Systema (russian: Система, Sistema, system) is a

Russian martial art There are a number of martial arts styles and schools of Russian origin. Traditional Russian fist fighting has existed since the 1st millennium AD. It was outlawed in the Russian Empire in 1832. However, it has seen a resurgence after the break ...

. There are multiple schools of systems that began appearing after the end of the Soviet Union in the 1990s, with teachers claiming their respective "systems" (usually named after themselves).

Mass media and popular culture appearances

The issue has gathered interest as its coverage has increased. Examples include

CTV Travel T+E is a Canadian English language cable television specialty channel owned by Blue Ant Media. The channel primarily broadcasts entertainment programming, including docu-series and dramas related to the supernatural and paranormal. History On No ...

's show ''Go Warrior'' in 2008 and ''Black Belt'' magazine in 2011. Starting in 2013, the FX cable series ''

The Americans ''The Americans'' is an American historical drama, period spy fiction, spy drama television series created by Joe Weisberg that aired on the FX (TV channel), FX television network for six seasons from January 30, 2013, to May 30, 2018. Weisberg ...

'', a series about two Russians undercover agents as an American husband and wife couple during the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

in the 1980s, use the techniques of systema in the fight choreography for the show. For the 2018 BBC crime drama ''

McMafia ''McMafia'' is a British crime drama television series created by Hossein Amini and James Watkins, and directed by Watkins. It is inspired by the book '' McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld'' by journalist Misha Glenny ...

'', actor James Norton learned aspects of systema with David Kirillov, who runs the London School of Systema, in preparation for his leading role as a London banker drawn into the violent world of the

Russian mafia Russian organized crime or Russian mafia (, ), otherwise known as Bratva (), is a collective of various organized crime elements originating in the former Soviet Union. The initialism OPG is Organized Criminal (''prestupnaya'' in Russian) Gr ...

. Systema has also been used by

Lamarr Houston Frederick Lamarr Houston (born June 24, 1987) is a former American football outside linebacker. He was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in the second round of the 2010 NFL Draft. He played college football at Texas. Despite a promising start, H ...

of the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

in his training. In Japanese fighting games like ''

Street Fighter V ''Street Fighter V'' is a fighting game developed by Capcom and Dimps and published by Capcom for PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Windows, Windows in 2016. An Arcade game, arcade version exclusive to Japan was released by Taito in 2019. Similar to th ...

'' by Capcom, character Kolin has a systema fighting style, as well as Koei Tecmo's ''

Dead or Alive 6 is a 2019 fighting game developed by Team Ninja and published by Koei Tecmo. It is the sixth main entry in the '' Dead or Alive'' fighting series. The game was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on March 1, 2019, and w ...

'' with Marie Rose. Systema was used as the basis for the fighting style of the Black Widow trained assassins in the 2021

Marvel Cinematic Universe The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appear in American comic books published by ...

film '' Black Widow'' starring

Scarlett Johansson Scarlett Ingrid Johansson (; born November 22, 1984) is an American actress. The world's highest-paid actress in 2018 and 2019, she has featured multiple times on the ''Forbes'' Celebrity 100 list. ''Time'' magazine named her one of the 100 ...

Marvel Studios Marvel Studios, LLC (originally known as Marvel Films from 1993 to 1996) is an American film and television production company that is a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, a division of the Walt Disney Company. Marvel Studios produces the Mar ...

''Assembled: The Making of Black Widow'' (October 2021)

References

{{Reflist Russian martial arts