Edit for clarity, I'm talking about when someone holds their sword in the grip where the blade is pointed along the forearm, instead of the usually grip, where it's an extension of your arm. I clearly don't know how much general knowledge people have about swords.
Bit of a rant here. It's like the smallest of nitpicks. It's not a big deal. But I also wish people in charge of how swords in media are handled had to just hold a sword for an hour, because it's immediately obvious how impractical that technique is.
I've had a medium amount of sword handling in my life which is probably why it bothers me so much. Minor amount of 16th century swordplay, 4 years of fencing, half a year with Kung Fu sword form. Not an expert, but enough to know how the muscles work. Holding it backwards puts a huge amount of strain on the wrong part of the forearm, forget blocking or deflecting, shorten your effective range by almost the entire of the sword. You might as well just be punching the dude.
Technically you could argue for some amount of reverse grip. Could potentially catch someone off guard, but also they could just stab you. With a short blade an icepick grip is entirely viable. That's not generally how it's presented, it's depicted as a main character style that implies more skill than the usual plebeians.
It just bothers the fuck out of me. I know nobody cares, and I feel like guns are misused much worse in media. But fuck me it's so annoying every time it comes up.
It’s the rule of cool, and yes, it is annoying. It manifests in all sorts of ways, and in sword fighting, there are some other cliches as well, such as having a very long fight, very short distance, spinning, sounds etc.
Just like with guns and explosions you have all sorts of weird reality defying things. Like, when was the last time you saw someone shooting and throwing grenadines in a mine or a tunnel? The sound and pressure damage is incredibly harmful in a closed environment like that, but that’s not cool, so the directors don’t care.
Realistically though, sword fights would be over in a few swings, and the reverse gripper would be bleeding on the ground. Throwing a grenade in a mine would end the shootout for everyone involved. Conmando style machine gun firing is just fantasy in every level, but oh boy, is it cool to watch.
This made me think of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAzY28C8Syc
Exactly. Better watch your distance, or you get stabbed in the chest. If you’re using a reverse grip, you’re basically begging for the other person to exploit the reach of their weapon.
Although, it can be cool to see dumb tricks fail spectacularly. Actually, that would be a really cool idea for a movie. The protagonist is the only one who takes it seriously, while everyone else is just trying to look cool. No plot armor is needed, because the protagonist can just exploit all the mistakes, and massacre everyone.
Like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQKrmDLvijo
🤣 Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about. The look on Indy’s face says it all. He must have been thinking like: “Seriously? I don’t have the time or energy for this nonsense. I’m so done with this.”