What Makes Football Movies So Emotional?
It's fitting that I'm writing this blog from a bus seat on the way down to Millikin University to broadcast a football game. After writing about the best NBA actors in my last entry, I figured I'd turn my attention to the gridiron. Instead of writing about the acting skills of Tom Brady in Ted or Carl Weathers in Happy Gilmore, I wanted to look at why there are so many emotional movies that are centered around football.
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Remember The Titans, We Are Marshall, Rudy. These three are just a handful of some incredibly emotional football movies that stood out to me on a personal level. Whether focusing on a racist town come together over desegregated football, a team rebuilding after a horrific plane crash, or the biggest underdog of them all, they all make myself and millions more of viewers (both avid football fans and people who haven't watched a down) tear up.
They seem to have a blueprint, and it works.
Step 1: Establish the issue at hand (racist school/plane crash/undersized athlete)
Step 2: Lower their spirit (show fighting/doubtful fans, coaches, players, introduce bullies)
Step 3: Start climbing (coming together in practice through motivational speeches/acts)
Step 4: The highs (Colored and white players dancing together, the Herd win a game, Rudy gets in)
Step 5: Emotional, heartfelt ending with main characters followed by a text box showing what the key players are doing now in life.
Is it repetitive? Yes. Do I tear up when Rudy registers a sack? Yes. When the Herd beat XU? Yes. When Gerry calls Julius his brother? Of course. I won't add that video for fear of too many tears being shed.
Football is an emotional game already. If you find a good enough director, movies about the sport can move grown men to tears, but I challenge anyone to not cry during these scenes either.
As someone who watched a bunch of Football movies growing up, this totally makes sense. It was cool that you laid out a blueprint or steps to follow on how the make a football movie. It almost angers me how cliche it can be but the emotion still gets to me somehow. Especially in Rudy (like you talked about), when he gets on the field and gets a sack. It's so predictable but I LOVE IT. A football movie that appeals to angrier/intense side of the game is Any Given Sunday. If you haven't seen it or need a fresh side of Football film, check it out.
ReplyDeleteI'm all for an emotional sports film. Rudy was one of the first films that I fell in love with, and it was because of the blueprint you laid out. Although many of these films follow a similar pattern, who cares its working and I love it!
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