Saturday 7 June 2014

Martial Arts and entertainment

Since the Beijing Opera first became popular in the late 18th century, martial arts have been depicted as an integral part of Chinese entertainment.



Modern movies are very much in the same fashion. With the advent of wire work, Computer Generated Images and sound effects, the results are becoming increasingly intense and spectacular.



When martial arts are not in films, they are often on television in the form of contrived conflict, like UFC, wrestling and mixed martial arts bouts:



With all of this high entropy behaviour being encouraged and portrayed in the media, people can be forgiven for thinking that martial arts are too violent and extreme. I often wonder how many people are put off by the reputation that is generated by our mainstream media.

With the extreme cutting and special effects, movie stars appear to defy gravity and perform superhuman feats. This can give new students high expectations that reality just can't live up to. How many people have left their class, disappointed that they cannot knock down doors within a month of training?

Martial arts are primarily about a person becoming self aware and able to take care of themselves on every level - physically, and mentally. For the real conflict is not with each other, but against our own fearful nature.