Portraying the essense of martial arts

[tonydee]

Bit of a strange one here. I have a couple friends who just love martial arts movies, and are trying to get started in the industry (based in Australia - not so easy). Irrespective of the practicalities of actually shooting anything, it's fascinating to contemplate what to present, and how. There are lots of movies about martial arts, but to my mind very few satisfy, and even fewer express, challenge or develop our attitudes to our practice, or those of the non-MAist public. I'm curious what people think about this; what attitudes, concepts, plot or dialog ideas - people would care to put "in the public domain", for anyone to discuss, develop or use. What themes can be identified in existing movies, and what's key to their most successful usage, or lacking and unexploited? What completely new themes should be explored? What historical anecdotes related to martial arts powerfully conveyed something fundamental? What non-martial arts aspects could be usefully recast in a martial arts context? Ideas that might suit an unconventional format, like a 30-second to 5-minute skit, could be just as interesting....

By way of example, obviously the things that are contentious on this forum are candidates for wider presentation: someone trying to escalate force by stages versus someone not, whatever the outcomes; tensions over junior/senior student/teacher interaction; inter-dojo relationships; practality; inter-style squabbling; rigged tournaments; mcdojos; absurd grading fees or cultist practices; existance of ki; pressure to train at levels courting injuries; arts fueling unwarranted confidence or foolhardiness; twisted or simplistic ethical codes; keeping going as we age; public perceptions of MAists....

Nothing wrong with a lot of that, and the existence of these issues might surprise many non martial artists. Tie a few together and you could probably get a better than average martial arts movie. But, part of me is hankering for something more subtle... something where not only the issues are unexpected, but the implications to a martial artist are likely to be too... drawing on subtle insights and realisations that come specifically through training, or through the martial traditions. Do such things even exist? Is there anything about martial arts that engenders unique perspectives, obligations, behaviours?

I have quite a few ideas, but will chip in later as I don't want to focus the discussion too narrowly.

Thanks and regards,

Tony