History Main / ArtisticLicenseMartialArts

* In ''Series/DoctorWho'' the Third Doctor's Venusian Aikido pretty much counts as this; it seems to have mostly been designed to make Jon Pertwee look good in a cloak. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

** Kirk used a horizontal jump kick so often that when Creator/WilliamShatner nearly got into a RealLife fight, he realized that he was instinctively planning on using it. After a moment of consideration, he realized that flopping onto the floor at the beginning of a real fight would go very badly for him, so he walked away.

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[[folder: General]]
* Flip, flip, flip, flip. Everywhere you look in fiction you see martial arts depicted as being at least 1/3 acrobatics. In real life moves like flips and handsprings are excessively dangerous unnecessary show-off moves to use in a martial arts match, and the few martial arts moves which do include such spectacular gymnastic feats tend to be very high risk maneuvers. Flying kicks, broadly, fall in the same category. One issue is that once you leave the ground, you have no control over your path, which will be towards the opponent. Martial artists (as an over-generalization) train these moves because they are a good way of working on balance, control, and fitness, which will then translate to simpler moves, but it's incredibly rare to see anyone sparring with a flying side kick. Even the most acrobatic martial art in popular culture, UsefulNotes/{{Capoeira}}, teaches specifically to relegate fancy flips to friendly ''rodas'' and keep at least one hand or foot firmly planted on the ground during convoluted moves.
* You can sum up about 90% of this trope in anime and movies with a single point: an efficient strike is ''not'' telegraphed. Each time you see someone preparing his punch by putting his arm far BEHIND him to get more momentum, it's just for show. Used a lot because it makes the strikes more impressive and make them feel stronger, but it's just ''bad'' in a fight, where a smart opponent will simply crush your face with a less impressive, but much faster and more efficient, direct strike.
* CrossCounter: Depending on the martial art, in a real fight you always keep your guard up when you punch (with your free hand) or kick (with both hands). This is done, precisely, to avoid your opponent's counter strikes. This is less typical amongst grapplers.
* Any time a martial artist fights off two, three or more people at once, this trope is being invoked. It's hard, but possible to fight multiple opponents if a fighter maintains techniques to control the fight and keep it close to one-on-one. In fiction however, the lone fighter will typically be able to KO or incapacitate the people attacking him with a single blow each as they rush at him one at a time, whereas people are generally tougher in real life, and more willing to avert MookChivalry.
* Martial artist characters tend to face unarmed opponents, or opponents who use weapons in absurdly ineffective ways. Marching toward the fighter with knife or club held rigidly overhead, holding the blade extended instead of cutting on the retraction, making huge swooping swings that your grandmother could dodge, and the classic "walk up to kissing distance with a gun instead of shooting him from across the room."
* An instance typically seen in martial arts flicks involves the character, whenever pitted against an opponent armed with a gun or knife, disarming him with a lightning kick to the hand holding the weapon. This is not only very improbable to pull, but also downright counterproductive: even if one is fast enough to strike it before the opponent reacts, kicking a gun could get it to fire by accident, not to mention if the guy is wielding a bladed weapon, as hitting your foot against it could result in a sound ouch. In real life, disarming is a close-quarter grappling process which requires expertise and speed, and obviously, it is ''never'' without risks.
* Breaking is a complicated subject. Not all martial arts styles include it at all, and those which do can do things that would certainly surprise most people. On the other hand, generally breaking is performed on materials which are fairly weak under tension (brick, concrete, wood broken with the grain [[note]]That is, with the grain in one of the short directions, the way that lumber is not usually sold for very good reasons aside from trees not growing sideways[[/note]]), and also supported only at the ends. It also requires careful training of the impact area (especially knuckles), which can leave it looking fairly ugly. If someone is breaking most of these rules (kicking a hole in a chain-link fence with a move they saw an older student doing once), this trope is probably being invoked.
* When a martial artist appears in fiction using a weapon that is called a sai, it's almost always something that would more properly be called a dagger or a stiletto. A real sai is a blunt weapon that is used defensively (historically they were used by police for crowd control, much like the jutte, which is similar) and attacks are mostly swinging strikes (like a truncheon) rather than stabs (which are possible, but rare).
* {{Flynning}} is this trope with swords, and all forms of swordsmanship are martial arts. Additionally, pretty much every weapon that this trope can be applied to will have this trope applied.
* Size and strength differentials in hand-to-hand combat are greatly undervalued when UnderdogsNeverLose, MusclesAreMeaningless and GenderIsNoObject. Whether the hero is [[WeakButSkilled Weak but Skilled]], a CuteBruiser, a LittleMissBadass who is skilled at WaifFu, or a downright PintsizedPowerhouse, he or she will rarely have the difficulty you would expect in taking down opponents who are far larger and stronger. In real life, however, weight classes exist for a reason. And in real life, the techniques that smaller fighters can learn to enhance their fighting prowess? The big guys can learn them too.
* If you ever see a depiction of a martial artist trying to kick someone despite having a perfectly good sword (or other reasonably lengthy weapon) at hand, it's almost always because of this trope. Swords have all the advantages of a kick (better power and range than a hand technique) and none of the weaknesses (generally slower than a hand strike and requires the attacker to balance on one foot). And if the opponent ''also'' has a sword, this trope is definitely in effect - the only reason a competent martial artist would ever eschew the use of their weapon in favour of a kick against an armed opponent is if they didn't really like that particular limb and wanted to see how good their dojo's disability benefits were.
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* In the ''Double Dragon'' animated series, Jimmy Lee has what Billy called "deadly Shadow Moves", which one of the kids learned when he watched Jimmy practice.

* Similar to ''The Flintstones'' episode mentioned above, one episode of ''[[WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory Dexter's Laboratory]]'' had the characters learn a "free Judo lesson" that involved shrieking "AAAAAH, SHITAKE!!!" while flying through the air at the opponent.

[[folder:Film]]

* The 2010 reboot of ''Karate Kid'', apparently needing to upstage the original, climaxes with a magical reverse flip kick that wouldn't be out-of-place in a {{Wuxia}} film.

* Creator/JetLi protagonists indulge in being BadAss and fending off one MultiMookMelee after another, but since he is a trained martial artist, his fight choreography has ShownTheirWork and tend to be grounded in more realistic martial arts moves than your average {{wuxia}} movie, and when it's fantastical, the setting is as well.

** If you ever see a depiction of a martial artist trying to kick someone despite having a perfectly good sword (or other reasonably lengthy weapon) at hand, it's almost always because of this trope. Swords have all the advantages of a kick (better power and range than a hand technique) and none of the weaknesses (generally slower than a hand strike and requires the attacker to balance on one foot). And if the opponent ''also'' has a sword, this trope is definitely in effect - the only reason a competent martial artist would ever eschew the use of their weapon in favour of a kick against an armed opponent is if they didn't really like that particular limb and wanted to see how good their dojo's disability benefits were.

* ''HajimeNoIppo'':

* Some of the earlier fights in ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' had poor choreography on Robin's part. Several times he backflips ''away'' from the enemy to kick them. Fortunately he cleaned up his act in later seasons. This might be deliberate given that every time he fought [[Big Bad]]Slade (who didn't bother with flips or gymnastics at all), Slade kicked his ass.

* In spite of his reputation as the world's greatest martial artist, BruceLee's movies feature a lot of this. He admitted that jumping high kicks were only good for movies, and he would never use them in a real fight.

* Creator/JackieChan films. Chan was schooled in Peking Opera from childhood to perform stage fighting and acrobatics. He and his fellow opera school graduates such as Sammo Hung excel at creating fighting scenes that indulge fully in the RuleOfCool and/or RuleOfFunny.

* The sketch-comedy ''Series/AlmostLive'' did a long-running series of bits titled "Mind Your Manners With Billy Kwan", where the eponymous guy would regularly do impossible martial arts moves, in particular his [[SignatureMove double-footed jump-kick]], which could home in on its target, travel for blocks, go around corners, etc.

* An instance typically seen in martial arts flicks involves the character, whenever pitted against an opponent armed with a gun or knife, disarming him with a lightning kick to the hand holding the weapon. This is not only very improbable to pull, but also downright counterproductive: even if one is fast enough to strike it before the opponent reacts, kicking a gun could get it to fire by accident, not to talk if the guy is wielding a bladed weapon, as hitting your foot against it could result in a sound ouch. In real life, disarming is a close-quarter grappling process which requires expertise and speed, and obviously, it is ''never'' without risks.

* Some of the earlier fights in ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' had poor choreography on Robin's part. Several times he backflips ''away'' from the enemy to kick them. Fortunately he cleaned up his act in later seasons.

* ''StreetFighter'' (even discounting the KiAttacks) throws everything about martial arts out of the window with such impossible moves as the HurricaneKick. Oddly enough, some of the attacks ''do'' bow to reality - if a [[{{Shoryuken}} Dragon Punch]] misses, you can smack the user out of the air with anything. Guile's upside-down kick gets bonus points; it breaks the laws of physics and it's not even a special move. It's like they ran out of space for the sprites, and decided to just flip an existing one vertically.
* Virtually any ''Kunio-kun'' game. Especially VideoGame/RiverCityRansom, its "sequel", and remake. Mainly because it's both awesome and funny at the same time. Running in mid-air indefinitely is only one of the examples.
* ''VideoGame/DoubleDragon

* In line with ''StreetFighter'' and other 2D fighting games, ''VideoGame/FatalFury'' and ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters'' use this trope a lot. Mai Shiranui offers a notable example in having a move that, were it to be performed in real life, would probably hurt her much more than her opponent: her ''musasabi no mai'', which has her dive headfirst towards her opponent; she doesn't even use her head to hit, but ''her face''. The first version of this move (back in ''Fatal Fury 2'') was different but not much better; its sprites strongly implied that she was attacking with her ample bust (ElectronicGamingMonthly even dubbed the attack "Mai's swan dive").
* As with above, [[MortalKombatX Ermac should be lucky they got mental manipulation.]] For the first strike - a headbutt to the face with enough force to break the unlucky sap's skull - would had also broke Ermac's skull as well.

* Size and strength differentials in hand-to-hand combat are greatly undervalued when UnderdogsNeverLose, MusclesAreMeaningless and GenderIsNoObject. Whether the hero is [[WeakButSkilled Weak but Skilled]], a CuteBruiser, a LittleMissBadass who is skilled at WaifFu, or a downright PintsizedPowerhouse, he or she will rarely have the difficulty you would expect in taking down opponents who are far larger and stronger. In real life, however, weight classes exist for a reason.

** If you ever see a depiction of a martial artist trying to kick someone despite having a perfectly good sword (or other reasonably lengthy weapon) at hand, it's almost always because of this trope. Swords have all the advantages of a kick (better power and range than a hand technique) and none of the weaknesses (generally slower than a hand strike and requires the attacker to balance on one foot). And if the opponent ''also'' has a sword, this trope is definitely in effect - the only reason a competent martial artist would ever eschew the use of their weapon in favour of a kick against an armed opponent is if they didn't really like that particular limb and wanted to see how good their dojo's disability benefits were.

*** Amusingly, in another episode (during the first World Martial Arts Tournament) an opponent of Goku's remarked with some puzzlement that Goku was standing ''unguarded'' on all sides (specifically, with his arms out and his fists as far from his chest as possible). Why Goku was doing this is an open question. Perhaps as a SelfImposedChallenge?

* ''HajimeNoIppo'' mostly shows realistic depictions of the sport of boxing but some characters use moves that are clearly flat out impossible to do in real life. The most blatant examples are Takeshi Sendo's Smasher (A leaning full body side uppercut), Eiji Date's Heartbreak shot (A corkscrew punch aimed at the heart, capable of freezing opponents on their feet) and Masaru Aoki's Frog Punch (A full body uppercut). And there's Woli, a boxer who does high flying stunts WHILE fighting.

** The frog punch was Japanese boxer Koichi Wajima's [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koichi_Wajima specialty]].
** Also, the Dempsey Roll. Now this is a perfectly normal (if risky) technique for fighters of small build, and is named after its most famous practitioner. The artistic license comes from the fact that Ippo maintains it on his opponent for a good 8 seconds straight. If that was done in real life, there would be 2 outcomes: either the opponent would counter it somewhere in that time frame (since the Roll puts out so much offense that it leaves next to no defense), or they were knocked flat on the ground from its beatdown long before 8 seconds had passed.

* Creator/JackieChan films. Chan was schooled in Peking Opera from childhood to perform stage fighting and acrobatics. He and his fellow opera school graduates such as Sammo Hung excel at creating fighting scenes that indulge fully in the RuleOfCool and/or RuleOfFunny. He can still kick your ass.
** On the other hand, Jackie's one of the few action movie stars whose protagonists engage as much in the TheatricsOfPain as the people he hits. Getting punched and punching people ''hurt'', and so many of Jackie's fight scenes end on RealityEnsues.

* In the second ''Film/KillBill'' movie the Bride is buried in a wooden coffin and uses a one inch punch to break it. The one inch punch gets all its power from the stance and hip movement and is thus impossible to do when lying an the back. Since the Bride had to do it over and over again, it's possible that the only help she got from her training was toughened knuckles.
** There's also [[OldMaster Pai Mei]], who can, apparently, jump onto a sword blade and stand on it, apparently weightless.

** Surprisingly, the film version is slightly more realistic (probably for budget reasons), although its practitioners are still able to perform feats like punching through a wooden plank with a finger (making a perfectly round hole with no jagged edges or cracks) and rubbing a stick for a few seconds, causing it to catch fire. And, of course, run on water and wet cement as if you were ComicBook/TheFlash. At least the bullet dodging is shown by them shifting their position based on where the gun is currently pointing, not with ''Film/TheMatrix''-style dodges.

* The Canadian Destroyer (a flip piledriver), which is actually physically impossible (the 'victim' does all the work). This was highlighted when Kota Ibushi received a series of Canadian Destroyers from YOSHIHIKO, a blow-up doll.
** Even though the "victim" does do all the work in this example, there's always that one-in-a-million [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpoD-tF6TwM chance]]...

* ''VideoGame/DoubleDragon II'' was one of the earliest games with a Cyclone Kick, and it was way more effective than it realistically should have been (maybe enemies are just too impressed with your ability to briefly deny the laws of physics).

* Subverted in ''VideoGame/GodHand''. While there are flashy, showy moves, trying to abuse them will generally get your ass kicked and it is better to stick to the simple stuff. Those that you can get away with are almost all {{Limit Break}}s. Also upheld at the same time, though, as [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard mooks - not least the kung fu practitioners - can and will get away with over-the-top stuff that Gene usually gets punished for.]]
** That thing in ''general'' about fighting more than one opponent? Play this game for thirty minutes and you will learn why that is.
** Also, as much as the mooks will punish you for using flashy attacks, ''you can punish them right the hell back with enough practice''. [[SchmuckBait Go on, launch yourself into a long combo, mook.]] [[SarcasmMode It's not like I can]] [[CombatPragmatist do anything about it.]]

** Subverted with the recent inclusion of alternate animations (which added more punches to the Martial Arts set, and allowed more street-brawly looks for Super Strength attacks). "Storm Kick's" alternate animation is a much less telegraphed palm strike to the gut.

* Double subverted by ''VideoGame/{{Toribash}}'', a fighting game that's -- surprisingly -- based on strategy instead of fighting game skill. Despite the relatively unrealistic start of a match, it maintains a fairly realistic approach to martial arts (for a video game), allowing the player to control individual joints and body parts, with matches playing out in intervals of 0.1 seconds. There are even play styles that take cues from real martial arts (Judo and Aikido, for example). Subverted again when you start dueling higher ranking players who will remove body parts with kicks and throws, or even ''literally'' tear you to pieces, then top it off by finish the match in a flashy pose.
** The subversion could be summed up by this: The method of control for realistic moves. The game engine allows for some oddball moves. There is, for the most part, more realism in the game even when you're being dismembered because, for example, a hurricane kick is a pain in the ass to pull off, and isn't as effective as another kick you could have done in the time, and in order to access the odd stuff you ''have to learn what motions would deal damage in real life''.

** Lifting and throwing an opponent several times larger and heavier than you happens in nearly every single piece of Western Animation which deals with one of the characters learning some sort of martial art, which is always portraited as basically judo-esque.
*** It isn't wholly unrealistic, since among the first things a beginning judo (or jujutsu, judo's antisocial older brother who just got out of prison) practitioner will be taught is that proper leverage is crucial even if the opponent doesn't have you outmassed by a factor of three (but if he does, proper leverage can still let you heave him around pretty good). The unrealistic part is when they can turn a friendly handshake into a mugger-eliminating throw.
* Since the Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles couldn't use their weapons to shed blood in the cartoons, they went all out on the martial arts instead.

* JackieChan's films. Chan was schooled in Peking Opera from childhood to perform stage fighting and acrobatics. He and his fellow opera school graduates such as Sammo Hung excel at creating fighting scenes that indulge fully in the RuleOfCool. He can still kick your ass.

* If you ever see a depiction of a martial artist trying to kick someone despite having a perfectly good sword (or other reasonably lengthy weapon) at hand, it's almost always because of this trope. Swords have all the advantages of a kick (better power and range than a hand technique) and none of the weaknesses (generally slower than a hand strike and requires the attacker to balance on one foot). And if the opponent ''also'' has a sword, this trope is definitely in effect - the only reason a competent martial artist would ever eschew the use of their weapon in favour of a kick against an armed opponent is if they didn't really like that particular limb and wanted to see how good their dojo's disability benefits were.
* Size and strength differentials in hand-to-hand combat are greatly undervalued when UnderdogsNeverLose, MusclesAreMeaningless and GenderIsNoObject. Whether the hero is [[WeakButSkilled Weak but Skilled]], a CuteBruiser, a LittleMissBadass who is skilled at WaifFu, or a downright PintsizedPowerhouse, he or she will rarely have the difficulty you would expect in taking down opponents who are far larger and stronger.

* {{Wuxia}} movies, in general, are big on this.

** Klingons on the newer spin-offs tend to just hack with bat'leth swords and head-butt each other, despite Worf's claim that the elaborate tai-chi-looking moves he practices are "Klingon martial arts". This was addressed in some ExtendedUniverse material in a way that can be summed up as, "Martial arts are for artists, this how you [[CombatPragmatist fight a REAL battle.]]"