Why I Cringed the Entire Time Watching “The Last Dance”
After hearing all the hype surrounding the latest documentary or should I say docu-series regarding Michael Jordan, I decided to take a gander to see whether or not it stood up to its acclaim.
As one who is an avid documentary watcher, I’m more prone to give this format of cinema a chance in hopes to be captivated by its storytelling style and composition.
Upon my entry into episode one, I had no background knowledge of what the series was going to specifically be about pertaining to Michael Jordan. I took an obvious guess that it would either be about his personal life or basketball career; perhaps even a combination of the two.
Now, anytime I watch a bio recap of someone’s life, I’m looking for a doorway into the character of who that person was, is and is becoming. I check for patterns of how a person began, what their environment presented, and how it affected and influenced their thoughts, behaviors, and life.
So as Michael Jordan began re-telling his story, I began to see just that.
A pattern.
A pattern that confirmed my previous impressions of him when I saw him play as an adolescent. This pattern was resoundingly cringe-worthy. Almost to the point where I just wanted to shut it down.
The computer that is.
I wanted to turn off the program and not continue engaging in a digital experience that venerated such a man.
But I didn’t, I watched it to the very end.
For one reason mainly and that was to see if things would change. To see if somehow the content and main character would take a turn in a different direction.
Sadly, it never did.
The entire 10-hour series focused on a person who I saw culture (both American and global) elevate a man for being what they called “great.” I cannot tell you how many times I even heard the God-like or Divine-like references and comparisons to this human being.
It was sickening to my core.
I winced every time there was a blasphemous analogy dropped by commentators past and present. I cringed even more when the person at hand did very little to dispute such a comparison.
The whole time I watched, all I kept thinking was one thing: This is what we value, this is what we call greatness.
Sad.
You see in my eyes, I don’t see Michael Jordan as being “great.” I don’t equate a win at all cost attitude as something to praise or something to mirror in my own life.
No quite the contrary.
Greatness to me involves values that seek to serve another through love. It is self-sacrificing, kind, meek, gentle, long-suffering, and thoughtful towards others. It doesn’t say how can I be remembered by having an amazing legacy of material success, but how can I be remembered by the character of a someone that influenced others through servant-love.
That is greatness.
You see what I noticed throughout the entire 10-hour docu-series was that there were maybe 2–3 minutes worth of footage showing Michael Jordan’s wife and children. I never heard or saw his wife speak on camera and his (now) adult children had just a short soundbite in the last episode (this was of course precluded by their voiceless short on-screen appearance as kids in previous episodes).
The reason this is quite unsettling is that while there were references to his interactions with other family members such as his brothers and parents, I didn’t see much of any mention of his involvement with his children and how important his wife and children were to him.
In fact, I heard several references to how he was “so dedicated” to what he was doing (whatever it was at that time) that he would get up early in the morning to hit the gym for hours, shoot a movie/commercial, then get another workout in, then go play golf.
The whole time I watched his “routine/schedule,” I just kept thinking: where is your family? Where are your kids? Are you spending any quality time with them? It seemed like he was so self-absorbed in his prideful ambitions to achieve and “win” that he was blinded by what was really important.
Now, I’m sure to some degree he has positively invested in a handful of people along the way (as mentioned by his relationship w/ his security guard & pre/post game charity appearances) and I certainly don’t want to take that away from him.
Having said this, I still see the makings of a person who choose himself over anyone else around him. If there were any attempts to “help” others it was still for self-gain to achieve his own personal goals.
Now before I get a ton of comments about how I’m just a Jordan hater, I want to clarify the purpose of this post. It’s not to bring a “successful” person down, but to provide a different perspective on what we [culture] view as greatness.
I think we can all take a page out of The Kid From Coney Island book as a start. I much more enjoyed watching this documentary of a basketball player who was arguably was just as good as Michael Jordan. You see both endured the emotional devastation of losing a father and had subsequent low points, but the difference maker was how their basketball careers ended.
One ended with a continued tyrannical approach to verbal and prideful interactions with others, the other ended with a self-reflective approach to life that allowed for him to come to a place of peace, joy, and loving interactions with the people around him.
Can you guess which is which?
As you draw your conclusions about the answer, I hope that you also consider this subsequent question:
Why do we as a culture worship this type of “win at all cost” mentality?
If you cannot answer this with anything that results in love towards others then I strongly encourage you to rethink how you see “greatness.”
