Steven Seagal & Orientalism | Video Essay
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- Опубліковано 24 гру 2023
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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 UA-cam, 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😂
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.
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
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.
Honestly, I just interpret Seagal as an egotistical boomer variant of an otaku.
Same. I get why some Asians/Asian American offensive… but I dunno it’s a weird mystery how and why he exist
This is apt. One of those who got hyped finding a xxxl wolf howling at the moon native theme t-shirt at a truck stop.
This man is the proto-weeb
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
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.
During the era in which Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Donnie Yen, Michelle Yeoh, Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, etc... were ruling Eastern cinemas; Hollywood chose to push Steven Seagal as a martial arts star. **facepalm**
Add Dudikoff and Jean Claude Van Damme. But to be fair, Hollywood pushes white guys, mostly. Americans make remakes of Asian and European films with their own actors. And it's not as if we see Japan or China push caucasian or black actors to portray European heroes in their own countries.
I don't think so. All those actors had rôles in Hollywood flicks before their Asian filmography went into the mainstream. To me, it looks like Seagal is the Bargain Bin replacement when you can't afford real talent. I find it, however, plausible what +Accented Cinema sets up, that at one time he really was passionate and creative.
Western actors serving as a bridge to the culture have a place. It's just that Seagal is a really, really sh*tty example of them.
@@enysuntra1347 As far as I know, Jackie was the only one who got a couple of Hollywood movies prior to the 90s. Though those productions really tried to change his persona. As for Seagal, one would think that films like Under Siege would require more than a bargain bin lead.
@@jp3813 I first saw Jet Li in "Lethal Weapon 4". Afterwards, and because of Western "door-openers" like Carpenter's "Big Trouble in Little China", Hong Köln Easterns came into fashion. Movies like "Karate Kid" or "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" awakened Western interest. This is what he IMO means when he says Seagal could have been a bridge.
Haven't seen "Under Siege" in decades, but if I remember correctly, martial arts isn't in it, so this flick isn't related to this discussion.
The relevant movies are those where a Westerner is confronted with East Asian culture, and the audience together with the protagonist answers its question: "WTF happens here?" This is a thin line to "orientalism" (or a benevolent form of orientalism, like "Avatar: The last Airbender" is), but without such movies, there'd be MUCH less interest in Asian cinema. For a control group, Kenya or Nigeria also have a sizable film industry, and some of their series and films hold up to Western standards; but if you think about "foreign (non-Western) movies", nobody knows them, or Thai movies, or Malayan ones... it's only "Bollywood", Honk Kong, China, Japan and South Korea.
Like it or not, without this mild form of orientalism (which you will find in any language instruction book of every language), there can be no genuine interest in a culture by the mainstream outside of immigrant communities.
@@enysuntra1347 There was scattered western interest, but Hollywood studios generally didn't start importing Hong Kong stars until after Rumble in the Bronx became a hit in America. Jet Li rose to international superstardom after 1991's Once Upon a Time in China, but most U.S. audiences weren't aware of him. There was martial arts in Under Siege, just badly done. The point is that Seagal was cast as its lead as well as in Above the Law, Hard to Kill, Marked for Death, Out for Justice, etc... Bruce Lee already brought Eastern culture to Hollywood, except he died. Nothing wrong w/ an actor being a bridge, but if Seagal is a studio's best choice then they're not really looking beyond their borders. Especially since when they actually did, they still tried to change Asia's biggest action star into Charles Bronson instead of embracing his inspiration from Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Charlie Chaplin, etc...
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
This is a clever way of using Segal as a springboard towards addressing a larger issue in western media and culture. He really is the issue personified. The living embodiment of it. He shows all of its traits and even accentuates them, making the concept clear to even the most stubborn or ignorant minds, exactly BECAUSE he is such an exaggerated cartoon. A satirist couldn't have done better.
I just love Steve Seagal for his role as Lisa's dad in Persona 2.
This is done with every culture.
Segal obviously bravely sacrificed his image in order to teach the west about orientalism, that's just how much he's in tune with Asia. /s
I watched an ad some years ago made in Singapore. It was a telco ad. It had Chinese employees who came up and pitched and idea to their fat, English boss. The boss was a total idiot, they were the smart ones. Asians depict Europeans and others also in a negative light or by stereotype. Seagal makes cheap junk. If you want to consider it high cinema, then you are the one who is mistaken.
You are all being childish. What you see of him and the likes is an image. Nothing else. He never taught anyone anything, he never saved anyone or intended to, just like his counterparts all over the world.
He is an actor (and a bad one at that!) using whatever Asian or other culture as stage, costume and props.
It baffles me that neither you nor the maker of this video sees the thing for what it is - an adult pretender making a living of... well, adult pretending. Stop being such babies.
My favorite thing about a bunch of Steven "White Savior" Seagal's movies was that there was always some scene with an elder from an indigenous group basically telling him "After only two weeks among our people you truly are a master of our culture, even more so then us natives. You must teach us our own ways."
Like seriously, in On Deadly Ground for example he spends a week among an Inuit tribe and gets sent on a vision quest!
It's cheap garbage. I don't know why people expect Criterion Collection from him.
This is why I find the way he is parodied/presented in the game Persona 2: Tsumi to be spot on. He’s only on screen for a very brief scene you can miss but he is presented as being completely obsessed with Japan to the point of moving there and dressing in traditional clothing that nobody actually wears in their daily lives. He complains that his daughter Lisa is not acting Japanese enough when she is actually acting exactly like any other modern (for 1999 anyway) Japanese girl and what he wants her to be is a stereotypical version of what he thinks a Japanese person acts like.
Even back then, people knew. 😂
Wow I never realized Lisa's dad was supposed to be a Seagal parody.
In hindsight though... yeah it's pretty blatant.
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.
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
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.
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...
the only dangerous thing about Steven Seagal is his cholesterol level
I loved him in Half Baked Bread,
He's scummy with women also, so a double threat I guess
To be honest as much as I think he's a despicable character and well past his prime, I am probably still not going to try taking on a 6'4" dude who is a 7th dan black belt lol
don’t get near him if he’s horny either
@@Ethan-wr2os well he is fat and slow, his moves mostly consist of slap fighting and impractical techniques for real combat so you stand a good chance of winning.
I only have a few years of taekwondo training and i'm 100% confident i can kick his ass LOL
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.
That's why I love Michael Jai White. He's adopted the craft and art without disrespecting where it came from. He doesn't need to repurpose it. The man is legit and doesn't need to say so.
I didn't know who the hell that was until I googled him, and then I was like "oh hell yeah, this dude." It's super unfair of you though, because he blows Segal out of the water in literally every single respect I can think of. I bet he even wipes his ass better.
@@wareforcoin5780 I googled too after seeing your comment and now I'm sitting here going "Spawn's actor DID MORE STUFF??? HOW DID I NOT KNOW THIS."
@@neoqwerty You're in for a great ride.
Micheal Jay White does everything so much better than Steven, it’s not even funny. Micheal uses orientalism from time to time but it’s used responsibly.
He used Taichi in a movie and was shown to be way to train his mind and body and that was about it, he didn’t exaggerate like Seagal would have done
@@wareforcoin5780they shared a movie called Exit Wounds with a bunch of other celebrities. I wonder how White felt about it.
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
The Hollywood stories I've heard about Seagal from his fellow actors really paint the man as a narcissistic sex creep. His movies only add as proof to those claims.
This video really highlights that with multiple scenes across multiple movies where scantily-clad women go rushing into his arms. And you know he would have written those moments in himself, they will all be his own scripts 😒man had his own "casting couch" scenario going on, according to multiple women.
And has a taste for girls young enough to be his granddaughter it's said.
He stole stories from peoplw who did experience legit that stuff. Steven seagal is the actor king of stolen valor and aproviation.
And how he really played up that a dude considerin him a friend from a tribe and his word blown up to his, ..
And probably worst, he is a crazy deputy and deputized. And unhinged.
He hired a woman to be his personal assistant then kept her as a sex slave, even chased her down with a gun when she tried to escape him
Oh it goes beyond sex creep and dives headfirst into diddler territory. Guy apparently hit on Katherine Heigle when she was only 16 and used a pickup line about having girlfriends younger than her
I never realized it until way later when I was older and heard about seagal roasts, but basically as an Asian American in the military I ran into so many wannabe seagals. I never really understood why they were kinda acting like that. I didn't take offensive, but when asked about "mystical wisdom" "spiritual kungfu" ""martial prowess" "triads" "submissive woman" I was a bit baffled.
I had some one legit say they were "shocked" I didn't know martial arts or that my relatives in Asia wasn't part of the triad or a country farmer. I didn't like talking to these types much, so often they think im the silent "mysterious and wise" types. Actualy had ppl tell me that, and they even were asking me how to be "mysterious and cool" because they believed Asian girls were only into that.
This was over a decade ago I ran into stuff like this, it doesn't really happen much and in todays political climate, it wouldn't fly. I never cared for it in the past and even if I did report it, I doubt anyone would care as I have heard of other Asian American Soldierse reporting stuff like that before. Now a days tho, I probably would report it, because at this point in time, its just blatant ignorance and probably parody racism.
Somebody's a little sensitive.
Hopefully you weren't too hard on them. Guys are just always looking for the in when hitting on any girls, and hopefully you saw that for what it was..and hopefully most of the rest were just genuinely curious and simply had the wrong idea; they weren't intentionally looking to quash you into an Asian-shaped box. Honestly, it would be surprising if it had changed that much in 10 years as to assume automatically that they would now be all acting in bad faith...but what do I know. Either way, thank you for your service~
Holy shit that's hilarious, you should have trolled them a bit here and there, i knew kiddie shit happened over there but never knew it was this bad. Anyway, i think they must have taken the nic cage path now
uh yeah it's definitely racist haha
@@Mechjeb661 Kudos to you for recognizing your weakness.
I wish this was longer. I would've loved to see you roast Seagal more. I have thought of doing a film script about an adopted American son going to Japan to reconcile with his step grandparents on his dying step-fathers behalf but granted, I hope I don't make the same egotistical mistakes that both intentionally or unintentionally come off as orientalist. But learing from one's mistakes (Espeically Seagal's) can help.
pretty much everyone was benefited learning from the mistake's of Seagal, he ain't just a clown, he's an entire circus, a circus which we can learn from their flaws while also laugh at his bs
You could hire beta readers that are from Japan. Well, there's sensitivity readers but I'd recommend you kill two birds with one stone and just get a beta reader with that background for the plot too.
You could also read other cases of orientalism, especially modern ones. You're already ahead with your precaution.
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.
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 😢
The best analogy of this is comparing Mike Tyson vs Donnie Yen fight scene and the Mike Tyson vs Steven Seagal fight scene.
Behind the Bastards has a podcast series on Seagal's controversies including his martial arts. I'm sad to say that his black belt was also partly bogus.
And thankfully mentions the time he shat himself during a chokehold.
There’s also the 3 part special The Dollop did on him
He basically got all his Aikido credentials from his former father-in-law, who was a high ranking instructor & member of the Japanese Aikido Federation. His in-laws gave him his dojo in Japan as a wedding gift, but his former wife did most of the teaching there. Eventually his ex-wife filed for divorce & also a lawsuit for domestic violence against him and he bailed Japan.
She's still a well respected Aikido instructor over there.
Of course Seagal claimed, he was forced to leave Japan, because there was a ''blood feud'' with the Yakuza or some BS.
Lmao, "they are either happily grazing like herbavores, or forcibly territorial like carnivores out for blood." Best quote from this video.
"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 never expected Steven Seagal would be the Christmas roast
He's certainly a jive turkey...
I keep getting my American and European friends to watch Seagal movies. I'm Southeast Asian Chinese. It's absolutely hilarious and will generally make for a good time where we can point and laugh
So you're not offended like this Accented Cinema snowflake? Seagal makes cheap films. It's garbage. If people take it seriously, it's on them.
You got me with "Steven Seagal is a f*cking asshole" 09:42 😂
The guy who thinks he is half American, half Russian, half Chinese, half Japanese, half African American who is master of everything.
Steven Seagal walked so George Santos could fly (allegedly)
Those dudes have more made-up professional credits than Johnny Sins
Scott Adkins did a really interesting interview with Seagal on his youtube channel a couple years ago. It's a terrible interview, don't get me wrong, but interesting. Within the first few minutes, Seagal (a Jewish guy from Michigan) claims to be half Native American and half Russian Mongolian. He couldn't possibly believe that anyone would buy that, but he said it anyway because he wants it to be true. He's an orientalist, so of course he claims to be half-Asian. He's tight with the Russian dictator, so of course he claims to have a Russian background. The truth doesn't even enter into the equation.
I really want the gory details of how he conned a Buddhist sect into recognizing him as a reincarnated master.
@@picahudsoniaunflocked5426 he paid them a lot of money.
Redeye reviews also did an interview with Titus Paar who directed one Seagal movie. He told some stories and anecdotes about how ridiculous Seagal was. For instance he was so lazy they had to arrange all his scenes to be shot in a hotel room just down the corridor from Seagal’s own room.
I'm going on a feeling here but I'm guessing he's claiming half-Asian heritage to make himself look better socially at what he's doing. That he's not just some "white privileged guy" exploiting Asian people and Asian culture but somehow he has a "legitimate connection" to Asian people and Asian culture. Which of course is all bogus but somehow, some people actually buy it.
@@Mutantgamer He's also infamous for deliberately injuring stuntment on set.
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.
I'll give Steven Seagal some credit, he pissed off some dude so much that he brought us Space Ice, a channel made specifically to roast Steven Seagal.
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.
I remember meeting Steven Seagal in a hotel in Bangkok back in 2016 on summer vacation with my dad and brother. I only knew who he was because of the South Park safe space episode, so we had to pretend to be fans of his to get a picture with him. Good times
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.
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)
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.
That segue to Square Space is better than anything LTT has ever done!
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.
@@gandalainsley6467A narcissistic sex creep with no sense of self awareness who makes movies; and a narcissistic sex creep with no sense of self awareness who makes television shows and talk show appearances. Who needs to get political, he's spot on!
@@gandalainsley6467 He is probably referring to their Narcissistic Personality Disorders.
Who would win in a fight, Peter Griffin or Steven Seagal?
Peter Griffin
Griffith from Berserk
The Guy from Fortnite!
Peter has his Petercopter and proved himself fighting the Chicken.
Steven Seagal can barely stand up from his chair.
Peter Griffin is a fucking tank
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 😢
Seagull isn't just a perpetrator of orientalism, but also a product of it.
There may have been a time when he truly cared, but it clearly wasn't that important to him. He quickly turned to monetising it to hell without any care about real representation.
This happened with the context of over a century of famous western writers getting rich of often superficial depictions of "oriental" cultures. Seagal was aware of this and just saw it as his opportunity to cash in.
That "sundae" line ranks as the #1 line in 2023 UA-cam videos! Congrats. Also, Seagal is to Hollywood what the butterfly is to nothing.
7:29-7:35
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.
This was extremely satisfying to watch from the perspective of someone from the actual culture Seagal consistently wants to appropriate. I'm sticking to my Bruce Lee and Jet Li films I think lol.
Love your videos man, I've become a big fan of your content these last few years. Much love from New Zealand
he's like if gul dukat were real, a human, and made films
🤣🤣🤣
Gul Dukat and his quest to 'better' the 'backwards, simple' Bajorans.
That is patently unfair! Gul Dukat kept himself in decent shape.
@@JCIce007 😆😆😆😆
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! 😊
What to expect from a Seagal movie:
A)Stupidity. Basically turning your brain off
B)Three word movie title
C)Strip clubs
D)Random cast blurting how awesome Seagal is
E)Unnecessarily dramatic lighting on his face
F)Seagal as a secret agent character
G)Seagal's character as the protag but actually evil
H)Unnecessary nudity
Don't forget:
I) Having a clearly not-Steven Seagal doing the walking scenes...
J) His slapping fight scenes
K) Him sitting for most of the movie's runtime...
I forgot:
L)Obvious ignorance on how to hold any type of gun or swords
M)Magical aiming with pistol
N)Dark clothes to hide his pork belly. GIT IN MY BELLLeeee!
O)Bad voiceover by someone from Craigslist.
P)Pathetic attempts at starting a catch phrase: "I'll snatch every motherf___ birthday."
Keanu Reeves could wipe the floor with Seagal's face, but he's too nice to do it
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.
“For maximum mental damage…”
Even the sponsor ad made me laugh.
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.
my theory is that he got laughed out of Japan because of how delusional he was and so he spent his life finding validation elsewhere in Asia.
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
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
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 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,
I believe Seagal has a 7th-dan black belt in narcissism. He takes himself too seriously, while everyone else seriously takes him as a joke. I think it’s pretty clear he doesn’t care how offensive he is to others. He only cares about himself.
I think that's your best segue to an ad yet. I think that's the best of any UA-camr, actually.
Thank you for this, all of it. And doubly so for the smooth and hilariously integrated ad read. You go above and beyond for us, and we appreciate it! :)
The UA-cam channel Space Ice reviews Steven Seagal's movies all the time and they're f**king hilarious to watch! 🤣
"Showing off is a fool's idea of glory."
- Bruce Lee
Steven Seagal is unfortunately was the person who show the world he is the best and legit martial action star with a series of scandals, corruption, affairs, ridiculous claims, friends with Russian president and other dictators, kicking the stuntmen for real and others.
Funny how much he cared for Asian culture yet abandoned his Japanese wife to start a film career here in America.
This was a wonderful Christmas present for those of us working today! Keep up the great videos!
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.
I'll keep saying it. Seagal and Van Damme have the best beef ever.
Seagal: "Van... ...who?"
Van Damme: "Oh I just LOVE this guy. His movies are great. They would be better if he lost some weight, though. But he's awesome!"
The only oriental thing about him is the Chinese food buffet he single-handedly wiped out.
Seagal is such a rabbit hole in the world of fake martial arts, cinema and orientalism. He definitely took advantage of a time where most depictions of Asian cultures where coming from western media. Also as much as Aikido has a noble philosophy, it was never meant to be used in real combat. For better or for worse things like the rise of extreme sports such as mma or ufc put an end to the old discussion of martial art's combat effectiveness that more often than not was coated in a layer of Asian mysticism.
MMA has over time revived the argument however because as it's gotten more structured and more rules come in it's shaped the factors that make an art 'successful' in its eyes. It goes back to assumptions: MMA assumes you're fighting 1 person, who is in a similar weight class and skill level, in an empty arena with no obstacles, no heavy clothing or weapons, and with a referee who can step in. If you change some of those factors and allow every discipline, it won't be long before we reinvent the renaissance and HEMA becomes the undisputed most effective martial art, for a sillier example
@@greg_mca I'd argue that MMA is really useful for the type of guy who is already prone to getting in fights. I.e. relatively big and aggressive and athletic, and who fights to assert dominance and humiliate others, rather than in self-defense. It's full of techniques that take advantage of strength and athleticism to mess up a person, but mess them up within certain parameters so you aren't at too high a risk of killing or permanently crippling them.
For _self-defense_ (which is typically against people noticeably bigger and stronger than yourself, because those are the ones most likely to choose to assault you even when you're being non-confrontational) your needs and priorities are different, so pure MMA isn't ideal there.
@@greg_mca Sure, there's some of that. I was mostly referring to unarmed combat. The katana weeb vs hema neckbeard discussion is a whole other can of worms tho 😆. My point was that stuff like the "touch of death" school of kung-fu or your average American Mc Dojo with made up martial art styles doesn't fly as much as it used to because we now have more standards and reference points to measure them. If anything things like the UFC have demonstrated that flashier martial arts are usually not as effective as one might think and that the META in that specific context gravitates more towards grappling techniques like jujitsu.
The Behind the Bastards podcast episodes about Steven are hilarious, highly recommend! :D
The space ice reviews are also hilarious.
Riki-Oh is so good lol. I loved that little flash back :P Really great video essay. Seagal and his career is so baffling and narcissistic. His films only serve to elevate racism and propaganda against the idea that Asian countries are in fact surpassing America in many industries.
His love affair with Putin and Russia deserves its own episode as well as his legendary infidelities with women.
Your sponsorship video might be the best one I’ve ever seen! Great job! 😂
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 recommend watching Space Ice’s takes on Steven Seagal if you need to see a more satirical take in order to bear his movies. I guarantee you it’s worth the watch.
This came up in my recommendations and I am so happy it did! I'm going to binge watch your other videos now
That was a really well-integrated ad break. Bravo
BTW “dangerous but weak” enemies is rhetoric out of the toolbox of fascism, so there’s that
Honestly, the fact that your usual respectful and wholesome tone is interrupted by so many sensored swears in this video in itself is an inditement of the arsehole behaviour that this man has displayed in his approach to displaying Asian culture in cinema
Hes a whiny chinses
I'm sorry that you had to watch through all those Segal films to bring us this, so many thanks for the analysis, which is incisive as always. Oh, and that was probably the funniest segue I've seen on UA-cam! Keep up the good work and all the best for 2024!
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.
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.
He was really a mythical entity to me back in the day but now we know the myth was created.
A video shitting on Steve Seagal? This is the best Christmas gift to wake up to
I don't think money and power changed him. It simply revealed who he really was, deep down. Without anything in his way, this is what he chooses to do.
He is endlessly entertaining as fodder for the youtube channel Space Ice, so he's got that going for him.
Thank you for making me laugh so hard on the holiday. Hope your 2024 is even better AC. Keep up the great work.
Great video man, as a Chinese Lang. & Literature student and a cinema lover, I really like your content. ❤
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
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.
4:44 Its my first time hearing this quote today and Im really this close to just close the tab and move on
I had to pause the video whilst I laughed. "Vaguely Asian bullshit" just didn't prepare me for what was to follow.
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.
the fact that the website thing is true just makes this 10x better.