Karate Kid & Real Karate

[Shane]

Karate Kid & Real Karate

 

I have had a few guys in my Kickboxing class bring up the karate kid to me and the training shown in the movie. I can see that some people think that martial arts training is going to be like it is in the movies. I dont teach a traditional style but I use to train in one and I know that I had to do a lot more than sand floors, wax a car, paint a fence, hammer some nails and try to balance in the waves while playing at the beach before I was any good at it.

 

Do you think that movies like this make people not like the martial arts as much as they thought they would at the time of watching the movies?

 

This is not really an entertainment post its more of a training, moral question.

[Dijita]

I think movies can create false expectations. I'm sure there are a lot of people, especially kids, who watch cartoons or movies with martial artists and they see all the fancy choriagraphed fighting and they think that they want to be able to do that. So a lot of the times they go and join a club or get mom to get them into a club so that they can do what they saw on TV. What happens is that the student with this false expectation joins the club and often times will be disapointed because they realize that after a month or two they can't do what they saw on television that they are still working on basic strikes.

 

I'm sure it works both ways though, I'm sure the media has brought some people to the dojos to find that they really enjoy the learning process and the amount of dedicated work required to be successful as a student.

[ncole_91]

Yeah you have to really think about if you want to join martial arts. I have been thinking fro a couple months and I am almost sure...90%

 

T.V. can show false images of MA, but to tell you the truth, that is not what made me think of doing it becuase I am not that much of a athlete so I didn;t htink i would ever be able to do this stuff. Dont get me wrong, it looks really cool, but what made me decided to start karate was my cousin. He and his friend where spparing and he told me that it takes lots of practice and stuff to become good, you won't just learn to be a black belt in like 3 weeks. I know this might sound crazy, but oh well,

 

Nicolas

[aefibird]

I think that martial arts in the movies has both a positive and a negative effect on people's perceptions of MA.

 

For example, a guy at my Wing Chun class brought along a friend of his a few weeks ago. His friend liked WC and came for some classes. However, he wasn't there this week, so I asked where he was (thinking that maybe he was ill or working) and was told that he'd quit - he hadn't become 'instantly good' after a few weeks training and so he didn't want to train any more. Apparantly, he wanted to "be like Bruce Lee", but didn't seem to realise that B.L. spent years of his life devoted to training, not just a few weeks.

 

On the other hand, however, I think the portrayal of MA in the movies can have a good effect - I'm sure that many people in MA started because they watched Bruce Lee of Jackie Chan or Karate Kid or whatever and wanted to be like that.

 

IMO, the more people who are exposed to martial arts, the better.

 

Martial arts isn't some secret society "if I tell you I'm gonna have to kill you" type of thing - it should be acessable to all who want to train, and if a few movies helps people to get a better understanding of what martial arts are all about, then that's a good thing.

[jedimc]

While we are still talking about karate kid movie, i was wondering if the dodging training technique in karate kid II is any good, if you dont know what im talking about you know when mr miyagi takes daniel(i think thats his name i forget) to the old fishing place and there is a big hook hanging up at the roof and mr miyagi tells daniel to push a lever and the big hook comes down and mr miyagi dodges it with a soto uke(inward forearm block, it look like that) yer is that a good way to train your reflexe, speed, instinct but of course you wouldnt use a big SHARP hook, you could use a ball or something.

 

[47MartialMan]

Instead of that, which you are prepared, in some fashion, get a sparring partner. he does have to be a martial artist. Get him to hold padding from different angles while moving around. You can hit those pads thus achieving the same thing, nut better.

[topdawg]

A couple of us were talking about the Karate Kid Movie the other night and

 

I was just wondering if anyone else noticed that after Daniel noticed that he was just working for Mr. Miyagi that the training suddenly changed like Mr Miyagi was like oh crap he figured it out.

[White Warlock]

It was more in the manner it was presented in the movie. He was still supposedly doing chores for Mr. Miyagi, but since it was no longer relevant to the 'scripted' storyline, his continued slave labor was not included in the movie.

[cmantim]

While we are still talking about karate kid movie, i was wondering if the dodging training technique in karate kid II is any good, if you dont know what im talking about you know when mr miyagi takes daniel(i think thats his name i forget) to the old fishing place and there is a big hook hanging up at the roof and mr miyagi tells daniel to push a lever and the big hook comes down and mr miyagi dodges it with a soto uke(inward forearm block, it look like that) yer is that a good way to train your reflexe, speed, instinct but of course you wouldnt use a big SHARP hook, you could use a ball or something.

 

 

Isshinryu Upper body basic #14 is a move consisting of that block followed by 2 roundhouse strikes. I watched Karate Kid II a couple of months ago and said "hey look, it's #14.." during that scene. and when Daniel asked Mr. Miyagi if there was a counterstrike I just laughed.

[G95champ]

I thought KK was a very good training film. I use it a lot. Wax on and wax off yeah I have to wash my car from time to time when I do so I work wax on wax off in big circles. Thus Im working my outside blocks. I don't do much floor sanding or fence painting but I understood the point the film was making. That point is that karate is not what we do in the DOJO its what we do in our EVERYDAY lives. Karate is a way of LIVING. We are always training not just when we walk in the dojo and put on a gi. I think KK was huge in teaching that lesson. As far as movies go most are crap but all the KK series IMO teaches more about TRUE martial arts than any other. just my 2 cents.