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Cellar Scribblings
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: CellarDweller on October 30, 2018, 06:34:37 pm ---
I must admit, I've never seen it, and from what I've been told by figure skating fans who have, that it would annoy me, so I haven't watched it. I've heard the performances are good!
--- End quote ---
What do they say you'd find annoying? Have they spotted inaccurate details, or are they annoyed by Tonya Harding, or ... ? ???
CellarDweller:
Hiya BetterMost friends.
Happy Halloween!
It was a quiet day at work, and I was able to get caught up on some reports that I wasn't able to do last week, because I was on "staycation".
Before I left to go home, I remembered to flip the calendar over, so that I have it showing as November. ;D Don't forget, this weekend we "fall back".
CellarDweller:
--- Quote from: serious crayons on October 31, 2018, 09:46:52 am ---What do they say you'd find annoying? Have they spotted inaccurate details, or are they annoyed by Tonya Harding, or ... ? ???
--- End quote ---
I understand that the movie is "dramatic" and not 100% accurate, and supposed to make Tonya a person you sympathize with, but there are details in the film (from what I've been told or read online) that are just really inaccurate.
I'm sure there are people who would say I am biased, as a Nancy Kerrigan fan, but before I followed Nancy I was still a skating fan.
The movie allows Tonya to tell the narrative that judges didn't "like" her and therefore, she had no chance at a gold medal, or other medals either. Actually, Tonya has a nice collection of medals. She has one US National gold, and two US National bronze medals. At Skate Japan she won a bronze and a silver. At Skate America she won a bronze, a silver, and two golds. Finally, at World Championships in 1991, she was awarded a silver medal.
Tonya was her own worst enemy. After she won the US Gold and World silver (1991), she cut back her training time and kept changing coaches. She got to the 1992 Olympics under-trained and fell on her jumps. In the 1993 season she cut back on her training even more, and was out of shape, to the point that commentator Scott Hamilton commented on how out of shape she was for competition. On top of that, she had asthma, but smoked frequently.
Also, in the movie they have a courtroom scene, where the judge tells her she will be banned from skating, and she appeals to the judge, it goes something like this:
"You're never gonna let me skate again? I'd rather do jail time. Please... They only got 18 months. They got 18 months. I will do that. You can't... Your Honor. I don't have an education. All I know is skating. - That's all I know. - And I... I'm no one If I can't skate. I'm not... I mean, I'm not some monster. I just... I'm trying to do the best in what I know how to. You're give me a... It's like you are giving me a life sentence. You can't... do that. You can't... please. Please! Just send me to jail and then I can still skate! Just send me to jail and then I can still skate!"
None of that shit ever happened. Tonya plead guilty, so she knew what the conditions of the plea was when she accepted it, there was no 'surprise' of her being banned. Washington Post was in the courtroom when the judged handed this down to Tonya. The only thing she said to the judge was: "I'd just like to say I'm really sorry that I interfered."
serious crayons:
Thanks for the thorough reply, Chuck! That might be the longest post I've ever seen you write! :laugh:
To me, someone who knows little about the real story or about skating in general, your criticisms seem fair. Her speech to the judge in the movie, if not accurate, does seem like typical biopic dramatization to show how much skating meant to Tonya and how huge a blow this was to her. (Er, so to speak. A literal blow to Nancy too, of course.) But as I recall the movie does not portray her as being undertrained and out of shape, which seems like it could, and maybe should, be part of the story, so good point.
The most informative thing about the movie for me -- assuming it's accurate -- is that Tonya knew nothing about the plan to attack Nancy, that the attack was carried out by some moronic goons her idiot husband hired. He's kind of the villain of the film. I don't know what's true or not about that, but it does portray her as an innocent victim of other people's idiocy.
I also liked it because I'm interested in the class dynamics -- the idea that Tonya had a special struggle because she was sort of from "the wrong side of the tracks" in a sport that usually attracts more affluent people.
CellarDweller:
--- Quote from: serious crayons on October 31, 2018, 10:57:45 pm ---I also liked it because I'm interested in the class dynamics -- the idea that Tonya had a special struggle because she was sort of from "the wrong side of the tracks" in a sport that usually attracts more affluent people.
--- End quote ---
I was going to go into that too, but I didn't because I'm not sure how the movie portrayed Nancy Kerrigan.
The general public has a belief that Tonya was from the "wrong side of the tracks" and that Nancy was from this affluent family. That narrative worked better in the media for the story.
The fact of the matter is that Nancy's family struggled for her to skate. Nancy took her classes at high school, and worked a part time job to help with the expenses. Her mother had no job, because she is legally blind. Her father worked three jobs so that they would have enough money for Nancy's skating costs. He was also the one who would come in to the rink with Nancy (pre-dawn) and use the Zamboni to smooth the ice so she could start her practice.
Nancy and her family were better off than Tonya's, that's undeniable, but they were far from "comfortable" or "affluent".
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