The Contest

[Abishai100]

The monumental boxing match (3 bouts) between Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali forever changed the way we looked at rivalries.

True, there's USA-USSR, Duke-UNC, etc., etc., but there were an equal number of fans (laymen and writers alike) for the Frazier-Ali struggle.

In the meditative John Boorman film Excalibur, the fabled English kingdom of Camelot is energized but scandalized by the immortal valiant knight Lancelot but troubled and terrorized by the relentless warlord-knight Mordred.

Lancelot and Mordred are perfect foils in the film, and they remind us that the symbolic Frazier-Ali battle almost proves that half of the intrigue of contests is the will to compete.

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LANCELOT: We meet on the field at last...
MORDRED: I thought you'd be dilly-dallying around.
LANCELOT: My affairs are my concern.
MORDRED: Are you still wary of battle-axes?
LANCELOT: Swords are sufficient.
MORDRED: They should invent a game for us.
LANCELOT: Perhaps a bridge-building contest!
MORDRED: As long as we're competing...

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[Fenton Lum]

Actually it didn't change anything at all for most folks.

 

[lui125]

We follow public live figures for the reason that we don't have to think about our own lives.
For the same reason TV is so popular. It takes away the glamor of an ordinary life

 

[Abishai100]

The Overlook


Yeah, it's true most people simply do not pay such matters enough attention, but everyone will admit to being just a tad bit curious about the psychological impact of witnessing closely-matched 'forces' in some kind of symbolic engagement.

After all, don't we make movies about the Cold War and comic book adapted movies about strange heroes tackling even stranger villains?

It would be interesting to perform a study of the contours between 'combat storytelling' and 'criminal psychology.'

Of course, I'm not saying Ali or Frazier were 'crazy'!


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The brooding urban vigilante named 'Watchman' prowls NYC on Halloween Eve, knowing that the insidious members of the ominous 'Red Triangle Gang' led by Leatherface (a chainsaw-wielding cannibal) and his trio of psychotic clowns (armed with corrosive acid) will be terrorizing trick-or-treaters expecting to run into festive people in costume.

Watchman decides to stake out some hardware stores leading up to Halloween, hoping he will spot a male large enough to fit the description of Leatherface so he can catch the criminal purchasing a chainsaw for his Halloween hellraiser deed. However, Watchman does not catch anyone who fits the description buying a chainsaw.

When Halloween Eve arrives, Watchman is patrolling the city streets by rooftops until he notices Leatherface and his clowns wandering around with flame-throwers. He swoops down and sprays the evil gang with tear-gas and throws tranquilizer-darts until they all fall to the ground unconscious.

The next day, the newspapers read, "The Red Triangle Gang's intention to pervert Halloween ends in a tranquilizer-dart showcase by the so-called 'Watchman' who saves the annual masquerade festival for New Yorkers who are now more confident that this new showdown between good and evil will not result in a siege (should these evildoers escape prison)."

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