chariots of fire ii

i definitely identify with the jewish character more than the others in the movie. his desire to be the best runner, to have the best trainer (even if he is moslem), and to be the best man by courting someone in show business... his desire is something i deeply understand. at the same time, i, myself, have no desire to acculturate into society.

Eric Liddell refuses to compete with the jewish character. He decides not to run on Sunday to avoid a confrontation with the jewish character. The Sabbath is technically on Saturday so I don't really see what the problem is, but for Eric, it is a problem. It may be political in nature and say something about the Scottish view of the Jews as opposed to the English view. Anyway, Eric finds the way for both Jews and Christians to win in the Olympics.

Now, the Olympics was an athletic contest to renew a spirit of comaraderie between the Greek city-states. There were often temple prostitutes who serviced the needs of the athletes. It was, originally, very much a sport of the nobility who had time to develop their athletic finesse.

In this movie, there really is almost no one who goes through an agon except the jewish athlete, not even Eric Liddell. This is often the Hollywood narrative... that people are naturally endowed with the gift of genius or athleticism and that you cannot compete with these people. You never see Mark Zuckerberg studying or thinking. You never see Tom Cruise struggling in Top Gun although you could say he has a psychological struggle with a death-wish against his father. This narrative is pure myth and serves to uphold the idea of white superiority which has been, over time, largely discarded.

But what reward does the jewish athlete get for winning on Sunday, for helping the English achieve kleos? the jewish athlete has been motivated by envy, greed, and hatred of the WASP order. He finds comfort in drink in a bar somewhere, not the joy of victory. He does not see the face of God.