When we got this assignment I immediately thought of this scene from Anger Management, that "ok" movie with Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson that came out in 2003. John C Reilly plays a Buddhist monk who, pre-enlightenment, was a bully and Adam Sandler, on his route to overcoming his anger, has to confront him. There are a few stereotypes about Buddhism that are mentioned before the excessive fighting starts; including the whole garden that it occurs in, the orange robes the monks are wearing, and that Arnie Shankman (John C. Reilly) is meditating with his eyes closed when first approached. On Brad Warner’s blog he gives instructions on how to do zazen and one of the characteristics is that you keep your eyes open during it. I’ve seen the closed eye meditation in other things but I think it’s a pretty trivial stereotype compared to others. For instance Sandler’s character says that Buddhists can’t even hurt a plant, which reinforces the stereotype of Buddhists being peaceful and pacifistic almost to a fault, even Arnie’s voice is gentle before he gets angry. Then when he does eventually lose it and attack Sandler he acts exactly how you wouldn’t expect a monk to act or fight, this was obviously done to be funny since it’s a comedy. Brad Warner is totally unlike the orange robe wearing monks from this scene, since it seems like the guys in the movie, at least Arnie, would be in the monastery for the rest of their life especially because there are a bunch of different ages represented. . Since I was really intrigued by Warner after starting reading the book I looked at his blog and some of the pictures he has of himself in robes with peers, and they weren’t orange; when I saw that I realized that every time I had pictured a monk or seen a monk in pop culture their robes were orange. I think the greatest “anti-stereotype” quote Warner has in his book is when he’s talking about how the leader of his sangha and his peers saw him as living “…in an apartment in Los Angeles dressed in golden Buddhist robes surrounded by plastic monster toys and dozens of luscious Suicide Girls.” Even though he wasn’t “surrounded” by girls he was still involved in soft-core porn, an industry you would never suspect a Buddhist monk to take part in. I haven’t finished the book yet but I’m already a huge fan of this guy because he seems like a badass
I love your choice for this assignment! To be honest, I thought of this very same clip the moment this assignment was given out to us, as well. I just had a tough time relating it to what Warner said in his book, however I think you really picked out some of the strongest reinforcing statements from the book. I liked your incorporation from the text of the sangha leader and how he was perceived. I'm sure it's interesting to see the dynamic distinction between the perceptions of the monks and Sandler in the movie. The Western view on Buddhism is really something, and I thought it really crazy when Shankman says that Buddha is his God, even though Buddha rejected that notion.
ReplyDeleteGreat work, interesting read!
I also stumbled across this clip and found the same misconceptions. I never realized just how many example there are in American culture regarding Buddhist stereotypes.Not all Buddhists wear orange robes and meditate all day. I think a similarity between the monk in your example and Buddha is that both gave up previous lives for the path of Buddhism however Buddhist monks devote themselves to have no desire, conflict or harm to any living beings. I definitely think its important to realize that Buddhists are not all like the image American stereotypes have formed
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