How this NHK TV production found it's way out of Japan and onto the TV screens of English speaking children in the 1908s is something of a testament to how good the series is. Not many Japanese TV shows manage to reach escape velocity from their own domestic market. Monkey was many a child's formative exposure to the world of the far east, and my goodness, did it leave an impression!
Smashing onto the screen with some incredibly catchy 1970s rock music courtesy of band Godiego, the power of Monkey was irrepressable! It's strange to think in hindsight that this genre of music would fit with it's setting of ancient China, but it certainly does. Songs like Monkey's title theme, "Thank You Baby", "Havoc in Heaven", and "Ghandara" are seared onto my consciousness and those of the same generation.
Monkey had everything. Wild English dubbing, crazy jokes, ham-fisted performances, extravagant costumes, hokey special effects, and violent fight choreographed scenes. Amongst it all were sentimental and serious Buddhist teachings and philosophy about the human condition, delivered by a narrator and handled with great sensitivity. Most of this went over our heads as children, as we treated the Buddha as a make believe fantasy character peculiar to the world of Monkey Magic. We were more fascinated by the violence. Going beyond this, rewatching Monkey as an adult is considerably more... enlightening!
Unlike the source material of the "Journey to the west", Monkey doesn't really resolve itself properly in line with the overarching plot of the journey to India. This is expertly cast into the themes of it's final episode. I am not alone in feeling a desire for more episodes. Yet as the Buddha teaches, the source of all our suffering is desire. It is very hard to want nothing and to keep moving, but if we are to be enlightened, we must discover that this is in fact very easy.
Smashing onto the screen with some incredibly catchy 1970s rock music courtesy of band Godiego, the power of Monkey was irrepressable! It's strange to think in hindsight that this genre of music would fit with it's setting of ancient China, but it certainly does. Songs like Monkey's title theme, "Thank You Baby", "Havoc in Heaven", and "Ghandara" are seared onto my consciousness and those of the same generation.
Monkey had everything. Wild English dubbing, crazy jokes, ham-fisted performances, extravagant costumes, hokey special effects, and violent fight choreographed scenes. Amongst it all were sentimental and serious Buddhist teachings and philosophy about the human condition, delivered by a narrator and handled with great sensitivity. Most of this went over our heads as children, as we treated the Buddha as a make believe fantasy character peculiar to the world of Monkey Magic. We were more fascinated by the violence. Going beyond this, rewatching Monkey as an adult is considerably more... enlightening!
Unlike the source material of the "Journey to the west", Monkey doesn't really resolve itself properly in line with the overarching plot of the journey to India. This is expertly cast into the themes of it's final episode. I am not alone in feeling a desire for more episodes. Yet as the Buddha teaches, the source of all our suffering is desire. It is very hard to want nothing and to keep moving, but if we are to be enlightened, we must discover that this is in fact very easy.
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