June 26, 2004

Revisionist Quagmire

The Thursday night showings of Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring were cancelled, so we went to see Dodgeball instead (really). I laughed a lot--Gary Cole and Jason Bateman as the ESPN8 announcers are great--but the whole movie is based on a lie. Dodgeball is not a team sport. Dodgeball was not the kind of P.E. activity where people like the author (and, I suspect, readers) of this blog were humiliated by being picked last. Dodgeball is a Hobbesian war of all against all, in which people like the a-(a-I-s-r)-o-t-b were humiliated by being blasted at close range by the athletically competent. Hollywood, stop trying to subvert our youth!

Posted by Matt Weiner at June 26, 2004 12:02 PM
Comments

Actually, it turns out there is some truth to the way they portrayed dodgeball in the movie. A friend just told me that when she played dodgeball in PE, it was on teams. But this does seem to be a fluke--most people I have asked have played the version of dodgeball without teams-- the Hobbesian version.

Posted by: Linda Fiorentino at June 30, 2004 11:01 AM

I wouldn't be too surprised if this perverted version of dodgeball were gaining increasing currency in gym classes due to the forces of political correctness.* Your friend may just be too young.

Ron Mallon told me that the game described was actually called "bombardment," and he said he was especially good at blocking throws with the ball he was holding (which happens a lot in the movie). I may update.

*Actually there is some conservative writer who complained about dodgeball being banned from gym class because of political correctness. I actually am in favor of people ceasing to play the real version of dodgeball.

Posted by: Matt Weiner at July 3, 2004 06:33 AM

Sunday was the one who played team dodge ball--this is why I was so surprised. I think that I would not be so surprised if it were now current and someone younger than myself shared this same story.

Posted by: Linda Fiorentino at July 3, 2004 10:11 AM