Semiotics: Karate Kid 1984 vs 2010

The Karate Kid Semiotics 

Reboots also allow directors and producers to cast a new set of younger actors for the familiar roles of a film series to attract a younger audience. Unlike a remake, however, a reboot often presupposes a working familiarity on the part of the audience with the original work.  The director of “Karate Kid” (2010)  Harald Zwart, made a reboot of the classic “Karate Kid” (1984)directed by John G. Avildsen. Their were many changes in the most recent film. I will be comparing 2 scenes from the original ( 1984) and the reboot (2010).
   
The first scene i will be comparing is actually at the very beginning of the movie. You can spot something different right off the bat, the main characters race. In (2010) version the main character Dre is a 12 year old african american from Detroit whereas in the (1984) version the main character is a young itailian teenager from New Jersey. In the 2010 version you can see the african american culture is different then the 1984 version. For example, Dre is wearing his cornrows, which is normally worn by african americans. Also his mother is wearing her natural hair whereas, in the original version, it is the classic hollywood “white “ main character.

The next scene i will be comparing will be whenever the main characters finishing move in their last fight, “the crane kick”. In the original version, Daniel performs a one legged kick to win the tournament. whereas , in the reboot, Dre still does the crane kick but with much more style. He does a one legged backflip kick to knock down his opponent and win the tournament.