Movies

[Aefibird]

Are movies good for martial arts?

Although they may increase student numbers (plenty of people start MA because they wanna be Bruce Lee or that want to do what they've seen on screen), is it actually beneficial?

Is the false image presented by films worth the fact that it gets people into martial arts?

For example, the was a bloke joined my Wing Chun class about 6 months ago.

He'd done the rounds of MA classes in the area and had a little experience in most MA's - enough to be a danger to himself or someone else but not enough experience to actually know what he was on about.

He'd started Wing Chun for the simple reason that it was Bruce Lee's fighting system.

The upside was he'd joined because of influence by movies. The downside was that he thought that movie fighting was Wing Chun - and was disappointed when he discovered that Game of Death et al weren't actually a real representation of Wing Chun or of MA (fancy that...)

He quit after about 5/6 weeks because he wasn't fighting like Bruce Lee...

[AngelaG]

I suppose that ANYTHING that gets people into a dojo to give it a try is a good thing. Sure, you'll get the majority that drop out, but that's par for the course with martial arts anyway. If you enjoy it you'll stay, if not there'll always be SOME excuse to stop training.

[random]

I remember when karate Kid came out, the amount of kids that wanted to do the crane kick…I agree anything that gets people into the dojo to experience real/proper/traditional (you know what I mean) training in the MA can’t be a bad thing, those after the quick fix will disappear down to the local McDojo, where they can max it up for 30p.

[Aefibird]

Max for 30p? I'll do you a deal - sign up for my "blackbelt in an hour" programme and I'll upgrade you to the Dan of your choice AND throw in free patches all for only an extra 10p!