Many of us who absolutely love martial arts got exposed to it from the media, probably from some movie or television program. And something about it made us connect to it in a very visceral and real way.
Perhaps it was the empowering visual of an ordinary person, sometimes an “underdog” doing extra-ordinary things.
Perhaps it was the beauty of it while simultaneously being so powerful.
Perhaps it was a training montage, where we could see ourselves doing that, putting the work into something like that to be able to move like that.
Whatever it was, it imprinted on us so deeply that we had to inquire about lessons somewhere to try it for real.
For some folks, when they do take that step and try out some classes, they didn’t realize that there’s a good amount of work and practicing that needs to be done to attain genuine skills. So, they quit, and basically stay fans of the genre.
Other folks, after they do try the classes, develop an even deeper sense of connection to the practice and stay with it all the way to black belt level.
The people in between connect with it, stay with it for awhile, but end up getting bored by it, or distracted by too many other things, and quit before reaching a black belt.
But in every case, people made a conscious decision to try martial arts because of something they saw in the media. The media has been a powerful marketing tool for martial arts businesses, especially in the 70′s and 80′s.
When Mixed Martial Arts, also known as MMA and the UFC, really hit the mainstream, the martial arts industry was going bananas, because it looked like it would be free marketing for school owners.
The reality is that that is not the case. MMA/UFC does not have what I like to call, “The Soccer Mom Stamp of Approval”. So while something like that will make for great television and live events, and there can be some fun short term teen programs that come out of it, I doubt that it can be the driving force behind creating a whole new level of business the way the movie “The Karate Kid” did for bring kids into martial arts schools.
What the MMA doesn’t really show is the honor and respect side of martial arts, it shows purely the sport side of it, and unfortunately, it is embedded in a testosterone heavy culture of trash talking, foul language, disrespect, and machismo. Makes for good television, but not something to compel parents to get their kids involved in.
But, there are more films being made, slowly getting back to the idea of honor, integrity, respect, character development, etc in martial arts, and it will be films like those that inspire parents to get kids and themselves more involved into the training process.
So martial arts in the media can still be a very powerful force for compelling people to take action and getting involved, but it has to send a very clear and positive message.
guess I’m one of the odd ones out” who never saw a martial arts film ~ until Santanu showed me several. But you’re so right-on in your assessment of the effect of the media. For me, I’m glad to have missed the media blast of MMA
I’m still taking my time reviewing all the wonderful t’ai chi teaching that I steeped myself in with Santanu, starting almost ten years ago. If you who are reading this haven’t had the pleasure of Santanu’s classes, fly don’t just run over to Austin Kung Fu Academy asap, you’ll be waay more than glad you did, promise!