Those who know me well, know that I am a huge fan of Cobra Kai. Back in the 80s, as a young girl I had the biggest crush on Ralph Macchio. He was responsible for the first of many boy-crush scrapbooks I made. I watched all the Karate Kid movies, but never the remakes. But if you’d asked me what the plot was I would never be able to tell you apart from the fact the Ralph was cute and wins in the end.

Fast-forward to 2020 when Cobra Kai exploded on to the scene after being aired on Netflix from it’s original home of Youtube: I was excited to hear that Ralph and some major characters (and original actors) were all coming back to our screens in a series sequel. I was not disappointed and a quick search on google for ‘why is Cobra Kai so great?’ will give you a good idea about what’s made it so successful. I can’t get enough of 80s music so the soundtrack has been a big draw for me. I am at a point where I am so obsessed I include quotes and scenes from Cobra Kai in my presentations.

But, more seriously, I like the fact that things are flipped around a bit. I had always assumed as a young girl not really thinking about the plot or script, that good equalled: Danny(Ralph) and Mr Miyagi, and bad: well bad was everything and everyone else. Now, in Cobra Kai it’s not so clear anymore who is good or who is bad. My crush on Danny has now, in fact, been swapped for championing Johnny Lawrence (his one-time arch-enemy). And as the seasons have progressed, there have been ‘baddies’ who you think maybe aren’t quite as ‘bad’ as you thought. And ‘goodies’ (Danny) who seem to be as dull as a piece of wood. Everyone has a story you can empathise with and nothing is quite so obvious as it was in the 80s movies. It is, in a way, a more realistic portrayal of challenges in parenting, perfectionism and bullying.

My favourite scene in Season 4 has to be when Johnny Lawrence tries to recruit a female to his new dojo ‘Eagle Fang’. You can see the link below. I just love this scene, because from time to time I have found the discussions around ‘cancel-culture’ or ‘woke’ movements to be unhelpful, no thanks to media and leaders deliberately polarising people. And this scene simply shows that when learning how to represent more fairly, or to combat and fight one’s own unconscious biases, we cannot expect people to be perfect, and there is nothing wrong with that. It is the act of making the effort that matters more than doing nothing at all. Even if mistakes are made along the way.

The media has also been unhelpful in focusing almost entirely on this concept of ‘offending’ people and ‘stepping on people’s toes’ which has filled many with fear about not saying what they really think in public. You can see details of this in the UK in a recently published yougov survey here. Real change in the area of diversity is not just about what we say but how we act, and educating ourselves on understanding what it feels like to be on the other side. it’s also about being honest and open about mistakes that we make, sometimes with a good sense of humour too.

I certainly wouldn’t want to live in a world that expected everyone to get everything right first time or we will make little progress in truly driving representation and inclusive behaviours. And we will not win the hearts and minds of those who we need to be allies in the fight for equality if we allow ourselves to be make everything an ‘either’ /’or’ argument.

Having said that, I am not making an excuse for thoughtless behaviour. It’s imperative that we keep pushing an important agenda with an open mind and an open heart so that everyone feels they can live freely and authentically as themselves.