Whose the audience?

The first 3 Ninjas film clearly showed that the Douglas family lives in a middle to upper class neighborhood. With their trimmed lawns and nice, two-story houses, they seem to live in “white suburbia.” The children’s biggest threat, well, before getting kidnapped, was conflict with bullies, which at one point ends with Colt and Rocky in a basketball show-down (which I included at the end of the post because no one should go without seeing Rocky’s ridiculous air-slam dunk.)

But still, I feel like the creators of the movie decided to place the children in this middle-class neighborhood, because they wanted to appeal to middle-class audiences, who they think will consume the movie’s idea of valuing the family. Specifically using this white suburbia location shows the creators’ prejudice of class values.

They could have set the movie in the slums, or maybe in a more dangerous neighborhood where martial arts and fighting may be more realistic  in order to protect themselves, but they didn’t.

*the action starts at 3:00!

Cars, cassettes, and films – oh my!

During the mid-1980s and thoughout the 1990s, Japanese companies greatly profited in different markets. Markets including the automobile industry, the technological industry, as well as the film industry.

Automobile industry

With companies like Nissan, Toyota and Honda moving assembling and production to America, these Japanese car companies pushed sales and ended up becoming “the world’s most proficient producers of cars” at the time. Still, the “Action Program to Promote Import”,  which the U.S. governemnt passed to increase foreign imports , definitely increased sales.

Electronic industry

The Sony Corporation lead innovative technology in the electronic industry, by manufacturing cassettes, compact discs, televisions and VCRs, which competed with other companies, like Philips.

In 1989, Sony Corp. bought out Columbia Pictures, a motion picture studio, for $3.4 billion. Many skeptics thought that Sony overpaid for the company, yet it didn’t stop Sony from purchasing other studios. In the same year, Sony purchased Gubers-Peters Entertainment Company for $200 million.

Grandpa Mori: The Asian teacher

Grandpa Mori!

Grandpa Mori, like Mr. Miyagi, trains the Caucasian fighter (grandchildren) to overcome the Asian villain (Koga in 3 Ninjas Kick Back). This stereotype is often seen as weak but was once an incredible fighter in his prime, and sexless. (Sexless in the idea that Ms. Mori is never mentioned, and he never seems to show any sign of interest in romance.)

I noticed that whenever Grandpa Mori is in a scene, calming music begins to play, representing his sage nature.

Also a quick factoid: Victor Wong, who plays Grandpa Mori, is actually Chinese and not Japanese. Him portraying a Japanese man brings up the idea of grouping and assuming all Asians are similar. Still, the fact still remains that Asian characters, especially male, are given limited roles in the entertainment world, which probablyexplains why Wong took the job.

Why four movies?

Think 3 Ninjas was a waste of film?

According to Desser, the 3 Ninjas series is a part of the “juvenile adventure fantasy” subgenre of 1990s martial arts films. These films basically targeted middle-class families, who they assumed  encompassed family values. 

Yet 3 Ninjas films were not smash hits. So how did they successfully make four films? 

1. Martial arts films had lower budgets and would only take a few months to film. 

2. Because they only took a few months to film, they released to audiences quicker. 

3. The “juvenile adventure fantasy” usually created characters that children can try to relate to, so they picked up a fan base. And they had formulaic plots that could be interchangeable.4. In the 1990s, video cassetts hit it big and even surppassed box office sales. Instead of having to spend time going to the movies and purchasing a ticket, a family can just rent a video at a cheaper cost.  So these “juvenile fantasy films” generally released to video and audiences consumed more of them because of that.

You say Ninjutsu, I say Ninjitsu…

Eye see you.

“… [A ninja] is honest and good… his mind, body and spirit are one.” – Colt, 3 Ninjas

Well, it looks like Grandpa Mori fluffed up the truth about ninjas for his grandchildren.

According to Ninjutsu: The Art of Invisibility, ninjas were the “best-trained, most ingenious and deadliest undercover agents of all time.”

The book mentions that during conflicts between Buddhism and Shintoism in Japan, predecessors of Ninjitsu, who favored Buddhism, actually fled to the mountains of Kyoto to escape religious persecution. Although some Ninjitsu practices derived from Buddhist practices, they began to train and “develop extraordinary survival and fighting skills,” which transpired into provincial lords hiring them for espionage missions.

Unlike Samurai, who recieved glory after every victory, a ninja didn’t seek or accept recognition for his accomplishments and depended on the invisibility of his actions, guerilla tactics and deception to fulfill a mission. And since the ninja valued loyalty, if caught, a trained ninja did not reveal the identity of his client but would choose to take their own life.

Multiculturalism? Check!

According to Prashad, multiculturalim is the idea of accepting and practicing parts of a culture without engaging “with those parts with which [practitioners] disagree.”

In relation to 3 Ninjas, the creators of this series took partial elements of Ninjitsu to glam up for Hollywood, such as:

– martial arts and technique (somewhat)

– “costumes” – fabric covering their whole bodies, except for their eyes

– weapons – like twin sai, nunchucks, and ninja stars

In other words, they take parts of Ninjitsu without regarding all of the intense training or the history, ultimatly exploiting the art.

They never mentioned the true history of Ninjitsu (which is featured in another post!) but instead covered it up by creating their own traditions of Ninjitsu (such as the yearly ninja tournament in 3 Ninjas Kick Back).

This loose representation definitely reduces the art of Ninjitsu into superficiality that the creators profited from.

Ninja training vs. 3 Ninja training

*Training starts 1:18

The 3 Ninjas highlights how a person can train to be  a ninja:

– Train while a fog machine mystifies the area you are in.

– Take and learn bits and pieces of Taekwondo poomse, even if it actually has nothing to do with Ninjitsu.

–  Break and destroy as many of your mom’s potting plants as you can.

– Carry a heavy load of water across a log, or pull your old Grandpa on a sled.

– Defeat a REAL ninja (in this case, Grandpa Mori.)

Now, I can compare this with how ninjas actually trained:

– Ground yourself with spiritual belief, especially Buddhism ideals.

– Of course, train in martial arts intensely, but also in alchemy, meditation, explosives, astronomy and medicine.

– Practice espionage and assassination.

– Learn the concept of honor, by never revealing who hired you, even if it means you have to die.

– Do not dwell on accomplishments, but instead focus on how to keep your invisibility.

– Exploit every opportunity in order to further the interests of your clients.

Why thank you, Chuck Norris.

Oh dear. Check out those guns... literally.

The 3 Ninjas can thank Chuck Norris for paving the way for their bite-sized martial arts films. 

Throughout the 1980s, Chuck Norris changed the consumption of Asian martial arts films in America from minorities to Caucasian audiences. This idea of this all-American man, who fights bad guys using just his legs and fists, intrigued them. 

A good number of  the martial arts movies starring Chuck Norris, Jean Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal, had a plot that generally focused on the Caucasian fighter overcoming the Asian Villain.  Of course the Caucasian fighter had to put in more effort to beat their villain, but they do in the end. 

Without these “martial artists,” there may not have been a mainstream audience  for 3 Ninjas.

Top 3 Orientalist lines…

This ninja business is tearing my family apart!

Borrowing from Said’s definition of Orientalism – a vehicle used by the West to suggest to the public how Eastern culture is backwards and exotic, whilst creating this divide between cultures – here’s my take on the top 3 Orientalist, ignorant, and incredibly poorly delivered lines from the movies:

1. “All that ninja stuff, all they want to do is fight.” – Samuel Douglas, the boys’ father, 3 Ninjas.

One of the many assumptions made in this movie about ninjas, portraying them as incredibly violent and in a negative light.

2. “Listen to the sound of the flower, it could teach you how to walk the correct path. Hear the sounds of them blooming, and only then can you become a true ninja.” – Grandpa Mori Tanaka, 3 Ninjas: Knuckle Up

Out of all of the movies, this line probably won the award for corniest. But, it does convey a sense of exoticism, no? Because you can’t be a true ninja unless you can hear flowers!

3. “Well forgive me for being supportive of my father. It’s my Asian side I guess.” -Jessica Douglas, the boys’ mother, 3 Ninjas.

Even if her line was supposed to be sarcasm, its a fail. It contributes to the stereotype of the submissive Asian woman, who follows her father’s wishes no matter what.

The four movies: 1992-1998

A bit about the movies:

The plot of the movies are generic: The 3 boys must use their learned “ninja techniques” to face dangerous henchmen and save something or someone. Also, each movie has a different cast of boys (but the actor who plays Colt actually played in 3 out of the 4 movies.)

3 Ninjas (1992) released to theatres and grossed about $29 million overall. The boys’ dad works for the CIA and he’s after Snyder, this villain that Grandpa Mori actually taught. Snyder decides to kidnap the kids, and Grandpa saves them by fighting Snyder and choking him with jellybeans during battle. Yup, I’m serious.

3 Ninjas Kick Back (1994) also released to theaters, but only made $11 million overall. The difference in this plot is that the villain is Koga (which was actually an area in Japan that practiced Ninjitsu back in the feudal age), who wanted the sword that  Grandpa Mori won over him in a “ninja tournament.”  Sothe boys travel to Japan to save their grandpa from danger.

3 Ninjas Knuckle Up (1995) released to theaters as well but only made around $400,000. It was actually filmed before Kick Back, but released later. The plot surrounds the boys saving an Indian reservation from becoming a landfill.

3 Ninjas High Noon at Mega Mountain (1998) went straight to video. It only made around $376,000. The plot included Hulk Hogan, a retired TV star, who helps the boys save the owners of the Mega Mountain theme park from Medusa and her “army of ninjas.”

Notice the trend: As the years went by, the movies earned a lesser profit.