Martial arts in entertainment mediums.... Helpful, hurtful or do you even care?

I personally think that some of the more far out ones, such as "how to do a hadouken" questions are nothing more than trolls. For the most part if someone has a question about an anime i would certainly like to explain physics to them or why anime isn't real, but I do understand these questions. I personally don't mind martial arts in entertainment as an idea, if I did I wouldn't watch bruce lee films. My problem arises when people are misinformed or make inaccurate conjectures from what they see. Someone who has no idea what's going on, will see break falling in Aikido and instantly label it "fake". I don't mind this too much from a few people who are open minded in the subject and actually wish to learn, but, as we all know, most people are stubborn, especially online. You can't get around martial arts being involved in any major fight scene either, and thus the martial arts are an integral part of entertainment. So long as people are given accurate information, I see no harm, but at the same time I see very little accurate information.

The Pros:

It does draw more attention to the art. In turn, this increases its demand, resulting in more money for full time martial arts teachers, and the benefit of positively changing the lives of the increasing population of participants.

Sometimes martial arts is portrayed in a good light. Some mediums do emphasise the self-discipline and spiritual facets that are synonymous with many martial arts, as well as negate their sometimes "violent" image by revealing the pacifist and peaceful philosophies that many styles constitute.

The Cons:

At times the entertainment industry can "cheesify" martial arts in the sense that they they create an image that is OVERLY mythical and "flashy". This washes out much of the rich culture of the martial arts, and equates it to something more shallow and generic. However, there are some exceptions in which the martial arts are overly fantasied, and yet are still portrayed in a respectful light; such instances would include "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Hero." Though the fight scenes are unrealistic, the good nature and culture of kung-fu is kept.

Overall I think it is a positive thing that in the past decade martial arts have been given more attention. Although there are at times when the martial arts are "disgraced," these instances do no outweigh the good that comes with it. Also, I believe that many people can separate reality from the delusion. So there is no need to discredit a "cheesy" martial arts portrayal as "bad" so long as we can make the distinction between the truth and the myth.

What's the reasons that on some TV shows and movies, posted the words Parental Guidance, because they knows that there are some questions that needs to justify on the minds of the children, wherein they must be guided also while playing video games.

Parents and children relation is the most important matter, because questions always raises that made them fall in this section posted some unnecessary questions, setting those fiction acts into some expectations that they can get those by practicing Martial Arts.

Short story;

I still remember in our dojang while we are practicing, when one child tell me that he will do that, he will do this because he knows what to do, (he said some techniques, methods and applications that I am aware it's wrong), I ask him if where did he learn those things he want to do whenever someone do unnecessary things against him, he tell me that he watch those actions at UFC, and he utter that by continue watching those event, he can learn things and achieve movements he wants.

What a sad news this must be, this is also the reasons why I said that personal attention must be given to children in order to avoid their minds getting corrupted, these things happened also because of the modern entertainment methods, like video and internet games and any others that made some confuse.

The gap between entertainment and reality are things that people must be aware of, so that some must pace on the right and proper directions.

Good luck

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I think the effect it has is directly related to the age of the viewer. Personally, part of my interest in the Martial Arts did come for Walker, Texas Ranger, Naruto, Roadhouse, etc...but I am old enough to know that what I see on T.V is not always the truth. However, I have seen a few younger kids who start a Martial Art based on what they see on the T.V and then become hard to teach because of that misconception. I also think that some of them can be more harm than good. That is because some portray the particular art as so shallow that it is unappealing. So, yeah, they are good and bad.

I don't believe there is no one correct answer to this question.

It can b both hurtful and helpful.

People often become more aware of martial arts through other media such as tv, movies, cartoons, video games. If can tweak their interest. Watching Bruce Lee movies as a kid got me interested in martial arts. However it also mislead as to what martial arts really were. That points to the hurtful. Some may learn and some never learn that what you see in the movies, tv, or video games are not really representative of martial arts. It was put there for entertainment purposes. It can lead to the unrealistic views as to what a martial art is and what they can do. This may prove to be a huge let down to many. Also it can lead to those believing that martial arts will not truly work n real life and that it is full of mysticism. As a martial artist we speak of hidden techniques. But to the general public they think of that as black magic. They do not realize the technique are hidden from the unlearned. It was designed to this way purposely in order to be more effective in battle. In war we are taught to study our adversary. You know know how and what methods you adversary uses for defense and for attack. Guess what? Your adversary is studying you too. Now here is the deception. If they have studied you and they believe that you use certain method for attack or for defense they can come up with a way to counter it. But what they are attempting to counter has conceivably lured them into your trap.

I would go with Stevens answer and just because I have too much free time right now add story.

I forget what the specific game was, one of the however many Soul Calibers, that uses cutscenes of the characters going through patterns / display routines as their screensaver. Some of the characters use reasonably realistic styles, eg:broadsword, but others are more fantasy based and the patterns for them purely fictional.

I had a reasonably advanced student who, outside of class, taught himself the patterns for all the characters in the game and I have to say I was impressed. He showed dedication and ability and I can't say I mind if he spends his time exercising mind and body instead of just playing computer games.

I can't say I wasn't one of those people who say martial arts in video games and movies, and that aroused my interest. Street Fighter, that old SNES game got me started in Karate at 6 year old. It creates misconceptions that can be annoying time and time to have to explain that they aren't real, but I say if they create a real, genuine interest in martial arts, then it really couldn't hurt. There are always those that will join and realize they can't ever be like Solid Snake or Arnold Schwarzenegger and quit. But there are those that remain interested, such as myself. And I say if thats what happens, then its a good thing for the Martial arts community.

I like ISDS' answer... Yin and Yang...

While misrepresentations of the martial arts is extremely common, it can still inspire a lot of people to look into it. Sometimes it's not why you start training that matters; it's why you continue. Steven Seagal, for example, noted in the documentary Path Beyond Thought that he probably started training in the martial arts "for all the wrong reasons." It's not that different from, say, dancing; I mean just look at all the professional dancers out there - contemporary, ballroom, classical ballet, hip-hop, etc. - who say that they were inspired by Dirty Dancing...

Whether the portrayal is good or bad, the movie, et al, sometimes gets a discussion in class about realism, history, etc. I like to engage students who make questions about martial arts. To me, it shows their interest and their perceptions, and gives me an opportunity to correct misconceptions. I did not experience the new student influx when Karate Kid 2010 or Airbender came out, the way my school did back in 1984 when Karate Kid I came out. But the discussions in class were just as lively.

Vampires DO exist. I married one...

I think that people will always:

believe that people with Black Belts can kick the snot out everyone else.

aliens are at area 51.

they know who killed Kennedy.

Freemasons are going to take over the world.

Fox News isn't biased.

People will always believe what they want, stupidity will always be there regardless of the movies, cartoons, TV Shows and comic books people use. We shouldn't stop making movies to protect the dumb...