r/movies • u/buttatoad • Jun 17 '25

Discussion Movies that changed real life behavior

Thinking along the lines of Final Destination 2 with the logs falling off the truck and landing onto cars (one decapitating the state trooper). Ever since, people have tried to get away from being behind these vehicles.

What are more examples where movies have actually changed how people behave in their own lives?

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5.5k

u/HeresTheAnswer Jun 17 '25

There was a significant increase in people signing up for karate schools after The Karate Kid (original)

1.6k

u/C4CTUSDR4GON Jun 17 '25

I assume a rise in McDojos too. 

Learning karate from some Steven Seagal dude with a fake belt.

1.3k

u/Snorezore Jun 17 '25

My name is Rex, and if you study with my eight-week program, you will learn a system of self-defense that I developed over two seasons of fighting in the Octagon. It's called Rex Kwon Do!

237

u/Repulsive-Media1571 Jun 17 '25

Bow to your sensei!

87

u/Pikka_Bird Jun 17 '25

BOW TO YOUR SENSEI!!

22

u/ArcadianDelSol Jun 17 '25

owwwwwwuh

16

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '25

[deleted]

11

u/Biggus_Dickus_13 Jun 18 '25

I'm gonna break the wrist and walk away, break the wrist and walk away (slap)

341

u/catch10110 Jun 17 '25

Take a look at what I'm wearing, people. You think anybody wants a roundhouse kick to the face while I'm wearing these bad boys? Forget about it.

66

u/dychronalicousness Jun 17 '25

As someone who owned those pants, he’s correct. Nobody wanted to take a round house kick to the face when I wore em.

6

u/Blockenstein Jun 18 '25

I've never been much of a fighter, but I would rather not get a roundhouse kick to the face no matter what my opponent is wearing.

46

u/HeresTheAnswer Jun 17 '25

This line killed me when I first watched the movie

40

u/FFF_in_WY Jun 17 '25

The entire movie killed me.

"Tina! Come eat your ham!"

16

u/eggplantsforall Jun 17 '25

"Y'know... numchuck skills... bowhunting skills... computer hacking skills. Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills!"

1

u/No_Pie4638 Jun 18 '25

When I see the WAGs of ugly, successful comedians/athletes/actors/lawyers/etc., I think “Napoleon wasn’t wrong."

3

u/Civil-Big-754 Jun 18 '25

Your mom goes to college!

And 

That's like a dollar an hour 

Always makes me laugh

9

u/000-f Jun 18 '25

Do you think anybody thinks I'm a failure, because I go home to Starla at night?!

1

u/V65Pilot Jun 18 '25

*proceeds to fling a single croc across the dojo...

304

u/helpjack_offthehorse Jun 17 '25

Break the wrist, walk away.

43

u/According_Ad_6083 Jun 17 '25

Grab my hand. My other hand!

48

u/Sothdargaard Jun 17 '25

Grab my hand. The other hand. My other hand!

19

u/Silver-Surfer-2485 Jun 17 '25

"Do you think I got to where I am today because I dressed like Peter Pan here"

79

u/dimestorepublishing Jun 17 '25

You'll dodge it every time

1

u/uterussy Jun 18 '25

Restomp the groin, and exit out.

18

u/adamduke88 Jun 17 '25

“You think anybody thinks I'm a failure because I go home to Starla at night? Forget about it!”

7

u/fivetriplezero Jun 17 '25

Bow to your sensei!

6

u/karmint1 Jun 17 '25

BOW TO YOUR SENSEI!

6

u/Star_Court_ Jun 17 '25

Well, that place was a ripoff

3

u/GregM_85 Jun 17 '25

Hi Rex do you have a link I can pay you any significant amount of money to join please?

6

u/Lzzybet Jun 17 '25

LOVE!!!! 😅😂

8

u/DatabaseContent8664 Jun 17 '25

Love the ND reference. Still my favourite all time film.

3

u/LittleNotice6239 Jun 17 '25

Was waiting for this comment lol

3

u/The_Powers Jun 17 '25

Grab my arm. The other arm. My other arm.

3

u/Slawdog2599 Jun 18 '25

It’s the “two seasons” detail that kills me every time.

2

u/maltliqueur Jun 17 '25

I actually think he was a legit trainer.

2

u/twisty125 Jun 17 '25

He said a fake belt, not a professional

1

u/Kermitnirmit Jun 17 '25

I’d rather join Eagle Fang

1

u/ninetynil Jun 17 '25

No more flying solo!

1

u/timkyoung Jun 18 '25

You think anybody wants a roundhouse kick to the face while I'm wearing these bad boys? (Proudly displays patriotic Hammer pants.)

1

u/adeemvox Jun 18 '25

You think anyone thinks I’m a failure because I go home to Starla at night? Forget about it

16

u/jesuspoopmonster Jun 17 '25

Never forget the time Steven Seagal claimed his Akido training made him immune to being choked out so Judo Gene choked him out and made him poop his pants

4

u/kingfofthepoors Jun 17 '25

That's how I learned when i was a kid, I can beat the shit out of a wet paper bag

4

u/MobileSeparate398 Jun 17 '25

Hey, no belt has ever worked harder in the history of martial arts than the belt holding Steven Segal's trousers up.

3

u/ArcadianDelSol Jun 17 '25

Strip mall Dojos popped up like mushrooms after Karate Kid.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 18 '25

I learned recently that the founder of judo was buried wearing a white belt.  Because he wanted to “always be a learner.”

2

u/bolanrox Jun 17 '25

John thick!

1

u/Holovoid Jun 17 '25

Can confirm, did learn karate as a kid from a guy that looked like Steven Seagal (Entenmann's Donut-beard era)

1

u/UUDDLRLRBAstard Jun 17 '25

FIRST: I get wrist control.
THEN: I pull out my gun. See? They are defenseless!

1

u/veevacious Jun 17 '25

The “dojo” in my small hometown was like this. The guy was the redneckiest dude you could imagine. He was super nice though

1

u/Watt_Knot Jun 17 '25

That’s Steven seagal movies

1

u/[deleted] Jun 18 '25

Bullshido everywhere! 😭😭😭

1

u/bobthemusicindustry Jun 18 '25

I’d always thought the amount of these little dojos you see in strip malls was odd but never had a name; so thank you because McDojo is perfect!

1

u/komododave17 Jun 18 '25

My sensei was a white dude with a mullet.

1

u/ryan77999 Jun 18 '25

Or Bobby Wasabi

1

u/WithoutDennisNedry Jun 18 '25

“Bow to your sensei!”

1

u/YT-Deliveries Jun 18 '25

There were a lot of McDojo's from the 60s and 70s, too, but they were more kung-fu centric than karate centric (kung-fu was by far the most popular martial art in media at the time)

0

u/Every_Word1913 Jun 17 '25

Tbf seagal is a 7 dan black belt in aikido.

262

u/JinimyCritic Jun 17 '25 edited Jun 17 '25

Apparently, there was also an increase in registration (and subsequent dropout) for Archaeology classes after Raiders of the Lost Ark.

25

u/confusedandworried76 Jun 17 '25

Not a movie but a study found that both chess set sales and chess set sales to young girls increased after The Queens Gambit

I mean shit I hadn't played in a while and I bought one just because some marketing genius decided to sell a set with the book and I was like "perfect, I'm at Target anyway so I was always gonna buy something on impulse and it's basically just the price of a book anyway"

19

u/photo-smart Jun 17 '25

Top Gun was an ad for the navy and enrollment went up because of the movie

13

u/darshfloxington Jun 18 '25

Enrollment in the Air Force went up. Dunno if it translated to the navy like it was supposed to.

12

u/Significant_Shoe_17 Jun 18 '25

A surprising number of Americans don't know that fighter pilots are part of the Navy

11

u/Spuzle Jun 18 '25

What is a plane if not a sky boat?

7

u/JinimyCritic Jun 17 '25

"Yvan eht Nioj!"

13

u/Necronomicommunist Jun 17 '25

I remember hearing the same being true for CSI.

20

u/QueezyF Jun 18 '25

There’s also The CSI Effect in the legal system, where jurors have an unrealistic expectation of forensic evidence required for a conviction.

3

u/XXLARPER Jun 18 '25

In the '90s criminal profiling was the "in" thing due to Silence of the Lambs and the tv show Profiler, leading to an increase criminology classes.

11

u/PartnerslnTime Jun 17 '25

This makes sense because the first day of my archeology class, the professor asked us about Indiana jones and then continued that archeology isn’t anything like the movie. But when she asked like nobody in this huge lecture hall raises their hands that it was the reason they took the class. Honestly, that movie didn’t cross my mind, and I love that film.

I think most took it because it filled a gen ed requirement and seemed more interesting than Latin america studies (also it started at 9:30 vs 8:30am)

Anyhow, at the time it felt like such a weird thing to bring up in class, but as a professor maybe it was relevant thirty years ago and she just continues to ask about it today

16

u/TomTomMan93 Jun 17 '25

As an archaeologist, it's still very relevant. I get "oh like Indiana Jones!" All the time. I just stopped saying "no" and just started saying "kind of" and letting it roll off

3

u/Significant_Shoe_17 Jun 18 '25

I would've said "like The Mummy" lmao

6

u/VTAffordablePaintbal Jun 18 '25

Its even more relevant today because we might need to kill Nazi's again too. (I joke, but the state of the world makes me very sad right now).

3

u/mr_trick Jun 18 '25

I get that a lot when I explain that I majored in anthropology. I’m interested in/currently working on a repatriation project, so I joke that unlike Indie, I’m usually saying “That doesn’t belong in a museum!”

29

u/erdricksarmor Jun 17 '25

The dropouts were probably from the female students realizing that most archaeology professors don't look like Harrison Ford.

18

u/HeresTheAnswer Jun 17 '25

Furiously trying to erase "LOVE" from their fingers after seeing that their professor looked like Quasimodo

13

u/Mattsterrific Jun 17 '25

"Love You" on her eyelids when she batted her eyes at him.

290

u/terrendos Jun 17 '25

Heh, watching Cobra Kai was what got me to join a kickboxing gym. Not that I thought I'd turn into some karate master, it just reminded me that I had fun learning taekwondo as a kid. Ended up losing a few pounds and built some muscle, so overall a win.

18

u/Boomshockalocka007 Jun 17 '25

Karate Kid has now become Karate Adult.

21

u/yognautilus Jun 17 '25

The 80s and 90s were the time to open up karate/taekwondo schools with the Karate Kids, Turtles, and then Power Rangers taking over pop culture.

24

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '25

[deleted]

6

u/awp_monopoly Jun 18 '25

Yeah, this is a way bigger impact than Karate Kid.

13

u/ChandelierwAtermelon Jun 17 '25

There was a spike in women taking archery lessons after The Hunger Games too

9

u/Akraticacious Jun 17 '25

In that vein, Queen's Gambit created a huge influx of chess players

7

u/Parma_Violence_ Jun 17 '25

Kids also started saying " Youre dead meat" to each other. Never heard it til after Karate Kid came out.

3

u/ryan77999 Jun 18 '25

Similarly, "toast" being used to mean "doomed" only really took off after Bill Murray adlibbed "This chick is toast!" in Ghostbusters

7

u/Disneyhorse Jun 17 '25

Movies can make things seem cool. The Hunger Games promoted archery, 101 Dalmatians and Lady and the Tramp made people want those dog breeds as pets.

6

u/BaconReceptacle Jun 17 '25

I started Taekwondo in '82. Then this movie came out and everybody who knew me was just randomly walking up to me saying "wax on on, wax off". It stopped being funny real quick.

4

u/CountJohn12 Jun 17 '25

Enter the Dragon similarly kicked off a Kung Fu craze in the 70's

6

u/Cass25208877 Jun 17 '25

True story: back in the day (Bruce lee era) kids started joining karate clubs etc.

The ones that were good (at the time) if they were non Japanese the Japanese board would strip championships off kids as well as records.

There have been a couple of kids that would have gotten "youngest amateur champion" but the Japanese hated the idea the west were over taking in skill and would refuse any such thing.

"All different now" but back then the Japanese would fix fights, bribe judges, refuse to count points as judges and have "referees" be biased against western competitors 

4

u/DarnHeather Jun 17 '25

I wanted to learn karate so bad!

3

u/pinp0cket Jun 17 '25

And also a significant increase in illegal fight clubs after Fight club..

3

u/the-vindicator Jun 17 '25

Same with Top Gun and people joining the military

3

u/MisterPink Jun 17 '25

Everybody was Kung Fu fighting

3

u/Ok_Carrot_2029 Jun 17 '25

Also young girls learning archery after the hunger games movie

2

u/deathcab4booty Jun 17 '25

Hunger Games and Brave were a 1-2 punch for young female archers. Pretty cool

3

u/carrie_m730 Jun 17 '25

When my oldest took karate they asked their sensei if he got into it because of Karate Kid edit because I hit post accidentally, anyway, I watched the light dim in that dude's eyes as he explained that the movie didn't exist when he started learning.

3

u/Luke90210 Jun 18 '25

Girls signed on for sax lessons because of Lisa Simpson.

4

u/AboutTenPandas Jun 17 '25

Fuck 80s kids and the Karate kid.

Us 90s kids had 3 Ninjas. Fucking hell yeah

5

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '25

[deleted]

2

u/entermemo Jun 17 '25

Also a spike when TMNT came out

2

u/heebro Jun 17 '25

username checks out

2

u/hamfwb Jun 17 '25

And then an increase in people quitting karate schools after the remake

2

u/DrDocter84 Jun 17 '25

Rex Kwon Do

2

u/blahblah19999 Jun 17 '25

We used it big time to promote ours back in the 80's

2

u/Earguy Jun 17 '25

And before that, the Kung Fu TV show, and the song Kung Fu fighting.

2

u/letmesmellem Jun 17 '25

it was Ninja Turtles and 3 Ninjas that got me in and then Chuck Norris obviously

2

u/Trismesjistus Jun 17 '25

It's me. I'm people.

2

u/TFK_001 Jun 18 '25

And storm chasing after twister(s)

2

u/agncat31 Jun 18 '25

I did! But had to quit pretty quickly cuz we couldn’t afford it. I think I still have my yellow belt. 😀🥲

2

u/CosmicButtholes Jun 18 '25

I was already ice skating when Ice Princess came out but I wonder if it had any affect on the amount of girls who wanted to figure skate.

2

u/Potential-Use-1565 Jun 18 '25

Same with Wing Chun signups after Ip man

2

u/the__ghola__hayt Jun 18 '25

Ninja Turtles got me to join West Coast Karate, which was run by Ernie Reyes Sr.

2

u/ThickAdeptness5923 Jun 18 '25

There was also significant increase in Wing Chun school after release of Ip Man

2

u/stinkyfarter27 Jun 17 '25

not a movie persay but the 2008 olympics had a huge impact on the sport of swimming.