Sometimes, the weather at Big Bear Lake could be charitable.
Other days, it could be distinctly unkind.
But throughout all those sketching sessions, I enjoyed sitting in the car, and observing how it changed. (Okay, I didn't enjoy feeling cramped, or cold, but I did enjoy the view outside).
People sometimes tell me that I am talented. But I remember, all too well, how my Freshman Art teacher in High School always took issues with my efforts, and gave me a C in her class. I remember how my father always counseled me against pursuing art in favor of a real, paying career. Eventually, lacking any encouragement, art and I parted company. Oh, I pursued various hobbies, making crafts and simple projects, and gifts for friends and family. But never really attempted to create anything, which is the essence of art. At least not until recently, when my wife rediscovered the joy of sketching, and urged me to give it a try.
In the movie "Eddie The Eagle," Michael Edwards sits atop the ninety meter ramp at the Olympics. He's never attempted such an ambitious jump before. As he sits there, the commentators and observers wonder if he's freezing up. His allotted time is ticking away. Yet as he stares down the slope, what passes through his mind is all the people who told him he couldn't do this, and that he didn't deserve to be there. Then he launches himself off the ramp, and makes a new Olympic Ski Jump record for England.
I need to remember that.
Dragon Dave
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
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
Last weekend, I went to the cinema to see the movie "Eddie The Eagle." I'm not all that interested in Skiing, let alone Ski Jumping. For that matter, I not all that interested in the Olympic Games. But of all the movies currently in release, the trailer made me want to see it. It made me smile. It made me laugh. And, as it looked like a British film, I suppose that hooked me as well.
The movie began with an unexpected bonus: a short segment in which actors Taron Egerton, who played title character Michael Edwards, and Hugh Jackman, who played his coach Bronson Peary, thanked viewers for watching their movie, and hoped that we enjoyed it as much as they enjoyed making it. Then the filmmakers whisked us off to England, where we meet Michael, a boy who dreams of one day competing in the Olympics.
Just like the preview, the film endeared me to Michael Edwards, whose tireless attempts to become an Olympic athlete won him the moniker "Eddie the Eagle." As with the preview, I smiled, laughed, and, okay, perhaps my eyes even got a little moist at times. (I did not cry! I never cried)! I walked out feeling like I had seen a good, heartwarming movie. I also felt inspired by "Eddie's" example: how he gave up everything else in his life in the pursuit of his fondest, lifelong dream.
That evening, my enjoyment of the movie inspired me to research "Eddie's" life. In doing so, I learned that his life differed in a great many respects from that depicted in the film. While Edwards' dreams of Olympic glory, and his achievements, were true enough, most of the film was fiction. There was no Bronson Peary in Edwards' life, although he was trained by two Americans. But they trained him in Calgary, not Germany, as depicted in the film. In short, I discovered so many differences between the film and his biography that I wondered how much of the film was real. I felt a little let down by "Eddie The Eagle." Then I thought: not only did I enjoy the film, but it helped me learn about the man, and thus his even more interesting story.
What do you think? Should a biopic hove as true to actual events as possible? Or should it be fictionalized, using forms and strictures designed to tug at our hearts, and inspire us to work a little harder to achieve our own dreams?
Dragon Dave
Related Internet Link
Hollywood Vs History: The Real Eddie The Eagle
