Title *seems *descriptive enough.
In karate/kung fu/action movies, what’s the purpose of the “tough guy du jour neck crack” before the big fight?
I tried out my search-fu with and without the crack, and it made no difference.
I’ve heard it called the self-correcting villain neck crack.
I don’t know what the purpose is, other than to show that the villain will now fight with renewed vigor. Not that it matters, though. The villain is almost always killed anyway.
I don’t think I qualify as a tough guy and I try not to be a bad guy, but I used to do the neck crack thing as a way of loosening up, much the same way as cracking my knuckles does. My brother is even more adept at it than I am.
I suppose it’s mostly to show that the guy is ready for action. Just a guess, though.
I think it loosens up the joints, and the sound is maybe a bit intimidating.
I can do the neck crack, puff out my chest and do a sternum pop, and pretty much snap, crackle and pop everything that can be. It feels good in the morning, cracking my spine, hips, knees, ankles, elbows etc. It’s like stretching. It feels good and feels like I’m readjusting everything and getting all my parts ready for action.
Because it’s icky. I knew a guy in high school who’d wrap his arm around his head, grab his chin in his hand and pull until his neck cracked. It was terrible to behold. I told him he’d be sorry one day when his head came off in his hand.
It’s something I do. I got whiplash about ten years ago, and ever since then, I’ve had to do that every so often to get the pressure off. I’m suspecting strongly that boxers take some of the same punishment to the face and neck, and get the same ailment. In short, “I’m tough, and I’m ready to fight now.”
Even more daunting is when the bad guy swaps his hands to the other wrists. :eek:
Maybe he’d be sorry but everybody else would find it HIGH-LARIOUS! Well, maybe just the guys. Slapstick seems to be a guy thing.
I’m 40 years old this year. That happens to me sitting still!
It’s intrinsic to mammals. A zebra after escaping from a lion will take a breather and as part of the calming down process will do a good head shake/twist thing. It’s part of the reset of the body’s fight or flight (or freeze or …) response. Gets the hormone levels back to normal.
It’s so wired in that people naturally recognize it as a “well, that’s over” signal.