History Headscratchers / TheKarateKid

* In the original, isn't it pointed out in the final tournament that it's against the rules to kick someone in the face? Then, Daniel uses a crane kick to kick Johnny in the face, which causes him to win the tournament rather than be disqualified.

** I wondered that, too, especially after he seems to never return to the apartment complex after he lures Daniel to his home.

* In the original, why is it that a rich man like Miyagi works as a maintenance man at a crappy apartment complex, I mean, aside from giving him the ability to meet young men?

* In the remake, were the kids wearing ''sneakers'' in their Kung Fu Tournament? Why?

*** They were moving away from [[CrapsackWorld Detroit]]. Even [[ClevelandRocks Cleveland]] has joked their motto is "It could be worse, at least we're not Detroit."

** He actually glanced off his chest and connected solidly with his chin. The chest contact, however brief, would get the point. It also is perfectly possible that the referee was impressed enough with Daniel's effort, he gave him the benefit of the doubt and awarded him the point.

* In the original (and I may be remembering this incorrectly), wasn't it against the rules to kick someone in the face? If so, how did Daniel win by kicking Johnny in the face?

* In the tournament in the remake, when Cheng tried to attack his opponent and refused to let go of holds after winning, why didn't he get disqualified? I'm pretty sure that's against the rules of a normal kung fu tournament. Also, if Cheng was exempted from normal rules, why did his teammate get disqualified for the same thing? At least they could have been consistent and ignored what was going on flat out instead of being selective of who and who not to crack down on.

* Okay this might just be {{MoralDissonance}}, but I don't see why Johnny was that bad of a guy. Okay yes he did beat up Danny, but only three times. The first time he was attempting to talk to his ex-girlfriend to see if there was a way to work out their differences, when Daniel decided to but in and make it his business. Yes Johnny did knock over her radio, but he was obviously frustrated by the fact that while he was attempting to talk to her, she was playing music to drown him out. The second time when he pushed him down a hill is slightly less defensible besides the fact that Danny was still just trying to talk to Ali, Johnny's ex, and Johnny attacked him for that, although he probably wasn't trying to kill him. The third time Danny was the one to Antagonize Johnny by pouring water on him during the party, something he deserved to get his ass kicked for, and honestly even though Danny had been slightly dazed and on the ground that last kick would not have killed him or probably even done any lasting damage. Also Johnny is never actively malicious to any other kids besides Danny and a lot of that has to do with the fact that they are rivals for Ali's affections and she never really makes it clear who she wants to be with.
** But my main problem is Ali's reaction to all this stuff as it happens. A) Ali was still leading Johnny on if only slightly, the few times we see Ali and Johnny interact after the initial beach scene she is still flirting with him. So for all Johnny knows she wants to get back together and is just making him jealous by dating Danny. The dance scene at the country club was a good example of this, she should have not been dancing with Johnny period, forget the kiss, she was perfectly fine with dancing with him despite the fact that he had kicked Danny's ass three times and then makes no attempt to correct Danny's assumption when he sees them kiss. B) She also continually flirts with Danny despite the fact that she knows her ex is insanely jealous and makes no real attempt to tell Johnny to stop, and they are obviously still hanging out together on at least some occasions. C) It's impossible to consider Johnny a bad person based on the company he keeps because Ali is friends with those exact same people and at no point does she utter the words "You guys are complete assholes look how you are treating Danny" she just lets them do what they want but encourages Danny to stick up for himself to them despite being outnumbered, knowing he will get his ass kicked, and them being her friends.
** YourMileageMayVary but I don't think the movie ''itself'' depicts Johnny as being all that bad a guy. He's a slightly obnoxious and extremely misled kid who has been taught all the wrong things by a sensei he looks up to for his strength and intensity. And by the end he has been disillusioned by Kreese's behavior and is willing to be a gracious loser. All the same, the screenwriter pointed in an interview that Johnny was attempting to ''kill'' Daniel with that flying kick that Miyagi intercepted.
** I'm reading all of this and all I'm getting is DracoInLeatherPants. When it comes down to it, Johnny wasn't justified in any of his actions. He wasn't a JerkassWoobie and having baggage over his ex-girlftiend is hardly a FreudianExcuse. He was {{Jerkass}} plain and simple.
*** They were barely exes in that movie which is the point the initial troper made. Ali is consistently seen flirting with and hanging out with Johnny throughout the movie despite the way he treats Danny. So either she doesn't feel like it is that big of a deal or she enjoys the idea of two guys fighting over her and is doing her best to facilitate that.
** In listening to the commentary for the first movie the filmmakers and actors agree that Johnny is a jerk and hotheaded but he's not evil or psychopathic like Kreese. Ali leading him on is an excellent point as Daniel ends up going through the same thing with her at the start of the second movie so he's understandably frustrated and is taking his anger out on Daniel because he's an easy target. The fact that Daniel is (initially) a good-looking fast-talking kid with as much of a chip on his shoulder as Johnny really doesn't help things. They joke that rather than karate his parents should have signed him up for anger management instead
** Right. It's just like I said above. The movie clearly goes by Miyagi's (admittedly highly questionable) philosophy that there are no bad (young?) students, only bad teachers. Johnny has been practically brainwashed by Kreese to be ruthless toward anyone who slights him but when Kreese pushes him to an extreme and ultra-cheap version of this he looks at him like he can't believe his ears, and afterward he personally hands Daniel the trophy. Johnny's not the actual villain, he's just a victim of his negative influence. Remember that at the beginning of Part II ''all'' of the Cobra Kais abandon Kreese now that they've seen what a dick he really is and what dicks he was forming them into.
* Why the Hell are so many people up in arms about Dre kissing Mei Ying in the remake? I mean, for God's sake, have we all become so jaded that we can't help but interpret an innocent little kiss between kids (the sort that many of us had in our youth) as indicated of something dirty and wrong?
** [[PedoHunt Yes, we have.]]

* What I really don't get is why Kreese's instruction to sweep the leg is considered so dramatic and evil, I mean perhaps I'm missing something but if you're in a competition and you know your opponent has a weakness you can capitalise on why on earth wouldn't you do so, hell if you're competing and you have a coach pointing things like that out is generally considered part of their job description.

** It takes place over the course of several ''months'', although the timeframe of the chore part specifically is unclear. It really would take only a few days, though, for him to unknowingly get so much into the habit of performing those moves that they've become utterly second nature to him, which is the entire point of the scenes.

** Right. It's just like I said above. The movie clearly goes by Miyagi's (admittedly highly questionable) philosophy that there are no bad (young?) students, only bad teachers. Johnny has been practically brainwashed by Kreese to be ruthless toward anyone who slights him but when Kreese pushes him to an extreme and ultra-cheap version of this he looks at him like he can't believe his ears, and afterward he personally hands Daniel the trophy. Johnny's not the actual villain, he's just a victim of his negative influence.

** In listening to the commentary for the first movie the filmmakers and actors agree that Johnny is a jerk and hotheaded but he's not evil or psychopathic like Kreese. Ali leading him on is an excellent point as Daniel ends up going through the same thing with her at the start of the second movie so he's understandably frustrated and is taking his anger out on Daniel because he's an easy target. The fact that Daniel is (initially) a good-looking fast-talking kid with as much of a chip on his shoulder as Johnny really doesn't help things. They joke that rather than karate his parents should have signed him up for anger management instead

** The film happens over a series of weeks, not days. The first few days of Daniel's training is chores but once that's done Miyagi does start earnestly training him in martial arts.

* Really? More people have a problem with whether Johnny's "the bad guy" than whether or not you can defend yourself against a formidable and experienced opponent after four days of chores? I don't know anything about karate, and this is one of my favorite movies, but I've always felt that I'm suspending quite a bit of disbelief to believe that Daniel can deflect all of Miyagi's volley of blows after house-painting day, even if Miyagi is in Training Mode.

** Well, with China becoming the rising dragon of economic prosperity, perhaps there is good hopes for a new life. On another in movie note, several outside source materials depict this as a job transfer, so with their livelihood at stake, they had to move in order to keep and perhaps further develop their "better life".

* In regards to the remake, who moves to [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny China]] to get a better life?

** [[PedoHunt Yes, we have.]]

* Why the Hell are so many people up in arms about Dre kissing Mei Ying in the remake? I mean, for God's sake, have we all become so jaded that we can't help but interpret an innocent little kiss between kids (the sort that many of us had in our youth) as indicated of something dirty and wrong?

* Why the Hell are so many people up in arms about Dre kissing Mai-Yin in the remake? I mean, for God's sake, have we all become so jaded that we can't help but interpret an innocent little kiss between kids (the sort that many of us had in our youth) as indicated of something dirty and wrong?

** But my main problem is Ali's reaction to all this stuff as it happens. A) Ali was still leading Johnny on if only slightly, the few times we see Ali and Johnny interact after the initial beach scene she is still flirting with him. So for all Johnny knows she wants to get back together and is just making him jealous by dating Danny. The dance scene at the country club was a good example of this, she should have not been dancing with Johnny period, forget the kiss, she was perfectly fine with dancing with him despite the fact that he had kicked Danny's ass three times and then makes no attempt to correct Danny's assumption when he sees them kiss. B) She also continually flirts with Danny despite the fact that she knows her ex is insanely jealous and makes no real attempt to tell Johnny to stop, and they are obviously still hanging out together on at least some occasions. C) It's impossible to consider Johnny a bad person based on the company he keeps because Ali is friends with those exact same people and at no point does she utter the words "You guys are complete assholes look how you are treating Danny" she just lets them do what they want but encourages Danny to stick up for himself to them despite being outnumbered, knowing he will get his ass kicked, and them being her friends.

* Okay this might just be {{MoralDissonance}}, but I don't see why Johnny was that bad of a guy. Okay yes he did beat up Danny, but only three times. The first time he was attempting to talk to his ex-girlfriend to see if there was a way to work out their differences, when Daniel decided to but in and make it his business. Yes Johnny did knock over her radio, but he was obviously frustrated by the fact that while he was attempting to talk to her, she was playing music to drown him out. The second time when he pushed him down a hill is slightly less defensible besides the fact that Danny was still just trying to talk to Ali, Johnny's ex, and Johnny attacked him for that, although he probably wasn't trying to kill him. The third time Danny was the one to Antagonize Johnny by pouring water on him during the party, something he deserved to get his ass kicked for, and honestly even though Danny had been slightly dazed and on the ground that last kick would not have killed him or probably even done any lasting damage. Also Johnny is never actively malicious to any other kids besides Johnny and a lot of that has to do with the fact that they are rivals for Ali's affections and she never really makes it clear who she wants to be with.
** But my main problem is Ali's reaction to all this stuff as it happens. A) Ali was still leading Johnny on if only slightly, the few times we see Ali and Johnny interact after the initial beach scene she is still flirting with him. So for all Johnny knows she wants to get back together and is just making him jealous by dating Danny. The dance scene at the country club was a good example of this, she should have not been dancing with Johnny period, forget the kiss, she was perfectly fine with dancing with him despite the fact that he had kicked Danny's ass three times and then makes no attempt to correct Danny's assumption when he sees them kiss. B) She also continually flirts with Danny despite the fact that she knows her ex is insanely jealous and makes no real attempt to tell Johnny to stop, and they are obviously still hanging out together on at least some occasions. C) It's impossible to consider Johnny a bad person based on the company he keeps because Ali is friends with those exact same people and at know point does she utter the words "You guys are complete assholes look how you are treating Danny" she just lets them do what they want but encourages Danny to stick up for himself to them despite being outnumbered and them being her friends.