Week 2: Rudy

Dear Avid Reader,

Movies are propaganda. I'm like totally certain on this. When you realize that I'm right, you will be like "OMG".

Rudy is a prime example of propaganda served as light entertainment. The propaganda's goal: to convince you that shooting for the middle, that settling for less, is noble.

Yeah, I know. You're all "OMG" and et cetera.

How is it am already bored with this project? The boredom lobe in my brain is like Frank in the movie. He's screaming, "Are you kidding me? You can't write this article! Grow up! Quit NOW!"

These last four paragraphs are small, but I don't care. Frank can die a dark, lonely, screaming death in my brain. Where was I?

Five Feet Nothing, A Hundred And Nothing

Rudy begins the movie wanting to go to Notre Dame. Eventually he come across a copy of the Agama by The Buddha. From this simple text he begins to understand that his father, his brother Frank, and his fiancee are all trapped in their own suffering because they have desires. His father wants his family to be content. Frank wants a different life from his father. Sherry wants to be a mother. Throughout the movie they are disappointed because their desires go unfulfilled. Having discovered enlightenment, Rudy rejects the idea that the road to happiness is paved with Post-World War II conformity. Rudy must find his Bodhi Tree. Perhaps it grows on the campus, of Notre Dame.

Unfortunately, Rudy is merely an novice. He doesn't know yet that he has substituted one set of desires (comfortable middle-class furniture, cheap domestic beer) for another (fame via inclusion into a football program on the decline...an epic-sized "I-told-you-so" for apparently everyone he's ever met). Unfortunately Rudy has no spiritual adviser in his new found belief system. This is why the vacuum left by the desires of his family and community fills up with the desires of Notre Dame. He becomes obsessed. Notre Dame is all he can talk about. Understandably, every other character in the film is annoyed with Rudy.

There Is A God, And I'm Not Him

Fortunately, Rudy's ability to turn any conversation into a conversation about The Fighting Irish results in him having no friends. And no...D-Bob is not a friend. He doesn't even think to tell Rudy that he's moving until seconds before he skips town. It's like he was on his way out and remembered that he forgot to tell one of tutoring clients he was leaving. "Crap," he thinks, "Should I drive back?" If they were friends, Rudy would've already know that he was leaving. And he certainly would've been more crushed at the news. Instead, all Rudy thinks about is the fact that the new football coach might not dress him for a game, (i.e himself). Some friend.

The lack of distractions/friends propels Rudy's studies. He is able to conquer his learning disability and get the best grades of his life. But this doesn't bring him happiness, so he follows in The Buddha's footsteps, adopting an ascetic philosophy and begins living in an equipment closet. To further the punishment of his body, he becomes a walk-on football player. The coaches inform him that they intend to "beat the shit" out of him and the other prospective footballers. It seems to be exactly what Rudy is looking for. Rudy, delighted, promptly has the shit beaten out of him.

You Just Summed Up Your Entire Sorry Career Here In One Sentence

Still, Rudy is unsatisfied. The denial of pleasure becomes a desire itself. But there are glimmers of hope. He begins to show signs of the Noble Eight-Fold Path. The fact that he realizes that God did not put him on the earth to play football is an example of "right view". That he won't ease up in practice is an example of "right action". But of course self-actualization eludes him. That he lies about being a student to the president of the Football Boosters is a failure of "right speech". That he rubs the fact that he made the team in her face is a failure of "right intention". Let's face it, Rudy can be kind of an a-hole.

Despite his early failures, Rudy finally sheds his desires and quits the team. This brings Rudy close to reaching Nirvana, enlightenment. And what does everyone else do in the face of this incredible moment? They pile crap on him.

Seriously, this part of the movie really resonates for me. These people just spent the whole movie telling the guy he can't make the team and that he should quit. But then, when he finally does quit, when he finally realizes that the world does nothing but kick him like dog, when he finally stands up for himself, they all huddle around him and laughingly call him a quitter.

While most of the movie is sappy, this part is really the most true to life. Living life outside of what is generally accepted as normal/good brings criticism. But secretly, the critics really wish they had the courage to live by their own rules as well And that is why when the outsider relents and accepts the rules of the group, the taunts become more vicious. The act of conforming by an outsider reinforces what the rule-followers feared all along: they are trapped in the prison of tradition and communal expectations forever. No escape. Rudy, by quitting, locks the door tighter for everyone else.

The Problem With Dreamers Is They Are Usually Not Doers

This only furthers Rudy's spiritual ascendancy. By being mocked for quitting as well as not quitting, he realizes playing football is the same as quitting football. All actions are freed from moralizing. Nothing is good or bad, it simply is. Rudy rejoins the team, fully comfortable with whatever his existence becomes. This breakthrough quickly spreads to the other players. Now, being the captain of the team could mean playing against Georgia Tech, but it could also mean not playing at all. It could mean playing for the other team. It could even mean cutting up a bunch of Frisbees. The possibilities are endless.

Then we come to the final game, the end of the movie. And here is where I bring back my earlier point. I mean, there is no great significance to Rudy's accomplishment, that's obvious. He merely set a goal and met it. But the bar was so low that he couldn't help but jump over it (or even stagger over it). And that is why the movie is propaganda. In essence, the movie suggests that we set our sights for the outside rings, not the bulls-eye. That way each miss is actually a hit.

See, I proved my point. The movie is brain-washing you to settle for the middle.

I know you're at least "LOL-ing" right now.

Until Next I Blog,

James