How Cobra Kai Shows the Grey Area of Humanity
by Dylan Aubry, Staff Writer
As Hollywood loses creativity and original ideas, we continue to see the revival and reboots of old classic films. Whether it be long-awaited sequels, such as this year’s Bill and Ted Face the Music, or reboots, like 2019’s Hellboy, the theme of making new versions of old movies for a quick cash grab is widely seen in today’s industry. A majority of the time, the former of the two ends up being far more interesting. Some movies rely on old nostalgic moments and references to trick the viewer into thinking they are watching a good movie. Others like Bill and Ted give you exactly what you would expect from them, while some, like 21 Jump Street do the exact opposite and do something entirely new with the franchise. Youtube’s, and now Netflix’s, original series Cobra Kai is one of the best at this type of media. Cobra Kai is a continuation of The Karate Kid that takes place over 30 years later from the perspective of the movie’s antagonist, Johnny Lawrence. What the show does so well is that it takes the ideas and themes of the original movie, and expands upon them tenfold. The show takes the pretty basic ideas of good and bad in the original and completely throws that out the window. The original film is pretty clear cut in terms of who is meant to be loved, and who is intended to be hated: Daniel and Mr. Miyagi are the heroes, and Johnny and Cobra Kai are the villains. However, since we see the show from the perspective of the movie’s antagonist, we get to explore a lot of the grey area that The Karate Kid never could. The show explores the different viewpoints of the two main characters, Johnny and Daniel, and shows that there is complexity to both of them. It delves into the morality of the two dojo’s methods. It gives us multiple perspectives that show us that the “Strike First. Strike Hard. No Mercy” mentality is right and useful. However,it also gives us moments that show us how damaging that belief can be to a person, and that the peaceful way of Miyagi-Do is actually the way to go. The brilliance of the show is that, unlike The Karate Kid, there is no clear-cut answer. Both sides are shown their strengths and weaknesses, and the negative effects of the tribe mentality the two sides have. It’s hard to completely go into details without outright spoiling the show, but it is safe to say that the show is one of the best examples of these themes on television today. The third season is set to air in 2021, and after the cliffhanger season 2 left off on, there is sure to be an even deeper exploration of the grey area between the two dojos. The first two seasons of Cobra Kai can be viewed on Netflix now.