The Karate Kid remake

Okinawan martial arts style.

Actually, Kung-Fu refers to all the Chinese martial arts styles, such as wushu or taichi.

—R.J.

No. According to The Other Wiki, Karate actually is a form of Kung Fu. But really, how well-informed does one have to be to know that? ... Well, I guess they just wanted us all to be confused and look it up, so we learned a bit more about the world around us... :-)

The Other Wiki is wrong. It stopped really being Chinese around the time they stopped calling it chinese and even before then it wasn't all that Chinese. The base is the Okinawan wrestling, then once you have a base you tend to note things more about what you ad hence "Chinese hand", styles developed in different Okinawan towns, then there was the move to Japan and by this point you can call it Kung Fu if you also except that China is Ancient Greek due to Greco-Buddhism. I have like books and stuff.

I'm sorry, I don't quite get what you're explaining here. Which is a shame because it seems rather interesting. Care to rephrase it?

Ah, I see. Karate actually originated from Chinese immigrants who went to the Ryuku islands (now known as Okinawa). Militarism caused the name to be changed from 唐手 ("Chinese hand") to 空手 ("empty hand"). Further changes were made to form names and techniques to further distance China and Japan.

As an analogy, consider the mien and the pasta. Perhaps pasta had its roots from mien, perhaps it is the other way around. But the fact of the matter is that pasta is no longer mien no matter what its roots because of the history it has undergone to become what it is. The only similarities are merely superficial now.

edited 29th Jul '10 4:19:55 AM by krrackknut

PAAAAAAAAAAASTAAAAAAAAAAAAA

One flaw of the whole thing: If you don't know the karate rules, you can't appreciate what the villain is doing, and why it's evil. It looks like Dre is just weak.

How so?

Well, obviously the rules require you NOT to go at your opponent with every strenght you have. If you don't know that, you're left wondering what actually was so evil - after all, isn't the point of a martial art being able to defend yourself against such an assault? So if you don't know that this is not the case in karate, Dre looks like he's simply not on par.

... um... it's kids in a monitored match. I've never taken a martial arts lesson in my life and I can figure out that children being allowed to beat up other children in earnest is a fucking stupid idea.

Some schools do teach to fight, as opposed to going easy.

I've never seen it. Debates about the Square-Rectangle Karate-Kung Fu, aside, all I want to know is if Jaden Smith can truly top the one true black martial arts master: Bruce Leroy.

Lol. But seriously, that movie's the only thing I'm going to be thinking of when I do eventually see this one. Sho'nuff.

Jaden Smith is a little boy. He is not a great martial artist.

Yeah, the numerous rapid cuts during the fight scenes were clearly to mask his lack of real-world fighting skills.

Though to be fair, Ralph Macchio was never very convincing as a martial arts genius, either.

—R.J.

I liked it. It was good. But it's just not the Karate Kid. And I do definitely prefer the original,even if it didn't have a black protagonist.

I think this would have been better in Japan. I think Japan was the big power then and they thought being as China's big now they'd set it in China.

Tokuguy: Actually, it's pretty much exactly The Karate Kid, at least in the plot, and the characters are so similar that, if it weren't named what it is, we'd all be scoffing it as derrivative.

Yeah the plot's the same but by changing it to Kung Fu and relocating it to China,it just ceases to become the Karate Kid.

I'm still waiting for someone to answer my fundamental question...

Is there any reason real karate couldn't have been used?

Eh, they did a Hand Wave where Dre was practicing karate from a video at the start and thought he was tough because of it. So the name changes meaning, but still works.

@Nate: I'm not sure how to answer your question, and I actually find it quite odd that that they couldn't have just used Okinawan or Japanese karate in the movie. Many people don't realize that there are, in fact, a fairly large number of Japanese martial arts schools in mainland China including but obviously not limited to karate.

And just as a quick side note, Jackie has stated in several interviews that he does not consider himself to be a martial artist, but rather a performer to imitates martial arts techniques. It sounds strange given the kind of exposure he has had with Western audiences, but it's true.

After all of the training I've been through in both Chinese and Japanese fighting systems, I really can't digest the idea of arguing that karate and wushu (not kung fu, mind you) are structurally and historically the same martial art. The snob in me actually appreciates the past analogy that was used earlier.

>_< Karate is ugly. It looks incredibly stupid on film.

I seem to be alone in thinking this.

It doesn't look stupid to me, but it certainly isn't the most aesthetically pleasing martial art. And no, you're not alone. Highly effective martial arts tend to not look very good. Practitioners in these systems may not look like ballerinas, but in a confrontation, they tend to get shit done, which is the point. Of course, I'm not assuming that you didn't already know that.

If a karate technique (or a technique from any style) looks bad from a structural standpoint, then the actor probably isn't doing it right. I'm not even going to get started on Hollywood's portrayal of fighting systems.

edited 19th Oct '10 12:15:23 PM by Aprilla

Oh, I'm not talking ugly as in form-following-function-and-my-dislike-of-it; I find krav maga and silat rather pretty. I just hate how karate looks, full stop. Even when other kids were taking it when I was little, I always wanted to take judo instead.

I could show you some forms that might persuade you to believe otherwise, but I won't force it on you. Honestly, this is going to sound arrogant and snobbish coming from me, but most people don't know how to make Karate look good, especially Westerners, and ESPECIALLY children.

Some of the better looking styles of Karate might include Shito-ryu, Shorin-ryu and Wado-ryu. Maybe Shotokan in some cases. Part of the problem is that most people don't know how to choose a form that suits their body type (i.e. not understanding the difference between shorin and shorei kata). A small person should not be doing Jion as his tokui kata, and a large person should not be doing Enpi as his tokui kata. Yet, you see people testing with misplaced kata quite often.

Again, I won't force you to believe otherwise and I perfectly understand your viewpoint, but I think you might be surprised if you looked around at some good karateka.

Cross-posting from the Cobra Kai and The General Karate Kid threads: Jackie Chan, Ralph Macchio Set For New ‘Karate Kid’ Movie

Quoting only the first three excerpts: