History Main / Flynning

* Subverted in ''Film/RedSonja'' (1985 film): When the Arnold Schwarzenegger character is fighting mooks, his first strike simply attacks the blade. His second strike muscles the sword back on target while the mook's sword is helplessly to the side. Which is known as "battement" and is a very effective fencing technique, especially if you're massively stronger than your opponents without being considerably slower.

* 1995's ''Film/RobRoy'' with Liam Neeson climaxes with a duel containing some of the most realistic sword fighting in modern cinema. Though some Flynning occurs, most of that is a character flynning, as Robert Roy [=MacGregor's=] opponent, Cunningham, is a cruel man with a grudge against Rob and Cunningham quickly sees that he is a much more skilled duelist, so he draws the fight out to add extra pain and humiliation for Rob. All throughout the fight you ''really'' get a sense that these two men want to do each other serious bodily harm, and it's notable that while Cunningham is drawing the fight out to torment Rob, he is still managing the distance between the two men and staying out of range of Rob, who has the longer reach as well as the heavier sword. Cunningham clearly came into the fight with a gameplan to make Rob constantly move both his body and sword to wear down Rob's stamina (especially since he notices just before the fight that Rob is nursing a rib injury), and to score multiple light wounds so he can bleed Rob out and exhaust him, all of which are valid sword fighting techniques. The way the fight ends also contributes to the raw and realistic feeling of the fight; [[spoiler:Rob [[BareHandedBladeBlock grabs Cunningham's blade]] firmly enough for it to lodge into one of his hands, finally giving him and his sword a good, open shot at Cunningham, and then... ''whack.'']] Watch it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERmM5l2ceoY here]]

But it's not practical swordsmanship for a real, deadly fight. Instead, it's a type of choreographed fighting for show called ''Flynning'', which often boils down to two combatants deliberately trying to hit each others' ''weapons'' with an impressive clanging sound, rather than trying to actually hit their ''opponent''. Attacks will be deliberately aimed too high or off to the side, such that it would miss the opponent even if they simply stood still. Yet the defender will still go out of their way to meet the misaimed strike in midair, instead of taking advantage of the attacker's mistake and striking at his defenseless opponent. In theatrics, this trick where two fighters take turns attacking and parrying in an endless loop is called "Pirate Halves." Whenever an attacker seems to attack ''into'' a parry instead of straight at their opponent's body, or the defender starts moving to parry an anticipated attack before they could have even seen it coming, it's a dead giveaway that they're following choreography.

But it's not practical swordsmanship for a real, deadly fight. Instead, it's a type of choreographed fighting for show called ''Flynning'', which often boils down to two combatants deliberately trying to hit each others' ''weapons'' with an impressive clanging sound, rather than trying to actually hit their ''opponent''. Each attack will be deliberately aimed too high or off to the side so that it would miss the opponent even if they stood still without defending, and yet the defender will go out of their way to meet it in midair instead of taking advantage of the attacker's mistake by avoiding and striking back in the same motion. In theatrics, this trick where two fighters take turns attacking and parrying in an endless loop is called "Pirate Halves." Whenever an attacker seems to attack ''into'' a parry instead of straight at their opponent's body, or the defender starts moving to parry an anticipated attack before they could have even seen it coming, it's a dead giveaway that they're following choreography.

But it's not practical swordsmanship for a real, deadly fight. Instead, it's a type of choreographed fighting for show called ''Flynning'', which often boils down to two combatants deliberately trying to hit each others' ''weapons'' with an impressive clanging sound, rather than trying to actually hit their ''opponent''. Each attack will be deliberately aimed too high or off to the side so that it would miss the opponent even if they stood still without defending, and yet the defender will go out of their way to meet it in midair with a clumsy block instead of taking advantage of the attacker's mistake by avoiding and striking back in the same motion. In theatrics, this trick where two fighters take turns attacking and parrying in an endless loop is called "Pirate Halves." Whenever an attacker seems to attack ''into'' a parry instead of straight at their opponent's body, or the defender starts moving to parry an anticipated attack before they could have even seen it coming, it's a dead giveaway that they're following choreography.

But it's not practical swordsmanship for a real, deadly fight. Instead, it's a type of choreographed fighting for show called ''Flynning'', which often boils down to two combatants deliberately trying to hit each others' weapons with an impressive clanging sound, rather than trying to actually hit each other. Each attack will be deliberately aimed too high or off to the side so that it would miss the opponent even if they stood still without defending, and yet the defender will go out of their way to meet it in midair with a clumsy block instead of taking advantage of the attacker's mistake by avoiding and striking back in the same motion. In theatrics, this trick where two fighters take turns attacking and parrying in an endless loop is called "Pirate Halves." Whenever an attacker seems to attack ''into'' a parry instead of straight at their opponent's body, or the defender starts moving to parry an anticipated attack before they could have even seen it coming, it's a dead giveaway that they're following choreography.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' cartoon "WesternAnimation/TheScarletPumpernickel", WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck plays the Flynn-type swashbuckler. Near the end, he engages in this kind of sword duel with Sylvester the Cat, who plays a Rathbone-type villain.

* ''Franchise/{{Zorro}}'':

* The Disney TV version of ''Series/{{Zorro|1957}}'' in the 1950s somewhat {{downplayed|Trope}} it, as Creator/GuyWilliams, who played Franchise/{{Zorro}}, was actually a champion fencer. His Zorro used a more accurate fencing style, though still stylized to avoid injury. Many of the fencing bouts in this series feature both actors downplaying real skill because actor [[https://web.archive.org/web/20171118223145/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/01/obituaries/britt-lomond-actor-80-is-dead.html?mtrref=web.archive.org Britt Lomond]], who plays Capitán Monastario, had qualified for the 1952 US Olympic fencing team. Lomond was also a highly decorated combat veteran from World War II. Additionally, Williams' skill allowed for using tipless swords, since he was able to manage not to injure his opponents. However, it also meant that he regularly had to get himself stitched after filming sessions, because ''they'' weren't as skilled as he was.

* Inverted in most weapon-based {{Fighting Game}}s. Instead, thanks to the magic of HitPoints (well, in most cases), characters tend to survive some [[OnlyAFleshWound grievous blows]] every round. Sword collisions, while generally possible, don't happen too often; in the cases they ''do'', the things that happen vary from game to game, or even from instance to instance, though it's never Flynning.

** For the prequels, Creator/GeorgeLucas specifically stated that the battles of the original trilogy were fought by "old men, feeble cyborgs and young kids" and he wanted the prequels to highlight a more sophisticated fighting style. They are more technically impressive and faster paced, but still [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0mUVY9fLlw use common tricks]] associated with flynning such as time-wasting flourishes, obviously not aiming strikes at their opponents, and keeping at too far a distance to hit each other. It's a bit more [[DownplayedTrope downplayed]] compared to most other times this trope comes into play, however. [[AWizardDidIt The Force]] makes all the more acrobatic, inefficient moves more practical and also confers superhuman reflexes and precognition, meaning the "target" is not as defined as one normally sees and expects. Also, as a single lightsaber strike means certain amputation and/or death, and only another lightsaber (or specified materials) can block it, lightsaber combat has to be based as much around countering your opponent's moves as it is around quickly killing/disarming the opponent.
*** ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' makes a point of the precognition when Obi-Wan and Darth Vader have their climactic duel. Two very extensive flourishes (parodied mercilessly) basically turn into a game of chicken and end in a blade lock because there simply isn't a real opening.

*** ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' makes a point of the precognition when Obi-Wan and Darth Vader have their climactic duel. Two very extensive flourishes (parodied mercilessly) end in a blade lock because there simply is not a real opening.

* In ''Film/BroadwayMelody of 1940'', the dance to "Please Don't Monkey With Broadway" has Fred Astaire and George Murphy flynning with canes.

* In the realm of knifeplay, most First Person Shooters do it quite improperly with the back slash which will result in a quick counterattack and subsequent death.
* Speaking of knifeplay, in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'' the second fight between Raiden and Vamp has the two characters sending sparks through the air as they repeatedly block and parry each other's combat knives. Of course, actually getting two knives that small to collide real life even once would be difficult even if it was choreographed, and downright impossible (not to mention stupid and pointless) in a real fight. For all their effort, they may as well have aimed for their target's ''body'' and not their weapon, since in a knife fight the only target you can hit at that distance is your opponent's hand -- which is easily defended against by moving one's hand out of the way. Instead of blade-on-blade, all of the blocks and parries in a duel with short knives are done by grappling with your opponent's arms and body; if you can control his body, you control his knife, and you can stab or cut him while preventing him from doing the same to you.

* 1995's ''Film/RobRoy'' with Liam Neeson climaxes with a duel containing some of the most realistic sword fighting in modern cinema. Though some Flynning occurs, most of that is a character flynning, as Rob Roy's opponent, Cunningham, is a cruel man with a grudge against Rob and quickly sees that he is a much more skilled duelist, so he draws the fight out slightly to add extra pain and humiliation. All throughout the fight you ''really'' get a sense that these two men want to do each other serious bodily harm, and it's notable that while Cunningham is drawing the fight out to torment Roy, he is still managing the distance between the two men and staying out of range of Roy, with his greater reach, weight, and heavier sword. He clearly comes into the fight with a gameplan of making Roy constantly move both his body and sword to wear down Roy's stamina (especially since he notices just before the fight that Rob is nursing a rib injury), and to score multiple light wounds so he can bleed Roy out and exhaust him, all of which are valid sword fighting techniques. The way the fight ends also contributes to the raw and realistic feeling of the fight; [[spoiler:Roy [[BareHandedBladeBlock grabs Cunningham's blade]] firmly enough for it to lodge into one of his hands, finally giving him and his sword a good, open shot at Cunningham, and then... ''whack.'']] Watch it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERmM5l2ceoY here]]

* Parodied in ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'' OVA "Jeffrey's Knighthood". Jeffrey Mailstar, an inept and unskilled warrior, does ridiculous Flynning every time he tries swordplay (the opponent just stands there with weapon readied and watches Jeffrey repeatedly hitting his sword, or sometimes empty air). Most real swordfights between skilled swordsmen (Gourry, Zangulus, etc) in this anime are either a few stop-shots of parries followed by a SingleStrokeBattle, or a showdown of sword magic abilities.

* ''LightNovel/{{Konosuba}}'': Darkness is completely inept in swordsmanship. Whenever she fights, she flails her sword around and never ''ever'' hits her target, even if her opponent is standing still.

* 'ComicBook/TexWiller'': Normally averted as whenever blades are involved they use simple moves aimed at their opponents and punches and kicks may be involved (in fact Tex usually wins his knife fights by punching out his opponent, either because he feels he doesn't deserve to die or [[CruelMercy humiliate him]]). The one time it's played straight [[JustifiedTrope for a good reason]]: Tex, who was visiting Cuba, was forced in a sword duel in a church against a Spanish ussar, with Tex having no experience with sabres and the ussar playing with him... And then Tex lures his opponent between the benches, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome where there's no space to properly use a sabre and Tex can use his superior strength to disarm him]].

** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'', Balthier's sword techniques are inspired by this, as befits the suave ladies' man. Of course, most of his weapon styles are based on the most stylish rather than practical options; he practices GunTwirling, for example, which ironically enough makes him [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome the worst gun user in the game]], as his flashy animations slow his damage output compated to the rest of the party using the same weapon.

* Possibly because the animators are a little [[ArtisticLicenseMartialArts sketchy on the details of Western-style fighting]], most of the fights in ''Roleplay/RecordOfLodossWar'' have severe Flynning; people not only attack each other's weapons but each other's shields, which is even more silly.

Named for the film star Creator/ErrolFlynn, who relied on it as the star of swashbuckling movies such as ''Film/TheAdventuresOfRobinHood'' and ''Film/CaptainBlood''.

* Inverted on ''LightNovel/ChivalryOfAFailedKnight''. Ikki's swordsmanship is totally unrealistic because it is ''too good'', to the point even world class swordsmen would find the moves he makes to be simply impossible to recreate by real life human standards.

* ''LightNovel/TheAsteriskWar'': The anime features many sword fights in which the fighters zip around at tremendous speed, attacking and dodging. While the intent may be to show the consequences of extreme agility, it often just looks as if they were deliberately missing by several feet, or simply unable to hit the side of a barn with their swords.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': Justified with Kira's fighting style as his zanpakuto's power doubles the weight of anything it hits. Thus he hits his opponent's weapon repeatedly until it's too heavy to lift.

* In the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode ''[[Recap/StarTrekS2E25BreadAndCircuses Bread and Circuses]]'' the crew are forced into a Roman arena. Dr. McCoy has ''no idea'' what to do with a sword; his opponent, the gladiator Flavius, has no desire to harm him. Flavius basically tells McCoy to hold his sword up and Flavius taps it a few times with his so that the audience will have something to look at until the calvary arrives.