The Old School Lunch

[One of the trailers shown before Cloverfield]

If this is supposed to be our generation’s “The Karate Kid” then we are in trouble.

I don’t like the growing popularity of Mixed Martial Arts. But on one hand, I guess that popularity takes away from the audience of WWE and TNA wrestling which is good. But WWE and TNA were/are bad because they of course emphasize the tough guise model while crafting misogynistic, homophobic and racist storylines. MMA meanwhile cuts the crap and just goes straight into fighting which is actually real. And that should worry people. Part of the large cultural worry with wrestling was kids doing backyard wrestling and killing themselves, not the overarching cultural message sent to boys and girls. When the stakes are higher and MMA is real and kids are now wanting to train to do all of these things in real life, then yes the worry about backyard MMA won’t so unfounded anymore. But it’s not as if there aren’t any media implications. There just doesn’t seem to be as much because MMA is still growing. And as it grows and advertisers and investors start to catch on, it’ll be interesting to watch if it continues to go down the boxing macho trash talk big title fight route or if the new media Don Kings of today turn MMA into some mutant form of the WWE where they realize that they can draw bigger crowds and make more money by turning it into a soap opera. In either case, I think unfortunately MMA is here to stay. Barring several athletes dying straight in the ring, I don’t see this going the way of some sports fad and for that we’re worse off.