Those of you who are martial arts film buffs know the film Bloodsport (1988). A cult classic and Jean-Claude Van Damme's breakout role, it tells the story of Frank Dux, a renowned martial artist who enters a full-contact tournament called the Kumite. The film is one of my guilty pleasures and features martial arts styles from all over the world. So what does this have to do with the green dragons and food? In the beginning of the film we learn about how the young Frank Dux is caught stealing from Senzo Tanaka (played by legend Roy Chiao). Tanaka tells the boy that he must learn martial arts or he will call the cops. An interesting conversation occurs between Tanaka and Dux's parents when they ask about their son's new interest in martial arts (see the clip below). |  |
I love this scene because it connects growing plants, martial arts, and the importance of these to our youth. Good martial arts films always have a training montage and Bloodsport has a well-done and inspiring set of scenes that build the relationship between Tanaka and Dux. These training relationships are key in martial arts but as this film also points out, good martial artists see how this training is related to things that grow and take time and energy to produce.
In Bloodsport the training sequence shows an interesting departure from what many see as martial arts. A blindfolded Frank balances a tray full of hot tea as he brings it to Tanaka and his wife, calmly setting the table and serving the food. The three enjoy the tea together when all of a sudden Tanaka launches a strike at Frank's face.
In Bloodsport the training sequence shows an interesting departure from what many see as martial arts. A blindfolded Frank balances a tray full of hot tea as he brings it to Tanaka and his wife, calmly setting the table and serving the food. The three enjoy the tea together when all of a sudden Tanaka launches a strike at Frank's face.
Frank catches the strike, demonstrating his ability to listen and be in tune with his environment. I personally enjoy hard martial arts training but only when this training is balanced with mental discipline. Today, many martial arts schools are just about the fitness and their curriculum, we forget that a whole range of other activities such as serving food and growing plants can be tied to martial lessons. This scene from Bloodsport reminds me that old school methods of training were much more strongly tied to balancing the soft and the hard.
This is just one example of finding green issues in martial arts films. If you look around there are often embedded environmental and green ideals in martial arts films. Send your own scenes in and I'll keep looking and writing about them too. -Mike
This is just one example of finding green issues in martial arts films. If you look around there are often embedded environmental and green ideals in martial arts films. Send your own scenes in and I'll keep looking and writing about them too. -Mike
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