Pop Culture Magic
I don't generally consider myself a practitioner of pop culture magic... but after reading this entry by Taylor Ellwood, I think maybe I am, at least a little.
He talks about using the energies of a character from a show to help him get things done. I do that myself, and not just occasionally. When I was training for my nikyu test in Aikido, I spent a lot of time watching clips from The Matrix and drawing some of the qualities of Agent Smith (my favorite character) into myself. He moves with utter confidence in his own abilities, and that is a quality necessary for successful Aikido work. Look at the way he stands and moves in this clip, especially from 0:44-0:52 and 1:20-1:25.
Neo is not only braver than Smith expects, he's got skills Smith hasn't seen before. Hell, he manages to win this encounter, becoming the first human to face an agent in hand-to-hand combat and live! But Smith doesn't get flustered. When Neo lands punches, he doesn't panic, he sinks into himself and becomes more determined. He gets angry, yeah, but he channels that anger into passion instead of letting it drive him into carelessness. When Neo gets the upper hand (e.g., 2:10), Smith works to regain his balance and watches for an opening. When one presents itself (2:24), he takes it.
I find doing that myself to be very difficult -- I get caught up in spirals of self-doubt when my training partner gets the upper hand and become increasingly hesitant... which means my technique gets worse instead of better. When training for my exam, the sempai I worked with would, if my technique wasn't good enough by their standards, take the openings I left and use them to escape, smack me, or even to reverse the technique pin me. It was incredibly frustrating.
But by remembering Smith's movements and invoking that energy into me, I could move more self-confidently and instead of becoming more and more paralyzed by self-doubt and fear of failure, I could soak up information and succeed. It was really liberating, and I still have a lot of that in my training, even though I've been off the mat recovering from surgery since November. Last week was my first time back on the mat, and although my movements are still limited, I can still move with that straightforward confidence and have a lot less self-doubt and hesitation.
It hadn't occurred to me that this was a form of pop culture magic, but looks like it is. I rather like the idea, really.
He talks about using the energies of a character from a show to help him get things done. I do that myself, and not just occasionally. When I was training for my nikyu test in Aikido, I spent a lot of time watching clips from The Matrix and drawing some of the qualities of Agent Smith (my favorite character) into myself. He moves with utter confidence in his own abilities, and that is a quality necessary for successful Aikido work. Look at the way he stands and moves in this clip, especially from 0:44-0:52 and 1:20-1:25.
Click to viewNeo is not only braver than Smith expects, he's got skills Smith hasn't seen before. Hell, he manages to win this encounter, becoming the first human to face an agent in hand-to-hand combat and live! But Smith doesn't get flustered. When Neo lands punches, he doesn't panic, he sinks into himself and becomes more determined. He gets angry, yeah, but he channels that anger into passion instead of letting it drive him into carelessness. When Neo gets the upper hand (e.g., 2:10), Smith works to regain his balance and watches for an opening. When one presents itself (2:24), he takes it.
I find doing that myself to be very difficult -- I get caught up in spirals of self-doubt when my training partner gets the upper hand and become increasingly hesitant... which means my technique gets worse instead of better. When training for my exam, the sempai I worked with would, if my technique wasn't good enough by their standards, take the openings I left and use them to escape, smack me, or even to reverse the technique pin me. It was incredibly frustrating.
But by remembering Smith's movements and invoking that energy into me, I could move more self-confidently and instead of becoming more and more paralyzed by self-doubt and fear of failure, I could soak up information and succeed. It was really liberating, and I still have a lot of that in my training, even though I've been off the mat recovering from surgery since November. Last week was my first time back on the mat, and although my movements are still limited, I can still move with that straightforward confidence and have a lot less self-doubt and hesitation.
It hadn't occurred to me that this was a form of pop culture magic, but looks like it is. I rather like the idea, really.