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The Premise:
How many people learn through observation of movies?
Perhaps an explanation is necessary before I present my research and conclusions. A few months ago, I saw Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in the theatre. Of course, we can't fly; I know this (and I learned it the HARD way), but every day we see certain things and claim "gee, there is no way we could ever do that!"
Is that true? How many people really have the ability to see something performed, and then be able to mimic it? Sure, simple acts are easy. When you're three years old and you see dear old dad hammer a nail, you pick it up within 5 minutes. Bruised and bloodied fingers at first, then you're well on your way. But most of these same people can watch an entire house being built and have no clue where to start.
Most of them.
Some people actually can do this, I theorized. So, having wired myself on caffeine, nicotine, and a small dose of mayhem, I went out to prove my hypothesis. Picking the subject was simple, it's the research that took time, effort, and many broken bones. To put it glibly, can someone who has seen more than one Jackie Chan movie learn the lessons shown by Jackie Chan himself?
The simplicity of my subject base is evident; I was watching a martial arts movie when I had the idea, so why not just start there? Of course, one can't go with just ANY martial arts movie. I can see a couple Bruce Lee movies and a Jackie Chan movie, but any idiot will tell you that the two have completely different styles. I decided to refine my search, and I picked one of the more entertaining martial artists working today. Sure, I could just have my hypothesis be something like, "if you've seen Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon more than a dozen times, can you effectively mimic Chow Yun-Fat or Michelle Yeoh. But you know what? FUCK YOU. This is my research project, and I'll base it on whatever I want. So you just piss right off and leave me be.
For the rest of you, I shall now explain exactly what criteria I set forth to be a valid member of my study, and then I'll reveal my findings.
First of all, I had to separate the weak from the strong. If you've seen one or two Chan movies, it's not likely you'll know much more than a simple block, or perhaps a punch or a kick. Some of the more nubile ones may be able to do the splits and punch, but watch those fools try to get up afterward! However, seeing several of Chan's movies, I theorized, can give you a feel of what he's doing. If you're in decent shape, you should be able to mimic his moves fairly well. I've included those who have seen less than six Chan movies, and by six I mean the total number of times you've seen Chan work. If you saw Legend of Drunken Master eight times, that counts as eight viewings, not just one.
I've decided that, if you've seen more than a dozen or so, you should have a moderate grasp on Chan's martial arts. Twenty or more viewings will allow a medium grasp, and more than thirty…well, let's just say I'll agree with every word you say if my study proves correct.
It's also important to take a few factors in while conducting this survey. Those in good shape are going to perform better than your lunchbox looking specimens (such as myself), and so the bar must be raised for those out of shape. I won't expect the same kind of performance out of a veteran Chan moviegoer if he or she views physical exertion as a waste of time.
Also, what kind of viewer do we see? Is this a person who watches Chan movies with rapt interest; thoroughly entertained with every bad guy Chan whips like a little bitch? Or is this someone who saw them because it was funny when they were drunk, or because their man or woman friend liked them? The meek must be separated from the strong; these people do not have the same requirements as a Jackie Chan fan.
Going into my study, I was forced to make a list of questions to ask before performing the ultimate test to see if my hypothesis holds true for the individual. I've gone into some of them already, but here I will list them exactly as I asked everyone included in the study.
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Have you ever seen a movie with action star Jackie Chan?
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If so, how many movies have you seen? By this, I mean how many viewings? One movie may count for 3 if you saw it three times.
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How many of these viewings were not of your own volition? By this, a viewing not by your choice means that you did not have say in what you would see, and only saw it to be with whatever person or people you were with.
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Of those viewings that you were not a willing participant in, how many of these viewings did you enjoy? That is, did you find yourself very entertained in the story, action sequences, etc?
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Would you consider yourself a good learner?
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Do you feel you have the ability to learn by observation actions both simple and complex?
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Having seen Jackie Chan punch through a variety of objects, do you think you could punch through brick, wood, or any other hard surface?
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Do you feel you've attained a decent technique of blocking attacks based on seeing Jackie Chan?
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How hard can you hit?
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Do you feel the force of your hit has grown stronger from seeing Jackie Chan do it so many times?
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How fast can you run?
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Do you have any experience in Martial Arts? (A no is the end of the interview)
These questions are vitally important to the survey, and also important is the surveyor's opinion of their body type. Now it is time to present the random sampling taken for this survey.
400 people were surveyed for this, and of those people 37 had never even seen a Jackie Chan movie. Therefore, the number of people who have seen at least one Jackie Chan movie is 363. Of those people, 264 had seen between one and three films, and therefore their skills would be considered mediocre according to my hypothesis. Let's look at the research found there, according to one prime example of each body type: one in shape male (1), one in shape female (2), one out of shape male (3), and one out of shape female (4). Of course, body variances such as height are largely irrelevent. Bruce Lee was tiny, and he was fast. What follows is a transcript of the relevant portions of my average interviews.
The in-shape male
ME: So, you say you've only seen a few Jackie Chan movies.
HIM: Yeah, they're a lot of fun, but I admit I haven't seen much of them. I guess I just haven't had much time for that kind of thing.
ME: So have you seen these movies of your own volition?
HIM: Well, the first one I ever saw was Rush Hour, which I thought was pretty interesting. Then I watched Drunken Master and Rumble in the Bronx with a couple friends.
ME: So these last two weren't of your choice?
HIM: No, it was a couple friends of mine who really like that martial arts stuff. They wanted to watch them, and I had a night to kill.
ME: Seeing Jackie Chan fight, do you think you could do anything you've seen him do? Like, he blocks a move in a fairly creative way, or does the splits and punches a guy in the stomach. Seeing that, do you think you could do something like that?
HIM: I don't see what kind of relevance that has. I don't know…
ME: Would you consider yourself a good learner?
HIM: How do you mean?
ME: I mean, do you think you can learn through observation? I don't mean simple stuff, I mean like seeing something complex done 2-3 times. If you were paying moderate attention, do you think you could replicate it?
HIM: Yeah, I think I could do it…
At this point, I studied him quickly, and then asked the following questions:
ME: So, how fast can you run?
HIM: Well, I jog every couple days. I think I can go pretty fast.
At this point I slug him. Not a soft childish slug, but a real bust in the chops with a sack of marbles I've been holding in my left hand. It's like brass knuckles, and he goes down bleeding. I run, and I hear him cursing me. When I reached the end of the skyway, I looked back, and he was still lying on the ground twitching and bleeding. The man has absolutely no ability to learn anything new. He didn't even try to block, for chrissakes. Chan would have stopped me in a heartbeat. Incidentally, the only people I went anywhere with in this interview were those who didn't have real experience in martial arts. No cheating.
2. The in-shape female
From this point on, it's probably worthless to type the questions out all the time. I'll tell you if there's anything different from now on.
ME: So you've only seen two Jackie Chan movies?
HER: Yeah, I saw this movie called Rumble in the Bronx, and then I watched Rush Hour.
At this point, it's probably becoming quickly obvious that these people have seen only Rush Hour and one or two others. Sad, pathetic individuals.
ME: So what did you think of them?
HER: Well, they were OK. I only saw Rush Hour because my boyfriend rented it, and I didn't have anything better to do.
ME: So did you like it?
HER: Yeah, the movie overall wasn't that great, but Jackie Chan was really cool! About two weeks later I rented Rumble in the Bronx just to see a little more of him.
ME: And…
HER: Well that one was pretty cool too, a lot of really interesting comedic moments.
ME: So, what kind of attention did you pay to the film?
HER: The first one wasn't that close for the first 15 minutes or so, from then on I was pretty glued to the set.
ME: Would you say you learned anything from them?
HER: How do you mean?
At this point I decked her. I'm not proud of it, but she was a trooper. She even tried to block the punch, but unfortunately I hit her square in the nose. She was cute, I hope I didn't mess up her face too much. I considered asking her for her number, but I don't think she'd have been too receptive to a date at that point. I wanted to hold back on my punch, I really did. But she seemed pretty interested in the movies, and apparently she paid good attention. So I didn't hold back. I put all 200 pounds of my weight into it and just floored her. Although she did fall, she got up and managed to make her way toward me without throwing up.
3. The out-of-shape male
ME: So which ones did you see?
HIM: I saw Operation Condor, I saw Rumble in the Bronx twice, and Drunken Master twice.
ME: what kind of experience was it?
HIM: Well, the first one I saw was Rumble in the Bronx, and I saw that when it was new, because a lot of other people said it was pretty cool, so I checked it out. I really liked what I saw, so I just rented the others as I saw them.
ME: Do you think you learned anything from it?
HIM: Well, they're just movies…
No more pussy-footing around, I hit him. Although he wasn't in the shape that the other two were, he didn't fall. In fact, he tried to hit back. My hypothesis appears to be standing up, as he saw more than the previous two did and therefore was able to not only block, but also not fall when struck and in fact try to fight back. When I ran he gave chase. He gave up after a bit though; I may not like it, but when I have to I can really move.
3. The out-of-shape female
ME: So let me count these for you…it was Legend of Drunken Master, Rush Hour, Mr. Nice Guy, and Shanghai Noon?
HER: Yep, all once.
ME: OK, so for all our listeners, that's a total of four (4) viewings for you, right?
HER: Uh…yeah…
ME: OK, so what do you think you learned from them?
HER: Well, not a whole lot. Actually, I'm not really sure what you mean.
ME: If you had to, do you think you could mimic some of the stuff you saw Jackie Chan doing?
HER: You mean all those kicks, and flipping my hair around like that?
ME: Sure, whatever.
HER: Well, I haven't really devoted a lot of time to finding out, but I suppose I could do something really rudimentary…
SMACK goes my fist. She didn't try to block, but she did get a hit in. Not exactly a sound means of self defense, but I do have a 6 inch gash in my arm where she tore into me. She didn't seem too intent on running after me though; but then again, I was bleeding like a stuck pig at that point.
At this point it's important to review. Based only on people with little experience with Jackie Chan movies, they didn't hold up well to a stiff punch to the eye. However, it's important to note that the ones who saw more were able to do more. The out of shape male who didn't run was able to not fall. He even gave chase. The in-shape male just fell straight down. And you know what? That's because he only saw two Chan movies! The girl who saw 4 movies did fairly well, clawing my arm as she went down. This is certainly better than the in-shape female, who saw only two Chan movies and therefore went down. However, her enthusiasm over the films allowed her a sense of rudimentary understanding. She was able to try to block my punch. If she'd only seen a few more, perhaps that copper taste of blood wouldn't have shown up.
The next group was much more interesting. Of the 99 that are left in my random sampling, 32 of them had seen between 6-14 Chan movies. Fortunately, my hypothesis holds up the same as it had in my first grouping, so I won't bore you with the details of their questioning. However, I will tell you that this ever-tireless reporter got whipped several times. One young man even chased me down and started beating me with one of my boots. I had my jaw wired for about 3 weeks, and it still hurts to chew. For that matter, it hurts to open my mouth.
Those who had seen between 6-8 of the movies tended to block, or throw up a courtesy punch or claw as I hit them. None of these blocks were very effective, but I was pleased to find out that those who had seen 8 movies were able to take most of the blow in their arm. Those who had seen 9-12 movies fared better in their attacks. One young lady actually managed to jump back and avoid my first hit, and I had to jump forward and kick her in the stomach. Unfortunately, she went right down. But what do you expect? I give her a lot of credit for dodging the first move. One man, having seen 12 movies, hypothesized that he in fact had learned from Jackie Chan and when I hit him in the nose he struck right back. My front tooth had to be put in at the dentist that afternoon. He bled a lot, and after I swiped his feet he went down so I could kick him in the jaw. But he did do quite well!
Those who saw 14 movies did very well, one of them in fact DID best me in combat. However, I must say that he did so through dirty pool, not legitimate martial arts. But his first moves did seem right, as he first punched then swirled, kicking me right in the neck. It still is bruised today.
Of the 77 left, 19 had seen 15-30 Chan movies. At this point, my hypothesis appeared to suffer. Unfortunately, I only won 10 of these battles, and 8 of those that I lost were a result of dirty pool once again. I had a rollerblade hit me in the back, a random stranger tackle me at the end of the bridge so the test subject could catch up and beat me, and one time a girl even screamed rape. This is not how we do martial arts, ladies and gentlemen. I wasn't going to rape the girl; I may have not had a date since January, but I'm not a total psychotic.
Worth note is the one person who beat me legitimately. He not only beat me mercilessly, but he did it all using moves I personally have seen in various Jackie Chan movies. Both of us using the same moves, but he seemed to have an edge that I couldn't compete with. And he was quick, too! Unfortunately, the man who beat me in the correct form had only seen 16 Chan movies. Either he's an exceptional learner or the rest of my interviews in this section were idiots. A man who had seen 30 Chan movies lasted one second to my kick in the chest, while this man…this NOVICE…schooled me like I was a little girl.
A full 58 people, the rest of the survey here, had seen 40+ Chan movies. Of course, I mean 40+ viewings. It's a good thing this section held up so well; every one of them kicked my ass. And as far as I could see they did it all legitimately. Unfortunately, the first person in this section that I interviewed hit me in the face so hard my entire right side swelled up and I had no depth perception. With a right eye out of commission, sometimes I might have missed things. 58 beatings in 2 days; I don't recommend it.
With a few mishaps and skewed data, I still managed to prove that watching Jackie Chan movies with real interest can be a learning experience. This experiment was a learning experience for me too; as I will never hit a stranger in public again. I know I've said it before, but this time I mean it.