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...
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?
ReplyDeleteI 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.
ReplyDeleteI 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.