Fighting, a sociological perspective...

[Angus]

Ooooooh, an academic post from Angus. Well after all, i'm not JUST sex and brawling. Although i AM *the sexy*.

 

I am in my first year of university here in Australia and i am majoring in a little thing called Sociology. Now, i've been paying attention to martial artists for years and years, and it seems to me that each and everyone's fighting style is affected by the pressures of their society, even if they do not consider it so.

 

Take my society for example: We are very *big man who boxes* orientated and the tough guy attitude and ego is definately a way of life. We very rarely go around in cat stance doing kicks off the walls and spear hand etc. In fact, i'd bet if u put two Australian martial artists together it would look more like a common street brawl than a classy and smooth aerial display.

 

I have also met some wushu dudes from China whose actual style of fighting is smooth and fluid, they use the trapping techniques (although i don't really have a full graps of what these are myself) and would use more waist than shoulder (whereas my society would use more shoulder than waist) when throwing punches and all that.

 

They also have a great emphasis on the small and wiry guy who moves like greased lightning whereas it doesn't matter if you're a little flabby or something in my society, as long as u can punch and punch HARD!

 

What do u lot reckon?

 

Angus

 

 

[kicker]

um.... not much!!! just i fight the way i like to and adapted to it maybe changed a few moves to better or how i like it!!

[Iron Arahat]

I definitely think there is differences, based on where you live.

 

For example if you live in North America from watching sports like hockey, give a guy enough beer, and that's how the untrained will most likely fight. Head hunters, grab a piece of shirt, and punch as fast as you can to the head. The stereotypical hockey fight.

 

Britain I used to see the soccer ball kick to the "boys" when I was in primary school.

 

I'm sure soon fighting will look more like the WWF in youth, if they watch enough tv.

 

Basicaly I think fighting is greatly influenced by popular culture.

 

 

[Slim]

I would like to comment on a bit of culture I saw on TV the other night, is was a WWF fight, witch has anough of a following in NZ to be aired fairly regularly. It started with a couple of lads, not sure of names, (I dont usually watch it I was channel surfing) doing the "Im gonna kick you into next week" etc etc, when one guy gave his mates ringside the nod, and 3 of them jumped in the ring, put the guy on the floor and kicked and stomped his head and body for a while. The crowd loved it, thats what they paid to see. We all know thats it a load of bollox, some of us know that a 3 on 1 stomping can kill someone. How many kids (The target audience) know what can kill a man? Is there an age you reach where you realise the behaviour of these role models will have fatel and/or legal consequences if preformed in real life? How many of you people know kids that have imitated WWF moves in the playground?

 

My opinion: I would never want my children to watch this entertainment. Instead, I would encourage them to learn martial arts, where they would learn respect for people and life, controll over thier emotions, and humility. They would learn that voilence is a last resort,

 

to protect themself and the innocent, and in the ring there are rules that govern conduct of fighters.(See "Tenants of TaoKwon Do" in TDK thread)

 

Shame, shame on you WWF!!

 

Nice one Angus.

 

 

[username115]

I think different countries might have different styles because of different cultures / histories etc, in an untrained fight. I am from Dublin, Ireland, and expect (for exampe) the average untrained Irish person fights much different to the average untrained Japanese person. May I also say that the average Irish person does not fight like Tom Cruise playing an Irish man in "Into the West"

 

But from a martial arts point of view, I'm not so sure. Of course the style you pick (kickboxing, freestyle karate in my case) and the person you train under will decide a lot of this. However a huge amount is down to the person. I mean in my club, there are many fighters, all with very different styles, all thought by the same people.

 

I think a lot of it comes down to the person, as it does in all sports. Some people are flashy, some are not. Some people are perfectionists, some are not. Some people are naturally flexible, some are not...

 

Just my 2 cents...

[g]

fighting isn't based on the tv watched but on the attitudes of the people around them

 

if you liveing a working class area chances are your harder because your expected to be and when you fight you'll probibly fight harder because thats how you fight where as middle class boys just don't understand

 

ps i'm the exception

[Iron Arahat]

Things like the Power Rangers, Xena, Jackie Chan, Jean Claude Van Damme, Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, Virtua Fighter, Tekken, Final Fight, Bruce Lee, Hercules, Martial Law, Walker:Texas Ranger, Billy Jack, Kung Fu: The Legend Continues, The Green Hornet, Jet Lei, WWF, WBA, NHL...

 

All these popular culture icons influence peoples beliefs.

 

Agreed that people around influence one's behaviour, (here's one for your class Angus) it's called "Social Learning Theory". We learn from the environment that we live in and socio-economic class does play a role in this.

[babysteffee]

Quite an interesting discussion...well done Angus. Hmmm, while I agree that we (being America, UK etc) fight differently from civilisations such as China, I haven't really thought about how the average "Joe Bloggs on the street" fights.

 

Next time I see a streetfight (not that there are many round this neck of the woods) I shall pay close attention.

 

And then blame it on Angus when I get asked "what I'm looking at".

[taezee]

me im in new york were even the grannys walking down the block say "wadda you lookin at?" as a matter of fact last week i passed by a church where two priest were going at it blow for blow....its tough over here im scared to go out anymore why do you think im on the internet all the time..somebody help me!!!!heres social learning,,when you here a car reving fast and you here distinct popping sounds duck youre in a drive by shooting

 

justa kidding!!!

 

_________________

 

Javier l Rosario

 

bayshore new york

 

"whenever youre lazy enough not to train .someone, somewhere is training very hard to kick your ass"

 

[ This Message was edited by: taezee on 2001-09-28 19:12 ]

[Bon]

::edit:: Edited September 29, 2002 by Bon