Weekly Film Blog (#11)

Chariots of Fire. The film focuses on two characters, Liddell and Abrahams. This film emphasises on the themes of winning versus losing and search for meaning in life. Eric is a Scottish Christian that runs for the glory of God whereas Harold, an English Jew who runs to overcome the prejudice of being a Jewish man. The two have two different sets of motivations for their running as mentioned previously, but both are intrinsically and extrinsically motivated. For Eric Liddell and Harold Abrahams, intrinsically they both have the passion and desire to compete and to win running events. Abrahams especially, found that he wants to be the best in running and accept the help offered by Coach Sam to master the art of running and place at number 1 in the Olympics as a personal achievement and success. Extrinsically, Eric Liddell found that it would pleasure God to use the abilities gifted to him and to be able to be close to God when he runs. For Harold Abrahams, it is being able to prove his talent is worth being acknowledged by society despite his Jewish background. I think that his self-esteem is influenced by the respects (rewarding to Abrahams) he gets from others (Englishmen that spouts anti semitism) even if it meant neglecting his love to train and practice for the Olympics.


The peak of Abraham's pre-Olympic struggle is his loss to Liddell in a running challenge. Struggling with the fact that he has done everything that he could have done, feeling weakened and worthless. "I run to win. If I can't win, I don't run", this explains that his motivation is greatly influenced by winning (external motivation). However, he starts to realise that he could reach his true potential with the guidance of Coach Sam. In a way, he found a true meaning to running and that is to prove to himself rather than to prove to others. To further elaborate, we observe from Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

There is a difference between Abraham and Liddell in their hierarchy of needs. For Abrahams, his need is on the 4th level. That his self-esteem, his confidence, need for individuality is based on winning the gold medal. Abraham's running is driven by self-esteem needs, that is why it is difficult for him to go to self-actualisation because all he saw at the end goal was only the gold medals. Especially when he lost to Liddell and starts to ponder about the meaning of running. While Liddell, on the other hand, sees his running as a journey to reach the highest potential an reach a sense of fulfilment by reaching self-actualization when running for God. When he finally did win, he went back to China to continue his family's missionary life, which means that he has reached self-actualization by experiencing purpose and meaning in his inner potential.


From a personal observation, modern prejudice also displays subtle negative attitudes that are directed toward stigmatized groups such as gay men and lesbian women. Also, we can observe that because of the rising gender equality that negative attitudes towards women are being scrutinised. Women struggle to rise when people's preconceived notions of traditional gender roles are imposed on women and limits them to do things that are deemed not feminine enough in the menfolks's eyes. To compare with the film, men today are still being given the priority are deem more important in society. We observe this is true in the film industry where men are given leading roles and have a higher pay check than their women counterparts. A recent article came out on Forbes about the Hollywood Gender Pay Gap, how women are not only grossly underrepresented but are underpaid. Men are extrinsically rewarded by the fame and monetary reward that they receive. Some men do it for the sake of others that they think see them on a superior level. While women, do it for a more intrinsic motivation to surpass the prejudice and discrimination that was imposed on them, which is similar to Harold Abraham's situation. Influential Black women in the entertainment industry, especially, Kerry Washington, Viola Davis and Beyonce preach about finding meaning when standing up against the discrimination and believing in what you are doing is to prove to yourself that you and your dreams are worth it.


Reference:


http://www.forbes.com/sites/maddieberg/2015/11/12/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-hollywood-pay-gap/#2c6ad7251fe5