#please do not use this technique lightly. like my shoulder is permantly screwed up now. and it's been years and i went to PT

[hoperays-song]

Johnny’s Fight Scene

***Potential TW: mentions of past injuries, abuse (just say the word once), fighting, and questionable fighting tactics.***

For those of you who might not know, I was in martial arts for several years growing up. In fact that’s where I met my girlfriend! I was in the class for numerous hours a week for over five years, so the things I learned there definitely stuck with me. 

And one of those things that I learned immediately jumped out at me as I was rewatching Sing 2 with said girlfriend and their younger brother who was in the class with us. Johnny appears to use a mental method of losing your inhibitions during a fight, something we called flipping the switch, in his fight with Klaus.

Now, this technique is kind of odd to describe. It involves you essentially shutting off all your thoughts and switching into fight or flight mode (we were trained to go immediately into the fight aspect). You stop thinking. Your mind goes blank. All that matters is getting out of this situation and giving your attacker as much hell as they just gave you.

And when I say you stop thinking, I do literally mean that. I once broke a bone during sparring with someone who had “flipped the switch” (that was not the other student’s fault but our teacher’s, I should not have been allowed to fight). And the person who did that? Amazingly sweet guy. Literally like a big brother to almost everyone. Which just shows that this flipping of a switch method is extremely effective since it bases itself off people’s survival instincts. 

Now, why would I and my family think that that is what Johnny did during his Sing 2 fight? Because it’s Johnny. We’ve seen this kid trapped in a flooding building, was in a room with angry gang members who seemed pretty chill with murder, at active bank heists, and run from people who want him dead. And yes, he did break his skateboard out of frustration after weeks of literal abuse, but we also see him immediately regret that action. In no other scenario do we see him act on a fight instinct. Ever. Hell, even that skateboard scene started with him running away from what was happening. Johnny’s first instinct isn’t to fight, it’s to run. 

So why would this suddenly change? Why would the kid who had been solely on the defensive the entirety of the fight before that point just change to extremely offensive in a second? Well, we know that Johnny likely is trained to fight. His father boxes for fun, and every other member of his family has proved themselves to be extremely good at fighting as well (to the point they can easily take out professional bodyguards). And despite it being a very poor excuse for a gang, Johnny was still in a gang. He knows how to protect himself. And judging by his reaction to being told he has a fight scene, not only is he likely good at it, but he enjoys it.

But the point stands that he didn’t fight back until he looked back up towards the others. Which actually just further proves to me that he used the “flip the switch” method. That technique is harder for some people to learn than others, especially if they don’t like hurting people or are worried about hurting people. That anxiety can cause someone to not fight back in dangerous situations as it essentially stops that survival instinct I was talking about earlier. 

To get around this in training, our teacher would either physically place one of the younger kids a few feet behind us or tell us that they were in danger (though that was typically after the physical method had been used several times), trying to get protective instincts to come into play. And speaking as someone who had to be told this a ton as I don’t like hurting people, it works insanely well. Like scarily so. And I imagine it would work for Johnny too. We see just how family oriented this kid is. His dad and uncles are extremely important to him. His theatre family is extremely important to him. He cares a lot about them. He’s willing to do just about anything for them, no hesitation.

And if he was to tell himself during a fight that he had to protect them, that they were in danger, it’s likely that flipping of a switch would be pretty much instinctual (think of all those references to (insert family member)’s love being a powerful force to be reckoned with).

However, it is important to point out that Johnny was still restraining himself during that fight scene. We see Johnny throughout both movies perform acts of pretty extreme strength (ie. lifting giant slabs of concrete with a basic pulley in Sing 1). The fact that the most destruction he causes during that scene is the breaking of his opponents staff shows the restraint that Johnny was using, despite being in a defensive mindset. 

This does speak more on Johnny’s character than anything, as he was able to disarm his opponent in a hyperfocused state, especially since he still has to blink himself out of it at the end and be surprised when the scene was over. He genuinely forgot what was going on and was focused on protecting himself and his loved ones. He forgot he was performing. And yet he still managed to avoid seriously harming his opponent. 

That amount of control is insanely hard to come by. It takes years and years of training (the shortest amount of time I saw was 4 years) to be in a flip the switch mindset and still be able to subconsciously access the situation. Johnny is a skilled fighter for sure, with an insane amount of control in his techniques.

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TLDR Conclusion: 

Johnny used a trick taught in some martial arts classes called “flipping the switch” which involves tapping into a person's survival instincts and essentially only focusing on getting away from/hurting your attacker back during his Sing 2 performance. This shows how skilled he is as it is extremely hard to do damage control subconsciously (ie. Johnny not actually hurting his opponent and only breaking the staff), and that he was likely trained in self defense for years.

TLDR Evidence:

- The look back at family and friends is often used to get your brain into a protective mindset.

- Flipping the switch involves instantly going onto the offensive, which we see Johnny do after behaving purely defensively in the past.

- Johnny would likely know this trick as we know he at least knows how to fight.

- The fact he seems surprised at the audience at the end of his scene is similar to what it’s like coming out of a “flip the switch’ mindset, you’re shocked by reality or where you are.

- Johnny is very protective of loved ones, as seen with him helping Mrs Crawly and Rosita during the escape, as well as never turning in his family to the police despite not agreeing with the gang.

- Johnny’s typical first reaction in dangerous situations is flight (as seen by him running from the classroom before), so the sudden switch would have to have some motivation behind it.

#sing 2 #sing scene analysis #we actually see the moment of the switch where Johnny goes from looking at his family with a small smile to fuck around and find out mode #THIS IS BASED OFF MY TRAINING AND EXPERIENCES AS WELL AS MY GIRLFRIEND'S AND BROTHER IN LAW'S #IT WILL NOT BE THE SAME FOR ALL MARTIAL ARTISTS #also this would explain why Marcus who was watching anxiously didn't step in. Johnny would have likely signaled if he needed help #plus he knew he could handle himself if push came to shove #also completely forgot until taking screenshots for this that Johnny likely has burns on his legs from the fight #he nearly falls INTO LITERAL FIRE #so yeah. johnny's scene is actual assault and battery and him defending himself. like legally that's what happened #also johnny dyed his hair teal for this... actual fun fact. i thought it was just the light at first but nope. it's consistent #johnny is a good fighter and i will stand by that #shoutout to my lovely mutual who proofread this and my perfect gf and brother in law for dealing with talking to me about sing #please do not use this technique lightly. like my shoulder is permantly screwed up now. and it's been years and i went to PT #and that was an accident