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Title: Demythologizing the Shaolin Monks (TV's King Fu etc.)
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URL Source: https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4516
Published: Apr 26, 2016
Author: Dunning
Post Date: 2016-04-26 21:55:48 by NeoconsNailed
Keywords: None
Views: 350
Comments: 2
The above is the very listenable podcast. Here 'tis with transcript: https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4516 Today we're going up into the misty mountains of China's Henan Province, to find an ancient red Zen Buddhist temple. It is the home of the Shaolin, said to be the creators of kung fu, and the very birthplace of Zen Buddhism itself. This ancient and mysterious order of orange or yellow robed monks have studied here for centuries, and are the most accomplished of all martial artists, able to withstand any blow or attack. At least, so the story goes. Americans got their first big exposure to the Shaolin monks with the 1970s TV series Kung Fu starring David Carradine. In the intro, we see him as a young monk completing a rite of passage ceremony where he had to lift and move a heavy cauldron filled with glowing cinders, and in doing so his arms were branded with a dragon and a tiger. For all his quiet wisdom and serenity, this monk had fighting skills that were unsurpassed. It was a combination that was deeply attractive to Western audiences of the seventies obsessed with the superiority of Eastern enlightenment over Western materialism............
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#1. To: NeoconsNailed (#0)
(Edited)
My boy the Dragon Prince, Bruce Lee, was schooled in the way of the Shaolin. Best pound for pound fighter ever. Remember the old Green Hornet show? Kato? I remember going to school and being on the playgtound the next day after seeing that show, and nobody wanted to be the green hornet. We all wanted to be Kato. I've been a huge admirer ever since. Carradine was a terrible choice for that part. (kung fu) Had they cast Lee instead, as they originally planned, he'd have become a mega-star.
Well come on, with Hollywood back then you could never have people played by what they were -- thus an Ohio oilman and English lady playing Rhett and Scarlett etc. Prolly worse now! Ted Crudz: The Mask of Sincerity
#2. To: Obnoxicated (#1)
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