Friday Night Lights
May 26th, 2007
I worked at a call centre a few years ago. I used to get a half an hour lunch break and two quarter of an hour breaks, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. These breaks were all paid unless you took an hour at lunch, in which case you lost the hour. Needless to say I always took these breaks. I was only a temp. so usually didn’t eat my lunch in the main canteen–I didn’t really know anyone. There was a separate resting area in the ceiling of the open plan building, which was easily the size of a football pitch. It was nice and quiet and people rarely went up there.
I brought a book and would sit there balancing it on my legs, trying to eat a sandwich at the same time. All alone I could afford the book proper attention at the expense of my “table” manners (the table was knee-height and covered with copies of National Geographic). Being alone also had advantages to the person whose nose is sensitive to dry air-conditioning. One day I opened my mouth to take a chunk out of my Braeburn and suddenly my nose started gushing with blood. Evidently the bite tore something.
One day I forgot my book, but still went there out of habit. In addition to being generally disgusting, I picked up one of the copies of National Geographic that had been resting on the table and was so enthralled by the material I didn’t bother with a book on future occasions. I learned such interesting facts as in the Himalayas you can safely drink tea when it is boiling, as boiling is actually co-dependent on pressure and heat, which is why water evaporates in the ice-cold vacuum of space.
In one issue there were some amazing photos of Texas. The thing I found most striking was the scale. There was the ground, the horizon and then the air, all of which seemed to go on forever. Some of the photos were in black and white, bringing out the tone of massive cumulonimbus clouds. There was also a moody grainy-black photo of a power pylon at night, though possibly this has been mixed with a different memory. Nevertheless, ever since I’ve had a romantic vision of Texas. England could fit into Texas several times with ease. I believe it would be tempting to even the staunchest environmentalist to rent a Toyota pickup to get a sense of the scale.
Explosions in the Sky played the soundtrack to Friday Night Lights: this coupled with my romanticism motivated me to watch this film. It sounds ridiculous, but I used the same logic that if someone like Simon and Garfunkel, they would probably like The Graduate.
It’s inescapable that some people will write Nights off as simply a sports film, but this would be to ignore the other facets it explores. Ultimately the film becomes less about winning a game and more about incredibly important decisions you’re faced with in life. The game is American football, but could easily be anything else that leaves you with one shot to make your mark–in Nights this is compounded by the fact that if you fall short, then you stay in the perceived dead-end that is the economically stunted town of Odessa, Texas.
I’ve read criticism that the characterisation and plot of the film is clichéd, but this seems rather contrived, considering it was based on a book that fictionalised the real ascent of the 1988 Permian Panthers to competing at state level. The ending certainly wasn’t a cliché, but I have to admit at times the dialogue did venture that way. I found the central storyline of the demise of “football-legend” Boobie Miles (Derek Luke) engaging and empathised with the way that expectations can crush you if you don’t live up to them.
In the bonus section of the DVD there was a reunion of some of the original team. This accompanies an interview with Miles himself: on the subject of his career slipping through his fingers, he consoles himself with the fact that he may not have been blessed with the children he has now. There are also other insights into the team and it becomes clear that these were used to provide accurate characterisation.
Though you can enjoy it on multiple levels, obviously there’s only so much depth you can read into the subject matter. I’ve never watched a full game of American–or English–football but this didn’t stop me enjoying the action scenes. I used to think that American football was a sort of pretend rugby with padding, but seeing some of the tackles, I now warrant it a little more respect. I’m reminded of Million Dollar Baby when it comes to the balance between action and drama.
Though the soundtrack added a special ambience to the film, I don’t recommend buying the CD; I’ve listened to it all the way through and if you like the Explosions sound then you’d be much better off just buying a separate album, as they’re similar–but with much more. Also if you don’t have a convoluted motive behind watching this film, then you might like it for the balance between realistic action and drama. To use a cliché myself: it’s the sports film that your girlfriend won’t fall asleep watching.
May 31st, 2007 at 12:13 am
Hello! I was searching for the soundtrack to Friday Night Lights and stumbled onto your blog. Interesting! I want to repond to your comments about the size of Texas. I was born in west Texas and lived there until the age of 10, when we moved to east Texas, then later to Ohio where I live today. I saw Friday Night Lights in 2004 in the theatre. I enjoyed the film and enjoyed seeing the vastness of west Texas again. But it wasn’t until I saw the movie again on DVD that I got in tune (no pun) with the wonderful and haunting sounds of Explosion in the Sky. They did a fabulous job - through music - in relating the solitude that results from the sheer size and expanse of that part of the state. (As I side note, I have recently been looking for other works by Explosion)
In the US, the term “big sky country” refers to parts of Montana but it could also be very appropriate for west Texas. If you want to feel small and inconsequential, try driving across Texas :-). Yes, the sky seems, well…just big. Because it is so flat there, sunrise and sunset are quite startling if you are not prepared. Because the landscape is so flat, the sun rises and sets in a matter of minutes. In the morning it will be pitch black, then 4 minutes later the sun is completely up and it feels like noon. Sunset is the same. From daylight to pitch black in a matter of 2-3 minutes - a lesson I had to re-learn upon returning to west Texas years later.
The vastness and distance between cities and towns can be dangerous. I spent the first 10 years of life in El Paso, Texas, which is located at the base of the Franklin Mountains. (The ‘Franklin’s’ run north and become the Rockies. The city is built on the west side of the Franklin foothills. Again with the flatness - so the city lights can be seen for many, many miles from the east. When we were kids it was not uncommon to hear and read stories in the newspapers about travelers that ran out of gas on their way to El Paso at night. Unfamiliar travelers would see the lights that appeared to be no more than 20 miles away. In reality they were more than 150 miles away.
Ok, I have rambled. All I will add is that I do hope you some day get to rent that Toyota pickup and drive from Dallas to El Paso. You will never forget it. Just make sure you have plenty of gas!
May 31st, 2007 at 11:13 am
There’s something I find really appealing about the “bigness” of it all.
Of the Explosions CDs I’d recommend “The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place” for starters. It’s got the wonderful “Your Hand in Mine” that’s off the film.
I believe Marty Robbins wrote the follow-up of “El Paso” after looking out from a plane he chartered across El Paso city. Your comment has made me want to visit these places all the more now.
June 5th, 2007 at 3:23 am
Hello Alex. First off, thanks for the suggestion about EITS and “The Earth is not a Cold Dead Place”. second, making a quick (i.e. superficial) assessment about your interest just based on your archive, it would appear films in general are a major interest. Assuming that is the case, I wonder if you have seen the Tom Hanks movie “Castaway”. The opening scene (when the FED-X driver picks up a package) and closing scene when the Hanks character delivers the package, then has that short conversation with the woman in the old pickup (not a Toyota as I recall) both take place in far north Texas- in a place called the “panhandle”. Both Texas and western Oklahoma have “panhandles”. Kind of a silly reference, but it works. Anyway, those scenes took place in Texas. When the first scene opens I thought it was Oklahoma or perhaps southwest Kansas. But one roadsign is black and white and has the outline of Texas on it. In the states, the “state routes” signs are all marked with outlines of the state they are in.
If you have seen this movie and remember those scenes, they are another illustration of the vastnss that appeal to you (and a lot of other people that live there). Although that part of the state is somewhat greener than the Odessa of FNL..and 310 miles farther north (about 500 kilometers) - the continuation of “wide open spaces” is still very apparent. One thing I didn’t mention in my previous rambling was that the desert is something that people either love or hate. There are very few people in that middle area. I have never met anyone that didn’t either love that sense of “space” or hate it for its “isolation and desolation”.
Oh, back to the movie. If you saw it, did you think that last scene - standing next to the side of the road talking with that lovely lady - had an alternate ending? After she drove away and he realized it was her package he carried with him during his whole ordeal on that island, I thought he would get in his Jeep (I have one just like that. ha!) and turn and follow her back to the house he left the package at..her house. I was sure the Tom Hanks character would turn around and follow her. I felt like she was curious(?) about him and he about her. But it didn’t end that way. It ended with him standing in the middle of Nowhere, Texas trying to decide what road to take next. A good ending in its own right, I guess.
Regards - Bob