Do Cobra Kai Fans Hate Sam Larusso Because She's Female?

The Karate Kid was one of my favorite movies when I was growing up. It was the movie that got me interested in martial arts and helped fuel my love for fighting games and shows like Power Rangers. The Karate Kid was even the reason I took Karate lessons as a teenager.

I still love martial arts and The Karate Kid series to this day, so I was excited when I learned about the YouTube series, Cobra Kai. I was a little hesitant about the quality because it was produced by YouTube, and because I disliked the Karate Kid remake. I also wondered what story they could tell since both Daniel and Johnny were older now, but I tuned in because of my love for The Karate Kid. I found myself pleasantly surprised upon watching it.

As more seasons premiered, the show became my comfort show. I could always count on the show to perk me up after a tough day, but I also enjoyed leaving the show on in the background while I was doing other things. After season five, I got sick of waiting to hear news of a renewal and took to Reddit to see what other fans were posting.

Most of the posts were polls asking which character would win in a fight. Some shared their favorite moments, and others just wanted to discuss the show they loved. There was one category of post that stood out to me more than the others, the posts about Samantha Larusso.

Samantha or Sam Larusso is the teenage daughter of the original Karate Kid, Daniel Larusso. She was introduced in the first episode of the series as one of the girls involved in the hit and run that brought her father and his rival, Johnny Lawrence, back together.

Sam is characterized as a typical, popular teenage girl. She dresses in a style that can only be defined as ‘girly’, often wearing dresses and heels. Her nails are always polished, and her hair is often carefully styled. We’re even shown a scene where she’s asking a friend what she should wear to impress her crush. She cares about her appearance and about how others see her. She can sometimes be seen as the bully because she doesn’t stand up for her childhood best friend and she antagonizes her rival.

Sam is often perceived as spoiled, and other characters often refer to her as ‘princess’ or make comments about her getting whatever she wants. She’s also one of the few characters who has two loving parents that are involved in her life. Her character isn’t that different from other girls represented in popular media, or even real teenage girls.

I never thought much of her as a character. She wasn’t my favorite, but I didn’t dislike her either. My younger self probably would have enjoyed seeing a character like Sam, so I didn’t understand why there were so many negative posts about her.

I googled Sam Larusso and see if she was that disliked. Most of the people who disliked her claimed she was responsible for season two’s school fight, or they had an issue with the number of love interests she’d had. A few fans claimed to dislike her because she was a terrible friend for the way she treated her childhood best friend, Aisha.

The criticism she receives for having too many love interests puzzles me. We followed her father’s journey since the Karate Kid and have seen that he had at least four love interests (Judy, Alli, Kumiko, and now his wife Amanda). There isn’t much criticism about the number of love interests Daniel has. Male characters are usually expected to have a new love interest in each movie. Characters like James Bond are known for their ever-changing love interests or ‘Bond girls’.

Sam has three love interests throughout the series, although I would argue that she wasn’t as interested in Kyler as she was in her other two love interests. Her friends encourage her to date Kyler because he’s popular. When Kyler and Sam are together, they never talk about anything meaningful and likely know little about each other’s interests. Sam also doesn’t seem to miss Kyler when the relationship ends. She’s rightfully angry because of a rumor he started about her. She moves on from him within a few episodes.

Her second love interest is Miguel, nerd turned karate champion. He pursues Sam when she claims to be taking a break from dating. Their first date is presented in a way that’s meant to be reminiscent of Daniel and Ali from the Karate Kid movie. They break up for the first time after Miguel accidentally hits Sam, but they eventually get back together and are currently still together.

Robby, Johnny’s troubled teenage son, is the only love interest Sam is shown to actively pursue. Their relationship is short-lived, as they break up after the school fight that sends Robby to Juvie and Miguel to the hospital.

While Sam has the most love interests during the series, is that a reason to dislike her? Would fans still be bothered if she were a male character with three love interests? Sam’s rival, Tory, also received criticism for her “throwing herself at Miguel” and for fighting over a boy.

The school fight was the other main reason fans gave for disliking Sam, despite the fight being physically started by Tory. The rivalry between Sam and Tory started when the two girls met and continued through micro-aggressions shown between the pair. Tory decided she’d had enough after seeing Sam kiss Miguel (who was dating Tory at the time). Tory was the one who escalated the rivalry into a physical fight, so why do so many people think it was Sam’s fault? Why aren’t the same people who blame Sam also blaming Miguel, especially since he was sober when he kissed Sam?

There are plenty of fights throughout the series, but the school fight is the one that seems to be discussed the most. It’s also the fight that gets discussed the most negatively. I believe it’s because the school fight had the most consequences. The school fight got both Robby and Tory expelled, put Miguel in a wheelchair, and sent Robby to juvie.

Sam is struggling with PTSD as a result of the school fight, with her often hiding in fear that Tory will attack her again. While Sam is struggling with PTSD, Miguel is learning to walk again, and Robby is being physically assaulted in juvie. Sam’s PTSD is often seen as a lesser struggle because it isn’t physically visible, and that’s where I feel that most of the distaste stems from. Sam’s problems are seen as lesser because of the way she’s characterized. Her struggles are minimized because her peers seem to face greater visible struggles.

While I believe a small portion of the hatred surrounding Sam might be because she’s female, I think the main reason she receives criticism is because she’s privileged. She’s one of the few cast members shown to have two parents who are active in her life. She’s wealthy, popular, and even has a car. She’s briefly bullied, but most of her classmates are shown and implied to have been bullied for longer than she has. She doesn’t have the most compelling backstory and isn’t shown to face many hardships. Many viewers have trouble rooting for her because she is not an underdog.

She’s also more difficult to relate to because the issues she faces aren’t as dire as some of the other teens face. While she struggles with losing fights and not wanting to follow in her father’s footsteps, other characters face issues such as homelessness and being neglected by their parents.

Her only genuine issue is being unrelatable and privileged. The stakes aren’t as high for her as they are for some of the other characters. She never seems to be in any real danger, and there’s always the feeling that she’s going to emerge victorious from whatever struggle she may face.