Cobra Kai

4,212 words

I just concluded a very satisfying orgy . . . of nostalgia. By that I mean that I finished watching season 1 of the new series Cobra Kai on YouTube Red. Before the NEETS accuse me of giving money to the Jews, I’ll have you know that I have a free 30-day trial that I intend to cancel before I am charged. Elements within the Alt Right have already discussed the show a bit, and it was actually a Gab comment from Eric Striker that got me to finally watch the show. I’m glad I opted to do so.

If you are a man in his 20s or 30s, chances are pretty good that you saw The Karate Kid back in the day. The argument can be made that this film was part of a litany of films that came out in the ’80s that sought to promote the whole blonde goyim are bad, brunette outsiders are good trope. In films like Revenge of the Nerds, Back to School, Caddyshack 1 and 2, and even The Karate Kid, viewers are shown the recurring theme that blonde yuppie WASPs are either dim-witted or diabolically corrupt bullies who ultimately lose their hot girlfriends to the more clever, brown-haired-outsider protagonist.

Considering what ethnic group has held a dominant position in Hollywood since its inception, it is likely that these protagonists represent the Jews in general. The plotlines of these films are allegory for how the Jew views himself: as an outsider who comes into Gentile society to end the latter’s oppressive ways of running things. In Revenge of the Nerds and Back to School, the Jewiness of the protagonists is more overt, even though the characters do not come out and say it. Most of them are geeks, and most of them are brown-haired with Levantine features.

With The Karate Kid it is much less overt, as we know from the start that Danny LaRusso is an Italian-American Jersey Boy from Newark. Even so, his character fits the role of the archetypal ’80s-film Jew: he is an outsider to the California setting of the film; he is different from the mostly Nordic Cali natives in that he is duskier and talks with a New Jersey city accent; his enemies are the blonde WASP Johnny Lawrence (played by William Zabka) and his gang of blonde ruffians from the Cobra Kai dojo; in the end, Danny wins the affection of the cute shiksa (played by Elizabeth Shue) who used to date Johnny.

Various versions of the same trope are recycled in numerous ’80s films. In examples like Real Genius, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and Say Anything we do not have the Aryan versus Jew dualism, but we are still given the image of the nerdy brown-haired guy who is a little neurotic ultimately triumphing over his foes or winning the love of a girl who is way out of his league.

While The Karate Kid has some of the above elements, it is nonetheless an enjoyable and even positive film. Unlike the nerds of Revenge or Thornton Melon of Back to School, Danny LaRusso does not use clever underhanded tactics to defeat his opponents. Instead, he endures rigorous training and study under Mr. Miyagi to overcome his mental and physical weaknesses and ultimately beat his enemy fair and square in the All Valley Karate tournament. It’s a story of self-overcoming and self-improvement that all of us can find inspiring, and with an awesome musical score by William Conti on top of it. It was followed by two direct sequels (The Karate Kid 2 and 3), a spinoff sequel (The Next Karate Kid), and some hunk of garbage starring Will Smith’s son that nobody cared about.

At the end of the first film, Danny wins the tournament with a jump kick to Johnny’s face and takes home the gold (and the blonde girl). Though Johnny fought well and earned a silver medal, his sensei, John Kreese, is furious that Cobra Kai is no longer the number one dojo in town. In a fit of rage he verbally and physically abuses Johnny, prompting Mr. Miyagi to intervene and protect him. With his reputation now totally destroyed, Kreese loses the Cobra Kai dojo. In the events of the third film, he seeks help from his old war comrade and Cobra Kai’s original financier Terry Silver to get Cobra Kai back on the map. This time they enlist a new champion, Mike Barnes, who uses violent extortion to force a hesitant Danny LaRusso into competing for his title against Barnes in another upcoming tournament. Once again Danny emerges victorious, and Cobra Kai is seemingly finished for good.

Cobra Kai takes us into the modern day to see where many of the series’s characters have ended up, with particular focus on Johnny Lawrence and Danny LaRusso.

In the aptly-and-Alt-Right-friendly-named first episode of the series, “Ace Degenerate,” we see that Johnny has become a washed-up loser living in an apartment in Reseda, CA. He works whatever odd jobs he can find and rarely keeps one for very long. He is an alcoholic who likes to house entire boxes of Coors Banquet each night and wake up the next day hung over. His diet also consists of junk food, taylor ham, and whatever other cheap items he can get from 7-Eleven. He has a teenage son named Robbie that he hardly ever sees, and an ex-wife or girlfriend (it’s never made clear which) who neglects their son to go on dates with beta-providers. The only times he hears from Robbie is when his school calls to inform him that Robbie got into some trouble and his mother is not picking up the phone. Strangely enough, Robbie is played by Tanner Buchanan who kind of resembles the late Jonathan Brandis, who was in the very Karate Kid-esque martial arts film called Sidekicks.

After Johnny loses his most recent job as a handyman, he sits outside a convenience store to eat a microwave slice of pizza. His dinner is interrupted when his teenage Mestizo neighbor, Miguel, gets attacked by a group of four bullies (ironically led by an Asian kid) and is thrown against Johnny’s car. Thinking more about his vehicle than Miguel, Johnny confronts them, beats them all up, and gets arrested immediately after. He is quickly bailed out by his curmudgeonly step father, who offers him a hefty sum of money to essentially “buy him out” of having to care about him anymore. This is followed by a series of events that lead to Johnny making a life-changing decision. In sum, Miguel begs him to teach him karate so he can defend himself from bullies; Johnny’s car gets wrecked by a gaggle of teenage Stacys, including the one and only Danny LaRusso’s daughter; Johnny’s car is towed to LaRusso’s own dealership for repair; Johnny runs into Danny at the shop, who condescendingly offers to comp the repair before giving him a free bonsai tree (which every customer gets at LaRusso Auto!).

Johnny is now sick and tired of being a loser. With his step-father’s check and Miguel as his first student, and with a desire to spite his former nemesis, he opens his own dojo and names it after the one from his youth: Cobra Kai. The episode concludes with an epic line he delivers to Miguel: “I’m gonna teach you the form of karate that was taught to me, a method of fighting that your pussy generation desperately needs.”

Episode 2 fills us in on what’s been going on with the Karate Kid himself. Danny has become a successful car dealer who lives in a large house in Encino with his hot wife, his aforementioned daughter Samantha, and his spoiled adolescent son who spends his days playing video games and eating. Mr. Miyagi has long since passed (as has the actor who played him, Pat Morita.) Danny’s days of competition fighting are over, but he serves on the board for the All Valley Tournament and spent some years training his daughter in karate when she was younger. His chief concerns in life now are running his business and worrying about who his daughter hangs out with. As it turns out, she currently has a crush on the Asian bully who attacked Miguel. For reasons not entirely clear, the writers of the show decided to portray said Asian as a deracinated American teenager. For one, his name is Kyler, which is as dumb and modern-American-invented as names can get. When offered homemade sashimi by Danny at a dinner get-together, he explains that he does not like fish other than fish sticks; when asked by Danny where his family is from, he replies “Irvine.” Danny appears to find his rootlessness annoying. Thankfully for the Alt-Right viewer, Samantha dumps him because he very un-Asianly gets sexually aggressive in a movie theatre.

Danny’s world gets thrown into disarray when he drives through Reseda to see that Cobra Kai has reopened (to the tune of Dean Martin’s “Aint that a Kick in the Head?”) He lets it fester for a while, but eventually goes to confront Johnny after Kyler tells him that he and his friends recently got attacked by some “karate guy” in Reseda. The episode concludes with Danny telling his former rival that “this thing” between them is not yet over, foreshadowing that a larger confrontation is on the horizon.

The show really takes off at this point. We see a number of character developments and story arcs including some backstory about Johnny. With no real father figure other than his standoffish stepdad, he found a surrogate father in sensei Kreese and a brotherhood in Cobra Kai. Miguel becomes an adept student under Johnny’s tutelage, and after a cell phone recording of him trouncing Kyler and his goons goes viral, he helps get Johnny a full dojo of eager students.

In dealing with the struggles of his business, his family, and now the reopening of Cobra Kai, Danny realizes just how much he misses karate being a part of his life. Through an unexpected turn of events, he ends up taking Johnny’s son Robbie on as a protégé and puts him through a curriculum similar to what Mr. Miyagi taught him (Wax on-uru, Wax off-uru!)

For Robbie, what starts off as a desire to spite his absentee father blossoms into a legitimate appreciation for Danny and his teachings. He goes from a skateboarding con-artist who skips school to a disciplined and respectable young man. Johnny and Danny of course rekindle their old rivalry, which ends up having elements of comedy and seriousness. I won’t spoil it here other than to say there’s a scene where the two sing along to “Take it on the Run” by REO Speedwagon while driving.

To see the entirety of the story, my readers must watch the show. The purpose of this article is to highlight the positive elements of Cobra Kai and why it would be enjoyable to the Alt-Right viewer. While the show offers a few aspects of the establishment narrative, most of it was pretty agreeable to my White Nationalist sensibilities.

Man as Mentor, Woman as Support

In Cobra Kai we see a recurring theme about the importance of having a dominant male figure in one’s life. As a boy, Johnny’s life was incomplete because while he received affection and encouragement from his mother, his father figure was a grumpy stepdad who gave him little attention beyond writing checks to pay for his needs. After training under sensei Kreese, he becomes the Chad warrior who dates Stacys that we saw in the first film. From the films we saw how Danny LaRusso’s father passed away when he was young, and even though his own mother is supportive and affectionate, it is not until Danny goes under the wing of Mr. Miyagi that he becomes a complete man. Miguel and Robbie are no different. Miguel’s mother and particularly his grandmother both give him encouragement, but it is not until Johnny Lawrence helps him overcome his fears through karate that he is able to stand up to his bullies and get the attention of an attractive girl (sadly, it’s Danny’s daughter). With no male role model he was effeminate and nerdy. Robbie is a thief and typical ne’er-do-well who was mostly raised by his mom, but after he becomes Danny’s student he gets his act together and becomes a stand-up goy. The constant recycling of this theme runs counter to the mainstream narrative that single parents, particularly single moms, can raise a boy to be just as healthy and successful as a traditional family.

While father-figures are shown to provide the necessary bedrock for a boy to become a man, the wives and moms are given a more traditional role as those who support their men. Danny’s wife Amanda (aside from being a grade-A scorcher) makes a few wisecracks here and there, but at no point does their marital dynamic become the usual TV trope of brilliant wife, stupid husband. For the most part she is there helping him power through tough moments and get over his hang-ups, and showing him the brighter side of things. For example, in one instance Johnny shows up at Danny’s house looking for a fight. She defuses the situation by telling them both to calm down and offering to cook breakfast as a way for them to talk it out. Did I also mention that she’s pretty hot?

Miguel’s mother starts off being against him practicing martial arts, but with a little nudging from grandma she ends up seeing the light and realizes how important it is for her young man to be able to stand on his feet and not hide behind mama’s skirt. Yes, that is “mama” with a Latinx accent. In flashbacks we see that Johnny’s mom was incredibly supportive of her son’s ambitions. It is revealed that she convinced Johnny’s step-father on more than one occasion to fit the bill for whatever hobby her son sought to pursue, with the latest being karate. She does not do it by being a “stronk womyn” who henpecks her husband, but rather by pleading with him in a delicate fashion.

Men are Men, Women are Women

Since the American school system is filled to the brim with finger-waving liberal cat-ladies and the suit-and-tie beta males who hire them, every new decadent lifestyle choice is promoted hard in the schools in order to be “inclusive.” Whether you are a flamboyant queer, an Otherkin who wears dog ears, or one of the several dozen genders that supposedly exist according to Marxist Jew professors, school administrators will do all they can to make you feel at home, even at the expense of the normal students. They will of course defend it using a litany of complicated vocabulary that’s been invented by sociologists and other leftists. The show does a decent job of highlighting this and pokes some fun at it.

During Johnny’s first lesson with Miguel, Johnny tells him “If you’re not aggressive then you’re being a pussy. And you don’t wanna be a pussy, you wanna have balls.” Befuddled by this direct and un-PC statement, Miguel says “Don’t you think you’re genderizing a little?” Johnny has no clue what this means, so Miguel explains that “My guidance counselor told me that certain words help perpetuate the sexist world view that triggers . . .” He is cut off by Johnny, who tells him “From now on you won’t listen to your guidance counselor, you’ll listen to me.” Johnny has no time for liberal platitudes, as they conflict with the reality of the harshness of the real world. If one goes up against a bully in school or a thug in the street, he isn’t going to respect one’s feelings and use acceptable vocabulary.

In another scene, Johnny gets a new student who is a fat mulatto girl named Aisha. Johnny initially resists the idea of allowing girls into his dojo since “women are weaker and have hollow bones,” but acquiesces when Miguel explains that she comes from a wealthy family. If the show really wanted to virtue signal, they could have had Miguel use some silly equality argument, but chose not to.

During the lesson Johnny tells his new student that to do karate, she cannot act like a woman. He clarifies by saying “You know: whiny, complainey.” As Aisha is about to use a NAxALT reply, he immediately silences her. At the end of the class he has the two students spar. Miguel objects to having to hit a girl, to which Johnny replies “What, I thought you said men and women are equal? So hit her.” All Miguel can say at this point is “I didn’t mean equal like that.” The two go at it and Miguel ends up with a knee to his ribs. Note that the tough girl they chose for the show is physically not all that womanly.

There is a short scene outside of the dojo where Miguel and other students are listening to a teacher talk about the upcoming school dance. The teacher, like a true cat lady, is trying to convince everyone not to dress too gender-offensively. “Instead of a ‘sexy nurse,’ how about a gender-neutral hospital employee?” she says. I got the feeling this was put forth as something to make the teacher look silly, as only a moment later Samantha LaRusso and her friends discuss going to the dance as LA Laker cheerleaders. When we see them at the dance, the skirts are very short and we see a lot of skin. Clearly they rolled their eyes at the idea of being “gender-neutral,” which I imagine many viewers picked up on as well.

There’s even a scene where Johnny almost borrows Alt-Right talking points about picking up women. He explains to Miguel that he got his high school sweetheart’s attention by throwing candy at her in a movie theatre. When Miguel asks why, he replies “It’s an alpha move. Babes love when you treat em’ like crap.” We later see Miguel’s friend Eli parroting this same move, and not long after that he is making out with a Stacy at a party. In my opinion, this shows a major departure of the show from its origins in the ’80s coming-of-age films. As touched upon earlier, the ’80s films made it seem like the beta nice guy always gets the girl. With Cobra Kai, we have an endorsement of the idea that the alpha who “strikes first” gets the girl (which he does). Johnny got his girl by throwing stuff at her. Miguel catches Samantha’s eye only after he beats up her ex-boyfriend’s entire crew. Nobody gets anywhere by holding up a boom box and playing Peter Gabriel.

Direct Confrontation is the Best Cure for Bullies

If you’re a millennial or younger, chances are good that the educational establishment has constantly told you that you must never hit someone back who starts a confrontation with you. If the local bully has kicked over your lunchbox, slapped you, or called your mother a whore, you are supposed to tell a teacher! If you defend yourself, you are some kind of anti-social and need to speak to a guidance counselor. It’s almost as if the school has been grooming all of us for the nanny state, where we will be expected to seek help from higher powers in dealing with individual problems. If a thug breaks into your house and tries to rape your wife, you call the cops. If some guy at the bar makes fun of you in front of everyone, you call the manager. The establishment wants everyone to eschew confrontation, especially the school system, so they send a legion of PhD-flaunting social scientists they call teachers or guidance counselors to make young boys think fighting is never an option. At Cobra Kai dojo, Johnny dismantles this foolery.

With karate he gives his students the tools to overcome their weaknesses. When he notices that most of the kids flinch when he raises his hand to them, he has them get in a line to be punched in the face by Aisha. By getting hit a few times they become desensitized to it. Over time the kids become so confident and fearless they form a new clique that challenges the bully popular kids at school. Kyler now is terrified of Miguel, so much so that he cancels a planned beach party when he sees that Cobra Kai has occupied the area first. Eli, who was a diminutive kid who “might be on the spectrum” at the start of the show, is now sporting a mohawk and scoring with one of the popular girls. When the head Stacy gets in Aisha’s face for occupying her spot on the beach, Aisha gives her a frontal wedgie and ends her reign of bullying forever. In sum, combat sports have accomplished more for these kids than any series of chats with the guidance counselor or mandatory anti-bullying seminars. This idea is reinforced by a 2-second scene that can easily be missed at an earlier point in the show: Johnny and Miguel go into the school during the dance to post Cobra Kai advertisements, and Johnny posts one on top of a “Don’t Be a Bully” sign. In other words, fighting and being tough is the way to actually deal with bullies.

Generally Not Politically Correct

Aside from the more glaring examples provided above, the show is just un-PC in general, which is surprising considering it is only available on YouTube Red. More significantly, the un-PC elements are not overtly shown as being wrong. When Johnny first meets Miguel, he says “Great, more immigrants.” Rather than take offense, Miguel just tells him his family is from another part of California instead of giving a condescending speech that we’d likely see on another show. When the city health inspector asks if Miguel is one of his students, Johnny says “No, just some illegal I picked up.” Like a real world bureaucrat, the inspector says he doesn’t care about that and is more concerned about possible ordinance violations at the dojo.

There is a scene near the end of the series where Cobra Kai is competing at the All Valley Tournament. The previous year’s champion, a kid named Xander Stone (Jew?), decides to give a speech about how everyone must unite to fight hatred and intolerance. At this point, Johnny leans over to Miguel and says “Kick this pussy bitch in the face.” Miguel agrees, smirking. When Xander asks everyone to give a moment of silence against this “intolerance,” even Danny LaRusso looks around at everyone else bowing their heads as if they’re a bunch of tools.

There are other examples throughout the show that do not need to be exhaustively listed here.

Conclusion

Considering it came out in 2018 on one of the most Left-leaning platforms available, Cobra Kai is a pretty damn good show. It makes a mockery of mainstream narratives to the tune of an excellent musical score, which is a mix of ’80s rock, synthwave, and songs from the original films. It gives an accurate portrayal of the struggles of young people in decadent America, and how the coping mechanisms offered by the establishment are worthless. If a gang of bullies routinely makes a young man’s life miserable, he does not get relief by sitting with a guidance counselor to discuss his feelings while taking care to use inoffensive language; he gets relief by strengthening himself and confronting his enemies directly (within legal limits, folks.) If someone is out of shape or otherwise unattractive, he should, as sensei Lawrence says, “flip the script” by improving himself; the idea that you are beautiful in any shape, which was no doubt put in your head by some woman or neck-bearded bug-man, is utterly false.

On a lighter note, Cobra Kai is just a generally feel-good type of show that is well written and well-acted. It is not overly sexualized, and the profanity is somewhat limited. For viewers who enjoyed the Karate Kid films, the show offers immense nostalgia and even a sense of closure. At the end of The Karate Kid 3, Danny defeats his opponent, and the credits start rolling almost immediately after. There is no closing conversation between him and Mr. Miyagi or any indication about where the characters would end up afterward. With Cobra Kai, we now have the answers 29 years later.

There are certainly a few aspects to the show that Alt Righters will find irksome, like Danny LaRusso’s daughter dating an Asian and Mestizo. Sadly, one cannot expect a modern TV show to be completely devoid of PC propaganda, especially when two of its creators are named Hurwitz and Schlossberg. On the flipside though, Samantha’s relationships with these boys are brief and as innocent as teenage romances can be these days.

Cobra Kai has received scores of excellent reviews and has been slated for a second season. For readers who are sick of the dross on regular TV or Netflix, do yourselves a favor and give the show a watch. If you think my praise for it is unmerited, then do what we Alt-Righters do best and post a bunch of angry comments below!