View all newsletters
Sign up to our newsletters

Support 110 years of independent journalism.

  1. Science & Tech
23 May 2018updated 30 Jul 2021 10:26am

No one asked for a middle-aged Karate Kid update, but YouTube made one anyway

YouTube’s Karate Kid sequel Cobra Kai has a nostalgic, lazily macho mentality. 

By Anna Leszkiewicz

Perhaps no one asked for a TV update to the Karate Kid films, so we could see the promising martial arts rivals in their sad middle age. YouTube has made one anyway. Cobra Kai is a ten-part comedy series from YouTube’s growing TV streaming service, featuring Johnny Lawrence and Daniel LaRusso (still played by William Zabka and Ralph Maccio respectively) 34 years on from the original 1984 film.

The once-popular bully Johnny is now a messy, lonely adult who wakes up every morning to the world’s most depressing breakfast (wafer ham: fried, slathered in ketchup, eaten with his bare hands), heading to odd jobs in his old Pontiac Firebird. His former nemesis Daniel (the movie’s “kid”) is the suited, gleaming face of the LaRusso Auto Group with a picture-perfect family. Their rivalry is reignited when Johnny reopens the karate studio where he learned to torment Daniel: Cobra Kai.

This is a show about two grown men who want to kick each other in the head, so there’s a lazily macho mentality here. Johnny attacks a group of teenage boys in episode one (we’re expected to be on his side). Elizabeth Shue’s character from the Karate Kid films is not here (instead, Daniel’s wife is played by Courtney Henggeler, who would have been three years old when the original was released – and she is featured less than their stunning teenager, Samantha). It’s not toxic masculinity exactly, but semi-poisonous – potentially inflammatory laddishness you should take an antihistamine for. But mostly, Cobra Kai pokes fun at these middle-aged men with a slippery grip on their own identities. Johnny will surely learn from the new “pussy generation” he derides. It has all the well-meaning fun of the original – with just enough of an update to be enjoyable in 2018. 

Select and enter your email address Your weekly guide to the best writing on ideas, politics, books and culture every Saturday. The best way to sign up for The Saturday Read is via saturdayread.substack.com The New Statesman's quick and essential guide to the news and politics of the day. The best way to sign up for Morning Call is via morningcall.substack.com Our Thursday ideas newsletter, delving into philosophy, criticism, and intellectual history. The best way to sign up for The Salvo is via thesalvo.substack.com Stay up to date with NS events, subscription offers & updates. Weekly analysis of the shift to a new economy from the New Statesman's Spotlight on Policy team. The best way to sign up for The Green Transition is via spotlightonpolicy.substack.com
  • Administration / Office
  • Arts and Culture
  • Board Member
  • Business / Corporate Services
  • Client / Customer Services
  • Communications
  • Construction, Works, Engineering
  • Education, Curriculum and Teaching
  • Environment, Conservation and NRM
  • Facility / Grounds Management and Maintenance
  • Finance Management
  • Health - Medical and Nursing Management
  • HR, Training and Organisational Development
  • Information and Communications Technology
  • Information Services, Statistics, Records, Archives
  • Infrastructure Management - Transport, Utilities
  • Legal Officers and Practitioners
  • Librarians and Library Management
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • OH&S, Risk Management
  • Operations Management
  • Planning, Policy, Strategy
  • Printing, Design, Publishing, Web
  • Projects, Programs and Advisors
  • Property, Assets and Fleet Management
  • Public Relations and Media
  • Purchasing and Procurement
  • Quality Management
  • Science and Technical Research and Development
  • Security and Law Enforcement
  • Service Delivery
  • Sport and Recreation
  • Travel, Accommodation, Tourism
  • Wellbeing, Community / Social Services
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
THANK YOU

Content from our partners
The promise of prevention
How Labour hopes to make the UK a leader in green energy
Is now the time to rethink health and care for older people? With Age UK

Topics in this article :

This article appears in the 23 May 2018 issue of the New Statesman, Age of the strongman

Select and enter your email address Your weekly guide to the best writing on ideas, politics, books and culture every Saturday. The best way to sign up for The Saturday Read is via saturdayread.substack.com The New Statesman's quick and essential guide to the news and politics of the day. The best way to sign up for Morning Call is via morningcall.substack.com Our Thursday ideas newsletter, delving into philosophy, criticism, and intellectual history. The best way to sign up for The Salvo is via thesalvo.substack.com Stay up to date with NS events, subscription offers & updates. Weekly analysis of the shift to a new economy from the New Statesman's Spotlight on Policy team. The best way to sign up for The Green Transition is via spotlightonpolicy.substack.com
  • Administration / Office
  • Arts and Culture
  • Board Member
  • Business / Corporate Services
  • Client / Customer Services
  • Communications
  • Construction, Works, Engineering
  • Education, Curriculum and Teaching
  • Environment, Conservation and NRM
  • Facility / Grounds Management and Maintenance
  • Finance Management
  • Health - Medical and Nursing Management
  • HR, Training and Organisational Development
  • Information and Communications Technology
  • Information Services, Statistics, Records, Archives
  • Infrastructure Management - Transport, Utilities
  • Legal Officers and Practitioners
  • Librarians and Library Management
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • OH&S, Risk Management
  • Operations Management
  • Planning, Policy, Strategy
  • Printing, Design, Publishing, Web
  • Projects, Programs and Advisors
  • Property, Assets and Fleet Management
  • Public Relations and Media
  • Purchasing and Procurement
  • Quality Management
  • Science and Technical Research and Development
  • Security and Law Enforcement
  • Service Delivery
  • Sport and Recreation
  • Travel, Accommodation, Tourism
  • Wellbeing, Community / Social Services
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
THANK YOU