Fighting Kung Fu Flair

A great fighting video can be found on television and on the Internet: from professional wrestlers staging testosterone-pumped ballets to some hot-headed hockey team bashing hell out of each other on the ice. This is because fighting is one thing that has been in the history of man since time immemorial, and even the meekest and non-violent of people have this little nagging voice in their head telling them to enjoy a good beat-down once in a while.

But what exactly makes a great fighting video? Read on, and find out for yourself what makes these visceral displays of pure aggression tick inside your head:

A degree of realistic fighting between two or more people is essential for any good fighting video to be believable enough. However, very real street fights have some very real consequences like broken ribs and noses.

Obviously staged fights (like pro wrestling matches) are careful to tread the fine line between realism and showmanship: making the experience realistic enough to get people interested while keeping their performers safe and sound.

Having your favorite food over and over and over again for a few years makes even the tastiest cuisine tiresome to eat.

Passion
Watching two men grapple and beat the hell out of each other gets boring when the whole point is just to knock one or the other out. Mix in a story and let the audience empathize with the fighters, though, and you’ll have a totally different scenario in your hands.

Two people doing knuckle fight at each other is all the more interesting when you, the viewer, know that they are fighting for something worth the blood and sweat. Trophies, championships and prizes are the obvious fuel for passion, while more cinematic forms of fighting plant the fighters in a fictional situation for dunking it out with each other.

Grit
Perhaps the most important aspect of fighting is the ‘grit’ in it: the sheer visceral and brutality that accompanies a fight.

Grit is so important because it is the ruthlessness and viciousness of the fight that answers the innate need for violence in a person. Any fighting video without grit in it would end up looking phony, staged and unsubstantial to any viewer.

Look for these when digging around for a video or movie to satisfy you’re craving for a fight, kick back with a beer in hand, and enjoy the carnage.