Sports training montage

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The Sports training montage is a standard explanatory montage used in contemporary film. It originated in American cinema but has since spread to modern martial arts films from East Asia. Originally depicted a character engaging in physical or sports training, the form has been extended to other activities or themes. Many point out that it has been used and exploited to the point of becoming a cliché.

1 Origins in American film
2 Use in Japanese and Hong Kong Cinema
3 External links
- 3.1 IMDb record of films cited

[edit] Origins in American film

The required elements of an effective sports training montage include a build-up where the potential sports hero confronts their failure to train adequately. The solution is a serious, individual training regimen. The individual is shown engaging in physical training (usually training designed to be biomechanically and cinematically interesting, like running up stairs, or shifting large weights). This training is shown in short, cut sequences, and particularly emphasise the growing fitness by increasing the weight lifted, or reducing the sweat exerted during the exercise. An inspirational song (usually rock music), with its quick, forward-pressing beat, provides the only sound-track during a sports training montage. At the end of the montage several weeks have elapsed in the course of (typically) under two and a half minutes. The hero is now prepared for the big sports meet.

The montage relies on values perceived by the 1980s Hollywood film system to be typically American: individual exertion, individual training, and the capacity for personal betterment through individual struggle.

A typical example is the training sequence in Rocky (1976), and the rest of the Rocky series featured montages as well. This technique is also used in other films similar to the US sports film, for example, the rise in respectability montage during Ghostbusters (1984), and the betterment/repeated courtship sequence in Groundhog Day (1993).

However, the simplicity of the technique and its over-use in American film vocabulary has led to its status as a filmic cliché. A notable parody on the sports training montage was launched in the episode Asspen of South Park. When Stan Marsh must become an expert skier quickly, he begins training in a montage where the inspirational song explicitly spelled out the techniques and requirements of a successful sports training montage sequence as they occurred on screen:

"In any sport, if you want to go / From just a beginner to a pro / You'll need a montage!"[1]

The song was reused by South Park's creators in the film Team America: World Police.

[edit] Use in Japanese and Hong Kong Cinema

In films from Japan and Hong Kong, particular emphasis is placed on the suffering of the trainee, often with the breakthrough in training being a change in perspective rather than physical capability. More importance is often placed on the master passing down knowledge to their student, rather than the self-discovery of American film. A classic use of the sports training montage in Hong Kong cinema is its use in The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (Shao Lin san shi liu fang) (1978). In the 36th Chamber the student displays an arrogance and unwillingness to learn. The student develops through a process of suffering, towards self-mastery in learning, finally achieving triumph in realising that he controls his ability to learn. This training sequence is much closer to Zen Buddhist ideas regarding teaching practice, or Sufi learning concepts, than the individualistic American model used above.