The *Real* Lessons From “The Karate Kid”

Next Friday, June 11^th, a remake of the Karate Kid comes out. I don’t know how to feel about this. The previews look ok, but come on, does the Karate Kid need to be remade? No way! the original was and still is awesome!

Since the remake is coming out soon, I thought this would be a good time to reflect back on the original. While it is a heart-warming tale of the underdog overcoming tough odds, I think there are some lessons we can learn from this movie that most people miss. Lessons in fact, that were probably never intended to be there…

Let’s take a look:

Be Wary of Sticking Your Nose in Others Business

If you re-watch the original, you’ll see that Daniel jumps into trouble by poking his nose into an argument between Ali and her ex-boyfriend Johnny (played by the wonderfully villainous William Zabka, who would go on to later redeem himself by playing the hero in the ridiculously awful Python and Python 2).

What’s funny is when you re-watch the scene, all Johnny wants to do is talk, but Ali will have nothing to do with it. I’m not saying Johnny is in the right here. He should respect Ali’s wishes not to talk, and he does throw down her radio. That was wrong. And I get that sometimes sticking your nose in is the right thing to do to protect someone. But notice that Daniel doesn’t step in because he thinks Ali is in danger. Nope. He steps in to pick up the radio and assert that it’s not broken. Face it, Daniel gets involved because he wants to impress Ali. Because he wants to get in her pants.

Think about how much trouble would have been avoided if a) Ali had let Johnny talk for a few minutes (she could have applied a little Motivational Listening) or b) Daniel had stayed on the sidelines until he was really needed. I’m just saying…

Lesson: Before you go jumping into a situation make sure that a) your presence is really needed and b) you are not just going to make the situation worse for you and others.

Don’t Blindly Kick Open Doors

This scene always kind of bothered me in this movie. Right near the beginning, when Daniel is moving in to his new apartment, he approaches a public door with his hands full. To open the door he gives it a full on karate kick. Unfortunately, there is a guy behind the door who gets knocked over by Daniel’s “door kick.”

Right off the bat they establish Daniel as a dumbass. Who goes around kicking open doors with no regard for who or what might be behind it? Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Lesson: Don’t be an idiot. Be aware of your surroundings and the people around you before you start doing stupid things.

Don’t Antagonize

Here’s an undeniable fact: Daniel was a big honkin’ idiot. At the Halloween Dance, he finds himself in the bathroom with one of the Cobra Kai bad guys who doesn’t know Daniel’s there. The Cobra Kai dude is sitting on a toilet, minding his own business, rolling a joint, so guess what Daniel does? Does he return to the party to make out with Ali, who was already into him? Does he just mind his own business and leave? Does he anonymously report the drugs to a chaperone? Nope, none of the above.

Instead, he runs a hose from the sink to above the stall, then douses the Cobra Kai dude with water.

Let me repeat that: he turns a hose of water on a karate black belt, who has other karate black belt friends, all of who don’t like him! What did he think would happen??

(If you haven’t seen the movie, yes, the Cobra Kai run him down, beat the tar out of him, and will probably kill him if not for the timely arrival of Mr. Miyagi.)

Dumbass.

See, Daniel was having a perfectly nice time, hanging at the costume party like a shower, until he had to go and antagonize the Cobra Kai boys

Perhaps Call the Authorities…

As a follow up to the scene in the last point, think about it: a group of trained black belts beat the #$%^ out of a kid, and when he is too hurt to defend himself or even stand, they prop him up and continue to beat him. Miyagi enters and pushes him out of the way just as a Cobra Kai is attempting a flying kick that shatters a board on the fence behind him.

We’re talking about permanent physical damage! Perhaps even death! That’s assault and battery! These are serious charges!

I know if I was in that situation, my first thought of course would be, “hey, let me solicit the little Asian janitor for help, instead of, you know, calling the freakin’ police!!”

I am all for fighting your own battles and “being a man,” but face it, there’s a time to call in the authorities. When a group of thugs almost beats you to death, that’s probably the right time.

Lesson: Be willing to swallow your pride and get help when needed. You don’t need to fight every battle yourself or try to do it all on your own.

Be Wary of Entering Contracts

Ok, so let’s say that you have decided to eschew contacting the police and instead will have a handyman teach you karate. Fine. But don’t you think Daniel’s method of selecting Miyagi as his trainer was a wee bit flawed?

Take a look:

1. He did no due diligence on Miyagi, so really, how does he know he was qualified?
2. He did not vet any other potential karate teachers. He just agreed to the first one he came across.
3. He blindly agrees to do whatever Miyagi says, no questions asked. Sure, it worked out ok here, but can you see how this would be a problem?

Keep in mind, when Daniel asked Miyagi and accepted his terms, a group of black belts were trying to kill him! This was a fairly important decision in his life. All he knew about Miyagi was that he was an ok dude who let him play with his Bonsai trees and that Miyagi saved him – and, to be honest he didn’t even know that Miyagi saved him because he was so out of it he didn’t recall clearly what happened. Miyagi had to tell him that he saved him. How did Daniel know Miyagi wasn’t lying?

You might be saying, “but Avish, at the very least when Daniel woke up Mr. Miyagi was taking care of him, so of course Daniel could trust him.” Maybe. Then again, When Paul Sheldon woke up in Misery, Annie Wilkes was taking care of him, and we know how that worked out…

Sure, Miyagi turned out nice, but he could have gone all "Annie Wilkes" on him...

Don’t get me wrong, I love the Karate Kid. It is a great, warm, feel good movie. But like everything, there are two sides to every story and many, many things we can learn from just about anything.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a car to go wax…

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By Avish Parashar. As the world's only Motivational Improviser, Avish uses techniques from the world of improv comedy to engage, entertain, and educate audiences on ideas around change, creativity, and motivation. Connect with Avish on Google+

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