The Martial Arts and American Popular Media.

This dissertation examines the representation of martial arts within American popular media with particular attention to the recent popularization and development of the sport of mixed martial arts (MMA). In its earliest form, the aesthetics, rules, and marketing of the sport were heavily influenced and borrowed from the martial arts film genre. Although the growth and popularity of the sport can be attributed to its “new-ness” factor or the way it might separate itself from other popular sports, I argue that MMA’s mass appeal is due in large part to the ways it utilizes aspects and expectations from the martial arts film and television genre. This use of genre conventions and iconographies in early MMA events helped to establish a sense of familiarity for audiences, while at the same time, promoting itself as a unique sporting competition, the result of which is the creation of both a new sport and a new niche category in the larger martial arts universe. This study provides the cultural and historical context needed to understand the significance of the sport of MMA as an extension of the larger world of martial arts and as a phenomenon that goes beyond the fighting arena, speaking to contemporary discussions on globalization and the media industry. The different sections of this study map out the history of the martial arts genre in America from the 1970s to the present by examining various representations in film, television, and video games. In doing so, this study reveals the multifaceted and widespread nature of the martial arts with the inclusion of mixed martial arts as a sport designed and created from popular film and media. This is important for two reasons: it underscores the strong visual nature and component of contemporary sport and it provides a template for the examination of sport and media together.