Why the lack of karate movies???

[Himokiri Karate]

What I mean is, there are so many many kung fu movies and in bruce lee movies. The Karatekas where the "Bad Guys"

I never understood why there wasent as much as karate movies as there was kungfu. Keep in mind kung fu movies Blew up in early 60s and it was at its height in 70s. By mid-80s it died down.

I know people are going to reference bruce lee, but wasent bruce lee a wing chun guy who "Mixed" his wingchun with boxing and grappling (courtesty of gene lebell)

Cuiros to know why karate was never as big as kung fu in the cinema?

[andym]

'Kuro Obi' (Black Belt) came out 2007. But this, like a few, very few others, come out of Japan. Remember how this period and it's movies are known - 'The Kung Fu Boom'. Karate had been around in the back ground for 10 years or more, like wise Judo. Fashion is driven by 'new', neither of those two were new to the public, Kung Fu was. Karate had been in films in the 1960's, from crap Elvis films and poor spy spoofs etc. To the epic training scene in James Bonds 'You Only Live Twice'. To referenced in 'Get Carter' were Micheal Caine's central character beats someone up, then recommends him to join a Karate club to get better. At the end of the day, we were and are a known quantity, the public want new. Ju Jitsu : Judo : Karate : Kung Fu : Kick Boxing : Free Style : Mauy Thai : BJJ : MMA - the list will grow as to what is old hat, as BJJ and MMA are over taken by fashion. That's all it is fashion.

[MasterPain]

The Japanese were making Godzilla movies during the Shaw Brothers era.

[cheesefrysamurai]

I dont know how everyone else feels but i am a HUGE fan of the shaw brothers movies and the definitely gave me the MA bug as a kid.

I still like them.

[Spodo Komodo]

Possibly also to do with the fact that many of the best Kung Fu movies came out of Hong Kong at a time when the place was booming. They were usually semi-historical and had the motif of overcoming unjust government or bullying bandits, local officials etc. This played to a largely Chinese population under Colonial rule which had just gone through half a century of internal and external wars. The Japanese in contrast had just taken a bitter blow to their national pride and so their focus became as much taken by science fiction as the golden age of Samurai warfare, pre-dating Karate. The Karate era was generally one that was difficult to address in context without the shadow of the wars that ultimately led to Japanese defeat (Sino-Japanese Wars, Russo-Japanese War, Second World War).

On the other hand there are loads of good Iaido movies!

[JusticeZero]

Yeah, that looks like a good explanation.

I've seen a Brazilian Capoeira movie from the 70's. Some of the most gawdawful bad chop-socky i've ever seen. The hero would do a throw at mooks and they'd fall over dead and not be thrown.

[cheesefrysamurai]

If ANYONE outthere hasn't seen both Ipman movies with Donnie Yen, they are phenominal.

In one - the Japanese (karatekas) were the enemy and in the other the westerners were the enemy.

I love good (and sometimes not so good) MA movies

[AdamKralic]

If ANYONE outthere hasn't seen both Ipman movies with Donnie Yen, they are phenominal.

In one - the Japanese (karatekas) were the enemy and in the other the westerners were the enemy.

I love good (and sometimes not so good) MA movies

__________________________________________________

The IP Man movies and the Tony Jaa Ong Bak movies are my favorite "more modern" MA movies.

[Nabil Kazama]

Kuro-Obi. 'nuff said. I have it on DVD. Brilliant film, most of the Karate portrayed in this film I actually recognized. There 'actors' are real life Karate practitioners:

Giryu is played by Akihito Yagi who is a practioner of Goju Ryu.

Taikan is played by Tatsuya Naka who is a 6th Dan JKA Shotokan instructor.

Choei played by Yuki Suzuki who is a 1st Dan JKA Shotokan practitioner.

[Gyte]

I personally think, it is, because in China a long tradition of Chinese opera exists. In Chinese opera a lot of kung fu is used. Often the opera performers were actors as well as martial artists. The kung fu that was used, was highly acrobatic, with the purpose of entertaining people. So in the 60s and 70s the shift from Chinese opera to movies was relatively small.

In Japan such traditions didn't exist. Karate practioners were mainly martial artists and didn't get involved into acting in the entertainment branche.