Steven Seagal... why does it seem everyone is so down on the guy?

Giovanni, I don't think there was any intent to disrespect the founder and the high ranking members. But his movies did bring it into the mainstream to a great degree. Similar to Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris, his movies got Aikido an international forum that it didn't have before.

 

While I think his martial arts skills are outstanding, his personal life has been a trainwreckc, beating up on women, dodging international gangsters, etc. I love his movies even though their terrible.

 

This is true, but a lot of the action type stars were the same with their movies... getting multiple movies with starring roles, whether you personally or I like them or not isn't relevant. He did his time as far as training goes, but it helped him to accomplish a lot more than most, if not all of us here.

The guy is a jerk... well maybe he has to be, maybe his ego is big, so is Hannibals (no offense meant there). Trust me, I get where you're coming from, but no one said because you're a celebrity, that you have to be nice, that you have written rules of how to conduct yourself.

It also doesn't matter if he achieved his 7th dan "once"... he did it and apparently under instructors who didn't just hand it to him... saying that IMO is a disrespect to his teacher more than himself. I could tell Hannibal that his Sifu sucks... or that Ero's boxing coach was horrible... but just from seeing staged scenes from movies... how would I know this in the real world?

Remember, people that are hated are often the ones who wind up with most of the money lol. People hate Floyd Mayweather, but he made over 100 million last year with no endorsements... the funniest part is most of that money likely came from those who paid to see him lose.

 

This! That in itself is an accomplishment, even if it wasn't the intention of the actor.

 

Respectfully, I disagree for a couple reasons. The art had already spread in the United States due to several high ranking shihan being sent here. Two, I can't remember in any if his movies having Aikido explicitly mentioned. It's not like they spent all this time in "Above the Law" going over Nico's training history. I've seen probably three or four others and in none do I remember Aikido being explicitly mentioned. Can any one point out a movie that has that reference? I haven't seen them all.

 

I don't have a huge ego per se - I am just aware of how good I am and more
importantly how good I am not

Seagal does not have the latter and suffers from hubris

 

Also just because he's a seventh dan does not mean he can fight. It's an assumption and you know what happens when you assume.

 

Go into a bar, restraunt or any public place and ask people to name someone who does Aikido...Seagal will top that list by a mile

 

Shihan Soke Tuhon Sifu 101th Dan Black-belts in hubris-do, hubris-fu and hubris-jitsu Stephen Seagall?

 

ok hannibal. i will conduct an informal (and definitely non-scientific) survey and let you know the results. you're probably right, but it might be fun.

here's my hypothesis:

Spoiler

most people will say they can't think of anyone.

 

Possibly true....but I still bet you do hear Seagal mentioned more than the others

 

i'll take that bet. for...one cup of coffee. winner picks the coffee shop. of course, i'm assuming that some time in the future, either i'll be in calgary or you in chicago.

 

Martial Arts are not meant to attack the weaker . 6 foot 5 slamming a 5'8 guy into the wall while catching him off guard. Real Martial Arts like, ok. Martial Arts are to protect ourselves from people like Segal

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TB1RvU8UR38&feature=player_embedded"]John Leguizamo Slams Steven Seagal on Q TV - YouTube[/ame]

also a quote from another stuntman he worked with

“I had heard all the horror stories about how he would hurt actors and stunt performers, dislocated shoulders, kick guys in the nuts to see if they were wearing cups, etc. I had heard about Gene LeBell. So 2 weeks before we started shooting I was training DMX on the soundstage one and Seagal showed up and was throwing a few guys around on some mats on the other side of the stage. So I waited till he was finished and walked over and introduced myself. I figured why wait, he’s going to see me around anyway. But I wasn’t wearing a cup. I had left it in L.A.!!! So I stood kind of sideways just in case he decided to suddenly kick me in the family jewels. During the conversation he moved to where he was standing square with me. So while I was chatting with him I slowly moved back to where I was semi sideways again. He moved again to square up with me. I’m thinking, “This is not happening.” So I switch to where my right foot was forward, turning sideways again the other direction. I was doing this very subtly. He had that ‘look’ in his eyes as he squared up with me again. I smiled, folded my hands in front of my groin and said I had to get going and walked away. It was VERY weird.

Another time I told him I worked as commentator for the Pride Fighting Championships in Japan. I was wearing the Grupo Chute Boxe t-shirt that Vanderlei Silva had given to me after he defeated Bob Schreiber in the January 2000 Pride. Seagal told me he didn’t think the fighters in Pride were very good and that he couldn’t understand why Kazushi Sakuraba kept winning because he thought he was not very good either. I obviously didn’t agree but felt it was not the time or place to get into it with Seagal. So I said, “But at least they test themselves on a regular basis.” Then I told him I had heard that he had a student who he thought could defeat Sakuraba. He said he did. I said if he needed help putting the match together I may be able to help him but his guy might be asked to get some experience before going to Japan. We never spoke on the subject after that. I asked him if he would like for me to conduct an interview with him for Black Belt magazine. He declined.

I kind of steered clear of him for the most part. But one time he came on the set and started walking right towards me. I thought, “pants, I don’t have my cup on!” So he walks close to me and my radar was up. Then he grabbed my wrist. I am not an Aikido guy and I’m not saying I am better than Seagal at wrist locks but my first instructor was Korean and had taught us Hapkido which included many techniques that were similar to Aikido. So I reversed his grab to were my hand was on his wrist. He grabbed the same wrist with his other hand. I reversed him again. This little game went on for about a minute. I was really trying not to upstage the guy because on a movie set it’s a no win situation to do that to the star, especially him. But I for sure was not going to let him get me into a compromising position physically. I know guys he has hurt to the point of having to have surgery. He suddenly stopped and pointed at me and said, “You’re good.” I didn’t know what to say so I just smiled. He walked away.”

 

Nonsense.

Overall the intent should be to gain advantage, if that means the person opposing you was weaker or having to weaken them then so be it.

 

I know someone who worked on "Exit Wounds" and stated that Seagal was a major league ass. This was before I had heard all the unflattering stories about him so I remember being surprised.

He made a couple of decent movies in retrospect and then became sort of a parody of himself. I find it laughable he's considering a run for the office of governor of Arizona.

 

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8IoTAMQmDQ"]Van Damme - Good words about Steven Seagal Expendables 3 [part 2] - YouTube[/ame]

 

Stephen Seagall's movies all share the same storyline :- slighted outsider gets caught up in some mess with some bad-ass criminals, comes out the wrong-side, and his hell-bent on revenge, taking no prisoners.

MA should enhance a movie e.g. 7 Samurai, Red Cliff, most of the Bourne trilogy - not define the movie's storyline, plot and characterisation - as happens in all Seagall movies. The narratives and dialogues in these movies are very predictable and really boring.

 

It kinda is relevant though. The issue isn't him featuring in multiple movies in starring roles, the issue (for me) is always the exact same character with the exact same vocal patterns, methods of communication, same role, same training, the whole works. It would be like Arnold Shwarzanegger acting like the Terminator in Kindergarten Cop (awesome film, btw). He's not just type cast, he's film cast.

For me personally, there's no excuse. Why does he have to be? To sell stuff? Frankly if you have to act like a douche canoe to get notoriety, to sell a product, a film, anything else...then that thing probably wasn't great enough to be worth selling in the first place.

That's true, but there's such a thing as being a decent human being, too. Just because more people may recognise your face and some of the things you have done than most other people will ever experience simply does not give you the right or the reason to act like a douche canoe. At least in my eyes. And for a guy who has made multiple claims to be a buddhist or to follow that path...he's kinda the opposite of everything I would have expected.

I would be inclined to disagree. Any good teacher/sensei/coach can only give you the tools you need to train to the best of your potential that you're willing to give, they aren't there to do the training for you. So in my eyes, any failings of Seagal's post awarding of his 7th dan are his to own and his alone. It's been a number of years since he was given that grade too - had he only earned it within a couple of years ago then yeah, I might feel differently that his teacher and those who graded him would have made a mistake. But after the time it has been since he earned it? The fault is his.

I know I said he earned it "once", but at the end of the day MA techniques are a skill set. Like any other skill set, you need to practice it relatively consistently to keep your skills relatively sharp. Say for some hypothetical reason that a dude got his black belt from a guy because he's good and earned it - then stopped practising for say 15 years. You wouldn't say he "still is" a BB because he's basically not bothered to practice for that time with any kind of consistency or effort, you would have to say "he once earned it". From what I have seen of Seagal, he really doesn't look like an exception should be made.

He's done enough demonstrations, had enough documentaries shot of him between then and now to show the difference in his movement, his technique, his attitude, his physique and his code of conduct to see a marked difference in who he is and what he has done.

LOL, that's true, but not necessarily a good thing. Katie Price has managed to make a huge amount of money for a number of years here in the UK for being nothing more than a media whore afterall.

But at least with Mayweather he kept putting his money where his mouth was and competed. Seagal has done little more than be a Hollywood whore.

 

Surely the idea is to resolve conflict in the swiftest way possible with the least amount of harm possible to be sustained while still walking away (even if that does mean knocking out the other guy to do it)?

More importantly, why is Seagal putting himself in positions where he's hitting people? He's just acting like an ass.

I guess I kinda agree with ShadowHawk as well as you.