Whenever someone says the phrase "martial arts films," we always think of those rather plotless movies made in the 70's starring Asian Martial Artists like Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee, etc. The stories may have been corny, but the fighting was always the selling point. And boy, did it sell. The film industry has always been something that Western Martial Arts have never had a solid foothold in, that I can think of, at least in the same sense and scope that Asian Martial Arts have. In any movie with Western Martial Arts in it that I can recall, the fighting is always secondary, to advance a genuine plot. The Asian Martial Arts movies were all about the fighting. I can't help but wonder if, someday in the near future, somebody started making movies with Western Martial Arts that were all about the fighting, would somebody then make up a song that went, "everybody was long-sword-fight-ing"? <img src="/forum/images/icons/wink.gif" alt="" /> It's funny, yeah, but that kung-fu song has an effect, and so do those old movies. ARMA's goal is to make WMA a respected study, on par with AMA, isn't it? Should we, then, try every venue that Asian Martial Artists did? Would having our own plotless fighting movies, with our own Bruce Lees and Jackie Chans, Jet Lis, and so on, help us to do this? Food for thought.
Patrick Hardin
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