The Contender
Has anyone else seen this show? It's Sly Stallone, Suger Ray Leonard, some other guest folks appear - Paulie from Rocky, Carl Weathers....but it's really just a reality TV boxing show. You spend time with these two young boxers throughout the episode and it culminates in a fight. The fight sequences are awesome, they are edited together like a Rocky movie instead of a normal prize fight.
I've always been bored watching boxing because it's never as entertaining as Rocky. Now we see reality TV combining with a sport to make the whole thing more accessible and fun. Damn good idea, combining sport, reality TV form, and Celebrity stars. Pretty good execution. A reality TV breakthrough, I'd say. Look forward to more...
2 comments:
I haven't seen the show, but I've heard it's really good. Do you know there's an interesting and tragic reality twist to it?
I guess one of the contenders killed himself (in real life) after making it really far then getting eliminated in one of the last rounds. I don't know if they're there yet in the episodes, but I heard they shot the whole thing a few years ago and sat on it b/c they didn't know what to do about the fact this guy had really killed himself.
Love to hear your thoughts on that...
Hmmm. I don't really feel qualified to have an opinion. The show itself has a tragic feel to it. Most true sports stories are tragic...this of course, is an extreme example.
I think the choice in Crumb to reveal the brother had killed himself at the end was quite powerful and added a depth and importance to the film, although it caused Crumb himself to denounce the film and de-friend Terry Zwigoff.
Off the cuff, and not pretending to know the right answer, I guess it ought to be part of the show because I think it can serve as a warning regarding the hypermasculinity of sport culture. There are lots of early deaths and suicides by former professional athletes - particularly football players (and I'm sure boxers, as well). The average life span of professional football players is like 20 years less than the average citizen...because of the physical toll - particularly running backs.
As for suicides and depression for athletes who never quite made it or otherwise suffer, I don't really know. I think there is something to the Icarus myth of flying too high and getting your wings burned, which I think our culture glorifies, particularly in sports and other forms of celebrity. I think Michael Jackson is a ripe candidate for suicide.
There are quite a few stories, fictional and otherwise dealing with death and sport - the Last Boyscout, the offensive lineman for the Raiders who didn't show up for the superbowl (I forgot his name already)...I could research and find more, but the idea of a death complex and it's relation to sport is something worth exploring.
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