The profanity
I noticed the profanity in the series. It's definitely not as family friendly as the Karate Kid movies. There's more cursing and even sexual talk.
shareProbably my only complaint about this show. It's more crude than the original films at times, making it a little less family friendly. While I'd let kids watch the films, I'd wait until they're older to let them watch this.
That said, considering this was made by the Harold and Kumar team, they showed a lot of restraint compared to what they normally make.
Yes, "crude" was the word I was looking for. It's definitely not as family friendly as the movies. There's also a lot of drinking in Cobra Kai. There's Johnny drinking and there's also that scene when he has that "real toast" with Miguel. Johnny was giving booze to a kid underage. There's also the scene when Miguel gets a little drunk. The Karate Kid movies are definitely for kids. Cobra Kai is more adult, in my opinion. Maybe it's that times have changed. Who knows?
shareTo be fair, Miyagi drank with Daniel in the original movie. Pretty sure that scene with Johnny and Miguel was an homage to the Miyagi/Daniel scene.
shareMaybe. I'm looking back on the scene now and Johnny was like a father figure to Miguel. Maybe it was kind of like a father-son moment. Like trying a beer or whatever for the first time with your dad. But there is a lot of drinking and swearing on the show. Far more than the Karate Kid movies.
shareOh, definitely more in the series, especially with the teenagers.
The only part I remember with teens drinking in the old films was in the first movie when the Cobra Kais pull out some beers on the beach, and Johnny refuses.
I agree this isn't for very young kids but I think they makers of this were looking at it from the standpoint that fans of the original are grown up so they would want something more adult. But I think a lot of this is also squarely aimed at the tween audience that would be watching shows on Freeform or the CW.
It seemed to me that alcohol was used to show different character arcs. For example Miguel is pretty squeaky clean at the start but as his confidence and aggression grows, he experiments with booze and goes too far and ends up hurting his girlfriend. On the flipside Robby is shown stealing and drinking early in the series but karate and a job at the auto place gives him focus and a sense of fulfillment that he rejects his thief buddies and you no longer see him drinking.
And also Johnny is shown grabbing OJ from the fridge instead of beer as he finds his life turning around for the better.
I feel like the writers thought it would be funny to put filthy language in the show. It's a Karate Kid spinoff and the Karate Kid movies were PG-rated and family friendly. They thought it would be funny I guess to have kids saying crude sexual things. That's the impression I got watching it again. It was unnecessary and felt forced. Unless they think that's really the way all teenagers talk today. To me, it's like making an R-rated Rocky spinoff.
shareWell truthfully I imagine the majority of 16 year old teens in California probably do (at least occasionally) use foul language. I know me and my friends definitely did.
I also wouldn't go so far as to say this show is R-rated. The violence is mild, there was zero sexual content, and the foul language wasn't so excessive to put it at an R-rating. I'd say it's a solid TV-14 which is fine by me.
Well, I noticed they used the F-word. I also have to say the language in the show was very raunchy. They didn't use the F-word too much, but they used every other curse word and like I said, very raunchy dialogue.
shareThe biggest problem I have with the drinking is there's no way Johnny would be in that good of shape if he really drank that much beer all the time. Lol.
shareAnd Buttermaker drank with the Bad News Bears long before that.
shareIt’s The Bad News Bears. Walter Matthau was giving booze to kids and the kids were cussing up a storm in a 70s family friendly classic.