in a movie. ) It was called Clementine and I remember as a kid I thought it was awesome but it sucked in reality.
When he needs stunt doubles to do the walking sequences in his films you know he aged the worst...
Many people have offered critiques of Seagal and his oeuvre, but how many have done so while also helping Mr. Seagal to overhaul his website?
Smoothest plug i've seen in years 😄
Seagal definitely has at least some widespread awareness within Japan. He seemed to first gather notability by marketing himself as the first westerner to run a dojo in japan. Even it's more accurate to say the dojo belonged to his wife and in-laws. His image as a foreign aikido master seemed to inspire Geese Howard from the Fatal Fury and King of Fighters series. And Robert Garcia from the same series blatantly had his appearance modeled on Seagal.
Keep in mind, however, that a lot of games of the time, especially fighting games, paid tribute to action films and fighters mainly due to how big wrestling was at the time. I mean, M. Byson's name was supposed to be for Balrog, and that's because it's a Mike Tyson reference.
Yep, even my favorite character in Persona 2 has her dad modeled directly after him lol.
@@diesenutssWe are friends. Yes, his video game references/allusions definitely speak volume of his popularity in Japan, and most importantly he was cast in a positive light at that time.
Geese Howard is a better man than Segal anyways
Ack. Ok. Lol.
So, I'm just a white midwestern American who had taken about 4 years of Aikido and all I can say is that your assessment of his skill and character pretty much matches everything I ever heard anyone in my say about him. Most of the people in my Dojo, central Illinois Aikikai, greatly regretted that he is the popular face of Aikido in the west.
This is partly because Aikido already has it's detractors and Steven Seagall's sleaziness somewhat plays into many western criticisms of Aikido. However he rarely ever does Aikido in his movies and never seems to embrace the main tenants of Aikido.
I was taught that in Aikido the highest form of the art would be where you defend yourself without causing permanent harm to your attacker. Now we would often be told that in a real fight that become less and less possible but we would train that way because doing so would protect your partner and help you train more with them. It also was a way to get more reps out of a practice technique without hurting each other as much. So it was kind of a form of efficient best practices as well.
Aikido culture is also very different from other fighting cultures that I have seen because Aikido seems to almost be more of a form of martial scholarship than it is a way to train what many would consider to be fighters. It's not because Aikido lacks combat techniques but rather because Aikido tells you that fighting and conflict is often the product of many things having already failed long before the fight ever started.
So aikido tries to help it's practitioners imagine a through-line of causality and responsibility. It guides us to viscerally understand how we are all dependent on each other as humans to cultivate better outcomes.
To me Steven Seagal is just a lying school-yard bully who came from a troubled background and kind of ruined his chance of escaping it by lacking any character, taste or decency.
Also thank you for utterly trashing him and calling him the nobody that he is. As an Aikidoka I'm super here for it! =D
Given Seagal is from central Michigan your comment I feel adds an extra layer of humor.
Your cohort is probably the closest group that could be related to his background and the interest in maintaining as much distance as possible is pretty funny.
That's so deep. Fascinating.
The "first private citizen to destroy a nuclear device" part is actually true. He was on a tour in a nuclear power plant as a guest, and he got winded after climbing a short flight of stairs. He sat down to catch his breath, but he accidentally sat on some important equipment which he pulverized with his enormous hindparts. A catastrophe almost happened, a whole region had a major blackout in consequence. Why he is honoured for this is beyond my knowledge.
😂
Source? A quick google search gave a very different story. He donated some money to a non-profit, which subsequently removed some nuclear device.
@@commenter4898 I think the OP was joking ;)
@@chendaforest Perhaps, but the story sound plausible enough to me that I couldn't tell whether it's true or not.
@@commenter4898did you not read the comment or did you actually think it's true? The joke is that segall sat his fat butt on a nuke and broke it.
The best analogy of this is comparing Mike Tyson vs Donnie Yen fight scene and the Mike Tyson vs Steven Seagal fight scene.
My deepest condolences to Ayako Fujitani. It had to be difficult growing up as the first human being to be the offspring of a fighting potato. Musta been hard bragging in school.
"My dad is a Hollywood action star! Don't look him up tho."
My condolences to the 17th century religious man, it must be hard being reincarnated as a fighting potato. Musta been hard bragging in Shangri-la.
"My reincarnation is famous for his works. No Gautama, I don't think we are enlightened enough to understand his teachings..."
She was in The Patriot with him, and her experience was so bad she wrote a novel that had themes about finding it difficult to trust men after all that. And fun fact that novel was adapted into the movie Ritual, one of her most known movies lol. It's a miracle she still talks with him (albeit very rarely) when her brother has all but cut him off.
I can't believe Ayako Fujitani's dad turned his official website into a dick pill blackmarket 😢
Seagal tries to make himself part of every culture he encounters. You don't have to fully watch his movies to see that. Every movie staring him is the same: he's the savior, every woman wants to sleep with him, every man is weaker than him. Rince and repeat
He also does films in "Eastern Europe" where the locals are all thugs and idiots too. That's just Seagal. In his US films, everyone is also a thug or idiot. In Under Siege 1 a US Navy captain betrays his country as do some CIA assets, in Under Siege 2, the same, we have US special forces, betray their own country. All thug life.
"Maximum mental damage" from the integration is a very eloquent description of everything relating to Seagal for the last several decades
Describes the last decade as well...😂😂😂
I've always wondered how Steven Seagal honestly saw himself, he pretty much seemed the only person who bought all his lies about himself (People been calling him on his BS for a suprisingly long time), yet he clearly has no inhibition.
I'll give you an A+ on the video just for giving Gamera some recognition
I guess, he was an og weeb before the word was invented 😁
With allegations of him being in the payroll of actual mafia groups and being a dye-in-the-wool Putinist, he was given little reason to think about all of that...
He made a video about Gamera before. Check it out. It's pretty good.
You got me with "Steven Seagal is a f*cking asshole" 09:42 😂
Steven Seagal walked so George Santos could fly (allegedly)
Those dudes have more made-up professional credits than Johnny Sins
I heard the story that Stallone hosted a party, inviting the biggest action stars of the '90s.
Seagal was there, and Jean Claude Van Damme was brought up in a conversation. So Seagal decided to downplay the man, saying he'd beat him in a fight.
What he didn't know is that Stallone had invited Van Damme as well. Word got around and Van Damme challenges Seagal.
Seagal, as you'd guess, backed away and ate his words. But evidently, he didn't take the wisdom out of the whole thing and only doubled down.
Apparently he shate himself in one real fight
When I was in college, I was in an MMA club. One day, we did a try not to laugh challenge with Steven Seagal martial arts clips. No one survived all the way through.
Some of his moves are based on aikido, but his actions are antithetical to it. No one who casually hurts stunt men is doing aikido.
I will never understand how society allowed this man to be a thing-especially as people at the time knew he was a fraud. Thank you for the video and Merry Christmas!
Even very succesful and good for the standard Hollywood movies are usually terrible from artistic perspective and scripts are naive to the 10 year old's level, so it shouldn't be surprising.
Seagal was simply the first guy to introduce Aikido to the Westerners, so he had something original to show in the martial arts field of movies and he was actually good in the straightrforward power style of Aikido. He's a pathological liar and a terrible person but his Aikido style is actually the effective one and is practiced by some full contact masters in Japan.
Its because at the time nobody had seen movies like this and since MMA did not exist people assumed it was legit and it looked cool. If you think about it Raid movies would not even exist if Steven Seagal never was in Hollywood because he was one of the first people who made movies where the martial arts in the movies was violent and "more realistic''. Steven did not do flashy stuff like Van Damme with his kicks for example.(Real reason was that he couldn't do anything flashy but nobody knew it at the time).
@@gandalainsley6467 MMA is bad example because the regulations and environment annuls a lot of techniques that actually work. Then Seagal's problem is not his Aikido that actually has some effective moves. The problem is everything in his movies that is not just Aikido. So scripts, acting or those elements of fight scenes that are totally made up, like biting a knife in fight with Tommy Lee Jones.
@@piotrmalewski8178 Aikido is unusable in a fight. The whole martial art's purpose was for taking away swords from people when you don't have a sword. It was never meant to be used in hand to hand situation.
@@gandalainsley6467 That's popular styles. I'm speaking about straighforward Aikido in which you just come in to deliver a strike without any circular movement, like Leo Tamaki. In full send those technqiues can squash throat or break hand.
The interesting bit about Seagal's Oriental fantasy is he did live for a while in Japan and yet he clearly can't tell the difference between Japan and China. This is what happens when one snatches all the mother f***ing birthdays,
The thing that gets me is how against the principals of Aikido he acts. Since it's literally a martial art that tries not to fight. The whole point of it was to disarm armed warriors without harming them. It's why you don't see aikido tournaments all that often. Because if both sides were practicing pure Aikido, they would just sit down and talk. (That's what my teacher taught his students anyways)
Years ago (mid-2000s iirc), he had his own brand of energy drinks, and there was a flavor called "Steven Seagal's Asian Experience". They had a bunch of them at the 99cents only stores when i lived in Los Angeles, ofc i tried one for the humor value. It was ok. Seems he has continued to commercialize his Asian experience.
Steven Seagal is basically if Trump was a martial artist and "film"maker. Thankfully most people don't watch his movies these days
How exactly? (I have a feeling you will go on some political bullshit that has no connection to anything.)
Never thought of that but damn they have very similar vibes
I can see people who unironically enjoy orientalism elements in older movies that might also vote for Trump, but this comparison is kinda inaccurate.
Seagal does not have his own widespread popular cult of figure. _Everyone_ hates him, knew he was a fraud even back then, so... yeah.
@@gandalainsley6467 He is probably referring to their Narcissistic Personality Disorders.
Very true Andrew.
Please don't insult mr. Seagal like that, now he has to get up from his chair to reach his phone then reply to this vid 😢.
Poor mr Seagull 😢
you missed to mention his greatest achievement, his hit reggae song "strut"
Don't forget his delta blues band while terrorizing the same people as a reality show police officer. Segall is a prolific culture vulture who's bullshit knows no bounds.
Oh no
Videos like this highlight why I enjoy this channel so much. Brief yet thorough explanation of a topic with indications of where to go for more, that sense of disappointment in potential instead of just saying "this thing is bad", and... a lot of really creative insults where warranted.
I'm a quiet subscriber but I just want to say I always enjoy your videos and to keep up the great work! Happy holidays to you and yours! 😊
fun fact: without Steven Seagal's daughter we wouldn't have a Hideaki Anno film (Ritual)
"Steven Seagal & Orientalism is Accredited Cinema's mega blockbuster hit movie..." - some guy we knew
The Behind the Bastards podcast episodes about Steven are hilarious, highly recommend! :D
The space ice reviews are also hilarious.
my mom met Seagal before he was famous. he tried to buy her old Mustang and tried to pay with free aikido lessons. she said he was "the creepiest guy she ever met", and she lived in Hollywood in the 80's
My dad was a huge Seagal fan. Under Siege is all right, I guess, but the movie that showcases his talents best is definitely Executive Decision. ;)
Doesn't he die in that one?
@@peteben9635 Yeah, like 20 minutes in.
I think that's your best segue to an ad yet. I think that's the best of any RUclipsr, actually.
Aikido isn't the only martial arts he's done. He did karate from as a child till 17 when he moved to Japan. Then took Aikido as his main martial art. He's trained in several Japanese martial arts. Not just Aikido.
Wow, that afterword was a kick to the gut. A lot of commentators highlight Seagal's lack of effort. AC was the first to really point his waste of an opportunity.
I think when he played an American special force of some sort like he did in Under Siege 1 & 2, he was alright. The role suited him. But not when he tried to play a role associated with Zen or some religious belief.
A video shitting on Steve Seagal? This is the best Christmas gift to wake up to
His love affair with Putin and Russia deserves its own episode as well as his legendary infidelities with women.
Funny how much he cared for Asian culture yet abandoned his Japanese wife to start a film career here in America.
As south east asian (Indonesian specifically) he was as famous as other western 80s action flick actor here like Van Damme, Chuck Norris,Cynthia Rothrock etc. the influx of 80s and early 90s cinemas in our local privately owned TV station surely helps a lot. Those recently born TV station imported many western and eastern content to fill their program quotas for a baby TV station to net as many viewer as possible. But He never specifically appropriating our culture (mostly eastern asian culture, the nearest probably thailand) ,so we Indonesian werent those ill feelled with his picture about asian, its probably also formed our picture towards Eastern asian culture a bit.
the fact that the website thing is true just makes this 10x better.
He was really a mythical entity to me back in the day but now we know the myth was created.
That was a really well-integrated ad break. Bravo
Louis Fan looking at Seagal like "what in the goddamn" is incredible
I think Fujitani Ayako did got his Seagal last name, her brother Kentaro Seagal has it too, they both children of Seagal and his first wife Fujitani Miyako, she just choose to use her mother surname to distance herself from her father and not be in his shadow, she said in a interview they are in good terms. Steven Seagal did cheated on his first wife but that was few years later when he moved back to the US.
The only oriental thing about him is the Chinese food buffet he single-handedly wiped out.
My Eng lit major heart was honestly so happy seeing you dive deep into Sensei's oriental obsession...also the thumbnail made me think that this was made by Space ice 😂 glad that you recognized his hard work of sitting through those torturous movies 👍
I think a lot about Edward Said these days for obvious reasons so it was nice to hear him referenced during a well-deserved Seagull roast lol.
Thanks to Space Ice that we are all educated on the "Steven Seagal" style of film making...
Steven Seagal is the type of person that wishes he was born 16 years earlier to replace David Carradine to replace Bruce Lee to be the lead in Kung Fu. Then hope to get his career revitalize by Tarantino.
Let's all never forget, this guy released a "rock" album with a song called "Poonani" with some legendary lyrics, such as "Me want the poonani".
I am in love with this video. Such a wonderful job done by a cultural insider with a look at the BS from both cultures. Thank you for helping those of us who detest him on one dimension become more aware of negative ways his movies might have influenced us to a more bigoted and ignorant view of many Asian cultures.
It is fascinating how he seems to just use oriental bells and whistles. One minute he's a Samurai, then he's a Shaolin master, then he's Tibetan monk. It's like he has no true understanding of what he's talking about most of the time, but just sees something vaguely asian looking and slaps it on a movie. Like he thinks everyone in Asia is running around with Samurai swords. Not only is it unique to japan, but it's seemingly insensitive to some areas where the sword was used for public executions.
Above the Law and even Out for Justice had some grit and felt like pretty solid action flicks back then, after that it kinda started going off the rails : D
He peaked with Under Siege, it was a quality production that played to his strengths and minimized his weaknesses. It was his biggest hit and after started taking more control of his aubsequenr movies, which nose-dived.
Yes. Ayako Fujitani is related to Seagal. Half Past Dead(2002) was "dumb fun".
Steven Seagal did spread his love and passion to the world, he did start conversations, and he WAS one (of many) bridges between the east and west. He also had a massive ego, behaved like an asshole, made up huge parts of his bio, and was exposed (later) as a sex abuser. But he also got OLD and, like the majority of celebrities, aged out of the public consciousness while refusing to give up leading man status, resulting in 20-plus years of the excruciating movies highlighted here. But IN HIS PRIME, he basically WAS what you say he “could have been”. You’re way late to the party, frankly, in pointing out his orientalism, but that’s a subject that’s worthy of keeping in the spotlight (plus his name clearly generates views and income in any context, just like how every YT channel devoted to Asian cinema must produce a Jackie Chan video approximately once a month).
That said, howzabout a flipside video to this one showing the simplistic, racist, homophobic and just plain clueless depictions of “western culture” (yes, I’m going there) in Hong Kong movies from the 70’s through to the 00’s. You could even include a couple of Jackie Chan titles (RUMBLE, ARMOUR 2, NICE GUY) to guarantee the views, but then expand into the second and third MAD MAD WORLD films, GUNS & ROSES (the 93 film, not the 92 film), THE WILD ONES (1989) and so on. If you’ve already made one, awesome! If not, you’re certainly an ideal candidate for the job.
You can practically taste the envy Seagal has for Donnie Yen if you watch his Ip Man ripoff movie Attrition
I'm surprised there's no "part 1" in the title.
Sadly Seagal's target audience will often know as little about Asian culture as he does.
Thank you for making me laugh so hard on the holiday. Hope your 2024 is even better AC. Keep up the great work.
Seagal does the white savior stuff in a Native American context as well. Except there's an additional layer of offense as he does it in brown-face (red-face?) somehow, even though that doesn't even make any sense. He claims to be Native American but there is no evidence to support this extremely dubious claim.
Bro is a pathological liar living in a fantasy realm where he turns himself into a Mary Sue type character. Seagal actually reminds me a lot of the Q-Anon Shaman guy. That is the white guy with the buffalo headdress from the Capitol Building thing. Very similar characters if you ever compare them.
He is certified grandmaster (8x black belt & 1x purble belt) in bullshido
“Seagal has to piss on a shit sundae!” I knew your English was getting really good but I didn’t know you were going to become a poet
"Racists defined themselves not by what they are, but by what they are not"...
This is such an interesting way to put it.
The "us" is always vaguely defined, because it's not the important part.
The important part is "Who are we better than? Who are we superior to? Who do we hate?"
OTOH, racism still offers some sort of sense of belonging?
Tibetan Buddhist here, to explain the religious part of this: He was recognized as Tulku(reincarnation, not holy man, not guru, not master, not teacher, not priest) of Chungdrag Dorje previous to his donations to Penor Rinpoche. He was offered training and initiation to be an enthroned tulku(that is be ordained as monk and become a guru) but he refused. He has thus no religious authority or responsibility whatsoever within Buddha Dharma. He still remains donating to tibetan monasteries nevertheless afaik.
It is not strange of tulkus from western countries being recognized very late in their life due to the circumstances of Dharma within our countries.
Oof! I feel a sort of vicarious shame when i saw those lame moves and heard those super uncomfortable lines. It's sad that apparently upon one time he had so much potential to bridge the gap as you say.
Also: I actually loved to way you incorporated the sponsors message in this show, actually had me laughing. Cheers from one of your (low tier) patrons.
Dude, I couldn't say it better than you did ! Love your work, keep going !
"Even if some of his ranks were bogus, he couldn't possibly fake *all* of it"
In a post-Tallarico world that feels less convincing than it should sound.
that add transition was perfection
At one point he also claimed to be Native American. At another, he was supposedly of Italian descent. Then outta nowhere he's got Russian/Mongolian(??) ancestry. Seagal's been everything under the Sun, other than a credible actor.
A nuclear power station once overloaded because all the water in the region had to be diverted to flush out what was originally believed to be a fatberg clogging up a major sewer line. Seagal refused to reimburse the region for the costs of that rescue operation, despite taking the credit for damaging the station.
Space Ice would LOVE to have tea with you for this.
He got a lucky break in Hollywood because of his somewhat legitimate martial arts skills. At the time nobody in Hollywood had his intensity and his real world training made him edgy. Unfortunately, he has no redeeming values beyond that. His fame and money only made him worse as a human being.
You can call western culture the cultural descendants of the remnants of the Roman empire if that is easier for you to understand. They have shared racial characteristics like a tribe but it's only one of many defining traits. Such as the Latin alphabet. It's not white supremacy to say there is a link between historically linked European countries and colonies just like China is a loosely connected group of remnants of past Chinese empires loosely connected by Historically Chinese countries and colonies.
"You were the chosen one! You were suppose to defeat the Orientalism, not join them!"
I've heard that Edward Said's orientalism book is very good. Haven't gotten around to reading it yet unfortunately, but I'd recommend looking into it if it sounds like something that would interest you
The only reason Steven was awarded the black belt was because the judge fell asleep during his presentation.
Im currnetly traveling the world and have been on Asia for the past year and in that time ive been to Thailand, Japan,China, Vietnam, Philippines, and South Korea. I love all the places i visit and i try really hard to get to know the local culture. I try to learn about the history, the peoope, and the food go these yehse places. At the sawm time i also love the traditional clothing such as Yukatas, Hanboks, and especially Tangzhuang. I feel it's a shame that Western clothing has become the standard for modern clothing. And because i feel that way i will wear certain clothing that has no spiritual importance but were worn casually historically (my wardrobe is almost exclusively consists Yukatas, Jinbeis, wnd Samue). My question is this, is this rude? Me wearing a Yuakat casually was done historically but for modern days it's typically only worn at festivals. I understand that but i just wanna wear these amazing clothing that are comfortable, beautiful, and affordable. Ive always done it anways but after watching this i hope im not coming off like ghis D-bag
You can wear traditional clothes, or rather, casual traditional clothes that people in the rural areas wear. I don't think the local will pay too much attention to your attire. If you want to appropriate someone's culture, it is best to learn their customs first.
@@cloudynguyen6527 Thanks for the response that makes sense and just to be clear i dont just pop up in acountry and strt wearing their clothing. Its usally after i spent at least a year so that i understadn the local customs
Seagal is the epitome of everything I used to hate about '80's American action cinema. He coasts thorough his films like some big dumb bully who barely breaks a sweat as he goes around beating up much smaller guys. What was so refreshing about a film like Die Hard, is our hero is actually struggling to survive. The only movie I have ever liked he has been in is Executive Decision (for possibly obvious reasons to those who have seen it). There is a scene about 20 minutes in that was supposed to be a big horrifying shock to the viewers. All I could do was cheer and clap.
I think he's just a narcissist rather than racist. All his flicks, not just ones based in Asia, are like what you pointed out.
I would point out that while people generally liked and thought positively of Seagal in the 90’s by the 2000’s he was seen as a joke with horrible bad movies, full of egotism, laziness and lies. He also has had negative messages about black diaspora, native Americans cultures and Eastern European nations too. He does all the same things you note here and lots of friging the women as plot lines.
Don’t get me wrong the bigamist Seagal is wrong for all the things you say here - but he is worst then you think and it is not just his actions towards East and South Eastern Asia that make him unwatchable. That does not excuse anything - just says he is even worse than you said!
I kind of yearn for "occidentalist" cinema. I want to see the West depicted through that kind of exotic lense. Just because I think it would be interesting, but also because it might give a new perspective on things.
You finally dig deeper into Orientalism in cinema. I’m proud of you!
Funny enough, Seagal's best movie (Hard to kill) takes place in the US. If he focused on that direction, he could've ended up like a Chuck Norris type of action star. Instead he turned himself into a joke.
Funny story: my first ever exposure to the name Steven Seagal was from my father having to fight a homeless man who spent his days stalking the local "Chinese" school were my half sister use to attend. The guy claimed he was Steven Seagal, did a real fake martial arts pose, proceeded to attack my father, then got his ass kicked because my father had actually learn to fight in the Navy and over his stay in Japan. He says he never regretted the night in jail, specially since the stalker never came back.
Seagal is a brash narcissist whos niche interest turned him into an American national treasure for about 5 maybe 10 years before fading into complete obscurity & then becoming a laughing stock to anyone who even knew he was still alive with his support for extremist organisations & Bulgarian funded vanity projects all of which have at least 1 3 minute monologue in their 75-100 minute runtime about how awesome his "character" is
Seagal or more recently Tom Daley are the type of character who literally uses their platform to create this persona that they're an untouchable megastar who can walk on water, when in reality they had a moderate following of mostly shop girls & gay men, (who thought George Michael & Harry Styles were unattainable) had a moment of stardom & they're extremely arrogant, deluded view on themselves made only employable in places like Bucarest, Utah & Prauge & there's actually more bad than good which is probably most people have forgotten either existed
Did you add the music when you realized that this would be released around Christmas or was that the plan from the beginning?
As a fan of his first few movies, Seagal's final arc as Kremlin propagandist is truly wild to see.
Strange that anyone could have so much contact with Asian culture and not learn anything about humility, honor and respect.
Those are Western stereotypes. Asians tend to be tribalistic, racist and unbelievably hypocritical.
I dunno how many viewer have that have SEEN Riki-Oh but I had chinese friends in north america and they all had copies and I saw it a few times. good stuff.
Chuck Norris' Walker Texas Ranger has Chuck's character Cordell Walker be of Indian heritage. He is also a better indian than the indians. But he respects their culture and puts them above the enemies. So I think that paints them in a more positive light, apart from the mystical indian powers Cordell has. Sixth sense, see ghosts, hearing, tracking... Oh it's the same 😂
This ad for Squarespace rescued me from terrorists led by Tommy Lee Jones by using sick knife skills. Also baked some nice pies while doing it.
US to Russia: "We don't want him. You can keep the smegger!"
LOLL u really roasting him here. and it's so funny. i laughed on how you promote ur sponsor but also roasting him.
My favorite bit of Steven Seagal trying to appropriate Asian cultures might be when "Ong-Bak", the Thai action movie featuring the lead role debut of Tony Jaa, came out in 2003 and Seagal made a pitch to have the U.S. release feature new prologue and epilogue scenes where he plays a mentor to Tony Jaa's character who made him a Muay Thai master. In other words, he saw a rising star in Asian martial arts movies and tried to retroactively take credit for his skills in his big break. Thankfully, this idea was rejected.