you come right out of a comic book man

[flem]

jim kellys famous line to master han in enter the dragon

does anyone else see that in kung fu as a whole?
since i no longer do demos i have had a chance to see KF from a distance and to the general public it appears like a bad circus. the main acts(forms) are only impressive to those involved except for the dynamic stuff like splits, some jump kicks,etc., the side show is represented by breaking or chi kung feats, and everyone in their fancy silk pajamas look like clowns. i appreciate tradition, culture as much as any KFer but i think their would be less wierdos in the arts if we brought atleast the outward appearence up to speed - this is not to mention the magazines whose photos all show faces remeniscent of serious bowel problems- especially jon funk.

[Hua Lin Laoshi]

I think that's what the public wants and is expecting to see. The outfits, flashy moves and fierce intense looks. It's all marketing designed to sell you something whether it's in a magazine or a live show. I'll bet most of us got interested in Martial Arts because of the flash we witnessed in our youth or the sheer brutality portrayed by Masters in the magazines. Kato got my attention and then 5 Fingers of Death at the local drive-in set me on a martial path. For some it may have been a awesome demo by a local school. The ones that are serious stick around and look past the hype and flash.

[SaMantis]

MA movies and TV first got me interested.

Flashy demos got me interested in both kung fu and karate, I ended up picking kung fu for a lot of reasons but flashiness drew me in first.

Some demos are more like sideshows -- watching the U.S. Open tournament on ESPN is good for a laugh. What's up with those uniforms on the Paul Mitchell team??? :confused:

But most of the really good demos I've seen balance showiness with good MA application -- that goes for karate as well as CMA.

:)
Sam

[MightyB]

I was a victim of the Karate Kid and Ninja craze of the early 80's.

Before that, it was all Rocky 3, but, then the Karate Kid came out. I watched it, thought it was cool and found a school. Yama****a style Shorin Ryu. Did that a couple of years, quit to play soccer, wrestle, and run track. While in college, a Praying Mantis kung fu school started up in the same complex where I weightlifted. A friend convinced me to go watch a class. I saw a man in his mid 70's teaching a woman how to use two swords and I was hooked. This 70 something year old's skill was more amazing than anything that I've ever seen in a movie. And then the 70 something year old's son started to train the students the bare handed martial arts applications. No flash, just pure power and skill! Been a student there ever since.

[flem]

You guys are the wierdos i was talking about! just kidding

mightyB
you left an awesome karate style,, if it is the one i think it is, my original inspiration for MA came as result of a 1957 book by him that my father had. it showed him fighting the bulls, training in the mountains, then i saw the original KF tv series, and to me kane adaptable to any circumstance was what it was all about.

i just think that the overall impression limits the arts- look at what bodybuilding has done in the last 20 years, in fact pick up a copy of muscle and fitness magazine, the articles address serious bb, but alot is of interest to us- our concerns w/weight lifting and the rest of the population as well, then compare it with any ma journal, they pale by comparison. i just don't think we as ma-ists should appear as shadowy little pajama people especially considering the volume of benefits ma offers. well o.k. we the serious can train in the shadows, but put everyone else up front in the siuts bruce lee wore in game of death!