Road House – Kris Wilder

December 5, 2020December 25, 2020

Martial Arts Movies Are Valuable

Martial Arts movies are valuable even though they are often dismissed. People often turn their nose up when Martial Arts movies are discussed.

The Shaw Brothers Showed The Way

These moves stretch the ideas of physics and human performance. Running through the treetops in, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The Samurai that can slice a head off its shoulder and still stay in place for a moment only to slough to the ground. Or the perfect cylinder of human flesh punched out of the bad guy’s abdomen in the movie, “Kung-Pow.” Ok, not the best example.

Taking The Idea Too Far

These are movies. Most of the time we relax and enjoy them for what they are. Entertainment. But some people blur reality with fiction. I remember standing in line at a movie theater in Tacoma Washington. I was there to see the new Steven Segal movie. The guy in front of me was dressed as Segal, wearing Chinese kung-fu shoes and a ponytail. Dressed in black his emulation of Segal was spot on.

Here is how martial arts movies are valuable as a larger thing exists. If you can see a martial arts technique in a movie it is persuasive, you think you may be able to do that. Not fighting a half dozen henchmen in an underground labyrinth on a private island. But you got inspired to try the double spin kick.

If your mind can see the movie move, it becomes tangible in your mind. If something is a concept seeing it as achievable is unlikely.

Martial arts movies are formulaic and often predictable, but so.

In the early eighties, Sunday morning was Kung-Fu Theater, 11 am my time. I could see it. I was inspired not even being aware of all the things on the screen. And the visual, the persuasive, the example.

Take a favorite martial arts movie and go to a scene you like. Analyze the moves. Yes, we know it is fake. Making a movie means filling with jump cuts, many angles, and multiple takes. Again, So.

Find that move and go see if you can make it work? See if you can make it real. If you can make it work, great. If you can’t make it real, well we learn something in the process.

This isn’t a deep pondering of the biomechanics and intent of the movie martial arts techniques. The goal of the movie is to entertain you enough you will spend some money to see it. But we get to use the visual as a piece of persuasion that can nest in our brain.

An Action Christmas?

This is far greater than a concept. And it is fun. Yeah, have some martial arts movie-inspired fun and learn something in the process. You can use this time to discover martial arts movies are valuable. I still contend, Road House, is a martial art movie, not an action movie. And while I’m at it, Die Hard, is not a Christmas movie.

Here are some other posts you may find valuable.

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KRIS WILDER

Kris Wilder is a martial artist based in Seattle Washington. He has authored many martial art books, including the classic, The Way of Kata. Making no apologies for his obsession of Football he can be found telling any who will listen about the nuances of the Canadian Football League.

October 31, 2020December 25, 2020

A Martial Artist by a Look?

A Martial Artist by a look? You know, can you judge a martial artist by a look?

No.

You know that, but let me share a few stories with you to illustrate the point.

Big and Nasty

In talking with a bouncer. I asked him about his skills, the implication being, “What martial art training have you received, and how do you use it?” His response was, “99% of my job is intimidation.” He is big, stern-looking, tattooed, and goateed. He is on broadcast. He may have no real skills, he could be all thumbs when it comes to a confrontation, but we both know that is unlikely. And he trades on the potential response you may get if you step across the line of acceptable behavior. Like Swayze said in Road House, “Be nice until it’s time not to be nice.”

An Extra Arm

The judoka was pleasant; he was from Brazil and was a guitarist in town doing some music for a Microsoft project. That is the advantage of living on the Pacific Rim. With the world’s largest software company in your backyard, they can and do, draw in diverse and interesting people, and sometimes you get the benefit.

We found ourselves training together on the Judo mat, he was a good 25 pound less than me. I started slowly, no need to be a jerk, and, well he plays guitar for a living. He proved to be more than a match for me. I swear that Brazilian guitarist had a third arm, he was coming from so many directions. I was getting my hat handed to me.

Two examples. One was the potential threat, the display of potential power the other hidden. Both useful in their environments.

So no, you can’t always judge a book by its cover as the old saying goes.

A Beer and Boxing

One last story that made me smile. The television show COPS had an episode that began with a guy bleeding from his face lying on the Las Vegas sidewalk. He had tried to steal another guy’s wallet while in the bar. The wallet he chose to steal belonged to a man in his seventies, who looked like an easy mark.

The old man was a NAVY veteran who had been a professional boxer. He never made the big league as a boxer, but he paid his dues. When he wanted his wallet back the old guy demonstrated his well earn boxing skills. He got his wallet back on that Las Vegas sidewalk. When asked by the attending officer if he wanted to press charges replied with, “Naw, he’s had enough.”

So two examples. Plus one more. Yes, the old saying is true. You know, about knowing a book by its cover. And no you cannot tell how good a martial artist is by looking at them

MailOnline: 8 Year Old Girl Boxer Throws 100 Punches a Minute

Here are three podcasts you may enjoy, each is about three minutes long.

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