Martial Arts & The Media

[RCastillo]

In my short journey within the arts, I've always paid special attention to how it's treated within the media.

Sure, we have our own special magazines, it's been interjected into television shows, movies, but somehow.........I've never felt that it's received the respect it deserves.

No doubt, there have been some individuals that have not helped it any by their activities, or how it's portrayed.

I always look toward the newspapers, and sports programs(TV), to see how much coverage we get, and while I can't speak for all regions in the U.S., it looks poor, to almost nothing. Staying up till 3 in the morning to watch it on ESPN 2 tells me we're leftovers for Nite Owls.(Correct me if I'm wrong)

In recent years, there have been some decent documentaries that have come out on the Discovery Channel, and A&E networks, but that's about it. Counting a report on HBO about Cage Fighting doesn't cut it.(I think)

With the exception of Chuck Norris' TV series, we'd be almost forgotten? Now, if we'd only see documentaries of people like Norris, Ed Parker, Joe Lewis, the list goes on, especially on it's growth in this country, since newspapers won't put alot of stock in us.

Now, while I don't live in the news capital of this country, I don't live in the "Sticks", either.

I say again, we don't get the respect we deserve.

Your opinions please, and Thanks!:asian:

 

[yilisifu]

I have to agree. I'd like to see more coverage on A&E, the History Channel, Discovery......but they're looking at getting the best ratings possible.

Even so, I think that they'd get pretty good ratings if they'd do some more documentaries.

 

[rachel]

someone posted about a month back I think, about a Martial Arts Channel on cable. Whatever happened with that? Anybody know?

 

[Cryozombie]

Not that it adds up to respect, but don't forget to look at current television advertising... often times I notice more and more ad's on TV depicting a man in a GI (or Dobok, whatever your preferred term is) practicing an art... or a woman in gloves throwing punches, kids in a class, or piling out of a minivan in their uniforms...

The media (sadly) has also had a pretty negative impact on a lot of martial arts, making people think of the arts as violent... or giving them strange misconceptions of what an art is... (COUGH Ninjustsu COUGH) or worse create a populartiy in a style that creates a fad that leads to a billion and a half UNQUALIFIED people claiming to be masters of these arts... Duping the unwary...

Now don't get me wrong... I love martial arts movies, and With all the bad there are a handfull of GOOD martial arts movies thrown in that show the real spirit of the arts... and the rest are great entertainment. (Just check my DVD shelf, bad Kung Fu and Ninja flicks abound there... heh heh)

And... speaking of Discovery channel... lets not forget the ANIMAL PLANET special about how animals influenced the growth of martial arts...

 

[tarabos]

popular as the arts and more specifically, competitive martial arts may be, they will probably always be a niche market especially when it comes to television. for competitive martial arts of any form to become as big as say baseball or basketball in america it would have use some sort of gimmick to get the american public to watch. i don't believe you would like this gimmick....whatever it may be because it would most likely demean the arts. i don't think any martial art will reach the popularity level of say....TKD in Korea.

i don't think little publicity for martial arts in the media is a bad thing anyway. sure it would boost student bases all over the country most likely but what else would it bring?

on the note of chuck norris tv shows and his last one (walker) being the last of the karate/beat 'em up tvs shows...the WB is coming out with a new one called black sash starring russle wong. it should be pretty cool. i'll be watching.

 

[tarabos]

Originally posted by RCastillo
I always look toward the newspapers, and sports programs(TV), to see how much coverage we get, and while I can't speak for all regions in the U.S., it looks poor, to almost nothing. Staying up till 3 in the morning to watch it on ESPN 2 tells me we're leftovers for Nite Owls.(Correct me if I'm wrong)

you're pretty much right. i don't have cable tv, so the only time i'll ever see espn is pretty much at a friend's house or at a bar somewhere. i've seen the espn2 coverage of breaking competitions and i think a self-defense competition once around 11:00 at night in a bar once.

the two big problems with espn2 is that they rarely will broadcast any type of martial arts event and when they do you never know when it's going to be on because they don't advertise it at all.

 

[Quick Sand]

I agree, we don't get nearly enough coverage. I've never had cable so I've only ever seen about 2 martial arts related documentaries and very few shows of any other kind. One was taped by a friend of mine off the discovery channel back in about '96 or'97 and I borrowed the tape and once I saw part of a documentary of Bruce Lee on the Biography. I've never even seen a live competition on TV.

Most of my friends and many of the people I go do school with know absolutely nothing about Martial Arts other then what they've seen in Jackie Chan flicks.

I'm in a computer class right now where our final project is to do an educational program about something so I decided to do Martial Arts. It barely scratches the surface of the total information on Martial Arts but I'm trying to get people interested in learning more and to dispell a couple of the common myths.

Myths like:

"Anyone with a Black Belt has the highest rank in martial arts",
"All martial arts come from the area of China, Japan etc.",
"Only young, super fit, super flexible people can do martial arts.",
"Martial Artists do nothing but go to class and beat the stuffing out of each other."

and so on. :asian:

 

[theletch1]

popular as the arts and more specifically, competitive martial arts may be, they will probably always be a niche market especially when it comes to television. for competitive martial arts of any form to become as big as say baseball or basketball in america it would have use some sort of gimmick to get the american public to watch. i don't believe you would like this gimmick....whatever it may be because it would most likely demean the arts.

I gotta say I agree with this statement. Sooner or later you'd wind up seeing a silicone blonde in a thong gi going at it OR a lot of smoke and wires and steroid pumped idiots pointing at a camera and yelling before a match.

Now, having said that, I would love to see a lot more opportunities on television to see documentaries about the martial arts. I've seen a lot of them on discovery (I think) about the shaolin monks, a few about Bruce Lee and one about Jackie Chan. The one about Jackie dealt much more with how he does the stunts in his movie than with his art.

This would be a good thread to forward to the discovery channel if we can get enough responses to it. Might give them a few ideas.

respectfully,
theletch1:asian:

 

[Cryozombie]

Actually... Thinking about it, a couple years back, PBS did a good documentery on Japan that was a week long, and they had an episode about the martial arts, i believe it was called "The Sword and the Chrysanthimum" that focused on japanese martial arts... It wasnt bad.

And lets not forget Leonard Nemoy's Special, oh heck, what was it called "Mysterys of the Unknown" and specifically about who the Ninja really were...

The only Martial Arts I have seen on ESPN lately was some kind of Musical Kata Demonstration...

 

[cali_tkdbruin]

What really aggrevated me about the coverage of the MAs in gerneral and my Art specifically during the last 2000 Olympics was that it was completely overlooked and not included in the TV coverage here in the States. It was decided by the powers that be to ignore the Olympic TKD tourney.

I know I'm biaised, but I'd much rather watch TKD sparring than a bunch of young girls doing gymnastics, or people riding their ponies in the equestrian competition. I can keep going but I don't want to piss anybody else off... :shrug:

 

[RCastillo]

Originally posted by cali_tkdbruin
What really aggrevated me about the coverage of the MAs in gerneral and my Art specifically during the last 2000 Olympics was that it was completely overlooked and not included in the TV coverage here in the States. It was decided by the powers that be to ignore the Olympic TKD tourney.

I know I'm biaised, but I'd much rather watch TKD sparring than a bunch of young girls doing gymnastics, or people riding their ponies in the equestrian competition. I can keep going but I don't want to piss anybody else off... :shrug:

Glad you brought that up. I feel the same way!:asian:

 

[tarabos]

seems like they omitted a lot of stuff in the last olympics though...

it just seemed to come and go without anyone really know about it. i don't even remember what they had on...but it was the same thing almost the whole time. speed skating and the short track perhaps...?

anyway...i'd love to see Judo and TKD olympic competition....i don't even think they show olympic boxing enough.

 

[Johnathan Napalm]

Originally posted by RCastillo
Glad you brought that up. I feel the same way!:asian:

lol No, actually I do like to watch gymnastics b/c of the excellency in human performance expressed , and I do like equestrian competitions. Horses are such majestic animals. In both gymnastics and equestrian performance, you see grace in power!

(sorry for deviating from the topic)

Back to the topic. If you want to witness where martial art is truly appreciated, go to Thailand. There, Muay Thai is the hottest popular sport. It is the hottest national past time.

 

[theletch1]

OK, how about a television show where gymnast fight each other on horseback?:shrug:

 

[Kalicombat]

In my opinion, sport karate will never be popular for the simple fact that there is no realism. UFC, PRIDE, K-1, King of The Cage, and even good old American Boxing are all based in reality. That is why people shell out $39 to $59 a pop to watch them on pay-per-view. People want to see bigger then life characters beating each other to a pulp. They dont want to see the average Joe strap on head gear, chest protector, shin guards, hand pads, foot pads, and a face shield and tap each other for points. There is no risk, no sensationalism. Even pro wrestling, for all of its drama and theatrics, is popular because of all the stunts and the danger involved in the acrobatics, the chair bashing, table drops, and other such stunts.

I am not a fan of tournament sparring. It proves absolutely nothing except whom can use their pads to hit antohers pads first. Even Shidokan tounaments, that are highly controlled have actual contact.

Just my $0.02,
Gary Catherman

 

[sweeper]

MA doesn't get coverage because it isn't popular. Now NHB fights genneraly aren't shown because of policies at cable companies, but other competitions just aren't popular enough. I do think that cable companies sensor the content though, like why do breking competitions and demonstrations get more play than fights?

But realy I don't think MA deserve tv coverage anymore than any other area of study does, I think if you asked most people they wouldn't realy care wether or not MA activities get TV coverage, it's just because we practice arts that we want to see it on TV.

Or from another perspective, why don't enginiers or physicists get the coverage they deserve? Same reason, the genneral public doesn't care.

 

[RCastillo]

Originally posted by sweeper
MA doesn't get coverage because it isn't popular. Now NHB fights genneraly aren't shown because of policies at cable companies, but other competitions just aren't popular enough. I do think that cable companies sensor the content though, like why do breking competitions and demonstrations get more play than fights?

But realy I don't think MA deserve tv coverage anymore than any other area of study does, I think if you asked most people they wouldn't realy care wether or not MA activities get TV coverage, it's just because we practice arts that we want to see it on TV.

Or from another perspective, why don't enginiers or physicists get the coverage they deserve? Same reason, the genneral public doesn't care.

Great point! It's no wonder I can't get any students.

That in itself is good reason for another thread.

 

[cali_tkdbruin]

Originally posted by theletch1
OK, how about a television show where gymnast fight each other on horseback?:shrug:

Nah, I'll stick to Olympic (WTF) Taekwondo scraps...

 

[cali_tkdbruin]

Originally posted by theletch1
OK, how about a television show where gymnast fight each other on horseback?:shrug:

And by the way, what are you, some kind of comedian???


Hey wait, I like the idea, can I pitch it to Hollywood producers?

:rofl: :lol: :lol:

 

[Zepp]

Originally posted by theletch1
OK, how about a television show where gymnast fight each other on horseback?:shrug:

I'd pay to watch that!

As much as I would like to see more Martial Arts competitions on TV in general, I don't think the lack of sensationalism in the Arts is all bad. The less people actually know about real Martial Arts, the more elite the rest of us are, right? (Or at least, the more elite we can pretend we are. )

Last I heard about that Martial Arts Channel, I think Time Warner was the only cable company with plans to carry it. I also think it was supposed to start airing sometime around right now.

I've seen the ads for the WB's upcoming "Black Sash" show, and even though it looks corny, I think I'll watch it. They got me curious. But if the dialogue starts sounding like Dawson's Crap, I'm going to stop watching very fast.