Cobra Kai is of course one of the most popular shows around right now – and with good reason!
Audiences from a wide variety of age ranges are drawn to this nostalgic throwback hit, not least because of all the fighting in it!
Some people want to know if Cobra Kai is a real fighting style, and if they can learn it? We’ll tell you all you need to know about learning Cobra Kai with our handy guide!
Total Fiction?
Cobra Kai is of course onf of the most exciting and fun shows of the past few years!
It’s not just because of nostalgia that people love Cobra Kai either – even people who never watched any of the original Karate Kid movies have flocked to Cobra Kia for its fun take on martial arts action.
And, of course, the popularity of Cobra Kai has led many to take a newfound interest in martial arts – just as with the Karate Kid back in the 1980s!
Whether Cobra Kia can boost the martial arts industry in the same way as its parent film series can is another question, of course – but it’s certainly true that a lot of people are asking questions about the fighting style in Cobra Kai!
And, of course, one of the main things that people are asking about is the titular style itself. People want to know if Cobra Kai is real, and where it comes from!
Well, the simple truth is that Cobra Kai isn’t actually a real fighting style.
Of course, this might come as a surprise to some of you, but you shou;dn’t believe everything you see on screen! Cobra Kai is a fictional martial art.
This means, for one thing, that if you ever see any schools or dojos offering to train you in Cobra Kai karate?
Well, they’d be complete liars! Unless their training is all about screen fighting for films and tv, of course.
However, as a real fighting art, Cobra Kai of course doesn’t deserve mention – because it simply isn’t one.
Of course, on screen, Cobra Kai is fun and awesome. And, of course, the fights depicted do have moves and roots in real martial arts systems, but everything is exaggerated and tweaked to look good on screen.
After all, they’re actors, not fighters knocking seven bells out of each other!
Roots Of Cobra Kai
As previously mentioned, Cobra Kai isn’t a real fighting style. It’s something made up for the films, and subsequently extended and expounded upon for the TV show that bears the same name.
However, that doesn’t mean that Cobra Kai is 100% fiction!
While there is certainly no real martial art or fighting style called Cobra Kai, it doesn’t mean that many of the moves, techniques, and disciplines in the show aren’t based in reality.
So, while you can’t expect to go to a school and dojo and learn a style called Cobra Kai, it doesn’t mean that the techniques shown on screen are all nonsense.
In fact, many of them are taught in traditional martial arts classes!
This is because Cobra Kai, like many screen fighting styles, combines elements of many different fighting styles to make something that looks exciting to watch on a screen.
So, while Cobra Kai isn’t a legitimate martial art in its own right, a lot of the things that the makers of the show put into the fictional martial art that they call Cobra Kai actually come from other, real world martial arts.
One of the main influences on Cobra Kai is of course Okinawan Karate!
Okinawan karate has been a really big, important part of the franchise since the very first film, of course, but was given even more prominence in the second Karate Kid film, a great deal of which takes place in Okinawa.
So, Cobra Kai might not be a real fighting art in its own right – but it has a grounding in real world martial arts.
Which, of course, is one reason why people love to see the fights in Cobra Kai so much! They’re not just exciting, they’re based enough in reality that the audience can find things believable!
The Truth About Screen Fighting
TV and film aren’t reality. Right? It’s easy to assume that everyone not just knows that, but understands and believes it!
However, it’s an absolute fact that a lot of people – far too many people, in fact! – tend to treat much of what they see on TV as absolute fact.
So, it’s perhaps no surprise that many people are confused as to whether Cobra Kai is a real martial art or not!
This itself isn’t a new thing, of course. Audiences have shown themselves to be gullible and easily duped since the invention of film!
And, indeed, films which show martial arts are often believed by members of the public to show what real martial arts and real fighting looks like – even though, in reality, films rarely if ever show real fighting, let alone real martial arts!
Today, with the popularity of MMA due to the UFC, people are perhaps more attuned to what a real fight looks like.
However, even reality itself can’t stop people from believing in fantasy!
Some people will tend to believe anything they see – and there are plenty of people out there who’ll believe that the crazy martial arts fights they see on film and tv are actually realistic.
Don’t be that person! Understand that fights on films and TV shows are there to entertain, and to look good.
Real fights don’t look good – in fact, they often don’t even look particularly skillful. They’re rough, messy, and not very fun to watch or be part of.
Screen fights are made to make the actors look like badasses, and to entertain the audience.
With that in mind, remember that Cobra Kai might have elements of real martial arts, but it’s also a fictional creation made to make screen fights look good.
Conclusion
Cobra Kai might be fictional, but it sure is fun! Maybe it will inspire you to learn some real-world martial arts!
Comments