Entry #8 - Gridiron Gang - 1.26.07

9:32 PM – Another evening reflection, this one in the vein of today’s earlier commentary.

Tonight’s 7 PM Friday movie was “Gridiron Gang”, starring “The Rock.” For some reason, we seem to get every football movie in existence here. In the past 2 months, we’ve gotten “Friday Night Lights,” “Invincible,” and now this one. The only type of movie we get more than football is prison films. Last weekend, we had “Papion”, the classic Steve McQueen, Dustin Hoffman flick.

Naturally, nothing could be better than a combination of the two themes, thus the first 2 months I was down I saw the original “Longest Yard” with Burt Reynolds, the remake with Adam Sandler, and even the British remake “Mean Machine” which replaces football with futbol (soccer).

In many ways, “Gridiron Gang” was the fourth incarnation. The plot held loose similarities and the waterboy was a little skinny black kid comic relief a la Chris Rock. Now, as a film I have to say “G.G.” failed horribly. The acting was terrible, the sensationalized message impudent, and the ebb and flow all but absent.

The saving grace of the film can be summarized by a simple apothegm “based on a true story.” “G.G.” opened with a statement about youthful offender recidivism, (75% of juvenile delinquents end up in prison later on), and ending with documentary footage that directly paralleled scenes from the film accounting for the characters whereabouts, providing more successes than failures. The movie stands as a maxim for the need of corrections reform.

The success of the football program depicted lies in the fact that the facility was committed to a pedagogy based on offering an alternative to the criminal lifestyle. The transgressors were seen as assets—potential citizens and taxpayers, rather than as liabilities.

Now some may argue that the case of minors should not be paralleled to that of grown men and women. While this may bare some truth, the lack of corrections in “corrections” leads to an ill-fated paradigm. In the end it is society that suffers most, as they find themselves picking up the bill for individuals who, if properly educated, could be great contributors to society.

This may seem to be rather encumbering subject matter for a Friday night. However, these issues become constantly evident when your entire life is confined to 3 crowded buildings. This is life in prison, and unfortunately there is no off switch, even on Fridays.

Playlist:
Green Day – Holiday – Perhaps the most progressive song to hit mass radio play since Rage’s “Testify”, even if they did rip off Bad Religion.

Radio – New Order – “Bizarre Love Triangle” – an old favorite that I found while flipping through stations. It allows me to remain electro and a romantic even in exile.

Films – The Gridiron Gang w/ the Rock

Fearless w/ Jet Li – the 5 PM movie – better than I expected and appropriately restrained. Not as massive as “Hero”, thank god.

Periodicals – NY Times Magazine and Book Review for Jan. 21st, 07.

- The Article on Bernie Sanders – “The Socialist Senator” restores faith in the possibility of what can seem an oppressive “Republicratic” Congress.

- Book – The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene – String theory for the layman. Confirms both my awe of the enigma of the universe, as well as my belief in a higher plane of existence. (By the author of the Elegant Universe.)

*It should be noted that we are not truly allowed to see R-rated movies in here. When the institution shows these flicks, they purchase them from “Clean Films,” a distributor that cuts movies to shit and with amateur aptitude at best. A 95 minute movie ends up clocking in @ 54 minutes with a totally convoluted plot. Also, much violence is retained while all traces of sexuality end up hijacked. The irony is that most of us were exposed to the most extreme of perversions during our time on the streets. In the end, we look forward to PG or even animated films because at least they’re intact.