my night for theft. Yoinked this from moriarty6

[technoir]

This is footage of a french... um lets call it a martial art. Not completely sure that applies but it is amazing. The people are real and not using wires. This is good stuff.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3934759867266236600&q=parkour+banlieue+13

Comments

Re: BS!

[defenestrati.livejournal.com]

Oops, I didn't intend to post anonymously. That was me. :)

Re: BS!

[technoir.livejournal.com]

There are some combat styles I have seen I would not call a martial art. I admit it is borderline, but in the exception of confrontation, this would fit the other portions of the definition of a martial art. and they are french after all. Maybe running away can be a french martial art.

And yes it should not be emulated. Their website actually says this may cause serious injury or death. Of course it goes on to show certain techniques training exercises.

Re: BS!

[defenestrati.livejournal.com]

Your logic is a little flawed. Saying that all martial arts are combat styles is not the same as saying that all combat styles are martial arts.

The key word, at least to my thinking, is "martial."

Re: BS!

[moriarty6.livejournal.com]

technoir called it a martial art because I made a joke on my page about the French inventing a martial art for running away.

I'd never call it a martial art myself, but it is a method of self-defense; in the same way that a kangaroo rat lays down a trail that it runs every time a hawk spots it, the point of parkour is to make speed runs through familiar urban territory so that if you run into trouble, there's little chance of getting herded into an alley, say.

Is it a good method of self-defense? I don't really think so, unless you're maybe literally trying to get away from a mob. Otherwise, I'm willing to bet I could learn to box or grapple effectively against one or two guys much faster than I could learn to effectively leap off a three-story building. And if I lose the fight, I just get my ass kicked; if I miss my jump, I die.

At the end of the day, I don't think people do it because they think it's a superior method of avoiding trouble; I think they do it because it's fun. At its worst it's no worse than skateboarding or rollerblading--the super-dangerous stuff you see in parkour highlight videos isn't what your average speed runner does, any more than your average snowboarder jumps out of helicopters onto black-diamonds.

Re: BS!

[defenestrati.livejournal.com]

I tend to think that the guys who do the three-story leaps must have resigned themselves to death beforehand. Unthinking? Depressed? Who knows.

It's got to be an interesting mental state to occupy, anyway.

Re: BS!

[technoir.livejournal.com]

After viewing I actually went to some of the websites promoting it. To be honest how they describe it sounbds like a martial art. I appreciate it is not in a traditional a martial art. However their training and philosophy certainly resemble one.