Religious
Allegory or Am I Just a Space Cadet?
Be
warned: this is an unconventional review and contains spoilers!
I'm
watching this movie called 'Possums' on satellite with Mac
Davis (this older singer guy)... he plays a smalltown football
announcer for the high school team... but they suck and have
for like 17 years, and so after the last heartbreaking game,
the townspeople start a petition to cancel the team... and
the announcer guy is awestruck at it.. he loves football and
doesn't care if they win... at a town meeting he gives his
side "it's not about us, it's not about the kids (?) it's
not about football... (i think, basically it's the gist)...
... it's about cool nights, full moons, good friends, blah,
blah... you know, the whole cool culture and sociability of
football fall.. autumn friendship and watching 'ball'. but
his argument doesn't work and they vote football 'out'. So
the story is him trying to get football back... anyway, at
the beginning i was (high [on life]) seeing all these interesting
subplots or double-meanings, etc... like the story was a metaphor
for faith in god... he says something about 'ya don't kill
your dog just because he don't go huntin' no more." I thought
that was a hidden statement about faith in god... you don't
disbelieve in god just because he don't do nuthin' for ya
no more (i.e. anything! let himself be known, etc..). You
have loyalty to the Team! and you partake of the whole football
culture and the camaradarie and the whatnot... just like the
freaking religious people get off on all the "meetin's" and
shite and rubbing their damn rosaries and bible stories and
singing in the choir and listening to top vocalists issue
forth glorious melody, all in the name of god, of course...
but really, it's like 99.9999% of everything they have any
experience with is of their own making... it's NOT communing
with God.. it's communing with themselves and each other and
stuff. it's all made up. but that's beside the point, the
Announcer movie is simply making a fable or something that
hides its plain meaning. so anyway...
what
was i saying? (it's a good movie, btw-- mac davis does a really
good job with a very interesting and non-cliche character
that you don't expect someone who is not first and foremost
an actor to get to play (but then you remember Dwight Yoakam
in Sling Blade and you realize that some of these people,
performers, may very well be talented all around... not just
in their role that made them famous. But us snobby, jealous,
unwashed gentiles secretly hate the fact that these people
are so talented (and rich) that we accept, perhaps, that they
have one good talent, but NOT two or three or four! and we
have NONE! it's not fair. so we immediately discount any crossover
into other art forms. Ethan Hawke can't write a novel! He's
an actor for crying out loud. Tiger Woods can't golf, he's
black! (sort of)... Jane Fonda can't speak out on political
issues, she's an actress. Napolean Kaufman can't become a
minister, he's a football player (big, rough and mean!). Jennifer
Lopez can't act in movies, she's a freaking singer!
Anyway,
so the movie is good and Mac Davis is too... (i think you'd
like it... i.e. autumn, football, smalltown sentiments, fighting
against the 'system', etc..)
Oh,
btw, the announcer guy owns a radio station or something and
so he starts announcing games anyway. fake games. but they're
exciting and people like to listen. blah, blah, blah
and
then they do a ficticious championship and the 'possums' win
and everybody acts like it's real and then the other team
(whose coach is OU guy, Barry Switzer, Cowboy coach) get mad
and comes over threatening implied violence to the announcer
and his group of supporters for calling themselves the state
champions when THEY are the real ones who won.. blah, blah...
it started to sound like either two delusional religions calling
each other false or science and religion bickering (Switzer
is science cuz it 'really' happened... Announcer guy is religion
because it's all based on lies but it makes the people happy)...
so
it seems like a lot of hidden stuff but i wonder if the creator
of the story meant them or if i'm just doing 'high tricks'
with my head... [because i'm high on life]??? i'm hoping that
some of that made sense... ??
then
i guess (i have been in and out so i'm missing some story)
they decide to have a real game between the teams to decide
it once and for all (i'm assuming this because it seems like
that's what they're going to do but i don't recall anyone
saying that explicitly)... the town council guy or mayor or
something is announcer guy's other nemesis, in a more benign
way, i think they've known each other forever (like smalltownspeople
do). anyway, he comes over to announcer guy's house and 'gets
on him' for setting the people up for a huge letdown, building
false hope, "we can't win. you know that." he says. But Ol'
Mac Davis has faith and blah, blah... then some weird thing
about Mac, the good guy?, and something bad happened to his
son in the past. but i didn't catch what.. and i think now
maybe his son is the coach and they don't talk to each other.
and then the coach visists the announcer and tries to make
peace(?) but the announcer is lame and rejects him sort of...
and the coach goes "well, next time you visit our practice,
the least you could do is come say 'hello' if it's not too
much of an imposition" - sort of sarcastically. then the big
game comes and announcer guy goes and shakes coaches hand
before the game. (Is this some sort of a Announcer=God, Coach=Jesus
type of thing? Father, Son? Yes, I think so because at the
beginning of the movie it showed Announcer guy when he was
a kid, playing alone in his room or attic or something and
he had a bunch of little plastic football players on a little
field and he was moving them around and announcing the game...
but what it reminded me of was like a military commander or
something who moves the pieces around on the map and basically
directs the affairs of those under his command... Just like
God does. And so the announcer is like God... and coach, jesus....
...
oh, also it could be Grace vs. Works. Switzer's team is Works...
They do all the hard work playing 'real' games and practicing
througout the year and blah, blah.. but basically 'you'll
only win if you do good works"... Announcer guy's team is
Grace... we haven't played or practiced ALL YEAR LONG, but
right at the end when we have to go up against those who have
done tons of works and works, we beat them because of our
FAITH in God (Announcer) and Christ (the Coach)... without
our hard work. it's faith that made us win (whole).
towards
the end of the game, the other team has rallied back and now
the Possums could lose after all. Coach doesn't know what
to tell his team so he gets Announcer guy to talk to him..
he starts out with "let's play harder" type stuff (which,
btw, is exactly what Switzer told his team at half time...
"more work!") but then he cuts himself off "... aw, what am
i saying? you guys have done great, much better than last
year. just do your best or something..." i dunno... so he
forgives them of their misdeeds (i.e. not being good enough
or having worked hard enough... synonymous?) and basically
gives them pardon ('salvation') before the game is even over...
which is kind of like making it doubly clear that it doesn't
matter how they perform (work), it's that they had faith in
themselves and blah, blah, blah...
oh,
sheesh!!! what the fudge!?? another plain reference to religion
(for those who are lucky enough to be high [on life])... at
the end, the QB or someone gets injured and is laying on the
ground... the COACH (aka Christ) comes over and helps him
up (i.e duhhh, can you say 'Raise the Dead'?)... oh, also...
Good vs. Evil (cuz possums uniforms are white, and Switzer's
team wears black). ?? i dunno... i just throw it out there...
who knows? (sheesh, why did i just say 'throw it out there'
exactly at the same time the QB, on the last play and in complete
slow motion, throws.. it.. out.. there... and the receiver
catches it for a TD and they win!!
i
don't know??? but it's all a little fishy to meeeeee.... sounds
like Mr. Sensimilla is the Great Mover, the First Cause, you
know, if everything is causally connected... one thing causes
another and has been like that all the way back till you have
to end up at the First Cause... i.e. God.. Mrs. Mary Jane
is God, yeah!
so,
here's the last tweaky thing... at the end of the movie it
shows a billboard showing some cartoon superman-type character...
i 'm not sure what they were trying to say in the movie but
the billboard said in big letters, "Coming Back" like the
team will be back next year... or football is coming back
or something... But the Superman character (which is a Christ-like
character in itself, all noble, good, ethical and such, and
also having supernatural powers to do all sorts of things...
and saving everyone's life and protecting them.. anyway) is
coming back... Christ is returning. The Messiah shall return.
That's what messianism is all about. And then the billboard
fades and is replaced by a cartoon pic of Announcer guy (and
some text..??)... which at first I thought was wrong cuz they
should've showed the Coach to make the connection between
superman and christ (coach)... but then I realized it didn't
matter because Christ and his Father are One anyway... Christ
said "If you've seen me, you've seen the Father"... etc...
anyway...
there you have it... i'm God, in a way. because I gave you
the "play-by-play" during that entire movie. That's all i've
done for the last 1 1/2 hours. I'm the Announcer... God! woo
hoo! glad to meet me?
ok,
i sound like i'm bouncing off the walls (with the 'woo hoo!'
and all), but i'm not... i'm very calm and thoughtful, but
I sort of feel like i'm bouncing around... Watch this movie!
Doug
Pinney
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