I see, therefore I can?

Monday night, I spent an hour learning the art of “krav maga,” a style of martial arts/self… Monday night, I spent an hour learning the art of “krav maga,” a style of martial arts/self defense from Israel. Krav maga is different from other styles in its emphasis on fighting from “disadvantaged” positions, like underneath a tackle instead of face-to-face, and in the fact that there are no colorful, expensive belts to wear.

It was a blast. We learned how to effectively twist our way out of the grip of a stronger person, how to quickly turn a gun on an aggressor and how to use pressure points (shudder) to our advantage.

And while we learned, our instructor, Moshe, told us about his krav maga center in Israel, where he lives.

In explaining how he normally teaches a lesson – over the course of several hours instead of just one, and using more props than he brought to our session- he mentioned that it’s sometimes suggested martial arts/self-defense students learn in the dark. It’s even helpful to yell obscenities while learning, because it all helps create a more likely “attack” environment and trains the body not to freak out and to immediately recognize the situation, Moshe said. Unfortunately, we could neither turn off the lights nor swear loudly in the student union, where we met.

And talking to a few of us after his gig, he added this interesting fact: Studies show that many of the survivors of the tsunami in Asia were avid watchers of “disaster” films (tornado, etc.). When tragedy struck, their minds and bodies knew just what to do. They were familiar with the circumstances.

Intense.

And that theory makes sense. I have no idea how true it is – I’ve never seen the studies – but yes, it definitely makes sense.

And then I got to thinking. What better way to prepare for disaster, of any kind, than to watch a bunch of movies about it? My weekend was set!

Plus, there are a certain number of skills I’ve probably already attained from watching movies about them so many times. I’ll provide a few examples.

If I’m put on jury duty, I’m fully prepared to convince all 11 of the other jury members how wrong they are about the suspect in question – “12 Angry Men.”

If hired by the Washington Post, I’m trained to reveal the president as a lying, cheating jerk with my cunning interview skills – “All the President’s Men.”

And if eligible to enter a youth beauty pageant, I’m at an advantage because I already know that life isn’t about winning – it’s about the hilarity of a broken car horn blaring endlessly down the highway – “Little Miss Sunshine”.

But it’s not actually possible to attain those skills observationally – except maybe the life lesson one.

Yes, it’s undeniable that we learn from the movies, consciously or not. Be it violence, history or why you shouldn’t wash a fresh perm – “Legally Blonde” – we absolutely do learn from the films we watch.

And, in terms of the original discussion about dimming the lights for a krav maga (or any kind of self defense) session, I think an idea like that is absolutely valid. It’s helpful to the body’s nervous system to make the “fake” situation as close to the real one as possible.

I raise eyebrows, though, at the idea of movies providing us with concrete skills, unless it’s truly an educational movie or something, like “Sociology through the Ages,” which was positively riveting. Great sound effects.

But I digress. A link exists, I know, between what we watch (or don’t) and who we are.

Aggressive video game aficionados, it’s been shown, are more aggressive in real life. And those who keep the TV off more often than on are healthier for a gazillion reasons – better body image, higher social skills, etc.

But there’s a distinction to be made here. While these blockbusters affect our lives, we don’t watch the credits roll and suddenly transform into the stars of them, in my experience, at least.

This brings me to a number of points.

Number one: Why the hell not? Come on, science. You’ve almost cured cervical cancer but you can’t figure out a way to transform me into Lara Croft: Tomb Raider?

Number two: In case you’ve never heard this one before, movies are, unfortunately, not very much like real life. Yet we always seem to think they are, and it’s easy to trick ourselves into thinking we would or could act so bravely so quickly without any real training.

So now my real point: There comes a responsibility to educate us of the right way, like with “Sociology Through the Ages” and other educational stuff.

Seriously, it’s great some lives were saved because some people were fans of disaster films.

Let’s remember, though, that it’s more important to learn actual survival skills than to tune into the next episode of “Lost.”

Although I guess that’s not really a movie.

E-mail Carolyn about your favorite movie at ceg36@pitt.edu.