The Karate Kid(1984), A simple 80s Flick with a simple premise.

I will accept it, I am not an eighties kid, I grew up with the 2011 Reboot, for me it has always been Jacket on Jacket off, and not Wax on Wax off, I mean Wax on Wax off didn't even make sense to me for the longest time, if you had given these two lines to me on a random day(assuming i know nothing of the movies in this scenario) and asked me to guess which is the Original and which is the poor attempt to replicate it... I would call the Jacket one the original.

Sacrilege I know.

But regardless, now that the Karate Kid legends is coming out and it is in a sense pulling together both the 2011 reboot timeline and this timeline into a single timeline as both Daniel La Russo and Jackie Chan's Mr.Han are going to appear in this film, I think its about time I watched the originals.

And I gotta say, I understand now, and without a doubt this film is leagues better than the 2011 remake, that's not to say that that one is trash or anything, it just takes itself a bit too seriously.

I mean its good for what it is the Reboot, but I just like the light hearted charm that Chopstick Fly catching Mr. Miyagi brings to this film, something that was unfortunately lacking in the 2011 hyperserious portrayal of Mr. Han by Jackie Chan.

Less Brokding more Banzai please.

And the strangest thing is, this movie very much reminded me of stories such as harry potter, Lord of the Rings and Star Wars, and if one were to simply see these on a surface level then one would call me crazy, which I mean, I am, but that doesn't make surface level analysis correct.

You see, if any of us have even done a little bit of media research which literally seems equivalent to a cardinal sin in modern film discussion circles online, then we would come across the Joseph Campbell's concept of the Hero's Journey.

It basically describes an over all structure of a journey a protagonist to a story must go through in order to become the true Hero and saviour of the people.

All of it show very helpfully in the following picture.

And for a movie that has so many simplistic and predictable structures alongside a very clearly visible good guy and bad guy group, I mean the Cobra Kai are not only the Dojo that are training the final opponent that Daniel is pitted against, they are also trained by a super evil master who is literally a mustache twirling villain(short of having an actual moustache that he can twirl) who asks his students to deliberately commit a foul so that they can win.

And also there is the whole NO MERCY!!! Thing.

And we also have Discount Luke Skywalker who is the one who actually does the foul.

Even though it is clear that he himself feels pretty uncomfortable using such underhanded tactics.

Man the force really isn't strong with this one eh?

I mean he even whines like the early Luke Skywalker god!!! Yet Surprisingly this ain't Mark Hamill.

And to make matters worse the guy the protagonist will face at the end is literally the ex of his love interest who breaks her radio, in fact that is why he begins to get bullied by them and Miyagi setting up the tournament as a way to make them let him go.

Like literally can this get more simplistic?

Oh no wait that is discount Luke Skywalker, why the f*ck did I think it was the main villain, OH RIGHT, Cause it literally doesn't make any difference.

But any ways, for a movie that is so simplistic it has surprisingly a lot to say about our world.

For one, the Iconic Wax on, Wax off scene, tells us that even in every day things we can actually find a way to train ourselves, it shows us the importance that everything can potentially hold.

The Cobra Kai are representative of those bullies that everyone faces at some instance.

And yet they themselves are the way they are due to being themselves subject to the bigger bully of their sensei.

Which shows how often power Dynamics work in such groups.

And while such things can often lead to short term benefits, even from the very beginning as we see Discount Luke loose his relationship with Ali due to his abusive friends and abusive behaviors.

And while this gets the Kai very close to actual victory, even if they did win, everyone would remember them for having essentially cheated and having won on what is surely a technicality, and the thing is, they will loose even this measly win and their whole empire will come crumbling down once someone with even a little bit of strength and courage gets ready to stand up to them, and he will be winning the long term things, I sure hope nothing is lost to Daniel La Russo at the very beginning of the next movie in a very unceremonious manner.(Yes, Yes I have seen the next movie, you are very clever haha.)

Oh also he has a sweet car, I gotta mention it since in the theatre while watching Karate Kid Legends that is the thing I pointed at and said OH LOOK ITS THE THING!!!!