I have not seen this movie, and base my critique on just the shorts that I have seen, but that is enough for me to despise it. I doubt that I could sit through these politically correct deconstructions without exhibiting toxic masculinity, radiating it in all directions, like a skunk, but proud of it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Bms6Hba-3A
https://www.dailyherald.com/entlife/20190726/art-of-self-defense-examines-satirizes-toxic-masculinity
This movie, like almost everything excreted by Hollywood today, has a politically correct N. W. O message, this time that, masculinity is toxic. Thus, a weak male goes to learn karate to defend himself from thugs, but the entire self- defense scene is toxic masculinity. There are females involved in it, but pass over it, they are all oppressed by the patriarchy too. Conveniently, the karate sensei is white, and there would have been a bit of a racism paradox if Hollywood had taken an Asian sensei, but they never make things hard for themselves, just like all criminals are white Nordics, with the lighter the phenotype, the eviller. “Director Riley Stearns says he didn't realize he was making a perfect movie for 2019 when he started writing "The Art of Self-Defense" four years ago. But his darkly comedic riff on toxic masculinity starring Jesse Eisenberg as a timid and "weak" man who takes up karate just kept becoming more relevant. The Harvey Weinstein allegations broke during the shoot in 2017 and the #MeToo movement became a phenomenon. "It was kind of weird that this idea that I had been feeling was very personal to me was really starting to spread into a direct discussion," Stearns said. "More and more people are relating to the film in ways that I originally wouldn't have intended, which is hugely humbling and very interesting to see."
"The Art of Self-Defense" is currently in 540 theaters nationwide, where it's finding a healthy audience amid all the flashier blockbusters and superhero films in the multiplex. Eisenberg's character Casey Davies is mocked even for his "feminine" sounding name. After getting brutally beaten one night by horde of masked motorcyclists, he stumbles on a local dojo run by an over-the-top alpha played by Alessandro Nivola and signs up for classes. And things take an unexpectedly dark turn. "There's an absurdity to him because he's timid in such an extreme way and aggressive in such an extreme way," Eisenberg said. "Casey is a product of this very unusual world. As much as I loved the character I also loved the world he exists in which is a world where people speak in this very unusual, blunt, earnest way." Imogen Poots plays the film's sole main female character, an instructor at the dojo who despite all her skills has not been promoted to black belt. Sterns did this knowingly, but also made a concerted effort to make sure his below the line team was predominantly women. "It's a film about men, starring men, written by a man. Everything about it was so overtly masculine, which I knew, I was making fun of it, but still at the end of the day was not going to be on the side of films passing the Bechdel Test," Stearns said. "My intent then was to say, let's find the best people for the job to take on these department head jobs but also really try to focus on finding the best women for the jobs as well, to really try to counteract that. I just knew I didn't want it to be a set full of men. It was really important for me to have that female perspective."”
I am typing this in a community centre which has a hall and a space for computers. In the hall right now is a martial arts class, run by a female black belt instructor. There is about two thirds male and two thirds female, most females being of a high belt rank. The claim of sexism is just nonsense. The message of this movie, in my opinion, thus is, that if you are a weak male, just die. Just be replaced. Keep up the good work, Hollywood.