Phony Fights Are Fun
Rocky vs. Apollo Creed, Luke Skywalker vs. Dearth Vadar, Achilles vs. Hector. Martial artists are thrilled by movie duels…brawny mano y mano encounters between armed or unarmed fighters engaged in a deadly dance. Awesome.
Then there’s the legendary martial art duel between Bruce Lee vs. Chuck Norris. Here hand-to-hand combat is elevated by the dream match between two martial art greats. Real martial artists. Real martial art techniques. What an opportunity to study real fighting. Not.
Confusing Make Believe Fighting And Real Fighting
Scanning the web, I found a JKD instructor in Japan demonstrating Bruce Lee’s “style of no-style”. Impressive. His fighting attributes were superb, evidently he trained hard to emulate his hero. He had the look. He had the rap. But he didn’t have “it.”
His self-defense was unrealistic. He was literally copying Lee’s movie fight scenes that mixed legitimate JKD intercepting punches, kicks and unrealistic techniques like high spinning wheel kicks, spinning kicks and back fists. Sadly, he sincerely believed he was teaching Lee’s authentic JKD. Dangerous.
Martial artists who are inexperienced in street fighting may be unwitting victims of Bruce Lee’s inspiring film fights. They confuse real and make believe. But we must not mix up Bruce Lee the innovative fighter and Bruce Lee the creative showman.
Bruce Lee’s Film Fights Are Fantasy
First, for clarity, since one of the components of the TanDao System is JKD, this is not about Lee’s martial art philosophy nor his abilities. It is about mixing up film fantasy and fact. Lee’s dual intention of entertaining and educating through movies is the root of much misunderstanding. He was the first to say that his choreographed fights are exaggerated for cinematic enjoyment. For example, his lead leg round kick to the head or his single back fist knockout, though possible, are unrealistic. At the same time, he wanted to educate by including JKD concepts in his fights. So he also shows efficient intercepting punches and kicks. Which is which?
There is a vast difference in executing a theatrical punch and realistic punch. Because of Lee’s extraordinary power, he could shatter the bones in his fist on impact with a skull if he punched with the exaggerated body mechanics used in his film. With this in mind, we may find it educating and fun watching Lee’s fight scenes with critical eyes.
Evolving Martial Artists differentiate between movie techniques that are theoretically possible but highly improbable in practice. Part of our martial arts journey is to discover this. But when in doubt, err on the side of real fighting.
Watch the classic duel above) at the Roman Colosseum from Way of the Dragon. Let us know what is realistic and what is not.
Keep practicing and exploring,
Lawrence Tan
Tags: bruce lee, chuck norris, fight, fight choreography, film fight choreography, JKD, kung fu, lawrence tan, Martial Arts, the way of the dragon
The techniques demonstrated seem to reflect the “no-contact” point sparring that was commom at the time. Essentially, a long-range affair in which contestants had room for the spinning kicks and so on–not really having to knock anyone out with them. Just come close to score a point. Referees broke things up when guys got too close.
High kicks and spinning kicks make no sense on the street–hard to do wearing jeans and cowboy boots, aiming for a small target, the head, which may be moving with a mobile opponent. And on uneven pavement. And kicks aimed at the upper body can be caught by a decent opponent–a disaster in the making. Not to mention they use up a lot of energy.
At the end of the clip Lee kicks low to Norris’s knees and shins–that makes great sense. The knee is a preposterous joint, easily disabled (I know–I don’t have much cartilage in one, and blown ligaments in the other). And as you say, throwing those big punches to Norris’s head probably would be a hand-breaking experience. Again, the TanDao philosophy of using the palm as the major striking weapon makes perfect sense.
Back in the seventies as an upper belt I graduated from “point” sparring to Kyokushinkai tournament rules: no hand strikes to the head and no side kicks to the knees–the rest of the body was open game for full power strikes and kicks. Not true to a real encounter, of course, as it did not allow eye gouging and throat strikes or those debilitating low side kicks (one of Lee’s foundation techniques, I believe). But it allowed grabbing, trapping and “jamming;” the result was a much more realistic combat situation in the sense that the fight became in-close and personal. And one gained the sense of being hit repeatedly to the body with full power. Pain is a great teacher–in a real fight one has to expect to be hit, and hurt. Then have the “piss and vinegar” to make the opponent pay. It’s kind of like being married…
Very accurate assessment of Lee and Norris fantasy fight. You certainly have been around the block a few times. As always, Bob, your descriptive explanations accurately and insightfully illustrate the martial art themes I bring up on my posts. We are on the same wave length.
Because of the breadth of your experience – from Oyama’s super hard to Qi Gong’s super soft plus a few realistic brawls to keep your martial arts honest, I appreciate your martial warrior/scholar comments on our TanDao System. Thanks!
At the risk of sounding like a snivelling sycophant, I have to say your concept of the “evolving martial artist”–fusing classical and modern–is the soundest approach I’ve seen to self-defense (even though I’m not an active martial artist because of injuries; the spirit is willing, but there’s that flesh!). And, both you and Toni are more than accessible to students and commenters such as myself–this in essence, is also an evolution. One does not get this type of discourse with a master on other sites; quite the contrary. Much appreciated.