Cobra Kai is filled with the old 1980s cinema silliness The Karate Kid was built upon, but pulls it off thanks to one specific character.
Cobra Kai has all the campy silliness of The Karate Kid and other 1980s flicks, but pulls it all off with the self-aware comments of one underrated character. Modern movies depend far more on logic than the breezy cinema of the 1980s. The fact that The Karate Kid’s modern sequel series has brought back these quirky elements, however, is precisely what makes it so successfully nostalgic. Nevertheless, Cobra Kai would not work without a character to call out the ludicrous events of warring karate dojos for exactly what they are – downright unrealistic.
Cobra Kai brought back Daniel LaRusso and his old high school rival Johnny Lawrence to battle it out – not on the mat, but with their own karate dojos. This became all the more complicated when old sensei like John Kreese and Terry Silver got involved, whose willingness to compromise their morality for the sake of children’s karate hadn’t diminished since their appearances in the Karate Kid movies. This brings up the same classic questions such as why no one calls the police, why grown men are attacking children, and how everyone is learning karate so quickly. Thankfully, Cobra Kai included a character to call this out.
Daniel’s Wife Calls Out Cobra Kai’s Silliness (& It’s Perfect)
Amanda LaRusso, played by Courtney Henggeler, serves as the dose of reality in Cobra Kai, and the comical way that she calls out the karate chaos makes the series’ campy throwback tone work. The moment Daniel saw that Johnny Lawrence had opened up his old enemy dojo in Cobra Kai season 1, the respected car salesman was sucked right back into 1980s-style drama. Fortunately, his wife was there to point out just how silly this was. Of course, it did nothing to stop the coming events. Daniel and Johnny fought, the high school got violent, and Amanda was always there pointing out the absurdity.
This allowed Cobra Kai to be silly while still being fully self-aware. Amanda’s character served as Cobra Kai tacitly acknowledging its outrageous story made little sense. Like breaking the fourth wall, it brought viewers in on the joke and ensured they did not take Cobra Kai’s premise too seriously. Of course, as things became more extreme, Amanda’s casual way of laughing at her husband’s drama transformed into a rage, giving Cobra Kai a reason to tone things down again. It was all part of a well-planned rise and fall revolving around the underrated Amanda LaRusso.
Cobra Kai Needed To Be Outrageous To Succeed
Cobra Kai would not have needed a character like Amanda LaRusso if it had chosen to tone down the ludicrous elements of the Karate Kid franchise and bring the Daniel and Johnny Cobra Kai story into the real world. Had that been the case, however, it is unlikely that the series would have done so well. For many, movies like The Karate Kid represent a simpler time. The underdog-focused plot was inspirational, and the action, regardless of whether it made sense, was a fun ride. The Karate Kid movies contained the classic depiction of good vs. evil that dominated fiction for so long, and Cobra Kai brought this back perfectly.
Of course, Cobra Kai still managed to do this with its own modern twist. By placing the old bad boy, Johnny Lawrence, center stage of the sequel, Cobra Kai looked at the concepts of redemption, blurring the black-and-white lines between good and evil that were often the norm of 1980s cinema. Then, by allowing characters like Amanda LaRusso to be aware that the events around her make no sense, modern audiences could enjoy the outrageousness just as much. This made Cobra Kai an ode to The Karate Kid’s silliness, while still keeping things fresh and ever-so-slightly grounded.
