Game of Inches

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myyWXKeBsNk

The text I chose is a clip from the Oliver Stone film Any Given Sunday. This film is very over the top and uses a lot of overly stylistics film tropes to create feeling. However this scene is the most powerful scene in the whole movie and it is able to connect with the audience. It does this through simply a really powerful monologue.

By focusing on emotion over fact this scene is romantic. In this scene the head coach of a football team, played by Al Pacino, is addressing his team during half time of the big game. His team is the underdogs and in true underdog fashion they a lousing but some how need to rally to overcome seemingly insurmountable odds. In this speech the coach forces the audience to feel for the team and want them to win. The scene uses all of the ideas of being an underdog and the related structure of feeling. Everyone likes an underdog story; it suggested the benefit of innocent over experience, and how hard work and passion will always win out. If this were a real game would the team be able to win? Probably not but we identify with them and allow that feeling to out weight the fact that this is pretty unrealistic.

The message this scene conveys is one of how hard work and dedication are the greatest skills one can have. This scenes pulls from the common “American” ideal of pulling ones self up and never giving in. Everyone has been in this position in some way, thus we can really ideality with the team and can feel their passion. This scene just makes you want to go out and win (in what ever “game” you paly). This scene argues that hard work is what is important we all should not give up and just grinds it out.