How does the action star and Aikido master handle real life police work?

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I will admit right off I’m a fan of Steven Seagal, and the action films he makes, because frankly you don’t need a deep plot or complex characters to be entertained.  Hand to hand combat, car chases, and explosions are all a lot of fun if they’re not really happening to you, and among those who make it look exciting is Steven Seagal.  He starred in Above the Law with sexy action star Pam Grier as a Chicago police officer who takes on drug dealers and corrupt CIA agents.  In my personal favorite Out Force Justice he’s back as a police office, but this time he’s NYPD and is teamed with Law and Order’s Jerry Orbach as they and the mob track down a drug crazed cop killer.  Along the way he continued to study and train in the Japanese martial art of Aikido which is designed to subdue rather than injure an attacker.

The Sons of Anarchy are still a Story

Here at the Self Defense Company we’re no different then the rest of you when it comes to entertainment, and movies and shows are regularly discussed after meetings come to an end.  The difference is that we see them for what they are, entertainment pure and simple.  Even the most realistic portrays on screen aren’t what really happen, and often times anyone with any real knowledge about the subject will either be insulted or laugh.  Your safety is too important to trust to fantasy, so when it comes to self defense learn how to fight from the experts, and than enjoy your shows for the fun they’re meant to be.

Take Sons of Anarchy for example which Master Instructor Ross enjoys as do a number of you judging by the ratings.  For those of you don’t know the show is about a small motorcycle club in California and the plot is loosely based of Shakespeare's Hamlet, but with all the motorcycles, porn, and gun running we all know Shakespeare would have liked to include if he was given the chance.  In the last episode of season two we saw the club dealing with all kinds of enemies and allies, but while I enjoyed the fights they weren’t always realistic.  If you haven’t watched the final yet stop reading.

In the series ATF agent June Stahl was bashed around in an earlier episode, because she took her eyes off a dangerous felon, and while help was seconds away she still got badly hurt.  In the final episode she had to deal with an IRA terrorist, and though she dealt with his hidden weapon she still got knocked on her ass and had to use lethal force to keep her prisoner from escaping.  My first thought was a real skilled operator would have checked his weapon first, but even if not one strike doesn’t take a person out. So if he was serious about escaping he should have beaten the pulp out of agent Stahl and disarmed her before escaping.  As usual the writers make the story go in the direction they want, so you don’t always see the characters make the smart move.

In another dramatic scene a terrorist surprises one of the club’s members and another’s old lady and gets between them and a baby.  The encounter resulted in Kip "Half-Sack" Epps being killed while Tara the child’s guardian looking on in horror as the child is taken.  Makes for great TV, but I could only think of what tactics and techniques they could have used to take out the attacker.  It turns out that Johnny Lewis who plays the character wanted to leave the series, but his character despite being a marine, skilled boxer, and biker prospect seemed to just walk into the knife.  It’s hard to imagine what anyone would do if they were face to face with a cold blooded killer, but if they were going to try and take your child or one of your friend’s kids I think it is safe to say you’d give it your all to stop them.

When it comes to entertainment you need to be a skeptic about what you see, because the script not reality dictates what happens.  Some techniques look very impressive, but that’s often because they’re choreographed to look that way, and nobody is resisting.  Many of the techniques we teach throughout our training modules don’t look that flashy, and fights don’t last long because they’re meant to be won quickly.  Our students don’t get in to many dramatic fights, because they end things as fast as possible. So have fun and keep enjoying your favorite shows, but when it comes time to train and really learn something play one of our DVDs.