Flying High With Eddie The Eagle: Part 3

The recent movie "Eddie The Eagle" depicted the real-life story of Olympic ski jumper Michael Edwards. In the movie, Eddie's efforts were partly inspired by those of fellow competitor Matti Nykanen. Also known as The Flying Finn, Matti was a genuine skiing legend. He won titles in all major world categories for Ski Jumping, and went on to win three gold medals at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Canada, where Eddie competed against him.

In the film, Eddie decides to compete in the ninety-meter event, despite never having attempted jumping that high before. When his name is called, he rides up in an elevator with Matti Nykanen. Eddie congratulates him on winning his gold medals. Matti shrugs. He tells Eddie that those are what the other athletes care about. For him, it's all about doing his best. If he lost the event and took home no medals, but felt he had achieved his best, that was what mattered most to him. He also admits that he's glimpsed that same spirit in Eddie, which has made him reassess his "amateur" competitor.

One of the recurring themes of the movie is this: Who deserves to compete in the Olympics? Should it be open to everyone who can qualify for events, or only those who have worked their way properly through the system? For everyone on the British Olympic team, and particularly for Dustin Target (played by Tim McInnery of "The Black Adder" fame), Eddie doesn't deserve to be there. He's just not good enough. They feel this way despite the fact that Britain has no official Ski Jumping competitors on their team, and continue to feel this way after he sets new Ski Jumping Records for England in the 1988 Winter Olympics. To them, Eddie is nothing more than a sideshow. A distraction from the main event.

After winning every major event in professional ski jumping, Matti Nykanen channeled his fame into a singing career, and hosted an internet cooking show. Yet economic hardships forced him to perform as a stripper, and been married and divorced three times. Marital relations with his fourth wife grew so tumultuous that he was charged with assault numerous times, and sent to jail once for grievous bodily harm.

Oh, and he was also spent another stint in jail for stabbing a man.

Michael Edwards' post Olympic career has seen its ups and downs. He suffered similar financial challenges to Nykanen, but worked through them as a TV and radio host, motivational speaker, and author. It'd be interesting to research all the athletes who "properly" competed for England in the 1988 Winter Olympics. I wonder if any of them inspired filmmakers to tell their stories. I wonder how their lives, after the Olympics, inspired the youth in their countries, and whether they did so in positive or negative ways. They, after all, were the professionals, the people who "deserved" to compete in the Olympics.

Next to them, Eddie The Eagle was just a rank amateur, a sideshow, a distraction. Right?

Dragon Dave

Flying High With Eddie The Eagle: Part 2

Should I feel let down because the movie "Eddie The Eagle" doesn't depict the life and exploits of Olympic ski jumper Michael Edwards accurately? I know I enjoyed the movie the way it was written and filmed. Actor Taron Egerton's portrayal of Eddie inspired me, and I liked how actor Hugh Jackman played his fictional coach Bronson. There were also some short but enjoyable performances from big name actors. These included Christopher Walken, who played Bronson's former coach, and Jim Broadbent, a TV commentator at the Olympics who gives Edwards his nickname. The movie even offered a short role for Tim McInnery, who played Lord Percy and Captain Darling in the 1980s British TV series "The Black Adder."

"Eddie The Eagle" did what good fiction always does. The movie gave me a protagonist I could care about, and a mentor in Bronson who helped the protagonist gain skills and mastery over his innate talent. It offered a few sidekicks, including his mother who helps fund his efforts, and Petra, the woman who gives Eddie room and board in Germany in return for working in her bar. It also offered an antagonist in the form of Dustin Target, played by Tim McInnery, the British official who routinely tries to block Eddie's Olympic dreams. 

All in all, I found "Eddie The Eagle" a really enjoyable film. I cannot fault the filmmakers for the story they told. Had it been entirely fictional, not one "based on a true story," I would be entirely happy with it. Having learned a little of Michael's real life story, I can't help but feel as though they could have told a great story, had they found a way to incorporate the real people and events into the story. But then, that would have been a different story, and would likely have cost more money to film. 

The fact of the matter is that every story is a compromise. Publishers and movie studios invest in stories they believe they can sell. The way "Eddie The Eagle" was written attracted name actors, and a sufficient budget, to allow the filmmakers to get some of Eddie the Eagle's story in the cinemas. Even if it was only five percent, as real life Michael Edwards claims, it was a really good five percent. 

Besides, it's pointless to compare a story that was completed with your ideas for what an improved version might be.

Dragon Dave

The Penultimate Stop on our Dalek Adventure

The Prince Albert Memorial

I’ve been so caught up in all the great fiction that I’ve been reading and watching lately that I haven’t blogged about England in nearly two months.  Yet our trip there last year (our first international excursion together) afforded us some special memories, and I thought I’d share another of them with you.  It comes from our last day in London, after we had left Holland Park behind.  It was our visit to one of the most impressive monuments a person could ever visit.

Under a steel-gray sky, we arrived at the Prince Albert Memorial.  This monument, built by Queen Victoria after her husband died of typhoid, offers so much to take in that one could spend hours appreciating all the artistry that went into its design.  Yet it also serves as a gathering place and recreation area for tourists and locals alike.  As we walked around it, a father nervously watched his two young children as they sought to master their inline skates.  In a little hut just behind it, vendors sold all manner of refreshments, including ice cream, which people bought and enjoyed, despite the cool, breezy conditions and the threatening rain.  High school and college kids chatted on the steps as they waited for their friends, read books, or listened to music from their MP3 Players.  

A squirrel came out of the gardens to say, "Hello."

As an American, I know little about Queen Victoria’s reign, or her relationship with her husband.  In his travelogue “Europe Through the Back Door,” host Rick Steves suggests that the two were very much in love.  Not only did the Queen build the monument, and the nearby concert hall to honor Prince Albert, but she also ordered that all the wrought iron fences in London be painted black after he died, and she mourned him for the remaining fifty years of her life.  As the prince seems to have promoted the cultivation of arts and sciences in England, the monument commemorates his leadership in these areas.  The statues set at each corner represent different areas in the world, suggesting that the prince’s influence extended beyond the small country he ruled.  And in “Black Adder: A Christmas Carol,” Prince Albert is portrayed as a kind man who praised generosity in his populace.  Not a bad way to be remembered or celebrated in fiction.

A small sign advertised guided tours once a month.  On another visit, we’d love to walk past the fencing, up the inner steps, and learn more about this historic landmark.  For not only does it showcase great artistry, but Londoners work hard to preserve its beauty.  That afternoon, we watched as workmen painted the intricate fencing.  Whether they were applying a new coat of gold leaf, or merely painting it with more gold paint, I don’t know.  I should have asked.

One amazing fence.

What I do know is that the production team behind the Doctor Who story “The Dalek Invasion of Earth” had to get up in the early hours of the morning to film such public places without lots of passers-by getting in the way.  Their efforts proved well worth it: the story proved immensely popular.  As the first story of the second season, and the second story involving Daleks, it helped feed English viewers’ fascination with this alien race.  Soon there were Dalek costumes and masks, games and puzzles, coloring books and annuals, plates and bowls and cups, candy, clothing, and of course Dalek toys for children to buy (or beg their parents for).  In those days when shows were rarely (if ever) repeated, this story was remade for the cinema in “Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 AD,” with Peter Cushing (who later played Grand Moff Tarkin in “Star Wars”) starring as Doctor Who.

As I lingered there, I wondered what it must have meant to the children of London nearly fifty years ago, to see on their TV sets the Daleks surrounding an area they visited and played beside.  It seems a strange juxtaposition, for the pitiless Daleks to survey a city they’ve destroyed from beside this monument.  For while the Daleks enslaved those they did not kill, turning some of them into mindless Robomen, Prince Albert promoted education and the abolition of slavery.  While the Daleks ravaged England, Prince Albert was a kind man who sought the betterment of his country through championing the application of science and art to the growing manufacturing processes of his time.

A statue celebrating Albert's love for
his favorite energy drink,
Red Bull.

Terry Nation’s most remembered creation, the Daleks, serve as a metaphor for individuals who use others without regard for their feelings or wellbeing.  Such people, whether human or alien, could learn much from Prince Albert.

Related Dragon Cache entries

The Power of Punishment

Audrey, Richard, and the Unknown Constable

As Time Goes By in Holland Park: Part 3

Related Internet Links

Prince Albert in “Black Adder”

“Dalek’s Invasion Earth 2150 AD”

Albert Memorial Guided Tours