I'm watching The Last Samuari, a film that on some levels I despise as almost tantamount to racist (why the inclusion of a white, american cavalry man was so, so necessary to tell this story and just how he was valorised as the last samuari I felt was insulting to culture and context and tale it was meant to be paying homage to), on the other hand I love the portrayals of honorific social interaction, convention and highly codified manners of respect, deference and calm resolution are highly, highly appealing to me.
I remember becoming interested in martial arts at an early age and it was as much to do with the honour codes and respectful behaviourial expectations as anything else.
Although, on the few occasions that I've tried to discuss this with anyone, without first highly qualifying or contextualising it with reference to the Asiatic or Martial examples people are generally outraged, surprised, disgusted.
The reason being that they associate honorific codes with patriarchy, oppressive familial authority and expectations, so called "honour" killings, sometimes of people who have already been victimised, raped, abused, humiliated.
What is anyone else's thinking on this? What do these terms and ideas immediately bring to mind and is it good or bad?
I remember becoming interested in martial arts at an early age and it was as much to do with the honour codes and respectful behaviourial expectations as anything else.
Although, on the few occasions that I've tried to discuss this with anyone, without first highly qualifying or contextualising it with reference to the Asiatic or Martial examples people are generally outraged, surprised, disgusted.
The reason being that they associate honorific codes with patriarchy, oppressive familial authority and expectations, so called "honour" killings, sometimes of people who have already been victimised, raped, abused, humiliated.
What is anyone else's thinking on this? What do these terms and ideas immediately bring to mind and is it good or bad?
