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==Plot==
<!-- Per WP:FILMPLOT, the plot summary should be 400-700 words. -->
At a beach party the following day, Daniel meets and befriends [[Ali Mills (character)|Ali Mills]], a high school cheerleader from [[Encino, Los Angeles|Encino]], drawing the attention of her arrogant ex-boyfriend [[Johnny Lawrence (character)|Johnny Lawrence]], a black belt and the top student from the Cobra Kai dojo, where an aggressive form of karate is taught. Johnny and his Cobra Kai gang ([[List of The Karate Kid and Cobra Kai characters#Bobby Brown|Bobby Brown]], [[List of The Karate Kid and Cobra Kai characters#Tommy|Tommy]], [[List of The Karate Kid and Cobra Kai characters#Jimmy|Jimmy]], and [[List of The Karate Kid and Cobra Kai characters#Dutch|Dutch]]) continually bully Daniel. After Daniel sprays water on Johnny with a hose as payback at a Halloween party, Johnny and his gang chase Daniel and brutally beat him until Miyagi suddenly intervenes and easily defeats them.
Amazed, Daniel asks Miyagi to teach him karate. Although Miyagi declines, he agrees to accompany
Daniel's training starts with days of menial chores that seemingly only serve to make him Miyagi's slave. When Daniel becomes frustrated, Miyagi demonstrates that repetition of these chores has helped Daniel to learn defensive blocks through [[muscle memory]]. Their bond develops, and Miyagi opens up to Daniel about his life, including the tragic loss of both his wife and son in childbirth at the [[Manzanar]] [[Internment|internment camp]]
▲Amazed, Daniel asks Miyagi to teach him karate. Although Miyagi declines, he agrees to accompany him to Cobra Kai to resolve the conflict. They meet the [[sensei]], [[John Kreese]], an ex-[[United States Army Special Forces|Special Forces]] [[Vietnam War|Vietnam]] veteran who callously dismisses the peace offering. Miyagi then proposes that Daniel enter the upcoming Under 18 All-Valley Karate Championship tournament to compete against Kreese's students on equal terms and requests that the bullying ceases while Daniel trains. Kreese agrees to the terms but warns that if Daniel does not show up for the tournament, the harassment will continue for both of them.
Through Miyagi's teaching, Daniel learns both karate and essential life lessons, such as the importance of personal balance, reflected in the principle that martial arts training is as much about training the spirit as the body.
Daniel surprises the audience and competitors at the tournament by reaching the semi-finals. Johnny advances to the finals, scoring three unanswered points against [[List of The Karate Kid and Cobra Kai characters#Darryl Vidal|Darryl Vidal]]. Kreese instructs his second-best student Bobby, one of his more compassionate students and the least vicious of Daniel's tormentors, to disable Daniel with an illegal attack to the knee. He reluctantly does so,
▲Their bond develops, and Miyagi opens up to Daniel about his life, including the tragic loss of both his wife and son in childbirth at the [[Manzanar]] [[Internment|internment camp]]. Meanwhile he was serving with the [[442nd Infantry Regiment (United States)|442nd Infantry Regiment]] during [[World War II]] in Europe, where Miyagi received the [[Medal of Honor]].
Daniel is taken to the locker room, where the physician determines that he cannot continue. However, Daniel believes that if he quits, his tormentors will have gotten the best of him, so
▲Through Miyagi's teaching, Daniel learns both karate and essential life lessons, such as the importance of personal balance, reflected in the principle that martial arts training is as much about training the spirit as the body. He applies the life lessons Miyagi has taught him to strengthen his relationship with Ali. On Daniel's 16th birthday, Miyagi gives him a [[Karate gi]] for the tournament and one of his vintage cars.
The match is halted when Daniel uses a scissor-leg technique to trip Johnny, delivering a blow to the back of his head and giving Johnny a nosebleed. Kreese directs Johnny to sweep Daniel's injured leg – an unethical move. Johnny looks horrified at the order but reluctantly agrees. As the match resumes and the score is tied 2–2, Johnny seizes Daniel's leg and deals a vicious elbow, doing further damage. Daniel, standing with difficulty, assumes the "Crane" stance, a technique he learned observing Miyagi performing it on the beach. Johnny lunges toward Daniel, who jumps and executes a front kick to Johnny's face, scoring the winning point and becoming the new champion. Having gained newfound respect for his nemesis, Johnny presents the trophy to Daniel himself
▲Daniel surprises the audience and competitors at the tournament by reaching the semi-finals. Johnny advances to the finals, scoring three unanswered points against [[List of The Karate Kid and Cobra Kai characters#Darryl Vidal|Darryl Vidal]]. Kreese instructs his second-best student Bobby, one of his more compassionate students and the least vicious of Daniel's tormentors, to disable Daniel with an illegal attack to the knee. He reluctantly does so, momentarily crippling Daniel and getting himself disqualified.
▲Daniel is taken to the locker room, where the physician determines that he cannot continue. However, Daniel believes that if he quits, his tormentors will have gotten the best of him, so he convinces Miyagi to use [[Reiki|a pain suppression technique]] to help him continue. Daniel returns to fight as Johnny is about to be declared the winner by default. The match is a seesaw battle, with neither able to break through the other's defense.
▲Daniel, standing with difficulty, assumes the "Crane" stance, a technique he learned observing Miyagi performing it on the beach. Johnny lunges toward Daniel, who jumps and executes a front kick to Johnny's face, scoring the winning point and becoming the new champion. Having gained newfound respect for his nemesis, Johnny presents the trophy to Daniel himself, as an enthusiastic crowd carries Daniel while Miyagi looks on proudly.
==Cast==
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==Production==
===Development===
''The Karate Kid'' is a semi-autobiographical story based on the life of its screenwriter, [[Robert Mark Kamen]]. At age 17, after the [[1964 New York World's Fair]], Kamen was beaten up by a gang of bullies. He thus began to study martial arts in order to defend himself.<ref name=oralhistory>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.si.com/tech-media/2018/05/01/karate-kid-movie-oral-history-cobra-kai |title=The Crane Kick Is Bogus: A Karate Kid Oral History|access-date=May 13, 2019 |last=Prewitt |first=Alex |date=May 1, 2018 |magazine=[[Sports Illustrated]]|archive-date=May 11, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190511132307/https://www.si.com/tech-media/2018/05/01/karate-kid-movie-oral-history-cobra-kai|url-status=live}}</ref> Kamen was unhappy with his first teacher who taught martial arts as a tool for violence and revenge. So,
As a Hollywood screenwriter, Kamen was mentored by [[Frank Price]] who told him that producer [[Jerry Weintraub]] had optioned a news article about the young child of a single mother who had earned a black belt to defend himself against the neighborhood bullies. Kamen then combined his own life story with the news article and used both to create the screenplay for ''The Karate Kid''.<ref name=oralhistory/> Additionally, given [[John G. Avildsen]]'s involvement with both films, [[Sylvester Stallone]] often joked with Kamen that the writer had "ripped off" the ''[[Rocky (film series)|Rocky]]'' films with ''The Karate Kid''.<ref name=oralhistory/>
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