Karate spread rapidly in the West through popular culture. In 1950s popular fiction, karate was at times described to readers in near-mythical terms, and it was credible to show Western experts of unarmed combat as unaware of Eastern martial arts of this kind.[42] By the 1970s, martial arts films had formed a mainstream genre that propelled karate and other Asian martial arts into mass popularity.[43]

  • The Karate Kid (1984) is a film relating the fictional story of an American adolescent's introduction into karate.[44]
  • Chuck Norris: Karate Kommandos(1986), animated children's show, with Chuck Norris himself appearing to reveal the episode and the moral contained in the episode.
Film stars and their styles
Practitioner Fighting style
Sonny Chiba Gōjū-ryū and Kyokushin
Sean Connery Kyokushin
Fumio Demura Shitō-ryū
Dolph Lundgren Kyokushin
Jean-Claude Van Damme Shotokan
Michael Jai White Kyokushin, Shotokan, and Gōjū-ryū
Richard Norton Gōjū-ryū
Cynthia Luster Gōjū-ryū
Wesley Snipes Shotokan
Glen Murphy Kyokushin