When Sports Stars Sellout Both Stadiums and Themselves

This weekend while watching Sunday football, I was suddenly shocked at the sight of yet another one of Aaron Rodgers State-farm commercials. Usually somewhat entertaining, providing a cheap laugh in situations when I'm commonly fuming in anger due to the Jets lack of ability to play football, this latest addition was different. It featured Aaron Rodgers, the star quarterback of the Green Bay Packers, going head-to-head against pop boy-band One Direction in a competition to see who can make a crowd louder. As the two separate parties displayed their talents in crowd control, the scene suddenly takes an awful turn. Aaron Rodgers is suddenly displayed wearing "hipster" clothing on stage with the Britney Spears wanna-be's and proceeds to act and sing like them. I mean, I understand taking promotions as an athlete bolsters an already fat bank statement, but there is a time when dignity should take moneys place when it comes to priority. This commercial was disappointing as a football fan, but most importantly as a man to watch. Aaron Rodgers not only sells out crowds at stadiums due to his undeniable talents, but this time, also sold himself out.

Mondays

I wake up on a monday morning and the first thing that goes through my still half asleep mind is how badly i don't want to go to work today, however i get up anyways, disregarding my natural instincts to jusy blow it off and sleep another few hours. I search for some clean clothes but of course my girl friend forgot to do another laundry so im forced to scrape together an outfit barely suitable for a substitute teaching job. "This is going to be a good day", i say to myself as i open the shades of my window and stare out into the world being torn apart by thick rain. To add to this perfect start to a monday morning, there's no food in the fridge. I need a new girl friend. On my way to work the traffic is heavy due to the rain. I even almost get into an accident by some jerk-off trying to cut me off. So now not only is it a monday morning which is nobody's favorite thing in the slightest, but I look like i bought my outfit from goodwill, the weather is horrible, I'm cranky from an empty stomach, and my anxiety level just shot up a few notches from the near-death experience moments ago. I finally get to work where it takes me 10 minutes just to find a parking spot and once this seemingly impossible task is complete, i realize i forgot my umbrella in the midst of all my frustration during the pre-work rituals. Im about ready to blow as i trudge through puddles with nothing but a magazine to cover me from the rain. I get into my cozy 6 by 6 foot cupicle where im interupted by my bosses secretary who tells me im needed in her office. this is never a good thing so im pre emptively trying to calm myself down cause at this point anymore stress might cause a brain hemorage. I sit down and my boss looks at me and says without any emotion "your services are no longer needed here, here's your last weeks pay" as she hands me an envelope probably containing enough money to buy my girl friend a nice break-up present. I walk out calm, yet inside im a volcano ready to explode. I dont remember the car ride home because i am too engulfed with rage. I get home and turn on the t.v. and sure enough ESPN is on. The best player on my favorite team is out for the season.....Im going back to sleep. Fuck mondays.

Good Will Hunting

In the film Good Will Hunting the plot follows the story of a troubled young man from a tough neighborhood in Boston. He starts out as a janitor at the prestigious MIT where he secretly solves impossible math theorums that professors at the highly acclaimed school with a base focus in math couldn't even solve. After secretly solving one of these problems on a white board in the hallway, he is eventually discovered as the "secret genious". After being arrested for assault and threatened with jail time, the professor who put up the math problem seeks to mentor him, and use his genious for his own personal gain. The professor strikes a deal with the judge allowing Will, the main character, to stay out of prison if he became the professors apprentice and saw a psychologist weekly. After trying numerous psychologists, all of whom could not handle Will's tough exterior, Robin William's character finally proves to be the doctor who can relate most to Will having experienced similar hardships as a child which you learn about later. The rest of the film follows Will's constant struggle with keeping a relationship with a girl he met, due to the abuse he suffered as a child. As a result of this abuse, Will had refused to allow anyone to love him, and vise-versa, for fear of losing that person down the road. He also never pursued any long-term career or "real" goals with his gift of intellegence for he was taught at a young age that he was worthless. Robin Williams, after weeks of getting to know Will, finally breaks down his barriors and lets him know that "it's ok", and that "it's not his fault", leading Will to finally pursue the girl in the end and not think so low of himself.

This film has a few archetypes that we see in many other films. Will, the main character represents the common troubled character with an edge, yet also a soft side, who we all wish good things for by the end of the film. This cliche takes its natural course as this happens and Will succeeds in the end. Also Robin William's character acts as the role of the old mentor figure with wisdom who helps the main character by guiding him through his through his troubles with advice and friendship.

School Ties

School Ties is a film that covers the complexities of both class identifictation/segregation as well as religious identification/segregation. It is a movie that outlines the lives of boys in a prestegious catholic prep school and how everythings seems to go so well until they discover that one of their teammates, their starting quarterback, is not like them. He is not only Jewish, which contradicts everything the school is about, but he is also lower to middle class which differs from the socio-economic backgrounds of the other kids around him. This bring about an interesting dilemna. We notice that once the main characters religious and economic identity is discovered, he is instantly cast out as a heretic, regardless of being the guy everyone loved before this knowledge surfaced. Even the girl he was dating, who went to a neighboring all-girl prep school nearby cast him out when she found out "who he really was". She felt betrayed and stupid for having had feelings for a poor jew. Nothing else mattered to these people excpet for class and religion. If you weren't like them, then you weren't wanted, almost as if they were afraid to confront the diversities of other people, for then they would have to look at themselves and realize how horrible they really were.

We see a few common archetypes in this film which relate to characters we see in many other films. The main character played by Brendan Fraser is a jewish athlete recruited by the prep school for his athletic ability. The school is aware of his religion and urges him to hide it, just to keep things on an even keel. He agrees, but being the good, moral character he is, he still wheres his star, and practices his customs in secret. This is so the audience respects him and therefore roots for him in the end as the common good guy who comes out on top. The antagonist is played by Matt Damon who also attends the school. He is the opposite of the main character. He is catholic, from a wealthy family, and is left in the shadow of the main characters success. One can already predict this will lead to the cliche clashing of these two characters which it inevitably does.