When Yale Students Attack Samurai Jack

Let's get this out of the way. Yes, I am an Anti-Social Justice Warrior or SJW. Yes, I am against the kind of feminism as displayed by the likes of Anita Sarkeesian, Zoe Quinn, and Brianna Wu. Yes, I am well aware that I'm a guy, so SJWs and Feminists would want to have my head cut off, and served on a platter, because "muh-cultural-appropriation-policial-correctness-feminust-justice" or what have you.

And because I have such a scorn view on these types of people, I tend to ignore or laugh off whatever blaring sounds they make, because whatever accusations they have, just makes no common sense. That being said, I am human and eventually I'll have to respond to something. So when I heard the news story of students from Yale University heavily criticizing the current season of Samurai Jack for "Homophobia, Sexism, and Cultural Appropriation", I just laughed at how preposterous those accusations are. However, it has gone viral. So, I said to myself "Ok. You want to play this game? I'll play along."

The so-called "news" comes from The Yale Herald, which reviews the current season of Samurai Jack. As I was reading their article, I couldn't help but snort at their profound stupidity. Not to mention the fact the article is incredibly short and doesn't provide a sound explanation of their claims.

Let's read their first accusation:

"Jack’s first villain, Scaramouche, with his flamboyant dress and mannerisms which include ending every sentence with “babe,” reads as somewhat tone deaf and homophobic."

Nothing in Scaramouche's character makes him homophobic at all. At best, Scaramouche is a flamboyant character with a taste for scat-style jazz. There's nothing wrong with being flamboyant. The late David Bowie has done so throughout his career and he's straight and nobody complained about it. In fact, Scaramouche's persona is what makes him one of the most interesting and popular characters of this season.

2nd accusation:

"The portrayal of samurai seems to be rooted in a Wikipedia level understanding of the historical figure and feels appropriative at times"

What these Yale Students are trying to say is that Jack doesn't in any way resembles how an actual samurai behaves. Furthermore, because the series is written by Genndy Tartakovsky, who happens to be Russian (ergo, white), it's a case of cultural appropriation.

So how come they didn't complain about the Ninja Turtles then? They're created by two white guys. The turtles aren't Japanese, yet they practice their ninja skills or ninjutsu. And theirs isn't even anywhere close to real-life ninjutsu.

Even tha Naruto franchise's use of ninja skills are all fantasy made and very loosely based on the real-life ninjutsu.

What about Gintama, Rurouni Kenshin, or Samurai Champloo? These are anime titles that feature samurai, but are just as loose and more rooted in fantasy than real-life samurai culture. How come they didn't complain about these works?

And implying someone like Tartakovsky shouldn't produce works that have a non-Caucasian protagonist is like saying Shigeru Miyamoto should never have created Super Mario Bros. because Mario is not Japanese, but an Italian. Or the creators of the Avatar franchise can't make the series in the first place because the creators are white and their characters are Asian.

3rd accusation:

"While this season introduces the strong, nuanced female character of Ashi, women’s bodies are often depicted as hyper-sexual, a fact made uncomfortably clear by the daughters of the Scotsman in the latest episode."

So they're body-shaming the Daughters of Aku because they're so slim looking, while also body-shaming the Daughters of the Scotsman because they're hyper muscular. Next thing you know, these Yale students will body-shame a fat character for the same reason. How nit-picky these idiots get?

Don't these people even consider that the body types of the Daughters of Aku and the Daughters of The Scotsman are due in part to their training? Ashi is trained to be an assassin, so a flexible body is more appropriate for the job. The Scotsman's daughters are trained to carry heavy weaponry. Of course they need to be strong to lift those!

I dare these Yale Students to give an example of a well-known fictional character with the body type of their choosing that not only is very good with his/her assassination skills, but is also flexible and can lift a giant sword 20 times its size with relative ease. Protip: they can't!

And what is wrong with "Da Samurai" being someone who enjoys 70's funk or what have you, while still being a samurai himself? If Samuel L Jackson where to star in a film as a Samurai while having the persona of the character Shaft, would there be a problem? No! And by the way, he already did played a samurai in Afro Samurai. So what? Cultural appropriation again? Give me a break.

The Yale Herald ends their short article with the following:

"Samurai Jack is thus flawed in the many ways that most mass entertainment is flawed, and thus deserves the same critical eye. With this in mind, whether the show is still worth experiencing should be left to the discretion of the individual viewer."

I get the impression these Yale Students never liked entertainment, period. I'm assuming they would hate Grave of The Fireflies and calling it one of the worst anime films of all time, despite the fact that it is very much praised by critics and fans alike.

I may be unfair criticizing these students from Yale University, as the article is written by one Sam Kruyer. If anything, HE should be criticized for this and not the student body in general. But as it was published anyway and there is no backlash within the university about it, it appears the students of Yale University are backing this up.

I DO hope I am wrong and it's just this Kruyer guy who is the moron. But as it stands, this article represents The Yale Herald, which represents the students of Yale University, and thus my criticism of their article goes out to ALL of them. They are from a prestigious university. They should be much better than this.

Thankfully, they are in the minority as everyone sans these Yale Students really enjoy Samurai Jack. My final message is that they should take a real hard look upon themselves and crack their heads open rather than being so closed up, if you get what I mean.