A little over a week ago I watched the original Karate Kid all the way through for the first time. It was a very thought provoking movie. In it I saw many good things, a boy learning how to adjust to the changes of life and an old man taking a boy with no male guidance under his wing. But, I also saw a lot of not-so-good things. I saw a boy treat his mother (and Mr.Miyagi) with total disrespect. I heard a boy of 16 cuss like a sailor. I want to look at the pros and cons of this movie. I want to break down what attributes were encouraged, both the good and bad attributes.
Cons-
I will start with the cons so that we end on a good note.
1. Disrespect- Daniel is a boy that gets moved from his hometown in New Jersey all the way to the other side of the country to California. This, understandably, causes him frustration. It is not the frustration that I want to look at, it is how he handled this frustration. From the very beginning of the movie he is extraordinarily disrespectful towards his mother. This behavior is in no way punished or disciplined anywhere in the movie. In fact his mother just seems to expect it. The disrespect is not just limited to his mother, other times in the movie he shows disrespect to others when he gets frustrated. Throughout the movie he is disrespectful towards his love interest Ali. It does not end here he shows the same disrespect to Mr.Miyagi, his teacher and mentor. After 4 days of doing what Daniel sees as pointless grunt work for Miyagi he blows up at him. He yells, cusses him out and tells him that he is done. Are all of these attitudes and behaviors that should go without discipline? I think not.
Cons-
I will start with the cons so that we end on a good note.
1. Disrespect- Daniel is a boy that gets moved from his hometown in New Jersey all the way to the other side of the country to California. This, understandably, causes him frustration. It is not the frustration that I want to look at, it is how he handled this frustration. From the very beginning of the movie he is extraordinarily disrespectful towards his mother. This behavior is in no way punished or disciplined anywhere in the movie. In fact his mother just seems to expect it. The disrespect is not just limited to his mother, other times in the movie he shows disrespect to others when he gets frustrated. Throughout the movie he is disrespectful towards his love interest Ali. It does not end here he shows the same disrespect to Mr.Miyagi, his teacher and mentor. After 4 days of doing what Daniel sees as pointless grunt work for Miyagi he blows up at him. He yells, cusses him out and tells him that he is done. Are all of these attitudes and behaviors that should go without discipline? I think not.
2. Language- Daniel's language throughout the entire movie is not what I would call clean. Several times I heard him use the God's name to condemn something, a bold act. More often than that he was continually using language that I do not think is of any benefit to the viewers. Is this an attribute that we should see as desirable in a 16 year old boy (or anybody for that matter)?
3. Dating- Now I do not want this to turn into a thing against dating, that is not my point. My point is the mental and physical closeness that comes up between Daniel and Ali in such a short time. Less than 20 minutes into the movie Daniel's new "friends" are encouraging him to "make a move" on Ali. That is just plain wrong. Daniel and Ali plan 2 dates without the knowledge of her parents, the second one against the wishes of her father. This not only violates Scripture, it is blatant disrespect (yes more). Even non-Christians taught and expected respect not so long ago.
Ok, now for the good!
1.Surrogate father- We do not know why but Daniel does not have a father. From the very beginning of the movie we see the effect that this has on Daniel. A boy needs a father to talk to, somebody who thinks like he does. One of the beautiful things in this movie is the way Mr.Miyagi steps in and helps Daniel. Even before he starts teaching him karate Miyagi has fixed his bike and spent time with him. It is obvious before the Halloween dance when Daniel says "I'm not alone, I'm with you" that they have spent a lot of time hanging out. When Daniel has a problem with the bullies at school Miyagi helps him. He goes to the karate studio, with Daniel, and talks to the teacher. He then proceeds to teach Daniel karate. But he does not teach it so that Daniel can use it to win a fight at school. He is very clear that karate is for defense only. He uses his karate training to teach Daniel about life. He talks about balance and the way Daniel needs to have a balance of the things in His life. He teaches Daniel that the little things all put together is what makes it happen. He teaches Daniel self discipline, to keep going even when he doesn't want to. The relationship that is built is a wonderful picture of the effect a man can have in a boy's life.
2. Wax on, Wax off- When Miyagi starts training Daniel in the art of karate he uses an approach that Daniel cannot understand. He makes Daniel do all different kinds of physical labor. Not only does he make him work, but he makes him do it a certain way, sometimes this way seems more difficult than other ways of doing the work. Daniel must wax Miyagi's cars in a certain way, he must paint the fence the way Miyagi says to. These things take a very long time. But, throughout Daniel is learning what he needs to be able to do karate. The best part is that he doesn't even know that he is learning anything. I think this is the way God works on us sometimes. He asks things of us that we do not completely understand. He uses the same kind of repetition that Miyagi used to teach us things. Miyagi made Daniel do those things so that when it was time to teach him how to fight his muscles were read for it. God uses repetition to teach and prepare our spiritual muscles to be used. If Daniel had only learned how to move his arms and legs without ever training and working out the muscles then he would have been in no shape to fight. He might would have known what to do, but he would have been incapable of fighting because his muscles would have been too soft. It is the same with us, God uses things in our lives to train us so that when we need them out spiritual muscles are ready.
3. Self discipline- Throughout his karate training Daniel learns self discipline. He learns that he must do the things that he does not want to. He has to paint the house even though he does not understand why, and does not want to. This is something that we deal with everyday. Self discipline is to do the things that are hard to do, that have no immediate payoff. 1 Corinthians 9:27 says "But I discipline my body and keep it under control". Literally translated the Greek says "I pummel my body and make it a slave." This is how we should not only live in the earthly things we have to do, but how we need to look at God. We must discipline ourselves to do the things of the Lord.
There are many things in this movie that I have not talked about. I think that overall it is a wonderful movie. It has a great story of a boy who has to adjust to a new life. It shows how he faces opposition (the bullies) in this new place. I think with the help he got from Mr.Miyagi he did a pretty good job of handling that opposition. It also shows how the bullies learn that it is not right to constantly berate somebody who seems weaker. This movie portrays and old man who never had a son, and now he has a chance to change a boy's life forever. Despite the things I pointed out that I don't like about it, I think it is a great movie that I will definitely watch again.
2. Wax on, Wax off- When Miyagi starts training Daniel in the art of karate he uses an approach that Daniel cannot understand. He makes Daniel do all different kinds of physical labor. Not only does he make him work, but he makes him do it a certain way, sometimes this way seems more difficult than other ways of doing the work. Daniel must wax Miyagi's cars in a certain way, he must paint the fence the way Miyagi says to. These things take a very long time. But, throughout Daniel is learning what he needs to be able to do karate. The best part is that he doesn't even know that he is learning anything. I think this is the way God works on us sometimes. He asks things of us that we do not completely understand. He uses the same kind of repetition that Miyagi used to teach us things. Miyagi made Daniel do those things so that when it was time to teach him how to fight his muscles were read for it. God uses repetition to teach and prepare our spiritual muscles to be used. If Daniel had only learned how to move his arms and legs without ever training and working out the muscles then he would have been in no shape to fight. He might would have known what to do, but he would have been incapable of fighting because his muscles would have been too soft. It is the same with us, God uses things in our lives to train us so that when we need them out spiritual muscles are ready.
3. Self discipline- Throughout his karate training Daniel learns self discipline. He learns that he must do the things that he does not want to. He has to paint the house even though he does not understand why, and does not want to. This is something that we deal with everyday. Self discipline is to do the things that are hard to do, that have no immediate payoff. 1 Corinthians 9:27 says "But I discipline my body and keep it under control". Literally translated the Greek says "I pummel my body and make it a slave." This is how we should not only live in the earthly things we have to do, but how we need to look at God. We must discipline ourselves to do the things of the Lord.
There are many things in this movie that I have not talked about. I think that overall it is a wonderful movie. It has a great story of a boy who has to adjust to a new life. It shows how he faces opposition (the bullies) in this new place. I think with the help he got from Mr.Miyagi he did a pretty good job of handling that opposition. It also shows how the bullies learn that it is not right to constantly berate somebody who seems weaker. This movie portrays and old man who never had a son, and now he has a chance to change a boy's life forever. Despite the things I pointed out that I don't like about it, I think it is a great movie that I will definitely watch again.
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