media shame

[sepai 85]

The media is making a joke of budo and other martial arts with movies like Matrix and Matrix reloaded. Does anyone have any comments in regards to this I have nothing against these two movies but there fight scenes are making a bad name for martial arts.

with respect and dedicated training

[Mike Williams]

Every single martial-arts flick ever made has made a joke out of martial-arts.

What really surprises me is how many people end up studying MA because of what they have seen in a movie. Just listen to how many times Bruce Lee/Jet Li/Segal/Jackie Chan get mentioned in pre- or post-training conversations. It's usually by white or yellow belts, and it seems to be a purely male phenomenon - but these guys really want to believe that what they have seen is real.

Cheers,

Mike

[sepai 85]

Good point
The bad thing is if the same people go out into the street and try and pick a fight ussing the stuff they see in the movies then they are going to get pumbled, these people are a danger to them selves and also sometimes to others as well they have not recieved the proper training and most of the time not learned the self control that comes with martial arts training.

yours in shugyo

[joe yang]

The good thing is, the number of bad guys who go out on the street and think they can use movie kung fu for pulling off crimes. It's Darwinian. Oooow, I just remembered a funny jail story, back to Wendy's thread.

[sepai 85]

Yea but we are talking about non criminal citizens untrained in martial arts that has seen drunken master or whatever such movie 20 times to many and they think they know it all. They are going to go around testing there new found "skills" and there natural teath will be replaced by ashfault ones.

yours in budo shugyo

[Stéphan Thériault]

Well mr.Wallace, you know what Forest's mother always said. "Stupid is, as stupid does." And stupid will usually get you; or someone else; injured or killed. :p

[Walker]

The Matrix is one of the only martial arts movies that does make sense. With the action taking place in an unreal world it makes sense that the martial arts portrayed are beyond realistic. What sucks are over the top stunts in a realistic scenario. And to the joke category we should add most thrillers and police dramas etc.

[MarkF]

They are high budget comic books, and the last time I looked, the only guy wearing a spiderman suit went out to get himself hurt, not others.

What do you do with Jackie Chan movies? Virtually everything he uses is from Chinese Theatre/Opera, and is so bizarre as to believe anyone would take it seriously? In fact, they ALL are theatre. I don't see the point in perceiving the human stupidity of trying to learn MA from a movie.

Very small factor. The big factor are actors like Keanu Reeves making $200,000,000.00 from MR not to mention a similar deal from the third in the series which has already been shot.

Is it me, or is Keanu Reeves the worst actor making the worst pictures since Bela Lugosi teamed up with director/producer Edward Wood? I mean, he was in the Bram Stoker-modeled Dracula in which they had to edit his lines out of the picure AFTER its release. "It is the Sir. It is the man himself. He has grown young."

God, he is truly the worst since surfer pics.


Mark

PS: It doesn't give MA a bad name, it gives movies a bad name. MA does just fine all by itself, movies or no movies.

[sepai 85]

I agree with all your comments, but look at it this way for a second there is movies that potray martial arts as violant and this give it a bad name.

yours in shugyo budo

[Mike Williams]

Martial Arts are violent.

Cheers,

Mike

[sepai 85]

but some might argue that martial arts are also for self preservation. Dont get me wrong I am fully aware that martial arts has combat application but I am saying some movies display martial artist as the aggressors

[Shikiyanaka]

"It's for the kids." Keanu Reeves (or Reaves?)

Andreas Quast

[don]

Originally posted by sepai 85
The media is making a joke of budo and other martial arts with movies like Matrix and Matrix reloaded.

But, but, but...

...Hollywood makes a joke out of everything.

I remember military consultants scoffing in interviews over Tom Cruise's character's guilt-trip in Top Gun--he woulda been out, not mollycoddled.

So as not to beat a dead horse, I'll pull just one more out of my hat (and Google); there's lots of others (almost any movie, e.g.):

http://slate.msn.com/id/2091036

New Republic, Nov. 24
Erin Brockovich-Ellis' latest lawsuit has a script tailor-made for Hollywood: government sits on hands while toxic oil wells imperil Beverly Hills High. The story, alas, is too good to be true, reports Slate's Eric Umansky. The strong evidence contradicting Brockovich-Ellis' claims of environmental contamination fits in her larger pattern of crying foul based on sketchy sampling. That includes the case that inspired the Oscar-winning Julia Roberts movie. …