The Karate Kid – Reminding us of Our Origins

For the premier weekend of The Karate Kid, I had the good fortune of working with Kendall Regal Cinema in cross-promoting the movie by having a booth at the theather along with the assistance of my good friend and training partner Julio Anta and his Demo Team. Being in the industry, I had been hearing about the remake of the movie for quite some time and can honestly say that I was at first a bit apprehensive. After all, how can you replace Daniel San, the kid we all grew to love, and Mr. Miyagi, everyone’s surrogate dad. I remembered being 11 years old when I first saw The Karate Kid. The movie blew me away and kicked off my passion for the martial arts and all that it has to offer. 

Once I started to read about the movie in trade publications, I began to get excited to see it. As I arrived at the theater and started to set up our booth, I could feel the buzz in the air. People were talking about the movie, there were posters everywhere, and kids kept coming out of the theater kicking in the air.

On Sunday morning, I was happy to have 56 members of the Magnan Martial Arts family join us for a family movie day to welcome the remake of The Karate Kid. What can I say, I loved it! While the 1984 version will always have a special place in my heart, the remake was very well made and definitely did justice to The Karate Kid Franchise. Jaden Smith (Dre Parker) showed his talent as an up and coming star as Mr. Han, played by Jackie Chan, gave a formidable performance as this generations Mr. Miyagi.

I truly believe that the movie could not have come at a better time. As much as I love mixed martial arts as a sport and training discipline and incorporate its teachings into my curriculum, it seemed that the real essence of what martial arts is all about was starting to get lost. The traditional values of Respect, Integrity, Modesty, Courtesy, Self-Discipline, Perserverence, and Indomitable Spirit, were being passed up for the latest techniques against the cage. With the growth of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and its impact on the sport, there has been a proliferation of mixed martial arts gyms, run by inexperienced instructors, opening in every corner and operating primarily out of warehouses filled with a bunch 18-34 year olds showing off their latest sleeve tattoo and desire to have their first fight at all costs. As of late, so called backyard brawlers are even trying to find a home in mixed martial arts.

As a professional martial arts instructor who loves and incorporates mixed martial arts techniques and strategies into my curriculum, I have seen the negative effect of all of the less-qualified mixed martial arts gyms popping up everywhere. Case in point, just a couple of weeks ago I had one individual walk into my school and ask “what kind of fighting do you teach?” Those were the first words out of his mouth! I quickly responded that I do not teach “fighting”, I teach martial arts for self-defense purposes. After telling me that he was experienced because he had done a little MMA at some school and participated in backyard fights, I knew he was not the kind of student that I wanted as a part of the Magnan Martial Arts family. As I proceeded to go over a couple of basics with him just to answer my own questions, it became apparent that his knowledge lacked fundamentals. He went on to say that where he formerly trained operated most of the time like a gym or what they call “open mat”, with not much instruction. Just a bunch of guys hitting each other, rolling, or getting hurt. No lessons on the traditional values so imporant to overall personal development. The prospective student freaked out when I told him that he had to bow before entering and leaving the mat and that there was a certain order in which everything was done at the school. He went on to ask for a discount for being a so-called “backyard fighter” and went on his way. True story!

The above story is the reason that I loved The Karate Kid and hope that things start to come full circle again. We live in a time of video games, instant messaging, texting, information at our fingertips, etc. While it is smart to evolve with the times, there are certain fundamentals that can not be ignored, whether when working on your technique or on the perfection of your character. It is these fundamentals that the movie brings out and I find so refreshing. What mother of a 4-12 year old child or adult professional looking for a place to train, would argue with that, over the “open mat” gym mentality popping up at many martial arts schools across the country.

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