Bullying in Cobra Kai Essay Sample

Cobra Kai is an American Karate series with comedy, action, and drama created by Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg, a sequel to the original Karate Kid films by Robert Mark Karmen. Cobra Kai begins with Johnny Lawrence during his middle-age suffering from his defeat for over 30 years in the 1984 All Valley Karate Tournament, he hits rock bottom as a jobless drunk having no purpose in his life until he meets a kid named Miguel who recently moved to town and saves him from being beaten. Johnny finds purpose in helping kids find their way in life to prepare them for the real world through his Karate life lessons. The show can be seen for entertainment and laughs, making people be interested with its storyline and funny moments along with the show’s Karate gimmick. But under close examination, the creators of the show point out the serious matter for young teens to experience being bullied and how it affects them. In a particular season-one episode three, “Esqueleto,” the creators turn their focus to high students being verbally, physically, and harassed online by raging, browbeating individuals. By depicting innocent teenagers to be made fun of, called names, physically abused, and picked on, a season-one episode of Cobra Kai, “Esqueleto,” welcomes viewers to explore the subject of bullying to be a societal issue for adolescents throughout education institutions.

The episode gives a straightforward attention towards bullying, in the opening scene, we see students in lunch and Counselor Blatt giving a presentation to students in front of the cafeteria about cyberbullying being a no laughing matter. She then proceeds to explain how sending a cruel message to someone online can be just as hurtful as saying it to their face. Counselor Blatt anonymously talks about how a mother called about her son crying because kids made fun of his “facial deformity,” while everyone looks towards Eli Moskowitz covering his upper lip while we hear laughs and whispers among the crowd. Eli sits at a table with his friends, Miguel the new kid in town, and Demetri his best friend since kindergarten who all share something in common and that is being bullied. 

Bullying can come across different types of forms; it usually has to do with a person's appearance and imagery. In this scene we can signify that the creators wanted to present an example on just what bullying looks like in today's era, where kids are born in a generation where technology is advancing further. Most kids use technology for good but some use it for the worst possible outcome such as uploading pictures, videos, tagging the person of their choosing to make fun of etc. Furthermore, Eli is no stranger to this because he is the victim here, Eli deals with constant bullying due to his facial deformity. We can cognate from this scene that Eli suffers to be bullied during or after school, he is conflicted with his self-imagery. He believes he can’t change or improve his overall imagery of himself because he is self-conscious of what others would say or think of him. Overall, some kids fall under the subject matter of being teased and harassed online, which causes a lot of problems for the victim to grow as a person.

Further into the episode, the students go to a halloween school party, a girl named Aisha Robinson, who appears to be the school's loner while being a little overweight. She is seen at the party’s buffet eating alone. A stuck-up group of popular girls video record Aisha at the buffet and start to upload it on the internet with a caption written “The buffet table is under attack!” showing footage of Aisha with a face filter on a pig’s nose. We see the rest of the students opening their phones laughing while Aisha schockily sees the footage on her phone. She is completely embarrassed and leaves the party crying.

Bullying someone for their weight is one of the most unethical behaviors because of body shaming. In this case, we indicate the creators wanted to express body shaming as one of the few examples towards bullying. Consequently, Aisha is being called a pig for eating at the buffet by a group of fit and skinny girls. We can connote the girls are referring to Aisha being fat because she is eating more than the given amount at the buffet. Aisha probably feels unease and full of anxiety since her best friend turned her down at the halloween party due to not being able to fit in their themed halloween costumes. Therefore, we can note Aisha must be beginning to lose confidence in herself and maybe her way of coping with anxiety is through eating food. Ultimately, it does not end well for Aisha, she is body shamed for being fat in front of the whole school by the skinny girls through cyberbullying. Aisha probably blames herself for being overweight as she cries from being exposed on the internet based on her own insecurity.

Nearing the end of the episode, Miguel, Eli, and Demetri go to the restroom before secretly eavesdropping on the conversation between the school’s main bully, Kylar Park and his group of friends talking about Kylar’s drama with his girlfriend’s dad. Eli accidentally knocks over the restroom's trash bin which causes Kylar and his friends to confront Miguel alone since Demetri and Eli run away immediately, leaving Miguel behind. Kylar begins pushing and calling Miguel a girl's name, ‘Rhea” and proceeds to ridicule Miguel’s Karate training and Sensei, Johnny Lawrence. Miguel uses his karate training and throws the first kick to Kylar’s chest knocking him to the ground, but Miguel gets badly beaten by being outnumbered in the fight.

Physical bullying should be avoided at all cost because the victim could be left with serious health conditions. In this particular scene, the creators showed a clear example of how bullying can be a serious issue if the victim continues dealing with the bully without seeking help. We can unravel from the scene when Miguel tries to stand up to Kyler and his group of friends before things get physical, he was showing bravery by having the courage in believing that he could use his karate for self-defense. We can also imply the creators wanted to make an example in this scene that it is okay to stand up to bullies only when necessary, if you’re being physically attacked when no one is around for help because it could save your life before you end up suffering from severe medical conditions. It is safe to say Miguel taught a lesson to Kylar because he never expected his victim to fight back, this goes to show bullies do stand down once they’re put in their place, they will eventually back off when someone stands up to them. Furthermore, it's important to avoid any fights but it isn’t guaranteed in moments which may force your hand to make a decision.

In essence, tv shows give people amusement, but under close examination we can discover tv shows to carry hidden themes or messages.. The show Cobra Kai, focuses on teens beginning to enter the real world as they try to understand how to handle challenging obstacles in their life. In the particular episode of Cobra Kai, “Esqueleto',' focuses on a particular group of teens facing a challenge that they didn’t ask for. Creators Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg interpret a deeper meaning in the episode with bullying. Many kids around the world face being the victim to bullying, and it’s something no one wishes on someone else. No one likes to be humiliated by others especially for the way they look or act, but being physically harassed is a line where the bully should not cross. There are effects towards stopping bullying in schools since the anti-bullying act of 2013 but with technology and social media as a factor, it makes it difficult to prevent the harassment from happening. Furthermore, there are consequences to the bully if the victim receives any sort of physical wounds by enforcing punishment from bad things happening.