Videos and books again?

[Kennyfist]

Videos and books again?
I know this has been discussed before but after reading some threads and replies lets analyse this again:

Weighing the pro's and cons of kungfu videos:

1) Some will use it to learn the form....I heard some then open a school and teach

2) Some will use it as a learning tool to help remember what they've learnt.

3) Some will use it for research purpose ie compare lineages and similarities and differences between each generation or lineage.

4) Some may be just curious to see what the style is like and the particular lineage/ sifu.

5) Some will use it to glean a few gems here and there ( hey Gene, you might advocate this one )

6) Some might see it as a way to preserve or document the sets or style for future generations or reference ( How many styles have died out or loss content due to cultural revolution and wushu-ization------and wouldn't you wonder what Ku Yu Cheung, Wan Lai sheng, Yang Shao Hou, Wong Fei Hung, Lam Sai Wing , Sun Lu Tang etc looked like when they did forms?----so why not capture the sifu in action and take advantage of technology since we've got it?) Would you agree that video is a livelier way to document then photos/book?

But..........

1) How many sifus would put their best in a commercial video...
2) Some say or rumour videos have been intentionally marked or sets altered to distinguish "video" students from "real" students..
3) Then we have to allow for mistakes made by editor, performer etc.
4 ) What if the sets have elements withheld or the performer has fake lineage or false claim----I won't name an example but suspect in PRC one set of vcds at least)

Now......
1) Those of you who want to learn from video------- if there are things withheld ----- then you are not potentially getting the full thing. So you need personal instruction--- but hey, if they were available readily then why bother get the videos in the first place?
And those performers ---why advertise "learn X or Y" from this video etc. ?

[Kennyfist]

To continue it....
2) Those of you who want to use it as a learning tool....but hey there are things withheld---no matter since you've got personal instruction.... but wait----there are things intentionally changed or there are mistakes in the videos and if they are not corrected then how good a learning tool is it? If they continue to sell the videos with the mistakes in it , and to the unaware, then their "learning tool" is a "misleading or harming tool". So to use these videos you have to learn the mistakes and/or the alterations in them as well?

3) For those of you who want to use it as a research tool to compare lineages eg compare Yim Shang Mo lineages to Chan Kwok Wei to Johnny So to LTH or Wing Lam to Wong Jack Man etc... but how can you do that properly if there are mistakes in the video and/ or alterations? The differences you note---how are you going to discern whether its true lineage difference or pure mistake or pure alteration? Doesn't sound too useful?

4) For those of you who think about documentation of a style or a set..... do we need to mention the mistakes and alterations again? In next few generations if the videos are still around, don't youy think that the mistakes and alterations can be a cause for confusion and lineage debates----eg oh so and so did it this way so it has to be correct (but what about the video mistakes and markers?) There is potential for the style or lineage and sets to be misrepresented.

Don't take anything personally but try to be objective and there are many things to think about...... There is things that need ethical considerations. Would you want someone to misrepresent your style and have a large crowd taking the wrong things as doctrine?

Having said all this, its not to say that you won't find good videos. In the PRC there are fakes and there are also big names like Chen Zhenglei who put out audio-visual material and read a comment somewhere that a set is exactly the same as how it was taught to a "real" student. Now should they be afraid that all of a sudden lots of video-sifus will start opening schools? Well, lineage is quite easy to verify..... ask the sifu did X learn from you? Anyway with something like taijiquan, you can get a fair idea how good someone is by watching them do the form, kung fu is kung fu....

(Gene...no hard feelings! But there are issues to consider ....
)